Question Finding a prepaid SIM/carrier that will will with my Joying

[tRidiot]

So when I first got this unit (sc9853i) from Joying, I managed to get a regular Straight Talk SIM card (on AT&T network) to work and I had data access - but pretty poor. I always assumed it was just the Joying cellular radio was bad, I don't know, I would sit and circle, circle, circle looking for signal even in the middle of major metropolitan areas.

Then I blew a head gasket in my truck and it was 6 months getting fixed, so I didn't keep paying for the service. Later I couldn't get it to hook up again, so I went and bought a new SIM packet for Straight Talk and never could get the card to work, even with Straight Talk support.

Then I went to AT&T and got a card from them to put on my plan, but it wouldn't work, either - never connected, eventually they told me my device was an old 3G unit and was no longer supported by the AT&T network.

So I tossed all the cards and just used my WiFi hotspot off my phone. However, recently I got stuck in McKinney, TX trying to use my GPS and my phone and Google maps weren't playing well together for some reason. So I decided to maybe try again.

I got an email back from Joying support when all this was going on and this is what they told me:

"Please check the following information:
Support types
GSM: GSM850 EGSM 900 DCS1800 PCS1900
WCDMA: BAND1 BAND2 BAND5 BAND8
TD-SCDMA: BAND34 BAND39
TDD-LTE: BAND34 BAND38 BAND39 BAND40 BAND41
FDD-LTE: BAND1 BAND2 BAND3 BAND5 BAND7 BAND8 BAND20 BAND29A

Not supported types
AT&T: BAND12 BAND14 BAND17 BAND29 BAND30 BAND66
Verizon Wireless: BAND13 BAND66
T-Mobile: BAND12 BAND66 BAND71
Sprint: BAND25 BAND26 BAND41"

Can anyone tell me how in the world I can guarantee a prepaid service or card I get from somewhere will fit these criteria? Are there ANY US carriers that will work with this unit anymore? I mean, it says no to AT&T and Verizon, and I believe Verizon bought Straight Talk... am I SOL on having SIM-based network access on this unit now?

I also just ordered one of the newest 8" Qualcomm-based units from Joying to put in my wife's new (to us) 2018 Toyota RAV4 - I really want her to also have SIM-based network data that doesn't have to rely on her phone's hotspot. That unit shows THIS compatibility chart:

Supported Micro SIM cards type:

�

GSM​	GSM850 EGSM900 PCS1900
WCDMA​	BAND2 BAND4 BAND5 BAND8
SIM Cards Type
	TDD-LTE​	BAND38 BAND41
FDD-LTE​	BAND2 BAND4 BAND5 BAND7 BAND8 BAND12 BAND17

So my question is, with these two units (and a likely 3rd I would like to buy for my 370Z), can you explain to me how I know when I'm buying a SIM card prepaid setup if it will work with these? And not get shafted on a packet like last time, where I had to pay the $50 or $60 to activate the plan and then find out the card won't work in my unit? AT&T told me my problem was an old 3G unit - but this is obviously untrue, previously I was connecting with a 4G signal.

I just would like to be able to get SIM-based network access, so I don't have to rely on my phone's hotspot, turning it on and off, etc.


<edit> I highlighted the overlapping bands between the two units that should work - I just need to find a carrier that uses these and has decent 4g LTE prepaid service, if anyone can point me in the right direction.

 

[tRidiot]

Continuing to research...

TDD-LTE Band 38:

• China (China Mobile)
• Malaysia (Yes 4G)
• Sri Lanka (SLT)

TDD-LTE Band 41

• USA (Sprint)
• China (China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom),
• Japan (KDDI (UQ), SoftBank (WCP)),
• Philippines (Globe)
• Madagascar (Blueline)

This is an interesting option - Sprint? Don't they have crappy coverage overall?

