Want to move from Sprint to T-Mobile... too much info, need short answer

[BroncoBilli]

I'm kind of newb at this S7 stuff, I'm more of an HTC guy. Yesterday, I bought an unlocked G930P (sprint) and am not sure, but think I learned that normally, people don't change out the ROMs to use a different carrier, they simply unlock the phone and live with the old carrier's bloatware. I started reading up, and first learned that TWRP apparently isn't available on a Snapdragon processor, so the G930A, G930P, etc, aren't candidates for TWRP. At first, I was kind of dismayed. Then, I found the G930U ROM and on a whim, I tried punting the G930U ROM to the G930P. I bought the phone off craigslist, and he said he didn't know where HE got it from, but it was unlocked. Anyhow, the phone took the rom without a hitch and now it looks like a U model...

My goal: Go with T-Mobile. Use Wi-Fi calling. Eventually have Nougat. Remove bloatware, but possibly keep some nice T-Mobile add-ons, if any, because I don't have their service yet (I hated ATT's crapload of stuff). Note this isn't specifically a "TMobile" question, substitute your carrier of choice for the questions...

Get to the damned question, you say? Ok, here goes:

1. I'm not going to ask any "do these bands work" when moving from a P model to T mobile. You guys seem to fight about that stuff until you can't type any longer. I'm going to assume what whatever bands work, that's what I get. Unless I get a T-Mobile specific phone.
2. But I will ask this: do the over the air bands it uses depend on the baseband ROM that is on the device? This is something I can't figure out.
3. I heard T-Mobile uses an updated boot kernel (3.0?) and ATT & others use an older boot kernel, and that if I move to T-Mobile boot kernel, I can't go back to any of the older ones. This process I seriously don't understand. Can I run a T-Mobile OS (or any OS) while using an older boot kernel ROM? I would think NO, right?
4. I don't like all of Carrier X's bloatware. I'd rather use a stripped down, cleaner ROM. I guess there are apps for that, but is it cleaner to do it with a stripped down generic ROM that I see floating around?
6. Speaking of ROM's - I saw a lot of Xetheros or whatever ROM's floating around, but it seems like there aren't any for the snapdragon-based ones. Is this true? The posts on this site don't really talk much about the snapdragon-based phones and why there aren't any ROMs for them, and why it won't work, and what, if anything, is being done to get around this. I guess the G930U is Samsung's answer to that, and allows fooling around with roms, but will the other phones ever be actually rom-able, or should I ditch this G930P and actually buy a G930U? Now that my phone THINKS it's a G930U, did that get me around some weird barrier and NOW I can update other funky roms intended for a G930U?

I'm considering selling the G7 I just got and going from a G930F (now that I'm a bit wiser). Any common sense why not to do that? I already HAVE an ATT G7 (not the sprint one I just bought), but it has a "bad signal". It gets only about 1 bar indoors, on a good day. I took it to a repair facility and they said, "nothing wrong with the antenna, it's your mainboard, don't bother just buy a new phone". Anybody have any advice on that?

thanks

 

[goonygugle]

I'm kind of newb at this S7 stuff, I'm more of an HTC guy. Yesterday, I bought an unlocked G930P (sprint) and am not sure, but think I learned that normally, people don't change out the ROMs to use a different carrier, they simply unlock the phone and live with the old carrier's bloatware. I started reading up, and first learned that TWRP apparently isn't available on a Snapdragon processor, so the G930A, G930P, etc, aren't candidates for TWRP. At first, I was kind of dismayed. Then, I found the G930U ROM and on a whim, I tried punting the G930U ROM to the G930P. I bought the phone off craigslist, and he said he didn't know where HE got it from, but it was unlocked. Anyhow, the phone took the rom without a hitch and now it looks like a U model...

My goal: Go with T-Mobile. Use Wi-Fi calling. Eventually have Nougat. Remove bloatware, but possibly keep some nice T-Mobile add-ons, if any, because I don't have their service yet (I hated ATT's crapload of stuff). Note this isn't specifically a "TMobile" question, substitute your carrier of choice for the questions...

