use all 700MHZ lte phones on any network - Hardware Hacking General

use all 700MHZ lte phones on any network - Hardware Hacking General

OK, we all know about Verizon using lower spectrum and AT&T using upper spectrum of 700MHZ but i could never understand how HARDWARE WISE they can make a radio that would only support such a thing, I am under impression that it is the software optimized for using either upper or lower spectrum and if block the other half. I just read how flashing correct radio enabled AT&T GALAXY NOTE to be used on t-mobile, i am not an expert nor i have resources, but has anyone attempted to flash verizon radio on at&t phone or vice versa and see if phone is actually capable of running on both networks? Please explain me if there is any flow in my understanding or is it actually feasible? would be great to break monopoly of at&t and Verizon over their LTE phones even though they utilize same 700MHZ band.

nakamoniel said:
OK, we all know about Verizon using lower spectrum and AT&T using upper spectrum of 700MHZ but i could never understand how HARDWARE WISE they can make a radio that would only support such a thing, I am under impression that it is the software optimized for using either upper or lower spectrum and if block the other half. I just read how flashing correct radio enabled AT&T GALAXY NOTE to be used on t-mobile, i am not an expert nor i have resources, but has anyone attempted to flash verizon radio on at&t phone or vice versa and see if phone is actually capable of running on both networks? Please explain me if there is any flow in my understanding or is it actually feasible? would be great to break monopoly of at&t and Verizon over their LTE phones even though they utilize same 700MHZ band.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Certain chipsets with an integrated radio/modem support multiple bands. Like you said, in the case of the Note, XDA devs were able to flash a different modem that told the radio to tune to a different frequency that it supported. Same with the Skyrocket, and, if the T-Mobile SII had an LTE mode, that would have worked too. But not all chipsets can do multiple frequencies on one chip.

Well you'll have a problem of dealing with a CDMA phone trying to run on a GSM network primarily. I think Verizon's system has to verify you're on their primary CDMA network then allow you to connect to their LTE network. Where as an AT&T phone would just connect you to their GSM and then it bumps up to LTE. My speculation is that if you connect a Verizon World Phone with LTE on AT&T with the correct radio it MIGHT work. But it won't work the other way around as AT&T's phones don't have CDMA (which is used to verify and connect you to the LTE network)

ChpStcksRlz said:
Well you'll have a problem of dealing with a CDMA phone trying to run on a GSM network primarily. I think Verizon's system has to verify you're on their primary CDMA network then allow you to connect to their LTE network. Where as an AT&T phone would just connect you to their GSM and then it bumps up to LTE. My speculation is that if you connect a Verizon World Phone with LTE on AT&T with the correct radio it MIGHT work. But it won't work the other way around as AT&T's phones don't have CDMA (which is used to verify and connect you to the LTE network)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will never get a CDMA phone to work on a GSM network or vice versa (aside from global CDMA phones with SIM slots for GSM roaming). LTE phones on Verizon use a their own authentication that's separate from their CDMA-only 3G phones. With the LTE phones, there is no ESN/MEID associated with the device; it's the SIM that is authenticated and then the phone attached to it can use it to transmit and receive data, texts, and calls.
But that's besides the fact; CDMA and GSM are more than just frequencies; they're two different methods on how a phone communicates with towers. CDMA is Code Division Multiple Access, and GSM is based off of TDMA, which is Time Divided Multiple Access. It's kind of like saying, because two people are Chinese, they will both speak one dialect, which in fact there are two; Mandarin (GSM) and Cantonese (CDMA) which are similar but different.

Product F(RED) said:
You will never get a CDMA phone to work on a GSM network or vice versa (aside from global CDMA phones with SIM slots for GSM roaming). LTE phones on Verizon use a their own authentication that's separate from their CDMA-only 3G phones. With the LTE phones, there is no ESN/MEID associated with the device; it's the SIM that is authenticated and then the phone attached to it can use it to transmit and receive data, texts, and calls.
But that's besides the fact; CDMA and GSM are more than just frequencies; they're two different methods on how a phone communicates with towers. CDMA is Code Division Multiple Access, and GSM is based off of TDMA, which is Time Divided Multiple Access. It's kind of like saying, because two people are Chinese, they will both speak one dialect, which in fact there are two; Mandarin (GSM) and Cantonese (CDMA) which are similar but different.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
some CDMA+LTE devices can be used with other carriers even with the different authentication, carriers that barely have 1X cdma coverage. the conversion of the MEID to pESN is done with a different method that is of course if the DEC MEID can be retrieved, not the HEX MEID.

nakamoniel said:
OK, we all know about Verizon using lower spectrum and AT&T using upper spectrum of 700MHZ but i could never understand how HARDWARE WISE they can make a radio that would only support such a thing, I am under impression that it is the software optimized for using either upper or lower spectrum and if block the other half. I just read how flashing correct radio enabled AT&T GALAXY NOTE to be used on t-mobile, i am not an expert nor i have resources, but has anyone attempted to flash verizon radio on at&t phone or vice versa and see if phone is actually capable of running on both networks? Please explain me if there is any flow in my understanding or is it actually feasible? would be great to break monopoly of at&t and Verizon over their LTE phones even though they utilize same 700MHZ band.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hardware wise it's damn easy to make a radio that doesn't support the upper/lower part of the band - just use a narrower frontend filter.
In fact, doing the opposite is hard - having wideband support without compromising the performance of your bands of primary interest is extremely difficult. Filtering out the "don't care" part of the 700 MHz band can improve RF performance in the "do care" part.
Product F(RED) said:
Certain chipsets with an integrated radio/modem support multiple bands. Like you said, in the case of the Note, XDA devs were able to flash a different modem that told the radio to tune to a different frequency that it supported. Same with the Skyrocket, and, if the T-Mobile SII had an LTE mode, that would have worked too. But not all chipsets can do multiple frequencies on one chip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, they didn't do anything to tune a different frequency. AT&T also uses AWS1700 for LTE - all they did was change modulation mode for an already supported band.

