Can anyone tell me if it is possible to change the HTC from a Euro phone to a North American phone by perhaps changing a chip or programming to support 850/1900 here in North America? I live in an area where 1900 is a bit spotty and I lose signal, especially inside buildings. I love my Uni, but I have too many people complaining that I'm not getting their calls and I don't get signal where other's do.
I'm afraid I don't have enough hardware experience to be qualified to even venture a guess. But shouldn't it be as easy as changing a chip or a crystal or something?
It's just a matter of both the range of the tower you're near, as well as possibly your PRL. The priority roaming list tells the phone who's service you're allowed to use. So if there's a tower within range, but not in the PRL, chances are your phone won't use it OR it will show up as roaming.
I know you can affect the 3G part of Android phones by changing the modem firmware when using Odin, and even them I'm not sure what change is made if truly any. I don't have 3g yet with my provider, which uses the 850/1900 as well, but I currently have a Euro firmware on my phone using XW Euro firmware. I'm not sure how it will affect my 3g until my provider enables it.
Other than that, I think it's a limitation of the radio chip in the phone. It may be a firmware/software setting, or it could be hard coded into the chip.. again I'm not sure
Have you seen the previous post date? lol.
Anyway thanks for your reply
Lol, true it's old, but if anyone has a solution I'd accept it. However, I've since moved on with 3 different phones including the PPC6800, the Omnia II and presently on the iPhone 4.
Thanks anyway,
TS
No it is not possible, it´s a hardware related stuff.
Timeshell said:
Lol, true it's old, but if anyone has a solution I'd accept it. However, I've since moved on with 3 different phones including the PPC6800, the Omnia II and presently on the iPhone 4.
Thanks anyway,
TS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you have to change the part which contains the Radio hardware
So, I'm currently in a debate with a friend over the announcement of the LTE on Verizon. My friend (who works in multiplexing telecommunications) tells me that all current Verizon phones will receive a firmware update in order to move onto the LTE network since the current EVDO RevA communication is similar to that of LTE.
I completely disagree and state that the current radio functions on all phones including the droid incredible cannot handle communication with the LTE standard and will require a different chip in order to properly access LTE network.
Does anyone have any documents or citing that says current 3G phones are not forward compatible with LTE?
Thanks.
It would take David Copperfield to make LTE work on our devices
You might want to convince your friend to place a large bet on this with you because there is virtually no way that I know of that he will win the bet. Your friend has lost his marbles...
pmarinel said:
So, I'm currently in a debate with a friend over the announcement of the LTE on Verizon. My friend (who works in multiplexing telecommunications) tells me that all current Verizon phones will receive a firmware update in order to move onto the LTE network since the current EVDO RevA communication is similar to that of LTE.
I completely disagree and state that the current radio functions on all phones including the droid incredible cannot handle communication with the LTE standard and will require a different chip in order to properly access LTE network.
Does anyone have any documents or citing that says current 3G phones are not forward compatible with LTE?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my desire z inc port.
LTE requires a SIM card, which will never be delivered Ota, nor inserted into ur Dinc. Tell genius to stick to multiplexing, and if he doesn't listen take his money.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
I agree, place a very large bet on this. You are absolutely correct. I work for Vzw, if I didn't run the risk of getting fired for screenshotting some of the documentation we have about 4G, I'd attach it. 4G devices will be backward compatible with 3G networking, not vice versa.
something but what
LTE no, but voice&data at once maybe?
I was on the phone with VZW activating a new device last week and the rep on the phone was trying to tell me that certain devices will end up getting an update that allows for data communications and voice communications simultaneously. Which is currently not possible. I tried to tell them that this sounded like it was not possible and that only new devices with new hardware will be able to do such things. They remained firm that certain current devices would get an update to allow this. I just don't see it happening. Time will tell.
thehoovie said:
LTE no, but voice&data at once maybe?
I was on the phone with VZW activating a new device last week and the rep on the phone was trying to tell me that certain devices will end up getting an update that allows for data communications and voice communications simultaneously. Which is currently not possible. I tried to tell them that this sounded like it was not possible and that only new devices with new hardware will be able to do such things. They remained firm that certain current devices would get an update to allow this. I just don't see it happening. Time will tell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont see why they can't...I can talk and text at the same time on 1X rofl!
Hi,
I just received an unlocked International Galaxy Note II in the US. Ordered from Handtec in the UK, and the phone appears to be the French model. I have observed what I think is a problem when trying to use the phone on T-Mobile USA.
