Bring Any s7 device to RW (Flashing)

[truford]

Hello, I will be updating this as time goes on with step by step instructions on how to flash any USA carrier based cell phones to g935U firmware. I will also be providing a FAQ and trouble shooting section for people who wish to attempt this.

WARNING: Doing this voids all warranty on your device and carrier. Also, Republic Wireless cannot support rooted or modded phones. This means that if your phone needs support after following these steps, and it is determined the cause is software modification, Republic Wireless will not spend any support-team-hours trying to help. Basically this means you’re on your own. (and that is what this thread is meant for) Additionally, any misuse of Republic Wireless service is noted due to rooting or modding, Republic Wireless reserves the right to cancel or suspend your service. This doesn’t mean they’ll hunt you down and kick you off because you rooted your device. It just means if they see you abusing their service or any activity that threatens their network, they may suspend or cancel the account. (hopefully they’ll provide a warning encase you are unaware that your device is causing the issue and you can fix it before taking such action.)

Successful Models:

g935V -> g935U by user @zach-st.pierre

g935T -> g935U by user @TruFord

g930P -> g930U by user @TruFord

Before I begin I want to first Iron out a few bugs I have in my system so I can make sure anyone who attempts to follow this has a seamless transition.

I just finished flashing my phone and everything went as smooth as could be. I logged in, updated everything, downloaded the republic wireless app, installed the SIM chip and it launched effortlessly. I then started running through everything to see what did or didn’t work. Then i stumbled upon it…I shut off my WiFi and there was no data connection. I looked into my settings and it appears that my APNs didn’t update when the Republic Wireless app launched. Would anyone be able to provide screenshots or detailed data of all their Republic Wireless APNs so I can manually add them? To get to them you need to go to settings > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names > _____.

All issues I ran into have been resolved. Over the next few days I will be writing up a step-by-step guide on the process I took to bring my phone to Republic Wireless. If anyone has any questions go ahead and ask them now and I will make sure i cover them in my walk-through.

~TruFord

[billg]

[coreyk]

Uninstall and reinstall the Republic app should help with your APN issue.

[truford]

I appear to only have 4 of the 5 showing. Would you be able to go into each one and report their individual settings?

[truford]

I already attempted this to no success

[billg]

Here are the settings for the one that is selected:

Do you need more?

[truford]

I only have one republic wholesale. The one I have matches what you’ve posted. Does the other republic wholesale have the same set-up?

[billg]

Here is the top one that is not selected:

I’m going to be away from the Community for a couple of hours in case you need any other lists.

[truford]

That’s perfect! Thank you so much for your help. I now have data enabled on my device.

[billg]

Excellent! You are welcome. You probably should edit your original post with whatever additional setting was required. I like what you have done here. It makes a lot of otherwise incompatible Samsung S7 phones work with RW.

[truford]

I most definitely will. I am finishing up the last of my exams for the semester and then I will be updating the main post with all information and required settings. I am actually going to be doing this for my parents phones over the next couple of weeks. I might try to put together a video tutorial/walk-through to make things as easy as possible to follow.

[billg]

Great! Thank you for doing this. The upgrade to Android N is expected in the near future. Does the phone end up rooted? Can it be unrooted? I ask because I understand it wasn’t possible to upgrade some Motorola models that were rooted.

[truford]

The method I used is what’s considered flashing. It fully replaces all previous software on the device with new software.(the g935T was replaced with g935U software in my case) You can always flash back to the original version if you have the needed files. Since the phone is flashed and not rooted there should be no issue upgrading to Android N.

Josh

Rooting - process that enables superuser account (root) on your Android device, which gives you more control over the system. It’s a bit similar to jailbreaking: you get write access to all of the system files.

Flashing - process in which you install another version of software provided by producer for your phone.

[mb2x]

I thought you had to root to flash? Is it possible to flash stock firmware (just on a different carrier model) without having root access? Additionally, I read on a few different sites that all S7s have the same bands-just some are blocked by the carrier firmware. Can anyone confirm this? @billg @truford ?

[billg]

I have the factory unlocked S7 (the U model) and it works on all frequencies but yes, some carrier versions lock out some frequencies.

[mb2x]

Some people are speculating that all the S7 have the same frequencies (identical to the U model). However, it’s the carrier firmware that disables s portion of those. Assuming one flashes the U firmware to a carrier phone, it is fair to say that you have an almost identical device (in terms of hardware)?

[truford]

It has honestly been so long since I’ve looked over the spec sheets that I dont remember. I know the U model has the most diverse band range covering multiple carriers. However, I have flashed both sprint and t-mobile and found they worked the same on the republic network. Sadly my s7 got a pink screen and i had to go back to my s5 :’( There are a few odd s7 versions (like international that have different band ranges then a standard US based s7 U)

~TruFord

[mb2x]

Oh no! I read about the S7 having screen issues. I bought an S7 with a cracked back off of swappa. It’s flashed to the U firmware so I will see how it goes ;).