I just bought a Photon, which I only did because it is an international capable phone. I know Verizon is going to unlock global roaming, and they're CDMA like Sprint. Is the hardware inside the devices the same? Would it theoretically be possible that Sprint could issue a software update to add global roaming capabilities to their Galaxy SIII? I'm considering replacing the Photon because of the lack of real 4G, and mainly, the lack of SVDO. Part of the reason I have the internet on my phone is so I can get the email or notification right there and then, and if I'm talking to someone, I wanna be able to look something up, especially if it involves school or work. But I want a phone I can go abroad with too, and the Moto Admiral, the iPhone, or BB is no option
And if not, does Sprint really think they can revive their brand if going around the world means not having a phone? Have they not learned lessons from Verizon and ATT's success? Why be late on all three SVDO, LTE, and people travelling with their phones, especially such expensive and premium phones? I, for one, will be more likely to stay with Sprint, which I'm with at the moment because I'm young and don't have a ton of financial resources yet, if I don't always have to worry about renting a phone or having a dumb phone abroad, especially bc smartphones are great for strangers in strange lands.
so I called up Sprint today and the guy told me that it if Sprint wanted to, they COULD issue us an update to have international roaming on the GS3
the answer is no. it's physically impossible, because the Sprint SGS3 has an embedded SIM card for its LTE. meaning you cannot swap SIMs in it. no way around this.
sprint on left, att/tmo/uscc/vzw variant (this one is att) on right:
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notice the lack of SIM slot on sprint's.
dLo GSR said:
the answer is no. it's physically impossible, because the Sprint SGS3 has an embedded SIM card for its LTE. meaning you cannot swap SIMs in it. no way around this.
sprint on left, att/tmo/uscc/vzw variant (this one is att) on right:
notice the lack of SIM slot on sprint's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you don't have to swap SIMs for international ROAMING, so that makes sense, but this does mean it would be hard to use a prepaid SIM card, which is a **** of a lot more convenient. Plus, it probably wouldn't be hard to mod the plastic, or go online, order the part of the back with the screws and SIM-card slot version, which I might do
DiamondJay20 said:
you don't have to swap SIMs for international ROAMING, so that makes sense, but this does mean it would be hard to use a prepaid SIM card, which is a **** of a lot more convenient. Plus, it probably wouldn't be hard to mod the plastic, or go online, order the part of the back with the screws and SIM-card slot version, which I might do
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh, right, you are correct. i assumed they meant a local SIM internationally.
dLo GSR said:
oh, right, you are correct. i assumed they meant a local SIM internationally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It would make perfect sense for Sprint to enable this; us galaxy owners could go overseas, they'd get the high roaming rates, and they wouldn't risk losing customers who wanna travel. I still might save my Photon to swap SIMs. If Sprint doesn't enable it, they are idiots.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
http://www.change.org/petitions/spr...g-on-4g-lte-phones-and-allow-sim-card-removal
I found this online, worth mentioning
Related
I went to a corporate store today to upgrade one of my lines to the Lumia 900, but walked away empty handed.
I was going to upgrade a line and get a micro-sim from my personal line to stick into the Lumia (I have a regular size sim), but the rep told me I would no longer get data on my iPhone if I wanted to switch back and forth between devices. He mentioned that this problem only exists with the iPhone, since it is technically on a different data plan than other devices AT&T carries.
This isn't a huge issue since my iPhone sits in a drawer and is nothing more than a glorified iPod Touch, but I would of course like to use it if the urge strikes me.
Does anyone know if this is true?
Don't quote me 100% but I 99.9% believe you will have to be provisioned on LTE data plan, and then you'll be able to swap SIM's with non-LTE phones. What the rep was telling you (I think) is that you can not use your existing iPhone data pln with LTE devices. Once your data plan provisioned to LTE you should be good to go.
you might have to exchange 4G sim card to get works.
AnyMal said:
Don't quote me 100% but I 99.9% believe you will have to be provisioned on LTE data plan, and then you'll be able to swap SIM's with non-LTE phones. What the rep was telling you (I think) is that you can not use your existing iPhone data pln with LTE devices. Once your data plan provisioned to LTE you should be good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Makes sense, but he told me it was not possible to use both the Lumia and the iPhone. In his defense, he even asked another associate and they said the exact same thing.
So, if I were to switch over to an LTE plan, would I be able to simply pop my SIM back into my iPhone if I were to use it?
The_Newtype said:
Makes sense, but he told me it was not possible to use both the Lumia and the iPhone. In his defense, he even asked another associate and they said the exact same thing.
