Database Info

Crippled GSM Radio in US CDMA TP2's

Something is breaking the GSM Radio in US CDMA TP2's from being used with US GSM operators. Trying both a ATT and TMo SIM in a Sprint TP2 fails - network search shows no networks available.
Closer inspection shows that while the devices are SIM unlocked, they Ignore/Reject any networks with US MCC's.
Attempting to show networks with MCC 310 and 311 failed, while 334 and 666 showed up just fine.
Running the fieldTest utility (not to be confused with fieldTrial) shows the GSM radio a-flutter with activity, finding and listing UMTS and GSM networks stateside.
I've poured over the registry and nothing sticks out as the culprit for this behavior; I fear that certain MCC's are locked out of the baseband - but I'm not sure how one would go about examining such configurations and removing such limitations.
Thoughts?

Forgive my naivety, but will this benefit people like me who are VZW subscribers? Is there GSM speeds that CDMA can't reach in certain areas, which unlocking the other radios would allow us to automatically latch onto?
I'm just wondering if this discussion is geared more towards those trying to unlock to move to ATT, or if it can benefit us all equally.

fronc said:
Forgive my naivety, but will this benefit people like me who are VZW subscribers? Is there GSM speeds that CDMA can't reach in certain areas, which unlocking the other radios would allow us to automatically latch onto?
I'm just wondering if this discussion is geared more towards those trying to unlock to move to ATT, or if it can benefit us all equally.
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I have accounts with Sprint, Verizon, and ATT. If I can pop in my ATT SIM in my Sprint TP2, and switch service at will (depending on coverage or preference), it would be most excellent.

Maybe I don't get it, but isn't this known? I thought the GSM radios were locked out in the U.S.? It has something to do with FCC compliance?

I believe US GSM frequencies are locked out via software and hardware, either by request of the CDMA carriers and/or the FCC's requirements.

jasonjoo said:
I believe US GSM frequencies are locked out via software and hardware, either by request of the CDMA carriers and/or the FCC's requirements.
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It's an FCC thing, they have not authorized the GSM radio in it for use in the United States, even though it can do 850/1900 GSM. I'm afraid the GSM in these things is strictly for traveling outside the USA. It will show the GSM networks here, as you have found out, but the networks here will not allow it to use them, so no amount of hacks will make it work.

californiarailroader said:
It's an FCC thing, they have not authorized the GSM radio in it for use in the United States, even though it can do 850/1900 GSM. I'm afraid the GSM in these things is strictly for traveling outside the USA. It will show the GSM networks here, as you have found out, but the networks here will not allow it to use them, so no amount of hacks will make it work.
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Are you sure about it being an "FCC thing"?
There have been a few reports of people getting an unlock code, and getting their hybrid TP2 to work domestically...sans 3G connectivity, apparently.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=555067
The cheapest I've found for an unlock code for the TP2 is $20 from here:
http://www.uniquephones.com/
but I don't know what their success rate is like; some companies charge as much as $35 for one.

That's a Canadian version though, I'm sure the models sold there are not subject to US FCC Laws.
Edit-I found this- http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/05/20/htc-passes-cdma-gsm-hybrid-touch-pro2-through-the-fcc/

californiarailroader said:
That's a Canadian version though, I'm sure the models sold there are not subject to US FCC Laws.
Edit-I found this- http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/05/20/htc-passes-cdma-gsm-hybrid-touch-pro2-through-the-fcc/
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Hmm... SIM lock and firmware lock--both "modifiable". I have hope.

I give it a month max till there is a workaround.

californiarailroader said:
That's a Canadian version though, I'm sure the models sold there are not subject to US FCC Laws.
Edit-I found this- http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/05/20/htc-passes-cdma-gsm-hybrid-touch-pro2-through-the-fcc/
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The Verizon version if you get the unlock code, it will work in the US GSM.

Gsm not enabled
Hi does anyone know if there is a work around for this it sounds like a firmware thing and not a hardware limitation also I have installed 6.5 on my GSM TP2 is there an SPL for the cdma version yet sorry to post here on this however im trying to get to the bottom of this
Thanks in advance for any help

