Database Users

International calling with the GS4 and GS3??

Going to Cancun on Thursday. So I called Spring about my GS4 & GS3. They enabled the codes so that they connect to the towers in Mexico. But you still get charged $2.99 per call and for each text message. But I thought i read you could put a Sim-Card in these phones for them to work international. Anyone ever tried this?

shaun0207 said:
Going to Cancun on Thursday. So I called Spring about my GS4 & GS3. They enabled the codes so that they connect to the towers in Mexico. But you still get charged $2.99 per call and for each text message. But I thought i read you could put a Sim-Card in these phones for them to work international. Anyone ever tried this?
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Ok, you need to do a little more research on the phones themselves. The GS3 does not have a removable SIM, it is embedded, so there's no chance of you inserting a local SIM etc.
The GS4 does have an accessible SIM slot but it is locked to Sprint. Even if you insert a non-Sprint SIM it won't work. Sprint want's you to pay their rates for international GSM roaming.
Even if you meet their requirements and get Sprint to unlock your GS4 SIM slot, it will work for calls and SMS with a non-Sprint SIM but no data (apparently some have found out, look in the forums)..

LordLugard said:
Ok, you need to do a little more research on the phones themselves. The GS3 does not have a removable SIM, it is embedded, so there's no chance of you inserting a local SIM etc.
The GS4 does have an accessible SIM slot but it is locked to Sprint. Even if you insert a non-Sprint SIM it won't work. Sprint want's you to pay their rates for international GSM roaming.
Even if you meet their requirements and get Sprint to unlock your GS4 SIM slot, it will work for calls and SMS with a non-Sprint SIM but no data (apparently some have found out, look in the forums)..
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I haven't been out of the country yet to verify it, but I believe if you're rooted you will be able to get data by making a build.prop edit so you can add the appropriate APNs. Some people have reported though that they didn't need to do this, and data just worked automatically when they put in the SIM. I believe it was a UK carrier's SIM that just worked. I'll have a chance next week to try it out in Costa Rica and see if I can get data working.

Ingenium13 said:
I haven't been out of the country yet to verify it, but I believe if you're rooted you will be able to get data by making a build.prop edit so you can add the appropriate APNs. Some people have reported though that they didn't need to do this, and data just worked automatically when they put in the SIM. I believe it was a UK carrier's SIM that just worked. I'll have a chance next week to try it out in Costa Rica and see if I can get data working.
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Click to collapse
Hmmm. Lots of conflicting info on this. Someone did the build.prop thing and mentioned that the apn options were grayed out, so he basically couldn't edit anything. Even posted screenshots. Please try out your scenario and keep us informed. Thanks.

[Q] new to verizon galaxy S5

Just bought verizon galaxy S 5. Changed SIM to AT&T from straight talk. First of all was that a mistake? When ever i leave a wi-fi area the phone goes to emergency calls only. Email and text stops as well. Can't get voice mail to work anywhere
Would appreciate any help.
Thank you

Just a thought, go to settings /more networks and make sure you have the correct network checked

New to verizon galaxy s 5
The network was correct . Wondering if im in a bad area. My Iphone 4 works fine. Might be AT&T

jokey321 said:
Just bought verizon galaxy S 5. Changed SIM to AT&T from straight talk. First of all was that a mistake? When ever i leave a wi-fi area the phone goes to emergency calls only. Email and text stops as well. Can't get voice mail to work anywhere
Would appreciate any help.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jokey321 said:
The network was correct . Wondering if im in a bad area. My Iphone 4 works fine. Might be AT&T
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Click to collapse
Wait... you put an AT&T sim in your phone? This is a Verizon forum. If I misunderstood, please tell me.

Just to be clear because you didn't state it in your post, you must unlock your phone prior to using a non-Verizon SIM. You can sometimes get these unlock codes from Verizon but you can also buy them online. I've used GSMLiberty.net with success before. After that, you should be able to pop in your SIM from the new carrier and begin using it right away. In some cases, you may need to manually add the correct APN for your carrier. Find these settings under Settings > More networks > Mobile networks > Access point names. Click the little plus icon in the top right and manually enter AT&T's APN information. You may need to Google that as I don't know AT&T's APN info.
I use my Verizon S5 on T-Mobile's networks with absolutely no issues, I assume it would be a similar experience for AT&T as well. For me, I put my T-Mobile SIM card in and could make calls and receive texts, but mobile data and MMS was not working properly until I manually added the correct APN information. After that, MMS, 4G LTE data and everything is working flawlessly.

