Can somebody please explain GSM vs WCDMA vs UMTS for the bands?
My impression is GSM is 2G and UMTS is 3G and both can supply regular phone service? What's WCDMA then?
T-mobile USA is GSM 850/1900 and what else?
I was thinking if I specify what network and band to use it'll use less batter (ie. no 3g unless I really need it).
this is a really easy google search... or just go to wikipedia....really any search you would try will answer your question.
(you're half right, but mostly wrong)...here's some links for you
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=wcdma+wiki&l=1
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=gsm+wiki
Well I did google already, but still is over my head when I look at the band settings in the TMO HD2.
If WCDMA = UMTS why is there a separate GSM/WCDMA network selection, both allowing bands in GSM and UMTS.
Sounds like GSM is older tech, meaning 2g, whereas 3g is the newer GSM, which is UMTS, which = WCDMA. Therefore, how can you choose UMTS band frequencies on a old GSM network?
Perhaps I'm not phrasing my question correctly. I'm asking these because of the phone settings. I'm trying to figure out if it's more efficient to just tell the phone to look for specific network/band for TMOUSA thereby saving time and battery.
is this just too simple of a question or not many people understand. anyone?
ok, instead of giving you a bunch of info, let me give you just what I think you need.
I'm guessing you're going to Settings>Wireless Controls> Phone>Band and that's where the confusion is coming from. This screen is wrong and the Bands listed there are wrong (they're from previous devices, and htc didn't bother to update that screen).
So, you have 3 main choices there that should be of interest to you as long as you're in the US on Tmobile's network: Auto, WCDMA, GSM (under Network Type).
Auto: switches automatically between GPRS/EDGE/3G (HSDPA, HSPDA+)
WCDMA: 3G (HSDPA, HSPDA+)
GSM: EDGE/GPRS
The only way that playing with the band frequencies could help you would be if you're just interested in Edge/GPRS since tmobile uses two different frequencies there (native 1900 and 850 roaming). For 3g however, Tmobile uses only (and concurrently....as in you need to use both to get 3g and not just one or the other) 1700/2100 frequency.
Long story short, if you're trying to keep the phone from switching between 3g and Edge and you're in an area that has constant 3g, set it to WCDMA. (but note that if you loose 3g but are in an area with Edge, it will not switch to Edge, it will just be 0 bars/reception).
thanks alot, that really clears it up. I don't have data connection besides mms so I figure I may set it to no 3g and save some battery.
Note: The title of this guide is Enabling LTE bands, but actually, it's for LTE and for HSDPA bands.
This is something near and dear to me, as I travel the world somewhat and really prefer to have only one phone.
I spent all day figuring out how to add more LTE bands to this phone (I have a bootloader unlocked H815, European version, so please understand that it may not work with other versions, and simply can't even be attempted until you can root it.)
The model I own comes with the following bands:
2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G bands HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
4G bands LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 17(700), 20(800), 28(700)
I noticed, however, in the hidden testing menu (277634#*#, Field Test, Modem Settings, Network Mode), the following extra bands, none of which worked:
WCDMA 800, WCDMA AWS (1700/2100)
Along with the following extra LTE bands(277634#*#, Field Test, Modem Settings, LTE Band Selection), again, none of which worked:
Band 12, 13, 25, 29, 40
The result?
Having enabled all of the LTE bands available in the testing menu, I was able to add WCDMA 800 and AWS bands, along with LTE band 40. Unfortunately at this time, Bands 12, 13, 25, and 29 do not work, even if enabled. However, a T-Mobile radio file might help for band 12 if it's a radio issue, or it could be a hardware difference in which case there's nothing we can do. I really don't know until I can test with it. I'm happy about the extra bands, though, because in the US I use T-Mobile, so AWS helps, and in Japan, band 800 is used. Maybe I'll use 40 if I go to China some time.
So how to actually do this?
Step 1: Unlock bootloader and root. You can find out how to do that in other threads.
Step 2: Install the LG USB Drivers. It comes with the LG PC Software.
Step 3: Download CDMAtool from here: http://cdmatool.com/ A free trial works fine for this.
