Just got a SM-G965F, and I'm on AT&T. I can text and call, but I have no internet access.
They said it was because the IMEI wasn't in their system - and because the phone is from another country, it will take them 2-3 weeks (!) to add the non-US IMEI to their system. They told me that part of the reason they had to do it this way was because this phone wasn't compatible with their network.
Has anyone else had this happen? Did the person I spoke to take the wrong route with this?
Update:
I spoke with a second rep. They confirmed that because this is an international device, the IMEI falls outside the IMEI range that AT&T's database covers. As a result, their system says it's an unknown device (no idea what type of device this is, no idea who the manufacturer is, no idea what O/S it is, no idea what capabilities it has) and sets it up for the absolute most basic service, and thus, no data.
However, they were able to do something that the first rep didn't. They created a fake IMEI that approximates my phone's capabilities so that I can get temporary access while I wait for their back-end office to do it properly. Once their back-end office finishes setting up my actual IMEI, they'll need to reassociate it with the SIM again.
But at least I now have data! (as well as LTE, which I didn't before)
I'll leave this here for anyone else who has the same issue.
Haphim said:
Just got a SM-G965F, and I'm on AT&T. I can text and call, but I have no internet access.
They said it was because the IMEI wasn't in their system - and because the phone is from another country, it will take them 2-3 weeks (!) to add the non-US IMEI to their system. They told me that part of the reason they had to do it this way was because this phone wasn't compatible with their network.
Has anyone else had this happen? Did the person I spoke to take the wrong route with this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to make sure, have you checked that the APN is set up correctly? I have never used AT&T but I feel like it shouldn't have anything to do with the IMEI.
YrrchSebor said:
Just to make sure, have you checked that the APN is set up correctly? I have never used AT&T but I feel like it shouldn't have anything to do with the IMEI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I can't read the default APN details, but the name is the correct one.
did you have "mobile data" under mobile network setting check?
randy_c said:
did you have "mobile data" under mobile network setting check?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
As an update, I spoke to someone else. They confirmed that because this is an international device, the IMEI falls outside the IMEI range that AT&T's database covers. As a result, their system says it's an unknown device (no idea who the manufacturer is, no idea what O/S it is, no idea what capabilities it has) and sets it up for the absolute most basic service, and thus, no data.
However, what the second rep was able to do was to create a fake IMEI that approximates my phone's capabilities so that I can get temporary access while I wait for their back-end office to do it properly. Once they finish setting it up, they'll need to reassociate the correct IMEI with the SIM again.
But at least I now have data!
<deleted>
Related
Hi everyone
so today my tmobile galaxy s2 decides to not receive any signal from my carrier. In addition, the flight mode cannot be turned off.
Did some research and turns out my phone could be locked due to 3 reasons and the only possible explanation i can think of it is blacklisted due to "lost or stolen"
I bought this phone off craiglist.
When I thought all hope is lost and time to buy another phone.. i did a factory reset and wipe cache, and now my phone has signal again. So to all the experts out there.. what does my case mean??
My phone just wanted me to suffer today or this is a temp fix and tmobile will soon catch on and block my signal again??
THANK YOU everyonee
Based on your past posts (in the Vibrant section), it seems you are a T-Mobile USA user. In which case, your Galaxy SII is actually the SGH-T989, not the GT-I9100. You're in the wrong section.
SGH-T989 forum here.
EDIT: actually, since you got the thing off craigslist, maybe you DO have an i9100. Either way, check for your model number on the label under the battery.
perhaps re-insert the sim-card
even though carriers are able to deactivate the phone service for you i never heard of any carrier being remotely interested of offering that service to customers who lost their phone or even the police. the police would not even bother to take action for such a low value object
v1rtu4l said:
perhaps re-insert the sim-card
even though carriers are able to deactivate the phone service for you i never heard of any carrier being remotely interested of offering that service to customers who lost their phone or even the police. the police would not even bother to take action for such a low value object
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Recently I stumbled upon an article for US legislating a law that will force the carrier to deactivate signal reception for phone (like the one in EU) if the one is reported stolen by the police (I had a friend who bought a stolen phone and the police came knocking on his door). I know for a fact that "blacklisting" is done based on the IMEI number of the phone (which you can not alter with) so to be honest I don't have a clue what could be the problem/solution in your case.
lazi punk said:
Hi everyone
so today my tmobile galaxy s2 decides to not receive any signal from my carrier. In addition, the flight mode cannot be turned off.
