AT&T Lumia 920 on AWS 3G (1700/2100) IS POSSIBLE - Nokia Lumia 920

I have seen this question asked multiple times on this forum so I thought I'd just make a thread.
The AT&T Lumia 920 has the hardware to support pentaband 3G including AWS. This means you CAN use it on T-Mobile and the other Canadian AWS carriers like WIND and any of their MVNOs. Unfortunately it is DISABLED out of the box. You will need to flash an alternate ROM to enable the AWS band!
You will need to install Nokia Care Suite and flash your phone to a different ROM. This will WIPE your phone, but it will enable AWS 3G!
Just flashing the Euro Dev ROM should get enable AWS 3G. It is for the RM-821 but you can flash RM-821 ROMs on the RM-820 without issue. I believe the only difference between the two models is what signal amplifiers and antennas they have installed as their ROMs are cross-compatible.
Check out this thread from January for posts from people who have gotten their AT&T L920 working on T-Mobile AWS. These were some of the lucky few who got their unlock code before May 9.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2097815&highlight=aws+3g
NOTE: ONLY FLASH RM-820 OR RM-821 ROMS! Do NOT flash ROMs for any phone other than the Lumia 920 to your Lumia 920!
I can't offer you any support and am obviously not responsible if you brick your device (though this really shouldn't happen).

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I thought only the Rogers 920 was Pentaband. The AT&T version actually has a different transceiver in it which puts a physical limit on the bands it uses.

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Detailed Steps are Needed
petard said:
You will need to install Nokia Care Suite and flash your phone to a different ROM. This will WIPE your phone, but it will enable AWS 3G! Just flashing the Euro Dev ROM should get enable AWS 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an unlocked AT&T Lumia 920 and would like to enable AWS 1700/2100 for WIND Mobile in Canada. I have flashed in the following order using Nokia Care Suite 5.0.0 (2013.1.3):
Flash to Pre-Portico Rogers ROM: RM820_059Q6W4_1232.2109.1242.1002_039
OTA Update to Rogers ROM (1308)
Flash to European Developer ROM: RM821_059R4H6_1232.5957.1308.0002_027
Flash to Rogers ROM: RM820_059Q6W4_1232.5962.1314.0000_156
Flash to Global Black Swap ROM: RM821_059Q5C6_1232.5951.1249.1004_044 (No H/H+ as claimed by others, LTE disappeared from network options)
Flash to Rogers ROM: RM820_059Q6W4_1232.5962.1314.0000_156
No luck bringing up WIND on AWS 1700/2100, whereas my Rogers Lumia 920 is bringing it up on 3G/4G. Everything I have seen is pretty general instructions which leaves a lot of details out so this is the best I can do. Anyone else manage to do this that can provide more detailed instructions?

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Solarenemy68 said:
I thought only the Rogers 920 was Pentaband. The AT&T version actually has a different transceiver in it which puts a physical limit on the bands it uses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you read this? I've never seen this and I've only read about some people managing to get AWS enabled. They're both the same model number.

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In one of the many threads discussing which phone is better, the Rogers or the AT&T version. Check out this page, I was even corrected in the fact i thought they where the same till several said otherwise.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2045639&page=2

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Solarenemy68 said:
In one of the many threads discussing which phone is better, the Rogers or the AT&T version. Check out this page, I was even corrected in the fact i thought they where the same till several said otherwise.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2045639&page=2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you might have posted an incorrect link. No one says anything like that in this thread.
And if that were the case how come multiple people have reported success enabling AWS on the ATT L920? Plus that doesn't really make sense for it to not have the hardware to do AWS 3G because it has the signal amplifier to do AWS LTE which runs on the same bands.

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petard said:
I think you might have posted an incorrect link. No one says anything like that in this thread.
And if that were the case how come multiple people have reported success enabling AWS on the ATT L920? Plus that doesn't really make sense for it to not have the hardware to do AWS 3G because it has the signal amplifier to do AWS LTE which runs on the same bands.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's only 1 user who has explicitly stated that they (possibly) weren't just connecting to refarmed 1900mhz towers unfortunately. Still, as someone who's been browsing these forums for months hoping for some kind of breakthrough, I hadn't seen that post and it gives me hope.
Colinbo, why don't you shoot a private message to dullerm and ask for more details? It certainly looks to me like you followed the steps correctly from what you posted.