I got my Verizon TP2 unlocked (just emailed support and they mailed back the unlock code). Popped in my Orange (UK) SIM, told the phone to use GSM only and was able to TXT/call from it and receive calls/TXT just fine via my UK number. (I'm physically in the US).
So it's not a lock so much on registering with US networks... but it may be a lock on US GSM SIM cards so you can't go toss in your TMobile (US) SIM and dump VZ service.
--Chris

christr said:
I got my Verizon TP2 unlocked (just emailed support and they mailed back the unlock code). Popped in my Orange (UK) SIM, told the phone to use GSM only and was able to TXT/call from it and receive calls/TXT just fine via my UK number. (I'm physically in the US).
So it's not a lock so much on registering with US networks... but it may be a lock on US GSM SIM cards so you can't go toss in your TMobile (US) SIM and dump VZ service.
--Chris
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This is great news! I like to unlock any GSM enabled phone I get for Verizon, just in case I ever decide to leave - so I can take my phone with me
I'll be unlocking mine tomorrow when I get it, if they'll allow it. I've been a customer for over a year, and they allowed it on the Storm and Tour, so this shouldn't be a problem.

I've been with them for several years and as far as I know as long as you're current on your bill they'll give you the unlock code. I had mine for 2 whole days and they gave it to me.
--chris

.mak said:
This is great news! I like to unlock any GSM enabled phone I get for Verizon, just in case I ever decide to leave - so I can take my phone with me
I'll be unlocking mine tomorrow when I get it, if they'll allow it. I've been a customer for over a year, and they allowed it on the Storm and Tour, so this shouldn't be a problem.
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Well thats good news I will see if Sprint allows me to do the same as I have accounts with AT&T and TMO also I would really like to use this on my ATT plan but it appears from reading the previous posts that perhaps US based sims are locked out I will attempt to unlock it tommorow nonetheless and see what happens on the other hand my VZW Storm worked like a charm after getting it unlocked ........... for some reason this seems different though if the FCC notice is read at face value Anyone having any experience with this giving feedback would be much appreciated

christr said:
I've been with them for several years and as far as I know as long as you're current on your bill they'll give you the unlock code. I had mine for 2 whole days and they gave it to me.
--chris
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Are you with VZW OR Sprint

dooglesmail said:
Are you with VZW OR Sprint
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes are we talking VZW or Sprint?
I have had my phone two days on VZW. The CSR first said I have to wait 60 days, then checked with T2 and came back and said it is not available. I am sure he doesn't know what I was talking about. I will call again and then a third and if that doesn't work I will just email support as mentioned above. I need an unlock code before November as I will be on the road again overseas and I don't want to pay crazy International VZW rates!

californiarailroader said:
It's an FCC thing, they have not authorized the GSM radio in it for use in the United States, even though it can do 850/1900 GSM. I'm afraid the GSM in these things is strictly for traveling outside the USA. It will show the GSM networks here, as you have found out, but the networks here will not allow it to use them, so no amount of hacks will make it work.
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mmmmmmmm. do i have a fellow railroader on this site besides me??????

unorthodoxx said:
Yes are we talking VZW or Sprint?
I have had my phone two days on VZW. The CSR first said I have to wait 60 days, then checked with T2 and came back and said it is not available. I am sure he doesn't know what I was talking about. I will call again and then a third and if that doesn't work I will just email support as mentioned above. I need an unlock code before November as I will be on the road again overseas and I don't want to pay crazy International VZW rates!
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Click to collapse
Hmmm VZW Global support was not given the instructions to SIM unlock this TP2 from HTC. Sounds strange to me, has anyone had any luck getting it unlocked in order to use and overseas SIM while overseas instead of the VZW SIM with access to high rates?
I will contact HTC.

[Q] sold tp2 uscc to verizon guy

Hi I sold an unlocked xpress rom tp2 to a guy who had verizon.. he said verizon would not activate it at the verizon place.. i thought it would work??

well **** he did ebay dispute and it took the money out of my paypal acct! talked to him on the phone and he is sending phone back tomorrow.. learned something today ;/

Of course the company isn't going to support a custom ROM. I would have sked for my money back too. You should have returned it to stock conditions before selling it.

cajunflavoredbob said:
Of course the company isn't going to support a custom ROM. I would have sked for my money back too. You should have returned it to stock conditions before selling it.
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custom rom wont affect activation, the fact that it was a uscc phone caused the problem, next time only say it will work on uscc unless it has a bad esn

Diamond_dawg said:
custom rom wont affect activation, the fact that it was a uscc phone caused the problem, next time only say it will work on uscc unless it has a bad esn
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Using a branded phone doesn't make a difference so long as you are going from GSM to GSM or CDMA to CDMA. Verizon and USC both are CDMA. Several people on these forums have done the same thing.
He said the other guy took his phone into a Verizon store. If they see you aren't running the stock ROM, they will refuse to activate it. I used to do the same thing when I worked for T-Mobile. We could take someone with an AT&T phone and port their number, but if we found out they used a custom ROM, then they would have to get a new device.
Custom ROMs are never, ever supported by carriers. I'm not saying that this is definitely the problem, but it is very likely.

