Is the internal radio and SOC identical across all US carriers? (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint)
I am looking to unlock a Sprint GS3 that I can get as an employee and use it on AT&T. (Apple appears to include both CDMA and GSM support in their 4S units) and I am hoping Samsung did the same to get the device out to all the carriers.
Thanks in advance!
Unfortunately, sprint opted to make the sim internal so it can't be swapped. If you see some of the video reviews out right now, it shows the sim slot missing.
Protocols and frequencies
themyst said:
Is the internal radio and SOC identical across all US carriers? (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint)
I am looking to unlock a Sprint GS3 that I can get as an employee and use it on AT&T. (Apple appears to include both CDMA and GSM support in their 4S units) and I am hoping Samsung did the same to get the device out to all the carriers.
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Click to collapse
I am not a professional on this but I believe that the SoC(processor, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc) is identical but the radios are different.
All the carriers use unique frequencies to communicate with their towers. Many carriers use separate protocols to communicate as well(HSPA+, CDMA, GSM) Its possible for 2 carriers to use the same protocol but they will always be using different frequencies.
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think its possible to re-program your phone to use a different frequency(i.e. change from 1900MHz to 800MHz)
I do not believe you can "unlock" a sprint phone. The radio simply will not work on any other carrier. Now, if said sprint phone were a "Global Phone", then it has an additional GSM radio in it as well. I don't know if this could be used to connect to another US carrier like AT&T though.
Related
If we buy the Verizon version, unlocked, will it work on AT&T? Is this going to be an option, or just importing it from uk etc?
Could of swore i read somewhere that att's lte will work on a slightly different mhz that it won't be compatible with verizon's lte, someone correct me if im wrong.
ekerbuddyeker said:
If we buy the Verizon version, unlocked, will it work on AT&T? Is this going to be an option, or just importing it from uk etc?
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Click to collapse
peachpuff said:
Could of swore i read somewhere that att's lte will work on a slightly different mhz that it won't be compatible with verizon's lte, someone correct me if im wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "AT&T" one, which at the moment is the same as the "world" version will NOT work on VZW.
As of now there are 2 models of the Galaxy Nexus: 1) CDMA/LTE (for Verizon in the USA) and 2) GSM/HSPA+ (for the rest of the world, yes including AT&T and T-mo in the USA).
As of now, there are no GSM/LTE versions (I'm assuming this is what you're looking for on AT&T). If you use the GN on AT&T, it will have HSPA+, but not LTE. And no, the VZW version will not be able to be unlocked and used with an AT&T LTE SIM card, because AT&T is only operating data on LTE, and you'd get no voice/text (assuming you somehow got the device unlocked to accept the SIM in the first place).
Unless Samsung/Google have some kinda curveball lined up to announce a 3rd model with GSM/LTE for AT&T, that will come in the future. As of now we're not aware of this model.
martonikaj said:
And no, the VZW version will not be able to be unlocked and used with an AT&T LTE SIM card, because AT&T is only operating data on LTE, and you'd get no voice/text (assuming you somehow got the device unlocked to accept the SIM in the first place).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct in saying the Verizon Galaxy Nexus will not work with an AT&T SIM. However, the reason you provided is incorrect. Currently, both AT&T and Verizon operate data only LTE networks. Neither provide LTE voice (Voice Over LTE aka VoLTE) but both plan to (Verizon in 2012 and AT&T in 2013). Whether or not the Galaxy Nexus can take advantage of VoLTE is another open question but it will be able to use CDMA voice either way.
The real reason your Galaxy Nexus will not work on the AT&T network is the LTE frequency bands are different as well as the obvious 2G and 3G CDMA/GSM incompatibilities. A Verizon Galaxy Nexus with the an AT&T SIM (assuming you can unlock the device) will never be able to find the AT&T network. Hopefully, future devices will offer software programmable radios that can be unlocked to interoperate on multiple bands. There are plans for some 43 LTE bands worldwide!!!
So I'm guessing that by the same token in Canada, if your with bell, getting the LTE version is pointless?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
ianwood said:
You are correct in saying the Verizon Galaxy Nexus will not work with an AT&T SIM. However, the reason you provided is incorrect. Currently, both AT&T and Verizon operate data only LTE networks. Neither provide LTE voice (Voice Over LTE aka VoLTE) but both plan to (Verizon in 2012 and AT&T in 2013). Whether or not the Galaxy Nexus can take advantage of VoLTE is another open question but it will be able to use CDMA voice either way.
