Changing Cell frequencies - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I'm wanting to know what it takes and how to change the cell phone frequencies of a phone. I'm looking into a knock off 4G phone, but the frequencies run on 850mhz. I'm looking to switch it to Verizon's 700mhz 4G LTE network. Does anyone know of the kernals or ROMs needed in order to do this? The phone has the hardware to support GSM and LTE. I may even test it out on my Droid Razr, as I've heard they have both but Verizon disabled the GSM function on it. Any information would be appreciated.

Does anyone have any input on this? Is it even possible?

Related

[Q] Can I unlocked a Thunderbolt and used it in T-Mobile??

Can I unlocked a thunderbolt and put my tmobile g2 sim and used it?
No. The TB doesn't use GSM as a radio and is strictly CDMA for the phone side of things. Also, the LTE radio is different than T-Mobile's 4G radio. I'm sure somebody with a more technical side of why will come in, but that's the basic reason it won't work.
the only carriers verizon phones can switch to is cricket and and sprint (if either carrier is even willing to activate the phone on the network).
T-mobile can only take unlocked GSM phones (which would mean att phones)
I don't know enough about the thunderbolt being used on different carriers cause I don't fully understand exactly what data is being stored on the sim card. If it is only 4g data than theoretically It should be able to work only on sprint/cricket (without 4g, if they are willing to activate it).
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
As above, no, you can't use it on T-Mobile, you could take it over to Cricket/MetroPCS. Metro I know uses 4G LTE, so you'd be able to get everything out of the phone. However, I know roaming with that provider sucks unless you don't travel anywhere.
METDeath said:
As above, no, you can't use it on T-Mobile, you could take it over to Cricket/MetroPCS. Metro I know uses 4G LTE, so you'd be able to get everything out of the phone. However, I know roaming with that provider sucks unless you don't travel anywhere.
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MetroPCS uses a different frequency band for their 4G LTE (I think they're on 1700, and Verizon is on 700), so the LTE won't work.
METDeath said:
As above, no, you can't use it on T-Mobile, you could take it over to Cricket/MetroPCS. Metro I know uses 4G LTE, so you'd be able to get everything out of the phone. However, I know roaming with that provider sucks unless you don't travel anywhere.
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Click to collapse
No you cannot take it over to Cricket/MetroPCS. The phone does not have a traditional MEID to allow it to work on a traditional CDMA network, and the LTE radio is not compatible with the "LTE" system that MetroPCS runs.
GSM
If you don't know what you're talking about then don't post it. Obviously you don't have a Thunderbolt to say if it can be unlocked or not. HTC Thunderbolt uses GSM network on 4G LTE. It can be unlocked, but haven't figured it out yet.
NO CRICKET OR METROPCS can be run on it.
I took out my sim to see if the phone will work on 3G. And the result is no. No way of putting it on cricket.
alasfar1 said:
If you don't know what you're talking about then don't post it. Obviously you don't have a Thunderbolt to say if it can be unlocked or not. HTC Thunderbolt uses GSM network on 4G LTE. It can be unlocked, but haven't figured it out yet.
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LTE is not GSM. The Thunderbolt runs on 700 MHz LTE and 850/1900 CDMA. It does NOT support ANY GSM/UMTS/HSPA bands. You CANNOT take it to ANY GSM provider. If you were able to unlock it, you MIGHT be able to take it to another LTE carrier, but ONLY if that carrier also uses 700 MHz for LTE (for example, possibly AT&T once they launch LTE), but even then you'd be able to use it for data ONLY. It is unlikely that you'll be able to use it on another CDMA carrier either (such as Cricket or MetroPCS) because it isn't provisioned in the way all other CDMA phones are.
Jumping on the bandwagon, no.
alasfar1 said:
If you don't know what you're talking about then don't post it. Obviously you don't have a Thunderbolt to say if it can be unlocked or not. HTC Thunderbolt uses GSM network on 4G LTE. It can be unlocked, but haven't figured it out yet.
NO CRICKET OR METROPCS can be run on it.
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Click to collapse
The TB will NEVER work on any other carriers GSM network. Period. End Of Line. It is not a matter of "unlocking" the phones. The LTE standard does not define interoperability with existing the existing GSM standard. The TB cannot operate on a traditional CDMA network (think Cricket/MetroPCS) because it is missing fundamental components required in every CDMA handset (there is no hardware MEID on the TB). Without an MEID the device will not work on a CDMA network, no matter how much unlocking you try. It will not work because the network cannot talk to the phone and there is nothing you or anyone else can do to change that fact.
What VZW has done is create a hybrid system linking their LTE network with their CDMA network. There is a reason dialing *228 does nothing on the TB. There is nothing for the system to update. All of the settings are created on the LTE network and are pushed to the VZW CDMA network on their back end. Your phone number is tied to your SIM card on their network, not your MEID. Want to prove it to yourself, take the sim card out of your TB and put it in another TB. Care to guess what happens? I'll help. The new TB you just put your SIM card into will now have your cell phone number. Now if you have been with VZW for more then 5 seconds you would know that with every phone prior to change your number you had to call customer service and they had to update your MEID and in turn you had to update your phone (*228) so the CDMA system knew what phone belonged to what number.
Tl; dr...: LTE and GSM are not interchangeable terms and technologies. LTE radios cannot function on existing GSM networks. TB is not a true CDMA device and will not work on a traditional CDMA network.