EVDO logins does not need to verify the ESN/MEID.
See http://shadowmite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3319
not sure about LTE

I see thread being carried away in different direction, I understand how it used to be completely ESN based, but trust me on new LTE phones it doesnt matter, i have popped sim card into many lte devices without registering with verizon what so ever, Also both at&t and verizon phones have hardware radio built in that supports 700MHZ so that is out of question as well, Hence I would like to draw attention of everyone specially DEV's, to target the real question, is it software based solution where they have tuned radio only to support perticular upper or lower band making them carrier specific? and if so flashing verizon radio on at&t phone or at&t radio on verizon phone make it compatible with each other? IF ANYONE OUT THERE WITH RESOURCES AND knowledge of radios can try this theory, it would open infinite gates of new possibilities ( AND GIVE US ALL AN OPPORTUNITY TO SCALE UP OUR LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH ATT-VERIZON BASTARD ).
p.s. I appreciate sharing your concerns/understanding anyways, not trying to underscore your comments, just trying to get things moving in right direction.

Thanks, its kind of answer I was looking for to verify my doubt on whether it would be possible by software tweak to enable phones work on other networks, however my speculation is that there is a huge probability that some MODELS did not bother making this changes (e.g. motorola since they do not produce phones for at&t anyways or quite oppositely HTC which makes LTE phone for both att & verizon) and simply had software tweaks in place to avoid phones on other networks, IF SO it should be as simple of radio files swap as what other guy did to samsung tab. Please correct me if i am still wrong.
Entropy512 said:
Hardware wise it's damn easy to make a radio that doesn't support the upper/lower part of the band - just use a narrower front end filter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

nakamoniel said:
Thanks, its kind of answer I was looking for to verify my doubt on whether it would be possible by software tweak to enable phones work on other networks, however my speculation is that there is a huge probability that some MODELS did not bother making this changes (e.g. motorola since they do not produce phones for at&t anyways or quite oppositely HTC which makes LTE phone for both att & verizon) and simply had software tweaks in place to avoid phones on other networks, IF SO it should be as simple of radio files swap as what other guy did to samsung tab. Please correct me if i am still wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung tab? Are you talking about the AT&T Galaxy Note? In that case, that was changing modulation modes in the same band. (AT&T also uses the 1700 MHz AWS band for LTE. So it's easy to just change that over to HSPA+ for T-Mo compatibility.)
I would not be surprised if Moto has narrower frontent filters, that may be part of the secret to their supposedly superior radio performance. (Rejecting unnecessary bands can greatly improve reception of the bands you care about.)

Related

Hd2 on at&t

I have a hd2 tmobile usa version, i need a At&t friendly Nand rom. Whats the best rom out there for At&t????
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

as far as I know any NAND Android ROM should work on AT&T as it is not the ROM that controls this but a combination of you sim card, APN settings, and you having your HD2 sim unlocked. Wait for more replies though as I do not use AT&T and it might actually be a ROM out there that has certain things adjusted for AT&T, but what that might be I do not know.

This is true, the ROM does not control the radio. There are methods of flashing the radio to a different version, one that may work for the AT&T 3G bands. I am looking them up, but that is how you would flash the device to change the radio.
Hardware wise, the GSM module does support all world wide bands but what makes then different from one HD2 from one carrier ot another is the firmware version that is used in the phones that make them work on the network's bands. Correct me if i am wrong though.

TKETZ196 said:
This is true, the ROM does not control the radio. There are methods of flashing the radio to a different version, one that may work for the AT&T 3G bands. I am looking them up, but that is how you would flash the device to change the radio.
Hardware wise, the GSM module does support all world wide bands but what makes then different from one HD2 from one carrier ot another is the firmware version that is used in the phones that make them work on the network's bands. Correct me if i am wrong though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Untrue my friend, the T-Mobile HD2 only supports the bands used by T-Mobile for 3G. If you sim unlock the T-Mobile HD2 you can use the device with other carriers but you will only get Edge for a data signal as the hardware only supports the T-Mobile 3G bands. There is a model of the HD2 that supports a different 3G band the same ones AT&T uses in the US, it is the Australian model that Telstra a Australian cell carrier released as they use the same bands as AT&T. go to "Official HD2 T9193 (Telstra 850Mhz) Discussion Thread" and you can learn more about it. I also saw your other post in another thread about trying to help your friend out getting 3G on his HD2 using AT&T. Unless he is willing to buy a Telstra HTC HD2 T9193 or have his T-Mobile HTC HD2 T8585 worked on to switch out the hardware for the hardware in the T9193 then he will never getb 3G with AT&T.

Just to answer your question, every rom is an AT&T friendly ROM, meaning, they'll allow you to talk, text and surf the internet.
What you DONT have is AT&T 3G on your tmous HD2. You'll be stuck with EDGE speed.

Thank you all 4 your help,greatly apreciated!! I'm in puerto rico where tmobile is still on Edge. But for some reason tmobile is still alot faster when it comes to receiving & sending MMS than At&t on this phone. Currently using Coredroid 1.5
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

its interesting they would use different hardware GSM modules for the slightly different models. I would think the radio firmware version woudl take care of that. Thanks for clarification. I assumed that all GSM modules would be built the same way.

