[Q] Using T-Mobile Galaxy Note 2 on AT&T's LTE (Will It Work if I do the Following?)
Can't you flash an AT&T firmware on a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 2 handset to get the necessary AT&T LTE Frequencies since the LTE radios on both AT&T's and T-Mobile's Note 2's are the exact same? Or is unlocking the Note 2 via T-Mobile more than enough to take advantage of AT&T's LTE Network?
Tread carefully, I'm currently trying to get my phone out of a rather nasty bootloop/corrupt IMEI situation after trying just that earlier today.
But I did get it to work, even pulled 35 Mbps on a speedtest.
Things went to hell after trying to revert back to the T889V modem. (In case I needed the AWS HSPA, for proof of concept and also warranty purposes).
so our phone's LTE modem is compatible with AT&T LTE bands? sweet.
^^^ Did an LTE status show up when you ran the Speedtest; this was with an AT&T Sim, right? ?
^^^ Did an LTE status show up when you ran the Speedtest; this was with an AT&T Sim, right? ?
Darkshado said:
Tread carefully, I'm currently trying to get my phone out of a rather nasty bootloop/corrupt IMEI situation after trying just that earlier today.
But I did get it to work, even pulled 35 Mbps on a speedtest.
Things went to hell after trying to revert back to the T889V modem. (In case I needed the AWS HSPA, for proof of concept and also warranty purposes).
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Virgin Mobile Canada LTE SIM (previously confirmed working in an Galaxy S III), and yes the LTE icon showed up immediately, Speedtest says LTE too, and the speeds are way beyond what I had with HSPA in the same location.
Doesn't AT&T's LTE run on different frequencies; so will T-Mobile's Note 2 match with AT&T LTE Frequencies after flashing to AT&T's Firmware?
Darkshado said:
Virgin Mobile Canada LTE SIM (previously confirmed working in an Galaxy S III), and yes the LTE icon showed up immediately, Speedtest says LTE too, and the speeds are way beyond what I had with HSPA in the same location.
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winlinmac001 said:
Doesn't AT&T's LTE run on different frequencies; so will T-Mobile's Note 2 match with AT&T LTE Frequencies after flashing to AT&T's Firmware?
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Tmobile's T889 supports LTE on AWS and 700 (band 17).
AT&T's i317 supports LTE on AWS, 700 (band 17) and also on 850 and 1900 (band 2).
So yes, our phone has the ability to work on SOME of AT&T's LTE network, but not all of it; it will just depend on which frequencies they're using in your area. I believe AWS and 700 are new for AT&T, so they're probably fewer and more between at the moment, whereas their current network is mostly 1900 and 850. Not sure what kind of upgrade they have to do to switch their old HSPA 1900 towers to LTE support.
Silly question, so is a tmobile note 2 capable of handling AT&T's LTE network on the 850 and 1900 bands; is this something controlled by software, or a hardware limitation, I thought the Qualcomm radios on the AT&T variant and tmobile variant were the same.
distortedloop said:
Tmobile's T889 supports LTE on AWS and 700 (band 17).
AT&T's i317 supports LTE on AWS, 700 (band 17) and also on 850 and 1900 (band 2).
So yes, our phone has the ability to work on SOME of AT&T's LTE network, but not all of it; it will just depend on which frequencies they're using in your area. I believe AWS and 700 are new for AT&T, so they're probably fewer and more between at the moment, whereas their current network is mostly 1900 and 850. Not sure what kind of upgrade they have to do to switch their old HSPA 1900 towers to LTE support.
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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
when I go through the specs for the AT&T and Tmobile variants for the note 2, I come across a difference in the following
AT&T,
GSM Quad-band: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Tmobile
Frequencies and Data Type GSM Quad-band: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz UMTS: Band I ,band II, Band IV (Dual-band1700/2100 MHz), Band V
What does the dual band mean? Is it for Tmobiles 4G network?
