I noticed that Amazon has the AT&T variant of the LG G3 up and I was curious if anyone knew the differences between them. I assume there will be bloatware for each specific carrier, but, excluding Verizon, would the AT&T variant be harder to root? Would one specific carrier variant get custom roms while the others are left behind?
Sorry for the noob questions, I'm just not 100% familiar with Android devices sold by a specific carrier.
also, is it safe to assume that I could put a t-mobile sim card in the AT&T variant and it will connect to the t-mobile network? since they're all 851 variants
Enddo said:
also, is it safe to assume that I could put a t-mobile sim card in the AT&T variant and it will connect to the t-mobile network? since they're all 851 variants
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Surprisingly yes, there's a minimum of difference in supported bands according to the FCC. AT&T's website indicates their model (D850) supports 2100 Mhz HSPA rather than AWS, but they probably meant AWS. Basically they have the same 2G, 3G, and HSPA+ frequency support
T-Mobile's (D851) is missing Band 5 LTE, which AT&T has deployed here and there, but that appears to be the only difference in frequency support. Both devices have LTE Bands 2, 4 and 17 (AWS, PCS, and 700 MHz blocks B and C respectively), so the main US LTE bands are covered.
You would have to unlock the device first, of course.
Related
So I heard LTE is backwards compatible with GSM and HSDPA + My carrier supports AWS band 4. Will this work? Has anyone tried it?
So you're basically asking if the AT&T Optimus G will work with T-mobile's 4G Network, right? The answer is NO. Or at least not by default. That's because, even though the phone has the correct band (1700/2100), you would still need the correct radio to be able to use that specific frequency (again 1700/2100) with your carrier. Much like the AT&T Galaxy Note I717. It supports the 1700 frequency, but in order to have that working band with Tmobile, we had to flash a Tmobile specific baseband/radio from the Galaxy s2, Galaxy S Blaze 4G and/or Tmobile Galaxy Note to be able to use the phone on the 1700 freq. So in this case, Unfortunately, Tmobile won't be releasing the LG Optimus G, so there won't be any radios available to use. But, the LG NExus 4 actually has the exact hardware specs or SOC as the LG Optimus G, so a radio/baseband port might be possible.
I hope this post made sense to you.
So what is the difference than taking a locked phone, unlocking it to another network that shares the same GSM frequency?
Nuxtux said:
So what is the difference than taking a locked phone, unlocking it to another network that shares the same GSM frequency?
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Actually the two networks don't share the same GSM freq. Yes the AT&T LG Optimus G does have the AWS 1700 band in the hardware, but it is not enabled by default in the software. In order to enable the AWS 1700 freq, you'll need to use/flash the correct radio that carries the AWS 1700 freq. Like i said in the earlier post, one might be able to possibly port the a radio/baseband from the LG Nexus 4. Since it supports all pentaband frequencies.
So why would they disable it if the carrier uses 1700/2100 for LTE? I'm still not understanding its limitation
The carrier I want to bring it to uses AWS 1700/2100 3.5G.
Are they selling a phone that doesn't work with LTE on there network? Or can the phone only do 1700/2100 in LTE ?
Nuxtux said:
So why would they disable it if the carrier uses 1700/2100 for LTE? I'm still not understanding its limitation
The carrier I want to bring it to uses AWS 1700/2100 3.5G.
Are they selling a phone that doesn't work with LTE on there network? Or can the phone only do 1700/2100 in LTE ?
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It's not that the 1700/2100 bands are disabled. They are very much enabled but the radio is set to use them for LTE.
So you are saying even though LTE is backward compatible the band installed is software limiting the hardware to only allow LTE 1700/2100?
Nuxtux said:
So you are saying even though LTE is backward compatible the band installed is software limiting the hardware to only allow LTE 1700/2100?
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LTE phones are backwards compatible because they support other bands for HSPA and GSM. For example, a carrier using 1700 MHz for LTE may use 850 and 1900 for HSPA but the 1700 will only work with LTE.
Nuxtux said:
So you are saying even though LTE is backward compatible the band installed is software limiting the hardware to only allow LTE 1700/2100?
