This is for people who have AT&T Service and are looking at the T-Mobile US Note 3 (N900T).
Why are people wanting to use a T-Mobile Note 3 on AT&T?
Because AT&T, much like Verizon, has tried to lock down their phones making it very difficult to use custom ROM's or apps that require root. AT&T and Tmobile's networks are similar. The N9005 is not an option since it does not have the required LTE bands.
The N900T (Tmobile Note 3) is bootloader unlocked. More on that later. The progress made on the N900A is shown below. Note the limitations because of the locked bootloader.
As of 10/7/2013 root has been obtained for the
AT&T version. This will not trip the trip the KNOX warranty counter.
As of 12/5/2013
custom ROMS can be flashed to the AT&T version. No kernel flashing.*
If you don't have an Odin version of your stock ROM do not try this. This does not trip the KNOX warranty counter.
As of 12/16/2013
Safestrap is available for the AT&T version. This will allow you to flash custom ROMS but not kernels.*
As of 1/21/2014 KitKat is available for the N900A.
*Custom kernels still remain out of reach at this point for the AT&T version. The bootloader is still locked. This means no AOSP based ROMS like Cyanogenmod, and future versions of Android with its associated kernel will only be available for the AT&T version when AT&T releases it or there is an AT&T leak.
Does the T-Mobile Note 3 support ALL bands used by AT&T?
Yes it supports all bands used by AT&T. Full compatibility.
What bands does the T-Mobile Note 3 support? Is it good for traveling outside the US?
The phone supports a large number of bands from the US, Canada and Europe. This was taken from the back of the box.
GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900 UMTS: Band 1 (2100), Band 2 (1900), Band 4 (1700), Band 5 (850)
LTE: Band 4 (1700), Band 17 (700), Band 1 (2100), Band 2 (1900), Band 5 (850), Band 7 (2600)
Bands 900, 1800 and 1900 give good coverage in Europe but you will need to verify what bands the foreign carrier uses.
LTE bands 3 and 7 are the
most popular in Europe. This phone does not have LTE band 3.
What does carrier/SIM locked mean? Is it the same as bootloader locked?
No. US phones that operate on GSM networks require a SIM card. The carriers don't want you taking your phone to another carrier without fulfilling your contract so they lock your phone to themselves and the SIM cards they offer. Once you fulfill your contract or pay for the phone in full they should be willing to issue you an unlock code. Some carriers like T-mobile make you wait 45 days after you buy the device to unlock it. SIM unlocking the phone will allow you to put a SIM card from another carrier in the phone. See the next question if T-mobile will not unlock your new Note 3.
How can I carrier/SIM unlock my T-mobile Note 3 if T-mobile won't?
Several people have used
cellunlocker.net including me. Select U.S.A. T-Mobile and N900T as your device. This also removes any region lock. Chainfire also has an
app that is used for the region lock on international phones that has the side effect of SIM unlocking the T-mobile note 3. This works by patching the modem. It requires root. Info on rooting can be found below.
Will LTE work on AT&T?
Multiple people have confirmed that LTE
works. There is no speed difference between an AT&T branded phone and the Note 3. Documents obtained from the FCC and also on T-Mobile's site say it supports the frequencies used by AT&T.
Do NOT give AT&T your IMEI to your Tmobile Note 3. If you do, AT&T's system will remove your LTE data even though it works perfectly. Give them another AT&T Android IMEI if you have to or if you are coming from an Android phone don't even talk to them. Just remove the SIM in your old phone and put it in your new phone. If you mess up and give them the IMEI some people have gone to the store and gotten the IMEI off the demo unit then gone home and called ATT to change the IMEI. You can also get an AT&T Android LTE IMEI from a family member or friend's phone. It will not effect their service in any way. One user also reported explaining the issue to a rep that changed the default plan and manually made it a plan with LTE. I'm not sure that a lot of reps on AT&T's front line know how to do this though.
What APN settings will my Note 3 need for AT&T and MVNO's?
