4G+ blocked on SIM?

[DeTector]

Good evening,

Any Vodacom reps or someone else on here that can shed some light. I had a Samsung Galaxy S8 which was stolen and replaced it with a S9 both with Vodacom firmware (XFV) but around Somerset West, Strand, Gordon's Bay, Stellenbosch, Tygerberg, N2 through Macassar etc. even at the CPT airport there is no 4G+ indicated on any of the two phones. With the XFA versions though it is a different story. With a different Vodacom sim, MTN sim, Cell C sim it is 4G+ almost everywhere. Is there a problem with my sim card, provisioning or what is the problem here?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Sayf777]

I'm guessing it's just how Vodafone/com display 4G? I don't think there's an issue. I could be mistaken though.

 

[DeTector]

I'm guessing it's just how Vodafone/com display 4G? I don't think there's an issue. I could be mistaken though.

If I go to service mode I can see that they are aggregating bands 1 and 3 + sometimes it roams on Rain band 38. It never is more than 20mhz combined spectrum though (Cell C does this too but had Samsung fix it to display as 4G+ in a software update after some complaints from users on their flagship Samsung phones). Vodacom and MTN use band 8 though combining this with band 1 and 3 to give more than 20mhz. Both the S8 and S9 supports more than 3CA so that is why I am wondering if I have a sim or provisioning problem or is this carrier aggregation only activated in certain parts of the country?

 

[ShaunyCT]

When did you get the phone? If its less than a week ago then you have to wait for the 4g to be activated.

 

[DeTector]

When did you get the phone? If its less than a week ago then you have to wait for the 4g to be activated.

I have 4G but no 4G+?

 

[RedhotNeo]

I have 4G but no 4G+?

does it really matter if you have 4g or 4g+?? i find that speeds are more or less the same.. sometimes 4g+ has lower throughput. so theres no real advantage..

 

[DeTector]

does it really matter if you have 4g or 4g+?? i find that speeds are more or less the same.. sometimes 4g+ has lower throughput. so theres no real advantage..

I found that one of the other networks (I think Cell C) has made a request to Samsung to have 4G+ displayed when the aggregation is 15mhz of spectrum in total as Samsung only displays 4G+ when it is 20mhz or higher. As Cell C issued phones is XFA (unlocked) they, MTN and Telkom all display 4G+ in a lot more locations than Vodacom. Vodacom though have the XFV software and although in service mode I can see that they too have aggregation of 15mhz it only gets displayed as 4G. Huaweii and the likes don't have this rule so if any aggregation happens it will display as 4G+. Maybe this is not such a bad thing from Vodacom's side as 15mhz of aggregation is not realy 4G+ IMO. If I put my Vodacom sim in a XFA phone it displays 4G+ but then both my VoLTE and WiFi calling does not work anymore because it only works with the Vodacom software. Just can't understand why they have to complicate things for themselves so much (Vodacom). Why not also enable their features on XFA (unlocked) because to get all the features they basically force you to buy a phone from them directly.

 

[Sayf777]

I found that one of the other networks (I think Cell C) has made a request to Samsung to have 4G+ displayed when the aggregation is 15mhz of spectrum in total as Samsung only displays 4G+ when it is 20mhz or higher. As Cell C issued phones is XFA (unlocked) they, MTN and Telkom all display 4G+ in a lot more locations than Vodacom. Vodacom though have the XFV software and although in service mode I can see that they too have aggregation of 15mhz it only gets displayed as 4G. Huaweii and the likes don't have this rule so if any aggregation happens it will display as 4G+. Maybe this is not such a bad thing from Vodacom's side as 15mhz of aggregation is not realy 4G+ IMO. If I put my Vodacom sim in a XFA phone it displays 4G+ but then both my VoLTE and WiFi calling does not work anymore because it only works with the Vodacom software. Just can't understand why they have to complicate things for themselves so much (Vodacom). Why not also enable their features on XFA (unlocked) because to get all the features they basically force you to buy a phone from them directly.

Vowifi and Volte only works on the networks respective CSC code. So Vodacom on XFV and Cell C on XFA and if MTN comes to the party for Vowifi it will work on XFE (iirc). It would be great if it works on all phones but unfortunately our carriers will never do that. I remember someone mentioning in some other thread a while back where some overseas networks have an app that pushed the required carrier files for Volte and Vowifi to work on any phone. If that's true I hope telkom (imo most likely to do something like this) thinks of this implementation in the future.