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Restore Google Fi Nexus 5X to standard Android...

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briantm

Lurker
My wife has had her fair share of issues with her Nexus 5X. First, after using the phone for a month, it stopped working and Google never figured out what was wrong. After six weeks of having no service we gave up calling. We got them to ship us a new phone, and she switched back to Ting.

However, with Ting her internet connection dies about once a day requiring her to reboot. It's not just wifi or LTE, it's both and it's weird. I can't give any more details because when I monkey with it, the only thing I can do to get it to work is reboot.

I have this theory that the Google Fi version of Android (MTC19V) is causing the issues and I'd like to reinstall the phone to the non Google Fi version of Android, but I don't know what the Build number is. Can someone with a normal (non-Fi) version of the Nexus 5X post their Build number so I know which version to install?

If I'm headed down a dead end and you know it, please chime in, she's really tired of having crappy internet and her only other option at this time is to go back to her old Nexus 5.

Thanks very much.
 
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briantm said:
I have this theory that the Google Fi version of Android (MTC19V) is causing the issues and I'd like to reinstall the phone to the non Google Fi version of Android, but I don't know what the Build number is. Can someone with a normal (non-Fi) version of the Nexus 5X post their Build number so I know which version to install?
Click to expand...
Good thought, but the Fi devices run the exact same version of Android.

MTC19V is simply the June build of Android for the 5X; the most recent is the MTC19Z (July) build:
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#bullhead
 
Bummer. Any ideas why her internet connection is so bad? I have a Nexus 6P on Fi and it's been stellar. Maybe I should upgrade her to a better phone.

The symptoms are pretty random. It generally starts with her losing internet, even though it shows a wifi connection. If you disable and re-enable the wifi, it doesn't help. But the same thing can happen when wifi is disabled and she has an LTE connection. LTE will just drop off and not turn back on until the reboot.
 
Sprint is the carrier. We have bad reception at our house with all carriers (we're in a shadow).

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Heh, I'm using a 6P on T-Mobile and my wife has a 5X on Fi. Fi does seem like it sometimes gets a little screwy when switching between T-Mobile and Sprint, but I don't think we've had it lose signal entirely requiring a reboot.

Have you tried a factory reset on the 5X? That can sometimes help to shake out intermittent goblins. I would definitely try that before swapping phones.
 
My wife started out on Fi, but long story short, T-Mobile took ownership of the phone from Fi and the Fi engineers never figured out why the phone stopped working. Sprint actually told me that the phone wouldn't work on their system because some other (not allowed to name) carrier had the phone locked, but the Fi guys still didn't listen. Six weeks without a phone for a busy Mom is unacceptable so we got them to ship us a new phone and she switched back to Ting.

Ting uses Sprint as the carrier.

I'll do a phone reset to see if that helps, but I don't hold out much hope. Personally I think the 5X sucks and I wish we'd bought her a 6P.
 
If she has a new 5X now, I'd say the problem is with Ting (Sprint).
The 5X is a good phone & if your 6P works, her 5X should.

About the old phone, not that this matters anymore...was this phone used..??
Carrier only the 5X uses T-Mobile or AT&T, on Fi it uses T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular (Sprint again).
How did T-Mobile take over the phone..?? ...and what reason would Sprint say it was carrier locked but wouldn't tell you...AT&T is the only carrier that I know that did this...with the iPad.
 
The old 5X phone was new and worked for about a month before it stopped connecting to Sprint.

I don't think the new phone's problem is Ting related, but I'll contact their support. Ting support is really good. They were able to activate the phone and knew how to get my wife's phone number released from T-Mobile.

As I understand it, traditionally carriers lock phones to themselves to prevent other carriers from taking them away. I don't understand the details, but when I called Sprint support to find out why the phone was being rejected from the Sprint network (it connected, then disconnected over and over again), the technician told me that the phone was locked by another carrier and would not be allowed on the Sprint network because of the lock.

I had this theory that somehow T-Mobile took the lock on the Fi phone and Fi didn't know about it. One clue though was one of the Fi Techs said they'd had a problem like that but it had all been resolved. Again, I may not have been in context / we may not have been on the same page.
 
Carrier locking doesn't come in to play with either Nexus devices or Project Fi. Nexus phone sold through Fi are carrier unlocked, and just switching to Fi doesn't magically make it locked either. I can swap my T-Mobile SIM into my wife's 5X on Fi (or her Fi SIM into my 6P) and service continues as usual. If Sprint told you that the 5X was locked to Fi, they were most likely confused or possibly just misinformed.

I do believe that device IMEIs have to be specifically whitelisted by a CDMA carrier (like Verizon or Sprint) in order for it to work on their network. It could be that the Fi 5X's IMEI wasn't currently added in Sprint's system, though I think they should have been able to add it for you. It's kind of absurd that they would require you to replace the device entirely.
 
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