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when i bought my nexus one i was with fido. and realizing that they are crap and wind mobile is much better. ive decided to switch to wind. i called them up and they said i need a cell phone compatible with "AWS Umts 1700 2100". right now im with fido and i looked it up on wiki and they use "850/1900" freq and wind uses "1700 band IV (AWS). in the nexus one site it dose say its compatible with winds network, but i know there are 2 versions of the phone and not sure which one i have. its the one that works with Fido obviously.
so can i switch carriers?
tmobile is 1700/2100 mhz
so i cant switch over to wind mobile? can i flash my raido or something to make it work.
I don't know what "wind mobile" is, or what frequencies they use, but if it does NOT match what your Nexus One has, 3G will NOT work, only Edge. This is a HARDWARE difference. You can not flash or "fix" it.
No. Art version of Nexus will work with Rogers, Telus, Bell, Virgin, Solo, etc. T-Mobile version works with Wind. You may be able to use the Art version with Wind possibly, but you will only get edge if it does work.
I meant At&t version. Sorry, auto correct lol
Just a question from a newer Motorola Milestone XT720 user. Now to my knowledge, my Canadian provider Rogers runs on 850/1900 bands and 850 for 3G. Now my problem is unlike my iPhone (I currently use the sim card from my iPhone 3G), my XT720 I assume is asian and it runs on 1700/2100 as most of you already know. So before I which to WINDmobile, which like T-Mobile runs on 1700/2100 and is the only Canadian provider that offer this, is there any way of flashing a rom to trick the device to change frequencies or any other techniques, or will I just simply have to switch over to WINDmobile services (unpreferable since it's a newer company, still not alot of coverage without roming fees)?
they're using different hardware, so no.
Ok thanks, that's all I needed.
I wanted to get an inspire 4g but the crappy battery life and almost impossible to remove battery cover (for using an extra battery) turns me off so i was thinking of getting the incredible s but my provider uses 850/1900 3g bands , has a model with those working bands been announced?
well gsmarena suggests that this phone already has the ability to use those 3g bands
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_incredible_s-3788.php
Rather unhelpfully HTC's own website only lists "AWS" as a band rather than specifying the frequencies used (though i think they may be).
http://www.htc.com/uk/product/incredibles/specification.html
Best option is probably to ask someone who's out there though i think there's been success in using this in the USA.
Bantu85 said:
well gsmarena suggests that this phone already has the ability to use those 3g bands
http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_incredible_s-3788.php
Rather unhelpfully HTC's own website only lists "AWS" as a band rather than specifying the frequencies used (though i think they may be).
http://www.htc.com/uk/product/incredibles/specification.html
Best option is probably to ask someone who's out there though i think there's been success in using this in the USA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what the hell is aws? i checked gsm and looks like it could work, it says
3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100
HSDPA 850 / 1900 - North America
I hope someone in the us can confirm this!
Just got this off my INC s:
the radio freq bands mine is allowing
"8.GSM_DCS_1800"
"9.GSM_EGSM_900"
"24.GSM_850"
"26.GSM_PCS_1900"
"27.WCDMA_I_IMT_2000"
"30.WCDMA_IV_1700"
"34.WCDMA_VIII_900"
The specs for the Incredible S says basically it won't work for the provider that your using. The Bell is rumored to receive the device which means if that happened, that specific model will have the 3G bands you desire. It's supposed to be released on April 4th. It's a rumor though so don't get your hopes up.
sbryan12144 said:
The specs for the Incredible S says basically it won't work for the provider that your using. The Bell is rumored to receive the device which means if that happened, that specific model will have the 3G bands you desire. It's supposed to be released on April 4th. It's a rumor though so don't get your hopes up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As an employee of one of Bell's dealer stores I can certify that it's in our system but there's no release date yet.
Bell uses 3G 850/1900 HSPA bands only for their service.
Yes Bell does release this model for sure on April 4
Hitec
Hi guys,
I've searched the O2X forum regarding 850mhz UMTS (HSPA) and found nothing so far. Does anyone here have the O2X P990h model which supports the 850mhz UMTS band? The only thing I can find is that the G2X supports 850 but has the model number P999.
I'm currently tossing up between the Atrix and O2X (I use the Australian NextG network btw). The locked bootloader on the Atrix sucks and coming from a S-Off'ed Desire I really want custom roms etc., but the O2X doesn't have 850mhz support which is a must for me, at least until now.
