Hi Guys,
Long story short I'm a long time Sprint customer getting ready to bail. There is a new MVNO using TMO's network launching in September and I'm in the pre-release and get my SIM later this week.
I picked up my Note Friday night after several days of searching. Also picked up a SimpleMobile SIM and a one month card so I could play with it as much as possible and confirm it unlocked before receiving my new SIM here shortly.
I made a request to T-Mobile as I paid full retail and according to their website if you do that from an Authorized Dealer you would be eligible for an unlock code. Gal was very nice on the phone and seemed to understand the process. The next morning prior to receiving the confirmation email from TMO I dropped in the SimpleMobile SIM and it booted right up and never prompted for an unlock code. I changed the MMS and APN to SM's settings from their website and it's worked perfectly.
Today I received the email from TMO saying that they couldn't approve the unlock request until I made a new request including all the required info (predominately my TMO Phone Number and Account Number). I've never been a TMO customer and as such don't have that. Gal at Customer Service said I didn't need it.
Now I wonder what's up, is the phone already unlocked hence the non-issue using the SimpleMobile SIM? Is this going to bite me in the butt later?
Coming from Sprint and the ESN system it's a whole different world and you can move phones to another account if the ESN is clean but doesn't have to be unlocked but they cannot unlock the phone to take to Verizon for example. So this is my first foray into the GSM world.
Thanks!
Just fyi your phone is still Carrier locked. Exemption with simple mobile, any TMobile phone would work with simple mobile without unlocking. Since they use the TMobile network they don't need to have the phones unlocked in order to work properly.
In order to get the phone unlocked there are different ways on doing it. If you had an account with TMobile they'll unlock it for free but since you don't I don't think they are or would even if you paid retail on the phone.
Hope that helps.
Sent from my SGH-T879 using xda premium
I bought a new AT&T factory unlocked G4 Active off eBay. It is running Gingerbread and has not been rooted.I then bought a StraightTalk sim card and everything works fine except two things,
I have used Applications Manager and discovered (I will confess I have learned a lot from this forum AFTER I tried that) it will not allow me to move the useless(????) AT&T apps to the SD card. Is there any way to do that since I don't think I am using them since I have a StraightTalk sim installed? And #2, since I get lousy service on the GSM network (AT&T), is it possible to convert this phone so it runs on VZ?
Thanks
The Galaxy S4 Active is barely 4 months old and shipped with Android 4.2.2 aka Jellybean - if yours has Gingerbread on it (Android 2.3) something is very wrong.
And GS4A's are not sold unlocked, even from AT&T. You have to buy one that's carrier locked, then contact their support to get the unlock code (as I understand it). Even paying full price for the phone off-contract in an AT&T corporate store means you still end up having to contact their support by phone, providing the necessary info, and they'll provide the unlock code as required - the store personnel just don't do that or even have access to those codes even if you pay full price on the spot for one "unlocked."
As for moving the apps to the microSD card, I don't think that's a possibility with the stock apps; your best bet to get rid of them is with Titanium Backup (the paid version) and freeze 'em all out. I could be wrong on that so someone else can answer it perhaps.
The LTE capability of the GS4A won't work with Verizon's CMDA network that I'm aware of, and obviously Verizon isn't a GSM carrier at all so there goes that idea too.
Are you 100% confident of what you actually bought?
Moving AT&T apps to sd card
br0adband said:
The Galaxy S4 Active is barely 4 months old and shipped with Android 4.2.2 aka Jellybean - if yours has Gingerbread on it (Android 2.3) something is very wrong.
And GS4A's are not sold unlocked, even from AT&T. You have to buy one that's carrier locked, then contact their support to get the unlock code (as I understand it). Even paying full price for the phone off-contract in an AT&T corporate store means you still end up having to contact their support by phone, providing the necessary info, and they'll provide the unlock code as required - the store personnel just don't do that or even have access to those codes even if you pay full price on the spot for one "unlocked."
As for moving the apps to the microSD card, I don't think that's a possibility with the stock apps; your best bet to get rid of them is with Titanium Backup (the paid version) and freeze 'em all out. I could be wrong on that so someone else can answer it perhaps.
