[Galaxy Note 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] myrunes:
I've searched the forums and no one seems to have an exact FIX for my issue. So I have a Galaxy Note 3 N9005 32GB black version, the phone works well in 3G, never had an issue with it but now my network provider recently upgraded their plan and offers 4G internet but my phone doesn't want to connect. The provider offers 4G through BAND 1 2100MHz and Note 3 N9005 does have that band but it doesn't want to connect. It only works on 3G and when I enable Mobile Data it says H+! Not once has it connected to 4G!

I wanna mention that my friend has the exact same N9005 phone and his phone works on 4G all the time. Both of us have the same contract with the same network provider!

The only difference between our phones is the CSC region, we have different CSC. MY SIM card works in 4G on his Note 3 and his sim card doesn't work on 4G on my phone. (we exchanged the SIM cards for testing). So the problem is from my phone not from the SIM card. My phone is also original, its not a Chinese clone! Its confirmed with "Samsung Phone Info" app from Play Store.

Here's a few things I already did that some of you may be inclined to recommend to me:

1 - My APN is correctly set

2 - I am on official stock Android Lollipop 5.0 latest version and the phone is not rooted

3 - I already did a factory reset + wipe cache partition

4 - I saw others suggesting that people may not be in the range of a 4G tower! Not the case! Like I said, I switched the SIM cards with my friend on a public bench, out in the open, not even behind walls. Of course and his phone connects to 4G with his SIM card and also with MY SIM card while my phone doesn't connect to 4G with neither of these SIM cards.

5 - In Mobile Networks > Network Mode, my phone is of course already set on 4G/3G/2G (auto connect) and by the way, my friend's Note 3 says LTE/WCDMA/GSM (auto connect) instead of 4G/3G/2G with the same language set on both phones. Why?? I know its the same thing and I know 4G stands for LTE and 3G for WCDMA but why does it appear differently on these phones?

6 - I already went to Service Mode via *#0011# and manually selected BAND 1 LTE, it says "no service" or "emergency calls only" if I do that so I switched back to "Automatic"

So what the heck is going on? This phone is giving me headaches! I'm close to smashing my phone! After this I sweared to my self this is the last Samsung phone I ever buy. Probably I will be switching to Asus or Lenovo in the future. Or any other phone that does NOT have this CSC BS! This CSC thing is a complete rip-off!

Im thinking that the problem could be my CSC perhaps?? My friend's Note 3 N9005 has a COA CSC (Cosmote Romania) and I have a XEF CSC (Unbranded France). Both phones are factory unlocked and work in all networks. They are not branded by any phone maker! His COA CSC is unbranded. Yes it belongs to a phone retailer but that retailer doesn't brand their phones, no bloatware, no SIM lock. If you buy a phone from Cosmote (with COA CSC) it works in all networks, unlike Vodafone or Orange who lock their phones and brand them.

What should I do? Should I attempt to change my CSC? If so, how? My phone warranty has expired a long time ago, so I shouldn't care that much about triggering Knox though not triggering it would be preferred.

Which path should I pursue? Should I simply use ODIN and flash a STOCK COA CSC (Cosmote Romania) or STOCK ROM CSC (Unbranded Romania) from SamMobile.com with the latest version of Lollipop? Would this trigger Knox? Will it affect my all networks unlocked status? I mean, I won't have to unlock it after that, right???

OR should I ROOT my phone, change CSC, then UNROOT? If so do you know of any method to root Lollipop 5.0 without triggering Knox?

What do you guys think? Whats the problem with my phone? Why doesn't it work on 4G? Because of CSC? Or is it something else?

Thanks!