Step 4: Make sure you have adb, and connect your G4 to your PC. In an adb shell, execute the following:
su
echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/lg_diag_cmd/diag_enable
Step 5: Unplug and re-plug your USB cable. Your phone is now in diag mode (although you wouldn't know any better because you don't get any special device names in Device Manager.)
Step 6: Open DFS which you downloaded from CDMAtool.com Deal with making an account, etc. as you have to get into the software. Close the account window and the actual software will launch.
Step 7: Double click your device to put a checkmark by it in DFS.
Step 8: Click the Band tab. Choose RF BC Config at the bottom. Then, choose read.
Step 9: Make sure your bands are displayed. Check the extra bands you want to add. I recommend against enabling bands other than those mentioned in this thread, but you can try at your own risk (in fact, I'd be interested to see if any work!)
Step 10: Click Write.
Step 11: Click the LTE tab. Click Read. Check the bands you want to add, click write. Then, choose LTE BC Config DIV LTE #6829 at the bottom and repeat the process again there.
Step 12: Sometimes the write doesn't go through, and I have no idea why, but I found it helps to play with your phone for five minutes after writing. Also, I found that even if you're not changing bands, it's somehow necessary to flash HSDPA and LTE bands both in one go before restarting the phone. Otherwise strange things happened like losing bands. I was able to get them back though by re-flashing.
Step 13: Reboot your phone and pray.
Step 14: Go into the hidden menu and test the new bands. If they work, you will see SUCCESS when you press them in the test menu. (277634#*#, Field Test, Modem Settings, Network Mode/LTE Band Selection)
I hope this is useful to any other globetrotters!
That's gr8 tip!
Bands are tied to the hardware. Software tweaking won't add them. Not unless they're already part of the hardware, but disabled and hidden by LG for some reason. But that's doubtful.
It might tell you they've been added, but I highly doubt they'll actually work. But I'm no expert so LG may have done something weird here.
So. I have a T MOUS HTC One M8. We have a Qualcomm LTE radio that apparently has access to Band 12 which is TMOUS new 700 MHZ spectrum.
I am currently on band 4 through LTE discovery. Is there any method for adding Band 12 to this version of the HTC One M8.
What aspect of this guide can be used to add to the HTC One M8 T-Mobile Version Band 12?
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Free mobile app
the_scotsman said:
Bands are tied to the hardware. Software tweaking won't add them. Not unless they're already part of the hardware, but disabled and hidden by LG for some reason. But that's doubtful.
It might tell you they've been added, but I highly doubt they'll actually work. But I'm no expert so LG may have done something weird here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The added bands do work (depending on the band) so in this phone's case, two new hsdpa bands and one new LTE band were add-able.
I was able to personally confirm HSDPA AWS working on T-Mobile US. The other two added ones I can also confirm because they are scanning on that frequency when using the LTE Band test menu, although there is no local network to attach to.
With other phones even more drastic success stories exist:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/general/how-to-add-rf-lte-frequency-bands-to-t2886059
But in this phone's case, the hardware supported more bands than were enabled, so enabling them was possible. I haven't been able to get particularly Band 12 working, probably because of either hardware or radio file, but it was nice to enable some other bands and see them work.
@the_scotsman the hardware in this case is able to do it normally, but LG has to pay a fee to unlock these bands which is why they're normally locked via firmware.
the_scotsman said:
Bands are tied to the hardware. Software tweaking won't add them. Not unless they're already part of the hardware, but disabled and hidden by LG for some reason. But that's doubtful.
It might tell you they've been added, but I highly doubt they'll actually work. But I'm no expert so LG may have done something weird here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ixrs said:
@the_scotsman the hardware in this case is able to do it normally, but LG has to pay a fee to unlock these bands which is why they're normally locked via firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I worked with Qualcomm chips before so the software setting enables the bands in software. the_scotsman is correct in that if there are no antennae on the phone for those bands then the OP's guide will not do anything. Seems that the OP has confirmed that for bands like HSPA Band 4 the antenna is present. It could also be that the LG didn't calibrate performance of the phone on those new bands for this model. That all depends on how they are manufacturing this phone which we will never know.
Anyone else tried this out? I use the Canadian equivalent of T-mobile so I would need HSPA Band 4. I'm wondering if I should buy the international version and get the unlocked bootloader or buy the locked bootloader version for Canada.