Did some research and turns out my phone could be locked due to 3 reasons and the only possible explanation i can think of it is blacklisted due to "lost or stolen"
I bought this phone off craiglist.
When I thought all hope is lost and time to buy another phone.. i did a factory reset and wipe cache, and now my phone has signal again. So to all the experts out there.. what does my case mean??
My phone just wanted me to suffer today or this is a temp fix and tmobile will soon catch on and block my signal again??
THANK YOU everyonee
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I once had a loss of signal for a full day and tried all the bloody things I could think off only to find the next day the carrier had a problem / updating they bandwidth or something :/
So unless it happens again ..my guess is you should be just fine
[email protected] said:
Recently I stumbled upon an article for US legislating a law that will force the carrier to deactivate signal reception for phone (like the one in EU) if the one is reported stolen by the police (I had a friend who bought a stolen phone and the police came knocking on his door). I know for a fact that "blacklisting" is done based on the IMEI number of the phone (which you can not alter with) so to be honest I don't have a clue what could be the problem/solution in your case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unless it was blacklisted blocked based on IMEI and by fluke, when he updated the rom he corrupted his EFS folder.. Go into 'about phone' in settings. if the IMEI is listed and correct for the handset, and you have data and phone signal then your phone is not blocked for lost or stolen... More likely the phone has an intermitent fault hence why it was on sale on craigslist.... Use it, if the problem resurfaces come back on here...
v1rtu4l said:
perhaps re-insert the sim-card
even though carriers are able to deactivate the phone service for you i never heard of any carrier being remotely interested of offering that service to customers who lost their phone or even the police. the police would not even bother to take action for such a low value object
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you will be surprised how well the carriers are informed and trying to stop thievery. Orange and Tmobile are teaming up to share their database
[email protected] said:
Recently I stumbled upon an article for US legislating a law that will force the carrier to deactivate signal reception for phone (like the one in EU) if the one is reported stolen by the police (I had a friend who bought a stolen phone and the police came knocking on his door). I know for a fact that "blacklisting" is done based on the IMEI number of the phone (which you can not alter with) so to be honest I don't have a clue what could be the problem/solution in your case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tfn said:
I once had a loss of signal for a full day and tried all the bloody things I could think off only to find the next day the carrier had a problem / updating they bandwidth or something :/
So unless it happens again ..my guess is you should be just fine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that cant be my issue because my girlfriends signal was working fine and when i plug my sim in her 4g phone. It works..
helppme said:
unless it was blacklisted blocked based on IMEI and by fluke, when he updated the rom he corrupted his EFS folder.. Go into 'about phone' in settings. if the IMEI is listed and correct for the handset, and you have data and phone signal then your phone is not blocked for lost or stolen... More likely the phone has an intermitent fault hence why it was on sale on craigslist.... Use it, if the problem resurfaces come back on here...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are probably right.. Something slightly wrong with the phoen thats why the owner was tryign to get rid of it!
lazi punk said:
you will be surprised how well the carriers are informed and trying to stop thievery. Orange and Tmobile are teaming up to share their database
that cant be my issue because my girlfriends signal was working fine and when i plug my sim in her 4g phone. It works..
You are probably right.. Something slightly wrong with the phoen thats why the owner was tryign to get rid of it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noted you quoted everyone else's reply but mine. ARE YOU SURE IT IS AN I9100 AND NOT AN SGH-T989?
EDIT to add: I should also note: if you are, indeed, a T-mobile USA user, and if it IS, in fact an I9100, then you will not ever get T-mobile's "4g" speeds with the phone. The I9100 doesn't have the required hardware antenna to receive one of the two necessary bands to get high speed mobile data on that network.
If it is an SGH-T989, on the other hand, then you are in the wrong forum. The T-mobile USA Galaxy SII has completely different hardware from the GT-I9100, and thus has a separate forum.
A while back one of my customers found a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S2 at a bus stop which she handed in at the local police station. Last week she went back to see if it had been claimed and it had not so the police released the phone to my customer to keep as her own property.