Get to the damned question, you say? Ok, here goes:

1. I'm not going to ask any "do these bands work" when moving from a P model to T mobile. You guys seem to fight about that stuff until you can't type any longer. I'm going to assume what whatever bands work, that's what I get. Unless I get a T-Mobile specific phone.
2. But I will ask this: do the over the air bands it uses depend on the baseband ROM that is on the device? This is something I can't figure out.
3. I heard T-Mobile uses an updated boot kernel (3.0?) and ATT & others use an older boot kernel, and that if I move to T-Mobile boot kernel, I can't go back to any of the older ones. This process I seriously don't understand. Can I run a T-Mobile OS (or any OS) while using an older boot kernel ROM? I would think NO, right?
4. I don't like all of Carrier X's bloatware. I'd rather use a stripped down, cleaner ROM. I guess there are apps for that, but is it cleaner to do it with a stripped down generic ROM that I see floating around?
6. Speaking of ROM's - I saw a lot of Xetheros or whatever ROM's floating around, but it seems like there aren't any for the snapdragon-based ones. Is this true? The posts on this site don't really talk much about the snapdragon-based phones and why there aren't any ROMs for them, and why it won't work, and what, if anything, is being done to get around this. I guess the G930U is Samsung's answer to that, and allows fooling around with roms, but will the other phones ever be actually rom-able, or should I ditch this G930P and actually buy a G930U? Now that my phone THINKS it's a G930U, did that get me around some weird barrier and NOW I can update other funky roms intended for a G930U?

I'm considering selling the G7 I just got and going from a G930F (now that I'm a bit wiser). Any common sense why not to do that? I already HAVE an ATT G7 (not the sprint one I just bought), but it has a "bad signal". It gets only about 1 bar indoors, on a good day. I took it to a repair facility and they said, "nothing wrong with the antenna, it's your mainboard, don't bother just buy a new phone". Anybody have any advice on that?

thanks

All U.S. models are built the exact same and will all accept each others firmware if done right , so any unlocked s7 you put the U firmware will essentially be a g930u other than the number stamped on the back , I dont believe the U firmware supports wifi calling or VOLTE , There is a t-mobile nougat firmware floating around if you want to try that , your att g7 if it has a hardware issue should be under warranty but if your using it with a different carrier I would flash the appropriate firmware to it and see if that fixes you signal issue and if not put it back to stock and call Samsung , as far as switching from the international model , Well i bought a international edge as soon as they release and it took a crap on me within 4 months and I was unable to warranty it , that was my only issue with using a international model but also i dont think you can get wifi calling on those either . hope that helps
edit* and yes the bands are dictated by the rom , U firmware opens all of them otherwise carrier roms unlock specific , and T-mobile nougat dowgrade back to MM will be dictated by the baseband , I know the Sprint nougat can be downgraded but not T-mobile for sure

 

[myphone12345]

All U.S. models are built the exact same and will all accept each others firmware if done right , so any unlocked s7 you put the U firmware will essentially be a g930u other than the number stamped on the back , I dont believe the U firmware supports wifi calling or VOLTE , There is a t-mobile nougat firmware floating around if you want to try that , your att g7 if it has a hardware issue should be under warranty but if your using it with a different carrier I would flash the appropriate firmware to it and see if that fixes you signal issue and if not put it back to stock and call Samsung , as far as switching from the international model , Well i bought a international edge as soon as they release and it took a crap on me within 4 months and I was unable to warranty it , that was my only issue with using a international model but also i dont think you can get wifi calling on those either . hope that helps
edit* and yes the bands are dictated by the rom , U firmware opens all of them otherwise carrier roms unlock specific , and T-mobile nougat dowgrade back to MM will be dictated by the baseband , I know the Sprint nougat can be downgraded but not T-mobile for sure

The U firmware does support WiFi calling and VoLTE on T-Mobile.

 

[goonygugle]

The U firmware does support WiFi calling and VoLTE on T-Mobile.

I guess us AT&T users just done get them features =/ , is it enabled or do you have to do something to enable those features ?

 

[myphone12345]

I guess us AT&T users just done get them features =/ , is it enabled or do you have to do something to enable those features ?

I don't believe those features are supported on AT&T (probably at AT&T's own request). Perhaps that might change in the Nougat version but I wouldn't bet on it.