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[Q] Are radio frequencies hardware based?

Noob question sorry. My buddy has a GT-I9020T (900mhz?) running on wind, he wants to change service providers to rogers (850mhz?). If i were to root his phone and flash the rogers radio onto it, would he be able to connect to the rogers network with a rogers sim? afaik the answer is no but i just want to verify before i give him incorrect information.

No the radio is also hardware based but from what I understand you'll be able to get 2G {Edge} on rogers but not 3G and on Bell and Telus it won't work at all
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App

That is correct, you will be able to connect to Rogers using GSM and only with 2g speeds. Forget about connecting with any network that strictly uses HSDPA like Koodo, as it will not work (not sure if Telus is the same). I've tested this myself - had to get rid of my i9020T because around my house Wind had a dead spot -_-

like the guys said, the frequencies are hardware based, so there is nothing you can do to change them. rooting won't help. you'd need to buy a whole new nexus s that has the correct frequencies for the Rogers network 3g bands.

[Q] Sensation data problem

Can anyone help me. I unlocked the sensation for me to use with att. Everything is fine, rooted, s-off, cwm recover works, and so does everything else. Except data and mms. I googled the apns to use and that worked, somewhat. I now can recieve mms but data only gets up to 2g but roams a lot. Is there a way to get att 3g on this phone? I heard it was unable but just want to make sure

cGrumm said:
Can anyone help me. I unlocked the sensation for me to use with att. Everything is fine, rooted, s-off, cwm recover works, and so does everything else. Except data and mms. I googled the apns to use and that worked, somewhat. I now can recieve mms but data only gets up to 2g but roams a lot. Is there a way to get att 3g on this phone? I heard it was unable but just want to make sure
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you get 3G before when the device was S-On and a stock image?

dr9722 said:
Did you get 3G before when the device was S-On and a stock image?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea when my cousin had it stock for tmobile everything was fine with it. 3g and 4g worked for him. Then when i started using it for att i had to put in custom apn which only allows me to reach 2g. I've seen a lot of people say its not compatible unless you have a certain version, my model is the tmobile htc sensation 4g...thats what it tells me in my phone settings.

cGrumm said:
Yea when my cousin had it stock for tmobile everything was fine with it. 3g and 4g worked for him. Then when i started using it for att i had to put in custom apn which only allows me to reach 2g. I've seen a lot of people say its not compatible unless you have a certain version, my model is the tmobile htc sensation 4g...thats what it tells me in my phone settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Learn more ablut radio and frequencys. Basically u cant get 3g unless u have a bell sensation
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using XDA App

cGrumm said:
Yea when my cousin had it stock for tmobile everything was fine with it. 3g and 4g worked for him. Then when i started using it for att i had to put in custom apn which only allows me to reach 2g. I've seen a lot of people say its not compatible unless you have a certain version, my model is the tmobile htc sensation 4g...thats what it tells me in my phone settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So from what you're saying the phone has worked fully on both 3G & 4G on the TMobile network. Looking at the AT&T website their all their phones are either 3G or 4G. So it should work.
Does your AT&T contract support 3G ? I know when I got my first 3G enabled phone they had to ship me a 3G SIM card for it to work. It might be that it's the SIM card that's the issue. I've never had to modify APNs etc. even when swapping network providers away from Vodafone. Insert the new SIM and it just works.
webstar1 said:
Learn more ablut radio and frequencys. Basically u cant get 3g unless u have a bell sensation
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmmm

webstar1 said:
Learn more ablut radio and frequencys. Basically u cant get 3g unless u have a bell sensation
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea thats what im trying to understand. I read that there were two types of sensations, one from canada that supports att 3g, and the original which does not. But they said the model T-mobile sensation 4g, should support att 3g. Thats the thing im not understanding

gol_n_dal said:
So from what you're saying the phone has worked fully on both 3G & 4G on the TMobile network. Looking at the AT&T website their all their phones are either 3G or 4G. So it should work.
Does your AT&T contract support 3G ? I know when I got my first 3G enabled phone they had to ship me a 3G SIM card for it to work. It might be that it's the SIM card that's the issue. I've never had to modify APNs etc. even when swapping network providers away from Vodafone. Insert the new SIM and it just works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea i had an Iphone 3gs with a 3g data plan. And everything ive seen posted with unlocked sensations all have the same problem with att. But ive seen that there is a version that supports att 3g which is what im trying to figure out