So, if I were to switch over to an LTE plan, would I be able to simply pop my SIM back into my iPhone if I were to use it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see why wouldn't you be able to do just that. You have nothing to lose by trying.
AnyMal said:
Don't quote me 100% but I 99.9% believe you will have to be provisioned on LTE data plan, and then you'll be able to swap SIM's with non-LTE phones. What the rep was telling you (I think) is that you can not use your existing iPhone data pln with LTE devices. Once your data plan provisioned to LTE you should be good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah this may be correct. My GF's iphone data plans look different. My LTE data plans look like this.
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The_Newtype said:
I went to a corporate store today to upgrade one of my lines to the Lumia 900, but walked away empty handed.
I was going to upgrade a line and get a micro-sim from my personal line to stick into the Lumia (I have a regular size sim), but the rep told me I would no longer get data on my iPhone if I wanted to switch back and forth between devices. He mentioned that this problem only exists with the iPhone, since it is technically on a different data plan than other devices AT&T carries.
This isn't a huge issue since my iPhone sits in a drawer and is nothing more than a glorified iPod Touch, but I would of course like to use it if the urge strikes me.
Does anyone know if this is true?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know what, I have a coworker with a 4S I can plug my micro SD in to his iPhone and see what happens.
EDIT:
So we tested his phone, it was a 4 not 4s that takes a micro sim and I put my Lumia Micro sim in his iPhone 4 and he was able to pull up web pages.
I did not Send an SMS but the phone was happy, showed 3G service and was browsing pages and he made a quick test call.
Didn't think about texts till now and hes out of the office.
Tested it and it's working. Swapped back and forth, texted, called, and even did some facetime. Time for the iPhone to hit the junk drawer for another month or so.
Thanks for all of the replies, everyone. Answered my question perfectly.
So I am a little hesitant about activating the replacement device I received today...I got my Nexus before they switched to the shared data and was told I can keep it until I activate another 4G phone. I am wondering if their automated systems will treat this device as a new phone considering its got a different serial and all. Has anyone went through this recently?
slickrickstyles said:
So I am a little hesitant about activating the replacement device I received today...I got my Nexus before they switched to the shared data and was told I can keep it until I activate another 4G phone. I am wondering if their automated systems will treat this device as a new phone considering its got a different serial and all. Has anyone went through this recently?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't done it recently, but that shouldn't be an issue.
Can't you just pop your sim in and go?
This is my first 4G device with a sim so I wasnt quite sure how exactly it will work out and calling Verizon didnt help at all the two ladies I talked to couldnt grasp the question I was asking with one telling me that as long as the Unlimited Data is on my account i'll never lose it...Figured I was much better coming here instead
slickrickstyles said:
This is my first 4G device with a sim so I wasnt quite sure how exactly it will work out and calling Verizon didnt help at all the two ladies I talked to couldnt grasp the question I was asking with one telling me that as long as the Unlimited Data is on my account i'll never lose it...Figured I was much better coming here instead
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have unlimited data on VZW, and I had an LG Revolution, granted this example is before the shared data BS, I just bought a used GNexus off ebay about 2 months ago. I just walked into the store, said I need to get a micro SIM (REVO used full size SIM), they got me a new micro SIM, even activated it for me, and I specifically said I want to make sure my plan does not change and she said of course not, and it did not.
You should only loose it if you buy a new phone from them and then re-up your contract.
From this point forward pretty much all VZW customers with unlimited plans need to buy phones from other sources than VZW.
Big Cam said:
You should only loose it if you buy a new phone from them and then re-up your contract.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true. You will only lose your unlimited if you use a subsidy or do a transfer of liability.
Thanks guys it went off without a hitch and when i checked with *#*#RTN#*#* i was surprised to find that this phone has not been reconditioned...So I am assuming its new which is nice...Its a v.9 though while my previous one was a .10. Doesn't look like the signal has improved though so far which is frustrating.
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slickrickstyles said:
Thanks guys it went off without a hitch and when i checked with *#*#RTN#*#* i was surprised to find that this phone has not been reconditioned...So I am assuming its new which is nice...Its a v.9 though while my previous one was a .10. Doesn't look like the signal has improved though so far which is frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its a refurbished phone. Trust me. They're good at refurbing the nexus. I have no idea why you thought you'd lose unlimited...all you have to do is slip in your SIM, no activation required.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Has anyone activated and used the Samsung Epic 4G on TracFone.
