Nokia Icon Working on T-Mobile LTE - Settings Inside

[Aaron Schnieder]

Ok, after spending some time using the phone extensively after getting it work on T-Mobile here is an overview of what works (and what doesn't) that will hopefully answer all of the major questions.

Nokia Icon Win Phone 8 on T-Mobile using LTE
----------------------- What Works ------------------
- Calls
- SMS messages (send/receive)
- MMS messages (send/receive)
- Internet Explorer web browsing

----------------------- Issues ------------------
- Visual Voicemail does work; but works intermittently depending on internet access
- App connectivity that requires the internet (Nokia Music, App Store, Visual Voicemail, Pandora, etc.) works intermittently
- Signal strength seems to be a lot worse than when I had Nexus 5 on T-Mobile
- So in general I have found the connectivity to be intermittent at times, especially internet access within apps

----------------------- Settings ------------------------

- Hard reset the phone to factory settings (don't know if you have to do this, but I did - so I recommend it if it doesn't work with just changing settings.)
- Keep the tmo sim in the phone during the hard reset
- Download and install Nokia Access Setup link
- Restart the phone
- Go into Settings -> access point (down near the bottom)
- Add a new APN, name it "tmo" (or whatever you want) and put in the following settings:

Access Point Name: fast.tmobile.com
Username
Password
Proxy Address:
Proxy Port:
Network Type: IPv4v6
Authentication Type

MMS APN:

MMS Access Point Name: fast.tmobile.com
Username
Password
Proxy Address: 216.155.165.50
Proxy Port: 8080
MMSC Address: http://mms.msg.eng.t-mobile.com/mms/wapenc
Network Type: IPv4v6
Authentication Type

- Activate the new "tmo" APN
- Go to Settings -> cellular -> Change "Network selection" to "T-Mobile"
- Activate the original APN (You should have one labeled "T-Mobile LTE" by default)
- Activate the new "tmo" APN you created again

It should work now. I notice that the connection signal indicator goes null after I send/receive MMS messages and at other random times for a second, but it seems to self heal and recover. After I rebooted once I had to activate the "T-Mobile LTE" APN in Settings -> access point and then activate "tmo" again.

Hope that works for you.

Aaron

 

[Guytronic]

Hey thank you for posting this.

 

[thelumialover]

It's funny that your post went on today. I placed an order for the Lumia Icon with Verizon. I really, really, really did not want to switch because of the price plan difference, but I am tired of the L925 and ready for a higher-end WP device. It's in the mail now and should arrive by Monday. I can return the device with no penalty by refusing the package.

I had two questions for you, though:

1) Does visual voicemail work using your T-Mobile SIM?
2) Do you have any other hiccups while using the service? Do you lose signal or have any reboot issues?

Thanks so much! Greatly appreciated. I can buy the phone directly from Microsoft tomorrow for full price.

 

[Aaron Schnieder]

It's funny that your post went on today. I placed an order for the Lumia Icon with Verizon. I really, really, really did not want to switch because of the price plan difference, but I am tired of the L925 and ready for a higher-end WP device. It's in the mail now and should arrive by Monday. I can return the device with no penalty by refusing the package.

I had two questions for you, though:

1) Does visual voicemail work using your T-Mobile SIM?
2) Do you have any other hiccups while using the service? Do you lose signal or have any reboot issues?

Thanks so much! Greatly appreciated. I can buy the phone directly from Microsoft tomorrow for full price.

1) Does visual voicemail work using your T-Mobile SIM?
No, that is the one thing I haven't gotten working. I use Google Voice though for voicemail, so it mitigates the issue.

2) Do you have any other hiccups while using the service? Do you lose signal or have any reboot issues?
The only other hiccup is the connection status indicator shows a dead connection every once and a while. It recovers after a second or so and goes back to being connected without needing any interaction from me. No signal or reboot issues yet - but its only been an afternoon so far.

 

[thelumialover]

Thanks so much!

If you don't mind my asking, what app do you use for Google Voice? I might use this as well, as I'd hate to keep calling into voicemail.

 

[Aaron Schnieder]

Thanks so much!

If you don't mind my asking, what app do you use for Google Voice? I might use this as well, as I'd hate to keep calling into voicemail.

MetroTalk... Unfortunately Google is shutting down their API for non-android devices next month... so then we lose this option.