Since then I've stumbled onto these:
http://www.mobicity.com.au/lg-optimus-2x-nextg.html
They appear to be in a lot of other online shops as well, has anyone actually got one and can confirm normal O2X mods/roms work on the P990H?
Hi, i get 'h' on mine above the signal bars which i am guessing is hspa. (I'm in the UK on orange.) Or am I getting confused with something different?
Sorry if i am talking about something different.
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA App
This is on czech LG site for O2X:
2G network: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
3G network: UMTS 900/1900/2100, HSDPA 7,2Mbps / HSUPA 5,7 Mbps
so i guess 850Mhz for UMTS is really not supported, at least not on EU model (but i doubt the specs will be different elsewhere on P990)
Actually he's talking about one listed as "LG P990H Optimus 2x 850/1900 "
It's on negrielectronics web site as well as a few others... but it seems impossible to find out any information on it. I myself am also interested..
Fulwood Sedge said:
Hi, i get 'h' on mine above the signal bars which i am guessing is hspa. (I'm in the UK on orange.) Or am I getting confused with something different?
Sorry if i am talking about something different.
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, completely different. The standard Optimus model number is P990. There is a 2nd model called the P990H which has 850mhz UMTS support (apparently at least).
So nobody has ever bought or used one of these phones?
where do you see a 850 umts version ?
Fido's LG P990hn is an 3g 850/1900/2100 phone. I'm curious that is it able to flash a p990's third party rom or not.
alexander宇 said:
Fido's LG P990hn is an 3g 850/1900/2100 phone. I'm curious that is it able to flash a p990's third party rom or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't take this as a definitive answer, but yes, it should be.
As you can see from the included screenshot, the ROM itself (via Hidden menu) lets you select 850 bands for both GSM and WCDMA, even though the radio doesn't support WCDMA-850 on the regular P990, which the screenshot is from. (This is from the new official Gingerbread, but it was the same on Froyo.)
You may run into other problems of course, like the ROM not liking your baseband, which is the one thing you probably shouldn't replace with stuff from the P990.
As stated, I cannot say for sure, but I think you can try without damaging your phone. (Or get someone else to try it on theirs ;-)) Which is my way of saying you probably should get a second opinion. And a third.
Cant you just get a G2X? Theyre 850 i think. Or you could join the dark side and use optus
Sent from my LG-P990 using Tapatalk
Just saw this thread and wanted to clarify for anyone else who might stumble upon it.
P990HN from Fido does support 850Mhz and also works with all the custom roms/kernels for P990
I'm brazilian.
In Brazil, UMTS is 850/2100mhz
(990h model)
here in mexico 850 its the 3g band, the 8xxx baseband + canadian ril makes the phone p990h, but the radio its not capable on p990 celphone, you can just load miui or cm7 and load the 8xxx baseband and the canadian ril then you can upgrade your phone
I have the LG Optumus 2x - P990.
This phone has a software lock on the UMTS 850Mhz Band.
Does anyone know how to root this phone and unlock it?
My phone will sometimes connect to 3G here in Canada, but then it reverts back to Edge Network. If I turn my phone Off/ON, it will usually connect to 3G then after a few mintues goes to Edge. Certian parts of the city I'm in will connect to 3G at all times, it's very strange.
I did not know (and still confused) about what I was doing when I flashed my Fido LG P990hN with T-mobile CyanogenMod7. I can operate on Rogers network, but its not stable. Im new to this so I don't know what questions to ask - I just keep reading forums and help files. Michael
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
I have the P990h model bring from Spain, and in the box says that works with 850/1900/2100 WCDMA, and all the roms from P990 works normally, right now im on CM7
Dwntwn said:
I did not know (and still confused) about what I was doing when I flashed my Fido LG P990hN with T-mobile CyanogenMod7. I can operate on Rogers network, but its not stable. Im new to this so I don't know what questions to ask - I just keep reading forums and help files. Michael
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok guys, here what I found.
I started separate thread in Q&A section:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1521105
I'm in Ontario, Canada on Rogers. Got LG o2x from buddy who bought it in Europe. Then my mystery started. At home I was getting 3G and H, but at work (about 50km away) was getting only EDGE. But buddy with iPhone had 3G all the time. I got suspicios. Tried everything - flashing different ROMs, RILs, BBs... Same sh...it.
