A few days ago I mentioned my new phone. As some observant readers gleaned, it’s a Samsung Galaxy Note. This 5.3” monster Android phone also has a Wacom active digitizer for much more accurate inking. And Samsung has promised an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich the first quarter of 2012!
I bought this device unlocked from my friends at GSM Phone Source. This model (GTN-7000) works on AT&T bands, including HSPA+ (more on that in a minute). It does not support LTE but, hell, here in L.A. I’m still waiting on LTE for my HTC Jetstream. HSPA+ is good enough (again more on that soon).
The first challenge for all of us early adopters is not getting kicked off the AT&T voice network. You see, AT&T’s internal database of IMEIs erroneously identified the Note as a 7” Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet, which supports voice (and does so in Europe) but AT&T permits on its network as data only. If you’re interested, you can read about both the saga and the solution. While AT&T has been panned for its customer service, when you read these threads (my posts are by genghiskhent, duh), you’ll see AT&T did step up to the plate and fix the problem.
While there no long was a danger of being kicked off the voice network, for data I was stuck in the 3G slow lane. HSPA+ isn’t really 4G (though carriers do advertise it as such). It’s more like 3.5G. And 3.5 is better than 3, right?
The key is to access an APN that supports HSPA+. In order for your phone can access that APN (which has the exotic name “phone”), you first have to be on the right data plan. I’m on a metered 4G Smartphone plan. So far so good.
But not good enough … yet. Your phone has to be properly provisioned to access the HSPA+ APN. Bottom line is you need to talk to tech support (as opposed to customer support). A very friendly and helpful tech named Todd helped me out. So now I can access the faster APN. Thanks Todd!
I realize there’s a lot of technical mumbo jumbo here, and believe me, I skipped over a lot of details so this wasn’t overwhelming. If you have questions, please post. And Todd, if you happen to see this (I did mention the blog to him), feel free to post a comment, if only “Hello.”
Soon I will post on my actual usage of the Note. Until then …
Glad to hear the data is working for you. Always a pleasure to work with customers that know the technology. You immediately put up my shields when you knew certain billing jargon, but you weren’t out to /get/ me so you got the help in return. Hope the info was helpful.
Todd, your info was very helpful. Several lessons here. First, do your homework (though I may have overdid it). Second, treat CSR’s and tech support pleasantly and with respect as they deserve. While AT&T has a bad rating for customer service (see latest Consumer Reports), my experience with AT&T’s CSR’s and tech support has been almost universally that they want to help. Third, don’t be afraid to escalate. I don’t mean emotionally
or to threaten to talk to their supervisor. I mean if a certain issue really could not be handled by a CSR, go to tech support, and then to a higher tier. Indeed, the CSR I spoke to first himself suggested I speak with tech support.
I also want to add. (This is very important) Call from another phone other than the one we’re working on. It’s common sense, but some people don’t do it. My performance is based on inbound talk time. When I have to call you back, you’re ruining my stats every minute I’m on an outbound call, not making me a happy camper. I have roughly 10% of wiggle room each month on how much I can spend on my outbound line before I start hearing it from my boss. Want the best treatment? Use common sense and call from another phone. **I’m an at&t employee and these are my own opinions and not those of my employer **
Todd, thanks for the helpful advice. I always wondered about how outbound calls were handled.
I am having the same slow speeds on my GNote on ATT. I was using an iPhone 4s with the unlimited data plan. I can connect using the following APN info:
apn: phone
mcc: 310
mnc: 410
apn type: internet and mms
but the speed is extremely slow (a few hundred kb down).
I thought that the phone which was provisioned at ATT as an LTE phone might be a problem but the tech told me that there would be no connection if the provisioning was incorrect. I also suffer from having very bad network coverage at my house which makes testing difficult and of course, my ATT micro-cell will not work with the GNote either.
So, am I using the correct APN information for the GNote? Is there something I can do to at least get average 3G-type data speed?
Update: due to a strange error where the N7000 was repeatedly inputting phantom screen “taps” I ended up resetting the phone numerous times. When I re-inputted the HSPA information. lo and behold I had much better data connectivity and the icon in the status bar now displayed an “H” where there was only an “E” before.
However, now I have to deal with the phantom screen input – not sure whether it is a hardware or software issue???
David, not sure. I did find the following thread on XDA Developers, which for all I know you may have started, but if not here it is:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1409446