SPRINT USERS: LTE Manual Override

[atg284]

Hello!

Thanks to a few resources online (quoted later) I have finally been able to get LTE on my Galaxy S5 and it works at towers I know are updated to LTE. If you are having issues with never seeing LTE even though you know for sure you should be, your phone may not have LTE enabled. Now, I'm not sure if mine was not because my town has not officially launched LTE or what. Online resources show that my town has active LTE sites. If you are in my situation you may want to do the following. Its not exactly hard or anything but requires a little work. Also, I am not too familiar with what everything else does within the menus so I would not mess around with anything you are not comfortable with. Nothing too bad in general though. Here we go!

1.) Before starting you must obtain your MSL number. I did this by calling Sprint directly at 866-264-1282. I just verified my info then asked for my MSL number. I told her I was just running diagnostics. You could also say you want to do a factory reset or something. Either way she gave it to me easily.

2.) Now that you have your MSL number, you need to go to the phone dialer and type in ##3282# as seen below: (Note: you will be taken to the next step when you dial the last "#")



3.) Now you will need to select Edit (change mode):



4.)Now you will need to input your MSL number you obtained (you can still view without a MSL number but you will not be able to change anything):



5.) Now that you are in the Data Programming menu, scroll to the bottom and select LTE:



6.)Now you are in the LTE portion. Click LTE Enabled:



7.) Now mine was deselected and said it was off. This all came about because I was snooping for snoop sake and found this off so I turned it on by checking it:



8.) I also checked each Band (3, 26, 41). My band 3 was off so I turned it on as well.

9.) I then backed all the way out and restarted the phone.

10.) When it came on...LTE!!!!! Keep in mind I was by a tower that was known to have the LTE upgrade.

Many thanks to Moderator lilotimz @ Community Blog List - Sprint 4G Rollout Updates for the help and the spark that started my curiosity.

Feel free to ask any questions!

Here is my first speed test with LTE on sprint! Excited!!

 

[italianotampa]

Edit: wrong thread.

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[atg284]

You will not receive phone calls when LTE mode is selected. In coming texts will stop also just a FYI.

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I was able to make a call. I tested specifically for that. I didn't receive any though. I will test and report back.

I still have LTE + CDMA + EVDO mode selected (didn't change it). So I didn't change anything saying it should be on LTE only Mode. Would this not still allow for calls?

 

[italianotampa]

I was able to make a call. I tested specifically for that. I didn't receive any though. I will test and report back.

I still have LTE + CDMA + EVDO mode selected (didn't change it). So I didn't change anything saying it should be on LTE only Mode. Would this not still allow for calls?

I'm sorry I replied to wrong thread. But LTE only mode only allows data no calls.

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[atg284]

I'm sorry I replied to wrong thread. But LTE only mode only allows data no calls.

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No prob. I have confirmed that I still get calls and text with the method I expressed. I will be testing battery and other usage info over the next couple days with LTE enabled. I will report back if there is anything detrimental with this manual LTE setup. So far 3 hours on it and everything is great!

 

[hardrocker89]

Why wouldn't they enable them automatically?

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[atg284]

Why wouldn't they enable them automatically?

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I honestly have no idea. My guess is that if you activate your phone in a non complete sprint market then they disable it. Again that is a total guess but when I went exploring with the ##3282# method I found that LTE was disabled. I was trying to map with the Sensorly app and no wonder LTE never came up on trips. I enabled it and Sensorly started mapping 4G LTE on Sprint (around 4G LTE towers).

 

[hardrocker89]

I'll have to do this tomorrow

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[atg284]

I'll have to do this tomorrow

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Cool! It seems a bit odd but its neat to be able to comand your phone like this once you get your MSL number. I did it with my Evo 3D and find it funny I am doing it again (with results) this time around with the S5.

Edit: just to be clear this is the only process I know so far with this method. Changing anything else and you are on your own! This LTE enable is simple enough though.

