[Q] Is there a way to enable 900/2100 3G bands? - Motorola Atrix 2

Hi all
I just got this phone for use in Italy, and am now waiting for my unlock code to come through.
Meanwhile, and as the main question, I wonder if it ever will be a way to turn on the WCDMA 900 band that we use here (along with WCDMA 2100), since it's not supported out of the box, being an American phone.
I would like it to be a 900/2100 phone, instead of 850/1900/2100.
I'm sure the phone supports it (being much newer than my current Motorola Defy that's able to do it), it just has to be unlocked somewhere.
Any info is appreciated!
Thank you

thenext1 said:
Hi all
I just got this phone for use in Italy, and am now waiting for my unlock code to come through.
Meanwhile, and as the main question, I wonder if it ever will be a way to turn on the WCDMA 900 band that we use here (along with WCDMA 2100), since it's not supported out of the box, being an American phone.
I would like it to be a 900/2100 phone, instead of 850/1900/2100.
I'm sure the phone supports it (being much newer than my current Motorola Defy that's able to do it), it just has to be unlocked somewhere.
Any info is appreciated!
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but that is not possible as the hardware does not have those radio antennas in the phone. This is ONLY a GSM/HSDPA+ phone not a WCDMA phone. There is not a way to change that since it is a hardware antenna change.

jimbridgman said:
Sorry, but that is not possible as the hardware does not have those radio antennas in the phone. This is ONLY a GSM/HSDPA+ phone not a WCDMA phone. There is not a way to change that since it is a hardware antenna change.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as i know (pretty sure on this), all 3/3.5G is WCDMA. HSDPA(+) is WCDMA. WCDMA is just the name of a RF modulation, and 850, 900, 1900, 2100 are just the bands the protocol can run on.
In fact my question could just be translated to: as these settings are stored in the baseband rom, we need to flash an alternative baseband to enable those, or discover where they are set.
I guess a motorola phone similar enough to the A2 (i.e. same.hardware) should suffice as a "donor" phone for the baseband rom. May be an ipothetic european A2 of the future.
Has a phone like this been found yet?

thenext1 said:
As far as i know (pretty sure on this), all 3/3.5G is WCDMA. HSDPA(+) is WCDMA. WCDMA is just the name of a RF modulation, and 850, 900, 1900, 2100 are just the bands the protocol can run on.
In fact my question could just be translated to: as these settings are stored in the baseband rom, we need to flash an alternative baseband to enable those, or discover where they are set.
I guess a motorola phone similar enough to the A2 (i.e. same.hardware) should suffice as a "donor" phone for the baseband rom. May be an ipothetic european A2 of the future.
Has a phone like this been found yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The hardware on A2 does not support this, the antenna is not setup to capture these frequencies. Just because the baseband is in the rom does not mean that you can change the hardware.... Yes technically all 3G boils down to WCDMA or CDMA technology, but there are major operating differences between even the different spectrum in them. The issue you have is that the phone is not going to be able to capture those on the hardware layer. It is similar to trying to get am radio signals on an FM radio, with an FM antenna.

Well I hope you are wrong
I think (hope) motorola has put an universal antenna on the atrix 2, it'd be anti economic to do otherwise.
BTW, 850, 900 the antenna differences surely are minimal.
It sounds more like as a RF chipset limitation on the simultaneous bands used... like three of em. "Tri-band umts".
As with the good old gsm phones marketed as tri- or quad-band, like my v525, the actual bands used were depending on where you lived.
All of this, i hope...

Did you buy an MB865, or an ME865, as they have two totally different antennas. mostly we discuss the MB865 in here.... and I can tell you that there is no way to change the MB865, because it setup that way on purpose, and locked to AT&T's signals via the antenna and wireless chipset, by Motorola. The ME865 might be a better choice I think there are two versions of that one, one is the Chinese version and the other is more international.

