Sprint unlocked my S4 to use internationally in Asia - will voice/data work?

[phizly]

I have gone through contacting Sprint to have them unlock the phone. I will be travelling extensively through Asia for a few months and really need to have a phone that will work with both voice and data. Sprint emailed me and I called to confirm that their system shows the device as unlocked. I am reading all over that people are having trouble once they get abroad and put a new sim card in.

Sprint seems to think they have fixed the issue and told me that they OTA update that they pushed to me will allow me to put a sim in and have both voice and data work. (this means I should be able to add APN settings) Has anyone done this very recently? Thoughts on this? If I knew this would be such an ordeal I would have bought a Nexus 5 straight from Google. Debating cutting my losses and selling the S4 to do that.

If everyone is convinced that Sprint is wrong and I will have problems (I'm guessing this will be the case) what is the most basic rooting process that will simply unlock the phone to allow me to accomplish this? I have no experience rooting phones and don't really need to customize anything.

Any input is much appreciated.

 

[Paul627g]

Problem with most Sprint based phones is they are a CDMA based carrier. Yes some of the newer Sprint phones like the S4 are capable of being used overseas (outside of the US) but bottom line they aren't as adaptable as a GSM based US/international carriers. At best if you are able to get the kinks worked out and connect overseas you would probably only be capable of 3g service internationally because the LTE support is only good for Sprint's network.

You mentioned the Nexus 5 straight from Google. That would be a good choice since it has a radio inside capable of being used on most networks globally. CDMA based carriers like Sprint/Verizon and GSM/international based carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile and international w/LTE support too...

 

[phizly]

Hey Paul627g,

Thanks for the response and I like the ring! Hoping for another this season. The question is less radio specific and more of will Sprint actually unlock it correctly so that I can use voice/data at all.

Compare Phones (Phone Scoop)

That will show the difference between the radios of the two phones and like you said the LTE support is lacking on the Sprint version. This actually isn't a problem as almost everywhere I plan to be will not have 4g capabilities anyway. This is actually why I haven't moved to buying the Nexus 5 just yet. If the unlock goes over okay I will be perfectly happy with voice and slower data. I really only want it for apps like groupme etc to stay in contact with people back in the states.

So... Does anyone have a more recent experience with the Sprint unlock process? Do they open up APN settings so the phone does data as well?

 

[phizly]

A Sprint rep just responded to my post over on the Sprint Community forums:

Thank you for the post. You should be able to provision data and voice services on your 3rd party international sim. However, there is a known issue that is specific only to the S4 model where you may not have the capability to use the international carrier’s data service. We are working with Samsung on a fix. If you have another international capable device you may swap to it for this trip.

I think this confirms that Sprint has still not fixed the issue that they unlock voice but do not unlock APN settings for data. Seems like I need to switch to the Nexus 5 or root the phone at this point.

 

[statdoc]

I used my Sprint S4 for both voice & data while in Cuzco, Peru last fall. It worked fine. However, once I realized I had already racked up $64 in roaming fees, I turned off the data portion!

 

[Erin Heilner]

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[phizly]

I just wanted to report back to everyone involved with this thread and say that the unlock worked entirely. I was able to insert a MobiFone sim in Vietnam and use voice and data. I had to go into settings > connections tab > more networks > mobile networks > network mode > select gsm/umts. Next I had to go into the mobile networks > access point names and add an APN for MobiFone. I googled the proper settings and entered them. I then selected that APN. That was it. Seems to be working fine. I am running the MK2 build. Any questions let me know.


I will post again if I have any issues in Thailand or other countries in SE Asia but I think I should be good.

 

[Phalgun Gujjar]

Yep

Sent from my HTC One

 

[Cindy Ganoe1]

I sure hope this wrks for me to.. but thanks for sharing

 

[Erin Heilner]

A Sprint rep just responded to my post over on the Sprint Community forums:

Thank you for the post. You should be able to provision data and voice services on your 3rd party international sim. However, there is a known issue that is specific only to the S4 model where you may not have the capability to use the international carrier?s data service. We are working with Samsung on a fix. If you have another international capable device you may swap to it for this trip.

I think this confirms that Sprint has still not fixed the issue that they unlock voice but do not unlock APN settings for data. Seems like I need to switch to the Nexus 5 or root the phone at this point.

Did you ask sprint to unlock your phone so you can use other sims or did you ask them ti unlock your phone and send you a international sim. Because there is a big difference between the two. Unlocked for your choice of sim over seas and us if you know how or stuck woth sprint roaming crap Witch does a prl update.

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[CMeys]

I just wanted to report back to everyone involved with this thread and say that the unlock worked entirely. I was able to insert a MobiFone sim in Vietnam and use voice and data. I had to go into settings > connections tab > more networks > mobile networks > network mode > select gsm/umts. Next I had to go into the mobile networks > access point names and add an APN for MobiFone. I googled the proper settings and entered them. I then selected that APN. That was it. Seems to be working fine. I am running the MK2 build. Any questions let me know.


I will post again if I have any issues in Thailand or other countries in SE Asia but I think I should be good.

Are you rooted? I've seen some mention that it will be necessary to be rooted to add an APN. I am preparing for a trip to Israel and will have Sprint unlock my Galaxy S4 and will use a local Sim card. The company says data will work. I'd just like to get all research done before I need to go.

 

[Erin Heilner]

Are you rooted? I've seen some mention that it will be necessary to be rooted to add an APN. I am preparing for a trip to Israel and will have Sprint unlock my Galaxy S4 and will use a local Sim card. The company says data will work. I'd just like to get all research done before I need to go.

If you updated to 4.3 then you don't have to root they add in the APN edits. no need to root hope this help.

at the home screen hit menu then settings more network, mobile network, access point name - then just add one.
do note that it will go away and will only show APN for the network that your on so it wont show the one you justed entered till the phone is put in gsm.umts with that sim in.

 

[CMeys]

Phone is running 4.4.2, so I guess that will do it,r ight?

 

[sfawadh]

Can you help in the international unlock of Sprint Galaxy Note 3?

 

[steve anderson7]

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[steve anderson7]

How to get s4 sprint to work tmobile

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