She was aware that it was blocked but wanted to give it to her child to use as an android game device but when she told me about it I said I would have a look at it for her to check it was defiantly blocked.
On trying all network SIM cards I could only get the 'Emergency calls Only' notice. I did a Checkmend report and the device was still listed as stolen and blocked (the police have given her entitlement paperwork for the phone which I have seen) so I guessed it would be out of the question ever being able to use it as a phone again.
I decided to root the phone anyway and install a CM stock ROM. I then also installed the 'Galaxy S Unlock' APK and zero'd out the lock codes. I then tried all the SIM cards again with the same results as before.
After some browsing on the internet I download an APK called 'HC-kTool' and installed it. I then backed up my kernel and EFS folder to my SD card before hitting the advanced key and deleting my current installed EFS folder.
I turned off the phone, wrote down my IMEI number from behind the battery and inserted a Vodafone SIM card.
When the phone rebooted I got a full Vodafone signal and rang my home number, and it rang!
I then dialled *#06# and noticed my IMEI number has changed to something entirely different.
The phone has been connected over an hour now, I have not tried any other SIM as yet but I don't doubt it is unlocked and working on all networks now.
I read something briefly about T-mobile using a non-standard (I think) network system and deleting the EFS folder has the Samsung software revert it back to a non-T-mobile modified one. this could be totally wrong though...
Can anyone throw some light on this?
Is the imei 04999010....?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Most likely a silly network that doesn't block the dummy Samsung "default" IMEI...
MemoryController said:
Is the imei 04999010....?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed it is. I thought that IMEI wasn't supposed to work to make calls?
Odder n odder!
Yeah had the dummy imei too and didnt notice until 2 weeks or so had passed, thankfully i had a backup from a year or so
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
MemoryController said:
Yeah had the dummy imei too and didnt notice until 2 weeks or so had passed, thankfully i had a backup from a year or so
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So are there any negatives to using the dummy IMEI then? Also, if I edit the hex of the nv_data_bin files from the backup of the original IMEI can I change it to anything I please?
I dont think you can do that as it would be stupid from samny's side but try(after taking an efs backup). AFAIK no negatives except that some providers will block this IMEI
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
MemoryController said:
I dont think you can do that as it would be stupid from samny's side but try(after taking an efs backup). AFAIK no negatives except that some providers will block this IMEI
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have dumped the efs of the default Samsung and will compare the hex in hex workshop against the original dump. I'm guessing the main file here being the nv_data_bin.
While it is good news for my customer that this ex-stolen phone now works on Vodafone I don't think it is very responsible of Vodafone to allow default IMEI numbers to connect to their network. If I had my phone stolen I wouldn't like to think that the thief could potentially use it again.
Yes mine too was allowed on Vodafone after getting the dummy IMEI
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
I remember reading some time ago that although illegal in allot of country's if you were able to change a phones IMEI number so as to connect to a network it would still not be a worthwhile effort as if the fake IMEI was the same as that on another phone you would get the other phones text messages and calls mixed up with yours.
I always had doubts about that as it made more sense that calls and texts would be sent to the phone broadcasting the correct SIM number ID. But I was assured by people much more experienced in this stuff than I that the IMEI was a more secure method of ID'ing the correct device to send secure DATA to.
So if this is true, surely that would mean I am the only person on the planet using the default Samsung IMEI number as I have had no odd text messages or phone calls since I got this phone. (I am now the owner as I swapped it for an 8GB iPod Touch!)
Anyone can un-confuse me here!
imei change
hi im a noob did u yave any luck with the chang of inei? i have a phone that i thot i lost over 2 years ago but its been blocked i tried all the things u said the imei changed but still wont let the o2 card register on the network any more help you could offer? its a samsung galaxy s2 it is locked to the 3 network i have rooted it
sparkyuiop said:
A while back one of my customers found a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S2 at a bus stop which she handed in at the local police station. Last week she went back to see if it had been claimed and it had not so the police released the phone to my customer to keep as her own property.
She was aware that it was blocked but wanted to give it to her child to use as an android game device but when she told me about it I said I would have a look at it for her to check it was defiantly blocked.