ME865 it's for asia only. Motorola phones found over here follow the MB nomenclature. I have got an at&t MB865.
Anyway if a €300 phone (defy) can do that, I don't see why motorola would have chosen to spare on a $ .5 part on a €550 phone (euro price tag estimation), and have to redo a whole new pcb layout if the MB865 ever comes to the old world. Even taking into account the at&t exclusivity. It's anti economic for them.
Btw I don't want to be right at all cost, please don't misunderstand my words. ;-)

Also if you look at pdadb you will find two.models, mb865 and mb865a.
I don't know if they're both real or not, but they are identical specs-wise the only exception being the lack of wcdma900 band on the "a" version.
If such version actually comes to market, i guess a baseband transplantation could be done...

Related

3G HSPA 2100 band hardware based or software? Can it be changed...

Hello,
I'm curious to know is the 3G HSPA 2100/1700 frequency hardware based or software?
For example can one change the frequency to point say at 850MHz?
I'm currently with Rogers, and their 3G network is not on the same band.
Thanks
Nah, its a hardware restriction. Tmobile did this because 2100-1700 are dedicated 3G pipelines. They device does not have 850 or 1900 wcdma only 21-1700
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=1763
this is so it can not be used on at&t 3g.
if i remember correctly 1700 is for d/l and 2100 is for u/l
i dont know much about phones....or the various cellphone network types.
But isn't a frequency a frequency? Wouldn't it be the softwares job to interpret the data on the various frequencies?
jrgong420 said:
i dont know much about phones....or the various cellphone network types.
But isn't a frequency a frequency? Wouldn't it be the softwares job to interpret the data on the various frequencies?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, software could interprete the singnal, it just wouldn't be as efficient.
The easiest comparison I could make would be video enconding on a PC. You can have your PC encode a video in h.264 it will just take a while. Meanwhile your HD-DVR is doing the same thing in real time. The difference is the dedicated chip in the HD-DVR that only does h.264 encoding.
I have no idea if there's a way to get the raw signal from one of the other radios, let alone if there's enough power in the G1 to interpret it without the chip. I'd guess not on both cases.
benmyers2941 said:
The easiest comparison I could make would be video enconding on a PC. You can have your PC encode a video in h.264 it will just take a while. Meanwhile your HD-DVR is doing the same thing in real time. The difference is the dedicated chip in the HD-DVR that only does h.264 encoding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice comparison... but I think it is more like a wireless router. A 802.11b router can't use 802.11g... why not they run on the same frequency? Because it isn't just the frequency you have to look at. G takes a different amount of power than B. Same with the different bands. 2100 take a different amount than 850.
If you really want to see a comparison wiki radio frequencies and you will see why cb radios and those little walkie talkies don't work on all frequencies too. There is a lot more to it than just telling the radio to go up or down a couple numbers.
Nope
Qualcomm 7201 Chipset and Baseband is fully Compatible with 850 / 1700 / 2100 / 1900 Bands
You just have to have additional Component on the Board to have additional Support
Please see the motherboard Diagram its Self Sufficient i think.
hetaldp said:
Nope
Qualcomm 7201 Chipset and Baseband is fully Compatible with 850 / 1700 / 2100 / 1900 Bands
You just have to have additional Component on the Board to have additional Support
Please see the motherboard Diagram its Self Sufficient i think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought it was GSM 850 / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900 WCDMA 1700 / WCDMA 2100
Is GSM 850 the same as WCDMA 850?
But it looks like you answered two questions with that post... someone else was looking for pics of the phones insides. Good job finding those.
Its all hardware based and will not work on at&t 3G. The phone does not have the hardware to pick up 850/1900mhz frequency. Tmobile did this not to screw people over but because they have no need to. The phone was made for T-mobile there is no reason to support at&t bands.
Just like everyone said, it is a hardware thing. As far as I know, since T-Mobile got the short straw and got the 1700MHz band, there really isn't a "universal" phone now that can operate on all GSM and all 3G frequencies worldwide yet. Manufacturers would have to have like 9 total bands supported and with the trend towards smaller and smaller phones, it's something that gets cut early. So the short of it is this: expecting the G1 to work on AT&T's 3G band is a lot like expecting an FM-only radio to pick up AM signals.....or exactly like expecting an American FM radio to pick up all the FM stations in Japan (which uses a wider FM band.)
But keep in mind that the 1700/2100 numbers don't refer to a specific frequency, but a band of frequencies at or around the number. If you've ever used a shortwave radio, you know that they use terms like "the 11-meter band," which is a range of frequencies with a wavelength of around 11m. Luckily, the range of the 2100MHz band that T-Mobile USA uses overlaps the European band enough to make the phone work over there.
Doesn't the tilt do 1700?
neoobs said:
Doesn't the tilt do 1700?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm not mistaken, the Tilt was released before the 1700MHz band was a reality.
beartard said:
If I'm not mistaken, the Tilt was released before the 1700MHz band was a reality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct... I remember reading on AT&T thou that it was 1700... but then again we all know how well the cell phone companies advertise specs LOL
Something Interesting...
I found something that might be of interest... If you install "Any Cut" and create a link for "Phone Info" (Long press on you desktop, then > Shortcut > Any Cut > Activity> Phone Info). Once created, you will have a shortcut on your desktop for "Phone Info". Click the "Phone Info" Shortcut and press the menu key. Then click the menu option "Select radio b..." From here you will have the option to change your radio band:
Set GSM/UMTS band:
Automatic
EURO Band
USA Band
Japan Band
AUS Band
AUS2 Band
This would suggest to me that the radio can be controlled via software. What do the experts think? Do you think we could get 3G working on AT&T's Network?
mistadman said:
I found something that might be of interest... If you install "Any Cut" and create a link for "Phone Info" (Long press on you desktop, then > Shortcut > Any Cut > Activity> Phone Info). Once created, you will have a shortcut on your desktop for "Phone Info". Click the "Phone Info" Shortcut and press the menu key. Then click the menu option "Select radio b..." From here you will have the option to change your radio band:
Set GSM/UMTS band:
Automatic
EURO Band
USA Band
Japan Band
AUS Band
AUS2 Band
This would suggest to me that the radio can be controlled via software. What do the experts think? Do you think we could get 3G working on AT&T's Network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You try it and tell us if any of them work LOL... I think it all depends on the hardware first... Remember the android is built to be on many phones
:-(
neoobs said:
You try it and tell us if any of them work LOL... I think it all depends on the hardware first... Remember the android is built to be on many phones
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone is locked. I can't use my AT&T SIM. Sorry. But when I switch to different bands, I do loose my signal until I switch back.
I have a friend who builds small electronic devices. If I had a damaged tilt would it be possible to remove the 3G antenna and a few resistors and replace the ones in the G1 to make it work on the ATT 3G bands?
Does anyone know enough about the board construction to know what would need to be replaced?
I did use that activity to change the band to get it to work with my provider here in the United Arab Emirates. The thing is I honestly don't know what they are using, publishing reliable info is not a strong point of the operators around here. I grabbed that of a web-site:
The Middle East operators are using the primary 2.1 GHz band for the UMTS/HSDPA operation. Not too precise eh.
I used the Japan labeled band.(?)
sim unlock GI via 611
I was on the horn with CS anyway and figured it would be worth a try to ask for an unlock code request for my G1, they dont have the magic keygens at the Tmob secret base, they have to request it from the OEM, back in the day they gave them out but after many public keygens they got a bit pickier about who get the keys to the liquor cabnet.
when mine comes Ill get an at&T prepay bump sim and mess about a bit just to prove it wont work, and to everybody else ...CALL 611!! ask them for the unlock code tell um you go back and forth to Europe or Iraq or Pagopago, I may not be necessarry but I always have a bit of fun with the story, it used to be a email system send imei to "[email protected]" and get your code in a few days, the good ole dayz
bhang
mistadman said:
I found something that might be of interest... If you install "Any Cut" and create a link for "Phone Info" (Long press on you desktop, then > Shortcut > Any Cut > Activity> Phone Info). Once created, you will have a shortcut on your desktop for "Phone Info". Click the "Phone Info" Shortcut and press the menu key. Then click the menu option "Select radio b..." From here you will have the option to change your radio band:
Set GSM/UMTS band:
Automatic
EURO Band
USA Band
Japan Band
AUS Band
AUS2 Band
This would suggest to me that the radio can be controlled via software. What do the experts think? Do you think we could get 3G working on AT&T's Network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Menu is shown as the Chipset Qualcomm 7201 actually supports These Bands, But it Require Radio RF/TS Unit to Actually Push Radio Frequcny via Internal antenna. Seeing the Board Picture it only have 1700 and 2100 RF Units. So even is Chipset is compatible it can not Push the Signal or Received Signal other then it is made for. I think in Future then can alter some Hardware and make it more compatible.
So, I'm wondering if I had a broken tilt with the 850 transmit antenna chip in it if I could have that antenna module removed and put in the G1 would that be all that is needed to work on the ATT 3G network?
Anybody, know if that might work since the chipset seems to support the frequency?
I can't afford to pay more than $175 for my phone. I'm a long time ATT customer and can't/won't change carriers. So, I'm trying to get one off of Craigslist or Ebay for about $250.00 or $275.00.
If anyone knows where I can get one for that price please let me know. If I can get one I'll try the antenna replacement idea.