cajunflavoredbob said:
Using a branded phone doesn't make a difference so long as you are going from GSM to GSM or CDMA to CDMA. Verizon and USC both are CDMA. Several people on these forums have done the same thing.
He said the other guy took his phone into a Verizon store. If they see you aren't running the stock ROM, they will refuse to activate it. I used to do the same thing when I worked for T-Mobile. We could take someone with an AT&T phone and port their number, but if we found out they used a custom ROM, then they would have to get a new device.
Custom ROMs are never, ever supported by carriers. I'm not saying that this is definitely the problem, but it is very likely.
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You need to Learn a bit more on CDMA. Just cause a phone is unlocked won't mean it can be used on other carriers. Verizon has to add the esn to their database after Whiich he can have a Verizon line added to it. So it's not the same as gsm

Yeah guy took it to verizon and they actually tried working with him but no luck with activation over the phone..they didn't care that it was uscc supposedly... Thanks for the help.. To bad these a hole carriers won't do WHAT THEIR TOLD! AH HA.. Thanks for info
Sent from my HTC DESIRE using XDA App

tp2me said:
Yeah guy took it to verizon and they actually tried working with him but no luck with activation over the phone..they didn't care that it was uscc supposedly... Thanks for the help.. To bad these a hole carriers won't do WHAT THEIR TOLD! AH HA.. Thanks for info
Sent from my HTC DESIRE using XDA App
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Same thing happened with boost. They could not activate it cuz it was not added to the database. I think only metro pcs would do it for a fee. Not releally sure

Verizon will NOT add a foreign esn to their database. They will only activate verizon phones.

yup, Verizon doesn't activate anyone else's phones. Only phones with ESN's they have in their own database and they won't add a phone to it just cause you want them to.

[Q] if sim unlocked, would sensation work with rogers fully?

Hi,
I am currently in taiwan, and I was just wondering if I bought a Sensation (4g? is it 2 different phones?), and unlocked it, would I be able to use Rogers with it? I've been searching around, and I could find threads saying thers problems such Rogers can't provide 4g, and services not working. Im a total nub at this so I tried to search things up, but nothing came up. Please help .
gching

Rogers has the same bands on Hspa as Bell and Telus. So yes your phone will work on Rogers Canada. Rogers also has the old Gsm bands, Sensation also has these bands but thats only if you're in a non 3g zone.!

Yess , alright ill consider buying it then, thanks for the help

hmm, my friend told me because im buying from taiwan, that it is already unlocked so i dont need to do anything except put my roger sim card in, is that true?

yes i remember when i went back to taiwan and look at the sensation the reps at the htc booth said that they are unlocked. i'm not sure if you buy it from a carrier like chunghwa telecom though. calling should work but not sure about 3g data.

Does T-Mobile work in Canada?

Hey Guys, I'm wondering if any of you have traveled to Canada with your T-Mobile Phone. I personally go to Toronto every year but last year when I went I was with Verizon and my phone did work, this is my first year with T-Mobile and can any of you tell me if T-Mobile works in Canada? Thank you.
I've heard that once I'm in Canada I can switch to the Rogers Network which is GSM via T-Mobile on my phone? Do I need to be Unlocked for that?

Young Katbodi said:
Hey Guys, I'm wondering if any of you have traveled to Canada with your T-Mobile Phone. I personally go to Toronto every year but last year when I went I was with Verizon and my phone did work, this is my first year with T-Mobile and can any of you tell me if T-Mobile works in Canada? Thank you.
I've heard that once I'm in Canada I can switch to the Rogers Network which is GSM via T-Mobile on my phone? Do I need to be Unlocked for that?
Click to expand...
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Your t-mobile phone will work perfectly fine. But, if you can get the phone unlocked, just pick up a prepaid sim card when you get there. Much much cheaper! Btw, while your up there, any calls that go to voicemail, you pay international roaming, even if you don't pick it up. Just a heads up.

How can an "unlocked phone" not be "unlocked"?

I asked this question a few days ago & no one answered, so I will try a different way.
Verizon tells me that my phone that is "unlocked & rooted" with CyanogenMod 10.2.1 is not truly unlocked.
So how do you completely "unlock" a phone so that it will work on Verizon's CDMA network?
Is there a different way to unlock for CDMA?
Thanks.

