I have to say.... This is a bucket of **** (Aus Optus/Vodafone). I have half the 4g reception than my previous note 5.
It struggles switching frequency it seems. I hope future updates fix this and it's not a hardware issue.
me_ashman said:
I have to say.... This is a bucket of **** (Aus Optus/Vodafone). I have half the 4g reception than my previous note 5.
It struggles switching frequency it seems. I hope future updates fix this and it's not a hardware issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love the phone but noticed reception isn't as good in certain areas of North Carolina. I'm a T-Mobile user and also previously owned a Note 5. Definitely a difference.
Yeah mate...in places I had reception before I now have none.
I've noticed that my wife's phone will have 1 bar where mine has two, but if I go into settings and look at signal strength, it is exactly the same or even a little better.
Two note 8's had issues
Pre-ordered 1... nicest phone I've ever had until it started showing 'searching for service", ROAM, Emergency calls only... then would go to LTE with full bars, and back again. I went back to my S6 for two days with no problems, they sent me a second one... Fine for a day, then SAME ISSUES... did factory reset on both units... still persisted.. got LG V20 on special and full signal, every day....... Hope Samsung fixes issue and I will try one again.
---------- Post added at 10:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:47 AM ----------
Signal strength is VERY important to me as I live way out in the sticks on the coast. The best reception on any mobile I have owned has been with the old Nokia's. The worst would be HTC. Samsung, LG, Asus, Motorola and Sony all work fine here. I am in part of the county that is notorious for very poor signal strength. I have not had a problem with my Note 8 seems to be fine on Vodafone but if I change to another supplier I get zero signal on all models of mobiles.
On times its not the phone brand but our service provider. My present provider for my TV and ADSL give me about 1Mbps!!!! that's if I get a signal at all. Vodafone hotspot gives me up to 30Mbps. Again it can be the provider more than the phone. I have found Samsung fine but others have not been so fortunate. I doubt its the Note 8 though? There are always lemons though in every brand.
Ryland
which model of Note 8 are you guys experiencing this with?
Many of us Exynos owners have been noticing exceptionally poor reception and data speeds on USA carriers, but in my case I have narrowed it down to a hardware issue. Unplugging the lower antenna PCB has no effect on the poor signal strength, and this started suddenly after about 5 days of use. Out of the box it was amazing, and my download speeds were 30-50% faster than with the Note 5. I'm just waiting for replacement parts to become available so I can get a new board and replace it.
Kalm_Traveler said:
which model of Note 8 are you guys experiencing this with?
Many of us Exynos owners have been noticing exceptionally poor reception and data speeds on USA carriers, but in my case I have narrowed it down to a hardware issue. Unplugging the lower antenna PCB has no effect on the poor signal strength, and this started suddenly after about 5 days of use. Out of the box it was amazing, and my download speeds were 30-50% faster than with the Note 5. I'm just waiting for replacement parts to become available so I can get a new board and replace it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought the Snap Dragon version was issued in the States and China and the Exynos the rest of the world? PERHAPS the problem could be your carriers are not well suited to the Exynos models only the SD?
I am talking through my ears as I understand zero about such things. Here to learn. :good: Could also be one has purchased a lemon? I dont think its general to the Note 8, as I wrote above mine works very well here in a notoriously bad area of this country running Exynos.
Q; Is it wise to modify your mobile while it still has 12 months warranty? How many people have the skills to perform your modification and why should it be necessary? Your guarantee is now void.
Q; Out of the box you said it was amazing. What changed?
Ryland
Ryland Johnson said:
I thought the Snap Dragon version was issued in the States and China and the Exynos the rest of the world? PERHAPS the problem could be your carriers are not well suited to the Exynos models only the SD?
I am talking through my ears as I understand zero about such things. Here to learn. :good: Could also be one has purchased a lemon? I dont think its general to the Note 8, as I wrote above mine works very well here in a notoriously bad area of this country running Exynos.
Q; Is it wise to modify your mobile while it still has 12 months warranty? How many people have the skills to perform your modification and why should it be necessary? Your guarantee is now void.
Q; Out of the box you said it was amazing. What changed?
Ryland
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm no expert by any means, but I have the Note 5 from T-Mobile, which is also an Exynos device. The Exynos Note 8 is essentially just a newer Note 5, newer version of the CPU and modem (both have Shannon modems), and support T-Mobile's LTE bands. I do not believe there is any compatibility issue with the hardware. I definitely could have purchased a lemon, and that's what it seems like. The rest of the phones functions are amazing - it's literally just been issues with the components on that bottom PCB that have been popping up (not just for me, but also others on here, the lower circuit board has LTE antennae, mic, and lower speaker - all of which have had a few complaints of not working or not working properly).
To answer your Qs, my phone is a South Korean model and I live in the USA, so Samsung here will not honor the warranty. I would need to ship it back to Korea if anything. Many people have the skills necessary to replace this board, but it is a pain in the butt due to the rear glass using adhesive from Hades to stick to the frame. It shouldn't be necessary, but Samsung seems to have sent out some phones with faulty usb/antenna boards and it's less of a hassle for me to fix it myself than try to deal with international repairs.