Then, my another buddy bought used LG 3D (Thrill) which was sold by Rogers (i.e. official Canadian edition) and asked me to root it. I did and tested - he had 4G (same as H, I guess) all the time. WTF!!!
So quest continues...
I found hidden menu in both phones. There I could force phone to use exact band I wanted. And mystery was solved...
So I forced:
GSM850 - my o2x got Edge; buddies: 3D Edge (the same)
GSM1900 (GSM PCS on phone) - my o2x: G; buddies: G
WCDMA1900 (UMTS_Band_II) - my o2x: H; buddies: 4G
and now...
WCDMA850 (UMTS_Band_V) - my o2x: NOTHING; buddies: 4G
So I made the conclusion that European o2x has WCDMA850 band disabled somehow. It explaines why I have H at home (big city where H is on WCDMA1900) and only Edge at work (small town and H is on WCDMA850).
Now I'm trying to find out if it's possible to unlock/enable WCDMA850 band on this phone. I read that Samsung has hidden menu where you can select bands you want to use.
Does somebody have and idea if there is something like that in LG?
Thanks!!!
Goldenmeadow said:
Does somebody have and idea if there is something like that in LG?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is, but it won't do you much good, as this is, to my knowledge, a hardware limitation. The P990 can not use the 850Mhz band, the P990h and P990hN can.
If you still want to try you'll find band selection in the hidden menu. Dial 1809#*990#, select Modem Setting/Band selection.
TrymHansen said:
If you still want to try you'll find band selection in the hidden menu. Dial 1809#*990#, select Modem Setting/Band selection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly what I did - went into hidden menu and selected each band one by one and then checked status in Engineering Mode of Modem Settings.
Now I have next idea: all this experiment I did while having "canadian" baseband 823. And i had WCDMA850 line in Band selection (but it didn't work).
Now I'm wondering if I still have WCDMA850 entry if I put "european" baseband 725. This will be my next step tonight. Because if I have WCDMA850 in 725 bb then I would assume that phone CAN handle it but it's disabled somehow.
What do you think?
I just thought that for manufacture like LG is easier to make just one universal phone and then limit available bands using software (or firmware)...
Thanks for ideas!!!
You'll find the (non-functioning) 850 band on European basebands as well.
I'm no electronics engineer, but I think there's more involved in supporting a specific frequency than just the baseband. (I think each frequency needs some kind of dedicated amplifier among other things.) The chip itself is capable of supporting 850 I think, but not the rest of the "supporting" electronics. I may be completely wrong though.
Basically the P990h is the revision which enables the 850 band. I think trying to get it to work on the regular P990 is futile, but you're of course free to try anything you want.
If I remember rightly, in the O2X review by Aandtech, they say that the 850 option is there in software but not there in hardware (on European version). So even though you can select it, it won't work. (At least that's according to the initial review)
Hi all,
I was wondering whether there would be any way to flash a custom modem or a ROM that would unlock the LTE bands so that the Vivid can access HSPA on Tmobile's network?
From what Ive read, the AT&T GS2 Skyrocket and the AT&T Galaxy Note have been unlocked through this method and Im not sure why the Vivid cant be since it shares much of the same specs between it and the Skyrocket & G-Note
Thanks
dante58 said:
Hi all,
I was wondering whether there would be any way to flash a custom modem or a ROM that would unlock the LTE bands so that the Vivid can access HSPA on Tmobile's network?
From what Ive read, the AT&T GS2 Skyrocket and the AT&T Galaxy Note have been unlocked through this method and Im not sure why the Vivid cant be since it shares much of the same specs between it and the Skyrocket & G-Note
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No that isn't possible, tmobile and att have different bands. I know that you could use a sim card on the vivid, but you wouldn't get the same speed.
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
IIRC you can use a T-Mobile phone on ATT and get 2G but can't use ATT on TMO.
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using XDA
doktor buknasty said:
No that isn't possible, tmobile and att have different bands. I know that you could use a sim card on the vivid, but you wouldn't get the same speed.
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The LTE band can be used on Tmobile to get 4G download speeds. As visible here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1507825
OP is asking if this is possible for the Vivid, need a Tmobile radio to flash. Would be great if someone could work on it.
twolves14 said:
The LTE band can be used on Tmobile to get 4G download speeds. As visible here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1507825
OP is asking if this is possible for the Vivid, need a Tmobile radio to flash. Would be great if someone could work on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. The LTE Band will never work on T-Mobile's GSM. What allows the Note and Skyrocket to work is that they have the pentaband hardware GSM modem and flashing a different software modem enables access to those frequencies on GSM.