The real reason your Galaxy Nexus will not work on the AT&T network is the LTE frequency bands are different as well as the obvious 2G and 3G CDMA/GSM incompatibilities. A Verizon Galaxy Nexus with the an AT&T SIM (assuming you can unlock the device) will never be able to find the AT&T network.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for a little more information, but I said just as much. Even if you somehow got it unlocked to accept a different LTE SIM card (don't think it'd ever happen), there are several reasons why the phone wouldn't work. Even if they did have the same LTE frequencies exactly (or you hacked it on), he wouldn't get any GSM functionality out of the VZW device.
Basically what I was trying to express is that the other things could theoretically be overcome with software/firmware hacks (VZW and ATT will operate in the same spectrum, just slightly different frequencies), whereas you can't ever overcome the fact that the CDMA does you no good on the AT&T network.
Overall I think the point has been made regardless...
dont forget sprint and other cdma carriers in US
I am going to switch to T-Mobile in 2 months so was wondering if it will work with T-Mobile's HSPA + Network.
AFAIK It won't, but the frequenceies are listed on both carrier's sites so you can have a look at that.
No.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/0...nt-4g-hspa-phone-will-not-be-covered-by-both/
Couldn't we just flash the t-mobile radio like with the t-mobile sgs2 and the skyrocket from at&t?
It should be possible. Check out the specs of the two: http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=4804&idPhone2=4803
This is EXACTLY the same as Tmobile S2 and ATT S2 LTE: http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=4129&idPhone2=4303
Some awesome dev needs to do some radio hacking to make the two phones interchangeable as they did for the S2/S2 LTE.
pvc_ said:
No.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/0...nt-4g-hspa-phone-will-not-be-covered-by-both/
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Click to collapse
that article is over a year old. there are many devices that work on both carriers via 4g. looking at the frequencies on att version it should work with a radio flash.
There's hope then
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57460125-94/t-mobiles-pricier-samsung-galaxy-s3-will-not-get-lte/
same hardware in all US S3's so theoretically even a sprint or verizon one can be flashed if its just going to be software limitations
tspx23 said:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57460125-94/t-mobiles-pricier-samsung-galaxy-s3-will-not-get-lte/
same hardware in all US S3's so theoretically even a sprint or verizon one can be flashed if its just going to be software limitations
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Click to collapse
The CDMA and TDMA versions are different and not compatible. A sprint or Verizon model will not work on GSM networks due to the different protocols used. AFAIK no phone is universally portable amongst US carriers.
Verizon/Sprint/US Cellular phones are 100% different in terms of radio hardware and software.
It is possible the T-Mobile/AT&T ones will likely work together, but why? Also something to consider is the AT&T Note on T-Mobile gets HORRIBLE battery life.
malaeum said:
The CDMA and TDMA versions are different and not compatible. A sprint or Verizon model will not work on GSM networks due to the different protocols used. AFAIK no phone is universally portable amongst US carriers.
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You sure about this? Verizon model will have a sim card and has GSM support. Verizon will probably block T-Mobile and ATT with all of their GSM/devices.
tspx23 said:
You sure about this? Verizon model will have a sim card and has GSM support. Verizon will probably block T-Mobile and ATT with all of their GSM/devices.
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Click to collapse
The SIM card is for LTE. The only way to get 3G on a CDMA device would be through CDMA.
joshnichols189 said:
The SIM card is for LTE. The only way to get 3G on a CDMA device would be through CDMA.
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Click to collapse
Not exactly true... After a "hack" to my VZW Moto Bionic and dropping in an ATT sim from a demo Galaxy Note, we got working H+ on the Bionic.
Even after hack, the Bionic doesn't appear to support T-Mobile's 1700mhz so I get EDGE only when I use the T-Mo SIM out of my Galaxy S2.
But I wont have a Verizon Galaxy S3 to play with to see how that works.
KidJoe said:
Not exactly true... After a "hack" to my VZW Moto Bionic and dropping in an ATT sim from a demo Galaxy Note, we got working H+ on the Bionic.
Even after hack, the Bionic doesn't appear to support T-Mobile's 1700mhz so I get EDGE only when I use the T-Mo SIM out of my Galaxy S2.
But I wont have a Verizon Galaxy S3 to play with to see how that works.
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Click to collapse
Interesting, have not heard of that one but I will take your word for it. Either way, most phones do not have AWS bands for T-Mobile unless they are T-Mobile phones.
Assuming the Verizon version has GSM 3G radios in it (what they call a "Global" phone) I don't see why even it could be flashed if someone could get the radio hacked.
