Galaxy S20 Series Discussion

[jlbattagli]

I got the S20 FE about a week ago. Couldn't activate it with either my Sprint SIM or the T-Mobile SIM that shipped with the phone. Took it to the local store, they finally got it to activate with the third SIM they tried. Don't know what was up with that, but I'm now on Tmo.

All things considered, I'm pretty happy. Signal strength is comparable to what I had with my LG V30+, and throughput seems faster. I do notice the phone switches bands pretty frequently. Not sure why that is, as signal strength doesn't seem borderline most of the time.

I don't know very much about the various T-Mobile bands. I've seen references to a Samsung Band Selector app, but I don't really want to mess around with that until I learn more about the bands themselves. Does anybody have a link to a post/site with basic band information? I imagine there's plenty of info in the Signal Check thread, but that's a mighty big haystack to search for a needle 😃

Thanks,

Jim

[Dkoellerwx]

2 hours ago, jlbattagli said:

I got the S20 FE about a week ago. Couldn't activate it with either my Sprint SIM or the T-Mobile SIM that shipped with the phone. Took it to the local store, they finally got it to activate with the third SIM they tried. Don't know what was up with that, but I'm now on Tmo.

All things considered, I'm pretty happy. Signal strength is comparable to what I had with my LG V30+, and throughput seems faster. I do notice the phone switches bands pretty frequently. Not sure why that is, as signal strength doesn't seem borderline most of the time.

I don't know very much about the various T-Mobile bands. I've seen references to a Samsung Band Selector app, but I don't really want to mess around with that until I learn more about the bands themselves. Does anybody have a link to a post/site with basic band information? I imagine there's plenty of info in the Signal Check thread, but that's a mighty big haystack to search for a needle 😃

Thanks,

Jim

Have a couple posts that might help to at least get you started.

On 6/25/2021 at 2:53 PM, Dkoellerwx said:

Depends on if you are wanting to use T-Mobile or "Sprint" bands. 

B25 - PCS on Sprint. Most channels have been narrowed to 5Mhz.
B26 - SMR on Sprint. 5Mhz channel.

B2 - PCS on T-Mobile - channel widths vary from 5Mhz to 20Mhz. May have multiple channels.
B4/66 - AWS on T-Mobile - channel widths vary from 5Mhz to 20Mhz. May have multiple channels.
B12 - 700 on T-Mobile - usually a 5Mhz channel. Some areas may have 10Mhz. 
B71 - 600 on T-Mobile - Usually a 5Mhz channel. Some areas may have 10Mhz.

B41 - this is a little tricky. T-Mobile has 2x20 channels on most sites with n41. But Sprint B41 is still on air as well.

n71 - 5G on 600, channel width vary from 10 to 20Mhz.
n41 - 5G on 2500, channel widths vary from 40 to 100Mhz.
n66 - 5G on AWS, coming soon. A few select locations on air, but not sure on channel widths.
n25 - 5G on PCS, coming soon.
n260/261 - 5G on mmWave, very select deployment in a few large cities. Channel usually 100Mhz.

There are a couple more posts relating to the band selector following the post quoted below.

On 6/24/2021 at 7:32 PM, Dkoellerwx said:

When you open the app, select "Launch Band Selection." That will open a menu that likely looks familiar. Now, swipe from the left, or tap the menu bar at the top. Select "Band Selection" again. This will show you all of LTE and NR bands your phone is capable of receiving. Select the band(s) you want, then toggle "Selection" on the top right. Apologies if you already tried that, but it sounded like you only got to the first menu.

 

[jlbattagli]

Thanks for the links, David! Those look like a good starting point.

[mdob07]

Finally got the July update on my AT&T phone this morning. 790 MB. Still waiting for it to hit my T-Mobile phone. 

[mdob07]

On 7/27/2021 at 11:13 AM, mdob07 said:

Finally got the July update on my AT&T phone this morning. 790 MB. Still waiting for it to hit my T-Mobile phone. 

Still not out for my T-Mobile phone. It's funny that the June update came out super fast and now it'll be August before they push the July update. 

[IrwinshereAgain]

I know.  Wonder what the holdup is.

[mdob07]

On 7/31/2021 at 2:27 PM, mdob07 said:

Still not out for my T-Mobile phone. It's funny that the June update came out super fast and now it'll be August before they push the July update. 

Almost 2 weeks later and still no July update. The last time there was a big delay it affected AT&T also but my AT&T S20 got the July update almost 3 weeks ago. I'm really hoping this update finally adds N2 and N66 when it finally comes. 