On trying all network SIM cards I could only get the 'Emergency calls Only' notice. I did a Checkmend report and the device was still listed as stolen and blocked (the police have given her entitlement paperwork for the phone which I have seen) so I guessed it would be out of the question ever being able to use it as a phone again.
I decided to root the phone anyway and install a CM stock ROM. I then also installed the 'Galaxy S Unlock' APK and zero'd out the lock codes. I then tried all the SIM cards again with the same results as before.
After some browsing on the internet I download an APK called 'HC-kTool' and installed it. I then backed up my kernel and EFS folder to my SD card before hitting the advanced key and deleting my current installed EFS folder.
I turned off the phone, wrote down my IMEI number from behind the battery and inserted a Vodafone SIM card.
When the phone rebooted I got a full Vodafone signal and rang my home number, and it rang!
I then dialled *#06# and noticed my IMEI number has changed to something entirely different.
The phone has been connected over an hour now, I have not tried any other SIM as yet but I don't doubt it is unlocked and working on all networks now.
I read something briefly about T-mobile using a non-standard (I think) network system and deleting the EFS folder has the Samsung software revert it back to a non-T-mobile modified one. this could be totally wrong though...
Can anyone throw some light on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the donkey said:
hi im a noob did u yave any luck with the chang of inei..:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know the default Samsung IMEI number will only work on the Vodafone network. If you have rooted your S2 then there is an app in the Google Play store that will unlock your phone to all networks. Search for 'Samsung Unlock' and you will find it. If not there are plenty of ways to unlock it for free that you can find here on XDA.
I'm pretty sure you won't get it working on any other network without changing the IMEI which is incredibly difficult, not worth the cost of the equipment you would need and of course illegal in most country's carrying a very real prison sentence. XDA and other cell phone development communities will rightly not tolerate IMEI changing discussions and almost always permanently ban members should they attempt it so that is as much as I will discuss that!
Another thing I found recently was a company offering to 'De-Blacklist' phones to certain networks that were on the UK blacklist. At first I thought this must be illegal as if it wasn't it would make a mockery of the entire blacklisting principle, i.e prevention of crime. However more and more companies are offering this service and nothing seems to be preventing any of them from doing so. There are two UK based phone unlocking / modding businesses with a huge reputation online that are also doing it now too.
If anyone knows what that is about please enlighten me. No amount of probing I did had any of the companies reveal any of the methods to me!
I had an iPhone 4 that was IMEI blocked (found in a skip by a charity shop - checkmend reported not stolen) de-barred to 'EE / Orange' 5 days after paying about £50 to http://www.beijingiphonerepair.com/store/#!/~/category/id=4425106&offset=0&sort=normal
IMEI
If you were not cautious enough and you did not saved your efs directory before you made changes or ROM updates to your phone, then its possible that your phone "forget" your IMEI. So if you need to re-write your ORIGINAL IMEI back to that phone that its belong to, then its not a crime!!! There is an online program that can do that for around 4 EUR, 5-6 USD. If you are a half experienced browser user, you can find it by searching the keywords.
Although there is an easier way that you go to your provider and ask them to restore your phone IMEI, they can do that for you. If your wise enough, you put back your Original ROM, and zero the counter of ROM changes. As here in XDA you can find these methodes I wont give you any links, you can find it by yourself.
So, changing the IMEI is illegal in many countries but put back the original IMEI to the phone where it belongs is not!
UFF
To the OP.
Did you experience loss of functionality at all?
Someone i know followed what you did on a barred s2.
It now connects to virgins network but she can no longer switch on Bluetooth.
It tries to start then Bluetooth flicks over to off again.
Looking in phone details reveal that Bluetooth address is listed as unavailable.
Everything else seems to work fine.
sheffieldlad said:
To the OP.
Did you experience loss of functionality at all?
Someone i know followed what you did on a barred s2.
It now connects to virgins network but she can no longer switch on Bluetooth.
It tries to start then Bluetooth flicks over to off again.
Looking in phone details reveal that Bluetooth address is listed as unavailable.
Everything else seems to work fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quick update, my friend tells me virgin seems to have blocked the imei now.
