950 XL no LTE on AT&T?

[pgt1]

My 950xl says LTE. I picked up the nano sim from the att store and then called in to activate it using the emei from at att 950 display unit. LTE still works.

 

[Goldenknob]

I picked up a nano sim at at&t store before I received my 950xl. after I got the phone I installed the sim. then called at&t to activate it and the imei number of the phone, before I even turned it on for the first time. it's been 5 days and still good on LTE here. it's slow, but I'm in middle of nowhere, oklahoma so I'm lucky I even have it.

 

[jayk82]

I haven't had LTE in over a week. Had it for a few days, then as soon as my hotspot started working 4G is as good as I get. I've tried contacting AT&T so far to no avail.

 

[PepperdotNet]

I don't understand why it's taking so long and this issue persists. ATT are using the IMEI to recognize (or not) the phone and determine what capabilities it has. All they need to do is bulk add the IMEIs of all 950XL and assign them the same feature set as their branded 950.

 

[Maurice Leatherbury]

I agree - I went to the AT&T store before turning on my new 950 XL and had them insert the SIM card and provision the phone before turning it on. Still can't get LTE despite spending an hour on the phone with AT&T that finally declared that they couldn't support unlocked phones at the same level (i.e., LTE) and those purchased from them. Went into a Microsoft store and they told me to do a factory restart of the phone with the SIM inserted into slot 1 and that would fix the problem. It didn't.

It seems to me that this is a Microsoft problem, not AT&T's. They advertise that the 950 XL works on AT&T's LTE network and many of them simply don't. I'm getting tired of the finger pointing between MS and AT&T!

 

[robertre]

I have had LTE working on ATT for 3 weeks, ever since I did an online chat and linked my phone to the IMEI of my old ATT 640.

 

[alodar101]

I understand why you think its a Microsoft problem. It would be , if the bands were missing from the phone. But they are not . This a carrier side provisioning scenario.

 

[dlcpa]

I understand why you think its a Microsoft problem. It would be , if the bands were missing from the phone. But they are not . This a carrier side provisioning scenario.

It doesn't make sense that it's an AT&T problem. Once it works, they're sending the same signal to everyone. The provisioning once it happens why would it change unless there's a glitch in the OS?

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[yeewiz]

Ok, I read all 12 pages of this thread trying to decide what strategy I would use when I walked into the AT&T store. Do I tell them to use my 920 IMEI or an AT&T 950 IMEI, or just play it stupid and let them use my 950XL's number. I decided to be stupid. So I brought my new unstarted 950XL into an AT&T store last Friday. They put in a new SIM, entered the 950XL's IMEI, and started up the 950XL. 15 minutes later, I walk out of the store with a working phone that has LTE. I forgot to run Network Speed Test at the time. Anyway, my house is in an area that apparently doesn't have LTE so I do not get the LTE indicator at the top left when at home. When I go into San Francisco, I get the LTE indicator then, but speed varies dramatically. I've gotten test runs of 10Mbps down/1Mbps up, 32down/14up, 21down/17up, and 0.81down/.53up in various parts of town. LTE still running today. Would have been interesting if I had run the test on my 920 before deactivating the SIM, but even then, the test would only be valid if run side-by-side against the 950XL.

Voicemail works, but no VMM.

Mobile hotspot looks like it's running, but I wasn't able to connect to it with my SP4, so this might be an issue.

When I log into my AT&T account, my phone image is grayed out so it's still unknown.

 

[winboy]

I agree - I went to the AT&T store before turning on my new 950 XL and had them insert the SIM card and provision the phone before turning it on. Still can't get LTE despite spending an hour on the phone with AT&T that finally declared that they couldn't support unlocked phones at the same level (i.e., LTE) and those purchased from them. Went into a Microsoft store and they told me to do a factory restart of the phone with the SIM inserted into slot 1 and that would fix the problem. It didn't.

It seems to me that this is a Microsoft problem, not AT&T's. They advertise that the 950 XL works on AT&T's LTE network and many of them simply don't. I'm getting tired of the finger pointing between MS and AT&T!

I go my XL with new SIM card on day one from the MS store. Came home, got online activated the SIM card and got LTE ever since. No problem whatsoever. Even got VM but no VVM and was told later at the ATT store that they were "working on it".

