Hello,
Random thought here but a good one. I am an electronic technician and I'm a little into Android but super into it like I used to be due to time constraints these days.
What I am asking is, is it possible, and I don't mean physically, I can do that already. I mean software wise to change the chip used to pick up certain signal bands with another one that picks up different signal bands and use a phone with a different carrier? Or is there some sort of programming specific to each phone that is tailored to use those specific bands for communication? Or does Android just handle data and texting the same across all phones?
Thank you for answering.
@BlueForce64
SIM cards allow your phone to work on a specific carrier's network, such as Verizon or AT&T. Hence technically seen it's the carrier who owns the phone. And: It 's the carrier who decides which band is used, it's NOT Android.
In order to use a SIM card from a carrier that's different than your current one, your phone must be carrier unlocked.
No, that's not what I mean. I mean on the circuit board, if I changed the Qualcomm band chip that your phone uses to pick up those specific bands, can you use the phone with a different carrier if I removed the one for let's say, Verizon, and swapped it with a Qualcomm chip that can pick up the t mobile bands.
As I said, I am an electronic technician. I work on military, space, medical and other electronics on a component level. I have access to a wide range of professional soldering/desoldering equipment. I change 144 pin FPGA's, ball grid array chips, surface mount components on a daily basis.
What I am referring to is the components on this link. Specifically steps 8 and 9 where it highlights which components are which.
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+S9+Teardown/104322
I have the ability to change any of these chips with my profession and wondering that if I were to change them, can I bring any phone to any carrier if I know which version of which Qualcomm communication chips are used for which carrier.
Related
Hi everyone, love the site
Due to fortunate (and cheap) circumstances I am now the owner of two XDA/Wallaby/Qtek 1010 devices.
After much playing, I got to wondering if it was possible to modify these devices so they communicate directly with each other rather than using the existing (vodafone NZ) GSM network. I assume it would at least require modification of the radio stack ROM, if it is even possible. I guess the existing functions provided by the radio stack to the OS would be restricted to specific network related operations.
Does anyone have any further information about this, or modification of the radio stack? Also what are the risks? I understand that the wallaby is pretty resilient to permanant breakage through dodgy flash writes etc.
BTW if this sort of modification is illegal due to frequency licencing etc, then I am asking about this in a purely hypothetical sense
as far as i know it's supported by all of gsm pda's
when one setup a connection
one pick cellline rather then grps
ppl who have an isp which dont use grps
use it that way
of cause for 2 devices it would require software to work
where one acted server and the other client
like the good old seriel cable connection between 2 pc's
whoops, I mean without any celluar network involvement at all, just device to device communication over the cell phone radio of the devices. Pretty strange idea I know, but would it be possible?
if they used the 900/1800/1900 Frequiencys it would be illegal as it would interupt other devices in the area from being able to reach their gsm antennas
hmm damn there goes that idea. Such potential for long range comms too!
Hey all,
I know the question of whether verizon 4g phones are able to be used on global networks has been asked before, but I'm interested in the how. How is it that carriers are able to lock phones into using carrier-specific SIMs? Say, for example, I want to take a locked phone overseas and use a foreign SIM in my phone...my understanding is that with most of Verizon's offerrings (and ones from other carriers for that matter) this isn't a possibility because they have locked the phone to only be able to use their specific SIM.
My question is: Does anyone know how this is implemented? Is it hardware? Because it seems that as long as 1. a phone has the right combination of metal-on-silicon, and 2. the software has the ability to access that hardware, this shouldn't be an issue - especially on phones with unlocked bootloaders. The ability to interrupt any carrier specific processes through changing the kernel and OS on the phone seems like it should be sufficient to "unlock" the device. However, it seems like this is not the case. Can anyone shed light on this?
Tom
Oops. Sorry for missing the [Q].
i have a Droid DNA, s-off, bootloader unlocked, super cid and custom 4.4.2 with sense 6.0. i have 4G on my other phone (HTC One M7) and want to use my sim in the droid. i only get 3G. what can i do to connect to 4G?