Out of the box was amazing, I had equal LTE signal strength to my Note 5, and download speeds were about 4-6x what they suddenly dropped to after about 5 days of use. At the time, I thought it was due to flashing NEMESIS ROM, but I Odin flashed back to full stock and nothing was 'fixed' . Then, I opened the phone and found that physically applying pressure on one of the LTE antenna connectors in a specific direction made the signal strength jump up to equal my Note 5, and the super fast data speeds returned - as long as I kept pressure applied in that specific direction.
Kalm_Traveler said:
I'm no expert by any means, but I have the Note 5 from T-Mobile, which is also an Exynos device. The Exynos Note 8 is essentially just a newer Note 5, newer version of the CPU and modem (both have Shannon modems), and support T-Mobile's LTE bands. I do not believe there is any compatibility issue with the hardware. I definitely could have purchased a lemon, and that's what it seems like. The rest of the phones functions are amazing - it's literally just been issues with the components on that bottom PCB that have been popping up (not just for me, but also others on here, the lower circuit board has LTE antennae, mic, and lower speaker - all of which have had a few complaints of not working or not working properly).
To answer your Qs, my phone is a South Korean model and I live in the USA, so Samsung here will not honor the warranty. I would need to ship it back to Korea if anything. Many people have the skills necessary to replace this board, but it is a pain in the butt due to the rear glass using adhesive from Hades to stick to the frame. It shouldn't be necessary, but Samsung seems to have sent out some phones with faulty usb/antenna boards and it's less of a hassle for me to fix it myself than try to deal with international repairs.
Out of the box was amazing, I had equal LTE signal strength to my Note 5, and download speeds were about 4-6x what they suddenly dropped to after about 5 days of use. At the time, I thought it was due to flashing NEMESIS ROM, but I Odin flashed back to full stock and nothing was 'fixed' . Then, I opened the phone and found that physically applying pressure on one of the LTE antenna connectors in a specific direction made the signal strength jump up to equal my Note 5, and the super fast data speeds returned - as long as I kept pressure applied in that specific direction.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excuse my ignorance,.but aren't there others on here complaining about LTE speed throughput on there F models also ? When using USA sim cards.
Perhaps it was a faulty batch?
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Limeybastard said:
Excuse my ignorance,.but aren't there others on here complaining about LTE speed throughput on there F models also ? When using USA sim cards.
Perhaps it was a faulty batch?
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct, F and N models. They are the exact same hardware, and my thought is that a batch of those boards went out that have developed issues very quickly.
I read a post this week but can't find the thread now of course. In it, a user who worked on configuring phones for a large telco or something said that the antenna for each regional model is tuned to the particulars of that specific region. He wasn't just talking about supported bands, etc. It was really about antenna tuning. Ultimately he said this is why he decided to forgo the international Note 8 models in the U.S., even though he badly wanted an Exynos model for custom roms, etc. Now I personally don't know whether there is anything to his claims (and I wish I could find that thread again), but it made sense so I thought I'd mention it here as it could explain the LTE or signal issues. If it's bunk though, then please ignore
sefrcoko said:
I read a post this week but can't find the thread now of course. In it, a user who worked on configuring phones for a large telco or something said that the antenna for each regional model is tuned to the particulars of that specific region. He wasn't just talking about supported bands, etc. It was really about antenna tuning. Ultimately he said this is why he decided to forgo the international Note 8 models in the U.S., even though he badly wanted an Exynos model for custom roms, etc. Now I personally don't know whether there is anything to his claims (and I wish I could find that thread again), but it made sense so I thought I'd mention it here as it could explain the LTE or signal issues. If it's bunk though, then please ignore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the bands are the frequencies that are 'tuned' for. Any given piece of metal is better at picking up certain frequencies than others, depending on how long it is, how thick it is, if there are any coils etc.
This is why region doesn't matter in and of itself - if a specific band is supported, the phone can operate with that band/frequency regardless of which country it was manufactured for. Where a person might run into problems is if their carrier uses a given LTE band or group of them and the international phone model they want does not support those bands.
In our case, the Exynos Note 8 has all the main bands we need for T-Mobile and AT&T here in the USA.
Related
Hi everyone, waiting for my Nexus to get shipped from the GPS but I've seen some anecdotal reports on here and the Android Central forums about the signal strength not being so great on this phone. Specifically, some people report that their LG Nexus 5 shows a better signal in dB (not just bars) than their Nexus 6.
I'm a little concerned about this. I relocated just over a year ago to an area where I don't have the best coverage with Verizon at my work. At that time, I had a Galaxy S3 which had terrible radios where I literally had no coverage in many places. I upgraded to an S4 and had no issues since then although my wife's Note 3 seems to do slightly better getting LTE when I drop to 3G. Was looking forward to getting this phone as it will be my first Motorola and I've always read that Moto has some of the best radios (also read LG and Apple do too). Not gonna turn this into a Note 4 vs Nexus 6 thread because that one already exists and is a hot mess but I've been reading that the signal strength on the Note 4 is really good.
I have a ship date of 11/26 so I guess I'll find out soon enough but just wondering what people's experience has been with the Nexus 6.
Thanks!