Sadly they are not, this in my opinion is just cellular carriers trying to keep you locked to their networks cause the know most people don"t want to have to buy another device when changing carriers if they already have a good device. So they make it were branded devices can only utilize high speed data with it's intended carriers network. I think this is unfair to consumers, but again just my opinion.

T-Macgnolia said:
Sadly they are not, this in my opinion is just cellular carriers trying to keep you locked to their networks cause the know most people don"t want to have to buy another device when changing carriers if they already have a good device. So they make it were branded devices can only utilize high speed data with it's intended carriers network. I think this is unfair to consumers, but again just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think there is technical reason. The various carriers have very different technologies. Even AT&T uses a different 3G network than T-Mobile, despite the fact that both are GSM. Sprint and Verizon use non GSM technologies that are even more different. When a device manufacturer makes a certain model, there is only so much room inside, and unless one wants a really thick and heavy device, a choice has to be made as to which hardware goes into the phone.
I'm not saying that they don't want you to stay on their network - they do, which is why they have those 2 year contracts in exchange for buying a discounted phone. But I don't think that is why the hardware is different.

stevedebi said:
I think there is technical reason. The various carriers have very different technologies. Even AT&T uses a different 3G network than T-Mobile, despite the fact that both are GSM. Sprint and Verizon use non GSM technologies that are even more different. When a device manufacturer makes a certain model, there is only so much room inside, and unless one wants a really thick and heavy device, a choice has to be made as to which hardware goes into the phone.
I'm not saying that they don't want you to stay on their network - they do, which is why they have those 2 year contracts in exchange for buying a discounted phone. But I don't think that is why the hardware is different.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Point taken
I would go further with the discussion but I do not want to hijack this thread.

AT&T Moto X radio

I have a droid maxx that I'm using for AT&T. For those of you who don't know, the droid maxx is supposed to be a verizon phone only. It is unlocked from the factory, but LTE does not work for AT&T or T-Mobile. Being that the maxx is essnetially just a moto x with a bigger battery, I was hoping someone could pull their radio from their phone and upload it so that I can flash it to see if it enables LTE.
There is much speculation that the maxx has the bands, but they are just diabled by verizon. I hope that flashing your guys' radio will unlock the bands. There was a similar method available to enable the Razr Maxx HD's to grab signal on AT&T. They use a motorola tool to flash the radio.
If anyone wants to help out a fellow motorola XDA member, let me know

For what it's worth, I have been told by someone I consider reliable at Moto that the AT&T version of the X does have the hardware to support the 1700/AWS band for T-Mobile, but that it isn't "software enabled" in the phone. So someone providing the radios for any of those carriers might be able to help a lot of us.

Rask40 said:
For what it's worth, I have been told by someone I consider reliable at Moto that the AT&T version of the X does have the hardware to support the 1700/AWS band for T-Mobile, but that it isn't "software enabled" in the phone. So someone providing the radios for any of those carriers might be able to help a lot of us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we'll also need a way to flash it, i.e. a custom recovery. I know Hashcode is working on SafeStrap, so hopefully that will be done soon and we can figure out if this works. I'm not sure if SS will allow access to the partition that holds the radio software, though. I strongly suspect it's just software blocked as well, so I think either flashing the radio or editing the NV values like they do for the last generation of DROIDs should open the AT&T models up to AWS. Or maybe I just really want that to be true.

Rask40 said:
For what it's worth, I have been told by someone I consider reliable at Moto that the AT&T version of the X does have the hardware to support the 1700/AWS band for T-Mobile, but that it isn't "software enabled" in the phone. So someone providing the radios for any of those carriers might be able to help a lot of us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it would, but what I'm looking for specifically is to enable the LTE bands for AT&T on the verizon devices.
freak4dell said:
I think we'll also need a way to flash it, i.e. a custom recovery. I know Hashcode is working on SafeStrap, so hopefully that will be done soon and we can figure out if this works. I'm not sure if SS will allow access to the partition that holds the radio software, though. I strongly suspect it's just software blocked as well, so I think either flashing the radio or editing the NV values like they do for the last generation of DROIDs should open the AT&T models up to AWS. Or maybe I just really want that to be true.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You wouldn't need to flash the radios through recovery. The radios can be changed with a motorola specific windows program called, CDMA WS 2.7. You boot the phone into BP Tools mode and then can modify the radio.

seh6183 said:
Yes it would, but what I'm looking for specifically is to enable the LTE bands for AT&T on the verizon devices.
You wouldn't need to flash the radios through recovery. The radios can be changed with a motorola specific windows program called, CDMA WS 2.7. You boot the phone into BP Tools mode and then can modify the radio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm...didn't know that. I've flashed through recovery on other phones, I believe. I've never had to flash a full radio on a Motorola phone, though. On the Droid Pro, it was a flashed file that unlocked it, but it wasn't actually a radio. On the M, it was done through RadioComm. Anyway, regardless of the method, I hope it's possible.

seh6183 said:
I have a droid maxx that I'm using for AT&T. For those of you who don't know, the droid maxx is supposed to be a verizon phone only. It is unlocked from the factory, but LTE does not work for AT&T or T-Mobile. Being that the maxx is essnetially just a moto x with a bigger battery, I was hoping someone could pull their radio from their phone and upload it so that I can flash it to see if it enables LTE.
There is much speculation that the maxx has the bands, but they are just diabled by verizon. I hope that flashing your guys' radio will unlock the bands. There was a similar method available to enable the Razr Maxx HD's to grab signal on AT&T. They use a motorola tool to flash the radio.
If anyone wants to help out a fellow motorola XDA member, let me know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It won't work. AT&T uses a different slice of the 700 band than Verizon as their primary LTE band. This means that they are using different radio hardware to pick up their LTE bands. They are incompatible.
AT&T also only uses AWS in a few sites here and there (not majorly rolled out in any capacity), so you're unlikely to get it with AWS as well in your city regardless. If you want LTE on AT&T, you need a Band 17 (soon to be Band 12 in the future) enabled phone. Band 13 may be 700 as well, but different slice, so incompatible. Flashing a T-Mobile radio might enable you to pick theirs up by unlocking the AWS LTE as Verizon has that disabled currently until they open up their AWS network using a software update.
Hope that clears things up and helps.