HighTowerDV said:
I worked with Qualcomm chips before so the software setting enables the bands in software. the_scotsman is correct in that if there are no antennae on the phone for those bands then the OP's guide will not do anything. Seems that the OP has confirmed that for bands like HSPA Band 4 the antenna is present. It could also be that the LG didn't calibrate performance of the phone on those new bands for this model. That all depends on how they are manufacturing this phone which we will never know.
Anyone else tried this out? I use the Canadian equivalent of T-mobile so I would need HSPA Band 4. I'm wondering if I should buy the international version and get the unlocked bootloader or buy the locked bootloader version for Canada.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually want to know the same. I need HSPA B4 (AWS). I want to buy LG G4 H15 version. If I can enable HSPA AWS band, then im on board to get this phone!
Not particularly useful as this requires root
kyle1867 said:
Not particularly useful as this requires root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but the H815 from Europe can be rooted easily so this is an option if you bought this model of the G4.
LimitsX said:
I actually want to know the same. I need HSPA B4 (AWS). I want to buy LG G4 H15 version. If I can enable HSPA AWS band, then im on board to get this phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ended up with the Canadian version in the end. Turns out the H812 has all the canadian bands turned on and once you unlock the device you can go from a carrier who only uses HSPA(AWS) to one that uses LTE without any rooting or enabling bands. Seems at least for the Canadian version all the bands for all Canadian carriers was turned on.
duraaraa said:
The added bands do work (depending on the band) so in this phone's case, two new hsdpa bands and one new LTE band were add-able.
I was able to personally confirm HSDPA AWS working on T-Mobile US. The other two added ones I can also confirm because they are scanning on that frequency when using the LTE Band test menu, although there is no local network to attach to.
With other phones even more drastic success stories exist:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/general/how-to-add-rf-lte-frequency-bands-to-t2886059
But in this phone's case, the hardware supported more bands than were enabled, so enabling them was possible. I haven't been able to get particularly Band 12 working, probably because of either hardware or radio file, but it was nice to enable some other bands and see them work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you in a confirmed Band 12 area? Or did it say "fail" and not even scan it?
If he had a H811 model, Band 12 is enabled.. I had Band 12 LTE when I was in the US in the Maryland/DC Area..
Sorry for late reply. It said 'fail' and didn't scan. This is European H815. It's now bricked because I played with it too much.
Has anyone tried this on the VS986? It seems that band 2 is locked even though it's listed as a supported band. When using a T-Mobile SIM I only get LTE in band 4 areas and not band 2/12.
geoff5093 said:
Has anyone tried this on the VS986? It seems that band 2 is locked even though it's listed as a supported band. When using a T-Mobile SIM I only get LTE in band 4 areas and not band 2/12.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seeing as how the first prerequisite is an unlocked BL, I don't think this would work :/
Dennisg34 said:
Seeing as how the first prerequisite is an unlocked BL, I don't think this would work :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the G3 you were able to use the HiddenMenu via a root-capable shortcut app, but now we can't access it as we get a FC. I skimmed this and didn't see the unlocked BL requirement, my bad!
@duraaraa How do you know if they're "working" exactly?
In the field test menu on my rooted H818P under LTE Band Selection, I have listed 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,12,13,17,20,25,28,29,40, half of which say "FAIL" when you tap on them, including band 28, which is LTE700 in Australia (FDD)...yet this phones' specs indicate this works...so I'm a little baffled?!
I don't have an unlocked bootloader (obviously), so I guess that means I'm no hope of performing anything successful in terms of accessing other bands?
RoOSTA
roosta said:
@duraaraa How do you know if they're "working" exactly?
In the field test menu on my rooted H818P under LTE Band Selection, I have listed 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,12,13,17,20,25,28,29,40, half of which say "FAIL" when you tap on them, including band 28, which is LTE700 in Australia (FDD)...yet this phones' specs indicate this works...so I'm a little baffled?!
I don't have an unlocked bootloader (obviously), so I guess that means I'm no hope of performing anything successful in terms of accessing other bands?
RoOSTA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, they went from saying "FAIL" when chosen, to trying to find a signal. Not being in a Band 40 country, I can't be sure, of course, but my assumption is, since it became the same as all other bands which were to be supported by the phone, by not saying "FAIL," that it would work.