 

[sierrajinx9]

You are correct! After all the complaints from area's where they started selling LTE Devices before/during the upgrade, they are selling the phones Completely LTE Disabled... and then send an update to enable it when complete! They did this in the Racine Wi area.... I first got a text saying "Network Vision is complete in your area, look for a phone update shortly"... and with 10 minutes, my phone did a PRL update and some other update that reset my Connection and LTE was active... Not sure if they are doing this everywhere though

 

[atg284]

You are correct! After all the complaints from area's where they started selling LTE Devices before/during the upgrade, they are selling the phones Completely LTE Disabled... and then send an update to enable it when complete! They did this in the Racine Wi area.... I first got a text saying "Network Vision is complete in your area, look for a phone update shortly"... and with 10 minutes, my phone did a PRL update and some other update that reset my Connection and LTE was active... Not sure if they are doing this everywhere though

Thanks for that info!

I had my suspicions. I think by manually enabling it you are jumping the gun with LTE in your area. So you will be able to get LTE with the towers in your area before the whole market launches. I suspect when my area is complete they will send the same PRL update and re-turn on LTE. Good to know!

 

[accordi4]

i just checked mine. my lte status was already checked on. band 3 was checked off but the other bands were checked. not sure if band 3 is supposed to be checked or not.

 

[atg284]

i just checked mine. my lte status was already checked on. band 3 was checked off but the other bands were checked. not sure if band 3 is supposed to be checked or not.

Humm are you getting LTE in your area? Has your area already officially launch? I'm still confused as to why mine was off by default. Maybe your market has partially launched. The more info the better thanks!

edit: my band 3 was off and I turned it on I will test over the next couple days to see if I have any problems but so far there is nothing out of the ordinary. No abnormal battery drain, wake locks, or rouge CPU usage...So far so good!

 

[accordi4]

Humm are you getting LTE in your area? Has your area already officially launch? I'm still confused as to why mine was off by default. Maybe your market has partially launched. The more info the better thanks!

edit: my band 3 was off and I turned it on I will test over the next couple days to see if I have any problems but so far there is nothing out of the ordinary. No abnormal battery drain, wake locks, or rouge CPU usage...So far so good!

Yes, Im in Houston, Texas and lte has launched. There are certain spots in town where it has not shown lte. This is my first LTE phone so I dont know have any comparisons. I'll try to find others or even go to the sprint store and see if LTE on their model phones show up and make sure mine does too.

 

[mikepolinske]

I worked with @sprintcare on Twitter and they had me type in ##72786# to start the hands free activation again and after several system resets I was able to get LTE again on my phone.

The weird thing was my iPad was getting LTE, but not the S5. My S4 used to get LTE in the same areas I was in, so I figured something had to be wrong.

Hope this helps.

 

[jordo487]

I worked with @sprintcare on Twitter and they had me type in ##72786# to start the hands free activation again and after several system resets I was able to get LTE again on my phone.

The weird thing was my iPad was getting LTE, but not the S5. My S4 used to get LTE in the same areas I was in, so I figured something had to be wrong.

Hope this helps.

I actually did this earlier too and so far things seem to be a LITTLE better. I am getting 25MB speeds at home now and I wasn't yesterday. Waiting to see if a few good reboots/activation is the fix.

 

[atg284]

Well, So far so good today. I kept the LTE enabled all day today and the battery life was the same. Well from the little time ive had with the S5 that is. But no detrimental side effects that I can see. There are very few Sprint LTE towers in my area so I was mainly on 3G all day. I did pick up some LTE here and there but never did until I enabled LTE.

Hope that helps!

 

[hardrocker89]

Does the band 3 pick up more lte? I looked and mine is disabled. Off work tomorrow so may call into sprint and get that msl number

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[atg284]

Does the band 3 pick up more lte? I looked and mine is disabled. Off work tomorrow so may call into sprint and get that msl number

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I only had one solid test when I enabled LTE and all the bands. I didn't look to see which one I was on unfortunately. Also I only briefly pick up some lte towers on my way to work. I see them with the sensory app but still not sure what band they are. I will have to look into this further when I have more free time to do so :/

 

[HOLLYWOODANT215]

My phone gets lte but drops to 3 alot...my s4 constantly had 4glte should I try this method?

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