Yes I realize the networks are different, i don't doubt that. There is just speculation that the droid maxx is a world phone and has the bands there for almost everything but they are disabled. They do make a droid maxx Dev version so I can't see them making two different boards with different hardware for each.

seh6183 said:
Yes I realize the networks are different, i don't doubt that. There is just speculation that the droid maxx is a world phone and has the bands there for almost everything but they are disabled. They do make a droid maxx Dev version so I can't see them making two different boards with different hardware for each.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't believe me, check the FCC filings. They use the same boards, but there's more to that in making LTE work on a phone. As we found out with the Nexus 4, it may have the same hardware as the LTE compatible LG Optimus G, but unfortunately was missing the LTE radio hardware components, filters, amplifiers, etc (see Anandtech article). Motorola released several versions of the Moto X with the same boards, but different LTE radios (hence why we have an XT1053, XT1060, XT1058, etc).
Unfortunately, software cannot fix a missing hardware component. The Droid Maxx does not support Band 17 for AT&T, therefore, you are missing a hardware component and will not be able to get AT&T LTE regardless of how many radios you flash.
For further proof, look at the Razr HD forums. They only released one version (XT925) for internationally and we thought we could flash different radios to use abroad only to find out that different regions had different radio hardware (EVEN THOUGH they were all XT925 models). Motorola doesn't play when it comes to hardware.

UserDemos said:
If you don't believe me, check the FCC filings. They use the same boards, but there's more to that in making LTE work on a phone. As we found out with the Nexus 4, it may have the same hardware as the LTE compatible LG Optimus G, but unfortunately was missing the LTE radio hardware components, filters, amplifiers, etc (see Anandtech article). Motorola released several versions of the Moto X with the same boards, but different LTE radios (hence why we have an XT1053, XT1060, XT1058, etc).
Unfortunately, software cannot fix a missing hardware component. The Droid Maxx does not support Band 17 for AT&T, therefore, you are missing a hardware component and will not be able to get AT&T LTE regardless of how many radios you flash.
For further proof, look at the Razr HD forums. They only released one version (XT925) for internationally and we thought we could flash different radios to use abroad only to find out that different regions had different radio hardware (EVEN THOUGH they were all XT925 models). Motorola doesn't play when it comes to hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not trying to say you're wrong, but the Nexus 4 worked on LTE with the proper radio mods. Not sure if the signal levels were different than a phone that was LTE-capable out of the box, though.

freak4dell said:
Not trying to say you're wrong, but the Nexus 4 worked on LTE with the proper radio mods. Not sure if the signal levels were different than a phone that was LTE-capable out of the box, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Nexus 4 only worked on Band 4 (AWS) LTE because it had the radio antenna, but none of the other parts (amplifier, filter, etc). The quality wasn't the same. Plus, people were using it on T-Mobile which has their entire LTE rollout on AWS.
For AT&T, per the original question, the Droid Maxx lacks the hardware for Band 17. For AWS, it is there and a radio mod could work, but you will only get it in like a handful of cities for AT&T as this is not their primary spectrum band.

UserDemos said:
The Nexus 4 only worked on Band 4 (AWS) LTE because it had the radio antenna, but none of the other parts (amplifier, filter, etc). The quality wasn't the same. Plus, people were using it on T-Mobile which has their entire LTE rollout on AWS.
For AT&T, per the original question, the Droid Maxx lacks the hardware for Band 17. For AWS, it is there and a radio mod could work, but you will only get it in like a handful of cities for AT&T as this is not their primary spectrum band.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All I know is that I have full blazing h+ right out of the box on at&t.

So who's going to try flashing TMo radio on the 1058?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

seh6183 said:
All I know is that I have full blazing h+ right out of the box on at&t.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course you would. Let's look at specifications (from the official site at http://www.motorola.com/us/shop-all-mobile-phones/Droid-Maxx/m-droid-maxx.html):
WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100
CDMA 800/1900
GSM 850/900/1800/1900
LTE Band 04/13
First, as a stipulation of the 700 Block auction, all Verizon phones have to be SIM unlocked. Therefore, that's why you can use your AT&T sim and get AT&T HSPA+ out of the box. It clearly says HSPA+ is supported in the specs (WCMDA 850/900/1900/2100). Why? AT&T uses 850 and 1900 for their HSPA+.
But AT&T LTE? Nope. Why? AT&T LTE uses Band 17 mostly, with Bands 2, 4, and 5 to supplement. Let's look back at the specs (LTE Band 04/13). Ouch, that's only 1 of AT&T supplementary LTE bands. Therefore again, you WILL NOT receive AT&T LTE on your Verizon Maxx unless you are in a Band 4 market (which there are a few and they're mostly small cities).
Flashing a radio will not fix the hardware issue of the lack of Band 17 support. Don't believe me? Try it. I've already tried with another Motorola phone in the past to spend lots of wasted time trying to exactly what you're trying.

