5G UC on Unlocked S22 Ultra

5G UC is T-Mobile branding.  You will not see it on unlocked devices.  It works and speeds will always vary because of many factors.  Not seeing UC doesn't mean you don't have it.

The carrier aggregation is there and UC is achievable, but the software just doesn't show the signal. I have an unlocked S22 Ultra and was also concerned that I was not getting the same 5G UC signal as I received on my old tmobile-branded S21 Ultra. My S21 Ultra showed the 5G UC logo when I was in coverage. My new S22 Ultra doesn't. I dialed *#0011# using the Samsung dialer, to go into the service mode. There you can see which band you're actually on. In the menu, my NR_Band shows "n41", meaning, I'm actually on 5G UC right now. The unlocked model's software just doesn't use the 5G UC logo (I'm assuming it will come in a future update). If your NR_Band says n41, n258, n260, or n261...you're actually on 5G UC. The speeds also validate this. Hope this helps. I was troubleshooting by switching between esim and physical sim, and was about to swap for the T-Mobile locked version. I'm all good now keeping the unlocked because it's technically grabbing 5G UC (just no logo).

syaoran wrote:

That sounds about right then. The only thing the non-carrier version is lacking, is the carrier aggregation tuning for the radio.  It literally makes very little difference in performance when you look at the trade-off's of an unlocked device, much less bloatware out of the box, and not being locked into a monthly EIP for the device.  

I have a MIFI from tmobile. The MIFI used to be much slower than my locked S21 ULTRA phone. I purchased an unlocked S22 ULTRA  Samsung phone by accident and noticed that my 5G on my S22 ULTRA is 3 times much slower than my MIFI after my MIFI received a software update. 

Have you tried speed testing the devices?  In most cases, it's just an icon difference.  This is also why we don't judge signal based off of the bars displayed and actually use signal strength measured through db.  Each carrier and manufacturer have their own interpretation on how actual signal strength translates into how many bars are displayed.  Is your device a SIM unlocked version from another carrier or international model or is it the US non-carrier specific model purchased directly from Samsung?  

It's purchased unlocked directly from Samsung. It's a brand new device. I did do speed tests and the flip z 3 was slightly faster download but slower upload than my S22 Ultra

That sounds about right then. The only thing the non-carrier version is lacking, is the carrier aggregation tuning for the radio.  It literally makes very little difference in performance when you look at the trade-off's of an unlocked device, much less bloatware out of the box, and not being locked into a monthly EIP for the device.  

They don't offer the same speed in some cases . I have both the  T-Mobile and the Unlocked version of the S22 Ultra and I can attest to the speed being different in some cases . When  I'm sitting on my back stoop I sometimes get the UC logo on the T-Mobile model and run a speed test I would get like 192 Mbps  and only 32Mbps on the Unlocked  model when the UC logo goes away the speed will be about the same 32Mbps and this always happens so there is some technological difference .

There are various unlocked S22 models.  Not all have n41 5g NSA AFAIK.  

I’ve been in the same boat.. Firmwares are interchangeable on SM-S908U and SM-S908U1 I flashed the TMB CSC firmware on unlocked SM-S908U1..

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/s22-ultra-snapdragon-t-mobile-and-unlocked.4413183/#post-86549249

I put the unlocked firmware on my S22 Ultra that previously had t-mobile firmware and of course the 5G UC disappeared. Did a speed test and it slowly went past 150mbps to just a little over 200mbps.

Flashed it back to the t-mobile firmware to get the 5G UC back and sure enough after putting t-mobile firmware back on it was hitting the usual 450mbps. I just uninstall the bloatware so it's kind of like having a factory unlocked device. Get rid of all the sprint carrier apps and whatnot.