[Q] Has anyone tried the 3g in China?

I just bought a Xoom with 3g (Verizon). I live in Canada and don't really need the 3g here at home (Wifi at home and work). However, if I travel to China or somewhere else, is is possible to unlock it so I can use the 3g network there?
Does root the dervice help? Please enlighten me ot point to to the right direction. By the way, I don't really care about the lte upgrade, so I don't worry about voiding the warranty.
Thanks in advance.
It depends I think. From a very quick search it looks like China may have one or more CDMA networks available. That said, it depends which band they use and probably what are you are going to... I believe that like Canada, China is rather large.
If you're talking about world travel in general, you would have been better getting a European GSM version as most of the networks in the world use GSM rather than CDMA.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
burden010 said:
It depends I think. From a very quick search it looks like China may have one or more CDMA networks available. That said, it depends which band they use and probably what are you are going to... I believe that like Canada, China is rather large.
If you're talking about world travel in general, you would have been better getting a European GSM version as most of the networks in the world use GSM rather than CDMA.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually the US Xoom 3G has a Qualcomm MDM6600 chip and if you do a search on Google then you will find that it's actually a "world mode" baseband capable of supporting both CDMA/EVDO and GSM/UMTS networks. Xoom also has a sim card slot, so i'm wondering if the European version will come with the same hardware and they will just enable the GSM/UMTS part...
poisike said:
Actually the US Xoom 3G has a Qualcomm MDM6600 chip and if you do a search on Google then you will find that it's actually a "world mode" baseband capable of supporting both CDMA/EVDO and GSM/UMTS networks. Xoom also has a sim card slot, so i'm wondering if the European version will come with the same hardware and they will just enable the GSM/UMTS part...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still doesn't take away from my point that the chip, whether it be GSM capable or not, isn't enabled for it.
burden010 said:
Still doesn't take away from my point that the chip, whether it be GSM capable or not, isn't enabled for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you are correct and i didn't say you aren't.
I'm just very interested in seeing if the hardware will be different or not.

LTE Radio Bands

Forgive me if this is a trivial question, but since European carriers such as Vodafone and O2 Germany also have the dual-core version of the HOX, is it possible to flash a european radio and use the European LTE frequencies? Or are the frequency bands hard-coded into the chipset?
It was my assumption that the US and European LTE variants used the same hardware components, but were just set up to use different LTE bands.
Frequency support is set in hardware.
redpoint73 said:
Frequency support is set in hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thinking more about this, I'm still not convinced it's impossible to flash a european radio on the HOX to swap LTE bands. Unless the physical antenna is different, I'd think that it's a possibility.
With my other phone, the Samsung Skyrocket, we can flash T-Mobile radios to gain support for the 1700 AWS band. The chipset supports it, and it just took a radio flash to activate it. AFAIK, you can't use 1700 and LTE though - that or a radio with support for both doesn't exist.
I guess it depends on what chipset the German One XL uses..but I'll wait to see if someone has luck before I risk my own One X.
The hardware is different, as I already said.
The Skyrocket (and a few other AT&T phones, like the Galaxy Note) included the AWS band in hardware (likely due to the now defunct merger with T-Mobile that was going on at the time). The hardware was there, but AWS was simply not enabled in software. Hacks to make AWS work on these phones just enabled the software side for what is already supported in hardware. Without the hardware already being there, no amount of radio flashing will create support for frequencies not already there.
Its possible that some bands are "hidden" in the same way that AWS was for the Skyrocket. Lots of folks here on T-Mobile are hoping the same AWS support is possible on our phone. But if the hardware is not already there (such as for different LTE bands, as you are asking for), you can't make it happen by flashing radios. In the case of AWS, AT&T had a reason for including support (T-Mobile merger). They don't have a reason for including support for LTE bands willy-nilly, just for the sake of doing so, without any tangible (monetary) reason.