But is the hardware missing or is it just a matter of software? Xperia T is software, hoping Motor X is the same way.
I'm interested in activating AWS on one of the unlocked models floating around EBay... The Puerto Rican ones.
Sent from my LT30at using Tapatalk 4

UserDemos said:
Of course you would. Let's look at specifications (from the official site at http://www.motorola.com/us/shop-all-mobile-phones/Droid-Maxx/m-droid-maxx.html):
WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100
CDMA 800/1900
GSM 850/900/1800/1900
LTE Band 04/13
First, as a stipulation of the 700 Block auction, all Verizon phones have to be SIM unlocked. Therefore, that's why you can use your AT&T sim and get AT&T HSPA+ out of the box. It clearly says HSPA+ is supported in the specs (WCMDA 850/900/1900/2100). Why? AT&T uses 850 and 1900 for their HSPA+.
But AT&T LTE? Nope. Why? AT&T LTE uses Band 17 mostly, with Bands 2, 4, and 5 to supplement. Let's look back at the specs (LTE Band 04/13). Ouch, that's only 1 of AT&T supplementary LTE bands. Therefore again, you WILL NOT receive AT&T LTE on your Verizon Maxx unless you are in a Band 4 market (which there are a few and they're mostly small cities).
Flashing a radio will not fix the hardware issue of the lack of Band 17 support. Don't believe me? Try it. I've already tried with another Motorola phone in the past to spend lots of wasted time trying to exactly what you're trying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok but this does nothing to tell us about the actual board in the droid maxx. Of course they aren't going to list the bands that the phone isn't capable right out of the box. The nexus 4 was listed as not having LTE even though it actually did. All I'm saying is that the bands may be there even though its stated that they're not. They may just be software locked. The only way to know for sure is by trying different radios to see if they are unlocked.

seh6183 said:
Ok but this does nothing to tell us about the actual board in the droid maxx. Of course they aren't going to list the bands that the phone isn't capable right out of the box. The nexus 4 was listed as not having LTE even though it actually did. All I'm saying is that the bands may be there even though its stated that they're not. They may just be software locked. The only way to know for sure is by trying different radios to see if they are unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking at the Nexus 4, it was missing most of the LTE radio components. They just got lucky. Sloppy workmanship and design on LG's part. Motorola doesn't work like that. Check the FCC filings as they provide all the information about the device. The only thing disabled about the Droid Maxx is AWS LTE which is great for T-Mobile, not AT&T.
This'll be my last post on this one. Go ahead and try to flash radios. Repeat what many of us have tried before with other devices and find out the same thing. Motorola makes variants with custom hardware radios. This is why they get the best reception. They customize them to the carrier that wants it. So the hardware in variants is very specific and precise.
Good luck in your endeavor, but don't expect a miracle.

Any Updates?
I have a SIM unlocked AT&T Customized one, and when putting in my Truphone (TMo MVNO) sim, I am only getting EDGE. Now, Truphone does not use Tmo LTE yet - so I am only concerned with HSPA+...yet I am only getting EDGE. So, wondering if I am in a re-farmed area and would a modem re-flash support HSPA+....has anyone come across this?

yankeeboy73 said:
I have a SIM unlocked AT&T Customized one, and when putting in my Truphone (TMo MVNO) sim, I am only getting EDGE. Now, Truphone does not use Tmo LTE yet - so I am only concerned with HSPA+...yet I am only getting EDGE. So, wondering if I am in a re-farmed area and would a modem re-flash support HSPA+....has anyone come across this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are in a re-farmed area, you should get TMO HSPA+ out of the box, no radio flashing required. What is your area, if I may ask?

Flashing Moto X Radios to get LTE
UserDemos said:
If you are in a re-farmed area, you should get TMO HSPA+ out of the box, no radio flashing required. What is your area, if I may ask?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Finally someone who knows! So much misleading info on this issue. I bought the 1053 to avoid bloat, then the 1060 Dev Ed in hopes of somehow new rom or modem allowing LTE ( on basis radios were all firmware ). But _I believe you_ and will be returning the 1060 ( currently on ATT but would love maximum radios for traveling abroad ). But... would it perhaps be wiser to get the 1058, unlock the bootloader, flash a custom rom, and have clean-ish ATT + more world phone funness? I think I'm just going to stick w my 1053 but would prefer 2 more LTE bands for whatever may come up. Sense?

Axilarry said:
Finally someone who knows! So much misleading info on this issue. I bought the 1053 to avoid bloat, then the 1060 Dev Ed in hopes of somehow new rom or modem allowing LTE ( on basis radios were all firmware ). But _I believe you_ and will be returning the 1060 ( currently on ATT but would love maximum radios for traveling abroad ). But... would it perhaps be wiser to get the 1058, unlock the bootloader, flash a custom rom, and have clean-ish ATT + more world phone funness? I think I'm just going to stick w my 1053 but would prefer 2 more LTE bands for whatever may come up. Sense?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2502161
Sent on my Gummy running Lenoto X

Unlock S5 From Sprint To Tmobile?