I put my T-Mobile USA SIM card in the phone, and the phone thinks I am roaming. Uhhhh no. It's a T-Mobile USA SIM card on the T-Mobile USA network. It is NOT roaming. Now, it probably doesn't have any impact beyond the "R" notifier, and a "Roaming" page which shows up on TouchWiz, but it DOES make me feel very uneasy. I have to enable "Data use while roaming" to be able to use data while on my home network!! It's crazy!
To those who will point out, yes, I know that T-Mobile USA has their 3G currently on the AWS 1700/2100 band, which the Note II does not support. I am therefore using EDGE with this phone. (Yes the data speeds suck, but T-Mobile's refarming will make this problem go away in the next few months). Even though I am on EDGE, I am not "roaming" unless the Note II's definition of roaming is different from mine. I am still on the home network, regardless of whether I am on 2G or 3G.
Has anyone else seen a problem like this?
If I can't figure this out in the next day or two, I may return the Note II and just wait another month or so for the T-Mobile US version. (Probably that's what I should do anyway, but I figured the GT-N7100 would get more developer support).
Hope someone can help!
Thanks!
Edit: I forgot to add - I also have and unlocked international Note 1 GT-N7000 and an unlocked iPhone 4. Neither possess the T-Mobile USA 3G band, and neither of which show roaming when I'm using T-Mobile USA. So, either T-Mobile did some funky network work today which changed something, or there is something different (and possibly a bug) about how the Galaxy Note II determines if it's roaming.
Unfortunately I cannot be of any assistance to your issue, just wanted to comment however. I find it very odd that ALL Note II's don't work on every frequency. Bear with me, I'm under the impression that they are identical hardware wise, every version. So, maybe it's a simple matter of flashing a different radio.img? Not that there are any available currently, but there will be shortly. I hope (think) it will be similar to the ATT Note on Tmo. Hopefully it works out better though. We still don't know if the Tmo Note II will be HSPA+42 or not, but it will support next years Tmo LTE.
So, as of now, this is a little bit of a disappointment for Tmo customers looking for the N7100. Hope you can find a workaround for at least HSPA+21 soon :good:
ccampbell1 said:
Hi,
I just received an unlocked International Galaxy Note II in the US. Ordered from Handtec in the UK, and the phone appears to be the French model. I have observed what I think is a problem when trying to use the phone on T-Mobile USA.
I put my T-Mobile USA SIM card in the phone, and the phone thinks I am roaming. Uhhhh no. It's a T-Mobile USA SIM card on the T-Mobile USA network. It is NOT roaming. Now, it probably doesn't have any impact beyond the "R" notifier, and a "Roaming" page which shows up on TouchWiz, but it DOES make me feel very uneasy. I have to enable "Data use while roaming" to be able to use data while on my home network!! It's crazy!
To those who will point out, yes, I know that T-Mobile USA has their 3G currently on the AWS 1700/2100 band, which the Note II does not support. I am therefore using EDGE with this phone. (Yes the data speeds suck, but T-Mobile's refarming will make this problem go away in the next few months). Even though I am on EDGE, I am not "roaming" unless the Note II's definition of roaming is different from mine. I am still on the home network, regardless of whether I am on 2G or 3G.
Has anyone else seen a problem like this?
If I can't figure this out in the next day or two, I may return the Note II and just wait another month or so for the T-Mobile US version. (Probably that's what I should do anyway, but I figured the GT-N7100 would get more developer support).
Hope someone can help!
Thanks!
Edit: I forgot to add - I also have and unlocked international Note 1 GT-N7000 and an unlocked iPhone 4. Neither possess the T-Mobile USA 3G band, and neither of which show roaming when I'm using T-Mobile USA. So, either T-Mobile did some funky network work today which changed something, or there is something different (and possibly a bug) about how the Galaxy Note II determines if it's roaming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That happened to me as well using my International Galaxy S3, I dug into it for about a month and trust me, it's something with the phone detecting that it can't connect to the HSPA+ bands it supports, and when it "defaults" down to EDGE it considers it "Roaming". Stop digging for answers, I was at it for weeks, this is the reason.
You wont get charged for roaming or anything though, so use EDGE until T-Mobile's refarming finally happens; I waited for 2 months and nothing, so I jumped ship and got Straight Talk. I use over 15 GB of data a month, no throttling, $45 bucks. :good:
Hope this helps, because NO ONE gave me a straight answer, Dont even bother calling T-Mobile, they're of absolutely no help. I flashed all sorts of custom ROMs, Kernels, Network Tools, Diagnostics, etc. trying to figure it out. It's just the way these Samsung phones (GT-I9300 and N7100 by the looks of it) work when their 3G/HSPA+ bands are not supported.