The LTE capability of the GS4A won't work with Verizon's CMDA network that I'm aware of, and obviously Verizon isn't a GSM carrier at all so there goes that idea too.
Are you 100% confident of what you actually bought?
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Click to collapse
Yep, I am sure it is unlocked. I bought it advertised as unlocked and activated it on StraightTalk. It came with an AT&T sim card (unused) and I bought a StraightTalk sim card for it and have been using it for about a month. My only "gripe" is one AT&T app (My AT&T) is still in the App menu and I recently downloaded and launched GPS/Mapquest. AT&T came on in the middle of my drive with their AT&T travel app and I could not get back to my original course. Not to be argumentative but is there any way I can tell for sure I am unlocked given the info above? I have 4.2.2. Guess I'll have to give up on deleting the AT&T apps. PS I have disabled all AT&T apps, except the one above, in my phone App Mgr Haven't checked the Mapquest routing since I did that so don't know if that very big problem went away.
Thanks for the help
The StraightTalk SIM card will be using AT&T's cellular network so that's why it won't complain with it in there - stick a SIM card from T-Mobile or some other network provider and you'll find out instantly if it's carrier locked or not as soon as you turn it on because it'll ask for the unlock code if it is.
AT&T doesn't sell the GS4A unlocked - it is sold locked to their network and if you pay the full price for the phone (meaning you own it at that point) you will be given a number to call (an AT&T support rep) where you have to provide the IMEI of the phone and the transaction number from the purchase receipt; they will provide you with the carrier unlock code which is entered when you put in SIM card from another carrier and turn on the phone.
While I got mine unlocked using an official AT&T unlock code from an eBay reseller, before I got this one off craigslist I had considered buying it brand new back in June from AT&T at the full retail price so I asked how the carrier unlock would be accomplished and was told by the AT&T corporate store employee here in Las Vegas exactly what I just said above: the boxed phones at the stores are locked to AT&T and must be unlocked with the carrier unlock code.
Since I'm not the original owner I couldn't just call in and ask for it myself so that's why I used a person off eBay and haven't had any issues so far, it was worth the $9 to get it unlocked.
Whoever owned that phone you have may have already unlocked it, but AT&T doesn't sell them that way...
You bought it off eBay, not directly from AT$T. Many eBay sellers unlock phones to make them easier to sell, but no carrier sells phones already unlocked. And 4.2.2 is definitely not Gingerbread. All S4 Actives came with Jellybean. As was said, you will not get this phone to work on Verizon's 4G network.
I believe the answer to this is "no", but:
I have access to an AT&T SM-G900A that is not being used. My daughter is about to move to Germany for an extended period.
First, can the phone be used in Europe at all?
I certainly wouldn't want to pay AT&T's probably-exorbitant rates, so then: can we buy a SIM card there to use in it as is? (pretty sure the answer is "no")
If I unlocked the phone (by buying an unlock code), could it then be used with a Europe-purchased SIM card?
I suspect this is all more trouble than it's worth and I'm better of just finding a used unlocked GSM phone of some sort.
Much thanks.
if you can use it abroad unless you unlock it first.
I have a galaxy s5 att and I am using it with another carrier here in south america.
only bad thing is that the wifi hotspot will not work for being a simcard from another operator, only work by usb tether.
It's working well. I bought an AT&T Galaxy S5 from USA and now I use it in Romania.
The WiFi hotspot is not working, but all the other features work very well.
Probably, after the bootloader will be cracked and we will have the opportunity to install a custom rom or an unbranded rom, the hotspot will function as well.
Enjoy your gadget !
All answers are correct. I was formerly in the U.S.Army and took an old T-Mobile HTC Dream over to Kuwait with me. I called T-MO and got a sim unlock code for free. Upon getting overseas I established service with a GSM carrier over there and popped in my sim card and whallaa! My phone completely worked in Europe and the middle east.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I tried to start the process of unlocking my TMOBILE S6 today - first thing I discovered is that I need to get a new ATT NANO SIM Card - the Note 4 I am using has a Micro SIM - and the S6 uses the smaller NANO SIM CARD.