I am going to still try to get the native voicemail client running. If anyone else is able to make it work, please let us know.

 

[thelumialover]

Thanks so much for your honesty, man! I really appreciate it!

I think I am going to move forward with the switch to VZW. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Visual Voicemail is truly worth the extra money to me. I make so many calls in a day...I wouldn't know what to do without it. The $50/mo extra I'll be paying to be on VZW is worth that alone.

Thanks so much! I can't wait to get the Icon!!

 

[foehammer12]

THANK YOU!!! This is so awesome!!! I can get the phone I want on the network I want

1 question though. I will be able to get 8.1 when it releases?

Thanks again, will order Icon in the next couple of days.

 

[S_C_B]

I just saw an Icon on Craigslist, and I passed it up cuz I wasn't positive I could get T-Mobile LTE. I just may have to go back and buy it!

 

[tgp]

MetroTalk... Unfortunately Google is shutting down their API for non-android devices next month... so then we lose this option.

You shouldn't need any app to use GV voicemail. Basically you're just forwarding your number to GV, which then takes the call. I'm not 100% sure that's how it works, but I think it is. Someone please correct me if you can confirm otherwise. Google Voice as we know it is going away soon, but it's being rolled into Hangouts. I doubt there'll be any change to the voicemail service.

 

[Aaron Schnieder]

Thanks so much for your honesty, man! I really appreciate it!

I think I am going to move forward with the switch to VZW. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Visual Voicemail is truly worth the extra money to me. I make so many calls in a day...I wouldn't know what to do without it. The $50/mo extra I'll be paying to be on VZW is worth that alone.

Thanks so much! I can't wait to get the Icon!!

I updated the original post... I got Visual VoiceMail working.... but only over WiFi. It looks like there are general internet connectivity problems on T-Mobile.

 

[Aaron Schnieder]

THANK YOU!!! This is so awesome!!! I can get the phone I want on the network I want

1 question though. I will be able to get 8.1 when it releases?

Thanks again, will order Icon in the next couple of days.

Updating to Win Phne 8.1 shouldn't be an issue.

 

[Aaron Schnieder]

I just saw an Icon on Craigslist, and I passed it up cuz I wasn't positive I could get T-Mobile LTE. I just may have to go back and buy it!

Make sure you read my update below before you do that. Internet not working in apps is a deal breaker for me. I am probably going to switch to Verizon month to month even though I got everything else working.

 

[Vistary]

Very interesting, the only issue on my Icon with T-Mobile is that sometimes i can not send SMS, and I didn't setup any APN.
Also, sometimes the signal does become null, but I can access internet on that 'null' network.

Every app works fine regardless if it's on WiFi or not.

 

[Aaron Schnieder]

Yeah, actually I have found that sometimes internet works in apps without WiFi and sometimes it doesn't. Seems to be rather spotty and random.

 

[7kubo]

Hello i have icon with win 8.1. and t-mobile sim, i did exctly what it in the firt post, but my sms still do not work i have to switch to 2G to work) any advice?
thank you

 

[Vistary]

Hello i have icon with win 8.1. and t-mobile sim, i did exctly what it in the firt post, but my sms still do not work i have to switch to 2G to work) any advice?
thank you

My sms didn't work on 8.0, but now works on 8.1 without any extra setup

 

[Aaron Schnieder]

Hello i have icon with win 8.1. and t-mobile sim, i did exctly what it in the firt post, but my sms still do not work i have to switch to 2G to work) any advice?
thank you

I updated to 8.1 and everything is still working (actually better than before the update) using the settings above. You may want to double check that everything is setup exactly as above - I noticed that if anything is different then it just doesn't work.

 

[7kubo]

Thank you guys for quick answers, but... i works great wit LTE(showing no signal) and 2G (showing E or G) ,but still do not work with 3G (showing H or H+)
can anybody confirm working sms with 3G network?
thanks

 

[Superhyper]

Thank you guys for quick answers, but... i works great wit LTE(showing no signal) and 2G (showing E or G) ,but still do not work with 3G (showing H or H+)
can anybody confirm working sms with 3G network?
thanks

Hi 7kubo,

Mine works fine on 3G, but I have not yet seen it show H or H+. I'm guessing that will depend on whether the area you're in has been refarmed yet or not.