I'm curious about this as well, I have a Nexus 4 and find its radios to be more powerful than my siblings and gfs Nexus 5s.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda-developers.com, powered by appyet.com
Mine has about the same reception if not a little better than my G3. Att is really bad where I live but I usually have LTE except for a few places but its much better than my wife's S5
i think people just get too caught up in graphical representations of signal (i.e. signal bars). Different phones and carriers show different things for the same level of actual signal. In my experience on T-Mobile on Long Island/ NYC - i get as good if not better signal than i did with my nexus 5. There are a few spots where i had no signal with my nexus 5 that i now get a stable weak signal with the nexus 6. To me, it really has been as good or better, but certainly not worse. With that said, graphically spots where the nexus 5 said i had full bars of service (5/5), the N6 reports as having (4/5), but the service is the same. Speed tests and dbm all match up, so i can just assume it's the way it's being displayed.
The sony Z3 I had had the same dbm that the Nexus 6 is showing in my office, but the visual bars on the Nexus 6 show as being lower. I haven't had any slower speeds anywhere with the Nexus 6 so far. One thing I have noticed is that I'm not getting 4G while on the phone the majority of the time. I haven't had that be an issue in the past. I'm on T-Mobile.
Now THIS is something that I have really been wanting to know. The fact that I too have heard about how good Moto's radios have been in the past really got my hopes up for this phone. I currently rock an AT&T Note 3. And IDK if I just got a lemon, or if Samsung really did throw the cheapest POS radio in their last year flagship phone. But of all the android phones I have owned (Sony, HTC, Moto, samsung) this one gets hands down the worst signal strength I have ever had. Further more, I make it a habbit to compare this thing to every other AT&T phone I can, from friends and family. And not one of them has ever had worse signal strength than I. The closest one had about -3dB less than mine. Most had -5 or even -10dB better. Even after flashing every single AT&T radio firmware, different cases, it still is just terrible. Right now sitting in my house it is at -100 and showing 3 bars. I work as a drive tester for cell towers, and my test phone is a sprint Nexus 5. So I cant compare it to my note, being on a different network.
But on to the topic of the N6, since it has radios for pretty much every network, would that mean that said radios are of a lesser quality? I had really hoped that this phone would blow my Note 3 out of the water on AT&T. Honestly, even if it isn't as good as other Moto phones, it still has to be better than my Note 3. Even dads S5 active and moms S4 get much better signal strength numbers than mine. Forgive me for asking this, but is this something that can be improved within the dev community with some flashing, or is it just a hardware limitation?
CCL X10 said:
Now THIS is something that I have really been wanting to know. The fact that I too have heard about how good Moto's radios have been in the past really got my hopes up for this phone. I currently rock an AT&T Note 3. And IDK if I just got a lemon, or if Samsung really did throw the cheapest POS radio in their last year flagship phone. But of all the android phones I have owned (Sony, HTC, Moto, samsung) this one gets hands down the worst signal strength I have ever had. Further more, I make it a habbit to compare this thing to every other AT&T phone I can, from friends and family. And not one of them has ever had worse signal strength than I. The closest one had about -3dB less than mine. Most had -5 or even -10dB better. Even after flashing every single AT&T radio firmware, different cases, it still is just terrible. Right now sitting in my house it is at -100 and showing 3 bars. I work as a drive tester for cell towers, and my test phone is a sprint Nexus 5. So I cant compare it to my note, being on a different network.
But on to the topic of the N6, since it has radios for pretty much every network, would that mean that said radios are of a lesser quality? I had really hoped that this phone would blow my Note 3 out of the water on AT&T. Honestly, even if it isn't as good as other Moto phones, it still has to be better than my Note 3. Even dads S5 active and moms S4 get much better signal strength numbers than mine. Forgive me for asking this, but is this something that can be improved within the dev community with some flashing, or is it just a hardware limitation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some radios worked a little better on my note 3 but some were worse ...it was a crap shoot. ....but none were far and away better ....like you my note 3 got horrible signal on sprint ....g3 was worse for me so this has to be better lol
nexus6R3plicant said:
Some radios worked a little better on my note 3 but some were worse ...it was a crap shoot. ....but none were far and away better ....like you my note 3 got horrible signal on sprint ....g3 was worse for me so this has to be better lol
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Click to collapse
Haha I am not alone! Well, here's to better signal in the N6!!!
Seems to me that the nexus 6 reports low signal as time without signal. Hasn't been an issue here as I'm always connected to lte even in places I'd drop to 3g
So anything new on Signal? I'm trying to buy a Nexus6 but haven't been able to on Verizon. Hope there is some good news there has been a lot of bad.
wooddale said:
So anything new on Signal? I'm trying to buy a Nexus6 but haven't been able to on Verizon. Hope there is some good news there has been a lot of bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best and most consistent connection/speeds of any device I've owned on Verizon.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app
Make sure when u unlock your device that you change your cellular networks to LTE. When I unlock my device I wasn't getting no cell signal or phone call and I noticed my networks were set at ( Global ) so I switched it back to LTE.
mr pnut said:
Make sure when u unlock your device that you change your cellular networks to LTE. When I unlock my device I wasn't getting no cell signal or phone call and I noticed my networks were set at ( Global ) so I switched it back to LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What Carrier are you on?
wooddale said:
What Carrier are you on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tmobile
mr pnut said:
Tmobile
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Click to collapse
I'm on Verizon and really doesn't make much difference on my Droid Maxx. Maybe its something in 5.0. I gotta give it a shot can always send it back if I can ever get one. Pisses me off I got the money for the phone and I can't buy it. Maybe that's some kind of sign. lol
I get a little better signal than my wife's Note 4 in the same locations. She has an otterbox commuter case on though and I'm still running around naked.
