Samsung Pay with MST Mode
 

Question to the audience - do you have an experience using Samsung Pay in MST mode quite frequently? If so, could you share please?

It works well enough here in Canada. 75% of places have contactless but I've never had any issues using the MST at the other 25%. It's always worked well when I've been in the US as well (with the exception of Walmart where it declines (it does work in Canadian Walmarts though).

I've used it in MST mode at McDonalds. You can use it either way (with NFC or MST) IME.

Does the authorisation message get to the bank or is Walmart detecting and blocking it to promote Walmart Pay?

I use it just about everyday and works really well. You get a transaction notification banner when it goes through verifying the amount and it's been a lifesaver when I forget my wallet. Occasionally it is hard to read but 90%goes through without issue.

The biggest obstacles are:
Card terminals that require you to insert the card vs swiping (gas stations and ATMs)
Card terminals that are handled by employees who insist they don't work because they can't accept Apple Pay (they just assume Apple Pay and refuse to try)

On my credit card statement, it is tagged as Samsung Pay and the retailer.

I have also made returns at retailers using Samsung Pay as the credit card and the return credit showed up fine.

How often such thing happens?

Also, how close the phone needs to be next to the terminal for MST mode?

Happens at restaurants a fair bit around here. The not having accessible terminals thing, I mean, not necessarily being allowed to try (though I don't have a Samsung phone so it's mostly the same thing).

It varies. A lot of it has to do with the actual store/retailer. I've noticed in the beginning (I was part of the Samsung Pay beta program) no one believed it would work and would be shocked. Now, most of the chain places are fairly used to them. I hear frequently now from one cashier that it does not work only to have their coworker say that it does.

So it truly is a YMMV based on how often employees get an opportunity to see it in action. Also has to do with whether that store has upgraded their POS terminal to NFC or not. Those that have usually don't have a second thought about the phone being used.

I say nowadays 1 out of 5 in person transactions (i.e. hand phone over to cashier) still gets some sort of resistance or denial.

The phone must be close to the swipe slot where you normally slide the card through. By its design, the MST has to be within inches so it isn't readable beyond the terminal. I typically bring it right next to it and move it slowly up or down (usually start in the middle) if it doesn't pick up immediately.

I will also add that I typically don't bother at US restaurants (unless I'm doing takeout) because the server has to take your credit card and there's no way to give my phone in an unlocked state to a stranger for a period of time for them to scan (assuming they would know how in the first place). It would likely have ended the first session and the secondary retry session by the time the server could process the payment. And I simply don't want my phone out of my view and in hands of strangers for any extended period of time.

Thanks for all the answers.
Couple of more clarifying questions - what model Samsung phone(s) have you used and which was the model giving most trouble (either MST or NFC)?

Second question, regarding this:
This is what bothers me - all my cards are chip based. Last year I had several cases in Starbucks and Target when I tried to use chip card at the terminal where chip reader was disabled or non-operating. So when swiping, terminal was saying 'insert card' - catch22, basically card was unusable.
Now, seems that if terminal has chip function disabled then even MST mode will be no help.

That won't be an issue. They're not really referring to chip slots, their referring to terminals where the whole card gets sucked put into the slot (Like a gas pump or ATM) as the magnetic stripe reader doesn't active until it actually has a card pushed into it.

It never reaches the bank. I've heard it does work with Visa and MasterCard at Walmart USA though, just Amex. It might be something to do with the weird track 1 magnetic stripe format it does.

I have had both S6 and S8; I don't think there is much difference btwn the 2 in terms of performance/issues.

As for the chip question, as reclusive46 noted, the issue is more of how the card has to be inserted (or dipped into a recessed slot) and pulled out. MST cannot transmit the data magnetically to card readers in that form factor because the signal cannot properly reach the reader. It has no issues with POS terminals that are chip enabled (which are also magnetic swipe).

Once again thanks for quick replies.

Related question - I am planning to buy second-hand S6 specifically for this purpose once I am back in States. There were reports that only S6 phones which were sold in US can work with MST mode - international S6 were missing the magnetic coil.