FDD-LTE Band 2:

United States

AT&T

1900

2

May 2014

Nov 2013

[141][437] [468][469][439] [depends on BTA/MTA-Region]

United States

T-Mobile

1900

2

May 2014

Jul 2014 (?)

Oct 2014 (via CA)

(?)

(?)

Sep 2016

[141][437] [453][454][455][456][511][457][513][514][517][522] 4×4 MIMO, 256 QAM LTE-U 80 MHz (Jun 2017) 15 MHz carriers in some markets 20 MHz carriers in some markets CA[G 1] of 20 MHz (CA_2A_2A). 15+5 CA[G 1] of 30 MHz (CA_2A_4A_12A). (in Trial)

United States

Verizon

1900

2

Sep 2014

Dec 2014

Aug 2016

5 or 15 MHz in use [141][532] [541][535][536] [537][454] [depends on BTA/MTA-Region] CA[G 1] of 30 MHz (CA_2A_4A_13A). 15+5+10 CA[G 1] of 30 MHz (CA_2A_4A_13A). 10+10+10 CA[G 1] of 30 MHz (CA_4A_4A_13A). 10+10+10 CA[G 1] of 40 MHz (CA_2A_2A_13A). 15+15+10

FDD-LTE Band 5:

I don't find any here.


FDD-LTE Band 7:

Nothing in the US.


FDD-LTE Band 8:

Nothing.

 

[tRidiot]

So it appears all of the Big 3 in the U.S. utilize FDD-LTE Band 2 - but this begs the question why my previously-purchased new cards that should have worked on the AT&T network (one from Straight Talk and one direct from AT&T) would not work in my older unit.

Do I have to somehow make sure the card I purchase is specifically for that band, or does any AT&T 4G LTE (non 5G) card, work on ALL of the AT&T bands?

Forgive me if I'm asking really dumb questions here - all this compatibility of various cellular networks stuff has me spinning in circles.

 

[mastrv]

There could be other reasons why you're not getting data. Here are some that I can recall reading threads about:

- wrong APN
- IMEI not useable on the carrier
- some carriers block sharing networks

The last one may not apply to your case. I believe if you have the SIM on your head unit and want to create a hotspot, some carriers may block the hotspot. Some info here: https://www.quora.com/How-can-a-mobile-network-stop-you-from-making-a-mobile-hotspot

I'm not sure how to test whether the above are your issues or not. You'll have to research on your own. I had issues as my low cost provider was using band44 which wasn't supported. So, I just use my phone's hotspot.

 

[tRidiot]

I am beginning to think I should just keep doing that, sadly, using the hotspot.

I think my wife's new unit will be usable on Staight Talk, but not mine. <sigh>

 

[j-5]

I had this issue on my unit. It was my IMEI. Nobody would support it. Look for my post here.

 

[lemnad]

I use Google fi and there data sim has worked very well in about 5 different Joying head units I have had. I also have used a Huawei E3372 4g usb dongle on various head units and it has worked for me as well.

 

[tRidiot]

Google Fi absolutely rapes you with charges for data. My teenage son was on it for a month and we immediately switched him back to Straight Talk.

So @j-5 you used an IMEI switcher? I'm not sure what this actually does... you just 'fooled' the carrier into thinking they're providing service to a cellular phone instead? I don't know much about how to do that. Getting that one from T'eyes does it have to be used on a T'eyes device? I clicked in your post and it downloaded a file (to my computer) but it doesn't do anything. Does this need to be moved to my headunit and 'loaded' somehow?

I just got my wife's new Joying installed, called Straight Talk and they said they just don't support car stereos, I told them I could put a card in it like a tablet and they told me to use a T-Mobile Straight Talk card, but when I asked about what bands it uses, they couldn't tell me - said I needed to get a card and put it in to know that, but I don't want to spend $50-60 AGAIN to get another card that won't work in my unit.

I'm kind of at a loss.

 

[j-5]

Google Fi absolutely rapes you with charges for data. My teenage son was on it for a month and we immediately switched him back to Straight Talk.