Ok so I (foolishly) bought a galaxy s4 with verizon even though I was moving overseas to Israel in two months. I made sure that the phone was world capable (like it can do cdma and gsm) and the guy at the store said it would handle foreign sims no problem. Once I arrived here I got a new sim. I figured out that it needed to be in gsm. From then on it had the service bar and confirmed it was connected to Orange. Since then I have been able to receive calls and texts, but not make them, every time I try to make a call before one ring I get a prerecorded message saying that my number cant be completed as dialed. I have tried several things already to fix this: to a cell phone repair person, to the local sim carrier where a lady tried using the sim of her own phone, customer service at verizon and samsung (who both told me to go see the other). I also did a factory reset which didnt do anything.
my phone is not rooted and is schi545 ME7. I will root if I have to, but if I dont I would prefer not to for the time being
Anyway I suspect the problem has something to do with the fact that I got the phone from verizon. Every time I start the phone I get the Verizon logo and after a minute I get a notification from the verizon set up wizard saying that I have a non verizon sim and that the sims source is unknown. I also tried disabling the verizon security and was able to make the notification go away but the problem persists.
Can someone with experience with this kind of stuff help me please? Thank you so very much:good:
Are you sim unlocked? I don't think the phone is unlocked. Talk to verizon to see if they'll unlock it.
According to verizon I am. I spoke with multiple representives from verizon and they said the phone was unlocked
medphratalon said:
According to verizon I am. I spoke with multiple representives from verizon and they said the phone was unlocked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has any one told you if you have to change any apn, access point name? That may be the problem too. They can be specific to the carrier.
No, how do you configure that
medphratalon said:
No, how do you configure that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In system settings, network & wireless, more, mobile networks, access point name. It'll be specific to the carrier so i can't help you there.
all LTE Verizon phones after Galaxy Note 2 are factory unlocked it must be a APN issue. Try maybe to do a factory reset and as previous poster suggested do the steps he told you to change the APN or look into I think it's called HiApn in Play Store.
Also try to put it in global mode or GSM? play with the settings.
still having problems
Thanks for all the input everyone but my problem still persists
I downloaded HiApn and followed its instructions to which told me to set up 3 Apns. I noticed that only one of them can be active at the time. I tried with each one active and I still can not make phone calls. Does anyone have any other ideas?
medphratalon said:
Ok so I (foolishly) bought a galaxy s4 with verizon even though I was moving overseas to Israel in two months. I made sure that the phone was world capable (like it can do cdma and gsm) and the guy at the store said it would handle foreign sims no problem. Once I arrived here I got a new sim. I figured out that it needed to be in gsm. From then on it had the service bar and confirmed it was connected to Orange. Since then I have been able to receive calls and texts, but not make them, every time I try to make a call before one ring I get a prerecorded message saying that my number cant be completed as dialed. I have tried several things already to fix this: to a cell phone repair person, to the local sim carrier where a lady tried using the sim of her own phone, customer service at verizon and samsung (who both told me to go see the other). I also did a factory reset which didnt do anything.
my phone is not rooted and is schi545 ME7. I will root if I have to, but if I dont I would prefer not to for the time being
Anyway I suspect the problem has something to do with the fact that I got the phone from verizon. Every time I start the phone I get the Verizon logo and after a minute I get a notification from the verizon set up wizard saying that I have a non verizon sim and that the sims source is unknown. I also tried disabling the verizon security and was able to make the notification go away but the problem persists.
Can someone with experience with this kind of stuff help me please? Thank you so very much:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to Setting, call setting, disable the prefix international. I have done the same for using Verizon S4 in Indonesia.
Mine was not unlocked either, although I knew this before buying. This is a guide I tried (without success) to unlock it on my own.
Like the last poster, I reside in Indonesia, but I was never with Verizon. I rooted mine and have had no problems since.
Ok so I went to call settings and the closest I found was assisted dialing for international calls and the option to turn it on or off. I played with that for a bit and it didnt work.
I also tried the code and it said connection problem or invalid code
during my fiddling I came upon an app that showed promise of fixing my problem if I had adb shell. Does anyone have a good place to get that? I tried a few that didnt work out for me. There was another that showed promise but it wouldnt send a package no matter what I try
Thanks
If you want ADB, you need to download Android SDK and have Java Runtime Environment also installed. Then, it is just a matter of typing in "adb" into the command prompt of Windows.
