Please can anyone who knows about cellular bands and sims tell me why my US Unlocked Pixel 4a 5G somehow shows
a 5G signal with a VZN 4G sim? How is that possible? Thanks.
Because there's no such thing as a "4G/5G SIM", your sim card tells network what phone number you are and that's it.
Thanks. I shouldn't have assumed that VZN's enhanced 5G network needed a different sim card.
you might want to consider upgrading to a new SIM - the one you have might work with "non-standalone" 5G, but might not work for standalone 5G. Probably not something you need to do in a hurry, but probably worth considering for future-proofing
JohnLynchSF said:
you might want to consider upgrading to a new SIM - the one you have might work with "non-standalone" 5G, but might not work for standalone 5G. Probably not something you need to do in a hurry, but probably worth considering for future-proofing
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This is pretty much flat untrue, the phone holds the antennas capable of getting service from 5g. All the sim does is tell your carrier what phone number you are, if it blocks you from 5g it's because your carrier has you blocked from 5g.
I was blocked from 5g cause I didn't tell my carrier I had a 5g phone now but one phone call and they added "5g access" to my account.
Mrbeastycakes said:
This is pretty much flat untrue, the phone holds the antennas capable of getting service from 5g. All the sim does is tell your carrier what phone number you are, if it blocks you from 5g it's because your carrier has you blocked from 5g.
I was blocked from 5g cause I didn't tell my carrier I had a 5g phone now but one phone call and they added "5g access" to my account.
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It's not just about radio frequency reception... 5G has encryption and security algorithms that are different to 4G, and newer '5G' SIMS support that. So a 4G SIM that works on 5G now might stop working depending on how VZN implements things in the future. Currently most US network's 5G also requires simultaneous connection to 4G for various aspects of the connection
I bought the unlocked 4A5G on launch day and am a Verizon user. I purposely did this as it was 100 bucks cheaper, and the only difference between the unlocked and VZW specific model is the MMwave antenna (short range, high speed) which is the 5G variant that Verizon has installed at football stadiums and in some city center locations. I don't care about either of those, and didn't care to pay an extra 100 for something I don't care about.
On Google's product page for the unlocked 4A5G, it clearly states that the unlocked version will work on Verizon's sub6 (what they call Nationwide 5G), which shares spectrum (DSS) with the existing 4G/LTE that they use. Its really not much faster than existing 4G/LTE.
This is why you're getting 5G. There is no such thing as a 5G SIM as far as we all know. It all has to do with how Verizon (or any other carrier) provisions your account with the combo of the SIM and IMEI. In my case, I had an older SIM that said 4G/LTE on it (marketing actually), and the phone worked fine, but it was provisioned by Verizon years ago on god knows what phone I had at the time. I did not get 5G with that SIM, but likely could have had it been reprovisioned by Verizon. But it was easier to get a new SIM rather than try and explain it to the Verizon 1st like tech.
I ended up getting another SIM, got with Verizon tech support, they reprovisioned the phone with the new SIM and bang... 5G reception.
Related
Has anyone tried paying full price for an HTC One at a Sprint Store and then sticking a Verizon LTE SIM in it? The specs seem to indicate that it supports LTE band 13 that Verizon uses and the 850/1900 cdma bands that is uses?
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You will not get LTE on verizon with a sprint phone.
You could do an esn swap to get 3g and voice if you wanted.
gnex4ever said:
Has anyone tried paying full price for an HTC One at a Sprint Store and then sticking a Verizon LTE SIM in it? The specs seem to indicate that it supports LTE band 13 that Verizon uses and the 850/1900 cdma bands that is uses?
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If you buy a device at full price its no different than a device bought on contract. At least that's how it is in our preferred store and the same applies to corporate as far as I know. It's no like an apple store where you can request an unlocked device. You'd still have to request to have it unlocked by Sprint international. Also considering the 1900 band is the only band that crosses over between sprint and verizon I really don't see the value. Maybe it's just me in my area but roaming is even more useless than the 0.9mb/s I get on sprint.
Darkendvoid88 said:
If you buy a device at full price its no different than a device bought on contract. At least that's how it is in our preferred store and the same applies to corporate as far as I know. It's no like an apple store where you can request an unlocked device. You'd still have to request to have it unlocked by Sprint international. Also considering the 1900 band is the only band that crosses over between sprint and verizon I really don't see the value. Maybe it's just me in my area but roaming is even more useless than the 0.9mb/s I get on sprint.
