Help US S10+ sold in UK network issues

[Bigdumbface81]

Hey guys,
Bought a refurbished S10 plus off UK eBay, UK seller, after a little digging turns out it's an American Snapdragon version.

This kinda explains my issue with it, poor signal quality on phone calls and only LTE data.

I can't update to official UK firmware due to the UK having a different chipset, so I was thinking, is there a custom unbranded, unregional firmware I can flash it with, that'll allow/work better for UK carriers?

If so, where can I find it, the whole scene has changed massively since I last used custom ROMs

Thanks in advance

 

[ocnbrze]

Hey guys,
Bought a refurbished S10 plus off UK eBay, UK seller, after a little digging turns out it's an American Snapdragon version.

This kinda explains my issue with it, poor signal quality on phone calls and only LTE data.

I can't update to official UK firmware due to the UK having a different chipset, so I was thinking, is there a custom unbranded, unregional firmware I can flash it with, that'll allow/work better for UK carriers?

If so, where can I find it, the whole scene has changed massively since I last used custom ROMs

Thanks in advance

unfortunately it is not just software that you will have issues. it is also different radios you will need. and firmware updates are very device specific. flashing a firmware from another device will potentially brick your phone.

i would see if you can return the device back to the seller.......obviously make sure to do a factory reset before sending it back.

 

[ocnbrze]

also custom roms will use your current phone's software and then the dev will customize it to fit whatever they want in the os. they can't just port a firmware from another model of the same device.

like i said in my previous post, your model is different from others in not just chipset, but also radios.....and you can't just solve it with software.

 

[puppykickr]

Yeah, different countries use different frequencies, so that is why you would need to change out the radios inside.

I am surprised that anything comes through at all, there must be some common frequencies or some very close.

 

[mikedt]

Apparently the Galaxy S10 Snapdragon US variants will have problems with UK carrier networks.
https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-S-Phones/S10-snapdragon-855-variant-in-Europe/td-p/547611
"VoLTE + VoWifi are certified for US carriers, RCS will prob not work, all LTE & 3G bands may not be present, and carrier aggregation is setup for US carriers."

 

[Bigdumbface81]

Yeah, different countries use different frequencies, so that is why you would need to change out the radios inside.

I am surprised that anything comes through at all, there must be some common frequencies or some very close.

The UK and USA both have an 800MHZ frequency and if the phone is unlocked/network free it will work on any band, I currently do use mine on Vodafone UK, I'm just finding sometimes calls are a bit choppy and in certain places zero signal where my oppo and huawei were much better.

I think it's gonna be something I'm gonna have to live with until I get bored of it and buy a different phone.

 

[mikedt]

The UK and USA both have an 800MHZ frequency and if the phone is unlocked/network free it will work on any band, I currently do use mine on Vodafone UK, I'm just finding sometimes calls are a bit choppy and in certain places zero signal where my oppo and huawei were much better.

Apparently the US Snapdragon S10 is only certified for VoLTE on US carrier networks. also UK carrier networks might be turning off their 3G networks sooner or later. And when that happens, this phone won't be able to do phone calls at all. Maybe your carrier has already started shutting down their 3G network, that's why no signal?

where my oppo and huawei were much better.

FYi I've used Chinese phones in the UK many times with no problems, like Oppo and Huawei. Cellular bands and modes in China are mostly compatible with the UK carrier networks, including VoLTE support.

 

[Bigdumbface81]

Apparently the US Snapdragon S10 is only certified for VoLTE on US carrier networks. also UK carrier networks might be turning off their 3G networks sooner or later. And when that happens, this phone won't be able to do phone calls at all.




FYi I've used Chinese phones in the UK many times with no problems, like Oppo and Huawei. Cellular bands and modes in China are mostly compatible with the UK carrier networks.

Yeah, I have an oppo a72 and a Huawei p30 also, both run perfect with voxi (Vodafone) which is why this S10+ is such a pain, I didn't realise it was US model at time of purchase, looks like I'll have to make everyone call me on WhatsApp instead!

And It'll be sold on by the time they shut off the 3G networks here, as I get bored very easily with phones, EE say they'll do it by 2023 and the others have agreed to phase it out by 2033.
Give it 6 months and have bought something else.

Probably another Chinese brand tbf, should have got one instead of this

 

[Hadron]

The UK and USA both have an 800MHZ frequency and if the phone is unlocked/network free it will work on any band, I currently do use mine on Vodafone UK, I'm just finding sometimes calls are a bit choppy and in certain places zero signal where my oppo and huawei were much better.

Actually the UK 800MHz band is band 20, which is not used in North America (the nearby US bands are different). But the US unlocked s10+ does support it. According to the specs I found it should also support bands 3 and 7, which are more widely used in the UK, so I'm a little surprised that it's so problematic. VoLTE is a different matter, but you can always make 2G voice calls .

 

[Deleted User]

I have 2 very good spec Xiaomi phones from late 2019 running on EE (I swap sim).

They've had some tremendous weekly discounts on their website Mi. com all year, though I think that may be coming to an end as they are so popular here.

Nothing negative to report on the software or hardware front. Ads can removed, as well as unwanted 3rd party apps, and I just don't register their own apps, though there's nothing wrong with them.

Xiaomi brand models were : Redmi & Redmi Note Series, Poco and top line Mi models.
Latest Mi models rebranded as Xiaomi (11t / 11t pro) and anything named Xiaomi are guaranteed long term updates similar to Samsung.

Poco have been made a separate brand, of sorts.

I have a Poco F2 Pro (256/8) and a Mi 10 Lite 5g.

Worth looking in to.