It probably doesn't have the bands for your providers 4g
The only LTE band enabled by default on the Droid DNA is band 13.
You will have to enable the other bands to make it work.
1.) Install original factory ROM (You could use another ROM but I don't know how to get to Diagnostic mode in others such as CM11).
2.) Install a custom kernel. I has to be created from source, not stock.
3.) Download and install QPST and QXDM.
4.) Plug in phone, let it install the drivers
5.) Type: ##3424# and then hit send, let it install all drivers. This will take a while, ensure it completes before attempting to continue.
6.) Open a file browser and navigate to the "C:/Program Files/Qualcomm/QPST/bin" folder, and start the program "QPSTConfig.exe" (run as administrator by right clicking).
7.) I had two devices listed under the "ports" tab. Only one mentioned an ESN, it was the SURF9615.
Note: If it isn't showing up already under the "ports" tab, go to "Add New Port". Select the one that has 9k in it. You may have to untick "Show serial USB/QC Diagnostic ports only" to see it.
8.) (OPTIONAL, ***But highly recommended***) Now select the QPST Start Clients > Software download > Backup > Start. This saves a backup copy of your phone's stock NV memory to your computer in case you need it later. (I would also recommend that you write down the original values before you make any changes.)
9.) Again in the QPST Configuration program, go to the "Start clients" tab. Start "Service Programming" program. Select to load your device. Then click "read from device". This will send your SPC program code, which should be 000000. This will allow the next program to work.
10.) Next, run QXDM Professional (again, right click and run as administrator).
11.) Change the "view" tab to "NV Browser".
12.) Go to the communications tab in the menu of QXDM and tick the line that lists your device. Under "Target Port", make sure it lists the COM for the device that mentioned 9k earlier.
13.) Once it has loaded the NV items, go to the line 06828 and click "read".
14.) Click once in the box with the current value (should be 4096), and then edit it to be 0. Then, tell QXDM to "write" the value by clicking that box at the bottom right of the program.
15.) You may now click the box again and change this line to reflect whatever band(s) you want to enable.
Now, do the same for 06829.
Tip: You can calculate your own values for this or download the program called "Qualcomm NV Calculator" (It is free). If you use this program, you will use the LTE Bands Calculation tab. You will need to go to the menu in the top right corner and select "LTE Bands Calculation" and tell it that you want to "Use QXDM Notation" in order to get the right values. Enter the decimal result for the 6828 & 6829 values.
Reboot your phone. It should now have whatever bands you have selected enabled.
I know this looks tedious but literally takes about 30 seconds after doing it a few times.
Note: Other programs that you may find useful are "LTE Discovery" and "Network Diagnostics".
did it a 100 times.. with all the band combinations that i could get out of that program.. still not getting 4G signal.. so i think i won't be able to use 4G.. will stick to the 3G. by the way the bands for Romania are : 3,7,20. in NV the code is : 524356
cabasse_tronic said:
did it a 100 times.. with all the band combinations that i could get out of that program.. still not getting 4G signal.. so i think i won't be able to use 4G.. will stick to the 3G. by the way the bands for Romania are : 3,7,20. in NV the code is : 524356
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to hear that it didn't work. Many qualcomm devices are capable of all bands, but it is possible the DNA is not. I did notice on my device that 4G seems to be disabled altogether when I did this on Verizon. So, maybe there is something I've missed.
maybe we are doing something wrong.. i see that more Qualcomm phones are able to see more lte bands (see oneplus one).. so maybe if we use a CM ROM?? i guess it could be ok, because in Diag (*#*#4636#*#*) after selecting LTE it goes back to WCDMA in a flash.. after unlocking all bands when i select LTE is says no service.. so who knows.
The 4G radio in Verizon phones is drastically different as the frequency is different. It isn't AWS like a majority of other 4G radios. Sadly it might never work without changing the hardware out which will cause major issues.
Sent from my HTC6500LVWBLU using XDA Free mobile app
Uzephi said:
The 4G radio in Verizon phones is drastically different as the frequency is different. It isn't AWS like a majority of other 4G radios. Sadly it might never work without changing the hardware out which will cause major issues.