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OJ in Compton said:
There's only 1 user who has explicitly stated that they (possibly) weren't just connecting to refarmed 1900mhz towers unfortunately. Still, as someone who's been browsing these forums for months hoping for some kind of breakthrough, I hadn't seen that post and it gives me hope.
Colinbo, why don't you shoot a private message to dullerm and ask for more details? It certainly looks to me like you followed the steps correctly from what you posted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He did not follow dullerm's directions. Here is the quote for comparison.
dullerm said:
To follow up my previous post: after flashing some more, I managed to enable the AWS band on my AT&T Lumia 920. Unless T-Mobile lit up a 1900 tower just in the few minutes that the phone was rebooting after flashing GLOBAL BLACK SWAP, I am certain that I can now use 3G on AWS with it. For those who are interested, here is what I did to my AT&T Lumia 920:
start off with a Portico AT&T ROM (OTA-updated a few weeks ago on the still locked phone)
remove SIM unlock with AT&T provided unlock code
flash pre-Portico Rogers ROM
OTA-update to Portico Rogers ROM
flash Portico EURO1 DEV ROM (RM-821!)
flash Portico Rogers ROM
flash Portico LTA1 MX ROM
flash Portico GLOBAL BLACK SWAP ROM (RM-821!) ---> saw H, H+ indicator after this!!!
flash Portico Rogers ROM ---> 4G indicator
While flashing the LTA1 MX ROM (the Latin America ROMs are nicely debranded RM-820 ROMs but don't support LTE, at least in their cellular settings for highest connection speed), I decided for whatever reason to just give another RM-821 ROM a try and went for the GLOBAL BLACK SWAP. Maybe flashing EURO1 DEV again would have also done the trick as well and just flashing back and forth somehow enabled AWS. I don't know exactly what caused it but I am happy AWS works on the AT&T Lumia 920. This phone now certainly is the Überphone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also more than one person has claimed to have AWS 3G working. Not only dullerm says he enabled it but so do these THREE other people, for a total of 4, just from that one thread.
ka24 said:
DAMN! thanks mate , I just flashed RM-821 VAR EURO1 DEVELOPER firmware on my device it enabled AWS. I was skeptical flashing RM-821 firmware on RM-820. My developer device is back to running on HSPA on T Mobile . Now question is if it enables AWS for all those unlocked devices , which I think it should.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
patrick92260 said:
Just tried a T-Mobile sim and it looks like I have AWS enabled now too on my sim unlocked att 920! Now the only thing left is to make sure LTE still works...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jhr said:
what story, or what phrase or how many phone calls...pretty much coach us what keywords to use to convince AT&T to persuade them to give us the unlock code for our 920's
Any feedback would be great. Thanks
While flashing the LTA1 MX ROM (the Latin America ROMs are nicely debranded RM-820 ROMs but don't support LTE, at least in their cellular settings for highest connection speed), I decided for whatever reason to just give another RM-821 ROM a try and went for the GLOBAL BLACK SWAP. Maybe flashing EURO1 DEV again would have also done the trick as well and just flashing back and forth somehow enabled AWS. I don't know exactly what caused it but I am happy AWS works on the AT&T Lumia 920. This phone now certainly is the Überphone
for the latin america roms, debranded and no LTE, did you get "4G" from att service, not LTE? I have a AT&T Lumia 920 on Straight Talk, and they dont get LTE so I wont miss it. but if you can confirm. I will flash to my hearts content this weekend.
THanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In conclusion I have to believe the ATT L920 is fully capable of supporting AWS 3G.
So it seems that if simply flashing the Euro Dev ROM does not enable AWS for you, try flashing following the directions quoted above in this post including flashing the Latin America ROM

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OJ in Compton said:
Colinbo, why don't you shoot a private message to dullerm and ask for more details? It certainly looks to me like you followed the steps correctly from what you posted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He did. Uploading the two ROMs he needs right now.

