950XL no T-Mobile LTE?

Mark Morales

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So I finally got my T-Mobile sim card activated on my 950XL. After switching one of my lines from Verizon to ATT because of the 950XL, I decided to try a prepaid T-Mobile sim to compare service with ATT. The indicator for the T-Mobile sim shows 4G even though I am on an LTE plan. I called customer service 3 times and they insist that it is the same. But from my experience going back the many years (and many phones) I've had LTE service from both Verizon and ATT, the indicator always says LTE to indicate LTE service. So is it true that T-Mobile's indicator on the 950XL shows as 4G for LTE? And if it is the same as the reps say, why doesn't the indicator just say LTE like the other carriers? Or are the reps full of BS?
 

mijacs

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Pretty certain I have seen LTE on my 950. You can check the sim settings to see what it says.
Although in the end, as long as you are getting good speeds does it matter? Hmmm I would have to check if band 12 is lte or not.
 

jlangner

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I would think would show lte. Have you had another T-Mobile phone same location that showed lte? Try speed test as well.
 

macros_1

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So I finally got my T-Mobile sim card activated on my 950XL. After switching one of my lines from Verizon to ATT because of the 950XL, I decided to try a prepaid T-Mobile sim to compare service with ATT. The indicator for the T-Mobile sim shows 4G even though I am on an LTE plan. I called customer service 3 times and they insist that it is the same. But from my experience going back the many years (and many phones) I've had LTE service from both Verizon and ATT, the indicator always says LTE to indicate LTE service. So is it true that T-Mobile's indicator on the 950XL shows as 4G for LTE? And if it is the same as the reps say, why doesn't the indicator just say LTE like the other carriers? Or are the reps full of BS?

The indicator for T-Mobile shows "T-Mobile LTE" when you are connected to their LTE signal. 4G indicates HSPA/HSPA+. Are you certain you're in a T-Mobile area with LTE coverage?
 

gerryf19

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Mine definitely says LTE when I am getting LTE and 4g when I get HPSA, 3g and 2g.

While the 950 XL specs say it supports band 12, microsoft has not certified it with tmobile and it does not work. I have a couple of androids and an iphone that all get band 12 in my area but the 950 xl--nada. The Google Nexus 5x and 6p were released without Band 12, as were several other phones and it was later added with an update (google JUST updated their newest phones this past week) so I hope that Microsoft gets on the ball with this.

It makes a pretty significant difference in my area (band 12). I live on the edge of the Detroit Metro area and I get great coverage just about everywhere and it works at home, but I know I will have trouble later this summer as I hit other parts of the state without band 12 support
 

Mark Morales

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The indicator for T-Mobile shows "T-Mobile LTE" when you are connected to their LTE signal. 4G indicates HSPA/HSPA+. Are you certain you're in a T-Mobile area with LTE coverage?

I had a chance to drive around town today since activating the T-Mobile sim yesterday and it's definitely just the area around my house which isn't too important because I use Wi-Fi here. But still, cruising around town, the indicator would constantly switch between LTE and 4G depending where I was at and even just sitting in the same spot. Man Verizon is just the best here... both coverage and speed. Wish I didn't have to switch to AT&T or T-Mobile.
 

Mark Morales

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Mine definitely says LTE when I am getting LTE and 4g when I get HPSA, 3g and 2g.

While the 950 XL specs say it supports band 12, microsoft has not certified it with tmobile and it does not work. I have a couple of androids and an iphone that all get band 12 in my area but the 950 xl--nada. The Google Nexus 5x and 6p were released without Band 12, as were several other phones and it was later added with an update (google JUST updated their newest phones this past week) so I hope that Microsoft gets on the ball with this.

It makes a pretty significant difference in my area (band 12). I live on the edge of the Detroit Metro area and I get great coverage just about everywhere and it works at home, but I know I will have trouble later this summer as I hit other parts of the state without band 12 support

How do you know you aren't getting Band 12?
 

gerrymad

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I had a similar problem at first. This is what fixed it for me.

Go back into your SIM 1 settings and look for the "Cellular connection profile" drop down. I had originally selected T-Mobile and my service was horrible. Switch the drop down to t_mobile. This should reprovision the phone with new settings. You may also need to follow that up with tapping the update settings button. After I switched the connection profile my phone restarted and my connection has been great.
 

TexasLabRat

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Mine definitely says LTE when I am getting LTE and 4g when I get HPSA, 3g and 2g.

While the 950 XL specs say it supports band 12, microsoft has not certified it with tmobile and it does not work. I have a couple of androids and an iphone that all get band 12 in my area but the 950 xl--nada. The Google Nexus 5x and 6p were released without Band 12, as were several other phones and it was later added with an update (google JUST updated their newest phones this past week) so I hope that Microsoft gets on the ball with this.

