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Help Big issue with phone model and 4G capability..

H

helix3000

Lurker
I bought a samsung galaxy s3 SGH-T999RWATMB from ebay. The seller said it was brand new but did not include a sim card. I was suspecting that the phoen was refurbished or used and being sold as new because normally new tmobile phones come with an new unused sim card in the box. Once I received it in the mail I saw that it was shrink rapped. So I thought it is brand new. I opened the box and after picking up the phone I immediately noticed that the back cover was not properly clipped into place. So maybe it was tampered with and the ebay seller shrink wrapped it to make it seem like it is brand new. I did not see the traditional tmobile plastic cover on the screen that says "do not use your old sim card. use the new sim card provided in this box". Instead, it was a colorful one that said it had a quad core processor.

Once the phone was turned on I immediately noticed that I was getting the Edge connection. I tried to update the apn settings to avail. It showed 4G but then after a while it kicked me off of 4G and automatically showed the Edge connection symbol. The internet is extremely slow on the phone. I had tmobile phones before and I would get strong 4G signals at home. the listing on ebay said it was a 4G capable phone, but obviously it is not. this is an older model I think. I called a tmobile store and the rep told me that all S3s have 4G capability except the one not sold by tmobile which is an older model that came out before tmobile had 4G, but the back cover of the phone said tmboile. So to make a long story short I think I got the short end of the deal on this transaction.

I am confused more than ever over this. Should I just return the phone or is there a fix for this? by the way, when I boot up the phone it displays the "android 4G" splash screen.

I am thinking maybe this phone was rooted or something.

The android OS version on the phone is 4.1.2.
 
After looking up about that phone, it said the t999L version is the only one with 4G. The t999 doesn't.

Either way, I am not familiar with those models. Just when I though my S960L was rare.

But point is, yours doesn't actually appear to say T999L so I'm just not sure. It is strange that it did pop up 4G for a moment, though.
 
I think that's incorrect. I have a t-mobile T999, and I get 4G...the "L" indicates it is capable of 4G LTE , which my phone does NOT get to use. T-mobile had a 4G network when the S3 first came out, but didn't add the LTE until a few months later.

As for the op's issues, I don't have any idea other than you aren't in a regular 4G area.
 
helix3000 said:
I bought a samsung galaxy s3 SGH-T999RWATMB from ebay. The seller said it was brand new but did not include a sim card. I was suspecting that the phoen was refurbished or used and being sold as new because normally new tmobile phones come with an new unused sim card in the box. Once I received it in the mail I saw that it was shrink rapped. So I thought it is brand new. I opened the box and after picking up the phone I immediately noticed that the back cover was not properly clipped into place. So maybe it was tampered with and the ebay seller shrink wrapped it to make it seem like it is brand new. I did not see the traditional tmobile plastic cover on the screen that says "do not use your old sim card. use the new sim card provided in this box". Instead, it was a colorful one that said it had a quad core processor.

Once the phone was turned on I immediately noticed that I was getting the Edge connection. I tried to update the apn settings to avail. It showed 4G but then after a while it kicked me off of 4G and automatically showed the Edge connection symbol. The internet is extremely slow on the phone. I had tmobile phones before and I would get strong 4G signals at home. the listing on ebay said it was a 4G capable phone, but obviously it is not. this is an older model I think. I called a tmobile store and the rep told me that all S3s have 4G capability except the one not sold by tmobile which is an older model that came out before tmobile had 4G, but the back cover of the phone said tmboile. So to make a long story short I think I got the short end of the deal on this transaction.

I am confused more than ever over this. Should I just return the phone or is there a fix for this? by the way, when I boot up the phone it displays the "android 4G" splash screen.

I am thinking maybe this phone was rooted or something.

The android OS version on the phone is 4.1.2.
Click to expand...

Have you tried going into a T-Mobile store and getting the proper sim and let them set it up for you?
 
I went to the store first. As I walked out of the store I noticed that it was Edge connection. I went back into the store and they changed the APN settings. Restarted the phone and still Edge connection. I came home and called customer support. They walked me thorugh the APN settings carefully. Restarted phone. I see 4G icon but internet is extremely slow and GPS hangs. GPS connects for only a few seconds and then disconnects. Sometimes webpages dont load while displaying the "unable to load webpage - you may not have a data connection" message. I restart the phone. Now it seems like the internet is fast but a few minutes later it goes back to being extremely slow and unresponsive. Now, the 4G icon automatically dissapears and E takes its place. I live in a 4G/4GLTE area. My previous tmobile phone had 4G where I live. I think this phone is defective.

I called in to the store and the rep told me that they did not have 4G when the S3 came out. "so some models wont have 4G capability". But she then said all the S3 models ever sold by tmobile was 4G capable. So I'm thinking this phone is not tmobiles phone and that they just slapped on a tmobile battery cover and then shrink rapped the box to make it look like the phone is new and unused.

I'm returning the phone.

I read online that the LTE T999L model is missing some features that are found in the T999 and shows lower performance numbers when benchmark testing against the standard S3 T999. Is this accurate?

thanks.
 
Under the battery is a label installed by Samsung with the model number. It will be either SGH T999 or SGH T999L. That said T-Mobile has had 4G for years and just recently 4G LTE. I bought my T999 2 years ago this August and have had 4G from day one. It could be the seller sold you a defective phone.
 
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