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The HTC ONE, like nearly all modern smartphones is capable of operating on multiple frequencies, network types and communications technologies. However, my assumption is that the Sprint version is carrier locked to prevent use on other networks by default. Not sure that their unlocking process would open the phone to other networks.
gnex4ever said:
Has anyone tried paying full price for an HTC One at a Sprint Store and then sticking a Verizon LTE SIM in it? The specs seem to indicate that it supports LTE band 13 that Verizon uses and the 850/1900 cdma bands that is uses?
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You wouldn't be able to straight up put in a Verizon LTE SIM and expect it to work that would be too easy.
I would guess it's possible, but you would need a donor LTE phone. Based on looking in the HTC EVO 4g LTE forums people have put that phone on another carrier and used a donor 3g phone to get 3g working. Same could most likely be possible for the HTC One. I guess if you have enough money to buy this phone outright as well as have a donor LTE phone you can probably pay someone to do this. Only limitation would be that the 16 digit password for some programs to write specific information is most likely not available yet.
Sounds like T-Mobile shut down 5G access for Sprint S10 5G phones today (4/21), and I'm no longer getting 5G access/speeds in KC. I'll be damned if I'm going to keep paying 5G phone and plan prices for these really lame 4G speeds.
Which is worse? Only getting 4G speeds because T-Mobile bricked the 5G on your Sprint 5G phone, or getting Coronavirus from 5G? lol
"On April 21, 2020, T-Mobile officially started customer side changes after the merger, the first change being network related. They officially launched their 2.5GHz 5G NR network using the spectrum they acquired from the merger in Philadelphia, shutting down the network to Sprint subscribers. They also stated that wherever Sprint's 2.5GHz network is live: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, and Washington, DC; they intend to switch to T-Mobile brand (NY being next) and cut off Sprint's subscribers access to said network. The only exception to this is if the Sprint subscriber has the Samsung Galaxy S20, for which they will have full access to the T-Mobile branded 5G network without having to switch to a T-Mobile device. T-Mobile did state that for now, legacy Sprint customers using first gen 5G devices can still access the network until it's switched over using their current 5G devices, and once the switch happens these devices will just switch over to only using 4G LTE. They did state these customers will have an "incentive deal" to switch over to a T-Mobile branded 5G device when these switches occur."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merger_of_Sprint_Corporation_and_T-Mobile_US
Update to add: I was able to move location and get 5G access/speed tonight. So looks like my S10 5G still has 5G access in KC, but no idea for how long (until T-Mobile turns it off).
Apparently true. T-Mobile is bricking the 5G part of your Sprint S10 5G phone.
"Sprint customers with first gen 5G phones like the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G will continue to have access to Sprint’s 5G network that’s live in nine metro areas: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, and Washington, DC. But Karri Kuoppamaki, T-Mobile’s vice president of radio network technology, tells PCMag that those phones will become 4G devices as T-Mobile takes over the 5G airwaves. T-Mo added that Sprint customers with those devices will get a deal to help them move to new T-Mobile 5G phones."
https://www.tmonews.com/2020/04/t-mobile-sprint-combining-network-2-5ghz-5g-philadelphia/
How about s10 5G Sprint still have access 5G with T-Mobile???
sctvnn said:
How about s10 5G Sprint still have access 5G with T-Mobile???
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Did you ever get a answer about this?
Hi All,
I have recently bought an Unlocked US snapdragon version of Galaxy S21 ultra 5g but I live in UK. Since the day 1, I have never experienced 5G icon on notifications area here in London. I only see LTE. My SIM is 5G enabled. Is there any difference between the US snapdragon 888 version and UK Exynos 2100 as I am not seeing this 5G icon.
OR, if someone knows if there is a chance to get benefit of 5G here in London with my US version.
I look forward to getting your answers...
Thanks,
If your version is dual sim, try putting the sim on 2nd sim card slot. Otherwise, I would contact Samsung about it.
I thought the US and UK used different bands and that is why Samsung use the different chipsets based on the countries 5G bands. There is a small overlap in the high bands around 27/28 Ghz but that would depend on the bands you Uk provider uses. That is why they do not recommend buying devices from abroad.
The US unlocked won't get 5G in Europe
mpore14 said:
If your version is dual sim, try putting the sim on 2nd sim card slot. Otherwise, I would contact Samsung about it.