Cheers!
farfromovin said:
Unfortunately I cannot be of any assistance to your issue, just wanted to comment however. I find it very odd that ALL Note II's don't work on every frequency. Bear with me, I'm under the impression that they are identical hardware wise, every version. So, maybe it's a simple matter of flashing a different radio.img? Not that there are any available currently, but there will be shortly. I hope (think) it will be similar to the ATT Note on Tmo. Hopefully it works out better though. We still don't know if the Tmo Note II will be HSPA+42 or not, but it will support next years Tmo LTE.
So, as of now, this is a little bit of a disappointment for Tmo customers looking for the N7100. Hope you can find a workaround for at least HSPA+21 soon :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
farfromovin,
I agree it's a complete pain why one model can't work worldwide - or even between carriers in one country, the US!! I'm not sure that all the revisions are the exact same hardware though. Certainly the different revisions will support different LTE bands from one another, different 3G bands (ie T-Mobile USA) and even different technologies (VZW, Sprint, US Cellular CDMA). Whether there is one uber radio chip that's the same in all versions, with different bits enabled here and there, I don't know. I would doubt that a chip currently exists to support all GSM, UMTS, LTE and CDMA bands in the one, but you never know.
I really cannot wait (getting super sick of it) until T-Mobile's 1900MHz refarming, and finally all UMTS/HSPA phones will work on pretty much any UMTS/HSPA network worldwide. But just as we finally get 3G harmony, LTE comes along with a zillion different bands, and we're back to where we were at the start of GSM, and the start of UMTS - all over again.
As far as getting the GT-N7100 to work on T-Mobile AWS bands - unless the radio supports that band somewhere, and can be enabled by some hacky flashing, I don't think there's much chance. I followed a thread for a while which was trying to do that for the original GT-N7000 and it ended up nowhere unfortunately.
I'd be very, very surprised if the T-Mobile US official Note II did not support DC-HSPA +42. Given how TMO pushes that, I don't think they'd sell a phone without it these days. I'm kind of surprised the GT-N7100 doesn't have it, to be honest, but I guess it's not yet that widespread, and most carriers will bypass it to go to LTE.
Cheers!
Ars-Hexis said:
That happened to me as well using my International Galaxy S3, I dug into it for about a month and trust me, it's something with the phone detecting that it can't connect to the HSPA+ bands it supports, and when it "defaults" down to EDGE it considers it "Roaming". Stop digging for answers, I was at it for weeks, this is the reason.
You wont get charged for roaming or anything though, so use EDGE until T-Mobile's refarming finally happens; I waited for 2 months and nothing, so I jumped ship and got Straight Talk. I use over 15 GB of data a month, no throttling, $45 bucks. :good:
Hope this helps, because NO ONE gave me a straight answer, Dont even bother calling T-Mobile, they're of absolutely no help. I flashed all sorts of custom ROMs, Kernels, Network Tools, Diagnostics, etc. trying to figure it out. It's just the way these Samsung phones (GT-I9300 and N7100 by the looks of it) work when their 3G/HSPA+ bands are not supported.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Ars-Hexis,
Thanks so much for the reply. I googled about the same issue on the i9300 as you mentioned - and sure enough a couple of threads on androidcentral, and tmobile support - and all with pretty much a bunch of people going "what?" I think you're right, and this is either some crazy change which Samsung has made to the "S3" generation of phones, or it's an unintended bug which was introduced. I contacted Samsung support on twitter but I'm sure they'll tell me to go away since this is an international model and not sold or supported in the US.
I would love to have this properly reported to Samsung though because it is NOT correct behaviour, and I'm sure it does not meet the 3GPP standard behaviour. These phones' definition of "roaming" is frankly wrong. It's possible they know about the bug but don't care about it too much, because it only affects the minority of importers or travelers, and then only on the very few networks which use AWS band for 3G.
The phone and data works fine of course, so it's really a cosmetic annoyance. However, if I was actually outside TMO's network without knowing it (maybe camping on to some network on the Canadian border or something) then I'd never know if I was actually roaming or not. So the phone's roaming indicator, by being permanently false, is useless in the times when I'm actually roaming. Since this is not a likely scenario for me to be on the Canadian border and roaming onto an AWS-only network any time soon, I'll not worry too much about it.