Sent from my HTC6500LVWBLU using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This may not be completely accurate. This method has been used on several devices it would appear: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2291589
Also, if you look down in this post, it appears that some phones require you to manually select that you want to activate the bands by dialing *#2263# (or some variation of this) and then selecting the bands that are desired: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1547114
It may* work on the DNA. In the end, this may be a hardware related issue, but is is likely just a software related one (I believe). I honestly believe this is essentially the same hardware as the Butterfly with different radios and software. It is fully capable of using the bands you are wanting. However, this is just my theory and remains to be proven.
neatojones said:
This may not be completely accurate. This method has been used on several devices it would appear: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2291589
Also, if you look down in this post, it appears that some phones require you to manually select that you want to activate the bands by dialing *#2263# (or some variation of this) and then selecting the bands that are desired: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1547114
It may* work on the DNA. In the end, this may be a hardware related issue, but is is likely just a software related one (I believe). I honestly believe this is essentially the same hardware as the Butterfly with different radios and software. It is fully capable of using the bands you are wanting. However, this is just my theory and remains to be proven.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those aren't Verizon variants. Those are phones that were built with AWS in mind. The DNA is a CDMA phone with a few GSM bands built into it because Verizon told HTC they wanted a global phone and told them the bands they wanted and the ones they wanted excluded from the phone. There have been ex DNA and ex Rezound (another HTC global phone for Verizon) users who have tried for quite awhile in trying to get these "magical hidden" radios to work and it all came down to that they aren't there in these variants.
You can search and dig up old DNA and rezound threads from years ago and see the amount of work done.
Edit: Checked the old threads. The GSM bands for the DNA is as below. It doesn't support the 1700/2100 (ul/dl scheme) of AWS LTE as it is missing the 1700 in its radio altogether. The phone would need both 2100 and 1700 in UTMS to allow the correct 1700 up link and 2100 down link connections. This phone just lacks the hardware.
It wasn't made to be a GSM only phone. It was initially meant to be used on Verizon and work on international carriers when going on holiday.
UMTS/HSPA: 850/900/1900/2100MHz; GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900MHz;*
Sent from my One using XDA Free mobile app
Uzephi said:
Those aren't Verizon variants. Those are phones that were built with AWS in mind. The DNA is a CDMA phone with a few GSM bands built into it because Verizon told HTC they wanted a global phone and told them the bands they wanted and the ones they wanted excluded from the phone. There have been ex DNA and ex Rezound (another HTC global phone for Verizon) users who have tried for quite awhile in trying to get these "magical hidden" radios to work and it all came down to that they aren't there in these variants.
You can search and dig up old DNA and rezound threads from years ago and see the amount of work done.
Edit: Checked the old threads. The GSM bands for the DNA is as below. It doesn't support the 1700/2100 (ul/dl scheme) of AWS LTE as it is missing the 1700 in its radio altogether. The phone would need both 2100 and 1700 in UTMS to allow the correct 1700 up link and 2100 down link connections. This phone just lacks the hardware.
It wasn't made to be a GSM only phone. It was initially meant to be used on Verizon and work on international carriers when going on holiday.
UMTS/HSPA: 850/900/1900/2100MHz; GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900MHz;*
Sent from my One using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate your input, but did you read the OP or my posts fully?
If you did, you should realize that I fully understand that the Butterfly isn't a Verizon variant, it is the other way around. I was suggesting that there is a possibility that the phone might be able to unlock additional bands because it is basically the same phone as other GSM variants only branded and modified for Verizon as you can see here: http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_butterfly-5118.php
This has been done in the past with other devices including Verizon devices such as the GS5, LGG3, etc as discussed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/general/how-to-add-rf-lte-frequency-bands-to-t2886059
While, I expect you already know this... It all boils down to the fact that R&D cost money. It's often cheaper for manufacterers to slap the same hardware in a device and modify the software to the liking of carriers such as by limiting the bands.