I was considering buying one of these, and activating it with TracFone, basically just to use for light mobile voice and data usage, and mostly for WiFi browsing.
TracFone claims you can activate a CDMA phone with them, but researching their site is extremely vague, and I was hoping a TracFone user could shed some light.
I was wondering how much it would cost to activate the phone, if you can use it with a third party ROM, and if you can buy a double the minutes card and use it with this phone.
Thanks for any info.
copota said:
Has anyone activated and used the Samsung Epic 4G on TracFone.
I was considering buying one of these, and activating it with TracFone, basically just to use for light mobile voice and data usage, and mostly for WiFi browsing.
TracFone claims you can activate a CDMA phone with them, but researching their site is extremely vague, and I was hoping a TracFone user could shed some light.
I was wondering how much it would cost to activate the phone, if you can use it with a third party ROM, and if you can buy a double the minutes card and use it with this phone.
Thanks for any info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't heard of anybody using this device with TracFone, but FreedomPop, Virgin Mobile, Boost, Page Plus, and Straight Talk ate confirmed working. I'm on FreedomPop, $12.50 a month for 1GB of data and unlimited talk and text.
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bilgerryan said:
I haven't heard of anybody using introduction with TracFone, but FreedomPop, Virgin Mobile, Boost, Page Plus, and Straight Talk ate confirmed working. I'm on FreedomPop, $12.50 a month for 1GB of data and unlimited talk and text.
Sounds good. Unfortunately FreedomPop is not available in NJ. I'm curious how FreedomPop delivers its access. TracFone simply buys huge amounts of time from ATT and Verizon, then resells it. FreedomPop sounds like a fantastic deal. Best you can get with TracFone is $7 a month, 60 minutes talk/60 texts/60mb data, and thats only possible if you bought a Triple the Minutes phone.
In my area, you can get either TracFone GSM phone (ATT Network which SUCKS), or TracFone CDMA phone (which is Verizon and is rock solid).
Does FreedomPop operate their own towers or do they simply buy time and resell it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
copota said:
bilgerryan said:
I haven't heard of anybody using introduction with TracFone, but FreedomPop, Virgin Mobile, Boost, Page Plus, and Straight Talk ate confirmed working. I'm on FreedomPop, $12.50 a month for 1GB of data and unlimited talk and text.
Sounds good. Unfortunately FreedomPop is not available in NJ. I'm curious how FreedomPop delivers its access. TracFone simply buys huge amounts of time from ATT and Verizon, then resells it. FreedomPop sounds like a fantastic deal. Best you can get with TracFone is $7 a month, 60 minutes talk/60 texts/60mb data, and thats only possible if you bought a Triple the Minutes phone.
In my area, you can get either TracFone GSM phone (ATT Network which SUCKS), or TracFone CDMA phone (which is Verizon and is rock solid).
Does FreedomPop operate their own towers or do they simply buy time and resell it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They use Sprint, if Sprint exists in NJ you're good, they said it wasn't available in my state. But it was $2.50 to try the first month, coverage is exactly the same as with Sprint. Calls and messages are done through a FreedomPop app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can this phone be unlocked and used on different network ? specifically international networks ?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sprint-prepaid-samsung-galaxy-s-iii-4g-no-contract-cell-phone-white/8776306.p?id=1219398526235&skuId=8776306
Since Sprint is CDMA, not even sure if they have a sim slot .. it says no contract phone ...
depakjan said:
Can this phone be unlocked and used on different network ? specifically international networks ?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sprint-prepaid-samsung-galaxy-s-iii-4g-no-contract-cell-phone-white/8776306.p?id=1219398526235&skuId=8776306
Since Sprint is CDMA, not even sure if they have a sim slot .. it says no contract phone ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it cannot be. There is no sim slot at all. You may be able to put it on straight talk or pageplus, but I have no idea if you could put it on any other cdma network. To my knowledge most other countries use gsm over cdma.
The only one I know that does allow sprint devices, is ting
And FreedomPop
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My ROM: WICKED X
no use in getting this then.. Best buy is giving this phone for 79$ during thanksgiving.. no use if there is no sim slot.
Thanks everyone.
depakjan said:
no use in getting this then.. Best buy is giving this phone for 79$ during thanksgiving.. no use if there is no sim slot.
Thanks everyone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The AT&T and T-Mobile variants have SIM slots
My ROM: WICKED X
bilgerryan said:
And FreedomPop
My ROM: WICKED X
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Freedom pop is garbage. It's all voip. Even with strong 4g, the call quality is terrible, and it all barely works. Ting is the only one that's a normal service.
