Tweaking my Galaxy S5?

[Gman]

It's a Sprint carrier "feature". My Samsungs on Verizon allow the hot spot feature natively.

There was a tethering app that allowed you to connect your PC, but it also entailed installing the Samsung drivers on your tethered PC. I recall that it was called EasyTether and I had the paid "Pro" version. I saved a few bucks at the time buying it through Amazon's app store. It was clunky, but at least you didn't have to pay Sprint's extra charges.

No rooting of the phone required.

[brutal]

Install a custom recovery and it's really simple.

It may be rooted but unlikely it's got an unlocked bootloader. That's going to prevent a custom rom load.

At least on current Verizon Samsung phones, I don't believe there's currently a way to get past knox security to unlock them. However, it's been quite a while since I did my GS4. I didn't decide to root until AFTER it already had a firmware version that can't be unlocked. Doh!

Fortunately, it is tether enabled regardless and it does everything I need it to do without a custom rom.

[Aloha_Shooter]

The features are there. Unfortunately, my carrier has seen fit to disable them. When you turn them on it disables the data functions of the phone and gives you a message saying you need to pay extra for using the function.

Ah, yes, T-Mobile did that when I migrated from my unlimited data "Android Web" plan to one of their newer plans when I activated a GS4. What they are doing is detecting how the data is being requested and when the headers don't conform to the built-in browser or apps, they assume the data request is coming from off the phone and therefore gets blocked. I believe some of the wizards at XDA have built some apps for rooted phones that will disguise the packet traffic to look like the built-in browser but I haven't looked into that since about 2012 so not current -- and you NEED to be current in that arms race. I have to check my Ting GS4 -- it rides on Sprint but is a backup phone so I don't know if the hotspot feature is disabled or not.

[cfortune]

I've had Verizon for a while but I used to have Sprint. IIRC correctly, I had to download a 3rd party tool for WiFi tethering in order to get it working once I root'd the phone.

[enthusiast]

Looks like your same model. .

[ray1970]

Looks like your same model.

Thanks. I saw that one the other day. It makes me a little nervous though. It's the same model as mine but there are some production numbers that differ on mine from what all of the ones I could fine were written for. Part of me wants to try it and see what happens but part of me doesn't want to be without a working phone. Lol.

[Aloha_Shooter]

Okay, I checked my Ting phone and it does allow me to create a mobile hotspot -- no additional charges beyond the bandwidth itself despite the fact it rides over the Sprint network.

This article https://help.ting.com/hc/en-us/artic...or-Hotspotting confirms that Ting seems to have their agreements with Sprint set up to not require additional charges in order to tether or create a mobile hotspot.

You can check to see if your phone will work with Ting (not all Sprint phones are transportable ... Sprint seems to block Ting from using the newest equipment) by entering the MEID or IMEI at https://ting.com/byod

[brutal]

Looks like you can now root your S5 and get custom ROM if you want.

http://galaxys5root.com/galaxy-s5-ro...oot-galaxy-s5/

Use at your own risk.

[Wulf202]

Foxfi app

[brutal]

Looks like you can now root your S5 and get custom ROM if you want.

http://galaxys5root.com/galaxy-s5-ro...oot-galaxy-s5/

Use at your own risk.

Found a much better root guide for (Verizon) S5 already on Lollipop 5.0 http://forum.xda-developers.com/veri...5-ok3-t3290370

It's a tough follow if you're not familiar with all the concepts as the author and many other posters make too many assumptions about people's skills and some steps are vague.

However, I was able to get my new S5 rooted last week without bricking it, and I just finished phase 2 to install a DEODEXED stock ROM so I can get Xposed Framework working again for some apps and features I needed.

It may have helped that I already had some full version apps like Ti backup that can freeze knox, etc. I did not use the guide's knox remover the first time, but the ROM I just installed was knox free so it's gone for now. I did pay for the SuperSU Me app that removes the Kingroot bloatware, but probably could have killed him with a Ti freeze or killed kingroot with one of my other apps. I'm willing to pay for convenience and stability.

I decided to finally replace my aging and cracked (rooted) S4 only to discover my maintenance plan had a $99 deductible (fukn corporate comms guy fucked me over on that) VZW had a special $0 upgrade to S5 I was eligible for and since my requirements include a removable battery and microsd slot, that was the only logical choice. Knowing with 99% certainty I could root it, I pulled the trigger. Happy so far.