Once again, I'm completely in shock at how stupid it is to have so many different frequencies and modes for cell phones. I thought I had a global phone (at least for 3g and 2g), but turns out I don't, because this thing doesn't support 1700mhz AWS.
Now since I don't follow xda every day, there are some questions I don't quite understand despite reading all the related threads but without reading every single page and every little discussion:
1. Is it possible to unlock it? Does the Snapdragon 800 series SoC have every single frequency?
2.There is this service mode, whatever menu you can get to by dialing special code on the numeric pad, I know. But does it do anything and can you unlock new bands with this instead of the 5 different softwares you need to use in the other method?
Related
Hi guys, I don't know if this is a basic question but I have to ask it since I haven't find an answer yet...
Can I modify the HSDPA/UMTS band via ROM or SPL update?
I bougth a HTC T-mobile myTouch (1700/2100 MHz bands, UMTS/HSDPA) but later I realized that here in CHILE my provider uses the 850/1900 band for 3g .
So, can I do somethig to make it work here or is it a matter of hardware?
Thanks
birutilla said:
Hi guys, I don't know if this is a basic question but I have to ask it since I haven't find an answer yet...
Can I modify the HSDPA/UMTS band via ROM or SPL update?
I bougth a HTC T-mobile myTouch (1700/2100 MHz bands, UMTS/HSDPA) but later I realized that here in CHILE my provider uses the 850/1900 band for 3g .
So, can I do somethig to make it work here or is it a matter of hardware?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No you cant change ur radio bands with software, its a hardware issue and im afraid your stuck with what you got, even flashing a new radio wont change things . . . sorry
it's too different versions of the qualcomm cpu's which makes the band difference
it's hardcoded inside the cpu
You should have bought the Canadian/Rogers version of the phone.
Fvcking HTC builds 3 versions of the phone (mytouch, rest of world, Canada) and people like you and me get fvcked. We have to pay an extra $150 to get the canadian version.
Let it be a lesson: do NOT buy HTC! Acer, Dell, Apple ... they all build phones that work everywhere. NOT HTC.
Rudegar said:
it's too different versions of the qualcomm cpu's which makes the band difference
it's hardcoded inside the cpu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually the CPU (Qualcomm MSM7201a) is capable of supporting five different UMTS frequency bands, however only three at once. Those bands again are indeed preset by the built-in RF chips, so there is no chance of changing frequencies.
Here's the datasheet of the MSM7200 (identical to the MSM7201a in terms of RF support) with an overview of possible RF chip configurations at the bottom of page 3: http://www.ent.eet-china.com/PDF/2007FEB/DTCOL_2007FEB15_AVDE_RFR_AN_01.pdf
inquisitor said:
Actually the CPU (Qualcomm MSM7201a) is capable of supporting five different UMTS frequency bands, however only three at once. Those bands again are indeed preset by the built-in RF chips, so there is no chance of changing frequencies.
Here's the datasheet of the MSM7200 (identical to the MSM7201a in terms of RF support) with an overview of possible RF chip configurations at the bottom of page 3: http://www.ent.eet-china.com/PDF/2007FEB/DTCOL_2007FEB15_AVDE_RFR_AN_01.pdf
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whether a specific band is supported or not in a particular RF topology also depends on the type of RF amplifiers coupled with the baseband IC. Traditionally HTC has been using universal amplifiers for 2G/2.5G hence all recent phones support GSM/GPRS/EDGE on any frequencies. Due to Qualcomm vs. Broadcomm patent lawsuits, they had to stop using universal amplifiers for 3G around 2006, hence most modern phones only support WCDMA/UMTS frequencies that they have individual amplifiers for.
I think it's not HTC specific, any vendors using Qualcomm MSM basebands are doing this as well. So the bottomline is - in most cases it's a hardware issue. In some rare cases (when universal or multi-frequency WCDMA amplifier is installed) frequencies are disabled in software. I can't recall any HTC device that would have this kind of software only limitation.
Wow Very informational posts
Thanks Guys!!!
Hey I'm an old (ancient pre-Intel <BG>) micro hacker
but fairly new to phones. I'm currently very happy with
my cooked AT&T Pure/TopAz with the Tess Leo 1 Rom
I've had most every model of HP IpAQ upto the 4700s
So the PPC side is pretty comfortable for me.
I'm an old programmer with EE background
But really ready to try and get my teeth into the radio side
of phones just trying to understand enough to make some
resonable qualitative and quantitative benchmarks on some these radios
Maybe more to the point is understand if so and so's great looking nice
new task bar should and is properly displaying "3G" or "H" or ?)