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
dante58 said:
I was wondering whether there would be any way to flash a custom modem or a ROM that would unlock the LTE bands so that the Vivid can access HSPA on Tmobile's network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
twolves14 said:
The LTE band can be used on Tmobile to get 4G download speeds. As visible here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1507825
OP is asking if this is possible for the Vivid, need a Tmobile radio to flash. Would be great if someone could work on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh yeah, it's going to be hard to get the LTE bands on the LTE radio on the phone to pick up UMTS/HSPA signal.
There's a reason why phones are usually advertised like:
GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900MHz
UMTS/HSPA 850/1900/2100MHz
LTE AWS700MHz
They kiiiinda aren't interoperable. Note how you can't connect to UMTS 900MHz or use a Telstra LTE phone and get 1800MHz 2G service if the phone doesn't have that band in its 2G spectrum.
I remember reading about the pentaband radios having UMTS/HSPA 850/900/1700/1900/2100MHz. That's still pretty different than your standard quad-band GSM radio.
It is absolutely possible...given that the specs on GSM Arena and Phonescoop are right...
700 MHz Class 17, 1700/2100 MHz
It has the correct pair for Tmobile.
The only thing is whether or not you can flash the radio with a Tmobile equivalent (Amaze?) radio.
What happened to all the hardware hackers on this forum? It seems as if no one knows ANYthing about the interworkings of a network anymore.
Anyhow, the phone having the bands and knowing what to do with them are 2 different things. For example. Stereo FM 101.9 Mhz vs. HD(Digital)-FM 101.9...they're both on the same band/frequency but are utilized differently...
The signals are still transmitted on the same frequency, however the radio itself doesn't know how to decode/interpret the HD (Digital) signal...unless it is told how to do so.
The only place that this analogy differs is when it comes to actual comparison of FM receivers and Cellular phones. With FM receivers it actually requires a decoder to understand the digital signal being broadcasted...Cellular however just needs to be flashed and voila, you've got HSPA...
So. Yes. It is %100 possible.
NO NO NO NO.
LTE bands do NOT equal GSM. Not going to happen. They are physically different receivers for lack of a better phrase. There is no way to do this without physically changing hardware. Also, you realize T-Mobile's "1700" frequency does not actually mean 1700 on the dot. They use a different subset of actual radio bands than AT&T's 1700 LTE. As in 1721-1727 or some such vs 1781-1793 or something. I don't know the actual frequencies, but you get the drift.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
It is absolutely possible. No question about it.
Then do it. For one, there is no compatible modem to flash. Two, it isn't possible.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Hand is hitting my face so hard right now.
RavenII, if it's so possible, then why don't you do it? If you can't, give a large donation to one of our developers and tell them to do it.
I, and many others here are blatantly telling you it's not possible for clear reasons.
The Galaxy Nexus has a PENTABAND UMTS/HSPA "3G" radio. 850/900/1700/1900/2100. That's why it can access TMobile's 3G and faux-G. We here, on the HTC Holiday, have a tri-band 3G radio.
DIRECTLY from your sources at GSM ARENA and PHONESCOOP. I've added HTC.com for good measure:
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100
4G Network LTE 700 MHz Class 17 / 1700 / 2100
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
LTE 700 / 1700
WCDMA 850 / 1900 / 2100
LTE (AWS/700), HSPA+/UMTS Tri-band (850/1900/2100MHz), and tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900MHz)
What? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you over the fact that "3G network/WCDMA/HSPA+/UMTS" doesn't have 1700MHz. Oh wait, I couldn't hear you over the fact that TMobile's faux-G is not based on LTE, nor is it 4G (big hint: it's 3G HSPA-based service ).
GSM Arena and Phonescoop also do not account for the of LTE bands supported by the Vivid. Each region of the Holiday pretty much only supports the LTE band in that region. Rogers and ATT only supports AWS700, Telstra only supports 1800, etc.
I'm glad I'm not the only one to retain my senses about this. Leave it to a fellow Saab fan to explain it correctly.