 

[Maurice Leatherbury]

I live in an area with strong AT&T signals, including LTE. So why does my 950 XL not work when others do? I am almost certain that the phone is provisioned correctly since AT&T employees have checked it out twice. And where is Microsoft on this issue - I haven't seen a single post, etc. from them about the problems, just vague verbal assurances that resetting the phone will fix the problem, which just doesn't work on my particular phone (I know because it's been reset three times since the initial install). Microsoft needs to step up and diagnose the problem and communicate the solution.

 

[TheTruQ]

Received my 950XL last week and have been using it for about 5 days. I had/have absolutely no problem with LTE. Because I had a 1020 prior to this, I had to go to AT&T for a new SIM card (1020 uses micro not nano). I did not turn the phone on until I got to the AT&T store and the SIM was installed, registered, etc. When my AT&T rep registered the SIM and phone, he set the model to 950.
And I know this may sound dumb, but make sure they register the right IMEI number, seeing as though the phone has dual SIMs and the numbers are practically crawling on top of each other.

 

[snakebitten]

I understand the frustration. I've even been less than thrilled with the LTE behavior of my 950XL when compared to the 1520 and 640 that I also have AT&T Sims in.

But I assure you that this is NOT Microsoft. You can choose not to believe that, but it IS 100% a provisioning issue with AT&T.
Or put it another way, some folks at AT&T know exactly how to provision the unlocked unbranded 950(XL), and some do not. But don't blame the customer service folks either. They are looking at the "screen" and doing what they know (or have been trained) how to do.

But just like anywhere else, some users (staff) are just following directions (like an onscreen wizard), and others are actually figuring out a solution, and thus overriding the default choice(s).

Again, I get the frustration. But it is AT&T that has not yet accomplished editing their "system" to properly accommodate our new unlocked phones.

 

[gherrman]

Went to local AT&T store with my new 950xl and a pleasant and knowledgeable customer service rep inserted a sim, turned phone on for first time and transferred my phone number from Verizon. Phone showed LTE almost immediately. This was a week ago and everything is still working great. After reading the posts to this thread, I was a bit nervous about the shift to AT&T but so far everything has been great. I have had a few minor problems with the phone but so far I am attributing these to operator error.

 

[tgp]

But I assure you that this is NOT Microsoft. You can choose not to believe that, but it IS 100% a provisioning issue with AT&T.

Interestingly enough, I was reading this thread and thinking that it must be a Windows Phone issue. Ironically, I saw this comment!

I question your statement, based on my personal experience. I have used several different unlocked Android phones on both AT&T and MVNOs using its network. Most of the time I simply inserted my current active SIM card. I never had a problem with LTE. Granted, I haven't been on AT&T for a year now, but prior to that it certainly worked fine.

It would be interesting to check out iMore and Android Central. You could even post questions asking if users of unlocked phones on iOS and Android have had issues with LTE recently.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Interestingly enough, I was reading this thread and thinking that it must be a Windows Phone issue. Ironically, I saw this comment!

I question your statement, based on my personal experience. I have used several different unlocked Android phones on both AT&T and MVNOs using its network. Most of the time I simply inserted my current active SIM card. I never had a problem with LTE. Granted, I haven't been on AT&T for a year now, but prior to that it certainly worked fine.

It would be interesting to check out iMore and Android Central. You could even post questions asking if users of unlocked phones on iOS and Android have had issues with LTE recently.

I'm using an unlocked and unbranded Moto X Pure Edition on AT&T. I didn't have to do anything with its settings when I got it. I simply inserted the nanoSIM and got LTE on AT&T.

 

[snakebitten]

Interestingly enough, I was reading this thread and thinking that it must be a Windows Phone issue. Ironically, I saw this comment!

I question your statement, based on my personal experience. I have used several different unlocked Android phones on both AT&T and MVNOs using its network. Most of the time I simply inserted my current active SIM card. I never had a problem with LTE. Granted, I haven't been on AT&T for a year now, but prior to that it certainly worked fine.

It would be interesting to check out iMore and Android Central. You could even post questions asking if users of unlocked phones on iOS and Android have had issues with LTE recently.

Even if you are still skeptical, there are many many unlocked 950(XL)'s that are working well on LTE with AT&T. That would indicate that the actual phone is designed and delivered by Microsoft to work properly with the correct bands and antennas.

But, since AT&T didn't, or hasn't yet, included the unlocked IMEI Dual Sim phones in their provisioning database with the necessary configuration parameters, the device might not get provisioned properly for their network.
That is why early on even the AT&T staff were so willing to provision a new 950XL customer using the IEMI number from a spoofed phone. (spoofing as a device that is actually registered correctly in the AT&T database)

This is why the SIMs from my 640 and 1520 could get LTE in the 950, but the new SIM they provisioned for me using the 950 IMEI number wouldn't.

