Galaxy S20 Series Discussion

[dkyeager]

7 hours ago, floorguy said:

Oh.. So is the S20+ or ultra worth it??

Boils down to battery and camera.  

[NanoVirus]

Does anyone know if the Sprint 5G coverage has been shutdown in waves or the update blocked access completely?

[transitwatch889]

This update has some modem improvements from what I can tell.  Latches onto signal faster than before. When switching  between  data wifi/lte/5g there is less hang between when a data sessions seems to be established. 

[transitwatch889]

1 hour ago, NanoVirus said:

Does anyone know if the Sprint 5G coverage has been shutdown in waves or the update blocked access completely?

If you have a Samsung S 20. You're pretty much using T-Mobile network as home native. 2019 5G devices they still have access to Sprint's 5G if it was still active in your respective market.  Till they are shunted over as well. But that is market dependent. 

[Paynefanbro]

On 5/20/2020 at 9:01 PM, floorguy said:

Oh.. So is the S20+ or ultra worth it??

It depends. I think it's probably the most complete package out of any Android phone released this year however I would never recommend it to anyone at full price. I'd only suggest purchasing it if you can get it at a steep discount. Overall I think the S20+ is better value for its price.

[nexgencpu]

Anybody know how to force Wifi calling on gs20? Looks like TMobile prioritizes VoLTE and quality is terrible in my area. Man, I don't know if I could wait for TMobile to get their act together here.

Miss Sprint big-time. 😑

[transitwatch889]

Using the Samsung been selected application. You go into the more network settings. Tap on the Sprint active Sim in the next menu. Tap the Advance menu. In the Wi-Fi calling preferences you tap and change it from over mobile network to Wi-Fi calling priority.

[nexgencpu]

3 hours ago, transitwatch889 said:

Using the Samsung been selected application. You go into the more network settings. Tap on the Sprint active Sim in the next menu. Tap the Advance menu. In the Wi-Fi calling preferences you tap and change it from over mobile network to Wi-Fi calling priority.

My man! Thank you! 

[nexgencpu]

Btw new update is out! With security finally updated!

Also, camera improvements, autofocus is much better now, on top of that, a couple of tweaks within the camera app. 

Very nice update.

[dkyeager]

1 hour ago, nexgencpu said:

Btw new update is out! With security finally updated!

Also, camera improvements, autofocus is much better now, on top of that, a couple of tweaks within the camera app. 

Very nice update.

Samsung bandwidth selection app still works?

[nexgencpu]

3 hours ago, dkyeager said:

Samsung bandwidth selection app still works?

Yes indeed, it resolved my issue.

[NanoVirus]

On 5/23/2020 at 9:50 AM, transitwatch889 said:

If you have a Samsung S 20. You're pretty much using T-Mobile network as home native. 2019 5G devices they still have access to Sprint's 5G if it was still active in your respective market.  Till they are shunted over as well. But that is market dependent. 

Thanks. I tried using the Samsung App to force N41,not sure if that will work with 5G, but it appears Sprint 5G might be blocked now. 

[nexgencpu]

12 minutes ago, NanoVirus said:

Thanks. I tried using the Samsung App to force N41,not sure if that will work with 5G, but it appears Sprint 5G might be blocked now. 

Most n41 have been moved to TMobile, so not blocked, just non-existent.

[jporter12]

So, I'm late to the party here.  Columbus, Ohio market.  I've had my S20 Ultra since a few days after launch (late pre-order) so I've been through the stuff mentioned through this thread.  My issue is 5G.  Before 5G was turned on, my speeds on T-Mobile were great!  Maybe a bit slower than Sprint in a speedtest, but latency was better, and it "felt" faster.  Then 5G was turned on, and I found out to check in the *#0011# service mode screen to see if n71 was working.  It was, I was happy.  Within a couple days, that totally changed.  It seemed that I rarely got n71, and data was SLOW, maybe 1/3 of the speed as before 5G was turned on.  When I do see n71, speeds are really good. For instance, 2 days ago, it was hitting n71 without active data transferring.  Then yesterday and today, not even a blip of n71 when actively transferring.  I found that switching the network mode to LTE/CDMA got my speeds back to good.  It seems that I must get a profile update push when not looking and it turns 5G back on, or if I have to restart and forget to reset it.  

Is anyone else seeing this behavior?  

[swintec]

1 hour ago, jporter12 said:

Is anyone else seeing this behavior?  

what sort of speeds (actual numbers) are we talking here?