You do not need an unlock code for a LTE Verizon phone. These phones are already unlocked. One must set the correct APN.
Do not buy an unlock code!
I have used my Verizon S5 with att and t-mobile.
Good luck.
Sent from my C6806_GPe using Tapatalk

thank you all
Thank you for your posts. Most of the phone works. When I leave a wi-fi area my phone goes to emergency calls only. When I go back to a wi-fi area the normal call service works again. I'm new to verizon and samsung. Wanted to use straight talk because i didn't feel like paying a fortune for service. I'll get it figured out some way.
Thank you again

Quick Question regarding MMS

Hey S4ers,
So I recently gave my friend my S4 (i337) restored to NB1. She does not have an active data plan, but I figured since I'm giving her the phone, it wouldn't matter too much.
She used to have an unlocked T-Mobile Phone working on AT&T, just running it on the EDGE network.
Anyway long story short, she cannot receive MMS anymore after using this phone. The phone has signal, but does not display E, 2G, 3G, 4G, or LTE. Just the signal bars. So I ordered an unlock code and received it, thinking that if I unlock the SIM that she could get this functionality. I tried the #0111*CODE# method in the dialer and receive an incorrect MMI message. Are there any other methods to unlocking the phone with the code that I have? No root would be ideal, because she has everything all set up on it, but I am open to any suggestions, really. I was wondering if I am going down the correct path in enabling MMS, by unlocking the phone like her old one used to be, or if AT&T needs to be contacted.
FYI, when we set up the phone, we called AT&T to register the new SIM, and provided the IMEI number, is it possible that they turned off any functionality because it was a smart phone without a data plan?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

treyvaporizer said:
Hey S4ers,
So I recently gave my friend my S4 (i337) restored to NB1. She does not have an active data plan, but I figured since I'm giving her the phone, it wouldn't matter too much.
She used to have an unlocked T-Mobile Phone working on AT&T, just running it on the EDGE network.
Anyway long story short, she cannot receive MMS anymore after using this phone. The phone has signal, but does not display E, 2G, 3G, 4G, or LTE. Just the signal bars. So I ordered an unlock code and received it, thinking that if I unlock the SIM that she could get this functionality. I tried the #0111*CODE# method in the dialer and receive an incorrect MMI message. Are there any other methods to unlocking the phone with the code that I have? No root would be ideal, because she has everything all set up on it, but I am open to any suggestions, really. I was wondering if I am going down the correct path in enabling MMS, by unlocking the phone like her old one used to be, or if AT&T needs to be contacted.
FYI, when we set up the phone, we called AT&T to register the new SIM, and provided the IMEI number, is it possible that they turned off any functionality because it was a smart phone without a data plan?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What carrier SIM is being used in it? Also check your APN settings.

She is on AT&T and the APN is good. We had to get a new micro sim

Someone with a little more experience tell me what I'm doing wrong here please.

This is probably something silly and small but I'm pulling my hair out trying to fix this. I bought a G4 play XT1607 unlocked from Best Buy the other week. I also purchased a tracfone SIM activation kit. The kit had 2 sim cards, one GSM and one CDMA. Since I used Verizon service previous to my foray into prepaid plans, I activated the phone with the CDMA SIM card and registered the IMEI with Tracfone. Then I was able to successfully unlock the bootloader following the motorola official procedures, put on TWRP and flashed a LineageOS ROM w/ SU and OpenGAPPS. It worked fine for a couple of days and then *poof* my internet data would no longer connect at all. I rebooted several times and got nothing.
I then saw that there is some LTE/wifi handoff bug and I figured, no biggie, I'll swap my tracfone service to the GSM SIM and pop it in and it'll be good to go. Not so. At first, in fastboot, the screen was saying <Baseband not found> and I couldn't even place a phone call. The phone still doesn't seem to recognize the SIM card and doesn't show any cellular connectivity. I've tried flashing AOKP, LineageOS (both 7.1) and the stock 6.0.1 deodexed several times. I've tried this thread here and using it's 2.35-1 Radio file with the above ROMs which I installed using TWRP as well. None of this is seeming to work so I called Tracfone and they said it should be working and must be on my end. So following this I decided to go fully to flash fully back to stock. I used this file:
https://mirrors.lolinet.com/firmware/moto/harpia/official/RETUS/
and followed these directions
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g4-play/how-to/guide-return-to-stock-firmware-recovery-t3551797
Phone seems to be working fine other than not getting any kind of cellular signal. Even though it should be "factory fresh now" When I called tracfone they didn't seem to sure of themselves and told me it would activate within 2 hours and to call back if I had issues. It's been 4 hours now an dNo sign of signal. Did I mess something up here? Does tracfone need to do something on their send since this phone/IMEI was used previously on their service as CDMA? Or can I just "pop the new SD card and go" Or do I just need to add something like APN settings or similar to get what I have working? I don't want to call tracfone again if I don't have to because they didn't seem to know what to do when I explained it to them and sounded incredulous that one phone did both CDMA and GSM to begin with.
Can anyone help me? I'd like to use this GSM SIM card in my unlocked XT1607 (RETUS). This phone was previously on the same tracfone account with the same phone number but on their CDMA network. What gives? Is this something I messed up or tracfone needs to deal with?

I did some more research and I'm pretty sure this is on Tracfones end. I believe they still have it registered as a CDMA device and it's ignoring my GSM SIM when I turn it on.

Truculent said:
I did some more research and I'm pretty sure this is on Tracfones end. I believe they still have it registered as a CDMA device and it's ignoring my GSM SIM when I turn it on.
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I don't think that's the issue. Did you set an APN for Tracfone? With the GSM SIM, you have to configure the APN.
Tracfone's site says to go to apn.tracfone.com but that site gives an error. I did find this: http://apn-settings.com/tracfone-apn-settings-step-by-step-configuration-guide/
Or you can check on Howardforums or Turks.

Also G4 Play, also Tracfone BYOP. I, however, did GSM from the getgo to avoid something like this. On my phone, when I installed Lineage, my MEID disappeared entirely (it only shows my IMEI in settings). SIM card reads just fine and APN settings are fine. I do think the initial ROM you installed inhibited the device's ability to read its own MEID (everything hints at these ROMs being made specifically for dual-SIM GSM phones). However, switching to the GSM SIM should have worked, provided you actually transferred your number and didn't just pop the other SIM in (the MEID on the Red "BYOP" card would have needed to be decommissioned).
Here's a thought: Try dialing *22890 on the phone. If it says the phone is programmed for CDMA service, then that could be part of the issue. Also check Settings to see if you have both an MEID and IMEI, or just an IMEI. If your IMEI is 0, then the SIM Card is not being read and they need to ship you a new one.

bw 1 said:
I don't think that's the issue. Did you set an APN for Tracfone? With the GSM SIM, you have to configure the APN.
Tracfone's site says to go to apn.tracfone.com but that site gives an error. I did find this: http://apn-settings.com/tracfone-apn-settings-step-by-step-configuration-guide/
Or you can check on Howardforums or Turks.
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Click to collapse
Just to follow up, I did find the correct web page for Tracfone APN: https://www.tracfone.com/apn

Posting for reference. APN is RESELLER/reseller.

H918 (T-Mobile) - Is it carrier unlocked?

