[Q] Moving S4 from Verizon to iwireless/t-mobile

sgibbers17 · Aug 28, 2014

Hi,

I am thinking about moving my Galaxy S4 and moto RAZR from Verizon wireless to iwireless (a t-mobile affiliate). I understand that I need to unlock my phone but I am unable to find out if I move it to iwireless if I will still have 4G data. The iwireless sales rep said that I will still have voice and 2.5G service but couldn't tell me if I would still have 4G.

I was looking at this table I found on a site explaining how to unlock the phone but I don't know enough about the subject to make an informed decision.

Samsung Galaxy S4

Can someone confirm whether or not my Verizon S4 or RAZR can be unlocked to work with the iwireless/t-mobile 4G network?

jordanjackthomas · Aug 29, 2014

sgibbers17 said:
Hi,

I am thinking about moving my Galaxy S4 and moto RAZR from Verizon wireless to iwireless (a t-mobile affiliate). I understand that I need to unlock my phone but I am unable to find out if I move it to iwireless if I will still have 4G data. The iwireless sales rep said that I will still have voice and 2.5G service but couldn't tell me if I would still have 4G.

I was looking at this table I found on a site explaining how to unlock the phone but I don't know enough about the subject to make an informed decision.

Samsung Galaxy S4

Can someone confirm whether or not my Verizon S4 or RAZR can be unlocked to work with the iwireless/t-mobile 4G network?

It seems as though your grasp of the subject is strong enough to know that it might work as you'd like - and it might not. You need to call back and ask to speak to a CSR that actually knows what bands their service works on so they can give you accurate information. That's kind of their job...

Also -

Verizon LTE operates on Band 13 while T-Mob operates on Band 17, both of which carry completely different spectrums; this means no LTE on either of your unlocked phones.There's a slim possibility that you will get intermittent 3G but the most likely scenario is that you will get talk, text and 2G / 2.5G only.

bsliv · Aug 31, 2014

Band 17? My Verizon branded S4 is getting T-Mobile LTE. I'm fairly sure its on band 4.

sgibbers17 · Sep 1, 2014

T-mobile is band 4 which is 1700/2100 mhz. The Verizon s4 is not capable of 1700mhz. But if you are getting 4G it may be because your area is using 2100 mhz. I am specifically moving to iwireless and I was told they use the 1700 mhz band.

Bsliv, how did you unlock you phone?

serio22 · Sep 1, 2014

sgibbers17 said:
Bsliv, how did you unlock you phone?

Many Verizon phones are sim unlocked, so it's most likely unlocked as well

bsliv · Sep 1, 2014

serio22 said:
Many Verizon phones are sim unlocked, so it's most likely unlocked as well

Yes, I think all Verizon LTE capable phones are unlocked.

The I545 (Verizon S4) can receive LTE on band 4. T-Mobile serves LTE on band 4. The coincidence works well.

Frankenscript · Sep 1, 2014

bsliv said:
Yes, I think all Verizon LTE capable phones are unlocked.

The I545 (Verizon S4) supports LTE on band 4. T-Mobile serves LTE on band 4. The coincidence works well.

My RAZR MAXX HD definitely wasn't SIM unlocked... For the life of me I couldn't get it to work when I moved to ATT from Verizon... Not even GSM would work.

sgibbers17 · Sep 1, 2014

I just need to get some clarification from you guys. Are your VZW phones bought in the US and being in the US on t-mobile's or iwireless's 4g network. Because after I made the first post I went to the phone unlocking place in my local mall and talked to there techs, they said that the VZW S4 will not get 4g. I have also been doing extensive searches online and keep finding half saying it will work and half saying it won't. I have a feeling that the ones that work are working outside of the US as I found posts saying as such.

I read some where that the razr you had to flash the radio FW to get GSM to work properly.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

bsliv · Sep 1, 2014

I got my vzw S4 off craigslist but 99% sure it was purchased in the USA. I'm on T-Mobile's $50/mo plan.