Is there a serious conflict for you not rooting the device? The true benefit of doing this is to get SIM cards from anywhere to work, and to allow certain apps to work. Rooting is simply a matter of bypassing security parameters. As long as you follow instructions strictly, you won't have an issue using the phone as it should be used.
yea I suppose I could try to root it. Im just not great at that stuff and am worried about messing up my phone permanately
medphratalon said:
yea I suppose I could try to root it. Im just not great at that stuff and am worried about messing up my phone permanately
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to root. You need to sim unlock. Get a hold of att international chat and adj them for an unlock code.
Hey guys thanks for all the help but I figured out that it was just a bad sim all along and that the first school screwed me over
But everything works now
As the title says, my data and incoming texts aren't working. Sending txts works and calling works fine. For data I am getting a verizon access page whenever I try to go anywhere. I have Selectel and they have said that everything is fine on their end. I did just renew and they send a renewal txt when you renew and I did get that txt but have received nothing else.
There wasn't any change that precipitated this that I know of. Just woke up one day and poof, half the stuff is broken. I just tried reinstalling a rom but that had no affect. I am not sure what to do or check.
If Selectel is CDMA you should consider going to a GSM prepaid carrier. It requires no flashing. I used to have all my phone's flashed to Boost until I would lose my profile set for various reasons , usually if I was unlocking the boot loader. You need to check your settings ->about screen to see if your number is still listed for the phone. If it's something funky or all zeroes your data profile got reset somehow.
xlxcrossing said:
If Selectel is CDMA you should consider going to a GSM prepaid carrier. It requires no flashing. I used to have all my phone's flashed to Boost until I would lose my profile set for various reasons , usually if I was unlocking the boot loader. You need to check your settings ->about screen to see if your number is still listed for the phone. If it's something funky or all zeroes your data profile got reset somehow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as nice as that would be, including faster data, my need right now is for an inexpensive plan on the network with the best coverage. Thats Verizon, period. So a Verizon MVNO is really my only choice. Where I live none of the other networks really come all that close. I get out and push the boundaries often enough that its what I need. Besides that, For a $30 a month plan, nothing else that I have seen really matches Selectel's value in terms of minutes, txts, and data.
As for my number showing in the settings, its in there, just as it should be.
I understand, I had Boost w/shrinkage @$35 and wasn't very happy about giving that up but the stress and headaches of paying someone $60-$75 dollars EACH time I needed a flash was bleeding me dry. Often times my 3G stopped working and I'd have to contact the guy to reflash, then the phone wouldn't connect properly to my computer yada yada. Sounds like you are fine with Selectel so cheers to you but fyi when you have a flashed phone it makes it almost impossible to get support with it too from the carrier because they have all the original device ID #'s for the phone you are using not the ones that were changed. Boost told me the exact thing Selectel is telling you the last time my 3G stopped working and I would get a browser message saying I needed to fill my account, which by the way wasn't true. They told me everything was fine on their end.
New to this, but I'll try to explain the best I can.
I've talked to tech support from my old carrier, my new carrier, and Samsung for about 15 hours total. I'm getting absolutely no where.
I purchased a Samsung Galaxy A20 from Spectrum mobile 3 months ago. I ended my service with them and switched to Red Pocket mobile when they had their black friday / cyber monday sim kit deal.
When I activated and ported my number over to Red Pocket I thought there was an issue with the number port.
But going back and forth with customer service they couldn't figure out what was wrong, as my account was activated and they confirmed that they now owned my phone number.
Eventually I realized my device was still locked with Spectrum. They provided me with an unlock code which did not work. They suggested using the unfreeze code which worked, my device said accepted/unlocked.
Phone works, can make calls and send text messages. However,I cannot access data.
My network operator still says Spectrum, and my Access Point name says charter (Spectrum's APN).
I cannot select the Add button, or the Reset to Default button in Access Point Names.
I took this to mean that my device was still locked since the unlock code did not work.
I thought the unfreeze code was specifically for if you attempt too many unlock codes and it locks you out of making more attempts.
That was my understanding, that the purpose of the unfreeze code is to enable you to make more attempts with the unlock code.
