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Cell Reception/Service issue.

WillBeDone

WillBeDone

Lurker
Probably a stupid question...but I need a quick answer.

Just ordered a new SIM for my LG optimus F7 AS780 from AT&T and installed it. It was the BYOP prepaid plan thing. The new SIM will require activation, I thought I had to do that through cell service. Like be in cell coverage area, then type in the plan activation code and register. HOWEVER, no matter what I do my phone has a red X over the cell reception bars. Any ideas what is up?
 
I am a computer guy by trade but I have let the world of cell phones pass me by a little bit. I can use them, clean them, repair the screen and such but I just hate all the different crap that surrounds the different carriers. I bought this phone for like 40 bucks over a year ago, used from the web. I live so rural that cells don't work out here anyway, but I wanted this for work and thought that the ATT kit would get me going. ATT said it would but I have found out that so many people don't know jack.

So the phone is a AS780 not a US780 but I believe it is the same phone. It has a 14 digit IMEI, and in order for it to work with ATT I was told I had to do the algorithm to find the 15th digit, which I did, but if what you are saying is right, there is probably no way to get it on ATT?

Dang.
 
one more quick question. Can it be unlocked? I read about unlocking it, most were already unlocked, but this particular model? I dunno. If I unlock it, can it then be used on ATT?
 
I can't find any references to an AS780 variant, and https://willmyphonework.net/ only shows the US780 CDMA US Cellular one, plus a couple of other non-American versions of the Optimus F7. So assuming the AS780 is a CDMA/EVDO only device like the US780 US Cellular one, there's no way it will work with AT&T, or any other GSM/HSDPA networks at al.

The 14 digit number sounds very much like an MEID(Mobile Equipment ID), which is specific to CDMA phones and networks, which is what I think this phone is. IMEIs are 15 digits. Some phones that have both CDMA and GSM will usually have a 14 digit MEID(for CDMA) and a 15 digit IMEI, which is also used for LTE.
 
Mikestony said:
https://www.gsmarena.com/lg_optimus_f7-5315.php


NETWORK Technology GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE
2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - for Europe
CDMA 800 / 1900 - US780
3G bands HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100 - for Europe
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO - US780
4G bands LTE band 25(1900) - LG870
LTE band 12(700) - US780 <<<<----Emphasis mine

Looking like @mikedt is correct. No way to use it on AT&T. Perhaps T-mobile or U.S. Cellular? thoughts @mikedt?
Click to expand...

If both the US780 and the OP's AS780 have the same bands and modes, then it might on T-Mobile, LTE band 12(700MHz) only, but it may well have coverage and reception issues and not be satisfactory. It may work on Verizon or Sprint as well, provided they can BYOD with CDMA and LTE only phones. Of course my own experience with CDMA phones and networks is with China Telecom, and not in the US.
 
It turns out that this phone is indeed tied to US Cellular and it will work on a few different carriers to a point. It supports 5 of 8 bands.
https://www.frequencycheck.com/carr...timus-f7-us780/verizon-wireless-united-states
and it seems that even if i switched to another carrier(verizon has the most support) I will be unable to have full function of HOT SPOT and data is questionable.

SO I GAVE UP.

I bought an el cheapo from ATT which boasted being the best coverage in my area. Turns out they are pretty good, phone can easily be unlocked to support other carriers but the only better carrier in my area is Verizon. The ZTE Maven 3 that I bought for 40 bucks will work fine on voice and text but the Data will have horrible issues...which is unacceptable.

The companies really need to streamline and accept a set of commonalities. Like universal radios. All carriers use the same backbone, or something. This gets complicated fast...and I have a lot of IT experience.

Anyway, the Maven 3 is a decent cheap phone and it has everything I need. The only cons is that it comes with nearly 7 gigs full of crap you cannot get rid of, it has only 8 gigs of storage, 7 used by the bloatware...I can use a 32GB SD card as a internal storage but it is not the same...

Any ideas about rooting this? If I root, does that mean I have to reinstall everything again? Like from factory?

Total newb.
 
FWIW most countries do, it's only really the US, China and Japan that has carriers using incompatible network technology with each other, like CDMA. TD-SCDMA, etc. Which presents problems when you try to use an incompatible phone.
As for rooting a ZTE Maven, maybe difficult or impossible. Rooting certain ZTE phones has become a real quest for some users, like the ZTE Zmax Pro, so far unsuccessful. .
 
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Well, again I point to the mentality of money. In a perfect world owning and being the sole user of a device should give us permissions to delete software or modify certain aspects of the OS. As it stands, it looks like the best I can hope for is using the SD card as expansion and formatting it to the specific device to keep some stuff over there. I ran out of room after installing Facebook, Messenger, youtube, and netflix. That all together is just under 1 GB of space...and it filled it up. So format and run with SD. I suppose it is kind of a compromise, but it is totally stupid. NOW, I have found a couple places claiming to have rooted the device for one instance, that is until restart. I looked into it, but since it is done through manual means and is risky because of bricking I will leave it alone for now. The thing serves it's purpose. I have to put several network/IT apps on here for mapping and testing, I just hope they have SD functionality or I will be boned....lol.
 
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