Network band selection no longer available

[Sabir1]

UPDATE (12/04/2025) NEW SOLUTION: A New Method for One UI 7 Beta and Below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/1jtklje/2025_band_selection_access_method

UPDATE (04/07/2022): This is the response Samsung gave about band selection being disabled. It won't be coming back it seems.

Ever since I had the Note 10+ 5g, I had been able to use the band selection app to open the hidden menu which would allow me to select which bands to connect to and which bands to avoid. This was particularly important as Band 3 (1800Mhz) would give me the worst speed (~0.5 - 4 Mbps) and is at the same time the band/frequency the phone connects to constantly since it has the strongest signal strength. Band 3 also prevents my phone from connecting to 5g in my weakly coveraged area which enabled me to fix my several year long issue with terrible speeds giving me speeds up to ~200+Mbps. 

I just received the May 2022 update for my phone and I decided to update due to the camera stability improvements. After completing the update I notice that my phone is no longer connected to 5g. I check the band the phone is connected to and notice it to be Band 3. Thinking I may have forgot to turn off the Band 3, I try opening the band selection app to which it gives and error that it can't find the hidden menu.

I've come to know that this issue is widespread on the latest updates for most if not all the galaxy phones.

I don't know why the menu has suddenly disappeared or been disabled, but it is a very important feature for me and many others. I see no reason as to why this feature would be made inaccessible on Samsung devices since it isn't destructive but rather a really useful feature for many users.

Could someone with a better understanding, or better yet Samsung themselves please explain what's going on?

PETITION:

https://www.change.org/p/make-network-band-selection-menu-available-again/sfs/copy/311609309?recruit...

[jasbur]

I just got the update a couple of days ago and lost band selection on my S22 Plus. Without it, the phone is unusable in my home. I had to immediately switch back to my old Pixel so I could receive calls again. Worst purchase ever.

[siuming]

Can we downgrade the firmware to previous version?

[Sabir1]

Unfortunately not since the firmware update that blocked access to the menu installed a new bootloader. Once this is done, it is not possible to downgrade. Our only hope is Samsung allowing access to the menu in a future update which I don't think will be happening.

[Cos19]

The new firmware has blocked access to the hidden network settings. 

"com.samsung.android.app.telephonyui.hiddennetworksetting.MainActivity

This setting could be accessed using the app you have mentioned or you could access it by using a shortcut creation app. Unfortunately even the shortcut creation app is blocked from accessing it. I myself would use it to set my phone to use LTE only as my phone would always switch back to 3G in my area. I have found a workaround to be able to set the network to LTE ONLY but NOT for BAND SELECTION. To do this, get a shortcut creation app, select ACTIVITIES then PHONE SERVICES then PHONE INFO. Create the shortcut to your phone. When you click on it, scroll down to SET PREFERED NETWORK. Here you can choose from a whole lot, including LTE only.

 

[Charanjit Singh]

#re_enable_band_selection #samsung

[Sabir1]

How fortunate that you have this solution. For me it is the other way round. I want my phone to stay on 5g and not LTE. The problem is the 5g is not NR 5g but the one that uses the 4g network. Therefore, I can't just select 'NR only' and leave it at that.

[Cos19]

I only get the 5G symbol if I stand at my front gate by the driveway. As soon as I move towards my house I get 4G+. The speed I get when on 5G is 200mbps. On 4G+ I get up to 180Mbps. Not sure why, but on many occasions my phone would jump back to 3G. That's why I would sometimes need the setting for LTE only.

[Sabir1]

They responded by saying it shouldn't be accesible to consumers

[b2000]

Add me to the list of victims. I live in a weak coverage area and have to use a repeater to get a good signal. The repeater only repeats certain bands and not others. The phone will periodically jump to a band which is not repeated and lose all signal for a few minutes, eventually it would jump back and start working again. Being able to lock the phone to a certain band fixed this.

I specifically bought a Samsung phone because of THIS feature. I will be specifically buy another NOT A SAMSUNG phone now that the phones are being unilaterally hobbled on purpose by some pencilnecks.

[akmalsagor]

The most devastating issue is before updating my lte band was locked in band 8 now after updating my phone i no longer can change my band and my band is stuck with band 8 and everyone knows when locking in lte band phone and messaging cannot be done and this is happening now. I dunno why this useful feature is stopped and also users whose band was locked now locked forever. Perhaps i have to reset my phone to take my band on default