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It's a single SIM device...
lywyn said:
I thought the US and UK used different bands and that is why Samsung use the different chipsets based on the countries 5G bands. There is a small overlap in the high bands around 27/28 Ghz but that would depend on the bands you Uk provider uses. That is why they do not recommend buying devices from abroad.
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Does it mean, I will never get a chance to to see 5G icon on my device ? Or I can get the 5G in the future when the 5G rolls out fully in the UK with different bands or frequencies? Please comment on this. Thanks
ekerbuddyeker said:
The US unlocked won't get 5G in Europe
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Is it for now ? Or I will get a chance to see 5G on my device in future ?
Armani505 said:
Does it mean, I will never get a chance to to see 5G icon on my device ? Or I can get the 5G in the future when the 5G rolls out fully in the UK with different bands or frequencies? Please comment on this. Thanks
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It would depend on many things, 1) The SD support your carriers 5G band, 2) the firmware supporting the 5G, 3) your plan with carrier supporting 5G.
(1) and (2) may be supported depending on the carriers bands, you would need to ask your carrier.
(3) for example, previous EE plans do not include 5G in the plan and only if you upgrade to a 5G plan can you connect at 5G. My last phone did not do 5G so the plan was a 4G plan, upgrading the phone meant I had to upgrade the plan.
It's not whether your carrier will add 5G, it's the bands that they add that matter. European 5G bands are not the same as US 5G bands. Samsung doesn't include both in a single version of the s21 (apple does). You either have the US version or the various global versions. I have the HK version. It's a snapdragon like the US (and dual sim) but it only gets 5G in Europe (and HK of course).
lywyn said:
It would depend on many things, 1) The SD support your carriers 5G band, 2) the firmware supporting the 5G, 3) your plan with carrier supporting 5G.
(1) and (2) may be supported depending on the carriers bands, you would need to ask your carrier.
(3) for example, previous EE plans do not include 5G in the plan and only if you upgrade to a 5G plan can you connect at 5G. My last phone did not do 5G so the plan was a 4G plan, upgrading the phone meant I had to upgrade the plan.
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Thanks for the detailed answer. I contacted my carrier which is EE here in the UK. They said we are running different bands of 5G as compared to the US 5G bands.
And they confirmed that my plan is 5G enabled...
ekerbuddyeker said:
It's not whether your carrier will add 5G, it's the bands that they add that matter. European 5G bands are not the same as US 5G bands. Samsung doesn't include both in a single version of the s21 (apple does). You either have the US version or the various global versions. I have the HK version. It's a snapdragon like the US (and dual sim) but it only gets 5G in Europe (and HK of course).
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Hi, Thanks for your reply, I contacted them, and Yes, they said we are running different 5G bands here in UK as compared to US 5G bands and your US version supports the bands currently US carriers are providing in the US.
So, it means, when they (EE UK) add more 5G bands in their service like more frequencies of 5G then I can get the benefit of my 5G Snapdragon US version in the UK ???
ekerbuddyeker said:
The US unlocked won't get 5G in Europe
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@ekerbuddyeker I hope you're okay. Could you specify the technicality(s) why it won't work?
@ekerbuddyeker I hope you're okay. Could you specify the technicality(s) why it won't work?
SidRose01 said:
I hope you're okay. Could you specify the technicality(s) why it won't work?
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it's set up to receive a different set frequencies than are mostly used in Europe as others have said.
Hey. Ignore the incorrect advice from both your carrier and other users here.
Your S21 from the US includes band n78 support even though it isn't advertised.
You just need to enable it and remove the NR whitelist.
You can do it through the service menu (access through Google Dialer).
3mel said:
it's set up to receive a different set frequencies than are mostly used in Europe as others have said.
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Yep. We know. I mean do you know which frequency the US version is missing that is required in UK?
Skander1998 said:
Hey. Ignore the incorrect advice from both your carrier and other users here.
Your S21 from the US includes band n78 support even though it isn't advertised.
You just need to enable it and remove the NR whitelist.
You can do it through the service menu (access through Google Dialer).
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The service menu was unfortunately disabled on the US versions many months ago...
*Edit* - To clarify this, I'm sure that the code is probably the same as before, however, when you type it in on the US phones (using Google Phone, of course), the number instantly deletes itself and doesn't allow the menu to open. This was either just before or after launch (I can't remember which one as I had a Note 20 Ultra and exchanged it for this phone just after it released). But just before I did the phone exchange, all of a sudden, I couldn't access that service menu anymore on my Note 20U as it had just been blocked on the US phones. Furthermore, both of my phones were unlocked, and so it doesn't seem to be a carrier dependent thing =(
NippleSauce said:
The service menu was unfortunately disabled on the US versions many months ago...