[Q] Have Made The Switch From THE EVIL AT&T Empire!!

So At&t Finally got Ballsy and changed my unlimited data plan on my Atrix 4g. needless to say it breached my contract and i got out of there.. Now, here is my dillemma. I have everything working, Phone Data SMS. but im stuck on edge , i know its because of the missing 1700mhz band, but seeing how its a standard radio and a world phone, there has got to be a way to modify the frequencies it scans right? o ya im on the tmo network, which is the only gsm provider which is close enough to be able to use the atrix fully, any help guys would be greatly appreciated , and i have NO problem donating to anyone who might be able to solve this,
Thanx Again in Advance
Fate
It's a hardware thing. In the U.S., the only frequencies the Atrix can use for 3G/HSPA+ is 850/1900. Whereas T-mobile uses 1700/2100.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/0...nt-4g-hspa-phone-will-not-be-covered-by-both/
Now, don't take my word for it but I believe the 2100 UMTS band (which is essentially the HSPA band) is for using as a "World Phone", meaning it can access 3G bands abroad but not here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands
Also, the 2100 band that T-mo uses is an AWS band which AT&T cannot use at all. I just wanted to point out that there are some underlying technologies that probably cannot be altered by software.
sfate2009 said:
So At&t Finally got Ballsy and changed my unlimited data plan on my Atrix 4g. needless to say it breached my contract and i got out of there.. Now, here is my dillemma. I have everything working, Phone Data SMS. but im stuck on edge , i know its because of the missing 1700mhz band, but seeing how its a standard radio and a world phone, there has got to be a way to modify the frequencies it scans right? o ya im on the tmo network, which is the only gsm provider which is close enough to be able to use the atrix fully, any help guys would be greatly appreciated , and i have NO problem donating to anyone who might be able to solve this,
Thanx Again in Advance
Fate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to get off topic but why did they change your unlimited plan?
uisgdlyast said:
Not to get off topic but why did they change your unlimited plan?
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Click to collapse
Because of "tethering" , which is described in many ways all except which are correct and "high data usage"

[Q]Why Droid DNA can't use other CDMA network ?

