(SOLVED) Moto G4 Plus XT1644 Verizon Prepaid has no 4G (3G only)

[calinb7]

I purchased my Moto G4 Plus from Motorola/Lenovo almost a year ago. FIrst I used StaightTalk/ATT and then switched to ATT prepaid. The 4G LTE worked great with both prepaid plans. Soon after I started to use the phone, the updates became very annoying (especially when interrupting GPS/Google maps and navigation while driving) so I followed this guide and rooted my phone:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-g4-plus/how-to/root-systemless-rooting-supersu-2-74-2-t3405772

I did not install TWRP permanently and only ran the image. My bootloader is still unlocked. The only root ap I've used (via SuperSU) is SDMaid, to freeze the Motorola update process. (I purchased both excellent aps to support development, BTW, but they work so well, I've never needed their support!)

I'm moving and ATT towers are not available near my new home so I just switched to Verizon prepaid at Walmart today. 4G stopped working. I have a ticket with Verizon open but I've learned that I'm not the first with this problem--either on the Moto 4G or other phones!

I read as many threads here on the subject as I could stand to read. Those who had some success with changing settings (Settings >> Cellular Networks, APN, network type, etc.) are luckier than I! Nothing is working for me so far.

I'm not a "cell phone guy." What do you experts here in xda-dev recommend for my next steps. I don't have much faith in Verizon customer service!

 

[calinb7]

Oh...I forgot to mention that I also flashed the image to wipe the annoying unlocked bootloader warning image on boot. That's all I can think of in the way of mods I've made to my phone.

 

[calinb7]

Thank you for moving this topic. I thought I was posting in the QA section (my Internet is so slow, the entire screen fails to load and I was not where I thought I was).

My gut feeling is this is a hardware problem (a signal integrity problem in reading the SIM card). For any other Moto G4 users who stumble upon this thread, I found a discussion over on the Lenovo site:

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/forums/v3_1/forumtopicpage/board-id/MotoG4thGen/thread-id/7585/highlight/false/page/1

Thank you all here at xda-developers who have read my post in consideration of my problem. I will restore and try install Nougat, which reportedly fixes the problem sometimes. I will post an update for Moto G4 users here too.

 

[HueyT]

Thank you for moving this topic. I thought I was posting in the QA section (my Internet is so slow, the entire screen fails to load and I was not where I thought I was).

My gut feeling is this is a hardware problem (a signal integrity problem in reading the SIM card). For any other Moto G4 users who stumble upon this thread, I found a discussion over on the Lenovo site:

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/forums/v3_1/forumtopicpage/board-id/MotoG4thGen/thread-id/7585/highlight/false/page/1

Thank you all here at xda-developers who have read my post in consideration of my problem. I will restore and try install Nougat, which reportedly fixes the problem sometimes. I will post an update for Moto G4 users here too.

What is your model? XT1644? What is your software currently (go to "Settings", "About phone", "Build number"

 

[calinb7]

I un-rooted and took the OTA Nougat update, which fixed the problem (now getting LTE service). I suspect there is either a patch in Nougat for this Moto G4 problem or the problem, by good luck (software / hardware interaction and tolerance stackup, etc.), just doesn't occur with Nougat.

I have an XT1644 and now Nougat 7.0 NPJS25.93-14-4.

Thank you for your reply.

 

[ajw85]

You have to update the radio;
As said above, you have to go back to stock and take whatever OTAs and then unlock your bootloader.
I went through this with Total Wireless (Verizon MNVO) and when the radio was updated to latest, everything is working great.

 

[calinb7]

What is your model? XT1644? What is your software currently (go to "Settings", "About phone", "Build number"

You have to update the radio;
As said above, you have to go back to stock and take whatever OTAs and then unlock your bootloader.
I went through this with Total Wireless (Verizon MNVO) and when the radio was updated to latest, everything is working great.

Some Moto G4 Plus Android 6 phones worked fine with Verizon LTE. I was just one of the unlucky ones. They all seem to receive Verizon LTE with Android 7, however. Sadly, I have found Android 7 to be far less stable than Android 6 (6 was quite good on my phone). Some of the Android 7 feature like split screen work very poorly too. (Split screen doesn't even work all the OEM-installed Android aps, which comprise a very minimal set of aps on a Moto G4.) I wish I could have avoided the update, but LTE is too important to stay on Android 6.

The OTA update worked well with my unlocked bootloader and there was no reason to re-lock it. Of course I had to return everything but /data to an OEM state (unrooted, etc.).