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You somewhat got it. It is the same problem with AT&T's HTC ONE X. The phone as the 1700 band for LTE, but when used with Tmo it only picks up 2G using the 1900 GSM. But with Tmo merging with Metro PCS, and partnering with Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Network, the H+ 1900 Spectrum will be available everywhere very soon. I read an article on tmonews.com that it should be done by the end of this year.
maybe the Canadian Telus version would work with T-Mo's AWS
it'll work you'll have to use the modem firmware from the N4 in order to use hspa+
vdub804 said:
it'll work you'll have to use the modem firmware from the N4 in order to use hspa+
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i'll buy the att optimus g once this is confirmed working :good:
Any one got this one working? Got my Att OG, but edge is very slow. the T-Mo refarmed areas are OK though
Hi All,
I bought a Spring LG G2 and planning to use my AT&T SIM Card on it. I have gone through lot of threads in this forum (Great info and detailed explanation) and it looks like i can SIM Unlock this Phone and make the AT&T / T-Mobile SIM working with out any Issues.
How ever as the hardware bands are not there it's not possible to get LTE on this Phone with GSM Carriers. (Please correct me if i am wrong). If that's the case why SIM Unlock this phone and use a GSM SIM Card instaed of getting AT&T or T-Mobile version of the same Phone ? (It it because of the price difference ? Sorry for asking this as i am not sure what i am missing here).
Does Spring version of G2 has additional benefits that are not available in GSM version of G2.
Thanks
mars
mars76 said:
Hi All,
I bought a Spring LG G2 and planning to use my AT&T SIM Card on it. I have gone through lot of threads in this forum (Great info and detailed explanation) and it looks like i can SIM Unlock this Phone and make the AT&T / T-Mobile SIM working with out any Issues.
How ever as the hardware bands are not there it's not possible to get LTE on this Phone with GSM Carriers. (Please correct me if i am wrong). If that's the case why SIM Unlock this phone and use a GSM SIM Card instaed of getting AT&T or T-Mobile version of the same Phone ? (It it because of the price difference ? Sorry for asking this as i am not sure what i am missing here).
Does Spring version of G2 has additional benefits that are not available in GSM version of G2.
Thanks
mars
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Click to collapse
The sprint verzion supports these bands "GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz" and other umts and lte bands
The unlocked supports these bands "GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz" and other cdma lte umts bands
The difference is you get more bands on the unlocked version. The sprint version is the gsm model and it does support lte. Look up the technical specs on the lg site. look on xda more and see how people fair with lte. if you want to be safe just get an unlocked phone and scrap your sprint model.
Thanks a lot ..
CurbThePain said:
The sprint verzion supports these bands "GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz" and other umts and lte bands
The unlocked supports these bands "GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz" and other cdma lte umts bands
The difference is you get more bands on the unlocked version. The sprint version is the gsm model and it does support lte. Look up the technical specs on the lg site. look on xda more and see how people fair with lte. if you want to be safe just get an unlocked phone and scrap your sprint model.
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From what I can conclude, the international version (H815) works on all GSM carriers, and it runs on the 850 and 1900 bands that phones need to run on Net10's AT&T-style network. All signs point to it working, but I'm looking for confirmation that inserting a SIM card gets the international version to work. Also, what is the main difference between the international version and a U.S. version of the device? Thanks.
eakirk16 said:
From what I can conclude, the international version (H815) works on all GSM carriers, and it runs on the 850 and 1900 bands that phones need to run on Net10's AT&T-style network. All signs point to it working, but I'm looking for confirmation that inserting a SIM card gets the international version to work. Also, what is the main difference between the international version and a U.S. version of the device? Thanks.
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I have NET10 AT&t in Puerto Rico and it is working.
Sent from my LG-H815 using XDA Forums PRO
eakirk16 said:
From what I can conclude, the international version (H815) works on all GSM carriers, and it runs on the 850 and 1900 bands that phones need to run on Net10's AT&T-style network. All signs point to it working, but I'm looking for confirmation that inserting a SIM card gets the international version to work. Also, what is the main difference between the international version and a U.S. version of the device? Thanks.
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Click to collapse
The international version has no bloatware, the (European) variant has an unlockable bootloader, and the international variant supports different LTE bands, though it still includes full support for AT&T's LTE network and partial support for T-mobile (international version is missing T-mobile band 12).
Haven't done Net10 but I do have an H815 running time on Cricket, also using ATT's network.
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.
I was looking at purchasing a Verizon version of the LG G4. It appears it supports all the bands of AT&T, except for Band 17.
Can anyone confirm that it does not in fact support Band 17? Will this impact AT&T service or coverage?
Probably depends on which bands ATT uses in your area in particular.
Being that band 17 is AT&T's primary 4g LTE band I'm going to say, no, it will not work "reliably"