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Help My unlocked galaxy5 with t-mobile SIM thinks it's a Verizon

Robert Boileau

Robert Boileau

Lurker
Got a reconditioned Galaxy5 from Ebay. It was listed as Verizon and unlocked. It had a spot for the GSM SIM I got from T-mobile, Put it in and have T-mobile phone service. But the phone still thinks it's a Verizon. Because of this I can't access voicemail which I need. My phone keeps telling me "SIM card is not from Verizon."

The seller gave me some tips to try like this - To set the Access Point Name (APN) and turn on data, follow these steps:

1. From any Home screen, tap the All apps key.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap More. This could also be labeled Wireless and Networks, or More Networks.
4. Tap Cellular networks. This could also be labeled Mobile Networks. Tap Access Point Names.
5. Tap the Menu key, Tap New
6. Verify and update APN settings for you r respective carrier. Enter in the APN information exactly as your provider would have it. Reference http://www.unlockit.co.nz/mobilesettings for many common APN settings. Once you select your carrier, press the “Android manual setup” button that appears on the bottom part of the page. Copy this information word for word. Below are common APN settings for the two major GSM carriers in the USA.
7. Tap the Menu key.
8. Tap Save.
9. Tap the desired APN profile you want to use. The bullet point fills with green next to the APN profile.

APN Settings T-Mobile

And also this - Hi,

I'm really sorry to hear there is a Verizon Message in the phone. Please follow this steps and it should resolve the issue. Any further questions, please feel free to contact us. Have a great day.
"Settings > Apps > Application Manager > All apps > activation agent > force stop"

Customer Support

But neither fix has had any effect. When I try to set up voicemail by holding 1 I get a message that the call cannot be completed. Of the T-mobile help I tries dialing 123 and got T-mobile voicemail set up but when I press the keys for choices they don't receive the info. It's getting frustrating.

I gotta make dinner now but will check back if anyone has a solution of things that have worked for them.

I have a T-mobile phone trapped in a Verizon body!

Thanks,

Bob
 
Have you tried using the T-Mobile Voicemail app? You should be able to download from the Play Store.
 
Easy way around that.

goto voice mail settings, change the phone number to the one you use to dial up remotely from a different phone, enter two or three "commas" = "pause" and then the digits that will enter your password.

That way, when you Long Press #1, it will autodial your voice mail number and auto log you into VM.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

what is happening to you, is the phone is dialing "#86" which is the Verizon shortcut for their voice mail.... been there, done that.... it errors out, and gives you the Verizon error message. (stored in the ROM)

just change the shortcut to the real number for your voice mailbox.
____________________________________
Verizon: 2 ea. Galaxy S5, Note 4, HTC One M9, VZW MiFi $212/month :(
 
Last edited:
AZgl1500 said:
Easy way around that.

goto voice mail settings, change the phone number to the one you use to dial up remotely from a different phone, enter two or three "commas" = "pause" and then the digits that will enter your password.

That way, when you Long Press #1, it will autodial your voice mail number and auto log you into VM.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

what is happening to you, is the phone is dialing "#86" which is the Verizon shortcut for their voice mail.... been there, done that.... it errors out, and gives you the Verizon error message. (stored in the ROM)

just change the shortcut to the real number for your voice mailbox.
____________________________________
Verizon: 2 ea. Galaxy S5, Note 4, HTC One M9, VZW MiFi $212/month :(
Click to expand...
I may try this but my real goal is to get the phone to recognize that it's T-mobile now. May have to find a way to change the OS or something. I'm not real tech savvy but I plod along and eventually get where I want.

Thanks for the idea.
 
Verizon phones come with Verizon softtware installed in the ROM.
You will not be able to get OTA updates without an active Verizon SIM.
Just update the voicemail phone number as AZgl1500 suggested.
 
glc said:
Verizon phones come with Verizon softtware installed in the ROM.
You will not be able to get OTA updates without an active Verizon SIM.
Just update the voicemail phone number as AZgl1500 suggested.
Click to expand...

I didn't say it in my post, but this is precisely why I said you must change the VoiceMail box digits in the Settings. That stuff is all in the Verizon ROM and the SIM cannot change a damn thing about that.

Either you edit the shortcut for the digit one, or you will never be happy.
Failing that, you create another shortcut key for Digit 2 and have that go to your VoiceMail box on your carrier.
but, changing the default is the way to go. And this is how it looks for Verizon's VM box.... 1 pause, and a 4 digit passkey.

VoiceMail Shortcut.png
 
AZgl1500 said:
I didn't say it in my post, but this is precisely why I said you must change the VoiceMail box digits in the Settings. That stuff is all in the Verizon ROM and the SIM cannot change a damn thing about that.

Either you edit the shortcut for the digit one, or you will never be happy.
Failing that, you create another shortcut key for Digit 2 and have that go to your VoiceMail box on your carrier.
but, changing the default is the way to go. And this is how it looks for Verizon's VM box.... 1 pause, and a 4 digit passkey.

View attachment 99319
Click to expand...


This is turning into more of an adventure than I thought.

So, I got the T-Mobile voicemail number and dialed it manually as I could not find voicemail settings. It called and I got the automated T-mobile set up. When I press the keys for my choices they did not transmit through for some reason.

I called T-mobile customer support and they tried to help. The guy asked me how many bars I had and it was two. So I checked the bars while it connected to the T-mobile voicemail setup and as soon as it sis the bars disappeared. As soon as the setup hung up on me the bars returned. This happened repeatedly. The rep told me they may not recognize the SIM, it is their SIM I just recently purchased which allows phone calls just fine, but he said I should take it to one of their stores for them to check out.

So that's my next step.
 
You have got a Boon Doggle going on....

Please come back and report your findings.....
I am VERY interested to know what fixes this.....

I bookmark all Technical stuff like this for future readers.
 
Ok when I was talking to T-mobile customer support the rep said he would reset my connection from their end. No idea what this really entails. He said it could have immediate results or delayed (2 - 3 hour) results. I tried connecting to the voicemail set up right after and it was still the same, no connection on their end, no bars on my phone.

Hours later after rebooting the phone, off & back on, I tried again and.....miracle of miracles, the connection with voicemail worked and I set it up. So there was some mess up on their end with my activation I guess. Don't know why the phone would work and voicemail not but that was the deal.

Now I just checked it. Called from my landline, left a message. Got no prompt from the phone that I had voicemail. Called voicemail and did get the message but again lots the bars on my connection icon and could not delete the voicemail.

Will check it again tomorrow.

Again, thank you for your help.
 
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