NAME: ATT Phone
APN: phone
MMSC:
http://mmsc.mobile.att.net
MMS proxy: proxy.mobile.att.net
MMS port: 80
MCC: 310
MNC: 410
APN type: default,mms,supl,hipri
Then go to the home screen menu setting, more networks, mobile networks, network mode and change to LTE/WCDMA/GSM.
Video guide done on a S4. Credit: Sunny Nath
If you are using a Straight Talk SIM use this.
NAME: Straight Talk
APN: tfdata
PORT: 80
MMSC:
http://mms-tf.net
MMS PROXY: mms3.tracfone.com
MMS PORT: 80
APN Type: default,mms,supl,agps,fota,dun,hipri,entitle
Then go to the home screen menu setting, more networks, mobile networks, network mode and change to LTE/WCDMA/GSM.
If you are using Aio Wireless from AT&T
Name: Aio Wireless
APN: ndo
Proxy: Not Set
Port: Not Set
Username: Not Set
Password: Not Set
Server: Not Set
MMSC:
http://mmsc.aiowireless.net
MMS Proxy: proxy.aiowireless.net
MMS Port: 80
MCC: 310
MNC: 150
Authentication type: Not Set
APN type: default,mms,fota,hipri,supl
Then go to the home screen menu setting, more networks, mobile networks, network mode and change to LTE/WCDMA/GSM.
Root, custom recoveries, roms, and kernels for the T-mobile US Note 3
Warning: Flash roms at your own risk. Do NOT flash a N900 rom or a N9005 rom unless the dev has specifically stated that it will work with the N900T. These could have different bootloaders, modems, kernels and other files that are not compatible with our Note 3.
The T-Mobile Note 3 has a dev community that is very large and growing rapidly. You have plenty of options to customize just about everything available on your Note 3. You can flash
roms and
kernels that give you extended run time and overclocking. We can even cut out the carriers and flash
international roms with some modifications so we can have the latest and greatest directly from Samsung. Using custom recoveries such as TWRP will trip the KNOX counter.
For TWRP recovery use this. This is the recommended recovery for the N900T and is the first step to flashing roms and kernels.
TWRP 2.7.0.0 TeamWin Recovery Project is available
here.
If all you need is root use this.
CF Auto Root is available for the N900T (T-mobile).
For CWM recovery use this.
The first step is to flash a CWM recovery and can be found
here. After that you can flash a pre-rooted ROM that is compatible with the N900T or flash SuperSU
here.
Android 4.4 KitKat and Cyanogenmod (CM11)
The Samsung build of Android 4.4 Kitkat (has Touchwiz) has been released for the T-Mobile and international versions.
CM11 is remarkably stable and fast on the Note 3. Cyanogenmod is a rom built off of source code released from Google (AOSP). Cyanogenmod version 11 (CM11) is based on Android 4.4 Kitkat. It is often the fastest way to get the latest Android releases from Google. Cyanogenmod supports phones long after they are abandon by the carriers and device makers. It comes with no carrier apps or bloat. CM11 for the Note 3 is my daily driver.
You will need a few things when flashing to Cyanogenmod.
1. Get the latest nightly from
cyanogenmod.org.
2. Get the gapps "full modular package" from
here. You will need to flash both the nightly and gapps .zip files in the recovery of your choice. (TWRP or CWM)
3. (optional) S-pen functionality add on for CM can be found
here in the play store. You can also follow
this guide for additional S-pen features.
4. (optional) You can use the
new photosphere camera app that is here. This camera is only available on Nexus devices. It's supposed to have better stitching of photo's than previous apps. The stock CM11 camera app does not have photosphere.
5. (optional) A
KNOX partial replacement is here. It is basically truecrypt for android. It creates an encrypted container and you can store sensitive files in it. Encryption and decryption is done on the fly so it is very fast.
Here is a very good build based on CM11 and built by temasek.
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Further Reading:
Change.org Petition
Bootloader Bounty thread for AT&T version
Dev section for the Tmobile version