When I chatted with one of the online "unlock" web sites - they said they are not able to unlock the S6 EDGE because it does not give the user a prompt to enter an unlock code after inserting the ATT Sim Card.
he did not know if this would happen (or not happen) on the regular S6.
I am going to get a nano SD card from ATT and try it today - but after what I heard happened on the S6 Edge - It is not promising - it looks like TMOBILE is trying to close the door on people buying their phones and then immediately using them on ATT or some other provider.
If anyone has any experience they can share it would be helpful - I am going to see what happens later today after I get a new NANO Sim Card from ATT.
Updating my original post -
I have learned (thru attempting to use an ATT NANO SD CARD - that the only way to unlock the TMOBILE N920T at this time is by using a special AP available from TMOBILE - and then it will only work when TMOBILE has authorized it.
Cellunlockers or any of the other web sites that offer codes to unlock your phone will not work as you never are given a chance to enter an UNLOCK CODE.
I don't know if there are any other options - maybe secret samsung codes - or a special app by one of our illustrious developers - but for the time being, if you have purchased a TMOBILE S6 (like I have) and want to use it on ATT - it is not possible.
I would love to hear from any one who has an idea on what can be done about this (if anything) short of getting TMOBILE to give you an Unlock Code.
(I beleive the current policy at TMOBILE is that they won't give an unlock code until after 3 months of service. I might be wrong on that - but I beleive that is the situation.)
Any suggestions
What if i have been using T-Mobile for a few years now and decide to buy the phone full price. Wouldnt that also unlock the phone? My wife uses T-Mobile on her iPhone 5S and i wanted to buy a S6 Edge and pop her sim card in it, wait a few minutes and request the unlock. Would that work?
serialtoon said:
What if i have been using T-Mobile for a few years now and decide to buy the phone full price. Wouldnt that also unlock the phone? My wife uses T-Mobile on her iPhone 5S and i wanted to buy a S6 Edge and pop her sim card in it, wait a few minutes and request the unlock. Would that work?
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Click to collapse
You might be able to do that - best to call Customer Service at TMO
serialtoon said:
What if i have been using T-Mobile for a few years now and decide to buy the phone full price. Wouldnt that also unlock the phone? My wife uses T-Mobile on her iPhone 5S and i wanted to buy a S6 Edge and pop her sim card in it, wait a few minutes and request the unlock. Would that work?
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Click to collapse
T-Mobile has no idea how to unlock it and they claim that they won't until after the phone officially launches (April 10th). I have been on the phone with them for hours over this.
I'm officially UNLOCKED!
I can tell you that I have had my S6 for about 4 days and I put my prepaid sim card in it instead of the one it came with (had to create a postpaid account so that I could get this phone!). I tried to unlock with the app on the phone and it told me NO, I am not eligible to do that, but I just tried it a 3rd time about 30 mins ago and BOOM! I am permanently unlocked and can confirm that AT&T works great! The phone rebooted and it automatically froze the unlock app. LOL I un froze the app and sure enough, I am perm unlocked! Not bad for using the phone for less than a week and not calling T-Mobile even once to ask. Just wanted to give people a heads up in case u wanted to try this yourself with a pre-paid sim (if u have a prepaid account, of course). I love my $30 plan so I will be cancelling my service so that I don't have to pay for anything except for the phone itself. Good luck!
Wow! Lucky!
I tried 10 times with an AT&T sim but no luck.
shojus said:
I can tell you that I have had my S6 for about 4 days and I put my prepaid sim card in it instead of the one it came with (had to create a postpaid account so that I could get this phone!). I tried to unlock with the app on the phone and it told me NO, I am not eligible to do that, but I just tried it a 3rd time about 30 mins ago and BOOM! I am permanently unlocked and can confirm that AT&T works great! The phone rebooted and it automatically froze the unlock app. LOL I un froze the app and sure enough, I am perm unlocked! Not bad for using the phone for less than a week and not calling T-Mobile even once to ask. Just wanted to give people a heads up in case u wanted to try this yourself with a pre-paid sim (if u have a prepaid account, of course). I love my $30 plan so I will be cancelling my service so that I don't have to pay for anything except for the phone itself. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if this will work for me but I will try when I get home - Just wanted to confirm - before hitting unlock app - did you install the att SIM card first? Then hit unlock ?
mocsab said:
I don't know if this will work for me but I will try when I get home - Just wanted to confirm - before hitting unlock app - did you install the att SIM card first? Then hit unlock ?