However, if you are sure that band 28 is working on your phone, and it still says FAIL, this opens the door to having more working than I thought, so it's certainly interesting! Sadly, as I mentioned before, my phone is currently unrecoverably bricked, so I have to wait for some kind of way out of the brick to continue this testing. Ironically, I'm going to China in August so I could have tested band 40
duraaraa said:
Well, they went from saying "FAIL" when chosen, to trying to find a signal. Not being in a Band 40 country, I can't be sure, of course, but my assumption is, since it became the same as all other bands which were to be supported by the phone, by not saying "FAIL," that it would work.
However, if you are sure that band 28 is working on your phone, and it still says FAIL, this opens the door to having more working than I thought, so it's certainly interesting! Sadly, as I mentioned before, my phone is currently unrecoverably bricked, so I have to wait for some kind of way out of the brick to continue this testing. Ironically, I'm going to China in August so I could have tested band 40
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem I've discovered is band 28 (700mhz FDD) SHOULD be working on the H818P be default/stock....yet after root and accessing hidden menu, still says "FAIL"
Thats a huge worry, as the LG sticker with IMEI (etc) indicates it should work on that band!
Really hope unlocked bootloader is coming soon for H818P. Confirmed in the DUAL SIM thread, that phone *DOES* support 700Mhz bandwith...but for countries that probably have 100% of their population that DO NOT even own or sell this phone. Band 17 is supported, not Band 28 (densely populated countrieslike Aus, NZ etc). @duraaraa
Really need to unlock band 28!
RoOSTA
I have a ta-1083 with bands b7 and b28 blocked, I've searched in several places on google and still could not find something that can release these bands,
Has anyone with this problem been able to solve this problem?
I like the device, but it's already boring with this situation
Thank you all
No way. It's not going to happen. Quit wasting your time and buy another phone that has the bands you need.
Thanks for the answer, and this is very sad to read
6.1 plus supports all the bands. You can use this code *#*#4636#*#* to change bands and it works.
gopu5 said:
6.1 plus supports all the bands. You can use this code *#*#4636#*#* to change bands and it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it runs on 4g, but in bands like b5 and b3, but these are not standard here in Brazil, the network with the largest coverage is b7 that runs at 2600mhz,
So it fluctuates a lot between bands and often loses the signal altogether
I've changed a lot in these settings, but it doesn't solve 100%
JavaDroid_ said:
Yes, it runs on 4g, but in bands like b5 and b3, but these are not standard here in Brazil, the network with the largest coverage is b7 that runs at 2600mhz,
So it fluctuates a lot between bands and often loses the signal altogether
I've changed a lot in these settings, but it doesn't solve 100%
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LTE only option you can choose
gopu5 said:
6.1 plus supports all the bands. You can use this code *#*#4636#*#* to change bands and it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you don't know what a band is. You can't use the test menu to add additional LTE bands. Kindly refrain from posting this idiocy here.
I know what is LTE Bands. 6.1 Plus supports all the bands but the fact it is configured in such a way the user can't change it hence the network switches bands automatically.
The LTE Only option configure the network to the 4G but yes you don't have the option to lock a particular frequency unlike other stock Android devices.
I dont know about other countries but here in India I use Jio 4G with 6.1 Plus my phone locks into 850Mhz , 1800Mhz & 2300Mhz (Jio supports it) simultaneously depending upon the conditions in my location.
The Android one might have disabled advanced band locking (FDD & TDD) feature. I'm not talking idiocy here.
gopu5 said:
I know what is LTE Bands. 6.1 Plus supports all the bands but the fact it is configured in such a way the user can't change it hence the network switches bands automatically.
The LTE Only option configure the network to the 4G but yes you don't have the option to lock a particular frequency unlike other stock Android devices.
I dont know about other countries but here in India I use Jio 4G with 6.1 Plus my phone locks into 850Mhz , 1800Mhz & 2300Mhz (Jio supports it) simultaneously depending upon the conditions in my location.
The Android one might have disabled advanced band locking (FDD & TDD) feature. I'm not talking idiocy here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are not talking about the same thing. The OP of this thread wanted to unlock bands that this phone doesn't normally support. We're not talking about "band locking".
Oh yeah this doesn't supports 2600Mhz