5G not showing up on Former Telus Galaxy S20

[JJ22]

I'll try to keep this short since i've seen it posted here before...but I wasn't able to fix the problem with what appears to be the best solution.

I was a former Telus subscriber and my S20 ran in 5G no problem. However, since I got Public, 5G does not show up in an option in the "mobile networks" setting...only 4G and below.

By putting a Telus sim card in it first, did that somehow lock the phone settings to only allow Telus to use 5G? 

I've tried network reset, as well as the other solution repeated on this site where you download software and (I guess) give your phone new settings...but the steps didn't work for me, and I didn't want to proceed any further since I couldn't follow them exactly.

Am I effectively stuck on 4G and/or forced to go back to Telus?

[JJ22]

That explains the instructions about flashing it. I guess that may be my only option if I want 5G, however, to your point, i'll run some tests and see if i'm actually close to 5G speeds anyways and therefore don't need to do it.

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond.

[softech]

@JJ22 

yes, technically most Canadian S20 has the same problem.  S20 from US might be ok, that's why some people flash with a different firmware like this one (but do at your own risk):

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Get-Support/Samsung-s20-5G/m-p/1045841/highlight/true...

I guess if you only care about speed, as said, if you are connected to 4G and get a good speed close to 200Mbps, you didn't loss anything and I wouldn't go through the trouble of re-flashing the OS

[JJ22]

Thank you. That's kind of what I figured. So even though it was an unlocked phone through Best Buy with no provider, the phone itself would only have allowed Telus to use 5G on it? 

On a side note, my friend also has a Galaxy S20 with Public, and it used 5G no problem. Maybe it's just an older S20??

[computergeek541]

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@Chalupa_Batman wrote:

Hello @JJ22 

Very often it won't show 5G on your phone but you will be on the 5G network. Go to the Play Store and download a speetester and as long as you're getting close to 250mbps download...  you're on the 5G network.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.zwanoo.android.speedtest&hl=en

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A 250Mbps download speed test result does not always mean that the 5G network is being used.  From earlier, the 5G network is not actually required to achieve that speed. Also, when a phone is using a 5G network ,it will most definitely indicate that (assuming that Wi-Fi is disconnected).

[softech · Accepted solution]

@JJ22 

it is a known issue that S20 series does not work well with PM or Koodo, mainly because it was blocked on the OS level, an agreement between Telus and Samsung because both Koodo and PM did not have 5G support when S20 was introduced.  Yes, PM and Koodo both supporting 5G but it is too late and Samsung no longer update the OS to allow the phone to use 5G on PM

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Get-Support/Samsung-s20-5G/m-p/1043676#M728790

But, with a 5G plan, even with the phone connected on 4G LTE, you should get a speed over 100Mbps and close to 250 Mbps,  the top speed for 5G plan.  Please check the speed and see if you are ok to use the "5G speed" on 4G network 

[Chalupa_Batman]

Hello @JJ22 

Very often it won't show 5G on your phone but you will be on the 5G network. Go to the Play Store and download a speetester and as long as you're getting close to 250mbps download...  you're on the 5G network.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.zwanoo.android.speedtest&hl=en