I recently got the S5 on sprint and im beyond disappointed with sprints new spark and lte network out here in NY. Im considering going to Tmobile since there lte speeds are crazy good and connection is steady out here. My question is can i get my phone unlocked and bring my sprint version phone over to Tmobile? I was told by a Tmobile rep that my phone would go down to 2g speeds and its not guaranteed to even get lte. Which i find hard to believe since since my phone has the option to also go on GSM/UMTS. Whats your guys thoughts on this?

darknatas said:
I recently got the S5 on sprint and im beyond disappointed with sprints new spark and lte network out here in NY. Im considering going to Tmobile since there lte speeds are crazy good and connection is steady out here. My question is can i get my phone unlocked and bring my sprint version phone over to Tmobile? I was told by a Tmobile rep that my phone would go down to 2g speeds and its not guaranteed to even get lte. Which i find hard to believe since since my phone has the option to also go on GSM/UMTS. Whats your guys thoughts on this?
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Bump

19 25996965
darknatas said:
Bump
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Sprint phones cant work with T-Mobile, Sprint blocks other US GSM carriers from using their phone.
Sprint phones can only be used outside of the states

Vlade12 said:
Sprint phones cant work with T-Mobile, Sprint blocks other US GSM carriers from using their phone.
Sprint phones can only be used outside of the states
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So even if i get the phone unlocked i wont be able to use it on tmobile?

darknatas said:
So even if i get the phone unlocked i wont be able to use it on tmobile?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. Sprint uses different frequency ranges, so unlocked or not it's just not going to communicate.
ATT and T-Mobile work due to the overlap. In fact, for a while there ATT was going to purchase T-Mobile before the FCC put a halt to that.
Glad too as T-Mobile is now shaking up the market and forcing (encouraging?) Verzion and ATT to try and adopt similar measures in order to maintain customer base.

Vlade12 said:
Sprint phones cant work with T-Mobile, Sprint blocks other US GSM carriers from using their phone.
Sprint phones can only be used outside of the states
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont think this is correct. Albeit S5 is a different phone, but I unlocked 4 SPH-L720 S4's from Sprint to Tmobile no problem using the following thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2530610
If S5 could use the same methods, you would get 3G and HSPA+ on the Sprint S5 using a TMobile SIM.
I was able to get LTE using a TMobile SIM on a Sprint S4 by using DFS to edit the NV to enable AWS 1700 LTE Band in NV items, then flashing the TMobile HOS and MODEM bin files - along with copying the *ril*.so libraries to the system/lib directory. This ultimately allowed me to select the LTE/WCDMA/GSM option in Mobile Networks.
Not many people know about this but I found it in an i337 thread on how to unlock AWS on a S4.

bcas9472 said:
I dont think this is correct. Albeit S5 is a different phone, but I unlocked 4 SPH-L720 S4's from Sprint to Tmobile no problem using the following thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2530610
If S5 could use the same methods, you would get 3G and HSPA+ on the Sprint S5 using a TMobile SIM.
I was able to get LTE using a TMobile SIM on a Sprint S4 by using DFS to edit the NV to enable AWS 1700 LTE Band in NV items, then flashing the TMobile HOS and MODEM bin files - along with copying the *ril*.so libraries to the system/lib directory. This ultimately allowed me to select the LTE/WCDMA/GSM option in Mobile Networks.
Not many people know about this but I found it in an i337 thread on how to unlock AWS on a S4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you can get full speeds on gsm networks with the sprint version? in the US or out?
Is that right?

bcas9472 said:
I dont think this is correct. Albeit S5 is a different phone, but I unlocked 4 SPH-L720 S4's from Sprint to Tmobile no problem using the following thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2530610
If S5 could use the same methods, you would get 3G and HSPA+ on the Sprint S5 using a TMobile SIM.
I was able to get LTE using a TMobile SIM on a Sprint S4 by using DFS to edit the NV to enable AWS 1700 LTE Band in NV items, then flashing the TMobile HOS and MODEM bin files - along with copying the *ril*.so libraries to the system/lib directory. This ultimately allowed me to select the LTE/WCDMA/GSM option in Mobile Networks.
Not many people know about this but I found it in an i337 thread on how to unlock AWS on a S4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has anyone comfermed this? To my knowledge the Sprint/Verizon phones are not cross compatable with AT&T and T-mobile. Some verizon phones are the exception but basicily its a no go from CDMA phone to GSM tech.

confirm
i can confirm the sprint s4 does work on tmobile with a bit of editing and following the gsm domestic tutorial on xda, however this part about the modem.bin and hlos isnt confirmed and i have done this and ended up hard bricking my devices and had to jtag to repair them. ive tried many times and always bricked so i say no go.
this forum is for the sprint s5 and i would hope we can find a loophole to get it gsm unlocked. any ideas? ive tried a few things but no luck

Theres alot of incorrect information here. The latest Sprint phones using sim cards ARE ABLE to use T-Mobile and AT&T as long as GSM is in the hardware. I dont own the S5 but for those blinding others with frequency talk I'm tired of seeing, read it and weep:
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=4408
Sprint S5 supports GSM. Now of course no LTE on T-Mobile due to the lack of the 1700 frequency,
but your 4G will be fine. Depending on where you live, you may not even care about LTE over 4G.
Sure, Sprint locks the darn thing up to avoid it getting into the hands of other domestic carriers, but
just as the Sprint Note 3 and my Sprint LG G2, a workaround has been invented. For the G2 it was as
"borrowing" the stock T-Mobile LG G2 firmware and tweaking it to boot up on our LS980. We have
about 3 different tastes of working unlocked roms, not only sticking to T-Mobile, but other carriers
reported working such as Metro PCS and AT&T. So my guess is that the S5 may need a similar
treatment, nobody wants Sprint honestly. The first 14 days (brought in my own LG Optimus G LS970)
I was with them service was glorious here in NYC. But after the 14 day "trial period" ended I was
DAMNED into horrible service, constant 3G instead of 4G, etc. Thanks to refusing to make payments
due to the disgusting service, my GS4's IMEI is basically crap, so I sold it in the same week I got it.
I should have never swapped it out for the LG OG...
Honestly, I'll thank every OP I see that "unlocks" the Sprint version of any phone for domestic GSM
use. Their silly Sprint Spark is useless, why introduce something new when they dont even have full
4G coverage here in the USA? And their agents sound like "AI" controlled cyborgs: "Oh we're sorry to
hear that, your zone is scheduled to be recieving 4G soon." Yeah right. I feel sorry for those who suffer
in other states.
ANYWAYS sorry for drifting off topic. The recap here is that the Sprint S5 IS capable of domestic GSM with some modding.
And also that I hate Sprint.