Any chance to enable all LTE frequency supported by MSM8960?

Dear All,
I recently got this device in Hong Kong and is hapi with its performance!
But I am still wondering if this device could actually use the LTE available in HK?
I knw the msm8960 claimed to be capable of utilizing all frequency of radio,
so is it possible that there is some soft lock in the baseband?
Could i flash the baseband or replace the modem driver from other device to access other frequency?
any idea is appreciated!
Thanks!
Vasco
I think it has to modifiy the ROm and the hardware
I tried to figure out, if our Photon Q is supporting more LTE bands than 1900 MHz (#2 or/and #25).
-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-UTRA#Frequency_bands_and_channel_bandwidths
On some sites there are reports for having another band. (Have to search again, I think it was 850 MHz, #26 or 700 MHz, #12/#17/#29.)
I have also searched for supported frequencies for MSM8960.
I found some BlackBerry devices based on that SoC and 2 different versions of supported LTE bands.
One version (UK) supported 4 in europe used bands und the other version (US) supported 4 in US/Canada used bands.
I think that the Photon Q is like the BlackBerry US version and supports 4 LTE bands in US/Canada.
If you need a few sites, I will search again and show it to you.
The strange thing is, if I set to LTE only (via 4636) I can see all 4 carrier (germany).
We have 3 bands with LTE on it, but I can only get signal to max 2 of them.
Band 3, 7 and 20 (1800, 2600, 800 MHz).
The weird thing is, that on band #20 (800 MHz) only 3 carrier are active, so it has to be band #3 or #7.
Maybe I'm missinterpreting things and thats just a sideeffect of crossing bands of LTE US and UMTS Germany.
On stock ROM there was another "secret phone code" to see what the phone-part is doing. (From qualcomm I believe.)
I think I will test it some other day, to see which band is active.
At last, I was never been able to "login" or "register" into my carriers network within LTE.
Please discuss about that possibility, I really want to find out, which frequencies are supported by our phone on LTE.
Loader009 said:
I tried to figure out, if our Photon Q is supporting more LTE bands than 1900 MHz (#2 or/and #25).
-> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-UTRA#Frequency_bands_and_channel_bandwidths
On some sites there are reports for having another band. (Have to search again, I think it was 850 MHz, #26 or 700 MHz, #12/#17/#29.)
I have also searched for supported frequencies for MSM8960.
I found some BlackBerry devices based on that SoC and 2 different versions of supported LTE bands.
One version (UK) supported 4 in europe used bands und the other version (US) supported 4 in US/Canada used bands.
I think that the Photon Q is like the BlackBerry US version and supports 4 LTE bands in US/Canada.
If you need a few sites, I will search again and show it to you.
The strange thing is, if I set to LTE only (via 4636) I can see all 4 carrier (germany).
We have 3 bands with LTE on it, but I can only get signal to max 2 of them.
Band 3, 7 and 20 (1800, 2600, 800 MHz).
The weird thing is, that on band #20 (800 MHz) only 3 carrier are active, so it has to be band #3 or #7.
Maybe I'm missinterpreting things and thats just a sideeffect of crossing bands of LTE US and UMTS Germany.
On stock ROM there was another "secret phone code" to see what the phone-part is doing. (From qualcomm I believe.)
I think I will test it some other day, to see which band is active.
At last, I was never been able to "login" or "register" into my carriers network within LTE.
Please discuss about that possibility, I really want to find out, which frequencies are supported by our phone on LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear Loader009,
Thanks for your information! I'm really impressed that you could actually search the carrier in 'LTE only from Germany!
Could you please share the version of ROM you are using?
And if possible, any screenshot? I really want it can be used in HK with LTE(1800, 2100 & 2600Mhz)