I thought all the Note 2's in the US had the same LTE radio
please shed some light,
thanks
1700 MHz/2100 MHz UMTS (WCDMA) AWS is currently T-Mobile's 4G network.
T-Mobile will have LTE up and running sometime within next year (2013).
Yes T-Mobile Galaxy Note 2 devices do have LTE. But it is now not activated. T-Mobile will activate the LTE within T-Mobile's Galaxy Note 2 when they get their LTE service up and running within your area.
How to activate the LTE and running on another carrier is a good question. This I get bits and pieces. But not a full step-by-step process yet.
The T-Mobile Note II is pentaband; it will work on AT&T and T-Mobile 3G/4G (not LTE though as of now). I think that's what you're getting at.
Product F(RED) said:
The T-Mobile Note II is pentaband; it will work on AT&T and T-Mobile 3G/4G (not LTE though as of now). I think that's what you're getting at.
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I believe that we can get the LTE up and running with other carriers. I know that I got LTE working on my GN2 (SGH-T889). We just need to learn how to get the LTE running with other carriers. That is really the question. When we figure that out then this might be able to be applied to other GN2 devices.
Tmobile hasnt turned on lte yet. From what i understand once they do our note 2's should be able to utilize it.
winlinmac001 said:
What does the dual band mean? Is it for Tmobiles 4G network?
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Tmobile uses 42.2 mbps dual channel hsdpa.
Afaik, At&t uses 21.1 mbps hsdpa.
Lte(long term evolution) is a different technology not yet active for Tmobile customers.
Real World, my friend with a Galaxy nexus on Tmobile network gets about 8mbps while I get 14mbps. Galaxy nexus has the 21.1mbps capable modem.
konceptz said:
Tmobile uses 42.2 mbps dual channel hsdpa.
Afaik, At&t uses 21.1 mbps hsdpa.
Lte(long term evolution) is a different technology not yet active for Tmobile customers.
Real World, my friend with a Galaxy nexus on Tmobile network gets about 8mbps while I get 14mbps. Galaxy nexus has the 21.1mbps capable modem.
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You're talking about something called DC-HSPA (Dual Channel/Carrier), which is basically what you said: Using 2 frequencies of HSPA(+) to achieve basically double the throughput.
Is it a hardware limitation (as in slightly modified Qualcomm LTE Chipset) in the AT&T Note 2 that 42mbps is not supported compared to T-Mobiles version? Or it is software / firmware-controlled?
winlinmac001 said:
Is it a hardware limitation (as in slightly modified Qualcomm LTE Chipset) in the AT&T Note 2 that 42mbps is not supported compared to T-Mobiles version? Or it is software / firmware-controlled?
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It could be software (on the modem level, which is low-level stuff and separate from the ROM); T-Mobile's Galaxy S II was basically AT&T's Skyrocket with LTE disabled. You could actually flash a T-Mobile S2's modem onto a Skyrocket to get it to work on T-Mobile frequencies (but you can't get LTE enabled on the T-Mobile S II as far as I know).
would you say the note 2 from verizon is any better since it also includes a CDMA radio? Also, though LTE only works in the upper 700 frequency, any change a modem update or firmware change will allow the verizon version to work on T-mobile or AT&T network?
winlinmac001 said:
would you say the note 2 from verizon is any better since it also includes a CDMA radio? Also, though LTE only works in the upper 700 frequency, any change a modem update or firmware change will allow the verizon version to work on T-mobile or AT&T network?
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No; CDMA is useless unless you're going to be using it on the carrier it came from. I'd say the T-Mobile version is the best (in terms of working with the most networks), then the AT&T version (because it has LTE), then the International version (because it's the AT&T version without LTE), and after that the Verizon one because Sprint are jerks because they use "embedded SIMs".