This post has the bands that the T-Mobile htc sensation 4g supports:
http://www.htc.com/us/products/sensation4g-tmobile#tech-specs
And this post says if it supports HSPA/UMTS/HSPA+ on 850 and 1900, it should support att 3g
http://androidforums.com/t/358106-unlocked-htc-sensation-4g-t-smart-phone-sim.html
The first post confirms that the phone supports both 850 and 1900 on HSPA+. All of this is new to me so if this is completely wrong then sorry. Just seems right to me.

It looks like the AT&T and T-Mobile networks are different, this is where I guess the issue is. The more I dug the worse it got. I have to admit that I'd assume this would be a simple answer but it looks like there are different flavours of 4G.
So apologies to the earlier poster that mentioned the frequencies.

cGrumm said:
Can anyone help me. I unlocked the sensation for me to use with att. Everything is fine, rooted, s-off, cwm recover works, and so does everything else. Except data and mms. I googled the apns to use and that worked, somewhat. I now can recieve mms but data only gets up to 2g but roams a lot. Is there a way to get att 3g on this phone? I heard it was unable but just want to make sure
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile US Sensation (Z710E) DOES NOT support anything higher than 2G on AT&T's networks because it doesn't operate on the proper 3G frequency. The Bell Sensation (Z710A) from Canada DOES work on AT&T 3G because its hardware uses the proper frequency.

Jimmah555 said:
T-Mobile US Sensation (Z710E) DOES NOT support anything higher than 2G on AT&T's networks because it doesn't operate on the proper 3G frequency. The Bell Sensation (Z710A) from Canada DOES work on AT&T 3G because its hardware uses the proper frequency.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought the Z710a is the US T-Mobile 4g version, My Z710e is a European 3G only version.

gol_n_dal said:
I thought the Z710a is the US T-Mobile 4g version, My Z710e is a European 3G only version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See thats where im getting confused too. People said the version that CAN aquire att 3g is the t-mobile 4g model. But regardless it isnt picking up anything but edge so he is right. Is there anyway to change the hardware for it to work? I dont have money for another phone so if i can, id do that.

cGrumm said:
See thats where im getting confused too. People said the version that CAN aquire att 3g is the t-mobile 4g model. But regardless it isnt picking up anything but edge so he is right. Is there anyway to change the hardware for it to work? I dont have money for another phone so if i can, id do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you seen: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1349755
It refers to: http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_sensation_4g-3922.php
As far as I know Bell Canada uses the same network frequencies as AT&T US.

change gsm bands

hello there
i`m from IL and i want to know if i can change the GSM bands to my location
as i saw a few post on that but iwm dont understan that
thank all

I think the gsm bands are for the network provider (tmo, att, verizon) you cant change hardware.

I assume you mean the data network bands not voice or 2G.
There are 2 physically different phones z710e (most of the world & TMobile US) & z710a (US AT&T). Look at the following and put in your country to check carrier compatibility.
http://www.gsmnation.com/htc-sensation.html
http://www.gsmnation.com/htc-sensation-z710a-3g-850-1900-mhz.html

gol_n_dal said:
I assume you mean the data network bands not voice or 2G.
There are 2 physically different phones z710e (most of the world & TMobile US) & z710a (US AT&T). Look at the following and put in your country to check carrier compatibility.
http://www.gsmnation.com/htc-sensation.html
http://www.gsmnation.com/htc-sensation-z710a-3g-850-1900-mhz.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im mean can i change my 900/2100 Mhz to 800/1800Mhz chck that if it`s help me?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1202867
or that i think that what i` searching for:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1052745