By the way, if you read the OP you would know that band 4 LTE is useless to the OP because he is trying to the phone in Europe, where there is no carrier using that band. You list the bands that the phone has been approved for, but as I mentioned above but other variants of this phone exist that utilize the bands the OP is looking for and there is a strong chance those variants share the same hardware. As mentioned above, this has been true for many other devices. I researched the topic and never found any conclusive proof that they can't be unlocked, so I felt like it might be worth his/her time to give it a shot since the method I listed is pretty easy and safe.
The Rezound is a much different device. It has no GSM radio. I would never have expected it to work on any GSM network...anywhere...ever. About the only things they have in common are that they are both produced for the Verizon carrier and use (different) snapdragon processors by HTC.
I do appreciate your input.
neatojones said:
I appreciate your input, but did you read the OP or my posts fully?
If you did, you should realize that I fully understand that the Butterfly isn't a Verizon variant, it is the other way around. I was suggesting that there is a possibility that the phone might be able to unlock additional bands because it is basically the same phone as other GSM variants only branded and modified for Verizon as you can see here: http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_butterfly-5118.php
This has been done in the past with other devices including Verizon devices such as the GS5, LGG3, etc as discussed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/general/how-to-add-rf-lte-frequency-bands-to-t2886059
While, I expect you already know this... It all boils down to the fact that R&D cost money. It's often cheaper for manufacterers to slap the same hardware in a device and modify the software to the liking of carriers such as by limiting the bands.
By the way, if you read the OP you would know that band 4 LTE is useless to the OP because he is trying to the phone in Europe, where there is no carrier using that band. You list the bands that the phone has been approved for, but as I mentioned above but other variants of this phone exist that utilize the bands the OP is looking for and there is a strong chance those variants share the same hardware. As mentioned above, this has been true for many other devices. I researched the topic and never found any conclusive proof that they can't be unlocked, so I felt like it might be worth his/her time to give it a shot since the method I listed is pretty easy and safe.
The Rezound is a much different device. It has no GSM radio. I would never have expected it to work on any GSM network...anywhere...ever. About the only things they have in common are that they are both produced for the Verizon carrier and use (different) snapdragon processors by HTC.
I do appreciate your input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Rezound does have a GSM radio. A number of users including myself have used it on other networks. Me personally, I tested it on T-Mobile and AT&T and got edge speeds. You are discussing a carrier who purposely burned out the FM radio in the Verizon M7 so it would not be functional. While you are right, HTC might have allowed the bands be made on the radio, it is highly unlikely. Others have tried. Some have even tried doing NV edits and didn't get it to work. This isn't the first time this subject has come up. The DNA can get some HSPA bands, some have tried to get some HSPA+ to work, some have tried getting 4G to work, one actually burned out his radio doing an incorrect NV edit. It has been tested before. HSPA in the US can only work on the refarmed areas. This has been talked about. HSPA will work in other countries that use the above bands specified.
If you are dealing with a carrier that will purposely tell the manufacturer to burn out an FM radio to force internet music streaming, why wouldn't they tell them to make a special radio for their variant? The reason the SGS5 and HTC One M8 work is because of the processor used, this phone is too old to work.
LTE in Europe
Hi, I live in Europe and in my coutry my carrier provides LTE, I've done the radio change with QPST and QXDM as described in post #3, I've enabled all the bands, but without luck.
I've the latest radio and hboot, tried some build.prop file tweas for LTE as described here, still no luck.
May be it's just a matter of some other setttings in buld.prop, but after many trials I think it has to be the radio, what blocks other LTE bands.
I had a bad idea to flash the radio made for HTC J Butterfly (HTL21), but I'm afraid of it (hardbrick), rather to find out, if it is the radio, what causes the problem and if it is, than figure out, how to edit the original radio (if it's possible).
Have anybody tried edit the radio or just able to read out something useful from it?
Somebody created a custom radio for Samsung devices as described here so I think it could be possible for DLX to.
I have a dreaded Verizon. For the time being, I really only need to alter the radios to tune for Tmobile frequencies. No one seems to advertise or understand this but since the S4 is fully capable of nearly every frequency world wide, and I get next to no signal when on T mobile, I believe Verizon purposely only turned on frequencies that they use.