But its been hard sorting the Euro vs US and GSM vs CMRS
Phone info.
Can anyone suggest a good "newbie guide" ? or any source of info
(I kinda hate the term "for dummies" but.... )
to the radio end, signal strength, band, networks etc ?
Sorry if this has been asked a million times or its only "two posts" away
but the amount of info here is great! but the s/n is NOT so great <BG>
Thanks Alot
Kenn Lynch
Hey is there a spell checker in this xda forum?
my apologies
I love my phone
if you are on a pc most internet browsers these days got their own spellchecker
Spell check thanks
You know its amazing what some people consider "most" Web Browsers
I was thinking "largest" web browser (Internet Explorer 8.XX on XP)
Spell checking is not natively included, so all my checking has been with
local docs or remotely using the web pages own checker for web based mail and forums.
So I started thinking no wonder this guys name starts with "Rude"
But I looked around and there is a free plug-in for IE called ieSpell.
I seldom bother with the other browsers so I can't say if
spell checking is included right "out of the box" in them either.
but I just installed ieSpell here and it hyphenated "plug-in" nice and easy
Thanks
when you are right you are right
Guess you can teach and old dog <BG>
KJL
Is there some where to find extended details about the cellular radios found in the Epic? I'm looking for technical style details, not the basic info found everywhere.
Basically what are the components, software control, specifications, etc....
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas...lledFromFrame=N&application_id=566932&fcc_id=
and select "rf exposure info 1"
that may have some info for you. before they get to the tests, they lay out a lot of details regarding the cdma and wimax radios.
I've already read that info. That's more on testing it, not so much about what it is and how it works.
are you looking specifically for the epic radio or cdma radio specs in general? ive got some hard documents concerning the latter but i would have to scan them and upload them somewhere.
Its CDMA radio, how it's controlled, method of frequency generation, ACTUAL frequency capability, etc...
Just about every cell phone is capable of far more frequencies than just those we use in the US. Motorola's phones are capable of all freqs used world wide, but are usually software controlled depending on the region they're in. I'm interested in the CDMA radio, who makes it, what is it, etc....
NoSoMo said:
Its CDMA radio, how it's controlled, method of frequency generation, ACTUAL frequency capability, etc...
Just about every cell phone is capable of far more frequencies than just those we use in the US. Motorola's phones are capable of all freqs used world wide, but are usually software controlled depending on the region they're in. I'm interested in the CDMA radio, who makes it, what is it, etc....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not entirely.
The phones still need front end band pass filters to tune the specific range of frequencies required. The phones aren't true Software Defined Radios. You can't just magically tune to 1300Mhz if you wanted.
When they talk about making separate phones for AT&T and T-Mobile, they really do have to modify the hardware.
The radios in the Epics are made by Qualcomm. They are the hardest company to get documentation for next to Broadcom.
I was hoping to be able to find if they can do CDMA on 806-821MHz and 851-866. I know they work @ 824MHz+
Hi guys, i have an S5 bought unlocked in belgium, europe. I had 4G in europe but in the United States it only receives H+. I checked the supported bandwidths with tmobile usa, two of the bands tmobile uses are in fact also supported by my phone (1800 & 1900) yet still it doesnt work. APN setting are already checked and confirmed correct. Sim card is brand new.
Since it still doesn't work, is there a way to flash a USA rom or upgrade something technical so i can get 4G? I would hate to have to buy a new phone again, i just bought this 4weeks ago thinking it would work globally
Thanks again for recommending the best possible option for me at this point...
Most of your questions here were posed and answered in your other thread.
Your 900F model phone is intended for use in a different country. TMobile uses a 900T model. The main difference between the two is that they support a different set of frequency bands. So just like roaming you could use your 900F phone on TMB, but there will be gaps in coverage. You will be subject to more congestion and dropped calls. And in smaller centers where a limited number of frequencies are in use, you may have no coverage at all.
If you never get LTE in a major center on your unlocked 900F, the first thing to check is that you have a LTE capable SIM and that your carrier i.e. TMB has provisioned your account for LTE. And try installing the latest version of firmware for your phone.
No, you cannot simply flash a 900T firmware onto a 900F and have it transform into the other model. By design, Samsung doesn't allow this (to sell more phones and deter carrier churn). There is a hack to add the AWS band to some models. And several threads endeavoring to expand upon that. However they are nascent and would be best described as experimental, dangerous (a good chance of damaging your phone) and with uncertain results as of this date.
Unless you want to put your phone at risk to be a guinea pig, your options are to live with the imperfect coverage or buy a 900T model.