Any Updates on this
Does anyone have any news on this? I have a S5 from sprint and want to use it with tmobile or other gsm carrier. any1 have any updates on the UCCI deal i read about somewhere? I have the spc phone is rooted what do i need to do? cant bring up the service menu to change things there.. kind a lost pls help

..

lease has anyone found a solution for enabling aws bands on galaxy s5? i have the at&t active version unlocked and rooted using on tmobile but i get only edge :/

What is the verdict? Is there anyone who knows you can use it on any network? I am getting mine tomorrow and am unlocking it. Is there a way to test if they will work on any network? I have many sim cards from diff carriers.

..

unlock sprint

..

impossible

fffft said:
There have been a lot of threads about this, so clearly few are even bothering to search the forum for existing threads and the wealth of information in them.
Sprint is a CDMA system like Verizon & USC. CDMA per se is incompatible with GSM, which is what most of the world uses. The Sprint S5 only supports some of the most common GSM frequency bands and moreover will have a locked bootloader and SIM.
Sprint will not unlock the SIM (actually SPC code) to allow using it with other domestic carriers. You can find third party vendors that will "SPC unlock" your Sprint phone. But then you will find that Sprint's S5 won't support any of the LTE bands on other CDMA or GSM carriers and misses some GSM bands too.
Nor can you use custom ROMs, kernels or recoveries in the normal manner due to the locked bootloader. You could probably use the Verizon Safestrap method to emulate a limited palette of custom ROMs, but you would have to do your due dilligence there and look into the details.
In short, if you jump through enough hoops, you can use a Sprint S5 on another carrier like TMobile. But it will always be marginal. You won't get LTE data speeds, you will see more congestion than those using native handsets, due to your reduced number of bands. And you may have no coverage at all in some fringe areas served by a TMB band that your handset doesn't have.
.
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Click to collapse
What in the heck? Who fed you this bologna? Do you work for Sprint? Cause I have various complaints for you if you do. My SPRINT G2 running a T-Mobile G2 stock rom which is unlocked DOMESTICALLY works perfectly fine with T-Mobile's 4G. I don't think many people care about LTE, getting off of Sprint alone is a huge leap for mankind (in this case G900P owners). And as it was mentioned, there are ways to get that nice LTE band for various devices with simple mods, problem is that it is NOT widely recognized yet and very few people know that the possibility exists because of various misleading posts that "its all in the hardware" and fingers being pointed at Qualcomm's techniques. Yes there is a possibility for a domestic unlock, sure there might not be LTE for it, but most people will be content with the fact that they can use their expensive locked down phone with another carrier. Honesty Sprint devices would be better off being sold for less than carriers that actually DO allow domestic unlocks. Why do we pay over half a "K" for a phone that in reality we do not completely have full rights over? Why do other carriers alow domestic unlocks and Sprint wants to be greedy and lock in all of their customers with shady contracts and decieving bills?
Thats why many of us including myself would be beyond grateful if we even get some 3G with another carrier. We have CDMA capabilities, we have GSM capabilities, all we need is some sort of domestic unlock.
There is NO third party unlock code of any sorts that will unlock a phone that is unlocked OTA. Check around for many posts from various foreign users who have gotten stuck with a useless Galaxy S5 that can only be used with wifi thanks to Sprint. Is it their fault? No. It is purely Sprint's fault for being so damn greedy. Thankfully I am hearing news that by February of 2015 all devices will be GSM and have the capabilities to be unlocked for domestic use.
Custom roms, honestly most of us are just unsatisfied with the average and like to go to the unique side. But is Cyanogenmod going to allow us to use Air Gestures and all the other cool features of the S5? Not really. Custom kernels would be nice, but many people only seek then in order to overclock their device, which this device is in particular really doesn't need any more added power (or battery drain) than it already has. Optimization tweaks might be worth it but I dont see it helping. If someone could fix the delayed multitasking transitions (switching from one app to the other at times is delayed a second or two) or the crashing browser without custom roms or kernels, then it is best not to waste time on the development of such things. But then again there are those who prefer stock android in combination with other features such as the AMOLED screen technology, but it is best to look for another device.

Any way to switch from Verizon to AT&T using the same phone

After moving to a new location my Note 4 has very bad service using Verizon. AT&T told me that i would need to buy a new phone in order to use there service. Is there any way around this. My phone is only 9Mos,. old.

Anyone Thanks.

420benz said:
After moving to a new location my Note 4 has very bad service using Verizon. AT&T told me that i would need to buy a new phone in order to use there service. Is there any way around this. My phone is only 9Mos,. old.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T currently utilizes Band 2(1900 MHz), 4(1700MHz), 5(800MHz) and 17(700MHz) for its wireless service. Not all bands are present in all areas, so please contact AT&T support to find out which bands are being utilized in your specific area.
SM-N910V, Verizon Galaxy Note 4, is unlocked out of the box and supports band 2, 4 operations; therefore yes you may use it on AT&T. Just keep in mind, once again, you will not receive any service if band 2 or band 4 are not present in your area.
Also, you may here from some people that Verizon is a CDMA carrier and AT&T is GSM carrier. Many will inform you that you will not be able to use the device because two carriers are using different protocols, however all wireless services are compatible with each other. This is exactly how your device operates overseas when you are roaming. Only difference making here is the radio frequency that you phone can receive. If your phone supports the frequency, you can use it.

sm-g935f does it work with verizon ??