ReapersDeath said:
Freedom pop is garbage. It's all voip. Even with strong 4g, the call quality is terrible, and it all barely works. Ting is the only one that's a normal service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, but some people don't talk on the phone much... Just throwing it out there, especially because they are the only ones to have a completely free plan.
My ROM: WICKED X
True. But ting scales depending on your usage. Although I wish it was unlimited everything.. Just can't afford a new $300 unlocked phone to go to another company. So stuck with ting
ReapersDeath said:
True. But ting scales depending on your usage. Although I wish it was unlimited everything.. Just can't afford a new $300 unlocked phone to go to another company. So stuck with ting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, but right now I'm alright with that... Especially if we're getting official 4.4.4 soon.
My ROM: WICKED X
There are some surprisingly good deals for the Moto Z2 force on Swappa, but only for the T-mobile edition. My carrier is AT&T. Will the phone work with just an AT&T SIM?
Speaking from experience only... I always buy Verizon at best buy for full price... When I sold my s8 to a co-worker his at&t sim worked 100%. Now my sim is attached to a buisnesss account so that might help in the unlocking process but I'm pretty sure all Verizon phones are sim unlocked.
I don't think others like at&t/TMobile have easy ways to unlock the sim... It's doable but prbly a hassle
GroovyGeek said:
There are some surprisingly good deals for the Moto Z2 force on Swappa, but only for the T-mobile edition. My carrier is AT&T. Will the phone work with just an AT&T SIM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will work but be prepared for a fight to get it unlocked. Best way to think about it is to add $110 to whatever the price of the phone is. You will have to activate a T-Mobile prepaid account, add over $100, request an unlock, wait AT LEAST 4 days then pray your request is granted.
I recently went through this exact process and from the time I bought the phone to the time it was SIM Unlocked took just under two weeks. Because I purchased the phone from a third party and it didn't show up in TMobile's system it was not eligible for an unlock.
I spent literally hours on the phone with customer service from both T-Mobile and Motorola, to no avail. I tried third party unlock sites which also didn't work. Finally a member here recommended contacting T-Mobile via Twitter. This was by far the most helpful anyone had been and I was able to get the phone unlocked.
After I went through all of this trouble I still ended up selling the phone. There was nothing wrong with it, the gray just wasn't my thing and I wanted the black one. After SIM and bootloader unlocking it I was able to break even and I'm using the T-Mobile SIM in an old phone as a hotspot exclusively to game on.
Truly the best deal on a z2 force right now is to start a new line with Sprint at Best buy. I'm paying $16.34/month for 24 months with $0 down payment. That works out to $392 total. At that price this is absolutely the best phone for the money.
I've read all of the people who are unhappy with Sprint and say they have terrible reception but where I'm at (Midwest) I have had 4-5 bars of LTE all the time. That's better than Att.
What I will have to agree on is the slower network speeds. It's not a HUGE difference like some people say but it is noticable. Personally I'll gladly take a slightly slower but more reliable connection and save $40 bucks a month.
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Thanks for the feedback. This is exactly what I was afraid of. I can't switch to a different network. Both my wife and daughter have grandfathered unlimited iPhone accounts with AT&T as well as a healthy corporate discount, and financially the switch to any other carrier makes no sense. My Nexus 6p died last night and I have been debating between the Pixel XL, Oneplus 5, and Z2 force.
GroovyGeek said:
Thanks for the feedback. This is exactly what I was afraid of. I can't switch to a different network. Both my wife and daughter have grandfathered unlimited iPhone accounts with AT&T as well as a healthy corporate discount, and financially the switch to any other carrier makes no sense. My Nexus 6p died last night and I have been debating between the Pixel XL, Oneplus 5, and Z2 force.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand that. I've been on Att since 2007. It still feels weird seeing Sprint in the status bar and boot screen. However, buying this phone from Att is a huge rip off. They're charging OVER msrp and the bootloader is locked down.
If I were in your shoes I'd look into this: https://www.phonearena.com/news/Goo...h-Pixel-XLs-but-only-in-North-America_id98059
After dropping and cracking my old Sony Xperia I am all about that shattershield screen. The only other thing close to that with modern specs is the s8 active and that's an Att exclusive, feels cheap, looks awful and cost more than Att's z2! I hate using cases but in my line of work I need durable equipment. If I were smart I'd be using a $20 flip phone but I've been using a smartphone since windows mobile, Palm and blackberry were all still relevant (or even around)