Honestly, have not bought anything phone/electronics related since I relocated overseas >6 years ago and have no idea what are now available/appropriate channels. Back several years ago Ebay and Craigslist were the only realistic options, but I am afraid that either it will be stolen goods which blocked IEMI or gray import from Asia/Europe which misses the coil.

Any suggestions?

I highly recommend the Samsung Galaxy Gear S3 smart watch which has MST. I have it paired with a Note8, but I believe it works with any Android device as well. You just need an Android device running 4.4 and above, and then get the Gear App and take a few extra steps in settings within the app to get the Samsung Pay plugin. The benefit is that you don't need to take out your phone, and it's easier to reach when the card reader is attached to the register, which makes it less cumbersome than lining up your phone and getting the cashier to agree.

Quick side note - my favorite SamPay moment happened at Lowes where the cashier kept arguing with me that they didn't take it even though the transaction had already gone through and the receipt was coming out. I kept telling her that "it just did" and she kept saying that it wouldn't work and that they didn't take it :D

Samsung Pay MST works for me almost everywhere. However, at Clarks Shoes recently the clerk announced that it would fail, which it did. She had said that based on the rather ancient software they use. I've mentioned that I'm notorious at Great Clips as "The Phone Guy".

Mmmm... that's the double of price of used S6....

I can't vouch for the accuracy of that statement; I've never heard of that international S6 were missing the coil; I mean, SK actually had Samsung Pay with MST before US did... though I guess they can have a Korean version.
If you have a friend in the States, you can maybe have that person order $99 Boost Mobile version currently on sale:
https://www.boostmobile.com/?INTCID=...es/Black,32GB/

I believe it will be locked to Boost Mobile network so that may be a consideration, or pay to have it unlocked by a 3rd party service; or buy unlocked preowned on Swappa.

I've bought and sold phones on Swappa, and they are pretty legit because they require the phone to go through IMEI check before being listed.

I've also bought and sold phones on eBay and it is relatively safe because of buyer's assurance program now available.

Craigslist would be last resort because you have no recourse, unless it was new phone that has a warranty

With a watch it sometimes easier to reach the reader, like on gas stations. You will need to remove the watch from hand on some occasions.

Understandable, but for me cost has the preference. I don't wear watches last 18 years and already have a phone - need to have less number of stuff carried with me.

Here, there was an article in local paper
askST: Why is Samsung Pay not available for the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge?, Smartphones News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

Thanks for the link. I am going to call them to ask about network locking.

Interesting... I wonder if it is actually missing the MST hardware, or just not enabled in the firmware.

As for Boost Mobile, from what I have read, they are locked to their network and require 12 months of service to unlock. However, perhaps there are 3rd party unlock services that can circumvent that.
I can't vouch for this service since I haven't used them:
How To Unlock Samsung Galaxy S6 By Unlock Code To Work With Any Network

May want to see if they can unlock Boost phones; or check eBay for some services.

Almost certain Boost will not unlock without being a subscriber already.

Good luck.

Former. MST is done via a magnetic coil which was missing in certain models sold in some regions.

Thanks. If all lost, it is $100....

Ok, got old Galaxy S7 specifically for MST purchases - here is Singapore one bank has a promotion to earn 4 miles per $ spent when using Samsung/Android/Apple pay.

Well, my three attempts last weekend to use MST mode ended up exactly in categories above - in one store they told me that they need to insert card with chip to enter amount and don't do swiping.

In two other stores clerks flat out refused to try pay with phone telling that 'we do not accept contactless payments'. My attempt to explain that technology is different was useless - was told 'go and find another store which will accept your payment'. Yes.

When I encountered a lot of resistance because the cashiers/clerks had never been exposed to this, I used to have a physical CC card in hand, pretending I was about to swipe. This typically prompts the cashier to start the process on their end to get the terminal ready for my "swipe". All the while I had my Samsung Pay app open and ready to go. At the last second, I would just casually switch from my card to my phone; and almost all the time, it would just go through without a hitch. Then I would lift my phone up and show the transaction banner flash on the top of the screen and say, look it works. I wouldn't even elude to having Samsung Pay at the beginning.