For example, my current phone, the Droid 2 Global, normally runs on Verizon's CMDA bands. Being a global phone, it has GSM radios in it which can be activated if you get an unlock code from Verizon (not difficult).
Here's the catch- the baseband locks the phone so that it does not work on AT&T and T-Mobile's frequency bands! However, some clever hackers at TeamBlackHat were able to hack the baseband to allow it to work on US carriers as well.
tl;dr if the CDMA versions have GSM radios it should be feasible to make them work on AT&T and T-Mobile.
ExodusC said:
Assuming the Verizon version has GSM 3G radios in it (what they call a "Global" phone) I don't see why even it could be flashed if someone could get the radio hacked.
For example, my current phone, the Droid 2 Global, normally runs on Verizon's CMDA bands. Being a global phone, it has GSM radios in it which can be activated if you get an unlock code from Verizon (not difficult).
Here's the catch- the baseband locks the phone so that it does not work on AT&T and T-Mobile's frequency bands! However, some clever hackers at TeamBlackHat were able to hack the baseband to allow it to work on US carriers as well.
tl;dr if the CDMA versions have GSM radios it should be feasible to make them work on AT&T and T-Mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically, all world phones can literally be made into world phones? Nice!
SaHiLzZ said:
It should be possible. Check out the specs of the two: gsmarena /compare.php3?idPhone1=4804&idPhone2=4803
This is EXACTLY the same as Tmobile S2 and ATT S2 LTE: gsmarena /compare.php3?idPhone1=4129&idPhone2=4303
Some awesome dev needs to do some radio hacking to make the two phones interchangeable as they did for the S2/S2 LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You raise a really good point.
joshnichols189 said:
Verizon/Sprint/US Cellular phones are 100% different in terms of radio hardware and software.
It is possible the T-Mobile/AT&T ones will likely work together, but why? Also something to consider is the AT&T Note on T-Mobile gets HORRIBLE battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the S2 and S2 LTE (skyrocket) succumb to bad battery life like the note does when their networks are interchanged?
is there a possibility to make usable a CDMA phone to work in GSM...?
That depends there are patches some work but it depends on the the firmware like ics jb or gb I'm trying to get GSM to work on CDMA
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darkharbinger81 said:
That depends there are patches some work but it depends on the the firmware like ics jb or gb I'm trying to get GSM to work on CDMA
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Click to collapse
so can u tell me where should be directed if u know for more information about this problem...?
I thought GSM required sim cards?
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Yea, sim cards, frequencies, etc...
There is a lot more involved in the two different technologies than just "cooking" up a ROM.
I don't believe it possible to change a phone from gsm to CDMA and vice versa. Nor can it be tdma, or any other wireless technology. They operate on different bandwidths.
Think of it as attempting to transmit FM radio on a AM station.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2
cbucz24 said:
Yea, sim cards, frequencies, etc...
There is a lot more involved in the two different technologies than just "cooking" up a ROM.
I don't believe it possible to change a phone from gsm to CDMA and vice versa. Nor can it be tdma, or any other wireless technology. They operate on different bandwidths.
Think of it as attempting to transmit FM radio on a AM station.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chuck Norris listens to AM radio on his FM radio...
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
cbucz24 said:
Yea, sim cards, frequencies, etc...
There is a lot more involved in the two different technologies than just "cooking" up a ROM.
I don't believe it possible to change a phone from gsm to CDMA and vice versa. Nor can it be tdma, or any other wireless technology. They operate on different bandwidths.
Think of it as attempting to transmit FM radio on a AM station.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lets hope darkharbinger81 to make smth with his patches
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda premium
Two basic technologies in mobile phones, CDMA and GSM represent a gap you can't cross. They're the reason you can't use AT&T phones on Verizon's network and vice versa.CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and GSM (Global System for Mobiles) are shorthand for the two major radio systems used in cell phones. Both acronyms tend to group together a bunch of technologies run by the same entities. In this story, I'll try to explain who uses which technology and what the real differences are.
Which Carries are CDMA? Which are GSM?
Five of the top seven carriers in the U.S. use CDMA: Verizon Wireless, Sprint, MetroPCS, Cricket, and U.S. Cellular. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM.
That means we're mostly a CDMA country. It also means we're not part of the norm, because most of the world is GSM. The global spread of GSM came about because in 1987, Europe mandated the technology by law, and because GSM comes from an industry consortium. What we call CDMA, by and large, is owned by chipmaker Qualcomm. This made it less expensive for third parties to build GSM equipment.