I have similar experiences with my N6, or had. I've only had it for 2 days though, but I was having signal drop out and 3g/LTE switching a lot yesterday. I changed my APN protocol to IPV4/IPV6 instead of IPV6 and today its been fine. I don't know if that actually had anything to do with it or not, but thought I'd share. I think its just a coincidence and for some reason my signal just decided to work better. Worth a shot.
So I changed to LTE and now I don't have a global option.... I travel internationally for work very expensively (T-Mobile free worldwide data ftw) and had found previously on my Nexus 5 that I needed to be on global for it to work anywhere else...
Any ideas here?
When there's a CDMA SIM in the phone (Verizon/Sprint), it shows the global option where it can use both CDMA and GSM networks. When there's a GSM SIM in the phone (Tmo, AT&T, etc.), it seems to go into GSM-only mode (no need to display global, which seems to mean GSM+CDMA in the Nexus 6's case).
EmperorX said:
So I changed to LTE and now I don't have a global option.... I travel internationally for work very expensively (T-Mobile free worldwide data ftw) and had found previously on my Nexus 5 that I needed to be on global for it to work anywhere else...
Any ideas here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pdagal said:
When there's a CDMA SIM in the phone (Verizon/Sprint), it shows the global option where it can use both CDMA and GSM networks. When there's a GSM SIM in the phone (Tmo, AT&T, etc.), it seems to go into GSM-only mode (no need to display global, which seems to mean GSM+CDMA in the Nexus 6's case).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting change from the Nexus 5. Previously, I had to be sure global was selected overseas as opposed to just LTE, so you can see why I was originally concerned. Good to know. Thanks for the info man!
Hey guys,
I bought a note 5 back in November or so off Amazon, SM-N920i. I live in Canada and have rogers, but the phone does not connect to LTE and gets only 1-2 bars when on 4G so i'm stuck on having it set to only connect to 3G.
I walked into a Samsung store as the phone is in warranty but they said that they cannot service an international model in Canada, it would have to be serviced where the phone was originally purchased?
I don't know what to do as contacting the Amazon seller is not an option, do you guys have any recommendations?
Also does anyone know when SM-N920i will receive the marshmallow update, and could it possibly fix the issue I am facing?
Thanks!
International models have no warranty unless in the country where it was supposed to be used in. I have an n920i and its warranty won't be honored in the states because it is an Australian model. Also, the n920i shows 4G for LTE. So if it says 4G, then you have LTE. It also seems that the measurement for signal is different than carrier branded phones. I've had my phone and an AT&T branded note 5 sitting together and mine had less bars. There's a few reasons for that, one being software tweaks. But also, there seems to be a practice among carriers to give their branded phones higher priority on the cell tower connections. So if you're in a congested area, you'll probably be lower on the list for connection priority. I'm sure there's more reasons for low signal. If it'll get fixed in the mm update, I doubt it. These phones are optimized for their specific countries.
abde27 said:
International models have no warranty unless in the country where it was supposed to be used in. I have an n920i and its warranty won't be honored in the states because it is an Australian model. Also, the n920i shows 4G for LTE. So if it says 4G, then you have LTE. It also seems that the measurement for signal is different than carrier branded phones. I've had my phone and an AT&T branded note 5 sitting together and mine had less bars. There's a few reasons for that, one being software tweaks. But also, there seems to be a practice among carriers to give their branded phones higher priority on the cell tower connections. So if you're in a congested area, you'll probably be lower on the list for connection priority. I'm sure there's more reasons for low signal. If it'll get fixed in the mm update, I doubt it. These phones are optimized for their specific countries.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you alot !
Hey I am new to the forum but I know this is the best place online to go for advice like this.
The problem is this: I have a Note 5 from T-Mobile. The wifi and bluetooth are acting funny, and I am assuming that the wifi chip/motherboard is failing.
I have a Note 5 Motherboard from Sprint that my brother broke, but before i take my phone apart and perhaps do more worse than good trying to squish the other motherboard into it, I wanted to know: Are these motherboards compatible?
I know that with the >Galaxy S6< the CDMA and GSM versions are different. There is a corner of the motherboard where the components are moved a little so the motherboard wont fit snug against the lcd carcass, and ultimately you cant shut the phone completely. All the CDMA variants use the Verizon motherboard so they are certainly compatible. No clue about the GSM variants they all have a different marking for each company.
Is this the case as well with the Note 5? In the pictures I am seeing online, they look identical... but I am afraid they might be generic stock photos of the motherboards so I don't want to rely on that.
Alternatively, are the GSM variants compatible with each other? If i bought one from ATT could i put it in a T-Mobile phone? Or does it have to be the EXACT SAME MODEL?