So, unless someone else has a slick work around for the time being, I will have to figure out a root procedure for this configuration. I looked at this late last year and seemed to be a big hurdle.
King root seems to be inconsistent. What are my options for this?
cobra112 said:
I have a dreaded Verizon. For the time being, I really only need to alter the radios to tune for Tmobile frequencies. No one seems to advertise or understand this but since the S4 is fully capable of nearly every frequency world wide, and I get next to no signal when on T mobile, I believe Verizon purposely only turned on frequencies that they use.
So, unless someone else has a slick work around for the time being, I will have to figure out a root procedure for this configuration. I looked at this late last year and seemed to be a big hurdle.
King root seems to be inconsistent. What are my options for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not possible
sorry
the only way it could work is that if you had a i545 running a MDK which lets you run custom kernels
as of now there is no way to flash non-verizon modems to the device
Mobile Networks> Network Mode>
select UTS/GSM is about all you can do
verizon even remove the service menu that shows the available bands
Wow, Verizon must have done their homework on locking down phones. That boot loader is hosery. I consider this much like the government forcing them to give the keys, but did not say they had to put air in the tires. Without the ability to run or select alternate frequencies, service is a no-go
I am mostly in desktop computers but curious why these phones are not being wipes and reloaded with a new OS from scratch? Why all the work arounds and hacks? What am I missing? Does Android have all this on lock down?
cobra112 said:
Wow, Verizon must have done their homework on locking down phones. That boot loader is hosery. I consider this much like the government forcing them to give the keys, but did not say they had to put air in the tires. Without the ability to run or select alternate frequencies, service is a no-go
I am mostly in desktop computers but curious why these phones are not being wipes and reloaded with a new OS from scratch? Why all the work arounds and hacks? What am I missing? Does Android have all this on lock down?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its entirely samsung and verizon's doing
S4 Is a terrible device you would be better off with something like a huawei honor or moto g or moto X
I am curious about your phone selections. My basic needs are only a high end device with good signal, mic, speaker, display, battery life, and memory capacity. However, I really felt I MUST have a phone with SD card ability but I really don't remove it, I don't take many pictures, and probably don't need that feature.
What I DON'T want is a device that is HUGE. I like the size of the S4. T mobile felt sorry for my phone issues and gave me an LG Leon. I simply hate it.
I should mention that I later intend to consider writing some custom apps for basic wifi and blue tooth functions so I want a playground that affords me some latitude.
cobra112 said:
I am curious about your phone selections. My basic needs are only a high end device with good signal, mic, speaker, display, battery life, and memory capacity. However, I really felt I MUST have a phone with SD card ability but I really don't remove it, I don't take many pictures, and probably don't need that feature.
What I DON'T want is a device that is HUGE. I like the size of the S4. T mobile felt sorry for my phone issues and gave me an LG Leon. I simply hate it.
I should mention that I later intend to consider writing some custom apps for basic wifi and bluetooth functions so I want a playground that affords me some latitude.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
then the honor x5 is what you want its slightly wider then the s4 5.64 5.53 has sd dual sim dual radio and a factory unlockable bootloader
http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_honor_5x-7590.php
remember huawei is the OEM for google meaning they designed and manufactured the nexus 5x and 6p
Thank you! I find phone shopping to be rather daunting. I see a lot of developers using the Nexus product but also see a lot of people using Samsung due to all their included gadgets on board.
One thing that may be handy is the IR emitter. Is there a site that compares different products well? I do notice the honor does not get high marks for their display performance.
As well, due to using T mobile, I am unsure on compatibility. I need to know if the boot loader is responsible for toggling certain bands on/off? If I buy an honor for ATT, I assume it will be toggled for ATT frequencies? Since the BL is unlocked, can I toggle other bands to ensure I get the best service possible?
cobra112 said:
Thank you! I find phone shopping to be rather daunting. I see a lot of developers using the Nexus product but also see a lot of people using Samsung due to all their included gadgets on board.
One thing that may be handy is the IR emitter. Is there a site that compares different products well? I do notice the honor does not get high marks for their display performance.