It makes a pretty significant difference in my area (band 12). I live on the edge of the Detroit Metro area and I get great coverage just about everywhere and it works at home, but I know I will have trouble later this summer as I hit other parts of the state without band 12 support


"has not certified it with tmobile and it does not work"

Microsoft doesn't need to "certify" bands with individual carriers..that's the point of GSM. The phone was tested with band 12 in its FCC certification tests.

That aside...I can verify that the 950XL Dual Sim (as purchased in the U.S. from the MS store) DOES indeed support band 12 on t-mobile. I have a t-mobile LTE cellspot which provides LTE over band 4. In this way, I know when my phone is connected to it...it has full bars throughout the house. As a test, I went into the field test menu and I locked out all LTE bands *except* band 12. Phone drops to 3 bars of LTE (and is still showing "T-mobile LTE" in the notification area). While I haven't figured out how to generate a report of what band is currently in use...I'd say this was a pretty definitive test and I'm convinced that the phone is operating on band 12 as expected.

As an aside, while poking around in the field test menu stuff I came across an interesting entry in one of the LTE status reports in the "System Info" section: "Voice on LTE : Supported". Read into that what you will
 

gerryf19

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go to your dialer, type in ##3282# to get into field test mode

DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING YOU SEE IN HERE. Some people will suggest you try band locking to band 12, since Windows Mobile supports it and drive around looking to get a data connection that never comes. The problem with that is Windows Mobile 10 is still a little buggy--don't want to get stuck in band 12

Anyway, go to NET MONITOR > ACTIVE NETWORK and then look for 1 EARFCN

This is your band. You need to translate the numbers to something that makes sense, but EARFCN 5020=700MHz=Band 12
 

gerryf19

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"has not certified it with tmobile and it does not work"

Microsoft doesn't need to "certify" bands with individual carriers..that's the point of GSM. The phone was tested with band 12 in its FCC certification tests.

That aside...I can verify that the 950XL Dual Sim (as purchased in the U.S. from the MS store) DOES indeed support band 12 on t-mobile. I have a t-mobile LTE cellspot which provides LTE over band 4. In this way, I know when my phone is connected to it...it has full bars throughout the house. As a test, I went into the field test menu and I locked out all LTE bands *except* band 12. Phone drops to 3 bars of LTE (and is still showing "T-mobile LTE" in the notification area). While I haven't figured out how to generate a report of what band is currently in use...I'd say this was a pretty definitive test and I'm convinced that the phone is operating on band 12 as expected.

As an aside, while poking around in the field test menu stuff I came across an interesting entry in one of the LTE status reports in the "System Info" section: "Voice on LTE : Supported". Read into that what you will

The phone does support it--I know that. I'm just saying that at the moment that Tmobile does not allow the connection.

Google did the work and Tmobile threw a switch and said that the NEXUS phones will now get it.

It is not a "certification" as to support, it is a certification by TMOBILE allowing the phones to use it.
 

TexasLabRat

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The phone does support it--I know that. I'm just saying that at the moment that Tmobile does not allow the connection.

Google did the work and Tmobile threw a switch and said that the NEXUS phones will now get it.

It is not a "certification" as to support, it is a certification by TMOBILE allowing the phones to use it.

As I mentioned, I know for a fact that it does work on t-mobile with band 12 because I specifically tested it. T-mobile doesn't "certify" phones to work on one band or another. AT&T has an IMEI whitelist but not t-mobile. They are very BYOD friendly and all you need is a SIM and the correct APN settings.

I believe what you are referring to is the request from t-mobile to manufacturers to disable band 12 unless the handset supported VoLTE. In this case, MS has not done so and band 12 works for data even though it does not have VoLTE functionality on t-mobile.
 
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DCW1000

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Previous posts have settled the question, but I'll throw another one on the heap. In Southern California with T-Mobile SIM in a 950XL. It's showing LTE right now.
 

gerryf19

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As I mentioned, I know for a fact that it does work on t-mobile with band 12 because I specifically tested it. T-mobile doesn't "certify" phones to work on one band or another. AT&T has an IMEI whitelist but not t-mobile. They are very BYOD friendly and all you need is a SIM and the correct APN settings.

I believe what you are referring to is the request from t-mobile to manufacturers to disable band 12 unless the handset supported VoLTE. In this case, MS has not done so and band 12 works for data even though it does not have VoLTE functionality on t-mobile.


So, you have seen actual data on band 12 ?

I've got 4 phones here--the other three are pulling band 12 right now, but the 950 xl is not.
 

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