Looking at purchasing the unlocked US997 G6 from Amazon Prime (with lockscreen ads) As far as i know, it comes with a US warranty. Does that sound correct?
I've read that when I go to connect this phone to AT&T, I will not have all the "features" that someone who had purchased through the carrier gets. True?
Will I have WiFi calling, and VoLTE? Will I be missing out on anything else, or will the unlocked, non-AT&T-branded phone get everything that carrier purchased phones get?
Is it true that the unlocked version has no email client, and no notification light? What other things does AT&T overlay that I won't be getting?
Can i assume that OS updates that the carrier pushes out won't work on my non-branded version?
Later, if I like, can I somehow install the AT&T overlay OS onto my phone and take advantage of carrier updates, and missing "features" if any?
Related
Anyone using an unlocked T-mobile S7 with an AT&T Sim? Do you get full LTE? Any difference in signal strength, etc?
Just curious. Im about to trade my S7 edge for a regular S7 cause I like the smaller size, but it's an unlocked t-mobile model. I know they both use the same bands so it should work fine. Just wondering about anyone else's experience. Thanks.
I'm using an unlocked T-Mobile on AT&T. I don't have any signal problems. I, however, cannot get volte to work. I'm in the process of looking to see if anyone has been able to maybe flash AT&T firmware onto a T-Mobile variant, or if we might be able to flash the stock firmware and use an ATT CSC to gain volte. I also don't get notifications from visual voicemail but visual voicemail does work. The notification comes through like a standard voicemail notification and then I have to open the VVM app and refresh to see the new message.
Thanks for the reply. Good to know. I don't use the volte actually I have it turned off because I seem to drop more calls with it on then with it off. But yeah if an AT&T stock fw could be flashed to it I think the tmo model would be preferable to me.
Is there any way at all to get Wi-Fi calling on an S5 with Verizon?
I bought a new S5 to replace my existing one because I thought Verizon brought that to the S5 some time ago, or so I heard online.
But the phone came with Android 5.0 build# DONGCHAO.A816 with a 15xxxx CID and no sign of Wi-Fi calling.
So my understanding is that the 15xxx CID allows unlocking the bootloader, from there is there any update I can move to with Wi-Fi calling (preferably also root)?
Or even another ROM, like CM? Or is it strictly locked out by Verizon?
Did I jump the gun and buy a phone that isn't going to do what I need?
I was wondering if like Sony and Samsung devices, if it's possible to completely debrand a G6 to enable Wifi calling and VoLTE on a specific network's branded software? I know the G5 left the original operator's customisation files (unless rooting to change the cust folder) but has this changed with the G6?
Haven't bought the phone yet but seen an unlocked one which obviously wouldn't have network branded software.
Thanks.
Not sure of the purpose of this. So you want a completely unbranded phone and then want to install a specific network's software for wifi calling and VoLTE? If so, why not buy the phone from that network? Example: I bought an unlocked T-Mobile phone (on Amazon, not directly from T-Mobile) that can be used on any network, but contained T-Mobile software. I disabled what I didn't need. I am on T-Mobile anyway so I can use their wifi calling app.
patruns said:
Not sure of the purpose of this. So you want a completely unbranded phone and then want to install a specific network's software for wifi calling and VoLTE? If so, why not buy the phone from that network? Example: I bought an unlocked T-Mobile phone (on Amazon, not directly from T-Mobile) that can be used on any network, but contained T-Mobile software. I disabled what I didn't need. I am on T-Mobile anyway so I can use their wifi calling app.
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Purpose is that a second hand unlocked phone is much cheaper than one branded to the network at the moment.
wifi calling is mostly junk and over-rated feature. I know of no phones that can do a decent handoff in the event that wifi signal drops out of range then the phone wants to continue the call on LTE but if your LTE signal is already weak the call will just drop. Happened to me all the time so I just disable it and all the HD voice garbage too. Forcing back to the old 4G network thats now less congested than its ever been!
Admittedly wi-fi calling has only come in useful a handful of times, but the 4G calling feature has worked for me in a few places where 2G/3G is patchy. Guess I could do without it though.
Install Google Voice, hangouts, and hangouts dialer. Then you can use Wi-Fi or data calling in any phone or any rom.
I'm using a US997(16a) in Verizon and it works fine.
Spookymyo said:
Install Google Voice, hangouts, and hangouts dialer. Then you can use Wi-Fi or data calling in any phone or any rom.
I'm using a US997(16a) in Verizon and it works fine.
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Thanks, had those installed on my G5 but never used them. Will give it a go.
I switched from an S7 Edge, on which I was able to change the CSC Code and get features different Canadian Carriers had to offer. The particular one I was interested in was VoLTE(Video/Voice over LTE) video calling was the main feature I wanted to keep. That's why when I switched to the G6, I made sure it was from Rogers so I can continue to use that feature. It's pretty sweet... great quality video calling without using any data
I wish LG had a feature like this too, where you can change carrier settings on unlocked phones. It would be helpful
It would indeed be helpful! I guess I managed fine without the features before and it's not a huge loss but wi-fi calling definitely came in handy at a couple of places I used to work at.
IME Samsung and Sony phones were fairly easy to fully change carrier firmwares on and I remember HTCs being a pain (not sure what they're like now). But LGs seem to be able to debrand 90% of the firmware but still leave enough of a trace of the original software to block off a couple of features, which is slightly annoying. Ah well
I recently bought used Sprint Samsung Galaxy S7. It turned out the phone is locked to Sprint and is on bootloader v5. I called Sprint but they refused to unlock it even though it is paid in full because I am not the owner of the account that phone is associated with. I bought it from an electronics recycling company, so they cannot help with this. I would like to use it with a gsm carrier, like ATT or T-Mobile. What are my options here? Can the phone be unlocked by third-party? Even if unlocked, can the necessary bands and other settings be made available? Any hacks that trip KNOX are unfortunately not acceptable in my case (it seems putting U firmware with BL5 will trip KNOX).
IMEIGURUS.COM should have a carrier unlock for you. not saying its free.
That is fine but after it is unlocked would I be able to use it with t-mobile or att without issues? I read a lot about LTE frequencies locked, missing menus to set APNs, etc.
It is fine if the answer to my original question is to simply get rid of the phone. I am already considering this, as I naively thought that all it would need is a call to Sprint to unlock it and then flashing the U firmware.
grga1 said:
That is fine but after it is unlocked would I be able to use it with t-mobile or att without issues? I read a lot about LTE frequencies locked, missing menus to set APNs, etc.
It is fine if the answer to my original question is to simply get rid of the phone. I am already considering this, as I naively thought that all it would need is a call to Sprint to unlock it and then flashing the U firmware.
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There is a thread here about unlocking additional LTE bands.
So, after reading through several different threads on several sites, the only DEFINITE answer to getting wifi calling on an unlocked S8, even after rooting, flashing, etc. is that you still need to get an IMEI from an ATT branded S8 in order to get the wifi calling, volte, hdaudio, etc. that come with a ATT branded S8??? Has anyone had permanent success flashing the ATT Branded firmware to a unlocked ATT S8 getting wifi calling, etc. to work without having to get a new IMEI? Don't want to have to go through the pains of having to return my unlocked S8, paying the stocking fee (if required) and paying the additional $100 or more for the ATT branded phone. Thank you in advance.
I called AT&T and switched my IMEI to an AT&T S7, but as soon as I connected my unbranded S8 the system automatically switched back to saying I had an unrecognized phone. I don't know what would have happened if I'd used the IMEI from an AT&T S8, because I don't have access to one.