As well, due to using T mobile, I am unsure on compatibility. I need to know if the boot loader is responsible for toggling certain bands on/off? If I buy an honor for ATT, I assume it will be toggled for ATT frequencies? Since the BL is unlocked, can I toggle other bands to ensure I get the best service possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
click the compare button on gsm arena
idk why you said the honor doesn't get high marks 1080p ips is pretty dam good
tho I guess some `review sites`
having a 2 or 4k display on your phone does no good if the gpu can't drive it
it will look real pretty but real world performance will suffer
different phones vs different carriers e.g CDMA phone like the i545 verizon s4 can not be used on GSM carriers such as ATT and Tmobile
read here for more info on that http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407896,00.asp
a unlocked bootloader grants you the ability to run custom roms and flash certain portions of the phone that are normally inaccessible
the bootloader has nothing todo with radio bands
the honor or any other factory unlocked phone should work on your carrier without issue
Thank you! I guess my only real requirement in the display is having one I can actually see outdoors! Amazing how poor the screen is on this old LG leon.
Maybe you can help me better understand how the bands are configured and/or locked on a phone? The reason I ask is the Verizon Galaxy S4 is technically capable of all bands that Tmobile uses yet I see poor functionality with it, indicating tome it is not picking up certain frequencies. I made the assumption the boot loader would be isolating the bands? Is this software controlled? Or not at all? Which would leave me wondering.
For reference, the Verizon S4 DOES work on Tmobile though. It holds 4GLTE signal but texts will not go out because I believe Tmobile is using 2G or 3G for that.
The way I assumed this worked is the phone is capable of a WIDE range of bands and frequencies, but the service provider would invoke only certain frequencies that they use?
cobra112 said:
Thank you! I guess my only real requirement in the display is having one I can actually see outdoors! Amazing how poor the screen is on this old LG leon.
Maybe you can help me better understand how the bands are configured and/or locked on a phone? The reason I ask is the Verizon Galaxy S4 is technically capable of all bands that Tmobile uses yet I see poor functionality with it, indicating tome it is not picking up certain frequencies. I made the assumption the boot loader would be isolating the bands? Is this software controlled? Or not at all? Which would leave me wondering.
For reference, the Verizon S4 DOES work on Tmobile though. It holds 4GLTE signal but texts will not go out because I believe Tmobile is using 2G or 3G for that.
The way I assumed this worked is the phone is capable of a WIDE range of bands and frequencies, but the service provider would invoke only certain frequencies that they use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if its holding lte then all you need todo is change the APN to point to t-mobiles servers (store should have offered todo this for you)
t mobile uses slightly differing frequencies depending on your area you are lucky enough to be in one of the area's that use the higher bands
instructions are here https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-2090
this will not change the fact that you may or may not get data signal depending on where you are connecting too
I would install textra from the playstore and set it as your mms app it has some over-rides for the apn settings if it won't let you change it via the system UI
alt instructions use the`fast` for lte
http://www.4gtricks.com/2013/04/t-mobile-4g-apn-t-mobile-4g-apn-settings.html
Right now the S4 indicated locked to 4GLTE but signal is -90dbm, 50asu. I tested data and I am able to use it though it is slow. I, however, still cannot send an sms. I am able to edit settings for the APN but have verified all settings are per tmobile specs. Any ideas where to go from here?
In the network modes, I am able to chose, 1) global, 2)LTE/CDMA 3) LTE/GSM/UMTS
I have it on LTE/GSM/UMTS right now. IIRC, the GSM is the 2G/3G for sms and voice?
Is it possible that the I545 is trying to operate on the Verizon 750mhz instead of the 700mhz of Tmobile?
cobra112 said:
Right now the S4 indicated locked to 4GLTE but signal is -90dbm, 50asu. I tested data and I am able to use it though it is slow. I, however, still cannot send an sms. I am able to edit settings for the APN but have verified all settings are per tmobile specs. Any ideas where to go from here?