Hi everyone.
I bought a V20 T-Mobile version H918 on eBay. Seller claims it's carrier unlocked. As a precaution, I bought a $10 Red Pocket prepaid SIM card to test it with (because my current phone is CDMA). First, I tested it with Red Pocket's "GSMA" sim card, which uses AT&T's network. When using this SIM, the phone mostly didn't work. Out of 30 tries, I was only able to make a phone call once. All other times, I got no dial tone. And I wasn't able to receive data at all. APN settings were correct, verified with Red Pocket customer service; also tried many other APNs I found on google, but they made no difference.
Next, after doing a factory reset, I tried Red Pocket's "GSMT" SIM card, which uses T-Mobile's network. When using this SIM, all services including calling, texting, mms, and data work perfectly. Although, despite it working, the phone is using the wrong APN (fast.t-mobile.com). This seems to be a hard default setting, and the phone doesn't allow me to select a different APN while this SIM card is inserted.
Red Pocket tells me that an unlocked phone should work fine with either the "GSMA" or the "GSMT" card. So, their advice, together with the fact that the phone isn't letting me change the APN when on T-Mobile's network, leads me to believe it might not be unlocked. How can I know for sure?
Note: IMEI registers as clean in the database. Also, the IMEI in settings, the one shown by dialing *#06#, and the one on the sticker all match.
Thanks!

cyberspectre said:
Hi everyone.
I bought a V20 T-Mobile version H918 on eBay. Seller claims it's carrier unlocked. As a precaution, I bought a $10 Red Pocket prepaid SIM card to test it with (because my current phone is CDMA). First, I tested it with Red Pocket's "GSMA" sim card, which uses AT&T's network. When using this SIM, the phone mostly didn't work. Out of 30 tries, I was only able to make a phone call once. All other times, I got no dial tone. And I wasn't able to receive data at all. APN settings were correct, verified with Red Pocket customer service; also tried many other APNs I found on google, but they made no difference.
Next, after doing a factory reset, I tried Red Pocket's "GSMT" SIM card, which uses T-Mobile's network. When using this SIM, all services including calling, texting, mms, and data work perfectly. Although, despite it working, the phone is using the wrong APN (fast.t-mobile.com). This seems to be a hard default setting, and the phone doesn't allow me to select a different APN while this SIM card is inserted.
Red Pocket tells me that an unlocked phone should work fine with either the "GSMA" or the "GSMT" card. So, their advice, together with the fact that the phone isn't letting me change the APN when on T-Mobile's network, leads me to believe it might not be unlocked. How can I know for sure?
Note: IMEI registers as clean in the database. Also, the IMEI in settings, the one shown by dialing *#06#, and the one on the sticker all match.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it was locked, I don't think it would have accepted the ATT sim at all. You can try playing around with the Device unlock app, but on the first screen it seems to pretty much always claim its locked for me
On my (pretty sure its unlocked, havn't stuck another sim in it almost since I got it months ago)
H918 that's running on a T-Mobile (proper, not mvno) sim I can freely add and switch between APNs
Keep in mind that the H918 isn't going to be good on ATT's network.

Phoenix591 said:
If it was locked, I don't think it would have accepted the ATT sim at all. You can try playing around with the Device unlock app, but on the first screen it seems to pretty much always claim its locked for me
On my (pretty sure its unlocked, havn't stuck another sim in it almost since I got it months ago)
H918 that's running on a T-Mobile (proper, not mvno) sim I can freely add and switch between APNs
Keep in mind that the H918 isn't going to be good on ATT's network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. You're saying if it were still locked, it would give an error message with the AT&T SIM?

cyberspectre said:
Thanks for the reply. You're saying if it were still locked, it would give an error message with the AT&T SIM?
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Click to collapse
right, if it were locked, you wouldn't even get 1/30 phone calls to work, you'd get like invalid sim or something. Locked means it wouldn't even try to use the other sim.
Happend to find a video of someone with a simlocked h918 unlocking it, it shows networked locked where the carrier name goes.

Phoenix591 said:
If it was locked, I don't think it would have accepted the ATT sim at all. You can try playing around with the Device unlock app, but on the first screen it seems to pretty much always claim its locked for me
On my (pretty sure its unlocked, havn't stuck another sim in it almost since I got it months ago)
H918 that's running on a T-Mobile (proper, not mvno) sim I can freely add and switch between APNs
Keep in mind that the H918 isn't going to be good on ATT's network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Phoenix591 said:
right, if it were locked, you wouldn't even get 1/30 phone calls to work, you'd get like invalid sim or something. Locked means it wouldn't even try to use the other sim.
Happend to find a video of someone with a simlocked h918 unlocking it, it shows networked locked where the carrier name goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll take your word for it. Time to take off the wrapper! Thanks