Also do you have more information about the secret phone code? I think it would be interesting
Actually, I noted that xt925 and xt905 are using the same chip MSM8960 with LTE usable in HK.
Is there anyone can locate the radio/baseband of their rom and port it for XT897?
I am willing to try it with my machine.
If this work, I think we could use this photon q all over the world!
Any idea?
Regards,
Vasco
disablewong said:
Dear Loader009,
Thanks for your information! I'm really impressed that you could actually search the carrier in 'LTE only from Germany!
Could you please share the version of ROM you are using?
And if possible, any screenshot? I really want it can be used in HK with LTE(1800, 2100 & 2600Mhz)
Also do you have more information about the secret phone code? I think it would be interesting
Actually, I noted that xt925 and xt905 are using the same chip MSM8960 with LTE usable in HK.
Is there anyone can locate the radio/baseband of their rom and port it for XT897?
I am willing to try it with my machine.
If this work, I think we could use this photon q all over the world!
Any idea?
Regards,
Vasco
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, I was just blind guessing the hardware for xt926 and xt907 are using the same hardware.
If not, there should be one chip controlling the modem channel of the device to be replaced.
But WHICH ONE???
Any expert in this area can solve this question? I am a dummy for radio stuffs
This seems like it's getting pretty interesting.
Sent from my XT897 using Tapatalk 2
Dear all,
I'm also very interested in this topic since I imported a Photon Q to Germany and was wondering if it's possible to use the local LTE 800/1800/2600 bands.
I think the first thing we have to find out is whether the hardware is capable of using other bands than the 1900 band listed on the Motorola website. As Loader009 states he could see LTE carriers which are known to use different bands I assume the hardware can do it. Otherwise the carriers wouldn't have been listed, right? Maybe someone from another country with different frequency bands can check and confirm that he can see those carriers as well?
Thus, the limitation to the 1900 band should be software-made and could be modified by a developer. I hope someone can participate at that point as I don't know much about coding...
I'm using CM10.1.
I can't remember the secret phone code, I have to do research again.
This secret phone code only works on Stock ROM. (I stupidly deleted it, when it wasn't working on CM10 anymore.)
The one secret phone code I used to force "LTE only" was *#*#4636#*#*.
Please DON'T change the baseband (don't even tap on it).
This can do problems to you. (I had to use QPST to recover the supported frequencies.)
Also, developers (afaik) can't modify the modem firmware.
We also don't even know, which LTE bands the Photon Q is capable of. (Except 1900 MHz)
I've got my 32GB SDCard back and will test it in the next few days out.
I hope I'll find that secret phone code, I'll also make a few screenshots.
Got the code!
##33284# <- ##DEBUG#
It only works on stock afair!
I'll test tomorrow, it's about 3am now >.<
disablewong said:
Dear All,
I recently got this device in Hong Kong and is hapi with its performance!
But I am still wondering if this device could actually use the LTE available in HK?
I knw the msm8960 claimed to be capable of utilizing all frequency of radio,
so is it possible that there is some soft lock in the baseband?
Could i flash the baseband or replace the modem driver from other device to access other frequency?
any idea is appreciated!
Thanks!
Vasco
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have read the "QU_SnapdragonS4_White_Paper_FNL_Rev6.pdf" and found there following entry:
-----------------------------------------------------------
• Industry’s first fully integrated 3G/4G world/multimode LTE Modem: <<<Supports all of the world’s leading 2G, 3G and 4G LTE standards>>>.
It also includes integrated support for multiple satellite position networks (GPS and GLONASS) as well as short range radios via Bluetooth,