avikinges said:
im mean can i change my 900/2100 Mhz to 800/1800Mhz chck that if it`s help me?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1202867
or that i think that what i` searching for:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1052745
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The second post was for a completely different phone.
The first post (I had a quick scan and will look in more detail if I have time) didn't seem to address the issue you have.
As far as I know (happy for someone to shout me down) the HTC Sensation is NOT capable of universal frequencies, it is EITHER:
Z710a (2G GSM 850/900/1800/1900 ----- 3G HSDPA 850/1900) (US AT&T)
Z710e (2G GSM 850/900/1800/1900 ----- 3G HSDPA 900/1700/2100) (US T-Mobile)
That's fixed in the hardware of the phone and can't be changed. As you can see GSM is the same BUT the data side of things is where it gets different, you will always get EDGE as it's 2G.
The Baseband mentioned is flashed as part of the firmware.
The RIL (Radio Interface Layer) is the bit between the ROM and the radio. That will almost universally come with the ROM and will have a pre-requisite radio version that you have to flash separately.
Now if there is a way to change the 3G frequencies I'm sure there are many folks that would like to know how, it'd make the Sensation more universally available and hopefully cheaper in the 2nd hand market.
You haven't mentioned what your exact issue is, what are you trying to change and why ?

you answer me thank u and have a nice day

gol_n_dal said:
The second post was for a completely different phone.
The first post (I had a quick scan and will look in more detail if I have time) didn't seem to address the issue you have.
As far as I know (happy for someone to shout me down) the HTC Sensation is NOT capable of universal frequencies, it is EITHER:
Z710a (2G GSM 850/900/1800/1900 ----- 3G HSDPA 850/1900) (US AT&T)
Z710e (2G GSM 850/900/1800/1900 ----- 3G HSDPA 900/1700/2100) (US T-Mobile)
That's fixed in the hardware of the phone and can't be changed. As you can see GSM is the same BUT the data side of things is where it gets different, you will always get EDGE as it's 2G.
The Baseband mentioned is flashed as part of the firmware.
The RIL (Radio Interface Layer) is the bit between the ROM and the radio. That will almost universally come with the ROM and will have a pre-requisite radio version that you have to flash separately.
Now if there is a way to change the 3G frequencies I'm sure there are many folks that would like to know how, it'd make the Sensation more universally available and hopefully cheaper in the 2nd hand market.
You haven't mentioned what your exact issue is, what are you trying to change and why ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was on the phone with HTC last night and according to the tech there the UMTS bands can be changed on the T-Mobile Sensation 4G, but this would require a custom rom. I am not sure if there are any roms out there that do this already.

[Q] Clean Rom Question [Network]

Hi Guys,
So I've been running Clean Rom for roughly 6 months now, still running version 5.1 (Android Version 4.0.4) on my HTC ONE XL.
My One XL is a Telstra branded phone and thus has the capability for 850MHz. I was running on the Vodafone network and therefore not using said band, however I have recently swapped over to Telstra (Was never with them in the first place).
Unfortunately I'm not seeing the gains in reception I was hoping for, and I am currently finding that when going to locations where there should be signal, albeit edge, crappy signal, I am receiving none. My question is, does Clean Rom disable the 850MHz frequency or does it still support it? Is there a way I can check whether I am accessing the 850MHz network, and if so, how? If it isn't am I able to turn on th 850MHz frequency?
Looking forward to getting this sorted. Cheers.