I did this a couple of times at a local place I frequent, and after the 3rd time doing this, a coworker piped up to the cashier processing my order, saying, "Yes, it does work. Just run it like a regular card".

This obviously is much harder when the terminal/swipe is facing the cashier and not you; for those scenarios, I would ask if they mind I try something new that should work on their older payment systems. Half the time, the cashier would be open to it, other half, it would be no, it doesn't work and it won't. Sometimes just have to gauge the interest/resistance to something they aren't familiar with.

It's a battle sometimes, and really those of us who were early adopters have to push and fight our way into mainstream acceptance :P

One thing I am curious in is whether network connectivity/signal is required to have Samsung Pay work. In my experience, I'm always connected so I see the transaction go through on my phone within seconds of the "swipe". If there isn't a connection to the internet, I wonder if that will cause any issues.

Back to the subject. Do I understand that J7 models sold at Best Buy stores does not support Samsung Pay?

I have a Galaxy S8 and I'm excited to try out MST with Samsung Pay. I think it's getting accepted in fewer and fewer places but I still want to give it a shot.

Where would a good place be to try out MST and see whether it's working/how it feels?

Ideally I would be looking for a

• national chain with standardized systems,
  
• that is open nights/weekends/early mornings so I can try it out without worrying about delaying someone in line behind me,
• with a self-checkout where MST works, and not one of the "eat your card and hold onto it" types like at a gas station.
  

Maybe Home Depot? (I know Walmart somehow did something to block it in the past, so they probably aren't an option unfortunately.) WinCo may be an option too if you don't mind debit and have one in your area.

That said, way more places do NFC now than back when this thread first started, so MST may not be all that necessary anymore. Also, I know that Samsung stopped offering MST on newer devices and may be only activating NFC on older ones (but not sure on that last bit).

The last time I was at Home Depot, they did not accept any electronic payments.

They've taken cards for a while, just not NFC (at least in the US; Canadian ones do take NFC).

Home Depot, Kroger. Lowe's enabled NFC recently. Walmart blocks MST, but it was previously working. I didn't try new Walmart terminals, it might work.
Or you can try in any store with magnetic stripe reader. It should work anywhere.

Kroger accepts NFC now.

Additionally, just trying it at any store is more likely than not going to cause the transaction to run over NFC. If the intention is to make sure that MST works, it's better to test somewhere that doesn't have NFC turned on.

Good point, tmiw. I guess I could just turn off NFC on my phone though, right?

Assuming it doesn't just turn on NFC again when you're actively trying to use SP, sure.

You can just use magnetic reader, which is usually on the side of a terminal.

Sure, but the question is more whether the NFC reader would still end up triggering or not. I think on most terminals it will, but there are definitely some newer ones out there (like the bigger Ingenico ones for example) where the NFC reader is far enough away from the magstripe reader that MST might end up firing instead.

On Ingenico you can distinguish by the sound, since magnetic stripe produces different sound from NFC.

Hooray! MST
 

I finally tested out MST on my Galaxy S8 and it worked like a charm!

• Aldi in a moderately prosperous urban area
• Terminals seemed medium-modern. They accept google pay and also have a mag stripe thing
• I did not have to pretend to try the chip first
• I had NFC off, and it doesn't seem to have turned on automatically during payment. It was off afterward.
• I held the phone up to the top right corner of the swipey bar thing, it felt like a centimeter away.
• The terminal or the phone made a chirpy noise, louder than the noise I get when I run the MST test on the phone. I don't think it's done that in the past when I checked out with chip or NFC.

It's nice because Alliant also has a promo running where they want you to use Samsung/Apple/google pay! (or whatever google calls it this week)

Google Wallet is where you store your credit cards, the act of using NFC with the cards stored in the wallet is still called Google Pay.

The supported app of the moment is the Google Wallet app.

The Google Pay app is pretty much retired, except for India although it sounds like they are starting to introduce Google Wallet there as well.

Thank you! This is the clearest concise explanation I've heard.

Google Pay India sounds bomb, it has some kind of bill pay too, right? Hit it while you can, friends!