[swintec]

9 hours ago, mdob07 said:

Almost 2 weeks later and still no July update. The last time there was a big delay it affected AT&T also but my AT&T S20 got the July update almost 3 weeks ago. I'm really hoping this update finally adds N2 and N66 when it finally comes. 

Only the plus and ultra support N2 and N66 right?  Actually, i wasnt even aware these were disabled right now.  has there been chatter that these would be enabled sometime soon or just wishful thinking?

[Dkoellerwx]

3 hours ago, swintec said:

Only the plus and ultra support N2 and N66 right?  Actually, i wasnt even aware these were disabled right now.  has there been chatter that these would be enabled sometime soon or just wishful thinking?

n66 is active on my S21 Ultra, so if the device supports it I would think they would allow it to be turned on soon since n66 is going live in some markets. I believe T-Mobile is going with n25 rather than n2 to make use of the Sprint PCS G-Block, but that is not enabled on any device that I am aware of yet.

[mdob07]

4 hours ago, swintec said:

Only the plus and ultra support N2 and N66 right?  Actually, i wasnt even aware these were disabled right now.  has there been chatter that these would be enabled sometime soon or just wishful thinking?

It's enabled on my AT&T s20 Ultra, they enabled it several months ago, maybe even late 2020. My T-Mobile S20 plus only has n41, n71, n260, and n261 enabled right now.

[swintec]

19 hours ago, mdob07 said:

It's enabled on my AT&T s20 Ultra, they enabled it several months ago, maybe even late 2020. My T-Mobile S20 plus only has n41, n71, n260, and n261 enabled right now.

can you share the dialer codes so i can see this info on my s20+?  the ones i used to use for sprint dont work since i swapped SIMs.  no way for you to enable n2 and n66 yourself in the menus?

[mdob07]

51 minutes ago, swintec said:

can you share the dialer codes so i can see this info on my s20+?  the ones i used to use for sprint dont work since i swapped SIMs.  no way for you to enable n2 and n66 yourself in the menus?

On a T-Mobile sim you can use *#2263# to get into that menu. There used to be a workaround on xda that worked to let you enable bands the phone was capable of but were firmware disabled, but that quit working with one UI 3.0. All I see on my S20+ are what I mentioned above. 

[IrwinshereAgain]

Just got the August update on the S20 FE 5G.

[mdob07]

18 hours ago, IrwinshereAgain said:

Just got the August update on the S20 FE 5G.

I just checked again on my T-Mobile S20+, it's still saying up to date with the June 1st update. 

[IrwinshereAgain]

On 8/18/2021 at 1:58 PM, mdob07 said:

I just checked again on my T-Mobile S20+, it's still saying up to date with the June 1st update. 

My Tab S6 was just updated to the August patch.  Hopefully your S20+ will not be far behind.

[mdob07]

40 minutes ago, IrwinshereAgain said:

My Tab S6 was just updated to the August patch.  Hopefully your S20+ will not be far behind.

Funnily enough I was about to post the same thing. My Tab S6 updated today. Honestly at this point I feel like whoever is in charge of pushing the update out either forgot about it or missed it. I expect the August update any day on my AT&T S20 Ultra.

[pokefan02]

I have an S9 on T-Mobile that received the August update on August 16th. Nothing on the S20 Ultra since June. 

[mdob07]

As I expected my AT&T S20 ultra got the August update this morning. My T-Mobile S20+ is still happy with the June update. Whatever the holdup is it's only affecting T-Mobile as far as I can tell. I wonder if they'll still push the July update and then the August update separately or just roll them together at this point. 🤷‍♂️

[BlueAngel]

T-Mobile sucks with updates.

[Mooeydj]

Well, look at what we finally have here. S20+.

[BlueAngel]

4 hours ago, Mooeydj said:

Well, look at what we finally have here. S20+.

Looks like the One UI 3.1.1 update.

[mdob07]

7 hours ago, Mooeydj said:

Well, look at what we finally have here. S20+.

Got it on mine today as well. Still no N2/N66 enabled. 

[PedroDaGr8]

N20U and got the update today as well. Pretty hefty at 1350MB.

[mdob07]

I just noticed, after the update SA N41 is missing now. It's just NSA N41 and SA/NSA N71. Wonder why they removed it. 🤦‍♂️

[stlman314]

11 hours ago, mdob07 said:

I just noticed, after the update SA N41 is missing now. It's just NSA N41 and SA/NSA N71. Wonder why they removed it. 🤦‍♂️

Yup just notice it on mine also