Wednesday, April 16, 2014

PagePlusCellular and LTE, yes you can have both

I was messing around with my Galaxy S4 and was surprised to find out that it was able to use T-Mobile LTE and meanwhile PagePlusCellular for voice!



I had a T-Mobile SIM in my S4 and sometimes used its LTE network. You know, I have switched to VO3G long ago and no longer use traditional voice service. Although I activated my S4 on PPC, I never used it after some initial tests. One day a SMS came in telling me that my PPC balance was low. Weird, how come the PPC SMS get in while I am using T-Mobile data?

So, I dialed 611, wow, it went to PPC's customer support line instead of T-Mobile's, as you see in above video.

This is great news for those who love PPC but wished for better data. Here is the steps to get the best of both worlds:
  • Get a Verizon LTE phone. They are SIM unlocked, support both CDMA and GSM networks. Not all of them support T-Mobile's LTE though, but at least S4 does.
  • Get PPC voice service on S4. You need to change S4 from UIM only to NV only and manually program it for PPC. Make a voice call to make sure it works on PPC.
  • Get a T-Mobile SIM card and activate it, if you don't have one yet. My SIM is on prepaid. Insert it into S4.
  • Set S4's preferred network mode to GSM/UMTS and add fast.t-mobile.com as APN. Make sure data works.
  • Now set S4's preferred network mode to LTE/CDMA. Then it should get on T-Mobile's LTE data and, when you dial a #, it should go through PPC's CDMA.
That's it, enjoy the best voice and data. Although I have not tested, I believe this works with other LTE services too, such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.

6 comments:

  1. What prepaid T-Mobile plan give you all the data you need? I've looked high and low at T-Mobile and only use it sparingly with the $3 unlimited when I'm travelling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I use EVDO (Verizon and Sprint) for VO3G, so I have the cheapest prepaid T-Mobile.

      T-Mobile data is not suitable for VO3G, because the connection switches between 3G (UMTS) and 4G (HSPA) all the time. When the phone does that, voice is interrupted.

      EVDO is practical for VO3G, because it is everywhere, especially Verizon's at 700MHz - very steady connection. Both Sprint and t-mobile have too high frequency to keep a stable voice stream on the go. In my house, for example, two spots that are only 6 feet away make a day and light difference on connection speed. To do VO3G with Sprint and T-Mobile, I have to secure the phone at the best spot, but with Verizon I can talk and move around.

      Delete
    2. You miss understand me. When you say:

      " Get a T-Mobile SIM card and activate it, if you don't have one yet."
      " My SIM is on prepaid. Insert it into S4."

      What do you mean? What PrePaid data plan on T-Mobile is unlimited
      and how much does it cost?? Is it one they still offer?

      thanks
      JoeF

      Delete
  2. So, how you get 3g on V, you means you use pp data, since it is in V network. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. Page Plus and other Verizon mvno's do not allow Verizon LTE devices. So, just casually giving that instruction is not enough as most everybody would not get past this first step.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://kingoftweaks.blogspot.com/2014/04/program-verizon-galaxy-s4-for.html

      Delete