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.
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...
Hello everyone. As many of us first posters here, I have a problem:
I've bought an north american J327U from someone I know, and that person only used it at home with their wi-fi. It's got an Exynos chipset, and no support for the LTE bands from where I live in (which are completely different from the USA's LTE bands).
After quite a bit of research, I found here and elsewhere methods to change LTE support for Qualcomm devices, but had no luck finding any for Exynos devices. Is there any way to do the same thing for devices with Exynos chipset, or am I stuck with no LTE? I also know it deppends on the hardware support for that, in my case I would need support for bands 3 (1800mhz), 7 (2600mhz) and 28 (700mhz). The phone covers none of those.
My device is not yet rooted, but I'm fine with doing so if needed.
Thanks in advance for any help.
I don't think you can physically change the bands unfortunately.
So as y'all know, s2 and y2 is the exact model but differentiate from where it sales.
I got my y2 from India, currently back to Taiwan.
I wonder if there are any ways fore me to enable 900 MHz 2600Mhz LTE or 4G bands, as those two is what my cellular company provides. (Whereas my phone supports 850Mhz, 2100Mhz and all, but just not 900 MHz or 2600Mhz)
I have only found a thread with galaxy s5 I suppose, but I am a newbie here and I have absolutely no Idea what I should do.
Currently running Unlocked version MIUI 10, Android 9.
Btw, rooting wouldn't be a problem, just help me to get it working <3
barrychen said:
So as y'all know, s2 and y2 is the exact model but differentiate from where it sales.
I got my y2 from India, currently back to Taiwan.
I wonder if there are any ways fore me to enable 900 MHz 2600Mhz LTE or 4G bands, as those two is what my cellular company provides. (Whereas my phone supports 850Mhz, 2100Mhz and all, but just not 900 MHz or 2600Mhz)
I have only found a thread with galaxy s5 I suppose, but I am a newbie here and I have absolutely no Idea what I should do.
Currently running Unlocked version MIUI 10, Android 9.
Btw, rooting wouldn't be a problem, just help me to get it working <3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it has been country and operator specific, different country and different operator has different result
phantomhell said:
I think it has been country and operator specific, different country and different operator has different result
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that, but just asking whether there are anyway for me to add frequencies, else I would need to change a phone.
barrychen said:
I know that, but just asking whether there are anyway for me to add frequencies, else I would need to change a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, this works or not, usually in "miui" there is a region menu...
Does effect nothing with region select
I have faced, for some reason, the frequency of my 4G cell phone being locked in my country, when I change regions, the problem is resolved
phantomhell said:
Does effect nothing with region select
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that what I need is a firmware edit (or whatever it calls)
, changing the settings obviously won't help.