SUMMARY OF QUESTION: Are the N920P and N920T motherboards swappable? Are GSM variants of the Note 5 generally swappable? (N920A N920T N920M, etc)
Thanks in advance for any help!
N920 Note 5 variants and logic board compatibility
You would not believe, despite how simple and necessary your question is, that you'll not find the answer hardly anywhere on the internet. I know where I've searched will tell me if the frame for the Verizon version of an n920p would fit the logic board from an in 920p Sprint motherboard. Actually you've given me more insight than anywhere else of red from, in that there must be extra or less Electronics fastened to the GSM version. If you would have to slam it into your CDMA formed case, then that would absolutely defeat the purpose of having a 4 gigabyte RAM Qualcomm awesome processor $550 phone. From what I hear however, all of the Note 5 series phones are capable of transmitting and receiving all frequencies, CDMA and GSM. Of course the n920p than I have focuses on wcdma bands and LTE bands. As a matter of fact I can't even get it to work on a GSM carrier, even though I've spent at least $50 and 15 hours trying to get it unlocked to do so. And I agree with what you had stated at the beginning, if there is a place to find the answer than this would be it. So why don't want to view phone know every damn thing all people please let us know, can I put a T-Mobile motherboard from a note 5 inside of my Note 5 that I got from Sprint? Thank you. And I will go ahead and let you know I have done the conversion over to n920p I, I think I currently am running a firmware from Pakistan or maybe Uganda. The phone is quite simple to root even at the 7.0 level firmware, I've changed the IMEI, I can change the location to make it appear that I'm in Paris France and Dallas Texas at the same time, but I can't get the thing to run on a GSM frequency and a carrier that's based here in the US.
Hello Is it possible to enable all the T-mobile US carrier features on the Exynos N960F/DS ?
Yes, when I reach 10 posts. I will be able to make a new thread with step by step images.
HERE is the guide, I got to 10 post
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-9/how-to/note-9-n960fd-dual-sim-csc-change-oxm-t3841000
jgoorn said:
Yes, when I reach 10 posts. I will be able to make a new thread with step by step images.
HERE is the guide, I got to 10 post
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-9/how-to/note-9-n960fd-dual-sim-csc-change-oxm-t3841000
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there absolutely any way to do it without root? Can't I take the home CSC of a desired rom and flash just that in Odin, keeping everything else as it originally was?
hkalltheway said:
Is there absolutely any way to do it without root? Can't I take the home CSC of a desired rom and flash just that in Odin, keeping everything else as it originally was?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure, I saw something like that on another post but then it was updated 4 pages later to say that method was not functioning. I assume you don't want to trip knox, but if you just don't want root but want custom CSC flash twrp and custom rom with root. Edit files to change csc as shown in my guide, or others guides. then factory reset rom, and reflash without root, and then make odin reset the recovery to stock recovery.
This is all speculation however.
I was very excited to see this as I've been wanting an international Exynos variant due to absolutely 'needing' to have root.
The Million dollar question is "Does the carrier aggregation still exist? ie... Does ALL the bands work perfectly on T-Mobiles network just as it would 1:1 on a TM variant Note 9?"
I along with some other fellow Note 8 owners got the (F) model of the Note 8 last year and we had discovered that the international variants on T-Mobile / US network suffered from carrier aggregation, where it would connect fine to one single frequency, but it would not aggregate properly to where it would not be able to 'hand off' / 'connect to multiple frequencies at once' with the (F) variants....
For those that remember, I went as far as completely disassembling my Note 8 and testing varies antenna cables thinking that it was hardware related, however, it has been concluded that it is a software issues that causes the international variant of the Note 8 to not work properly on US carriers....
Note: If one is in an area with good signal in the US with a (F) variant, it may look like everything is fine and well, however, it is not. Due to the good reception, the (F) variant is connecting only to that one band, whereas with other devices the domestic US variant would have the ability to pick up several bands and aggregate accordingly, where the (F) can't ...
Therefore, the Million dollar question is "Does this carrier aggregation issue still exist on the Note 9?"
The only way to be able to properly test this is for one to have both the T-Mobile Note 9 + the International (F) variant Note 9 and test the bands side by side in multiple areas ... along with checking in the hidden settings to see exactly what bands it is connected to. If they match, great.... if not, then the carrier aggregation still exists.....
While at it, I'll tag my fellow OG partners in Android Fanatics @DeeXii , @butchieboy , @KennyLG123 ....
I doubt it. It will probably be another year or two to get full or near full capability on Samsung modems. Look at all the weird spectrums going up in different countries. And TMobile just got band 71. It will be awhile before we start seeing noticeable effects nationwide for 71. Your optimism is obsessive. When the galaxy note 2 came out all were Exynos chipsets but some had LTE radios. I opted for without mainly because LTE was not fleshed out yet. (and the LTE radios were add on chips and not fully integrated meaning they were battery drainers). I made a good call as did Apple. You also have to consider Qualcomm has a lot more experience than Samsung and Intel in modems and radios. People are so focused on the results or what they can get without thinking through the whole front end of it and what is plausible, necessary and time needed. I am not saying no but again your optimism is obsessive to a fault. Qualcomm hasn't even made a truly international modem yet. (More bands than they can fit in their design and still too many different techs.) How would Samsung do it? It could be done but your battery life would suffer. That's why there are regional phones. Alsooooo, 2g bands are being deprecated in a few places (I think hspa too but nowhere near as much as GPRS/EDGE). To be honest I think it won't be until 2021 at the very least where there will be a few mainstream phones that you could pop in a sim anywhere and get good service across those regions. For now, you have to compromise. LTE is thankfully dropping in the GSM bucket but it needs to be sorted out.
iunlock said:
I was very excited to see this as I've been wanting an international Exynos variant due to absolutely 'needing' to have root.