Verizon's LTE phones are sim unlocked due to an agreement with the FCC when vzw purchased some bandwidth.

I think there was an update around 03/2014 that enabled band 4 on the I545. Then had to make some apn changes and tell the modem to use gsm/lte on band 4.

The one quirk I have is it will say "no service" after a reboot and until I make or receive a voice call. Then I get the "T-Mobile" instead of "no service" and things work as they should.

sgibbers17 · Sep 2, 2014

bsliv said:
I got my vzw S4 off craigslist but 99% sure it was purchased in the USA. I'm on T-Mobile's $50/mo plan.

Verizon's LTE phones are sim unlocked due to an agreement with the FCC when vzw purchased some bandwidth.

I think there was an update around 03/2014 that enabled band 4 on the I545. Then had to make some apn changes and tell the modem to use gsm/lte on band 4.

The one quirk I have is it will say "no service" after a reboot and until I make or receive a voice call. Then I get the "T-Mobile" instead of "no service" and things work as they should.

I'll have to go to iwireless and have one of the tech put a SIM card in my s4 and razr to give it a try.

The only options I have for the network mode on my s4 is
Global, LTE/CDMA, and GSM/UMTS. Can you post you settings?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

sgibbers17 · Sep 2, 2014

I was just at iwireless today and tested my phone with their network and was unable to get it to work. iwireless is a t-mobile affiliate but they do not use 4G LTE in my area. Their system runs on a 3.8G 1700MHz which the VZW S4 does not have. I am told that they will be starting to switch all the 2G radios in the area to 4G LTE later this year, which should work with my VZW S4. So I am just going to have to wait till the end of the year and go back and test it again.

brizey · Sep 5, 2014

Frankenscript said:
My RAZR MAXX HD definitely wasn't SIM unlocked... For the life of me I couldn't get it to work when I moved to ATT from Verizon... Not even GSM would work.

That phone was before VZW bought the band 4 spectrum and cut the deal with the FCC. All VZW LTE phones are SIM unlocked. Any AWS capable VZW phone is SIM unlocked and can use LTE on band 4. The S4 got it with an update last year.

I am probably going to do the $30 plan soon and plan to use my VZW S4. I am not going to port my number right away in case the service in my area sucks (doubtful, live in DFW in dense surburbia).

sgibbers17 · Sep 7, 2014

I went out off town this weekend and went to a t-mobile store and was able to get 4g service after adding the correct APN. But it is too bad that iwireless that is in my area does not use that band yet, they are staring to upgrade to that band later this year. Until then my s4 will only get edge service.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

windycitymichael · Nov 27, 2014

I was able to get H+ on my s4 from Verizon to tmobile by changing the network mode to global and the App to fast.T-mobile.com

Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app

vprasad1 · Dec 10, 2014

With the announcement of the T Mobile $100 2 line unlimited everything, I'm also interested in bringing my Verizon S4 MDK boot loader phone to T Mobile, but want to do my research first-- is it as simple as signing up for T Mobile and getting one of their SIMs and then-- would I be able to flash any of the ROMs in the S4 T Mobile Dev forum or is the T Mobile S4 a completely different device? Any caveats? Would I have to LokiDoki after the flash? Would I need to flash a T Mobile specific radio too (currently on i545vrufnk1)? Or is that all just overcomplicating things? Would i be able to just adjust the APNs on my current ROM after inserting a T Mobile SIM?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

vprasad1 · Dec 17, 2014

Quick reply to my post and for anyone else interested-- there's a post here that talks about using a 4.4.2 T-Mobile ROM by Fenny on the a Verizon S4: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=57453019 I've tried it and LTE works great, MMS works properly, phone calls work as well. I'm on the Verizon i545vruamdk bootloader and Verizon i545vrufnk1 radio. The ROM is a T-Mobile m919uvufnb4 by Fenny.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

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[Q] Moving S4 from Verizon to iwireless/t-mobile

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