WiFi, FM and NFC.
• Designed for speed, compatibility and power savings:
Snapdragon S4 Processor MSM8960 chipset includes the industry’s only complete platform that integrates all of the world’s leading 2G, 3G and 4G mobile broadband modem technologies on a single chip. This new integrated multimode modem is based on an advanced, programmable architecture that is performance, size and power optimized for the fastest combination of modems available for:
- LTE FDD/TDD (Cat3)
- 3G (DC-HSPA+ Cat 24)
- EV-DO Rev. B
- 1x Advanced
- TD-SCDMA
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE NFC.
Multimode/Multiband Means Worldwide Coverage.
• Support for multiple radio frequencies: Mobile broadband technologies are growing increasingly complex in their implementation. LTE is currently being implemented in over 40 diff erent radio frequency bands throughout the world. To complement its wide range of modem standards supported, Qualcomm has designed the Snapdragon S4 Processor MSM8960 CHIPSET platform to <<< address all commonly-used frequencies (from 700–2600 MHz) and bandwidths up to 20 MHz>>>, allowing its customers to address any mobile network opportunity whether the simplest single frequency implementation to the most extensive multi-frequency global mode, whether 4G, 3G or 2G.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Based on the document the chip can handle all LTE Standards, but it depends on his "advanced, programmable architecture"....as written there and how Motorola / Sprint implemented this, maybe they reduced LTE only to one Standard.
I don't have LTE in my area and so I cannot test this.
That's possibly right.
Something else:
If I remember correctly, somewhere in this forum have been said that for CDMA the internal Sprint "ID"(?) is used.
Maybe that's also the reason why I cannot connect to LTE in my area.
The phone is trying to "login" with the Sprint ID and this of course won't work.
The ##DEBUG# menu wasn't helpfull. It shows frequencies for american standards and not for GSM/WCDMA.
Also the LTE menu is also not very helpfull, it doesn't show frequencies at all.
Any News on this topic?
Maybe one of the developers can give a statement?
Yesterday I tested a LTE compatible SIM card.
My Bro has a Samsung Galaxy S4 with 4G/LTE in my area.
So I've put his SIM-Card into my Photon Q and set LTE only.
I had no luck, the Phone couldn't register into the network for this SIM.
I guess either it has the wrong frequencies or LTE is for inbuilt "SIM" (Sprint SIM?) only.
The latter. LTE is configured only for 1900 MHz which Sprint uses.
LTE is configured only for Sprint's frequencies, however, it supports the United States frequencies of PCS blocks A-G. The G Block is Sprint's current LTE channel, and they may deploy it later on Blocks A through F, depending on if they own the spectrum in a given market. The reason you see EU networks when the phone is in LTE Only Mode is most likely because the Phone still sees GSM signals, but will only connect to LTE ones from those GSM signals. Likewise, in the US, if you force LTE Only and then search for networks, AT&T and T-Mobile US will come up as the GSM carriers the Photon Q sees, rather than the LTE signals it sees.
Setting the Photon to LTE Only will not do anything for LTE in the EU. I suspect that if another carrier in the EU uses the 1900 MHz for LTE, the Photon Q will have no issues connecting to LTE in Europe. But until that time, be happy with HSPA.
Skrilax_CZ said:
LTE is configured only for 1900 MHz which Sprint uses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can this configuration theoretically be changed / other frequencies be added?
Only if you break BP security.
Skrilax_CZ said:
Only if you break BP security.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, what's that?
IIRC The only place with 850mhz LTE available is the Chicago market and currently no phones at all support it. :crying:
Not only does your phone need to support it, your PRL and cell-site does too...