[dkyeager]

2 hours ago, jporter12 said:

So, I'm late to the party here.  Columbus, Ohio market.  I've had my S20 Ultra since a few days after launch (late pre-order) so I've been through the stuff mentioned through this thread.  My issue is 5G.  Before 5G was turned on, my speeds on T-Mobile were great!  Maybe a bit slower than Sprint in a speedtest, but latency was better, and it "felt" faster.  Then 5G was turned on, and I found out to check in the *#0011# service mode screen to see if n71 was working.  It was, I was happy.  Within a couple days, that totally changed.  It seemed that I rarely got n71, and data was SLOW, maybe 1/3 of the speed as before 5G was turned on.  When I do see n71, speeds are really good. For instance, 2 days ago, it was hitting n71 without active data transferring.  Then yesterday and today, not even a blip of n71 when actively transferring.  I found that switching the network mode to LTE/CDMA got my speeds back to good.  It seems that I must get a profile update push when not looking and it turns 5G back on, or if I have to restart and forget to reset it.  

Is anyone else seeing this behavior?  

Columbus 600MHz spectrum was just whacked 5x5 in a dispute with Dish.

[jporter12]

2 hours ago, swintec said:

what sort of speeds (actual numbers) are we talking here?

I'll run some tests tomorrow, I don't get T-Mobile coverage at home, but I get excellent B41, outside.  The Magic Box has been a help!

[iansltx]

Been playing with my GS20 since I got it seven or so hours ago. The May security update also made n71 visible in the band selection app (was only n41 before), so I was able to get n71+L66 running, with 15 MHz for the former and 10 MHz for the latter. B41 LTE is still (significantly) faster on downloads though so I'll probably force that unless I'm sending a big file or something.

Highly entertaining that somehow T-Mobile can do "roaming" VoLTE on Sprint bands and Sprint never got around to doing that natively. But I may be biased due to having a phone they didn't support for VoLTE for some reason.

[Tengen31]

Columbus 600MHz spectrum was just whacked 5x5 in a dispute with Dish.

That stinks. My area LTE is still 10x10 I wonder if it's because I'm in a Columbia capital area? Mpls

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk

[jporter12]

On 5/27/2020 at 10:43 PM, swintec said:

what sort of speeds (actual numbers) are we talking here?

I finally got around to an actual test, in the same location, first with 5G enabled, 7.42 D/L and 0.07 U/l 45ms ping.  Then just a couple minutes later, after the reboot from switching to LTE/CDMA mode, 33.8 D/L and 6.31 U/L with a similar 44ms ping.  This was pretty far from the tower, but I've noticed similar differences in many locations.  Also, I have not had a verified connection to n71 in about 5 days, looking in the *#0011# screen, while a speedtest, or other data in use.

[floorguy]

So help me understand something..

1st, i have a handful of phones about ready for upgrades (still not impressed with the UPGRADE offer but what ever)

As I am reading, IF you get one of the S-20s  Does the "update" kick you on to native Tmo, with sprint as the backup??

Because I had Tmo for a little while, and wasnt that impressed.. Where I am at in utah (north of salt lake) Sprint is better in 90% of the areas...

So i dont want to cut my nose off here, if all it is, is a jump bac on Tmo, until all the merging is done...At which point I am sure it will be AWESOME... 

[mdob07]

On 5/14/2020 at 7:48 PM, mdob07 said:

Has anyone gotten the May update yet? Both my phones are still saying no update available on the April security patch. Seems to be running a bit late, I wonder if the COVID pandemic is slowing them down also.

 

On 5/14/2020 at 8:21 PM, Terrell352 said:

My unlocked verison got the update last week.

Sent from my SM-G988U1 using Tapatalk
 

My T-Mobile S20+ finally got the May update about a week ago, but my AT&T S20 Ultra is still saying its up to date on the April update. I wonder if they're just going to skip the May patchs and just combine it all into the June update at this point. AT&T used to be super fast about pushing the monthly updates out with my S9+, I hope that's not changing.

[iansltx]

12 hours ago, floorguy said:

So help me understand something..

1st, i have a handful of phones about ready for upgrades (still not impressed with the UPGRADE offer but what ever)

As I am reading, IF you get one of the S-20s  Does the "update" kick you on to native Tmo, with sprint as the backup??

Because I had Tmo for a little while, and wasnt that impressed.. Where I am at in utah (north of salt lake) Sprint is better in 90% of the areas...