The Million dollar question is "Does the carrier aggregation still exist? ie... Does ALL the bands work perfectly on T-Mobiles network just as it would 1:1 on a TM variant Note 9?"
I along with some other fellow Note 8 owners got the (F) model of the Note 8 last year and we had discovered that the international variants on T-Mobile / US network suffered from carrier aggregation, where it would connect fine to one single frequency, but it would not aggregate properly to where it would not be able to 'hand off' / 'connect to multiple frequencies at once' with the (F) variants....
For those that remember, I went as far as completely disassembling my Note 8 and testing varies antenna cables thinking that it was hardware related, however, it has been concluded that it is a software issues that causes the international variant of the Note 8 to not work properly on US carriers....
Note: If one is in an area with good signal in the US with a (F) variant, it may look like everything is fine and well, however, it is not. Due to the good reception, the (F) variant is connecting only to that one band, whereas with other devices the domestic US variant would have the ability to pick up several bands and aggregate accordingly, where the (F) can't ...
Therefore, the Million dollar question is "Does this carrier aggregation issue still exist on the Note 9?"
The only way to be able to properly test this is for one to have both the T-Mobile Note 9 + the International (F) variant Note 9 and test the bands side by side in multiple areas ... along with checking in the hidden settings to see exactly what bands it is connected to. If they match, great.... if not, then the carrier aggregation still exists.....
While at it, I'll tag my fellow OG partners in Android Fanatics @DeeXii , @butchieboy , @KennyLG123 ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I remember that thread very well, kalm_traveller also made adjustments to the antenna . I recall that ultimately carrier aggregation didn't work on international models when used on the USA networks.
Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk
@rbiter said:
I doubt it. It will probably be another year or two to get full or near full capability on Samsung modems. Look at all the weird spectrums going up in different countries. And TMobile just got band 71. It will be awhile before we start seeing noticeable effects nationwide for 71. Your optimism is obsessive. When the galaxy note 2 came out all were Exynos chipsets but some had LTE radios. I opted for without mainly because LTE was not fleshed out yet. (and the LTE radios were add on chips and not fully integrated meaning they were battery drainers). I made a good call as did Apple. You also have to consider Qualcomm has a lot more experience than Samsung and Intel in modems and radios. People are so focused on the results or what they can get without thinking through the whole front end of it and what is plausible, necessary and time needed. I am not saying no but again your optimism is obsessive to a fault. Qualcomm hasn't even made a truly international modem yet. (More bands than they can fit in their design and still too many different techs.) How would Samsung do it? It could be done but your battery life would suffer. That's why there are regional phones. Alsooooo, 2g bands are being deprecated in a few places (I think hspa too but nowhere near as much as GPRS/EDGE). To be honest I think it won't be until 2021 at the very least where there will be a few mainstream phones that you could pop in a sim anywhere and get good service across those regions. For now, you have to compromise. LTE is thankfully dropping in the GSM bucket but it needs to be sorted out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So how come Apple is doing that since the iPhone 6s unlocked version? Qualcomm Modem and a truly a word.
Doing what?
I would almost guarantee no ca working. Does it really matter? My s8+ still got 12mb download speeds.
Yakuzahi said:
So how come Apple is doing that since the iPhone 6s unlocked version? Qualcomm Modem and a truly a word.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doing what?
iunlock said:
I was very excited to see this as I've been wanting an international Exynos variant due to absolutely 'needing' to have root.
The Million dollar question is "Does the carrier aggregation still exist? ie... Does ALL the bands work perfectly on T-Mobiles network just as it would 1:1 on a TM variant Note 9?"
I along with some other fellow Note 8 owners got the (F) model of the Note 8 last year and we had discovered that the international variants on T-Mobile / US network suffered from carrier aggregation, where it would connect fine to one single frequency, but it would not aggregate properly to where it would not be able to 'hand off' / 'connect to multiple frequencies at once' with the (F) variants....
For those that remember, I went as far as completely disassembling my Note 8 and testing varies antenna cables thinking that it was hardware related, however, it has been concluded that it is a software issues that causes the international variant of the Note 8 to not work properly on US carriers....
Note: If one is in an area with good signal in the US with a (F) variant, it may look like everything is fine and well, however, it is not. Due to the good reception, the (F) variant is connecting only to that one band, whereas with other devices the domestic US variant would have the ability to pick up several bands and aggregate accordingly, where the (F) can't ...
Therefore, the Million dollar question is "Does this carrier aggregation issue still exist on the Note 9?"
The only way to be able to properly test this is for one to have both the T-Mobile Note 9 + the International (F) variant Note 9 and test the bands side by side in multiple areas ... along with checking in the hidden settings to see exactly what bands it is connected to. If they match, great.... if not, then the carrier aggregation still exists.....