Has anybody tried to change LTE bands?

hi there, i was wondering, since this phone has MSM8960 which is LTE-capable, and is in fact an LTE phone save for the fact that it is locked to 1900mhz, if it would be possible to "unlock" the radio to be able to use EU/World LTE frequencies.
now, i know that the antenna inside is most likely tuned to 1900mhz so the reception would not be optimal, but still i'm curious cause i found out that there is a tool called QPST service programing from qualcomm that seems to be able to change the radio settings
example link -> http://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-t...aws-bands-on-att-galaxy-s4-sgh-i337sgh-i337m/
so yeah, has anybody tried yet?
Braccoz said:
hi there, i was wondering, since this phone has MSM8960 which is LTE-capable, and is in fact an LTE phone save for the fact that it is locked to 1900mhz, if it would be possible to "unlock" the radio to be able to use EU/World LTE frequencies.
now, i know that the antenna inside is most likely tuned to 1900mhz so the reception would not be optimal, but still i'm curious cause i found out that there is a tool called QPST service programing from qualcomm that seems to be able to change the radio settings
example link -> http://galaxys4root.com/galaxy-s4-t...aws-bands-on-att-galaxy-s4-sgh-i337sgh-i337m/
so yeah, has anybody tried yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't such QPST knowledge, but I believe that QPST can enable the missing bands only if the are listed by the baseband, and then purposely disabled by Motorola when it sells the same phone in different areas.
I'm afraid it's not our case, given the phone is meant for a single market.
I believe that the antennas and filters shouldn't be a big problem, the problem is to have an hacked baseband, which is a task that very few people can do.
That said keep what I wrote with a grain of salt, and see if someone else has better ideas.
The Solutor said:
I haven't such QPST knowledge, but I believe that QPST can enable the missing bands only if the are listed by the baseband, and then purposely disabled by Motorola when it sells the same phone in different areas.
I'm afraid it's not our case, given the phone is meant for a single market.
I believe that the antennas and filters shouldn't be a big problem, the problem is to have an hacked baseband, which is a task that very few people can do.
That said keep what I wrote with a grain of salt, and see if someone else has better ideas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nah, it should be just a matter of chaning the right NV settings to the appropriate values. that's the hard part basically, cause there are a ton and it's not immediate to locate them
i mean that biggest problem is antena switch
CornholioGSM said:
i mean that biggest problem is antena switch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still a guess, but I blieve that hardly the switch would be a problem, if properly driven.
Btw a definite answer to this question should come identifying the switch IC and checking its datasheet.
Do you know what IC is doing that function in our Phone ?
The Solutor said:
Still a guess, but I blieve that hardly the switch would be a problem, if properly driven.
Btw a definite answer to this question should come identifying the switch IC and checking its datasheet.
Do you know what IC is doing that function in our Phone ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if i dont forgot i can check it tomorrow
this thread is very actual in our time. I would also like to check out LTE for other bands in Verizon phones.
the problem is that topic starter gives link to activate AWS band, it's not LTE, it's WCDMA 1700MHz
olegfusion said:
this thread is very actual in our time. I would also like to check out LTE for other bands in Verizon phones.
the problem is that topic starter gives link to activate AWS band, it's not LTE, it's WCDMA 1700MHz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was just an example, I believe.
And BTW would be nice to have the UMTS900 too.
In Italy some small areas are already covered, and starting from January/2014 wil be possible for the Operators to use it nationwide.
I tested it already on during the last summer vacations and is just awesome.
Better coverage than GSM900. with the speed of 3G.
Take a look at page 3 of Atrix HD teardown:
http://www.techinsights.com/uploade...2013/techinsights-motorola-atrix-hd-mb886.pdf
There are not only antenna switches at play, but also band specific power amplifiers.
Besides the hardware parts, I guess that our BP firmware will also be one of the show stoppers for achieving LTE e.g. at 800Mhz on Q.
[Atrix HD is very similar device (we share the same kernel) and we are able to use also its BP firmware to some extent (so the BP signature seems to be the same as on Q).]
olegfusion said:
the problem is that topic starter gives link to activate AWS band, it's not LTE, it's WCDMA 1700MHz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it was just an example so show that it is actually possible to unlock frequencies the phone was not meant to work with
kabaldan said:
Take a look at page 3 of Atrix HD teardown:
http://www.techinsights.com/uploade...2013/techinsights-motorola-atrix-hd-mb886.pdf
There are not only antenna switches at play, but also band specific power amplifiers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice find, thanks.
Interestingly enough looks like the Atrix HD doesn't have any ACPM-5005, which is present (for sure) on the Photon Q, (is a band 5 850MHz power amplifier), while the Atrix HD is stated to support that band.
Too bad I cant read the full list of PQ ICs, some of them are unreadable, on the broken logic board I have handy.
For sure there are two ACPM-5002 (band 2/1900Mhz) power amplifiers, and the ACPM-7051, quad band GSM and band 1 & 5 (2100/850) LTE/UMTS/LTE PA
At least looks like the signals are routed differently between the two phones

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