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Click to collapse
Since it's associated with your account u gotta have YOUR SIM card in there in order for the app to know if you are even eligible or not. So, u are correct, u have to unlock it with a T-Mobile SIM card than after it reboots (if successful) then u can put a non T-Mobile sim in.
My question is.. S
Did your phone say unlocked before or after you put in the Att sim card. Your first post wasn't clear. Also are you rooted or no?
mocsab said:
My question is.. S
Did your phone say unlocked before or after you put in the Att sim card. Your first post wasn't clear. Also are you rooted or no?
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Click to collapse
What he is explaining is that he had his T-Mobile SIM card in the phone, he then opened the T-Mobile unlock app and tried to unlock the phone. And it told him no. So he tried a few more times, and finally it allowed him to unlock the phone. Then AFTER the phone was unlocked he put his AT&T SIM in and it worked.
The reason behind this is for the T-Mobile unlock app to work it has to check your account to verify that you are eligible for the unlock to occur. The phone will not unlock with any SIM that is not a T-Mobile SIM because it will not be able to verify if it is or is not eligible. And since there is no chance to enter an unlock code there is no need to put your AT&T SIM in the phone until after it is already unlocked. Basically they changed everything.
To be eligible for the unlock from T-Mobile, you must have an account in good standing at least 40 days old, and the device must be paid in full. So my suggestion would be to find a friend or family member that has had T-Mobile for a while and swap their SIM into your phone and do the unlock request, afterwards swap out your AT&T SIM and you should be good to go.
Thanks for the clarity that was lacking in the original post. Unfortunately I don't know anyone who has tmobile. Oh well... Waiting ain't so bad...
Unlock code
I bought an unlock code, as everyone stated the unlock code screen doesn't come up with an ATT sim installed but if you turn the phone on with no SIM in it and the. Go to the phone screen, type #7465625*638*# it will take you to the unlock code screen. I was able to get an unlock successful but when I restart the phone with my ATT sim it still says insert valid sim. Very weird and very frustrating. Have a friend that is prepaid. Trying that tomorrow
storageviolator said:
I bought an unlock code, as everyone stated the unlock code screen doesn't come up with an ATT sim installed but if you turn the phone on with no SIM in it and the. Go to the phone screen, type #7465625*638*# it will take you to the unlock code screen. I was able to get an unlock successful but when I restart the phone with my ATT sim it still says insert valid sim. Very weird and very frustrating. Have a friend that is prepaid. Trying that tomorrow
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Click to collapse
I tried too using AT&T sim card but a no go. I did get a successful unlock after entering unlock code but phone still locked.
I got lucky, had a chat with TMOBILE rep and they approved for the unlocK. I only opened the account a few days back. She did say it may take up to 14 days because the unlock cod or the device isn't available in the database yet
storageviolator said:
I got lucky, had a chat with TMOBILE rep and they approved for the unlocK. I only opened the account a few days back. She did say it may take up to 14 days because the unlock cod or the device isn't available in the database yet
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Click to collapse
What did you tell them to give you the unlock code/did they tell you how to unlock it?