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dullerm said:
He did. Uploading the two ROMs he needs right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great. If we can get a fully reproducible method of enabling AWS on the ATT L920 I'm sure a LOT of people will be happy.
I unfortunately can not do any testing on my own L920 because I have AT&T AND I live in a refarmed T-Mobile area so I wouldn't be able to tell if I'm on AWS or 1900MHz.

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H+, H and 4G indicators are all capable of showing up if you're connected to a 1900mhz tower on T-Mobile though which is why I'm still a bit skeptical. I believe dullerm since the chances of a 1900mhz tower going up while he was doing the tests is pretty slim. Colinbo is using his phone on Wind in canada which does not have 3G on 1900mhz, so if he can get it working it'll be definitive proof for me that this method does work.
And you're right, it seems he missed this step to flash the Portico LTA1 MX ROM.
edit:
dullerm said:
He did. Uploading the two ROMs he needs right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, can't wait to see what his results are.

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petard said:
He did not follow dullerm's directions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct - I was unable to locate the product code for the LTA1 MX ROM. I now have the product code thanks to dullerm's PM: 059S0M8
I'm pulling down the LTA MX1 bits now through NCS firmware download. It's slow so I'll re-attempt the flash tomorrow and report back. My plan is as follows:
Flash to Pre-Portico Rogers ROM: RM820_059Q6W4_1232.2109.1242.1002_039
OTA Update to Rogers ROM (1308)
Flash to European Developer ROM: RM821_059R4H6_1232.5957.1308.0002_027
Flash to Rogers ROM: RM820_059Q6W4_1232.5962.1314.0000_156
Flash to Latin America Mexico ROM: M820_059S0M8_1232.5957.1308.0001_036
Flash to Global Black Swap ROM: RM821_059Q5C6_1232.5951.1249.1004_044
Flash to Rogers ROM: RM820_059Q6W4_1232.5962.1314.0000_156
As a pre-caution based on a post I saw somewhere I will also use the "Reset your phone" after every application of a ROM to ensure there are no old config values kicking around.
The comparison device I have is an unlocked Rogers Lumia 920 which is connecting to WIND showing 3G/4G indicators -- not sure if there is any way to tell which frequency it is using.

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colinbo said:
You are correct - I was unable to locate the product code for the LTA1 MX ROM. I now have the product code thanks to dullerm's PM: 059S0M8
I'm pulling down the bits now through NCS firmware download. It's slow so I'll re-attempt the flash tomorrow and report back. My plan is as follows:
Flash to Pre-Portico Rogers ROM: RM820_059Q6W4_1232.2109.1242.1002_039
OTA Update to Rogers ROM (1308)
Flash to European Developer ROM: RM821_059R4H6_1232.5957.1308.0002_027
Flash to Rogers ROM: RM820_059Q6W4_1232.5962.1314.0000_156
Flash to Latin America Mexico ROM: RM820_059Q6W4_1232.5962.1314.0000_156
Flash to Global Black Swap ROM: RM820_059S0M8_1232.5957.1308.0001_036
Flash to Rogers ROM: RM820_059Q6W4_1232.5962.1314.0000_156
As a pre-caution based on a post I saw somewhere I will also use the "Reset your phone" after every application of a ROM to ensure there are no old config values kicking around.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, that's great that you can get the missing ROM(s) yourself. My upload is awfully slow (or the ROMs large). Let me know if you still need them.
---------- Post added at 07:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:30 PM ----------
OJ in Compton said:
H+, H and 4G indicators are all capable of showing up if you're connected to a 1900mhz tower on T-Mobile though which is why I'm still a bit skeptical. I believe dullerm since the chances of a 1900mhz tower going up while he was doing the tests is pretty slim. Colinbo is using his phone on Wind in canada which does not have 3G on 1900mhz, so if he can get it working it'll be definitive proof for me that this method does work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is even a really definitive proof for it - you can check which tower you are on in the service menu:
Go to the phone app
Enter ##3282 and call; this will take you to the service menu
Choose "3G Reselection Status"
Look at the value for the 2nd line "Serving UARFCN", which gives the active downlink channel
If the UARFCN is 1xxx or 2xxx, you are on AWS (1700/2100). If it is below 1000 or 9xxx, you are on PCS (1900). This is not exact but good enough to tell AWS and PCS UMTS bands apart. And T-Mobile only uses those two bands for UMTS so the 1xxx-2xxx rule is easy to remember for on the road
For the exact channel numbers, please check this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands#UMTS-FDD
@petard You might still be able to tell the difference. T-Mobile is only deploying HSPA+ 21 on PCS (as far as I know) while on AWS they deployed HSPA+ 42. Probably not everywhere, though, and depending on the load of the tower, it might not make a difference after all. Just some detail to add.

