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UMTS/WCDMA 850MHz disabled on the Sprint Galaxy S4. Why?


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I am currently in France until August 2nd and after successfully getting Sprint to unlock my Galaxy S4, I travelled here about 2 weeks later. On my wife's HTC EVO Design4G, I put in her 'Free Mobile' SIM card and voila, 3G & H data as well as MMS and voice and SMS service began working fine on my new number attached to the SIM. On my Galaxy S4, I put in the SIM and went to configure the APNs only to find that they are in-configurable! In fact they are not even accessible without a shortcut app leading you to the APN page where all the settings are greyed out and if you want to add a new APN, the new APN page is unusable and greyed out as well.

Until there is an update, this phone does not seem to be 100% international despite Sprint's claim since only half the services work. The only services that work are the same ones that will work with a 10flip-phone over here (Voice and SMS).

I have searched high and low and those that know me know I do not give up on a technology question or error until I have it fixed or have convinced the company to fix it. However, this one has me beat. I do not root my phone for multiple reasons, the least of which is I do not like the idea of owning a $700 brick. There are other reasons as well which are out of my control.

I should not have to root my phone, however, to be able to access the features that Sprint claims are available on my phone.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Can anyone help? I am posting on this forum because you guys have discussed APNs and the Galaxy S4 and I love S4GRU and have gotten results from you all in the past! :D

Help! I'm in France and would LOVE to be able to use some of the 3GB of data that came with the SIM card plan on the phone that was guaranteed unlocked by Sprint. Suggestions?

Merci!

What you are trying to do is not possible without rooting in the MDL and MDC firmware versions. However, there's a new firmware with a lot of updates that came out yesterday and it's possible that Sprint enabled APN access in it.

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What you are trying to do is not possible without rooting in the MDL and MDC firmware versions. However, there's a new firmware with a lot of updates that came out yesterday and it's possible that Sprint enabled APN access in it.

 

Just updated to MF9, and the APN settings are still greyed out. 

Edited by ingenium
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Confirmed, even with MF9, the Sprint Galaxy S4 is worthless as a smartphone anywhere except the US.

 

Well, I personally wouldn't quite go that far because based on what folks are reporting on XDA, there do appear to be some carriers where the data seems to work without modifying the APN settings. Also, rooting too is an option for some users who are comfortable with doing that.

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Rooting was easy and it wasn't too difficult to change the apn once rooted. I also have an unlocked iPhone 4S on Verizon and the process was much much simpler for the iPhone. Literally popped the sim in and you're good to go.

 

Sprint/Samsung need to enable auto updating of APN's with a new SIM card like the iPhone or at least enable users to manually update without rooting.

 

When I got back to the US my apn menu disappeared even though it was working when I was out of the country, must need a foreign sim in for that menu to show up even while rooted. Not getting data connection at all in the US now. Will try to flash back to stock and report how it goes.

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Rooting was easy and it wasn't too difficult to change the apn once rooted. I also have an unlocked iPhone 4S on Verizon and the process was much much simpler for the iPhone. Literally popped the sim in and you're good to go.

 

Sprint/Samsung need to enable auto updating of APN's with a new SIM card like the iPhone or at least enable users to manually update without rooting.

 

When I got back to the US my apn menu disappeared even though it was working when I was out of the country, must need a foreign sim in for that menu to show up even while rooted. Not getting data connection at all in the US now. Will try to flash back to stock and report how it goes.

 

What ROM were you using? Just stock rooted, or one of the customized ROMs?

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Was using blue kuban rom. Had to end up calling sprint, some of the settings got messed up and required them to do something from their end.

 

All good now. Funny enough when I reinstalled stock firmware 4g was working and I could browse the Internet but could not connect to CDMA or 1x services. After calling sprint and doing a SCTRN (##72786#) reset I am good to go.

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Rooting was easy and it wasn't too difficult to change the apn once rooted. I also have an unlocked iPhone 4S on Verizon and the process was much much simpler for the iPhone. Literally popped the sim in and you're good to go.

 

Sprint/Samsung need to enable auto updating of APN's with a new SIM card like the iPhone or at least enable users to manually update without rooting.

 

When I got back to the US my apn menu disappeared even though it was working when I was out of the country, must need a foreign sim in for that menu to show up even while rooted. Not getting data connection at all in the US now. Will try to flash back to stock and report how it goes.

My APN menu never even appeared when I put in my European SIM card. I had to download a 3rd party app to 'open' the APN settings and see they are all uneditable. I hope I don't run into problems when I go to the US and into Sprint's exclusive domain.

"Sprint/Samsung need to enable auto updating of APN's with a new SIM card like the iPhone or at least enable users to manually update without rooting." Couldnt have said a truer statement!!! It's a headache and for what? Don't say it: Proprietary Obsessions

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My APN menu never even appeared when I put in my European SIM card. I had to download a 3rd party app to 'open' the APN settings and see they are all uneditable. I hope I don't run into problems when I go to the US and into Sprint's exclusive domain.

"Sprint/Samsung need to enable auto updating of APN's with a new SIM card like the iPhone or at least enable users to manually update without rooting." Couldnt have said a truer statement!!! It's a headache and for what? Don't say it: Proprietary Obsessions

 

Did you make the build prop edits I suggested in an earlier post? When I did those and had my foreign SIM in (Orange - IL), I was able to access the APN Menu and make changes to get Data working. When I got home and had my Sprint SIM in I noticed the menu was gone. Unfortunately I left the SIM for my brother who is staying longer (he has an iPhone) so I can't put it in again to see if the APN Menu is enabled to confirm my theory.