So i dont want to cut my nose off here, if all it is, is a jump bac on Tmo, until all the merging is done...At which point I am sure it will be AWESOME... 

By the time you get your S20, it'll probably be preloaded with the update that defaults you to T-Mobile bands. Interestingly enough, the IP network part of the connection is still Sprint...but you get VoLTE across the board.

With that said, you can install Samsung Band Selection and pick which combination of bands (LTE and NR, though n71 will only work if you also have B2/66 enabled as well, and n41 for the most part doesn't exist) you'll let your phone on. T-Mobile band priority still applies to whatever you let through, so if you accept B2/4/66 you'll get those (probably even 12/71) but if you lock your phone down to Sprint bands that's what you'll get.

As an example, I've tended to select B41-only on my S20 if I'm in an area I know to have solid B41 (AKA where I live and nearby). That gets me significantly higher speeds than the default, which tends to sit on B66+n71. I got one roaming warning from this but latency and speeds are as if I was on the native network. Then if I head out I'll either turn everything on or select 25/26/41 as the radio in this phone is strong enough to sustain a Zoom video call where previously (Essential Phone) the only thing reliable was 1x.

The system isn't perfect, and sometime the phone will fail to lock on a signal at all after enough band selection changes, but a reboot fixes that. I have the band selection app as one of my quick apps on the screen edge app selector, so swapping things around takes maybe 15 seconds and a few taps.

[floorguy]

15 hours ago, iansltx said:

By the time you get your S20, it'll probably be preloaded with the update that defaults you to T-Mobile bands. Interestingly enough, the IP network part of the connection is still Sprint...but you get VoLTE across the board.

With that said, you can install Samsung Band Selection and pick which combination of bands (LTE and NR, though n71 will only work if you also have B2/66 enabled as well, and n41 for the most part doesn't exist) you'll let your phone on. T-Mobile band priority still applies to whatever you let through, so if you accept B2/4/66 you'll get those (probably even 12/71) but if you lock your phone down to Sprint bands that's what you'll get.

As an example, I've tended to select B41-only on my S20 if I'm in an area I know to have solid B41 (AKA where I live and nearby). That gets me significantly higher speeds than the default, which tends to sit on B66+n71. I got one roaming warning from this but latency and speeds are as if I was on the native network. Then if I head out I'll either turn everything on or select 25/26/41 as the radio in this phone is strong enough to sustain a Zoom video call where previously (Essential Phone) the only thing reliable was 1x.

The system isn't perfect, and sometime the phone will fail to lock on a signal at all after enough band selection changes, but a reboot fixes that. I have the band selection app as one of my quick apps on the screen edge app selector, so swapping things around takes maybe 15 seconds and a few taps.

humm good to know.. how did i NOT know about this band selecter app??? hahaha

[dkyeager]

On 6/3/2020 at 1:50 AM, iansltx said:

By the time you get your S20, it'll probably be preloaded with the update that defaults you to T-Mobile bands. Interestingly enough, the IP network part of the connection is still Sprint...but you get VoLTE across the board.

With that said, you can install Samsung Band Selection and pick which combination of bands (LTE and NR, though n71 will only work if you also have B2/66 enabled as well, and n41 for the most part doesn't exist) you'll let your phone on. T-Mobile band priority still applies to whatever you let through, so if you accept B2/4/66 you'll get those (probably even 12/71) but if you lock your phone down to Sprint bands that's what you'll get.

As an example, I've tended to select B41-only on my S20 if I'm in an area I know to have solid B41 (AKA where I live and nearby). That gets me significantly higher speeds than the default, which tends to sit on B66+n71. I got one roaming warning from this but latency and speeds are as if I was on the native network. Then if I head out I'll either turn everything on or select 25/26/41 as the radio in this phone is strong enough to sustain a Zoom video call where previously (Essential Phone) the only thing reliable was 1x.

The system isn't perfect, and sometime the phone will fail to lock on a signal at all after enough band selection changes, but a reboot fixes that. I have the band selection app as one of my quick apps on the screen edge app selector, so swapping things around takes maybe 15 seconds and a few taps.

 

12 hours ago, floorguy said:

humm good to know.. how did i NOT know about this band selecter app??? hahaha

My concern is they will kill the hidden menus needed for the band selection. Alternatively, once August 1st hits you might not even have this choice.  The LG V60 could be a Sprint version or only T-Mobile. - 8 days.