How to tell invalid IMEI

[BenH4]

I just activated a phone on Straight Talk. Voice works but when I did the APN settings, I'm still getting no data. The lock screen displays "Invalid IMEI" which goes away when I type in my pin. This is a 920F (International Unlocked). Is it even possible to have a bad IMEI on a new phone ?

One side question, I bought this on eBay listed as new. It looks new but the metal rim has a section that's got a bit of shine in the otherwise matte finish. It made me suspicious it wasn't as new as the seller said. The screen cover appeared to be placed back on the phone. I know I wouldn't be the first person to buy a "New" phone which was not. Were your S6's uniform in the texture of the metal edge ?

 

[SpookDroid]

Have you asked your carrier if you need to register your phone? Some carriers need to update their systems with your IMEI in order for your phone to work.

 

[BenH4]

I did call them. Talking to straight talk right now. I did have Data working on my LG G3 (our house is a problem spot but not this bad).

 

[BenH4]

Does "Invalid IMEI" mean this phone has been reported lost by someone ? It's odd that it works for everything but data. I would assume if it's a bad imei, nothing would work.

 

[SpookDroid]

Are you sure the phone is compatible with Straight Talk's network? Some phones will let you connect to the voice channel but their radios don't support the data frequencies.

 

[BenH4]

Yes, I believe so. I did a few forum searches on the subject to confirm before choosing this model that it had the right bands.

Samsung's site says it suports: 4G FDD LTE
B1(2100), B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B12(700), B17(700), B18(800), B19(800), B20(800), B26(800)

Should do the trick.

 

[BenH4]

In the phone's menu, it says under IMEI : unknown.

Straight Talk wasn't able to get it working. I'm wondering if it's just a bad phone.

 

[SpookDroid]

Oh, your PHONE doesn't see the IMEI!! Yup, it's a bad phone! I've had one mother board gone crazy and it 'forgot' the IMEI. No way to bring it back after that, according to the Samsung tech guy :S

 

[BenH4]

OK, good to know before I spend any more time with Straight Talk tech help. The phone actually worked for a few phone calls but never did hook up to data.

 

[BenH4]

I went to the AT&T store and they were able to set it up on H+ but not LTE. Somehow the Unknown LTE thing at least allows it to work in some cases. Not having LTE though is a deal breaker.

 

[BenH4]

I discovered the phone I had is a fake. I'm unable to post a link but there are fake S6 guides out there which confirmed that my problems were not due to the S6.