 

I think it has to be an android thing, in <4.0 APN editing was available unrooted but now it seems to have been disabled. Was also a much easier process to unlock foreign SIMs using the iPhone over GS4. I guess iPhone is just significantly more user friendly for using an international SIMs. I dont travel often so this isnt a deal breaker for me. 

 

Also was easy enough to get phone working again back in the US. Just wish I didn't have to call sprint to do it..

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Did you make the build prop edits I suggested in an earlier post? When I did those and had my foreign SIM in (Orange - IL), I was able to access the APN Menu and make changes to get Data working. When I got home and had my Sprint SIM in I noticed the menu was gone. Unfortunately I left the SIM for my brother who is staying longer (he has an iPhone) so I can't put it in again to see if the APN Menu is enabled to confirm my theory.

 

I think it has to be an android thing, in <4.0 APN editing was available unrooted but now it seems to have been disabled. Was also a much easier process to unlock foreign SIMs using the iPhone over GS4. I guess iPhone is just significantly more user friendly for using an international SIMs. I dont travel often so this isnt a deal breaker for me. 

 

Also was easy enough to get phone working again back in the US. Just wish I didn't have to call sprint to do it..

 

Oh nice! I hadn't seen your post about the build.prop edits. It worked flawlessly for me. I use Nova Launcher rather than the Touchwiz launcher, so I was able to add a shortcut on my homescreen to access the APN settings with the Sprint SIM in. I can switch between any of the 5 built in Sprint APNs (4 domestic, 1 for global roaming), and the ability to add new APNs is no longer greyed out. Thanks!

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Well, I personally wouldn't quite go that far because based on what folks are reporting on XDA, there do appear to be some carriers where the data seems to work without modifying the APN settings. Also, rooting too is an option for some users who are comfortable with doing that.

Could you direct me to that XDA convo please?

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  • 2 weeks later...

OK, so I've verified that 850MHz WCDMA/HSPA+ indeed works, but you have to force it. For some reason it really wants to use GSM/EDGE. I had to go into the Testing service menu (normally *#*#4636#*#* in the dialer, but Samsung disabled it. I used a Nova Launcher shortcut, or there are apps in the Play Store to access it) and force it to only use WCDMA (selecting WCDMA preferred doesn't work, it will still choose GSM over WCDMA). 

 

2013-07-27 01.27.26.png 2013-07-27 01.27.47.png 2013-07-25 12.12.34.png

 

That all said, I wasn't able to get SMS working for some reason. I could receive messages just fine, and make and receive phone calls just fine, but I got an error any time I tried sending a text. In the attached screenshot I was trying to activate a higher speed data package. I think it may have had something to do with the carrier though (in this case the Costa Rican carrier Kolbi), because I put the SIM in my 3G Nexus 7 and installed an SMS application and got the exact same error. I read that the usual reason was the Message Center/SMSC wasn't set properly, but I verified that wasn't the cause. 

2013-07-25 13.49.07.png

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, I'm new to all of this stuff, and I'm really desperate for your help!  I'm not a computer techie, so if someone could help me out in laymen's terms, that would be great! :-)

 

I have the same problem BenJDitzel was experiencing.  I don't know what it means to root my phone, and I'm not sure if Ben found an answer without doing that, so please let me know what I can do to fix this problem.

 

Thanks so much!!

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  • 1 month later...

So, i bought the Samsung Galaxy S4 for the specific purpose to use it while abroad. Now im stuck trying to figure out how to change the APN for my Sprint Galaxy s4. After hours on the phone I finally found someone that told me that this model has a glitch from sprint that does not allow you to change it. After some researching i found out that it is possible to change the APN once you unlock and root your phone. So i have done both but now im trying to figure out how to change the APN. I tried using Aoffline sim APN but dont know what to do so my phone can finally recieve data for the internet. If anyone can please help me in any way i would really appreciate it!

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So, i bought the Samsung Galaxy S4 for the specific purpose to use it while abroad. Now im stuck trying to figure out how to change the APN for my Sprint Galaxy s4. After hours on the phone I finally found someone that told me that this model has a glitch from sprint that does not allow you to change it. After some researching i found out that it is possible to change the APN once you unlock and root your phone. So i have done both but now im trying to figure out how to change the APN. I tried using Aoffline sim APN but dont know what to do so my phone can finally recieve data for the internet. If anyone can please help me in any way i would really appreciate it!

 

Since you're rooted, see this post.

 

Hi, I'm new to all of this stuff, and I'm really desperate for your help!  I'm not a computer techie, so if someone could help me out in laymen's terms, that would be great! :-)

 

I have the same problem BenJDitzel was experiencing.  I don't know what it means to root my phone, and I'm not sure if Ben found an answer without doing that, so please let me know what I can do to fix this problem.

 

Thanks so much!!

 

It is possible I stumbled across a way to edit the APN without root. After opening the shortcut to the Samsung DM Service menu to write a new PRL (as first detailed here), I saw there was also a link to the APNs in there. Unlike every other prior approach to the APN list, these were not greyed out, allowing me to edit them or add a new one. I haven't yet tried it out with a SIM though to see if the settings "stick."

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  • 1 month later...

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