If you want to take a risk, then have a look at this thread. And here. Basically you could use QPST or mzTools 1.21.a to format an edit NV_RF_BC_CONFIG_l to enable additional LTE bands. Enable the parameters with QXDM, then do the actual write with QPST. And /or try writing a raw image of an LTE enabled variant e.g. 900T baseband to your 900F modem partition with the dd utility. This is experimental. It may do what you want or it may brick your phone.
.
ignore - double post
4G 900F in USA
Oké so turns out i am getting 4G just not LTE because of the state i am in. Thanks for trying but what i initially said was correct all S5s are global capable of 4G, just state dependant on the LTE band...
fffft said:
There is a hack to add the AWS band to some models. And several threads endeavoring to expand upon that. However they are nascent and would be best described as experimental, dangerous (a good chance of damaging your phone) and with uncertain results as of this date..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not quite true. The chance of damaging the phone is extremely small if you follow the instructions.
The thread to unlock all GSM and LTE bands is here.
..
fffft said:
It is true when I'm not quoted out of context. And especially funny that you link to that particular thread to .. prove me wrong?
You didn't realize that the thread you linked to was also authored by me. Funny stuff.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How exactly is that out of context? What important piece of information did I leave out to distort your words? Call bs on that. But yeah I didn't notice that it was your thread I linked to , good job on that thread. :good:
Guys,
Is it sufficient to select right bands in LG G2 Service menu 3845#*801# to make it work overseas?
Or only modem/radio firmware flash can switch bands?
I do know, the carrier I want to use phone with has different bands, than TMO in US.
And I do see these bands in service menu on my LG.
I guess, it’s probably a lame question, everybody knows an answer to, so it kinda difficult to google out…
To mods: I’m not even sure, if this question right for Troubleshooting section...
The g2 variants have different modems, 3G bands are universal, 4G not.
_____________________________________Read more write less and be smart
siggey said:
The g2 variants have different modems, 3G bands are universal, 4G not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok. Could you clarify a bit, please?
On mine 801, LTE Band selection menu shows way more bands, than 801 officially supports.
Does 801 really support all of them?
Do "g2 variants" with different modems (i.e. different hardware) show different set of bands (and really support them all as well)?
And this one too:
"3G bands are universal, 4G not"
Do you mean 4G same freq. bands (in different countries) are in fact different in something else (encoding or whatever)?
siggey said:
Read more write less and be smart
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I’d really appreciate, if you can point where I can read about it myself.
Thank you!
I mean that there are hardware limitations and the modem (hardware) is different from one country to another, so from one variant to another. In service menu you can see a lot of things but you cant change nothing in frq selection. You can use your phone all over the world in 3G (gsm umts) mode but not in 4G (lte) mode.
_____________________________________Read more write less and be smart
siggey said:
I mean that there are hardware limitations and the modem (hardware) is different from one country to another, so from one variant to another. In service menu you can see a lot of things but you cant change nothing in frq selection. You can use your phone all over the world in 3G (gsm umts) mode but not in 4G (lte) mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sense…
I do remember some sort of discussions about changing frequencies via flushing different modem firmware. Tho, not even sure, which phone it was about. I guess, could be possible if hardware supports it.
From the other hand, it might be cheaper for manufacturer to solder preprogrammed chip/module to support fixed set of bands…
Thank again!
And differents antennas
_____________________________________Read more write less and be smart
I read older Post about adding/turning on more frequency bands on Samsung S5 Qualcomm phones. Is there more frequency bands available on international s7 edge (Exynos) and how to turn them on?
as far as I am aware, radios are a hardware thing, and therefore it is not and would not be possible. Maybe someone else has a different answer. It would be great if they did, so that I could use my Korean S& Edge in the US if I ever go back. I have used it on AT&T when visiting the states, I just get a prepay sim card, I can make calls fine, and even use data but AT&T 4G/LTE are on different frequencies than my phone has.
This was the original post I came across about activating other frequency bands. There other sites I came across for other phone manufacturers. One thing they have in common is Qualcomm chips. My phone is exynos. It would be great to activate other frequency bands if they are available because I travel internationally. Something that I would even pay for possibly. Having the international s7 does get me the most common frequency compatibility in most areas, but then I find reception is poor in alot of cases because I only have partial compatibility in most cases instead of best compatibility in one country. Compromise I suppose and lesson learned.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/general/how-to-add-rf-lte-frequency-bands-to-t2886059
same boat
sorry to add to a dead topic,
i'm in the same situation with an international galaxy s7,
exynos.
coverage is about 60%
expensive lesson i guess.
no one else has any othei possible answers?
Ed