So I am looking to switch to T-Mobile from sprint and want to get the S3. I understand the T-Mobile GS3 works on HSPA+ and operates on the 1700 Band. I also see that the T-Mobile version does not have LTE. Now the ATT version operates on the 1900 Band and will only work on slower speeds until T-Mobile activates the 1900 Band here. Spoke to several reps and they state sometime this month. Will the ATT GS3 have the LTE that will work on T-Mobile when they activate it? So would it be better for me to get an ATT GS3 so that I have LTE when it becomes available? Thanks in advanced
mastercpt said:
So I am looking to switch to T-Mobile from sprint and want to get the S3. I understand the T-Mobile GS3 works on HSPA+ and operates on the 1700 Band. I also see that the T-Mobile version does not have LTE. Now the ATT version operates on the 1900 Band and will only work on slower speeds until T-Mobile activates the 1900 Band here. Spoke to several reps and they state sometime this month. Will the ATT GS3 have the LTE that will work on T-Mobile when they activate it? So would it be better for me to get an ATT GS3 so that I have LTE when it becomes available? Thanks in advanced
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I have Tmobile and it works ok, It depends on the service coverage cause where I live I don't get 4G on any carrier lol.
That's a tough question to answer. Is it a matter of want or need LTE on your mobile device?
Arguably, at&t has better service than t mobile. But since t mobile is still at the stage of refarming their antennas/towers, Tmo could be just the same as their counterpart after its done. I have t mobile and coverage has been excellent. Data speeds are speedy but not quite as fast as at&t's LTE.
On HSPA+, i get great to decent speeds that can get all of my mobile needs online. It would be a plus to have LTE but i don't need it.
Do you get what i trying to get at?
Sorry i had to write this quickly.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
mastercpt said:
So I am looking to switch to T-Mobile from sprint and want to get the S3. I understand the T-Mobile GS3 works on HSPA+ and operates on the 1700 Band. I also see that the T-Mobile version does not have LTE. Now the ATT version operates on the 1900 Band and will only work on slower speeds until T-Mobile activates the 1900 Band here. Spoke to several reps and they state sometime this month. Will the ATT GS3 have the LTE that will work on T-Mobile when they activate it? So would it be better for me to get an ATT GS3 so that I have LTE when it becomes available? Thanks in advanced
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I say go for the Tmobile S3. T-mobile's LTE rollout won't be for a long while, and even when it does become available we don't know if it uses the same LTE band as ATT. My guess is that it won't. Tmobile's HSPA+ is plenty fast where I live for all my needs. You will only get EDGE (2G) speeds with TMobile on the ATT version of the S3 until Tmobile refarms their network. But even if they do refarm where you live by the end of the month, the many other places will still only be covered with the 1700 spectrum.
S3 on Edge is a pointless phone. Even with the 1900 mhz bands rolling out, your data will be spotty at BEST. Even in NYC Manhattan, the 1900 mhz bands are probably 20% complete. Go with the TMO version and you won't regret it.
I get up to 25mbps I average about 7-12 who cares about LTE? Go with T-Mo its cheaper and you will get faster speeds. At my home I get faster data speeds than my baby mama on ATT with her HoX soon to be OG Note
sent from my Samsung Gangster S III on the T-Mobile network
I also have the same dilemma.
If T-Mobile will use LTE on the same frequency as ATT currently does, won't using the ATT SGS3 future proof it for LTE on T-Mobile network?
Am I missing something or do these devices have same specs (except T-Mo having 1700) once 3G moves to 1900 on T-Mo?
OP, I suggest you test T-Mo's network for coverage and speed in your area. I will be doing the same.
Get the T-Mobile version if you value fast data speed.
Don't buy a phone and hoping that it will have the correct technology to work on a network that has not even start to build yet.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
I have been able to have an iPhone 6 from Verizon work on my AT&T sim and have LTE. Has anyone been able to have a Verizon Note 4 work on AT&T and have LTE work?
giper54 said:
I have been able to have an iPhone 6 from Verizon work on my AT&T sim and have LTE. Has anyone been able to have a Verizon Note 4 work on AT&T and have LTE work?
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Yes it will. All verizon LTE devices must be unlocked and if they state they are GSM Global ready, it means that they will generally work on other GSM carriers in the US. In this case, the Note 4 is GSM Global ready and will work on AT&T and T-mobile.