Yes, I'm really sick waiting on this refarming. It's a huge undertaking of course, so I understand why. I do have a Straight Talk AT&T SIM which I got for my Galaxy Note 1, however I don't use it often for several reasons: haven't ported my number to it, am wary about data throttling or cut-off, and I find the data hit or miss on Straight Talk anyway. I heard stories about people being warned or cut off after 100MB in any day, but if you're saying 15GB and no throttling, it may be something I want to put to the test!
Thanks a lot for your reply! It's nice to know I'm not crazy!
Cheers!
ccampbell1 said:
Hey Ars-Hexis,
Thanks so much for the reply. I googled about the same issue on the i9300 as you mentioned - and sure enough a couple of threads on androidcentral, and tmobile support - and all with pretty much a bunch of people going "what?" I think you're right, and this is either some crazy change which Samsung has made to the "S3" generation of phones, or it's an unintended bug which was introduced. I contacted Samsung support on twitter but I'm sure they'll tell me to go away since this is an international model and not sold or supported in the US.
I would love to have this properly reported to Samsung though because it is NOT correct behaviour, and I'm sure it does not meet the 3GPP standard behaviour. These phones' definition of "roaming" is frankly wrong. It's possible they know about the bug but don't care about it too much, because it only affects the minority of importers or travelers, and then only on the very few networks which use AWS band for 3G.
The phone and data works fine of course, so it's really a cosmetic annoyance. However, if I was actually outside TMO's network without knowing it (maybe camping on to some network on the Canadian border or something) then I'd never know if I was actually roaming or not. So the phone's roaming indicator, by being permanently false, is useless in the times when I'm actually roaming. Since this is not a likely scenario for me to be on the Canadian border and roaming onto an AWS-only network any time soon, I'll not worry too much about it.
Yes, I'm really sick waiting on this refarming. It's a huge undertaking of course, so I understand why. I do have a Straight Talk AT&T SIM which I got for my Galaxy Note 1, however I don't use it often for several reasons: haven't ported my number to it, am wary about data throttling or cut-off, and I find the data hit or miss on Straight Talk anyway. I heard stories about people being warned or cut off after 100MB in any day, but if you're saying 15GB and no throttling, it may be something I want to put to the test!
Thanks a lot for your reply! It's nice to know I'm not crazy!
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there! Sorry I hadn't answered in such a long time. We'll actually I've found that the S3 (sold it) and the Note 2 (own it) some how cannot be tracked for data usage correctly by straight talk. It's quite interesting... I ported my number over from T-Mobile, so if you have an S3 with a T-mobile prepaid sim... I think you have nothing to lose! I'm in Dallas and regularly get around 3-4Mbits/S during high usage hours and 6-7Mbits/S after 7 pm when network usage goes down.
There have been 2 occasions over the past 2 months where I'm throttled for like an hour and suddenly it gets uncapped on its own (?!?!?) lol. Last month I used about 25 GB... It's insane. Btw, if you if get throttled for real (happened to me once), you can just call them and say your "Internets is slow" (act technologically challenged) and they'll reset it.
Ah 1 last thing: I got the at&T ST sim card when I switched.
Cheers!
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium HD app
I just got my International Note 2 today, and I am using it on the T-Mobile network also. I am seeing that I am roaming but my data is off and I am just using wifi. I have turned off my phone and back on again and its still showing. But after reading this whole thread I am getting that is a bug or something along those lines is that correct? Thanks.
I really need to know
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
roaming
I am on prepaid tmobile and I have Roaming sign only in areas where I used to loose signal with my old phone . Basically when I go in Garage underground my signal starts getting weaker and weaker and then roaming kiks in and signal is up all the way . T-mobile does not charges for local roaming . If you use USA tmobile and you are in usa you are fine . My texts and voice are still the same rate for me . When I had Chinese rom it was showing all the time , now I flashed German t-mobile and R shows only sometime , but it does not bother me .
Hope this helps .
I too have a Note II (GT-N7100) I purchased in Thailand in December. I use it on the T-Mobile network and have the same issues with the "R" symbol. I am located in Tampa Bay area, Florida.
T-Mobile was indicating to me in January that this was an issue in weaker signal areas for their data network as they prepare to refarm it. Don't know if this explanation is entirely accurate, but I find in my local area that the R symbol goes away in certain areas and it behaves "normally". This includes the area where my T-Mobile office is located. It seems to be somewhat of a patchwork network, and for some reasons certain areas cause it to go into the Roaming mode.
I was just on a trip with stops in Los Amgeles, San Francisco, and Philadelphia and noted the same behavior in some of those cities: Getting normal signal indications in some places, and Roaming in others.