Time will fix this issue. As big and dysfunctional as AT&T can be, somebody with the authority and political green light is going to make the changes needed to the AT&T customer device management system.

I assure you there is nothing any code writer or engineer at Microsoft can do to fix this.
And I know of only one person who has been told their phone was provisioned with a legitimate IMEI number and still couldn't get LTE.
Personally, I don't think that poor fella is getting accurate info.

The only legitimate LTE gripe I think the 950(XL) dual Sim has coming to it is I'm not impressed with its antenna, even though it supposedly has the latest tech. In my opinion it has subpar reception compared to even entry level LTE capable devices. The 640 might not be able to handle the bandwidth that the 950 can, but the 640 is far more likely to get superior throughput in weak signal areas because it gets better reception. Make sense?

Fortunately I am in a very strong AT&T area during the day. So I am getting faster speeds with it than the 640. (But not any better than the 1520)
But at night, where I live very rural and have marginal LTE coverage, both the 640 and 1520 can hang onto LTE, even when dropping to 1 bar.
The 950XL will drop to 4G once LTE gets down to about 1 bar. Then if I set it down and don't cover it my hand or anything, it will fight its way back to LTE.

I live with it hoping firmware updates or AT&T upgrades in my area result in an improvement. Until then I either hotspot one of my other phones, or go out on the porch where the disadvantage no longer applies.

Anyways, I wish all you folks good luck with this. For AT&T customers I really believe it is just a matter of time. But if I wasn't getting LTE, I would have AT&T start over and provision my 950 with an AT&T branded IMEI.

 

[tgp]

Even if you are still skeptical, there are many many unlocked 950(XL)'s that are working well on LTE with AT&T. That would indicate that the actual phone is designed and delivered by Microsoft to work properly with the correct bands and antennas.

The forums are filled with 950/XL users complaining of various bugs (not necessarily relating to LTE on AT&T) that others with the exact same devices are not experiencing. Some devices are working correctly; some aren't. I suspect the same applies here. It's not as much AT&T's problem as it is that some of these phones are not working as they should be. If it is a problem on AT&T's end, how can any of them get LTE without manual intervention?

 

[Duskmourn]

I may have reached the end of my rope with ATT. They say they can't provision my phone for LTE because it's not on their network. I didn't use a dummy IMEI I used the one on the phone. I waited to get a nano sim from ATT put in my phone prior to turning it on and had 4G from the start. I tried doing chat support and my case was escalated and haven't heard back, I tried all manner of resetting to get 4G. I tried manually entering different APNs to no avail, and tonight I called tech support which had to transfer me 3 times because the two prior ATT disconnected my call prior to reaching support. When I finally talked to someone they gave me every excuse in the book as to why my phone could not be provisioned to LTE the lady even said that she talked to her manager about it and that unlocked phones couldn't get LTE signal and are always stuck at 4G/3G signal. I told her how GSMs are supposed to be universal and work and that ATT wasn't a true GSM network if they wouldn't allow certain phones to be provisioned to LTE. If my phone doesn't get LTE by the end of the year I'm headed to T-Mo where I know my signal will operate at LTE just fine.

Someone said it ATT hates unlocked phones and I now believe it to be true. Rediculous. Thanks MS for having phone exclusives that screw your customers and your own market share.

 

[pgt1]

Duskmourn, this is what I did so I figured I would pass this along. Go to AT&T store, look at the 950 display unit. While there, go to settings, about, write down or photograph the 950 EMEI with your old phone. When you get home, take out nano sim from the XL, write down or photograph the nano sim card numbers with your old phone. Hard reset the XL. When it gets to the welcome screen (or language selection or whatever it was), power the phone down. Insert Nano Sim but don't start phone yet. Call AT&T. Tell them you just purchased a new phone and that it is a 950. Give them the Nano Sim number and then the EMEI of the 950 that you got from the AT&T store. Once done, they should stay with you on the line and have you power up the phone. Do not set up wifi yet. They will stay with you on the line for the 10-15 minutes for the apps to update. Let the apps update over LTE instead of wifi. LTE worked immediately for me and has worked ever since. The XL is a great phone. Thanks to this forum, Dan's posts and some posts from Coolbreeze and others, my phone has worked perfectly from the start. Good luck.