Yes, the Note 4 as well as all VZW 4G LTE phones from the past couple of years will work on ATT and TMO but will not necessary receive LTE depending on the area and LTE coverage you are in.
my 2 cents.
Thank you for the responses.
Would anyone be able to tell me what LTE Bands the Verizon version supports?
giper54 said:
Thank you for the responses.
Would anyone be able to tell me what LTE Bands the Verizon version supports?
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The Verizon version works on LTE band 4 for T-Mobile and AT&T. Depends on the area you are in if AT&T or T-Mobile uses this band.
Here's the Bands data from the different versions of note 4:
Verizon
GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/1900
WCDMA/HSPA: 850/1900
CDMA/EvDO: 850/1900
LTE Bands: 13,4
AT&T
GPRS/EDGE: 850/1900
WCDMA/HSPA: 850/1900
LTE Bands: 12,5,4,2
T-Mobile
GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/1900
WCDMA/HSPA: 850/1700/1900
LTE Bands: 12,17,5,4,2
Sprint
GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/1900
WCDMA/HSPA: 850/1900
CDMA/EvDO: 850/1900
LTE Bands: 26,25,41
Will I lose any lte band support if I convert to tmobile?
Yes, flashing T-Mob US (I assume you mean US, since you are talking AT&T) firmware or RUU will change band support, and you will lose some LTE bands.
According to the specs on GSMarena, with the T-Mob firmware, you will have support for LTE bands 4 and 17; and will lose support for 2, 5, and 7.
What bands do you need, and what carrier are you using?
Tmo USA
What if I merely flash a tmobile based rom
PunishedSnake said:
Tmo USA
What if I merely flash a tmobile based rom
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Just flashing the ROM, you won't change the band support.
But again, I'm curious what carrier you are actually using the phone on?
redpoint73 said:
Just flashing the ROM, you won't change the band support.
But again, I'm curious what carrier you are actually using the phone on?
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Tmobile USA
I installed insertcoin and used the tmobile setting hopefully it works
PunishedSnake said:
Tmobile USA
I installed insertcoin and used the tmobile setting hopefully it works
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Should work fine.
Being on T-Mob US, and using AT&T radio baseband (part of the firmware that determines band support) should be fine for the most part. Reason I say this is:
1) ATT radio supports the same LTE bands as the T-Mob radio (4 and 17), and then some.
2) ATT radio is missing HSPA (3G) Band 4 (AWS). This used to be the band most widely used by T-Mob for 3G. But my understanding, is that they are well underway in migrating 3G service to 1900 MHz (Band 2) which is supported by the ATT radio.
3) The only "negative" to staying on the ATT radio, that I can see, is that if you happen to be in area where T-Mob is still using AWS for 3G , and you don't have LTE service in that area, either. In that instance, your data will drop down to EDGE (2G). I don't really have an idea of how widespread this situation may be; but I have a feeling its relatively small.
redpoint73 said:
Should work fine.
Being on T-Mob US, and using AT&T radio baseband (part of the firmware that determines band support) should be fine for the most part. Reason I say this is:
1) ATT radio supports the same LTE bands as the T-Mob radio (4 and 17), and then some.
2) ATT radio is missing HSPA (3G) Band 4 (AWS). This used to be the band most widely used by T-Mob for 3G. But my understanding, is that they are well underway in migrating 3G service to 1900 MHz (Band 2) which is supported by the ATT radio.
3) The only "negative" to staying on the ATT radio, that I can see, is that if you happen to be in area where T-Mob is still using AWS for 3G , and you don't have LTE service in that area, either. In that instance, your data will drop down to EDGE (2G). I don't really have an idea of how widespread this situation may be; but I have a feeling its relatively small.
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Yea thats why I got an unlocked ATT m8 instead of a tmobile one for the extra lte bands. I have yet to run into band 2 lte and all the aws hspa has been reused for lte. Luckily.