It was suggested in the Noob section that I post here because I have a Note 5 with a Nextech Wireless (small carrier in Central Kansas) who has a roaming agreement with Sprint's rural co-op; I am not sure if this is the right place as nextech does have it's own network and maintains it's own towers within Ks. I also think the network is more similar to that of US cellular but with a larger coverage area in Kansas, that is based on my limited understanding of cell networks so I am probably wrong.
I am familiar with flashing ROMs on none data activated (wifi only) devices becuase i have been doing it for years, tablets and none activated phones alike; but moving to modding a handset that is on a service plan (out of contract/warranty) is new for me and I am trying to understand the issues I might face doing this. I am interested in putting Lineage OS on it with TWRP; I am sure I would be fine testing this as long as I took a backup of the current ROM but I still want to make sure I know the ins and outs. This also brings up the question of what carrier ROM can I use or do I have a bunch of work ahead of me to make it function?
If this information exist somewhere please feel free to link me to it, again this is a new area for me and I am trying to be cautious moving forward.
Related
ACS is the major carrier in Alaska. They're the only service with good coverage. There is CellularOne/At&t/cingular(partner agreement), but they are only good in certain areas.
I'm trying to find...
1) a phone and maybe palm device which allows me to change the IMEI using the update tool
2) must have CDMA capability, ACS has powered down GSM networks for ACS related phones, however there are relays for partners like verizon to connect back to their network.
Anyone have a phone recommendation? Any decent one which also has wifi access and perhaps a nice development kit for application programming?
As a side note, I subscribe to ACS wireless. They don't allow any unlicensed phones outside their hardware agreement contracts. I'm wanting to redefine a IMEI for my own benefit.
So I was wondering. Is it possible to have mobile phones talk to one another without an operator over there cellular radio?
I can't see anything fundamentally wrong with it. A radio is a radio. I assume if you have access to what ever controls the cellular radio on the mobile device, you can pick and choose what frequency (out of the available ones like GSM, 3G, Etc.), send addressed packets over it, and talk to another modified device.
I was trying to research the subject. But I could only find people working with ad-hoc mesh networks over Wifi. Which to be honest, doesn't sound terribly useful considering Wifi's limited range of a few hundred feet at best. Whereas the cellular radio can talk over a few miles depending on conditions between it and the nearest tower.
I'm aware the FCC probably regulates that, but I'm excluding the legality part here. But if there is software out there I'm able to try out and it's iffy legally, I'll just do it inside a Faraday cage
So what are you guy's thoughts on this? Is the cellular radio something that's easy to control in say, Android devices? Is it something that'd require kernel modifications on most devices or could you possible do it through existing methods in the ROM? Do you think it'd be useful or practical if you had to operate without cell towers?
I suppose this is a question, but it's also discussion. I wasn't really sure whether or not to mark it as a question. Since I'm not really asking for someone's help since I'm likely not able to do this even if it's possible. More so I'm asking for opinions and thoughts on the idea since I'm interested in the thought. Though I'm sure it's been considered before, I haven't found anything that looks like it uses cellular radio in this way. Sorry if I shouldve marked this as a question.
Greetings everyone, I've really enjoyed the discussion here, I spend more time reading than posting. Mainly because I have this tendency to ramble on. So, on to the rest of the story so to speak.
I've been reading a lot lately about using the d2vzw on prepaid plans. Mainly straight talk and now pageplus.. I understand it is possible to use either and keep 3g. But according to the tutorial videos on pageplus, you don't need the donor verizon phones or the donor straight talk cheapies.
In something I read in another carriers forum I think but still the sgs3, they were recommending stuff like carbon and liquid and maybe another but those were the two that stood out. I'm currrently on either nameless or slimrom. I remember slimrom adding something to do with straight talk but forgot what it was. I know with the vzw model is kind of finicky.
If I spend the thirty bucks on a tw rom to program the phone remotely or , If I try it myself with the cdma tool which I have no idea how much it is. I'm under the impression that I can get 3g data, and at the moment I'm not around 4g or lte regularly. But being unemployed still, (prospects now thought, YAY), I need to reduce and cut where I can. And 150-160 a month for two phones without unlimited data is horse****.
I'm wanting to try the pageplus because it seems more straightforward, and is cheaper if I get the 500Mb plan. I don't use a lot of data anyway. I could save a fortune.
Anyway, and suggestions, advice, or answers as to whether or not I can be a flashaholic after the switch, again, I'm usually on either nameless or slim, or testing a new TW rom.
in the past, when my dx screwed up, I was taught by a guy, how to program it myself without having to call verzion everytime I screwed something up with activation accidentally. But, I simply installed a stock based rom for the programmable dial pad, activated, then flashed my aosp variant of my choosing.
I'm thinking this could work similar especially if I save most all the settings. for the network just in case, something goes wrong.
Again any info at all will be appreciated. If you know a better way, let me know. I know I could use gsm with straight talk and use att towers, but I prefer cdma coverage in my area since it's got way more coverage across more states.