Sent from my Lumia 900 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Ok...I really didn't want to do this since I HATE spoon feeding people on forums...but here goes. And try to keep up because I'm only going to dumb it down so much.
What you guys are mistaking for "Bands"...really ARE NOT BANDS....there is NO SUCH THING as an LTE band...or HSPA+ band...
There are Network types ...LTE, HSPA+, -Insert other modulation/channeling scheme here-, etc.
There are Frequencies (which are actually specific ranges but for the sake of confusion, they're referred to as the following 700, 800, 850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100...etc.) By the way...all those frequencies fall under the UHF band...
So far we've established that there are Network types...and different frequencies...are you still with me? Any questions?
Ok, onward.
There exists something called an SDR or Software Defined Rado...it has the ability to receive and transmit on certain frequencies...It's the software that defines how much of that frequency to use per channel (1Mhz, 25khz, etc.), what range of frequencies to use, how to use them, how much power to use while transmitting, among MANY other things (what frequency to send on, which to receive on, etc.)...That's how they came up with "Software defined radio"
If you look at the Product Brief for the MSM8X60/APQ8060 you should notice all of the frequencies that these specific chips support...
I really don't want to lose you guys, still following?
You might notice that the APQ8060 doesn't have a WWAN modem...but what does THAT mean? It means that it needs something like ohhhhh let's say the MDM9200...FINE! Here's one more spoon full
Reader to me: But RavenII...you're being a condescending ****, and we still don't know what the hell your point is...you're spewing all this **** like you're some know it all...
Me to Reader: There there grasshopper. I will get straight to it...
With all of the information I've given you...you should be able to see that when you see something like "LTE (AWS/700), HSPA+/UMTS Tri-band (850/1900/2100MHz), and tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900MHz)"...it means the radio is...
Being told to use LTE Standards (modulation, channeling, frequency steps, etc.) on AWS/700 (which if they're using AWS to signify Band IV...it would in turn mean 1700/2100), HSPA+/UMTS Standards on 850/1900/2100MHz...etc.
Still reading?
When I say that it is %100 possible...I'm saying that with software or "flashing the radio"...you can effectively change/tell what the chip should do (in this case either an MSM or MDM) with the frequencies it's capable of transmitting/receiving on. That's it.
Aus_Azn: I really hope you didn't leave a hand print on your face...
Thank you, good night.
One last thought: I never said that I would do it, I said that it's possible...
Here's the real simple way to explain it: it is theoretically possible to do but no one outside of HTC has the skill or proprietary code to do it.
So for all intents and purposes, impossible. It will not now nor ever happen.
Also, while the chip may support all bands from the factory that initially fabricated the chip, it may be locked at a firmware level (not a software radio, but actual ROM on the physical chip) that a software based radio cannot affect. This is why you can't just flash a T-Mobile software radio on another AT&T s-off device and have it work. The physical chip itself DOES NOT SUPPORT THE FREQUENCY NEEDED due to changed firmware configuration.
Is that condescending enough for you?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Let's see, how can I put this...You're still wrong. It's still possible.
I don't even own a Vivid so I'm no longer going to post to this thread...but I will tell you this...everyone once told me that blackberrys could not have data without having the BIS (Blackberry specific plan)...and guess what. I'M the reason that people are hacking them away. I was the first one to figure it out and prove everyone wrong. While I don't have a phone that I need to convert for T-Mobile, you can bet, that once there's a phone that I want to use on T-Mobile's network...I'll more than likely find a way.
Farewell.
@totally off topic
RavenII I think you're going on the right track here. I'm already convinced by what your saying.
peaceout
What RavenII is saying does have a good base logically because it has been done before for a very similar set of hardware to the raider. The ATT Galaxy S2 Skyrocket and the ATT Note LTE are both phones featuring very similar processor and modem as the Raider. The APQ8060 and MDM9200 (i think).
Samsung released devices with this modem running on all sorts of bands 1700, 850, 1900, 2100 and even LTE on 1700 and 700.
The ATT Versions of the devices do not feature UMTS in AWS range however people have simply flashed the modem from the T-Mobile version of the device which doesn't have LTE and the ATT LTE devices actually started working on UMTS AWS bands. Various modems give various degrees of success but it is possible and has been confirmed many many times over.