In the network modes, I am able to chose, 1) global, 2)LTE/CDMA 3) LTE/GSM/UMTS
I have it on LTE/GSM/UMTS right now. IIRC, the GSM is the 2G/3G for sms and voice?
Is it possible that the I545 is trying to operate on the Verizon 750mhz instead of the 700mhz of Tmobile?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.simplyadvanced.ltediscovery&hl=en\
should tell you what band its connecting on
install textra and go into its options and enable the 't mobile fix'
OK, I loaded Textra and LTE recovery. I honestly am not certain of what I am looking at on the LTE app but looks like I am connecting to band 4 LTE. At that time, I could not and still cannot send a text. However, at some point, it switched over to a UMTS connection and I was able to fire off texts normally so I know my APN settings are right and there is something odd going on. Textra did nothing different and there is no setting for tmobile other than a wifi setting.
I have read many other people having this exact problem which hovers around those using a verizon S4 on tmobile and upgrading to 5.0 OS.
What I need to figure out, and maybe an area that would require another thread but I need to learn if I may need to reflash the modem to function properly on tmobile and if that can even be considered on an unrooted, boot loader phone? If not, what are the best options? Just dump the phone and get something else? I read of a few roots on the OC1 platform but not sure on that.
If I knew my efforts would work and I knew what I needed to do to fix this issue, I would. I almost just upgraded to the latest revision hoping for a patch in there but not sure I should do that if I want to root? Is OC1 and above all the same for rooting issues?
you don't even have to root to work around this. you can downgrade modem to MDK build. Then use QPST/QXDM to change item 6828 to value 4096
Sins07, I am very interested in the modem mods you suggest as I also came to the conclusion the modem is the issue.
Would I out of line to ask if you can dumb this down a little for a newbie? You mention downgrading the modem only and was not aware you could do that. Can you explain how this modem issue is occuring and how the modem mods will fix it?
I grabbed this phone (free) from Metro about 7 months ago. I was able to use their app to "unlock" the phone after 6 months. I'm unclear about what the official "unlock" will actually allow me to do with the phone. I haven't bothered to try to load a ROM or even root it yet--is this possible? The toggle to unlock the bootloader now seems to work, but I haven't bothered (yet). FWIW, I've rooted all my Nexus, Pixel, and OnePlus devices for the past decade (as well as loaded ROMs), but this is the first phone I've purchased that was carrier locked and I don't know what all that entailed. I honestly don't even know if the Metro variant is the same (as in bands, etc.) as the vanilla North American version or not. Hell, I don't even know what other carriers it might work with. I know I sound like an idiot newbie, and I guess I am with this phone. I've actually google'd quite a bit, but I just can't find much information regarding the Metro version of the phone.
Erm... what do you WANT to do with it?
Backup gets easier as root. Some don't care and real-time stream to the cloud.
Some are paranoid of what certain large companies *cough* Google *cough* might install on your phone in the middle of the night without telling you... unlocked bootloader lets you go to an OS build from AOSP or its ilk that allow you to see source code (if you are really, really, bored enough to check it all).
Some want to kill bloat (rather than just disable it).
Some may want to keep their phones for well after they are supported officially, with an OS like Lineage, or eOS (this not so much for Nord with a fixed battery, although I suppose you can replace it if you are determined enough).
Likewise, I have old phones I've turned into MP3 players for the kids- strip all the "phone" stuff and prevent connections to Internet/cell (eliminates the security threat of an old OS) and simply sideload AIMP, VLC, or whatever your favorite player is.
GSMArena has a very easily navigable feature list, that will show for some phones the different bands each supports- and you can compare to what your preferred carrier uses. USUALLY - but not always- there is an "international" version and a "US" Version. Verizon sometimes gets their own model with/for CDMA bands, but most support all the GSM Carriers and their resellers. If you are sim unlocked, you should be able to use them on any carrier, YMMV.
T-Mobile and Metro usually don't screw around with the cellular bands of the phones they sell, so the Metro/T-Mobile N10 does support the same bands as the factory unlocked version.
And you can start off by flashing the unbranded firmware onto the phone if you don't want the Metro junk and boot animation.