While at it, I'll tag my fellow OG partners in Android Fanatics @DeeXii , @butchieboy , @KennyLG123 ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the F model and tested with both AT&T and T-Mobile. Carrier aggregation works with 2 bands on AT&T (12+2) and while it supports all the other AT&T bands it will not aggregate them. No carrier aggregation at all on T-Mobile (single band only).
You can see the supported CA combos the F model has by looking at the FCC filing of the device (do a google search).
Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk
@rbiter said:
Doing what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doing a world phone with smaller battery than the Note line.
So basically it can be done. Samsung can make a world if they want to.
Apple doesn't have a world phone. They have a minimum of 2 phones to do the world. You have to pick your poison of which part. If they do have one, it probably has you covered for calls but not data. Heck any phone has this if data is less a priority and making calls and texts are a higher priority.
There might be obscure world phones but we probably are not privy to it. Satellite phones too of course but price. I actually read an article about Qualcomm's modem and the increase of LTE bands that came out recently talking about RF360 and Intel and Samsung probably not having anything to compete for at least a couple of years. They don't have an all in one solution yet. Close but not world yet. You have China, US and I forgot what part of South America that messes it up. Even though LTE falls under GSM standards I wish they would tighten it up. So many bands across different countries now and you can't keep up. Band 71 for TMobile is not relevant yet unless you live in a market that is getting it because of low or no coverage.
@rbiter said:
I doubt it. It will probably be another year or two to get full or near full capability on Samsung modems. Look at all the weird spectrums going up in different countries. And TMobile just got band 71. It will be awhile before we start seeing noticeable effects nationwide for 71. Your optimism is obsessive. When the galaxy note 2 came out all were Exynos chipsets but some had LTE radios. I opted for without mainly because LTE was not fleshed out yet. (and the LTE radios were add on chips and not fully integrated meaning they were battery drainers). I made a good call as did Apple. You also have to consider Qualcomm has a lot more experience than Samsung and Intel in modems and radios. People are so focused on the results or what they can get without thinking through the whole front end of it and what is plausible, necessary and time needed. I am not saying no but again your optimism is obsessive to a fault. Qualcomm hasn't even made a truly international modem yet. (More bands than they can fit in their design and still too many different techs.) How would Samsung do it? It could be done but your battery life would suffer. That's why there are regional phones. Alsooooo, 2g bands are being deprecated in a few places (I think hspa too but nowhere near as much as GPRS/EDGE). To be honest I think it won't be until 2021 at the very least where there will be a few mainstream phones that you could pop in a sim anywhere and get good service across those regions. For now, you have to compromise. LTE is thankfully dropping in the GSM bucket but it needs to be sorted out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think your lack of optimism is obsessive and at fault. What's wrong with being optimistic and having hope? Most of us are just wanting a simple root on the SD variant of the Note 9, whether it be a samfail method or whatever, we'll take it.
The US variant Note 5 was Exynos and worked just fine, so its not impossible for an Exynos equipped phone to work on US carriers. After all, most of the newer phones have a wide range of frequencies that it can support. Sure some phones are set regionally, but you're aware that there are dual SIM phones right?
If you were familiar with the F model Note 8 that some of us got and have tested last year, then my post would have made more sense to you.
suzook said:
I would almost guarantee no ca working. Does it really matter? My s8+ still got 12mb download speeds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it does matter, because with out the ability for the phone to hand off and/or merge the signals, for those in areas where the reception is sketchy, it'd become major headache.
clubtech said:
I have the F model and tested with both AT&T and T-Mobile. Carrier aggregation works with 2 bands on AT&T (12+2) and while it supports all the other AT&T bands it will not aggregate them. No carrier aggregation at all on T-Mobile (single band only).
You can see the supported CA combos the F model has by looking at the FCC filing of the device (do a google search).
Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey @clubtech, thanks for reiterating. Yea that was the case exactly as you've described.... I was getting the same results on TM on the F variant. I'm aware of the fcc filings, but the curiosity stems from the potential possibility...
Is this a possible lead to get CA working on N960F/DS?
https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS8/comments/75ru94/root_exynos_galaxy_s8_how_to_get_carrier/
I've tried this method but just get these two lines without the menu popping up as instructed.
Broadcasting: Intent { act=android.provider.Telephony.SECRET_CODE dat=android_secret_code://27663368378 flg=0x400000 }
Broadcast completed: result=0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am most likely doing something wrong or these devices are somehow further locked down. I'm rooted, connected adb, etc. as the instructions say with no success.
Techronico said:
Is this a possible lead to get CA working on N960F/DS?
https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS8/comments/75ru94/root_exynos_galaxy_s8_how_to_get_carrier/
I've tried this method but just get these two lines without the menu popping up as instructed.
I am most likely doing something wrong or these devices are somehow further locked down. I'm rooted, connected adb, etc. as the instructions say with no success.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mind sharing more info? I'm willing to try it with my device, I'll make a full backup and give it a go! Anything for even better reception!
jgoorn said:
Mind sharing more info? I'm willing to try it with my device, I'll make a full backup and give it a go! Anything for even better reception!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried using the dialer codes *#0011# and *#2263# first to get an idea of what I was looking at. These are mentioned further down in the Reddit thread by other users.