Here is the thread for the ATT Skyrocket. You will find people doing the same thing on ATT Galaxy Note LTE.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1507825
You guys are funny, now I can't wait to get my Vivid which I just received today running on T-Mobiles "4g". The funny thing about this is when i very first started reading this thread and saw Mr. buknastys' reply, I was thinking "That is absolutely not true". Now I'm not going to go into detail or try and prove any points, as Raven has done a perfectly fine job proving his point and answering the OPs question. Bottom line; the two readers are absolutely wrong and Raven is absolutely right. Also one last thing, I love how suddenly a firmware "lock" is something of an obstacle, yet we have gained S-Off on nearly every HTC bootloader out there. Just sayin..
motoxxx138 said:
You guys are funny, now I can't wait to get my Vivid which I just received today running on T-Mobiles "4g". The funny thing about this is when i very first started reading this thread and saw Mr. buknastys' reply, I was thinking "That is absolutely not true". Now I'm not going to go into detail or try and prove any points, as Raven has done a perfectly fine job proving his point and answering the OPs question. Bottom line; the two readers are absolutely wrong and Raven is absolutely right. Also one last thing, I love how suddenly a firmware "lock" is something of an obstacle, yet we have gained S-Off on nearly every HTC bootloader out there. Just sayin..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really didn't mean to come off as a **** in this thread, but it seems as if though people have forgotten about actual hacking and everything has moved to "Supercharging" and theming...it's saddening, I come from a time where there was no such thing as impossible.
...I encourage you to try, but do so with a lot of caution...because the fact of the matter is...you can brick your device...
Happy hacking.
THANK YOU!!!
RavenII said:
I really didn't mean to come off as a **** in this thread, but it seems as if though people have forgotten about actual hacking and everything has moved to "Supercharging" and theming...it's saddening, I come from a time where there was no such thing as impossible.
...I encourage you to try, but do so with a lot of caution...because the fact of the matter is...you can brick your device...
Happy hacking.
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I would just like to say thank you to Raven as I now have a AT&T Vivid and have successfully placed it on the T-mobile 3G network working 100% of the time. I will be putting together a full tutorial on how to do this shortly as it was indeed a challenge. I have been reading these forums for awhile and Raven your post has by far been one of the most beneficial and inspiring ones...thanks for sticking it out on these forums...few do these days. I actually just joined this forum after months of reading because of this post. I figure i too will provide feedback. I am actually a Tech Manager w/ Sprint. I work on these things everyday in other words....hints why I actually have a T-mobile phone lol. Not saying T-mobile is the best but you at least get exactly what you pay for and they are honest about coverage haha. Anyways..back on topic...the HTC Vivid is an interesting phone to root even and get the S-off. It is needed in order to get the sim unlocked. You have to do a combo of the rooting kit "Vivid_All_in_One_kit_v2.2" posted on another section and the "ControlBearRelease_holiday_ICS_WIN" (if your running Win 7). After you do what they call the "wire trick" (basically short the sim reader temporarily to allow temp access to flash) you can get the sim lock off. After that it is simple trial and error with modem flashes from various tmobile devices onto the HTC Vivid to get the 3G up and going. Mine actually kicked on with the AT&T radio flashed at first but I only had coverage in certain areas. Basicly it will depend alot on your local towers. Believe it or not...ALL CELL TOWERS ARE LEASED FROM VARIOUS COMPANIES LIKE SONY ERICSON WHICH MAINTAIN THEM ALL ALMOST!!...therefore it is very dependent on the towers in your area which radios are likely to work if not the stock modem on the device. It depends on what lease and roaming agreements are in place in your region....again...I WORK ON PHONES EVERYDAY FOR SPRINT...know a little about all that stuff...trust me...i have people yelling everyday about not having this or that when most of it is the carrier hasnt signed an agreement with Kyocera or whom ever to support that device or the lease contract has expired and will be resigned in a few days....bottom line is ....if the phone has a radio chipset that supports multibands and frequencies it is almost always possible to do what ever you would like with it. As far as firmware lock....too funny...those do not work on Android devices as the chipsets were intentionally designed to be unviersal to all carriers to cut manufacturing costs...much like in automotives where Mazdas and Fords use the same parts...just a reference. Anywho....It really is possible...it just takes research and a TON of time sometimes but that is the point of hacking....most would have said the Xbox Kinect wouldnt have been able to been hacked or the Wii remote seeing as both those use internal chips that range in the thousands if sold for other purposes. Long story short....happy hacking and Thanks to all of you for a great discussion forum.