There are several variants and options carriers can choose, like toppings on their technological ice cream. In this story we'll be talking about U.S. networks.
For call quality, the technology you use is much less important than the way your carrier has built its network. There are good and bad CDMA and GSM networks, but there are key differences between the technologies. Here's what you, as a consumer, need to know.
It's much easier to swap phones on GSM networks, because GSM carriers put customer information on a removable SIM card. Take the card out, put it in a different phone, and the new phone now has your number. What's more, to be considered GSM, a carrier must accept any GSM-compliant phone. So the GSM carriers don't have total control of the phone you're using.
That's not the case with CDMA. In the U.S., CDMA carriers use network-based white lists to verify their subscribers. That means you can only switch phones with your carrier's permission, and a carrier doesn't have to accept any particular phone onto its network. It could, but typically, U.S. carriers choose not to.
In other words, you can take an unlocked AT&T phone over to T-Mobile (although its 3G may not work well because the frequency bands are different). You can't take a Verizon phone over to Sprint, because Sprint's network rejects non-Sprint phones.
3G CDMA networks (known as "EV-DO" or "Evolution Data Optimized") also, generally, can't make voice calls and transmit data at the same time. Once more, that's an available option (known as "SV-DO" for "Simultaneous Voice and Data Optimization"), but one that U.S. carriers haven't adopted for their networks and phones.
On the other hand, all 3G GSM networks have simultaneous voice and data, because it's a required part of the spec. (3G GSM is also actually a type of CDMA. I'll explain that later.)
So why did so many U.S. carriers go with CDMA? Timing. When Verizon's predecessors and Sprint switched from analog to digital in 1995 and 1996, CDMA was the newest, hottest, fastest technology. It offered more capacity, better call quality and more potential than the GSM of the day. GSM caught up, but by then those carriers' paths were set.
It's possible to switch from CDMA to GSM. Two carriers in Canada have done it, to get access to the wider variety of off-the-shelf GSM phones. But Verizon and Sprint are big enough that they can get custom phones built for them, so they don't see the need to waste money switching 3G technologies when they could be building out their 4G networks.
dimmy1405 said:
Lets hope darkharbinger81 to make smth with his patches
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about I am currently porting a gsm rom to cdma?
Sent from my R800x using xda premium
But we are talking about cdma to gsm, more accurate evo 4g verizon operator...
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda premium
darkharbinger81 said:
How about I am currently porting a gsm rom to cdma?
Sent from my R800x using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Porting a GSM rom to CDMA is not the same thing as using a CDMA phone on a GSM network.
Diablo67 said:
Two basic technologies in mobile phones, CDMA and GSM represent a gap you can't cross. They're the reason you can't use AT&T phones on Verizon's network and vice versa.CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and GSM (Global System for Mobiles) are shorthand for the two major radio systems used in cell phones. Both acronyms tend to group together a bunch of technologies run by the same entities. In this story, I'll try to explain who uses which technology and what the real differences are.
Which Carries are CDMA? Which are GSM?
Five of the top seven carriers in the U.S. use CDMA: Verizon Wireless, Sprint, MetroPCS, Cricket, and U.S. Cellular. AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM.
That means we're mostly a CDMA country. It also means we're not part of the norm, because most of the world is GSM. The global spread of GSM came about because in 1987, Europe mandated the technology by law, and because GSM comes from an industry consortium. What we call CDMA, by and large, is owned by chipmaker Qualcomm. This made it less expensive for third parties to build GSM equipment.
There are several variants and options carriers can choose, like toppings on their technological ice cream. In this story we'll be talking about U.S. networks.
For call quality, the technology you use is much less important than the way your carrier has built its network. There are good and bad CDMA and GSM networks, but there are key differences between the technologies. Here's what you, as a consumer, need to know.
It's much easier to swap phones on GSM networks, because GSM carriers put customer information on a removable SIM card. Take the card out, put it in a different phone, and the new phone now has your number. What's more, to be considered GSM, a carrier must accept any GSM-compliant phone. So the GSM carriers don't have total control of the phone you're using.
That's not the case with CDMA. In the U.S., CDMA carriers use network-based white lists to verify their subscribers. That means you can only switch phones with your carrier's permission, and a carrier doesn't have to accept any particular phone onto its network. It could, but typically, U.S. carriers choose not to.