Sorry for asking stupid question....
I did some research, but I still can't figure out why DNA can't uses other CDMA network.
Is it the problem if radio???
According what I see, DNA is able to unlock bootloader, s-off, root.
What stuff should I waiting for? Radio?
Your answer will help me know what kind of threads I should pay attention to. Thanks a LOT in advanced!
BTW, I am planning use DNA in Taiwan with a CDMA network provider.
I had checked the hardware is fitted to my network (CDMA2000 800Mhz). Thanks for all concerned!
siekaiser said:
Sorry for asking stupid question....
I did some research, but I still can't figure out why DNA can't uses other CDMA network.
Is it the problem if radio???
According what I see, DNA is able to unlock bootloader, s-off, root.
What stuff should I waiting for? Radio?
Your answer will help me know what kind of threads I should pay attention to. Thanks a LOT in advanced!
BTW, I am planning use DNA in Taiwan with a CDMA network provider.
I had checked the hardware is fitted to my network (CDMA2000 800Mhz). Thanks for all concerned!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
First of all, you must understand that GSM & CDMA are dissimilar technologies, whereas with GSM you can easily swap between carriers so long as they have the same/supported radio frequencies and your phone is sim-unlocked, this is not possible with CDMA. CDMA devices do not use a sim card to retain your account information or activation abilities. When it comes to CDMA (from my understanding) the ESN is key, the ESN must be added to your networks (for lack of a better term at the moment) ESN database. In the United States, most CDMA carriers will not add ESN's of other carriers phones to their network, your results may be different, because of your location. If your carrier were to allow or be willing to add the ESN of the DNA you obtain to their database than there is a possibility that it may work. (I am unsure if that can just be done or if it would have to be removed from Verizon's network & so forth, because I've never personally had to do such a thing)
There is a second problem though, the LTE radio / sim card interface. Because of the way these phones work on Verizon with LTE, I am unsure if you could even activate it, because it looks like the LTE sim is needed to authenticate your account to the carrier like a regular GSM phone. I have no idea how you would activate this phone without LTE / GSM on your carrier, even with the CDMA ESN added. It seems like it would be a double edged sword, but I could be wrong in this respect.
Also at this current time, this phone has root, and an unlocked bootloader through HTCDev, but is still **S-ON**.
Though none of those things have to do with you being able to use this phone on your carrier.
If your carrier was GSM I would say go for it because this is a GSM Global phone as well, but because its CDMA that you need I really incredibly doubt you'll be able to use this phone, but I may be wrong, but until someone else states otherwise I would look for a different phone.
Hope this Helps!
I am also interested in it. How can we check it out? I should go to my CDMA carrier and ask to activate my ESN?
Where can i find ESN? In Settings-About there is only MEID, IMEI, Phone serial number and IMSIAdded
I work for a CDMA carrier in the USA and with lte on the phones now, they truly act as gsm phones. If your CDMA carrier has lte then they can give you a sim and it will activate your DNA. However, if they only operate on 2g/3g then the post above me is correct with the ESN database and will USUALLY not activate the phone (in store sales reps usually don't even have the ability). Even if they have lte, activating another carrier's phone is not in the best interest of the sales Rep and they usually won't.
YMMV
Sent with my DNA
kyleco said:
I work for a CDMA carrier in the USA and with lte on the phones now, they truly act as gsm phones. If your CDMA carrier has lte then they can give you a sim and it will activate your DNA. However, if they only operate on 2g/3g then the post above me is correct with the ESN database and will USUALLY not activate the phone (in store sales reps usually don't even have the ability). Even if they have lte, activating another carrier's phone is not in the best interest of the sales Rep and they usually won't.
YMMV
Sent with my DNA
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Click to collapse
I should mentions that we don't have LTE in Taiwan so far.
My carrier provides CDMA2000 1xEV-DO rev.B (I guess it is)
Is it operate as LTE OR 2G/3G you mentioned?
siekaiser said:
I should mentions that we don't have LTE in Taiwan so far.
My carrier provides CDMA2000 1xEV-DO rev.B (I guess it is)
Is it operate as LTE OR 2G/3G you mentioned?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my experience, they will not be able to activate it if they do not have lte, as they would need to have a settings file made for that phone to get it to work on their network. Nevers hurts to call and ask though.
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda premium
Hi,i am from Austria,i have a Droid Dna by Verizon and the Phone works fine here in Austria, 2G and 3G/HSDPA

[Q] need help : HTC Droid DNA only running EDGE..