Can anyone tell me if this will work on verizon carrier ? Don't want the locked down verison

I'm pretty sure the International (GM935F) version does NOT support Verizon's CDMA.

Verizon and sprint are the only reason USA doesn't have the faster exynos processor.
Sent from my Star-Tac

Use the following site to check
http://willmyphonework.net
according to this site you should get 4g LTE, but does not work on 2G or 3G
full spec of samsung model is here
http://www.samsung.com/uk/business/business-products/smartphones/smartphones/SM-G935FZKABTU
also note the foot note at the bottom of the results from http://willmyphonework.net,
******
"How To Interpret The Results
When performing a search, you will be presented with three networks: 2G, 3G, and 4G LTE.
For the technical savvy, we have included the network frequencies that match between the mobile device and the network carrier. Also, we consider HSPA+ to be 3G.
Note: Will My Phone Work assumes that your device is unlocked or allowed to be run on the desired mobile network. Certain carriers such as Verizon USA have an "approved list" of devices. This means that although the phone is compatible with the carrier's network frequencies, the device is blocked. Also, some carriers make frequencies/bands available only to specific geographical regions."
********

Has anyone confirmed this?
5teve0 said:
Use the following site to check
http://willmyphonework.net
according to this site you should get 4g LTE, but does not work on 2G or 3G
full spec of samsung model is here
http://www.samsung.com/uk/business/business-products/smartphones/smartphones/SM-G935FZKABTU
also note the foot note at the bottom of the results from http://willmyphonework.net,
******
"How To Interpret The Results
When performing a search, you will be presented with three networks: 2G, 3G, and 4G LTE.
For the technical savvy, we have included the network frequencies that match between the mobile device and the network carrier. Also, we consider HSPA+ to be 3G.
Note: Will My Phone Work assumes that your device is unlocked or allowed to be run on the desired mobile network. Certain carriers such as Verizon USA have an "approved list" of devices. This means that although the phone is compatible with the carrier's network frequencies, the device is blocked. Also, some carriers make frequencies/bands available only to specific geographical regions."
********
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I'm also interested in this. I'm thinking of buying a G935F so I can root and have complete control over the recovery and ROMs.
I assumed the international (global) variant would support everything. My Galaxy S5 works everywhere including the US and also drops to 3G if necessary on Verizon. The ultimate question is, if I buy a G935F, can I make/receive calls, texts/mms, and get data using a Verizon SIM card? If I'm in a fringe area and it drops 4G, what will happen? Will it just have no service? I have to think it would support 3G/2G. If a person from Europe comes to the US with the G935F and uses a verizon SIM or is in a verizon only area, they would be screwed.
Again, I would think it should just work, no?

It will not work on Verizon because
1. Verizon relies on using the outdated CDMA standard so you can't connect to their "3G" network.
2. Verizon uses non standard version of the VoLTE IMS (so does T-Mobile it seems), so you can't place calls over LTE even if you flash a VoLTE enabled firmware on your GS7
3. Verizon as a carrier is a control freak that doesn't let its costumers use devices that have not been "approved" by their services, therefore, your devices' IMEI have to be white-listed in order to connect to their network.

mathieulh said:
It will not work on Verizon because
1. Verizon relies on using the outdated CDMA standard so you can't connect to their "3G" network.
2. Verizon uses non standard version of the VoLTE IMS (so does T-Mobile it seems), so you can't place calls over LTE even if you flash a VoLTE enabled firmware on your GS7
3. Verizon as a carrier is a control freak that doesn't let its costumers use devices that have not been "approved" by their services, therefore, your devices' IMEI have to be white-listed in order to connect to their network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Already started the process of moving to AT&T...waiting on my work to confirm it. I hope Verizon reads this. It would have been some much simpler if they just unlocked their bootloader and didn't put a ton of crap (bloat) on their stock ROM...then they would have retained this customer.

I was considering the G935FD (dual sim) since my personal phone is AT&T and my work phone is Verizon. I want to consolidate to a single phone. Honestly I only need Verizon for calls and text, not even data, since my AT&T is unlimited. Looks like the international S7 Edge support Verizon's primary LTE band 13 which would technically work for data, but won't connect to their CDMA calling network according to mathieulh.. Now here's the kicker.. the new ZTE Axon 7 is supposedly compatible with Sprint and Verizon, AND it's a dual SIM phone. I know Verizon has to give the final "okay" to have a device activate on their network, but looking at the specs between the Axon 7 and the G935FD (dual sim S7 Edge) on GSMArena, there are essentially NO DIFFERENCES between 2G/3G/4G(LTE) bands between the two devices. The only difference I really see is Cat 6 LTE (300/50Mbps) on the Axon 7 and Cat 9 LTE (450/50Mbps) on the S7 Edge.
Can anyone clear this up? ZTE is literally saying their Axon 7 will work on Verizon, with essentially the same network specs as the S7 Edge international... there MUST be some major defining issue with using the Exynos vs Qualcomm processor when it comes to CDMA connectivity, but I still can't see a spec difference online.

G930f won't work on Verizon
Hey guys so I see this last post is from almost 3 years ago but I like the s7 and I have verizon. I don't like the Verizon variant of the s7 and wanted to try this one, the g930f because it had the same bands for LTE that verizon uses. I thought I could just use Google voice and make calls with data. I've been messing around with it for a few days now and I'm using a pre-registered sim from a Motorola that I bought from Verizon. I cannot get it to register even with data alone. I've tried removing all AP names and then creating several different AP names using Verizon settings. It's a no-go. I'm getting the g930u.
Thank you for reading. Maybe you know a workaround?

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