Forum Discussion
Phone will not pick up 4G
I purchased an unlocked ATT Samsung Note 9 phone from Amazon in December 2020. It worked just fine until May when they sent out new sim cards and turned off 2G. They are telling me I haveto purchase a new phone that is 4G compatible even though this one picked up 4G prior to that time. My Tmobile Note 8 works fine on the new network. They offered to give me a cheap free phone to replace it or $200.00 against a better phone. I have been with TMobile for over 25 years when they were still Voicestream. One mad TMobile customer looking for a new home.
Jordan78242 wrote:
fireguy_6364 wrote:
last i heard they hadnt shut down 3G as of yet. i dont believe it would be that sim card but you never know..could be a bunk one out the gate..have another phone with a working TMO sim card in it you can swap to your phone to test against?
also keep in mind that not all phones are created equal. there might actually be some bands of LTE that TMO uses that your ATT phone doesnt have on it because it was originally set up for ATT. you could always cross check which bands your ATT phone is able to use compared to what TMO is using as well.
you can also contact TMO via one of their social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter.
@syaoran does Samsung set them all up the same or could there be differences? i know there was something that Sammy did on their end..just cant remember if this was one of said things or not.
TMobile uses Band 2, 4, 5, 12, 66 & 71!
Yes, but only one or two of those is deployed in an area at a time. All of those bands are not deployed on every tower. Band 41 is also becoming a lot more common with tower upgrades.
fireguy_6364 wrote:
last i heard they hadnt shut down 3G as of yet. i dont believe it would be that sim card but you never know..could be a bunk one out the gate..have another phone with a working TMO sim card in it you can swap to your phone to test against?
also keep in mind that not all phones are created equal. there might actually be some bands of LTE that TMO uses that your ATT phone doesnt have on it because it was originally set up for ATT. you could always cross check which bands your ATT phone is able to use compared to what TMO is using as well.
you can also contact TMO via one of their social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter.
@syaoran does Samsung set them all up the same or could there be differences? i know there was something that Sammy did on their end..just cant remember if this was one of said things or not.
TMobile uses Band 2, 4, 5, 12, 66 & 71!
fireguy_6364 wrote:
if it does not have 5G then it needs to be TMO VoLTE (Voice Over LTE) compatible or it wont work. this ends up being a priority since calls, texts etc are normally sent over 3G..which is getting shut down.
Should 4G work with their new cell towers since it was working 2 weeks ago?
Mississippicustomer wrote:
Why would my Note 8 pick up LTE but not the ATT unlocked phone Note 9. Everything worked fine until Tmobile turned off 3g. Everything I read says the phone is 4g capable but it has no option to choose another network. Before I am forced to purchase a new phone that I do not want I want to explore all possibilities. Could it be the new Sim card they sent. It says edge for network. Been a customer for over 25 years bir do not want to pay for something I cant use. I called technical support and had to wait 45 minutes to speak to someone.
I know the feeling! Mine stopped mostly working 4 weeks ago! They said they were replacing cell towers! It works sometimes but mostly doesn't! My tablet purchased in 2020 picks up 2G, 3G & 4G! I was told the were getting rid of 2G /recently I was told the are getting rid of 3G! Mine always said 4G so not sure why it isn't working? Does your Note 8/9 show 4G or LTE at the bars? Your Note 8/9 should have settings for networks!
Samsung devices are fairly cross-compatible. That isn’t so much though before the 9 series though and the 7’s and before are even worse. AT&T doesn’t use the same standard for VoLTE and WiFi Calling though as T-Mobile. 3G might be available in some areas still but it isn’t in all areas. Where 3G is available though, is pretty much a guarantee that it is band 4. GSM Arena just lists all of the bands supported by all of the U models and not them independently by carrier but AT&T does list it.
UMTS/HSPA+ - 850/1900/2100MHz
https://www.att.com/tablets/samsung/galaxy-note-8-refurb.html
No support for band 4 on 3G so that isn’t going to work on T-Mobile’s 3G and no support for VoLTE means it won’t work on T-Mobile’s 4G either for voice calls.
last i heard they hadnt shut down 3G as of yet. i dont believe it would be that sim card but you never know..could be a bunk one out the gate..have another phone with a working TMO sim card in it you can swap to your phone to test against?
also keep in mind that not all phones are created equal. there might actually be some bands of LTE that TMO uses that your ATT phone doesnt have on it because it was originally set up for ATT. you could always cross check which bands your ATT phone is able to use compared to what TMO is using as well.
you can also contact TMO via one of their social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter.
@syaoran does Samsung set them all up the same or could there be differences? i know there was something that Sammy did on their end..just cant remember if this was one of said things or not.
Why would my Note 8 pick up LTE but not the ATT unlocked phone Note 9. Everything worked fine until Tmobile turned off 3g. Everything I read says the phone is 4g capable but it has no option to choose another network. Before I am forced to purchase a new phone that I do not want I want to explore all possibilities. Could it be the new Sim card they sent. It says edge for network. Been a customer for over 25 years bir do not want to pay for something I cant use. I called technical support and had to wait 45 minutes to speak to someone.
if it does not have 5G then it needs to be TMO VoLTE (Voice Over LTE) compatible or it wont work. this ends up being a priority since calls, texts etc are normally sent over 3G..which is getting shut down.