shojus said:
I can tell you that I have had my S6 for about 4 days and I put my prepaid sim card in it instead of the one it came with (had to create a postpaid account so that I could get this phone!). I tried to unlock with the app on the phone and it told me NO, I am not eligible to do that, but I just tried it a 3rd time about 30 mins ago and BOOM! I am permanently unlocked and can confirm that AT&T works great! The phone rebooted and it automatically froze the unlock app. LOL I un froze the app and sure enough, I am perm unlocked! Not bad for using the phone for less than a week and not calling T-Mobile even once to ask. Just wanted to give people a heads up in case u wanted to try this yourself with a pre-paid sim (if u have a prepaid account, of course). I love my $30 plan so I will be cancelling my service so that I don't have to pay for anything except for the phone itself. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To unlock a prepaid phone, T-Mobile requires that you put at least $100 in your prepaid account if the account is newer than 1 year old. My question is, have you deposited over $100 in your account, or did you just recently open up the $30 line and you got lucky? Trying to replicate with my $30 plan I just bought
wahoofan5 said:
To unlock a prepaid phone, T-Mobile requires that you put at least $100 in your prepaid account if the account is newer than 1 year old. My question is, have you deposited over $100 in your account, or did you just recently open up the $30 line and you got lucky? Trying to replicate with my $30 plan I just bought
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You are correct, but that is only one of their stipulations... You have to be activated for at least 40 continuous days for the phone you are trying to unlock AND your account must have had at least $100 of funds that have been put on it with the number assigned to the phone you are unlocking. With me, none of those requirements were met and my unlock still went through so I don't really know what the hell happened but it was def not policy. See, I have had the same prepaid number with the same $30 plan for over a year but I have not maintained continuous service. I jump from carrier to carrier so as long as I don't let my number get deactivated then I can keep going back to that plan but if I don't fund my account for over 90 days then my prepaid number gets recycled and I have to get a new sim card to get back on the plan I had. It may seem weird but I have been doing this 4 awhile now so I have caught on to the way T-Mobile works. I just put $30 on my account so that I could upgrade to the S6 but then I was told NO and that I had to wait til they were available at stores and that did not fly with me so I activated a postpaid account in order to get the S6 but I never put the new accounts sim card in my S6, I just immediately put the prepaid sim card from my old account in there and that's the way I got it unlocked. It's confusing but I'm trying to give you the best details I can so everyone knows EXACTLY what I did. Hope that helps...
Just bought a T-Mobile s6 today and it was unlocked when I purchased it, the guy I bought it from has been with T-Mobile for 5 years and he unlocked it right away when he got the phone. All you really need to do is find someone that has had a T-Mobile account for the said time and pop the sim in ur phone and get it unlocked. Working like a champ on ATT network.
Sent from my SM-G920T using XDA Free mobile app
shojus said:
I can tell you that I have had my S6 for about 4 days and I put my prepaid sim card in it instead of the one it came with (had to create a postpaid account so that I could get this phone!). I tried to unlock with the app on the phone and it told me NO, I am not eligible to do that, but I just tried it a 3rd time about 30 mins ago and BOOM! I am permanently unlocked and can confirm that AT&T works great! The phone rebooted and it automatically froze the unlock app. LOL I un froze the app and sure enough, I am perm unlocked! Not bad for using the phone for less than a week and not calling T-Mobile even once to ask. Just wanted to give people a heads up in case u wanted to try this yourself with a pre-paid sim (if u have a prepaid account, of course). I love my $30 plan so I will be cancelling my service so that I don't have to pay for anything except for the phone itself. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what is a prepaid sim? im relatively new to sim cards
I just got a new active from Att and I am not able to receive the firmware update. I have tried for the last two days (24-hr limit on update request). Each time the phone comes back with your software is up to date. I am on AOE9.
******I have an inportant information.******
I have a friend in Vietnam, I and him got an S6A.
I bought an S6A in Bestbuy, paid off.
He bought and S6A in ATT shop, paid off too.
But
I can get the unlock code after 2 days request in ATT webs => The staff in bestbuy told me, I can get the code if I buy ATT device in best buy for Free.
He tried like me, but the system said no => I asked 3 customers service in ATT website before, all of them said I have to contract an ATT SIM for 2 months (minimum $45/month for SIM card) and I could get unlock code after that for "free" after paid at least $90 for them.
the Important thing is :
My S6A (bestbuy) Cannot get OTA update (unlock or non-unlock) if I dont have ATT SIM.
His S6A (ATT shop) Can get OTA update (unlock or non-unclock) without ATT SIM card and another carrier in used. (he can get OTA for OF3 and the newest OF4).
*Yesterday,he bought an unlock code in a Vietnam mobile phone shop (~ $27) and It was unlocked, now he can use the vietnam's carrier.
I will show you the screenshot of his phone after I go home.
Sorry about my English