ROM shouldn't make much difference in band compatibility. Since your version supports 850 MHz for both 2G (EDGE) and 3G, it should work regardless of ROM, and you don't need to "turn it on". There are "secret codes" you can enter into the dialer that will tell you information about the bands, and also signal strength. Just use the XDA search function, and you should be able to find them.
You might see some slight improvement if you are not currently on a Jellybean radio, and flash one (if hboot 2.14 or higher, you will need to s-off). But I wouldn't bet on it making a huge difference.
What makes you think you should have (crappy) reception in the mentioned locations? From reception on another phone? Every phone is different (antenna design, etc.). Since you mentioned the reception at the location is already crappy, its probably more of a antenna issue than a ROM issue.

redpoint73 said:
ROM shouldn't make much difference in band compatibility. Since your version supports 850 MHz for both 2G (EDGE) and 3G, it should work regardless of ROM, and you don't need to "turn it on". There are "secret codes" you can enter into the dialer that will tell you information about the bands, and also signal strength. Just use the XDA search function, and you should be able to find them.
You might see some slight improvement if you are not currently on a Jellybean radio, and flash one (if hboot 2.14 or higher, you will need to s-off). But I wouldn't bet on it making a huge difference.
What makes you think you should have (crappy) reception in the mentioned locations? From reception on another phone? Every phone is different (antenna design, etc.). Since you mentioned the reception at the location is already crappy, its probably more of a antenna issue than a ROM issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure where you're located, Telstra is the largest Telco in Australia with the largest and best coverage. Vodafone unfortunately has a very bad reputation for reception. Swapping from Vodafone which does not use an 850MHz band to Telstra, which does, has netted me reverse effects. I am receiving worse reception, which should not be the case. If I go into fringe areas where edge is the best signal you receive, I will receive none, where as in town locations where more than the 850 band is used, I receive okay signal. Just seems like I'm not picking up the 850 band.

As I already mentioned, search for the "secret" dialer codes. There are codes that will tell you the cell tower signal, and I believe band, which sounds like what you need.

None of the dialer codes seem to allow me to see what particular frequency I'm using. Unless I'm just completely missing something? The only thing that seems to provide me with info on the radio only states Network Type and the DBM.

[Q] Poor signal strength compared to other devices?

Hi,
I just bought my One S (had a Desire before that) and Im very happy with it, except for the signal and especially the mobile internet. I always had 3+ signal bars in my house, now I have 1 or sometimes none. I use my phone at school to google some stuff but while other devices (Blackberry Bold, S4 mini) can acess the internet I have no connection. Sometimes I have 2 bars and E(DGE) but my browser or Whatsapp wont work.
My friends have always 3G/H and inside the school I never have more than E, but I set my phone to GSM/WCDMA auto.
Sometimes the phone loses the connections even on flat areas like fields.
Is there a way to improve my signal strength? A new Radio ROM?
P.S: My One S has the S4, everything original and no root, S-ON

What software version are you on? And what carrier?
Mine has way better signal than my sisters S3 and it's about equal to my girlfriends Iphone4s, but we're on Telus/Bell network which has HSPA only, no 2g network, so I set it to WCDMA only. I haven't had any problems with reception dropping or data drops at all, but I've heard of some issues with the same phone on the Rogers network which has 2g as well like some of the US carriers.

Software Version: 3.16.401.9
HTC SDK API: 4.63
Baseband: 1.15.50.05.29_10.30.50.08L
Thats all I found under Software...
Im from Germany and I dont know if youre familiar with the carriers here, but I use congstar therefore the D1-network of the german Telekom which is pretty good here. Look like Im on the newest RadioROM, so how to improve my connection?

Looks like I'm on an older radio starts with 1.11 instead of 1.15. Does your network have regular gsm?
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app

I can use EDGE when setting my phone to GSM only, but I have not more than 2 bars even outdoors...on WCDMA only I have none or 1 bar outdoor, in buildings: no connection. So yes, I have GSM and WCDMA.

Well I don't know, you could try rooting and flashing a different radio, and some build.prop tweaks that affect the connection, but there is no guarantee that will fix it. Is it still under warranty? Rooting may be risky if you're still under warranty. Could try talking to your carrier and see if they can do anything.