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[QUES] 3G Radio bands

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.

eBay error :/

So, just bought an HD7 from eBay (in the UK) and I violated my normal rule of only buying things with a 'real' picture.
My 'unlocked' HD7 has just shown up and is T-Mobile branded. I know this doesn't mean it's locked, but I was under the impression that T-Mo in the UK didn't ever carry this phone so it really looks to me like it's from the US.
Now, I need some advice as to how acceptable this is going to be. My main concern is 3G bands. Now, with my UK SIM I'm seeing '3G' in the top left corner, which surprised me a little as I thought the bands were totally different.
I'm getting around 2/3rds of the download speed I was getting on my HTC Sensation in a quick spot test (~1Mbps vs ~1.5Mbps).
Any thoughts?

If your not using a T-Mobile sim and you still have a connection then the phone is unlocked but still branded. This wont cause you any problems that I know off.
Speed tests are a bit odd to do on mobiles and very unreliable.
Not sure what you mean by 3G Bands. 3G is 3G it should when you have a better signal up to H (HSDPA) which is the 7.5Mb speed if i remember right. If it only showed G then i would be worried.

Well, I get the unlocked bit, certainly works from that POV.
I've worked out the difference is HSPA, like you say, so that's what's missing

karnka said:
Well, I get the unlocked bit, certainly works from that POV.
I've worked out the difference is HSPA, like you say, so that's what's missing
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HSDPA works on the same bands and standard 3G - in the UK is 2100MHz. If you're getting 3G but not HSDPA it's either a problem with the phones software not switching, or that the mast your phone has decided to use doesn't support HSDPA for whatever reason.
HSDPA is essentially a software update to the original 3G technology.

That's actually really helpful, thanks.
So, if I see _anything_ 3G related then all is good.

HSDPA should show as 3G+ icon. But OEMs can make the 3G+ icon show as just 3G, so you might be on HSDPA and even not know about it. Run some speed test when you have better signal strength

Indeed anything 3G related is all good.
HTC will normally replace 3G+ with a H, for obvious reasons. I don't know if TMO america have any weird definitions in place though.
Also, the maximum transfer speed of 3G is 386Kb/s, so your rating of 1Mb/s (equivalent to 1024Kb/s) suggests you're on HSDPA anyway.

[q] radio question!!

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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!

[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.

problems with 4G OPO and Three UK

Ho peeps,
just a quick question. I just moved to 4G but I'm experiencing some funny issues.
On my OPO under "Mobile network settings", I changed Preferred network type from 3G to LTE (recommended) and I got 4G. But, occasionally, all of a sudden I can't make or receive phone calls anymore, even if there is good reception signal. If I change the setting back to 3G, then everything works again. So, I checked the frequencies just in case and the OPO, has we know, has LTE: Bands: 1/3/4/7/17/38/40 and Three UK (my provider) for 4G has 800 MHz (0.8 GHz) and 1800 MHz (1.8 GHz). Granted that I don't know much about frequencies, bands, MHz etc, could anybody confirm that the frequencies that the opo has are fine with the ones that Three has? If that's the case, why the opo occasionally plays up when LTE is selected?
cheers

duratto said:
Ho peeps,
just a quick question. I just moved to 4G but I'm experiencing some funny issues.
On my OPO under "Mobile network settings", I changed Preferred network type from 3G to LTE (recommended) and I got 4G. But, occasionally, all of a sudden I can't make or receive phone calls anymore, even if there is good reception signal. If I change the setting back to 3G, then everything works again. So, I checked the frequencies just in case and the OPO, has we know, has LTE: Bands: 1/3/4/7/17/38/40 and Three UK (my provider) for 4G has 800 MHz (0.8 GHz) and 1800 MHz (1.8 GHz). Granted that I don't know much about frequencies, bands, MHz etc, could anybody confirm that the frequencies that the opo has are fine with the ones that Three has? If that's the case, why the opo occasionally plays up when LTE is selected?
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless this has changed recently Three uses 2 bands for LTE(4G). One is Band 3 which the OPO supports which they use it big cities and towns and the other is Band 20 which they use in rural areas which the OPO does not support. I am guessing you are in a Band 20 area at the moment and that is why it is not working.