*Edit* - To clarify this, I'm sure that the code is probably the same as before, however, when you type it in on the US phones, the number instantly deletes itself and doesn't allow the menu to open.
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Not really true. Just add a 2 at the end of the old code, click the first menu option, then 3 dot, back. Click the first option, and again, 3 menu, back. And now you've got the old service menu back.
We still have QPST access to if they ever block that second code
Armani505 said:
Hi, Thanks for your reply, I contacted them, and Yes, they said we are running different 5G bands here in UK as compared to US 5G bands and your US version supports the bands currently US carriers are providing in the US.
So, it means, when they (EE UK) add more 5G bands in their service like more frequencies of 5G then I can get the benefit of my 5G Snapdragon US version in the UK ???
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Only if they add the specific US bands, which is as likely as the UK Ministry of Transport regulating that the UK will start driving on the left to be in line with the US, but phasing it in, and starting only with Heavy Goods Vehicles first.
Today, all of a sudden, I see 5G showing up on my HK model G9980. I just did the big update Doesn't feel faster than LTE. Does anyone else know about this?
Has TMOB got additional 5G banks that work in the US ? Did they just switch them on? It means this is now a US and much of ROW 5G phone.
It's Low Band 5G on Tmobile, as you stated not much different than 4G LTE. Tmobile doesn't offer super fast mmWave 5G, only Verizon and AT&T but at this point their coverage is very limited. Since there's not much difference between Low Band 5G and 4G LTE it might be better to stick with 4G LTE as 5G consumes more power. You can check compatibility with your IMEI Number here.
Bring Your Own Unlocked Phone | IMEI Compatibility Check & Activate Online | T-Mobile
Bringing your own device to T-Mobile is an easy way to switch. Check your IMEI for compatibility, follow these steps, and activate your phone online today.
www.t-mobile.com
Yes, but the point is the 9880 doesn't have band 260 and 261, and up until today I never had 5G in the US on this device.
ekerbuddyeker said:
Yes, but the point is the 9880 doesn't have band 260 and 261, and up until today I never had 5G in the US on this device.
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It's likely 5G Band N41 anchored to 4G LTE on Band 2. Both of these are functional on the SM-G9980 and utilized by Tmobile.
Can you explain what you mean? I would like to understand better.
I notice there's a developer option called 5G Network Mode (SA + NSA etc). What is that all about?
Wonder why it showed up after the latest update...
ekerbuddyeker said:
Can you explain what you mean? I would like to understand better.
I notice there's a developer option called 5G Network Mode (SA + NSA etc). What is that all about?
Wonder why it showed up after the latest update...
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NSA anchors the control signaling of 5G Radio Networks to the 4G Core, while the SA scheme connects the 5G Radio directly to the 5G core network, the control signaling does not depend on the 4G network.
It says 5G most of the time now but speeds are essentially the same as 4g in the US. So it isn't real 5G?
OP just got his juices flowing.
?
I've noticed significantly better speeds in Chicago.
Have the new 5G UC Icon
rockky said:
I've noticed significantly better speeds in Chicago.
Have the new 5G UC Icon
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On the 9880??? Which device do you have?
I am in the United States and I have cricket, I just purchased the dual sim 998B/DS and I am not finding any ATT or AIO CSC for the phone. I am not able to get 5G over here on this phone so far so I am hoping somehow it would help with the cricket CSC. Maybe I am wrong, Cricket used the imei and swore it would work as well as Tmobile, neither sim cards allow 5g so far.
See at >Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G<.
There are huge differences between 5G bands support for the US and international versions.
So it doesn't surprise me at all that the inter-national model doesn't work in the US broadcasters' 5G bands.
I wasn't actually trying to surprise anyone, just seeing if anyone has a solution?
The problem is not in the phone and there is no way to replace hardware that does not support the US 5G band.
I read somewhere that in some models of Chinese devices it is possible to make a programmatic change in the hidden settings of the phone using a code entered in the phone's keypad. Try it.
jhr5474 said:
I am not able to get 5G over here on this phone
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The international Variant does not support the needed frequencies for 5G in USA - physically
There is no way to use 5G in US, without the Snapdragon Variant
Thanks