So my brother gave my his old Sprint Galaxy Note 5, which he had unlocked so that I could use it on AT&T. We had to set up the new APN to work with GSM instead of CDMA. The issue is that it cannot access 4G bands, just 3G. There are some other minor issues as well, such as location based services. I was looking into flashing AT&T firmware onto the phone, but cannot seem to find a way to do it online. I may not have scoured hard enough, or it may not be able to be done.
Would anyone be able to shed some light on this for me? I would prefer not to brick the phone by attempting something when I clearly do not have enough information about the subject. Could it just be an APN issue? Or will the phone just be stuck on a lower speed band? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
The modem will only be able to access the 3G network as AT&T uses different LTE bands then Sprint.
I just found that out a little earlier today. Forgot to delete this thread. Thank you for your reply though.
ZionMirem said:
I just found that out a little earlier today. Forgot to delete this thread. Thank you for your reply though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might be able to force the network bands with an app. No promises.
Well crap, just got mine unlocked to do the same thing. Guess I'm better off selling it and getting the att version. Was hoping the N7 took off so people would dump their N5 but looks like people will be keeping it.
Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk
ZionMirem said:
So my brother gave my his old Sprint Galaxy Note 5, which he had unlocked so that I could use it on AT&T. We had to set up the new APN to work with GSM instead of CDMA. The issue is that it cannot access 4G bands, just 3G. There are some other minor issues as well, such as location based services. I was looking into flashing AT&T firmware onto the phone, but cannot seem to find a way to do it online. I may not have scoured hard enough, or it may not be able to be done.
Would anyone be able to shed some light on this for me? I would prefer not to brick the phone by attempting something when I clearly do not have enough information about the subject. Could it just be an APN issue? Or will the phone just be stuck on a lower speed band? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does support the AT&T LTE bands, call AT&T and have them put in the IMEI into the system to allow LET access. Since it's a Sprint phone it's not in their system as a 4G/LTE device. I got mine working but seems it has a difficult time getting into LTM mode, I have the correct APN setup and 3G works fine.
I feel I know this device very well as I do alot of stuff on my own but, one thing that flipping boggles my mind are the GSM radios in this thing and maybe someone with radio knowledge can explain.
I'm in the Chicagoland area in the U.S. and and have the T-Mobile variant of this device. Whether my phone is T-Mobile or fully converted to US Unlocked, I drop calls like crazy especially in rural areas on the way to work while talking on the phone. It drops and or fades in and out. When my phone is fully converted to the European version of this device, I almost never drop any calls and no fading in and out while on a call as I would in the same exact area I drive in. The bands being used are the same exact T-Mobile bands no matter what my device is running. So my question is, why is cell service on the same T-Mobile bands in the U.S. whether converted to original T-Mobile or US Unlocked absolutely suck but converted to European, it's absolutely wonderful service?
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
You responded in a thread I started where I mentioned the crap radio.
I'm near you geographically and I have 1 bar reception in an urban area mid-rise and 2-3 bars outside. Calls fade in and out. From my review of TMO coverage, while I may not ever have 5 bars inside, I definetly think it's a radio issue and my signal should be stronger.
Given your experience with European version I was thinking of doing the same. However, I don't think I need to flash a European ROM...And should be able to either flash just the radio or change the firmware (boot up into a zip file on the SD card).
I was wondering how you converted, and also what CID you are using (as I would imagine that would match the Rom/firmware/radio you're using).
If you have suggestions (like whether I am wrong in believing I can just flash the radio, etc.), please let me know...
Sent from my HTC 10 using XDA Labs
tony_5309 said:
I feel I know this device very well as I do alot of stuff on my own but, one thing that flipping boggles my mind are the GSM radios in this thing and maybe someone with radio knowledge can explain.
I'm in the Chicagoland area in the U.S. and and have the T-Mobile variant of this device. Whether my phone is T-Mobile or fully converted to US Unlocked, I drop calls like crazy especially in rural areas on the way to work while talking on the phone. It drops and or fades in and out. When my phone is fully converted to the European version of this device, I almost never drop any calls and no fading in and out while on a call as I would in the same exact area I drive in. The bands being used are the same exact T-Mobile bands no matter what my device is running. So my question is, why is cell service on the same T-Mobile bands in the U.S. whether converted to original T-Mobile or US Unlocked absolutely suck but converted to European, it's absolutely wonderful service?
Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had T-Mobile variant of the phone couple of months ago and now own an unlocked US version(bought on htc.com). I am in WA state and calls don't drop(MM and N work the same). I can point out that a signal is about -2 to -3dbm less than other phones, but it hasn't affected the phone calls. I don't understand what you mean "calls fade in/out". Could you please explain?