I have an HTC HD7 (T-Mobile) and I am contemplating flashing it...I have noticed that I can put new radio versions. I have looked up what a radio is but I just want to be 100% clear...IF I INSTALL A NEW RADIO ON MY PHONE DOES THAT MEAN THAT IT WILL HAVE THOSE 3G/4G BANDS? If so this is amazing, if not then what's the point when SuperCid will SIM unlock the phone?
*faceplam*
Radio updates are firmware updates like every other. You can't physically put more radios, or radios that work on different bands, or radios that work on different modulation, into the phone just using a CAB file.
Radio updates do things like improving the software drivers for the phone's radios (WiFi, Cellular, BlueTooth, and so forth), which may give you better data connections, fewer dropped calls, more seamless tower switching, or new purely-software features like tethering support. However, the bands that the phone can access are decided by the hardware present inside it.
Radios add to a phone's cost, which is why you see relatively few quad/quintuple-band phones; it's cheaper to just support the bands most used in the area (or on the carrier) that any given phone is meant to be sold in. An HD7 branded for TMoUS won't be able to use the 3G bands (and doesn't have *any* 4G radios) used by AT&T; the same is true of an AT&T HD7S on TMoUS.
As for why you would SIM-unlock in that case, there are a few reasons. For one, you can usually get EDGE (a late-2G tech, but much slower than 3G) on any given band the phone supports. For another, even with no data connection at all you can usually get voice and SMS on any GSM network. Finally, some networks *do* use the same 3G bands, so by sim-unlocking you can switch to those networks and get the same type of service you had before.
Radio/band difference
GoodDayToDie said:
Radios add to a phone's cost, which is why you see relatively few quad/quintuple-band phones; it's cheaper to just support the bands most used in the area (or on the carrier) that any given phone is meant to be sold in. An HD7 branded for TMoUS won't be able to use the 3G bands (and doesn't have *any* 4G radios) used by AT&T; the same is true of an AT&T HD7S on TMoUS.
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So adding radios to the phone makes it quad/quintuple-band phone? What I'm trying to understand is how you used "Radio but then translated it to the number of bands on a phone
Strictly speaking, it's probably only one physical radio device (although I don't know for sure), but there may be a couple of antennas... I'm not going to try explaining radio physics here, but it will suffice to say that for a phone to access more bands requires more investment in its radio hardware.
"Band" as used here is radio lingo for "a grouping of similar frequencies allocated to a single purpose" such as the 900MHz GSM cellular band, or the commercial broadcast AM band (which spans the frequency 900KHz - a factor of 1000 difference). If you're old enough, you probably remember analog TV broadcast, which included "VHF" and "UHF" bands.
Okay! That makes so much sense! Thanks for the clarification man!
Related
So it looks like TMO is using 1700/2100 for 3G while AT&T is using 850/1900 MHz. So basically the Dash3G is useless on AT&T for 3G.
Does anyone know if flashing the radio part on the Maple with one that has the correct frequencies will enable 3G on AT&T's network? Or are the radio frequencies a hardware thing? I know the SNAP S522 is the true USA version with the correct bands I just have no way of getting my hands on the radio partition.
I want 3G on my Dash"3G".
Firstly - thanks very much for all the ROM's and your hard work!
I'm a long time browser of these forums, but don't post much. Also a long time user and "flasher"!!! All the way back to the old MPX200 days. Always liked WM Standard, so it's realy good to see all this interest!!!
HTC seems to have been real cagey in their frequency descriptions when it comes to the Dash 3G series of phones. I read somewhere that there are software driven transcievers in some obscure phones out there......and I wonder if HTC actualy did this with their latest and greatest....
Just thinking out loud, per your question. When you look at the spec sheets, they seem to be "non-commital with regards to wcdma specs.
Hmm.
Also, it'd be good to have a set of radio only ROM's, as and when we see T-Mob USA fixes.. there needs to be some improvements made with regards to switching between edge and wcdma - in my opinion. I'm in the DFW area and get dropped calls, the phone drops to edge way too often, especially after a call.
Ok, so I've searched all over and haven't had much luck. I have no experience with cdma phones, as t mobile is all I've ever had.