In other words, you can take an unlocked AT&T phone over to T-Mobile (although its 3G may not work well because the frequency bands are different). You can't take a Verizon phone over to Sprint, because Sprint's network rejects non-Sprint phones.
3G CDMA networks (known as "EV-DO" or "Evolution Data Optimized") also, generally, can't make voice calls and transmit data at the same time. Once more, that's an available option (known as "SV-DO" for "Simultaneous Voice and Data Optimization"), but one that U.S. carriers haven't adopted for their networks and phones.
On the other hand, all 3G GSM networks have simultaneous voice and data, because it's a required part of the spec. (3G GSM is also actually a type of CDMA. I'll explain that later.)
So why did so many U.S. carriers go with CDMA? Timing. When Verizon's predecessors and Sprint switched from analog to digital in 1995 and 1996, CDMA was the newest, hottest, fastest technology. It offered more capacity, better call quality and more potential than the GSM of the day. GSM caught up, but by then those carriers' paths were set.
It's possible to switch from CDMA to GSM. Two carriers in Canada have done it, to get access to the wider variety of off-the-shelf GSM phones. But Verizon and Sprint are big enough that they can get custom phones built for them, so they don't see the need to waste money switching 3G technologies when they could be building out their 4G networks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice info. Knew some of that, but not all. Learned some good info. Thanks
TEAM MiK
MikROMs Since 3/13/11
Hello,
I wanted to see if anyone has successfully SIM unlocked a T-Mobile Galaxy Note 3 to Sprint and everything working functionally.
Thank you,
Crap, I just wrote you like a page on this and the app crashed and lost all of it.
In short, it's definitely impossible. The GSM phones do not support any CDMA2000 2.5/3G frequencies which is what the US CDMA carriers use exclusively for voice and SMS.
Even if the T-mobile model supported the necessary frequency bands / CDMA2000 standard, Sprint would never allow it on their network. Sprint and Verizon only allow their own carrier branded phones on their networks. They each have a database of IMEIs for every phone they've ever sold. If your phone isn't on the list, they won't allow it on their network PERIOD. It doesn't matter if it's fully hardware compatible. They want to control every aspect of your mobile experience to extort more money out of you.
Hi, I am sorry if this has been asked already. I am wondering whether a Sprint Samsung S6 Edge PLUS can be unlocked(Via Sprint, not third party) to work on other networks? I am currently on Verizon and am considering buying my friend's S6 Edge plus because he gave me a good deal. Thanks for your time.
Sprint would unlock it . Its happened to a few people i know who purchased it outright . Call sprint and ask for the device to be unlocked domestically
USA Prepaid?
Can this be done to use a Sprint S6 on a USA prepaid carrier?
What if phone is brand new and never activated on sprint network?
It'll work in the USA but no lte support as of yet for sprint unlocked to gsm
Yes and No, the G925P is a Sprint phone meaning its a CDMA Phone, Verizon uses the same technology on their network, CDMA phones have to be reprogrammed to work on another carrier using a CDMA Network. But this phone is a dual GSM/CDMA Phone, meaning since GSM phones use a SIM Card so you can if Sprint Unlocks the phone because you own it outright you can go to another GSM carrier and some or all the features might work, this phone is different than the G925F international GSM phone which will work almost anywhere in the world as long as its connecting to a GSM Network. All you do then is just change the SIM card and your connected to that carrier. If you want to be on Verizon its best to just get a G925V from them because its already programmed for Verizon rather than trying to make this Sprint Phone work on their CDMA Network. It can be done but to reprogram the damn thing is not that easy and very time consuming for a newbie to tackle. Sell it, get a Verizon phone if you like it that much. or switch to Sprint.
here is an easy way to look at this, LTE is built on GSM hence why the new sprint/verizon LTE phones have SIM cards, you can try to switch to AT+T or T-Mobile but you may loose 2g-3g connectivity, maybe, maybe not all depends on the phone variant, so lets look at Verizon
Verizon -
CDMA/LTE
uses 700 MHZ (band 13) and 1700 MHZ (band 4)
Sprint-
CDMA/LTE
uses 800 MHZ and 1900 MHZ (band 26 and 25)
and 2.5 GHZ for Sprint Spark (band 41)
so you see they operate on different bands, I noticed not all S6's have the same bands either, depends on the carrier and these phones are made for them to be different, so to find a phone that has all of these bands would work in theory on any network but with CDMA they have electronic serial numbers embedded in the device and you will have to reprogram the radio/chip in order to work on another carrier. So to answer can I use a sprint phone on verizon would be a simple NO.