Rebel60 said:
I asked this question a few days ago & no one answered, so I will try a different way.
Verizon tells me that my phone that is "unlocked & rooted" with CyanogenMod 10.2.1 is not truly unlocked.
So how do you completely "unlock" a phone so that it will work on Verizon's CDMA network?
Is there a different way to unlock for CDMA?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your running cyanogen mod your bootloader is unlocked. There's two different kinds of unlocked, one is sim unlocked which means it can run on almost any carrier and bootloader unlocked meaning you can flash custom roms
As far as CDMA not that I'm aware of
From my S3 on Wicked 4.3

ShapesBlue said:
If your running cyanogen mod your bootloader is unlocked. There's two different kinds of unlocked, one is sim unlocked which means it can run on almost any carrier and bootloader unlocked meaning you can flash custom roms
As far as CDMA not that I'm aware of
From my S3 on Wicked 4.3
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Thanks. I couldn't understand how a phone can be unlocked & rooted & still not be unlocked. The salesman at Verizon told me on the phone that whatever company originally sold the phone would have to unlock it. I forgot that this was a T-Mobile phone. I use T-mobile sim via Straight Talk. If this sim is removed then would the phone be able to work on Verizon network? Verzion is telling me this is a GSM phone & not CDMA & won't work unless unlocked by carrier. Which makes no sense if it isn't a cdma to begin with. I assume that all Verizon version of phones are made for them as CDMA only?
If this is so, then Verizon should not be advertising "bring your own device" as it won't work. It should be "bring your own Verizon phone".

Rebel60 said:
Thanks. I couldn't understand how a phone can be unlocked & rooted & still not be unlocked. The salesman at Verizon told me on the phone that whatever company originally sold the phone would have to unlock it. I forgot that this was a T-Mobile phone. I use T-mobile sim via Straight Talk. If this sim is removed then would the phone be able to work on Verizon network? Verzion is telling me this is a GSM phone & not CDMA & won't work unless unlocked by carrier. Which makes no sense if it isn't a cdma to begin with. I assume that all Verizon version of phones are made for them as CDMA only?
If this is so, then Verizon should not be advertising "bring your own device" as it won't work. It should be "bring your own Verizon phone".
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Verizons idea of bring your own device really isn't what it should be. It should work on the vzw network but all phones should be sim unlocked by the carrier as a law was passed to do so, however verizon won't a lot of times sim unlock it like it should be until the contract is fulfilled.
And yes there bring your own device is irrelevant because most gsm phones won't work like they should on this crappy network because they are the only CDMA only network left.
From my S3 on Wicked 4.3

ShapesBlue said:
Verizons idea of bring your own device really isn't what it should be. It should work on the vzw network but all phones should be sim unlocked by the carrier as a law was passed to do so, however verizon won't a lot of times sim unlock it like it should be until the contract is fulfilled.
And yes there bring your own device is irrelevant because most gsm phones won't work like they should on this crappy network because they are the only CDMA only network left.
From my S3 on Wicked 4.3
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Thanks ShapesBlue. I assumed it was not really bring any device to play as they state. My phone came from T-Mobile from the original buyer, so I don't know if T-Mobile would till unlock it or not since it isn't stock any longer. I have a friends that use Verizon & they get good service in our area. Mine is limited on T-Mobile, lot of dead spots especially where I work & slow data. I had a non digital CDMA phone that I used through Straight Talk & it used Verizon network & I got good phone service in places way off the beaten trail, so that is why I wanted to try Verizon again.
Where can I find a copy of the "unlock law". I searched for it but didn't find anything. I would like to print it out & take with me for proof.
Thanks.

Rebel60 said:
Thanks ShapesBlue. I assumed it was not really bring any device to play as they state. My phone came from T-Mobile from the original buyer, so I don't know if T-Mobile would till unlock it or not since it isn't stock any longer. I have a friends that use Verizon & they get good service in our area. Mine is limited on T-Mobile, lot of dead spots especially where I work & slow data. I had a non digital CDMA phone that I used through Straight Talk & it used Verizon network & I got good phone service in places way off the beaten trail, so that is why I wanted to try Verizon again.
Where can I find a copy of the "unlock law". I searched for it but didn't find anything. I would like to print it out & take with me for proof.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if it has passed just yet but here is some info on it
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-signs-bill-unlocking-cellphones/
From my S3 on Wicked 4.3

I Just found the law, it was signed into law by president on Aug. 1st. 2014. S.517, Public law 113-114
Thanks.