Apparently the code mentioned in the Reddit thread OP is a more advanced code that was removed/disabled from being activated from the dialer several iterations of Samsung devices ago...(ie. It now requires root, can only be activated from adb or terminal).
My theory is that Samsung has now fully gimped it or further hid the activation method. This method apparently worked on the Note 8...
Techronico said:
I tried using the dialer codes *#0011# and *#2263# first to get an idea of what I was looking at. These are mentioned further down in the Reddit thread by other users.
Apparently the code mentioned in the Reddit thread OP is a more advanced code that was removed/disabled from being activated from the dialer several iterations of Samsung devices ago...(ie. It now requires root, can only be activated from adb or terminal).
My theory is that Samsung has now fully gimped it or further hid the activation method. This method apparently worked on the Note 8...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, I'm the author of that thread and I also have an Exynos s9+ which is same as the Note 9.
The menu is indeed completely disabled, you can't get to it even with adb or root.
There is a way to activate it, but it will not fix our issue. I've been trying for weeks.
We have a problem that started out on the Note 8, and that is the phone is not reporting the correct supported aggregation combos to the cell tower.
Using the menu, my phone does not support 4+12 however it reports 2+12 and I get carrier aggregation when I disable B4.
So far j haven't found a way to change those combos. At this point I'm very sure it grabs them from the CSC. I've been experimenting and have been unsuccessful so far
The S8 reported the correct combos out of the box, however the ill configured 3xCA was stopping it from working, disabling 3xCA made 2xCA work perfectly.
Our issue here is just were missing those combos so no matter what the phone will not do 4+12 even though the hardware is fully capable.
If anyone knows how to change combos, pm me or reply here, thanks.
Interceptor777 said:
Hey, I'm the author of that thread and I also have an Exynos s9+ which is same as the Note 9.
The menu is indeed completely disabled, you can't get to it even with adb or root.
There is a way to activate it, but it will not fix our issue. I've been trying for weeks.
We have a problem that started out on the Note 8, and that is the phone is not reporting the correct supported aggregation combos to the cell tower.
Using the menu, my phone does not support 4+12 however it reports 2+12 and I get carrier aggregation when I disable B4.
So far j haven't found a way to change those combos. At this point I'm very sure it grabs them from the CSC. I've been experimenting and have been unsuccessful so far
The S8 reported the correct combos out of the box, however the ill configured 3xCA was stopping it from working, disabling 3xCA made 2xCA work perfectly.
Our issue here is just were missing those combos so no matter what the phone will not do 4+12 even though the hardware is fully capable.
If anyone knows how to change combos, pm me or reply here, thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will totally donate to you if you can get this to work some how! It's pretty much the last feature I'm looking at as a "This phone is perfect except for X".
I just purchased and received my Note 9 SM-N960F/DS 512GB. The phone was shipped from China but I’m assuming it’s the International version. I popped in my AT&T sim and immediately noticed I have a horrible mobile signal. I live outside of Washington DC and my cell reception has always been great as I’m coming from a OnePlus 5T. After enabling wifi I recieved several OTA updates and now I’m on latest FXXU2ARJ1 with build # RK2. I’ve been reading about possiby changing the CSC but I’m not seeing much about ATT carrier aggregation. The cell reception is so bad I’m considering returning the phone. Any advice or suggestions? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
I too have the same note as you. I also have a OP6.
I have been comparing the cell signal of the two. I get pretty mixed results. The Exynos has a different modem entirely and I think I do get some carrier aggregation (4g+) on ATT but I do not on my TMO sim.
It's really hard to compare the two but I do have decent signal albeit it TMO is better on my OP6 - ATT seems to be about equal where I am. I also don't get WiFi calling or VoLTE. I'm torn on which phone to keep at this point but the screen and speakers are so good on the note. I do worry about the signal on the phone but so far it hasn't been an issue really.
Jigetz said:
I too have the same note as you. I also have a OP6.
I have been comparing the cell signal of the two. I get pretty mixed results. The Exynos has a different modem entirely and I think I do get some carrier aggregation (4g+) on ATT but I do not on my TMO sim.
It's really hard to compare the two but I do have decent signal albeit it TMO is better on my OP6 - ATT seems to be about equal where I am. I also don't get WiFi calling or VoLTE. I'm torn on which phone to keep at this point but the screen and speakers are so good on the note. I do worry about the signal on the phone but so far it hasn't been an issue really.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great info. Although I have the dual sim version, I'm only utilizing one sim at the moment. I too am coming from OP but OP5T. Before I purchased this phone, I was completely torn for days trying to decide between the Note 9 & OP6T. Finally I decided on Note 9 just to try something different but I didn't realize the LTE signal would be so poor. I also purchased the exy version because of the unlockable bootloader and root potential. In my case, the phone is almost unusable unless I'm on wifi. I switched the sim from 1 to 2 and I noticed a slight difference in signal but not much. I'm considering returning the Note 9 and just going with OP6T although like you stated, I loved the screen, camera, speakers, and features but then again I did spend over 1K US! I'm disappointed with the lack of LTE. I think it's a deal breaker unfortunately.
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