I was given a new US Cellular HTC Hero s. I opened it up and saw the sim slot and though, sweet I can replace my sensation with it (I smashed the screen pretty bad). Well, that was a no go, as the phone is cdma. Looking online though, I see it can run in gsm (options global mode, cdma mode, gsm / umts mode. I unlocked the bootloader using the htc site (not sure it matters) and popped in my sim card again, and tried both global and gsm mode, though neither got signal or would dial out. (under networks, it had the tmo apn info.)
So, is the GSM mode offered on this phone only for non US bands? Would a custom rom (now or down the road) allow it to work on tmo? I read something about the HTC Merge and someone being able to switch out the modem in the rom that allowed it to work in the US, but that is well beyond me. I can follow instructions, work ADB and flash roms.. but thats about it.
Is it possible, or will it soon be, to have this phone work on GSM or am I just stuck trying to sell it as a us cellular phone (or perhaps another cdma carrier.. like I said, I don't know anything about cdma)
As a Canadian I'm not sure about who owns US cellular or if they are their own company but I'm guessing they work like Verizon world phones. They have sim card slots but will work only outside of the US. If those verizon phones are used within the States, they will only pick up Verizon's frequency, as opposed to T-Mobile or AT&T where you can unlock them and use them with any GSM carrier within the States. But yeah, you can unlock it and it will work with any GSM carrier outside the States but within the States I think it will only work under US Cellular CDMA network...please correct me if I'm wrong.
That's right, u.s. cdma "world phones" have gsm radios but are locked down from connecting to gsm networks in the u.s. This is not just the normal sim lock found on gsm phones but they are hard coded to ignore u.s. gsm networks.
Some have been unlocked to work on any network through various methods including flashing a modem from a non-us varient of the same phone and other hacks. I can't comment specifically on this phone however.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Well, that points me in the right direction, and confirms what I read about swapping modems (on the other phone mentioned).
So basically it's software telling it not use a certain frequency, and not that the phone itself is incapable of picking it up (had my doubts about that)
Pretty shady the way phone companies are allowed to operate (don't get me started on my unlimited internet in my contract [pre data caps in tmo]. "Hey! check it out, this phone uses data 5 times faster than your old one, oh, and you get half as much too) sorry, end of rant.
I'll keep searching, and post if I find something..
On a side note, can cdma phones be flashed to another cdma carrier like verizon or sprint, or is it the same deal, coded to only use a certain frequency range?
only thing I've heard of is flashing sprint and verizon phones to cricket, metro pcs and boost.
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.
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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.
Cliffs Notes:
I need a phone that will operate unlocked on GSM 900 that I can also program to use MY (not the carrier's) WiMAX base station at 2.5Ghz. Recommendations?
The longer version
Title pretty much says it all.
I'm running a Lab network that does GSM/EDGE and I've also got a WiMAX base station at the 2500 band with my own CPE's.
I want to use the Sprint Motorola Photon to access all three technologies by unlocking it. The GSM/EDGE should be cake.. It's a world phone so I shouldn't (hopefully) have to dork with unlocking it OR I can set my lab system to mimic a Sprint MNC/MCC push come shove.
The WiMAX is a question mark. I know I can allow the phone access to the base station, but getting the phone so see the base station is the question.
I assume I will need to somehow tell the phone to stop looking for Sprint's WiMAX and look for my channels instead. Seems like it should be doable - it's all IEEE 802.16e. The biggest challenge I see is reprogramming the appropriate WiMAX channels into the phone assuming it doesn't scan the entire band automatically and attempt to authenticate whatever it sees (like the way GSM does).
Before I drop $700.00 on a pair of phones though, I want to know it can be done.
What say ye?
Edited to provide more background info: My lab network when running GSM runs in the 900 band. I'd read where people were using the KDDI radio (I assume from Japanese carrier AU KDDI?) to enable USA / GSM.
I get the impression that I wouldn't have to do this to operate the phone at 900MHz GSM (ETSI spec), but what about the carrier unlock? Would the phone care at this point and want to see a 'Sprint' signal or would it accept any SIM (to include a made-by-me GemAlto?)..
Still though.. Need to know about the WiMAX bit.
For that matter, what about the Galaxy SII ISW11SC version. My understanding was that AU KDDI operates it's carrier services using CDMA2000 @ 800MHz. But I have also seen published specs that this version of the GS2 supports GSM as well as WiMAX2500. Perhaps a better potential candidate?
no takers?
overturfa said:
no takers?
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bump for a new day.
TTT
overturfa said:
TTT
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.....
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.
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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.