Again, I'm not really sure.
But regardless, Spectrum insists that despite it saying that my device is still locked according to their information, that the only way for it to say unlocked on their end is if i actually connect to my new provider, but that they have done everything on their end and that my device is unlocked and I should be able to connect to my new provider.
FUNNY right... in their records it says my device is still locked, but that that's not really accurate, and that it should be unlocked.
However, I have Red Pocket's SIM in my phone. And I can place and receive calls/texts. Spectrum and Red Pocket both use CDMA, so that makes sense to me. But since I am routing through Spectrum still, and I am unable to Add Red Pocket's Access Point Name in my phone, I cannot connect to Data / LTE.
From what I've explained here, do you all feel like my device is truly unlocked?
What is the best way for me to bypass this? How do I get my phone to switch from Spectrum's Access Point Name to Red Pocket's Access Point Name so that I can access Data/LTE ??
Thank you for taking the time to read my plight, and I appreciate any assistance anyone can give me with this.
I am not sure if attempting to root my phone or messing around with those kinds of settings will fix anything. I am not familiar with how to do that, but I will try anything at this point.
I have the A20 under MetroPCS still locked to their network. I can add APN's to it. So not sure why you are having this problem.
Medfordite said:
I have the A20 under MetroPCS still locked to their network. I can add APN's to it. So not sure why you are having this problem.
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My thoughts exactly. Very strange why I am not able to add APNs.
I talked to a Samsung representative who suggested that it is probably either a software issue or the firmware installed by Spectrum.
When I told the Samsung representative that they assured me that my phone is unlocked (although I don't believe they even know what they're talking about since it is listed as locked in their system), he even went as far as to say that my device may be SIM unlocked, but they may have installed some sort of firmware on their phone that locks the Access Point Name to their server forcing the user to stay with them. Thus the phone will be able to take a new SIM, but it won't do the user any good since the firmware installed on the phone will not allow the user to connect to any other provider's Access Point.
I asked the Samsung representative if it was even legal for them to do that? He said it wouldn't surprise him as corporate giants such as Charter try to monopolize markets. He then went on to tell me that Charter took over as the internet provider in his area about a year ago and no longer has any other internet service providers in his area to choose from.
But again, I don't know if this is actually the case. But does anyone have any thoughts about what is going on or any suggestions as to what other things I can try to do to get connected to my new provider?
A quick update in case anyone in the future is wondering about my issue.
So after talking with another Spectrum customer service representative I have discovered that although my device was SIM unlocked over 2 weeks ago, my device is still carrier locked. They put an initial request for a carrier unlock over 2 weeks ago. Then after calling technical support a few days after that they had put in another request for the carrier unlock. A couple of days ago the representative I talked to went through all of the previous activity logs with my phone and discovered that the carrier unlock kept getting stuck on the end process of unlocking. He opened up another case for me (this will be the fifth ticket created for my account), but I expressed my concerns and doubts with him that it will accomplish anything.
I explained to him that if the issue can not be resolved on their end that I am pretty much out of luck. Since I have discovered on several forums that the Samsung A20 US version cannot be rooted, so there is no way to unlock the bootloader and install Samsung factory firmware to bypass the carrier locked APN on my own. I explained to him that if there was a way for me to do it I wouldn't even be calling, and I would have fixed the issue myself. However, since I am pretty much out of ideas to get my phone to work with my new carrier on my own and Spectrum can't seem to figure out how to carrier unlock my device even though they are LEGALLY REQUIRED to do so, that I am pretty much just about to give up and sell this device as a carrier locked phone on Swappa. He said yeah that's probably what I would do too at this point..
I said LOL, yeah but the problem there is I spent over $200 on this phone that I was only able to use for 2 months, and if I go that route I will likely only be able to get $50 for it.
He said yeah I can understand that that's frustrating, but I really don't see any other options you really have.
They also refuse to provide me with any sort of compensation even though clearly the mistake is on their end.
Bottom line.
NEVER BUY A PHONE FROM CHARTER / SPECTRUM.
Considering their business practices I would never buy phone service / internet service / any service they offer in the future, and would highly advise everyone else from ever purchasing anything from them in the future.