So @j-5 you used an IMEI switcher? I'm not sure what this actually does... you just 'fooled' the carrier into thinking they're providing service to a cellular phone instead? I don't know much about how to do that. Getting that one from T'eyes does it have to be used on a T'eyes device? I clicked in your post and it downloaded a file (to my computer) but it doesn't do anything. Does this need to be moved to my headunit and 'loaded' somehow?

I just got my wife's new Joying installed, called Straight Talk and they said they just don't support car stereos, I told them I could put a card in it like a tablet and they told me to use a T-Mobile Straight Talk card, but when I asked about what bands it uses, they couldn't tell me - said I needed to get a card and put it in to know that, but I don't want to spend $50-60 AGAIN to get another card that won't work in my unit.

I'm kind of at a loss.

What I did is use an IMEI randomizer to simulate a pixel 5. Put those into the file using notepad (two different ones since I have 2 sim slots). Loaded the file onto a usb thumber and plugged it into the usb interface of the unit. My unit popped up a message saying “imei changed”. Then after a reboot the new IMEI was in the unit settings. Plugged in my USMobile sim card and it showed up on my account to register.

My unit is an FYT with vendor ID=1.
Us mobile uses the t-mobile and Verizon networks. The Verizon sim got no signal but the t-mobile one had all the bars.

 

[likearaptor]

What's the process on putting the file on a usb drive and getting the head unit to change it's IMEI?

 

[surfer63]

#deleted#

 

[tRidiot]

PM sent, I think I need to look into this.

Thanks!

 

[j-5]

First thing is to put in your SIM card and see if you get bars.
I had two cards, one for T-mobile and one for Verizon. Only the T-mobile had bars.
If you don't get bars, you don't have a network and nothing else will work.
My radio info read the SIM card and told me all the deets on the network provider.

I don't have a T'eyes unit just a generic FYT unit, and the "magic file" is just a text file named IMEI0 with 2 lines for IMEI numbers.

 

[tRidiot]

So even though I get bars with a T-Mobile SIM, changed my IMEI, still won't work. I see a signal, it reports 4G, but no data. Shows up on the unit as "T-Mobile" network, even got a notification of a new T-Mobile voicemail (of course, no way to check what this is), but after all day, still no data. SIM is activated, but I don't have a phone I can test it on, either.

Just screwed when it comes to data on my older Joying unit, I guess.

The new Qualcomm-based Joying wouldn't even pick up any bars with any Straight Talk SIM - AT&T, VZ or T-Mobile. I don't know how to get data on that one, either. It wouldn't accept the IMEI change, either.

 

[tRidiot]

I will update - got 4G working again on my older Joying unit by changing APN settings. Now I have 4G again! W00T!

Now to spend some time (when I have it) working on the new Snapdragon unit.

 

[soltype]

Anybody have any luck with Verizon SIM cards? I can get it to load up it shows bars and it shows the network and everything but I can't get any actual data.

 

[tRidiot]

Well it's obviously detecting the network. Did you update the APN settings? That was what I ended up having to do, but I'm surprised you got it to show up with a Verizon card.

 

[soltype]

Well it's obviously detecting the network. Did you update the APN settings? That was what I ended up having to do, but I'm surprised you got it to show up with a Verizon card.

It won't even let me fiddle with the APN says it's not available for this user
Edit- managed to get in apn settings from the hidden settings app, none of the suggested APNs configs I found work

 

[tRidiot]

I think I read something about that before. Also maybe with a Verizon card? I'm not sure if it's possible to lock a SIM for specific APN settings. I'd suggest trying a different carrier/card. I got a couple of free SIMs from US Mobile that did show up a network, but I haven't activated service on them yet, because I got the T-Mobile Straight Talk card to work in both my units, so I'm not sure how that will work.

 

[soltype]

Anybody have any luck with AT&t? I know they have a unlimited tablet data plan.