Many thanks again
Hey, guys:
So...I've just moved into a (very) rural area... and I need Internet Access at a decent speed (forget Dish...the Ping return is ridiculous.)
I have a LOS to a Cell Tower 4.1 miles away.
I've been using my Phone for a Hotspot...but my Sprint Plan is only good for 40GB (I need at *least* double that...and it's not offered.)
I want to buy a dedicated Tablet *just* to provide WiFi to the house (Sprint allows unlimited Data on Tablets; but only 5GB through WiFi Tethering.)
Since I can't (and IMHO shouldn't have to) afford a $400-800 monthly bill, what I need is a way to pull the Data and send it that *doesn't* use the native Hotspot (that is monitored by Sprint.)
Any suggestions on Hardware, Firmware, and/or Apps that might help me would be awesome; 'cause I've tried searching...and the answers I've found are either contradictory, incomplete, or useless (or mebbe I'm just not smart-enough :silly: )
Thanks in advance!
*bump* in the hope that someone will bite...
I wanted to start a thread to be a collective of solutions this community has been developing to use cell phones and cellular solutions to provide WIFI to homes and small businesses. I have ready many posts and solutions for this but have not been able to find a collective that contains multiple solutions across various cellular providers, cellular equipment and hard ware solutions.
I want to thank all the mods/devs and individuals who have contributed to this site. I have been hanging around these boards for quite a few years now and have rooted, reprogrammed and installed quite a few ROMs on phones since the late 90s early 2000's and the information that I get here is always helpful. I dont even think I have posted but a handful of times because 99% of the time if you do the work the answers are already there.
I have gone from full-timing in an RV travelling the country for over 4 years to now living in the mountains of Washington State in the US and getting data services has always been a challenge. I have been working through Cellular to WIFI projects for the past 6 years or so.
I am certain many people hanging out in these parts have a same or similar project and I thought this General Topics forum would be a good place to start these discussions as it is not pertinent to a specific phone, carrier or device.
If there is already another thread supporting this somewhere on XDA or if this is the wrong sub-forum to post this in please feel free to move this or post a link to the other thread.
Thanks.
I have been a SPRINT customer since the 90s and have had the account forever. I have also used Verizon, T-Mobile and ATT over the years but have maintained the Sprint account and my current challenges are with the acquisition of Sprint by T-Mobile. My hardware for the home WIFI is currently as follows -
1. Cellular Device - SPRINT Samsung Note 8 with a T-Mobile SIM. Currently using a 2nd APN with DUN for the unlimited tethering. This has worked flawlessly with Sprint but since switching to a T-Mobile SIM (Regretfully as now I wished I had waited longer more on that in a minute) it has been more challenging. Still working as of today anyways. Seems like T-Mobile pushes updates to its towers and devices almost weekly these days.
2. Router - GL-iNet Travel Router (GL-AR750S). Basically stock at this point. I have tried installing WRT and got it working on this device but had a performance issue and haven't really had time to play with it so I am back to stock and it is working well at this point.
3. Repeater - ASUS RP-AC55 - Not the best but it was cheap and does what it is supposed to. I have reverted to the base firmware version that shipped with this device 3.0.0.4.382_15250 as that has the best performance network wise compared to the newer versions of firmware for this model.
I am in a pretty remote location but was lucky in that I have direct line of site to the one cell tower in our little town just over a mile and a half from the house. The cell phone sits in a window facing the tower and while I used to get downloads of close to 100mb and uploads in the 20mb range when I was on the SPRINT network, T-Mobile has since cobbled all the LTE bands here and the best I can get for downloads is T-mobile B2 (1895mhz up and 1975mhz down) with 40mb download and 1mb upload but I am typically on Band 25 (1912.5mhz up, 1992.5mhz Down) with 15mb upload and <10mb for upload speeds as I need the upload bandwidth for work. So much for T-Mobile bringing faster speeds to the Rural areas.
With the setup I have we cover the entire house and just about half an acre outdoors. Some areas with better performance than others. All of the outdoor space (2+ acres) is covered with cellular connectivity as well and I just make sure I have wifi in areas where we would sit outside and use a laptop. We use about 300gb of data a month on the WIFI (I have 4 teens in the house with mobile phones) and it works well. Lately T-Mobile has enforced the default APN and while you can still add a second APN with DUN, as of this month it takes a little bit of finagling to get the 2nd APN to take after you hit your hotspot cap for the month. This is the first time in 6 years I have had an issue with getting the APN to take and I have also noticed that now the option to turn off the default APN is grayed out.
Im currently looking to replace the Note 8 with a device that can be rooted so I can find an alternate solution for the wifi tethering. Starting to look at possible 5G devices. I honestly wouldn't mind using T-Mobiles unlimited wifi device but that is not currently available here in the mountains and not sure it will be anytime soon. The only other solution where I live to get internet access is either DISH network or a DSL line from the local phone company. Both of which average less than 3mb up/down.
Interested to see what others are using for solutions to get WIFI to remote locations.
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