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dullerm said:
OK, that's great that you can get the missing ROM(s) yourself. My upload is awfully slow (or the ROMs large). Let me know if you still need them.
---------- Post added at 07:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:30 PM ----------
There is even a really definitive proof for it - you can check which tower you are on in the service menu:
Go to the phone app
Enter ##3282 and call; this will take you to the service menu
Choose "3G Reselection Status"
Look at the value for the 2nd line "Serving UARFCN", which gives the active downlink channel
If the UARFCN is 1xxx or 2xxx, you are on AWS (1700/2100). If it is below 1000 or 9xxx, you are on PCS (1900). This is not exact but good enough to tell AWS and PCS UMTS bands apart. And T-Mobile only uses those two bands for UMTS so the 1xxx-2xxx rule is easy to remember for on the road
For the exact channel numbers, please check this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands#UMTS-FDD
@petard You might still be able to tell the difference. T-Mobile is only deploying HSPA+ 21 on PCS (as far as I know) while on AWS they deployed HSPA+ 42. Probably not everywhere, though, and depending on the load of the tower, it might not make a difference after all. Just some detail to add.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
##3282 and ##3282# don't do anything on my 920. I'm using AT&T ROM though. I am not going to flash it though, WP doesn't offer complete backup/restore and the 920 I experimented on I wasn't able to get it back to running the AT&T ROM. It was my 920 with dust in the FFC and I experimented with it when I got my replacement and before I sent the old one back.

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dullerm said:
He did. Uploading the two ROMs he needs right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, it looks we will have a simple method to recover AWS in att lumia 920.

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petard said:
##3282 and ##3282# don't do anything on my 920. I'm using AT&T ROM though. I am not going to flash it though, WP doesn't offer complete backup/restore and the 920 I experimented on I wasn't able to get it back to running the AT&T ROM. It was my 920 with dust in the FFC and I experimented with it when I got my replacement and before I sent the old one back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try typing ##3282 and then pressing "call"? Pre-portico did work without hitting call (#3282#, I think) but Portico ROMs (both AT&T, if I remember correctly, and Rogers) do require pressing call.

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dullerm said:
Did you try typing ##3282 and then pressing "call"? Pre-portico did work without hitting call (#3282#, I think) but Portico ROMs (both AT&T, if I remember correctly, and Rogers) do require pressing call.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I tried pressing call, doesn't work on my ATT L920 with latest OTA

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petard said:
Yeah I tried pressing call, doesn't work on my ATT L920 with latest OTA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has been disabled since 1308.

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ATT Lumia 920 on Tmobile
Hi all,
I would like to know if anyone had success using an ATT lumia 920 on Tmobile. I see some have had success. I would appreciate if someone could share the exact steps that would make it work.
I am planning to buy an unlocked ATT 920 (from amazon) and then try making it work on Tmobile. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

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Rom locations.
I have NaviFirm Plus 1.7 and its not accesing any files anymore.
I was wondering if anyone can share the files needed to make the ATT Lumia 920 completely work with TMobile USA. I have a you sent it account if that helps. Thanks.