flumpster said:
Unless this has changed recently Three uses 2 bands for LTE(4G). One is Band 3 which the OPO supports which they use it big cities and towns and the other is Band 20 which they use in rural areas which the OPO does not support. I am guessing you are in a Band 20 area at the moment and that is why it is not working.
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Click to collapse
Well the 4g actually works, sorry maybe I wasn't clear, although it is patchy, but the issue is that often when the 4G is on, the phone doesn't allow incoming and outgoing calls even if there is full reception. When I switch off the 4g back to 3g the phone works again.

duratto said:
Well the 4g actually works, sorry maybe I wasn't clear, although it is patchy, but the issue is that often when the 4G is on, the phone doesn't allow incoming and outgoing calls even if there is full reception. When I switch off the 4g back to 3g the phone works again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is something I just found on the subject.
Only two UK carriers offers LTE support with those frequencies: EE (supports band 3 & 7) and Three (supports band 3). Other carriers won't be able to support LTE coverage for the OnePlus One as they operate within band 20, which isn't supported by the phone.
Band 3 has limited usability in weaker signal areas, where it has difficulty penetrating built up areas and the interior of buildings, but it can carry more users. Band 7 (only supported by EE) offers wider coverage, as it can reach further, but cannot support as many users.
If you are an EE consumer, you wont experience any LTE problems. However, if you are a Three consumer (as I am), you may experience problems with LTE coverage, when you get outside of the major cities or in weaker signal areas within cities.
However, as Three offers extensive HSPDA+ coverage (or Advanced 3G (DC‑HSDPA) as they call it), you will still be able to get very fast data speeds (up to 42 Mbps). As Three offers 3G under the 2100MHz you will be able to get this speed with the OnePlus One in major cities and regular 3G in the rest of the UK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

flumpster said:
Here is something I just found on the subject.
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Click to collapse
thanks, that's useful, although I still wonder what causes that problem as I had it a few times now (can't make/receive calls when on LTE) as I assume the band won't have anything to do with it. I was hoping to find somebody else with that problem on Three, perhaps it is just a Three thing...

I'm on Three and I either get LTE (mainly London where I work) or H+. Either way I've never struggled, as far as I know, to receive phone calls or texts. Worried now though

duratto said:
thanks, that's useful, although I still wonder what causes that problem as I had it a few times now (can't make/receive calls when on LTE) as I assume the band won't have anything to do with it. I was hoping to find somebody else with that problem on Three, perhaps it is just a Three thing...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am having the same problem, have tried different serivce provider sims in my phone and they work fine, just the three sim, which I can't change as I am in a contract with them, and OPO customer service is horrendous! I have tried the sim in another phone and it works fine. I have tried to chnge to 3G only, but all the three sims are 4G enabled, so when I select the Three 3G network, the phone wont register on it, I can only register on the 4G network. I have tried installing CM11, CM12, Paranoid Android, OxygenOS and had no effect, tried safe mode, tried rooting the phone, and still no effect.
Really need a solution to this, but not finding any

To be honest this problem happens at random, at least for me, so it's difficult to find the exact cause. Touch wood I haven't had it for about a month now, but like I said, and from previous experience, it could happen anytime. Read what flumpster has found in the previous post. As for a solution, I'm not sure what to say, other than switch to 3G, wait for the 3g network to pick up and then switch back to LTE, (you might need to repeat this a couple of times if it doesn't work) that fixes it, at least temporarily.
whitestar7 said:
I am having the same problem, have tried different serivce provider sims in my phone and they work fine, just the three sim, which I can't change as I am in a contract with them, and OPO customer service is horrendous! I have tried the sim in another phone and it works fine. I have tried to chnge to 3G only, but all the three sims are 4G enabled, so when I select the Three 3G network, the phone wont register on it, I can only register on the 4G network. I have tried installing CM11, CM12, Paranoid Android, OxygenOS and had no effect, tried safe mode, tried rooting the phone, and still no effect.
Really need a solution to this, but not finding any
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

duratto said:
To be honest this problem happens at random, at least for me, so it's difficult to find the exact cause. Touch wood I haven't had it for about a month now, but like I said, and from previous experience, it could happen anytime. Read what flumpster has found in the previous post. As for a solution, I'm not sure what to say, other than switch to 3G, wait for the 3g network to pick up and then switch back to LTE, (you might need to repeat this a couple of times if it doesn't work) that fixes it, at least temporarily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i can't switch to 3G, when I sleect preferred network as 3G it says there is no service