Guys, I want to buy new HTC Droid DNA, but the seller said, if I used for GSM network its only can running on EDGE only (still locked). any idea how to get full range on GSM Ntework (HSPA / 3G)?
Thanks
+1 to this. I have the DNA in hand but unactivated and have heard mixed things from carriers and online. T-Mobile won't really discuss the refarm of their 1700Mhz to 1900/2100. According to information online they have completed a lot of the refarm so that more GSM unlocked devices can run on their high speed data network. A common denominator from each case is that data constantly switches between low and high speeds. I'm thinking of checking out straight talk or net10 although I've heard negative things about them both and simple mobile. Still looking for a great review of this phone on one of these carriers.
xlxcrossing said:
+1 to this. I have the DNA in hand but unactivated and have heard mixed things from carriers and online. T-Mobile won't really discuss the refarm of their 1700Mhz to 1900/2100. According to information online they have completed a lot of the refarm so that more GSM unlocked devices can run on their high speed data network. A common denominator from each case is that data constantly switches between low and high speeds. I'm thinking of checking out straight talk or net10 although I've heard negative things about them both and simple mobile. Still looking for a great review of this phone on one of these carriers.
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Click to collapse
Do it, its fine. Mine has never seen a day of service on Verizon, I use T-Mobile and get H+ all over the place. The fluctuating does occur as they're still refarming towers but it doesn't cause much of a problem.
The refarm isn't for more devices its to move the bands down and use LTE on the 2100 or whatever band instead. It just happens to mean non T-Mobile or pentaband phones gain 3g/H+ ability on their network. Just means phones like the DNA without the higher band support gain faster speeds, or I guess I phones will to, whatever doesn't use the higher bands from at&t networks.
Tapatalked from my HTC DNA - Carbon
pio_masaki said:
Do it, its fine. Mine has never seen a day of service on Verizon, I use T-Mobile and get H+ all over the place. The fluctuating does occur as they're still refarming towers but it doesn't cause much of a problem.
The refarm isn't for more devices its to move the bands down and use LTE on the 2100 or whatever band instead. It just happens to mean non T-Mobile or pentaband phones gain 3g/H+ ability on their network. Just means phones like the DNA without the higher band support gain faster speeds, or I guess I phones will to, whatever doesn't use the higher bands from at&t networks.
Tapatalked from my HTC DNA - Carbon
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Click to collapse
When I said "more devices" I meant the handsets that are only 1900/2100 capable and not 1700 capable. The former is supported by more devices hence "more devices"
It depends on your carrier. On most carriers, like AT&T, it works fine and dandy, on the other hand with carriers like t mobile, it's complicated
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda app-developers app
Bigandrewgold said:
It depends on your carrier. On most carriers, like AT&T, it works fine and dandy, on the other hand with carriers like t mobile, it's complicated
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
complicated meaning what exactly...can you be more specific. Somebody chimed in and said HSPA+ is indeed working on their DNA on T-Mobile. The coverage obviously varies but do you have any information that would suggest it wouldn't work on T-Mobile?

Universal phone? Verizon and T-mobile?

Hi, im looking for a phone which would work with both verizon and T-mobile. Why both? well im in an odd situation, where im halfway through my contract with verizon, but want to switch to T-mobile. But my phone right now barely even works at the moment, so i need a new one, which I can bring over with me when i switch to T-mobile
I need a phone which works on both carriers or else I will end up buying to phones at full price, and I wouldnt want to do that!. Any help wpuld be extremely appreciated, there has to be some kind of smartphone out there thats capable of this
robotnikman said:
Hi, im looking for a phone which would work with both verizon and T-mobile. Why both? well im in an odd situation, where im halfway through my contract with verizon, but want to switch to T-mobile. But my phone right now barely even works at the moment, so i need a new one, which I can bring over with me when i switch to T-mobile
I need a phone which works on both carriers or else I will end up buying to phones at full price, and I wouldnt want to do that!. Any help wpuld be extremely appreciated, there has to be some kind of smartphone out there thats capable of this
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Click to collapse
A lot of phones these days are tri/quad-band. This means they operate on 3 or 4 frequencies ranges.
I'm not from the US so I'm not 100% sure but I believe Verizon is a CDMA based network while T-Mobile uses GSM (or WCDMA).
This would mean that most phones cannot be taken from one to the other. However many newer phones are released in carrier specific versions but don't have any hardware differences. Its often very hard to test/confirm this without having the specific device in your hand.
Google suggests that the iPhone 5, 5C & 5S from Verizon is unlocked and works on T-Mobiles 3G & 4G networks. So this could be an option.
As far as android handsets go, most of the phones I can find dont have a good overlap of frequencies for both networks.
Using the LG G2 as an example, the T-Mobile versions of most handsets use 850/1700/1900/2100 for 3G and LTE Bands 2, 4, 17. Verizon uses 850/900/1900/2100 for 3G and LTE Bands 4, 13. There is a little overlap there, 3G @ 850, 900 & 2100, but the LTE coverage is limited to Band 4 which could result in some negative experiences coverage wise on T-Mobile.

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