• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help unlocked Sprint Note 3 problems on T-Mobile & Straight Talk

JGon561

Lurker
Mar 31, 2013
9
0
I unlocked my Sprint Note 3 (SM-N900P), and had it converted to T-Mobile (SM-N900T) and it works fine other than I can't connect to 2g/3g.. I'm geussing it's because my phone is originally a CDMA phone(please respond to that problem as well). But now I that I live up in the North Georgia mountains, the only service that will really work up here on prepaid is Straight Talk. But when I bought the Straight Talk GSM sim card to use with the Note 3, it only works when I travel back 30 Miles to the city and only works on 4G and my internet wants to keep connecting to T-Mobile's internet so I can't use internet whatsoever on my phone. My phone is showing signal for 2/3G GSM but will not allow me to do anything such as make calls, etc. And I also want to fix the network connection problem with the phone only wanting to connect to T-Mobile's network even though I have the correct APN settings for Straight Talk. PLEASE HELP! P.S. I have a custom IMEI due to the fact that the phone was Blacklisted by Sprint because I refused to continue paying for their garbage service, and I don't know if re-flashing the phone will reset my IMEI to the original blacklisted one..
 
I unlocked my Sprint Note 3 (SM-N900P), and had it converted to T-Mobile (SM-N900T) and it works fine other than I can't connect to 2g/3g.. I'm geussing it's because my phone is originally a CDMA phone(please respond to that problem as well). But now I that I live up in the North Georgia mountains, the only service that will really work up here on prepaid is Straight Talk. But when I bought the Straight Talk GSM sim card to use with the Note 3, it only works when I travel back 30 Miles to the city and only works on 4G and my internet wants to keep connecting to T-Mobile's internet so I can't use internet whatsoever on my phone. My phone is showing signal for 2/3G GSM but will not allow me to do anything such as make calls, etc. And I also want to fix the network connection problem with the phone only wanting to connect to T-Mobile's network even though I have the correct APN settings for Straight Talk. PLEASE HELP! P.S. I have a custom IMEI due to the fact that the phone was Blacklisted by Sprint because I refused to continue paying for their garbage service, and I don't know if re-flashing the phone will reset my IMEI to the original blacklisted one..

I believe that's a felony in the US, knowingly changing a phone's IMEI, IMSI or ESN to circumvent blacklisting. Forum rules prohibit the discussion of such things, AF is a US site. In fact it's unlawful in many countries and jurisdictions.
 
Upvote 0
Sprint phones don't unlock, whether knowingly or not, whether you get caught or not, unless you legally transferred the IMEI from a clean phone you own and permanently retired, you did in fact violate US law.

Pretty sleazy of the store to not advise you properly - they got a sale and you could be holding the bag with a Federal liability, so what do they care? Dollar dollar bill y'all. :( Meanwhile, you may be well advised to never take it to a reputable repair center or plan on selling it (unless for parts with full disclosure about the provenance).

You're unlikely to lose your illegal IMEI just by flashing a new image.

Few Sprint phones work reliably on GSM networks and that tends to be a hardware issue, not something solved by flashing things.

That said, no idea if the Note 3 is an exception or not.

Good luck, you're going to need it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mikedt and Slug
Upvote 0
I unlocked my Sprint Note 3 (SM-N900P), and had it converted to T-Mobile (SM-N900T) and it works fine other than I can't connect to 2g/3g.. I'm geussing it's because my phone is originally a CDMA phone(please respond to that problem as well). But now I that I live up in the North Georgia mountains, the only service that will really work up here on prepaid is Straight Talk. But when I bought the Straight Talk GSM sim card to use with the Note 3, it only works when I travel back 30 Miles to the city and only works on 4G and my internet wants to keep connecting to T-Mobile's internet so I can't use internet whatsoever on my phone. My phone is showing signal for 2/3G GSM but will not allow me to do anything such as make calls, etc. And I also want to fix the network connection problem with the phone only wanting to connect to T-Mobile's network even though I have the correct APN settings for Straight Talk. PLEASE HELP! P.S. I have a custom IMEI due to the fact that the phone was Blacklisted by Sprint because I refused to continue paying for their garbage service, and I don't know if re-flashing the phone will reset my IMEI to the original blacklisted one..

Hey man,

My phone is good actually and I am running into a similar issue. I can only see EDGE which is what 1x I think? You ever solve your issue? If so how did you do it? If you have any questions on what I may have run into feel free to ask.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones