topic Re: HTC One S unlocked incorrectly? in Get Support

HTC One S unlocked incorrectly?

snash — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 07:26:52 GMT

I just joined Public and got a SIM card that I put in an old phone that I had at home, an HTC One S (from 2012 perhaps). Once my number was ported over, everything looked like it was working well, but only for about 5-10 minutes. After that, I got a "no signal" message and nothing would work, not calls, messages, or data. I rechecked the APN info, restarted the phone, and eventually did a factory reset. No solutions from any of these.

Doing some more research, I have tweaked a few more settings to search for CDMA/3g automatically and to clear my settings info. Each time I try something, the service comes in for 5-10 minutes, then goes back to "no signal." Any ideas?

The wrinkle is that this phone was originally locked to Rogers (Fido) and I had it unlocked at a local mall kiosk back in 2014, not by the original provider. Obviously I'm trying to find Telus' (Public's) network now, but when it goes to "no signal" and I go to settings>mobile data>network operators>search for networks the only network it finds is Rogers, but I can't connect. Is it possible the phone wasn't unlocked properly or not completely back then? I've never heard of this but it's kind of like the phone finds Public's network, then "remembers" it's actually a Rogers phone, and then gets stuck trying to connect to Rogers with a Telus card.

Any help is appreciated!

Re: HTC One S unlocked incorrectly?

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 05:14:51 GMT

@snash:

Check willmyphonework.net

I strongly suspect that phone is not compatible with Public Mobile.

Edit: A quick look around and maybe you might get voice out of it via 3G HSPA but I don't think you'll get data. But someone more expert than I may be able to shed more light on it.

Re: HTC One S unlocked incorrectly?

snash — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 05:15:15 GMT

I checked this earlier and saw that the 3g had green checks. Here's a screenshot:

Can you help me interpret these results?

Re: HTC One S unlocked incorrectly?

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 05:20:23 GMT

@snash wrote:
I checked this earlier and saw that the 3g had green checks. Here's a screenshot:

Can you help me interpret these results?

So PM doesn't do 2G. That phone doesn't do 4G which PM uses for data. So as I said in my edit, maybe you can get voice out of the 3G with PM.

But I'm not sure.

Can you set your phone to be on only 3G?

Re: HTC One S unlocked incorrectly?

NDesai — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 05:49:32 GMT

@snash The green check marks means that the phone is partially compatible. PM runs on 2 3g bands and your phone might be not compatible with the one of them. I am not sure why you are able to receive signal for a few mins before it disconnects. May be signal is too weak in your area. Have you tried factory resetting your phone?

Re: HTC One S unlocked incorrectly?

snash — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 06:05:58 GMT

I have done a factory reset and I doubt that the signal is too weak as I live in the Vancouver metro area. Any other ideas?

Re: HTC One S unlocked incorrectly?

computergeek541 — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 06:27:31 GMT

There's no need to check for compatibility with this model. The Rogers/Fido version of the HTC One S is 100% compatible with Public Mobile's 3g network. While it has no LTE functionality, LTE is not a requirement to use any of Public Mobile's services. I've had this exact phone model from Fido before and it has both 850 and 1900MHz 3g. In fact, it was one of the pioneering phone models that had all of the 3g bands used in Canada (850, 1700, and 1900MHz), and the One S from all Canadian carriers was the exact same version and all bands worked out of the box without modification, and would work with any of the carriers after unlocking.

How's the signal on this phone on the Rogers network, specifically the 3g network?

If you're getting very weak signal, that means only one of two things: it means that either there's something wrong with the antenna within your phone or that the Telus 3g network is weak in your area.

It's possible that there's something wrong with 3g chipset/antenna in your device, but as I said, the Rogers/Fido One S works on any Canadain carrier (assuming it's working properly).

Re: HTC One S unlocked incorrectly?

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 06:26:48 GMT

See. I told ya someone more expert than me would shed light on it.

Thanks computergeek541 on the 3G clarification aspect.

Re: HTC One S unlocked incorrectly?

computergeek541 — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 06:29:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
See. I told ya someone more expert than me would shed light on it.
Thanks computergeek541 on the 3G clarification aspect.

It helps that I used that exact model before. The HTC Amaze and HTC One S (at least all the Canadian carrier versions) were some of the first models around 2011/2012 that worked on all the carriers here after you had them unlocked.

Re: HTC One S unlocked incorrectly?

snash — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 17:50:09 GMT

Thanks for pointing out a possible direction forward. Any ideas how I could test to see if it's the antenna and/or chipset that is the problem?

Re: HTC One S unlocked incorrectly?

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 18:00:53 GMT

@snash wrote:
Thanks for pointing out a possible direction forward. Any ideas how I could test to see if it's the antenna and/or chipset that is the problem?

Does your phone have a way to select which radio services to select?

My old BB OS10 can choose from a list where if I choose LTE etc then I get 1 or 2 bars just sitting. If I make a call then it jumps to all bars.

If I choose a lesser set then it sits at all bars.

This came from learning that when a call is made that it switches to the 3G radio. But otherwise just the few bars sitting on LTE.

Re: HTC One S unlocked incorrectly?

computergeek541 — Sat, 10 Nov 2018 06:22:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@snash wrote:
Thanks for pointing out a possible direction forward. Any ideas how I could test to see if it's the antenna and/or chipset that is the problem?
Does your phone have a way to select which radio services to select?
My old BB OS10 can choose from a list where if I choose LTE etc then I get 1 or 2 bars just sitting. If I make a call then it jumps to all bars.
If I choose a lesser set then it sits at all bars.
This came from learning that when a call is made that it switches to the 3G radio. But otherwise just the few bars sitting on LTE.

For the OP's HTC One S, let's remember that phone doesn't have any LTE. While I do not recall from memory how HTC worded it in their software for this device, I can say that Android wasn't like it is now where most phones let you set a maximum data speed network type. Androids of this era (we're talking 4.04 to 4.1 here) usually has an Auto (that allowed an auto switching between 3g and 2g), a 3g only mode, and a 2g only mode. Since Public Mobile has no 2g, the 2g only mode would be the only one that prevents a connection. And since there is no LTE on this model, there wouldn't be any network selections to make that would cause it to switch from a weak to stronger signal as in the case sometimes between LTE and 3g.

The only possible switching from a strong signal to weak, and vice-versa, would be because of a switch between bands 2 and 5 (1900 and 850MHz) on the 3g technology.