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So I'm certain you all have heard about the AT&T, Tmobile merger that's coming along. Assuming that it gets approved, I'll suddenly have 3g and 4g available in my area (finally!) since Tmobile is the only one that currently supports it in our area.
My question is - will the Captivate function on the T-mobile tower spectrum for 3g and 4g data?
Please research as the answer is no. The captivate does not have any bands that work on T-Mobile. The virbrant does have bands that work on att.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App
flashman2002 said:
Please research as the answer is no. The captivate does not have any bands that work on T-Mobile. The virbrant does have bands that work on att.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App
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How unfair! My boyfriend has the vibrant, and one of his coworkers has the new Galaxy 4g. Well, I hope they somehow tweak it so that the towers broadcast on the AT&T bands as well, else that will really stink, and provides no benefit for AT&T customers.
I saw something on Gizmodo saying that 3G phones with T-Mobile bands will no longer work on the new combined network after integration is complete. That leaves only AT&T 3G devices and whatever 4G LTE devices are around by then. So it sounds like towers will be broadcasting only AT&T frequencies.
My apologies if this information is inaccurate in any way.
Perception 10.2 | SpeedMod K13D | I9000ZSJPG
Ikonomi said:
I saw something on Gizmodo saying that 3G phones with T-Mobile bands will no longer work on the new combined network after integration is complete. That leaves only AT&T 3G devices and whatever 4G LTE devices are around by then. So it sounds like towers will be broadcasting only AT&T frequencies.
My apologies if this information is inaccurate in any way.
Perception 10.2 | SpeedMod K13D | I9000ZSJPG
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Click to collapse
Awesome for me! Sucks for my boyfriend! (though his vibrant can use AT&T frequencies if jailbroken, which he has not yet done)
jamina1 said:
How unfair! My boyfriend has the vibrant, and one of his coworkers has the new Galaxy 4g. Well, I hope they somehow tweak it so that the towers broadcast on the AT&T bands as well, else that will really stink, and provides no benefit for AT&T customers.
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Click to collapse
I should restate what I said. The phone will work. It just won't have 3G speeds if you are using data. The Vibrant however still works on AT&T 3G towers. I don't know how or if they will actually disable bands as mentioned in a previous posters link to Gizmodo. Sorry for not being more clear in my original post.
flashman2002 said:
I should restate what I said. The phone will work. It just won't have 3G speeds if you are using data. The Vibrant however still works on AT&T 3G towers. I don't know how or if they will actually disable bands as mentioned in a previous posters link to Gizmodo. Sorry for not being more clear in my original post.
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Click to collapse
I guess we'll just have to see - it makes sense that AT&T would convert the towers, just as they are currently they won't work. So either way in my case and my boyfriend's case we'll have to wait till our area is integrated and see what happens.
What about this?
http://www.howardforums.com/showthr...850mhz-and-1900mhz-bands-too.-Works-on-ATT-3g
This thread is from last year before we really had a lot of mods to our phones. So maybe more information has been discovered?
Now we are flashing international ROMs and such and swapping modems as we like.
It seems odd that the Vibrant would be able to work on the ATT 3G frequencies but the Captivate would have been manufactured differently. And the I9000? One would think it would be capable of all the bands?
I do have both ATT and TMO sim cards with data on both plans. However, I only get Edge in my Captivate with the TMO sim inserted.
Wow. This hasn't been hashed out 100 times.
Cappy has different radio HARDWARE. Vibrant will get certain Att 3G band but the chances of you having correct band is slim since its older and slower 3G.
Sent via my Continuum 5 Cappy.
Ok, I know this is an odd question but I am confident it can be answered here.
I want to buy another android phone, it needs to be something fairly recent that ATT still stocks at least online if not at the stores so I can use an upgrade.
And I want to be able to also use the TMO 3G system/frequencies with it.
I know the unlocked Captivate won't work on the TMO 3G system but does anyone know if any other phones have the proper radios to support both ATT and TMO frequencies when I swap out the sim card?
Just to reply to my own thread, after an hour or so of searching its looking like ATT phones currently available do not have the required 1700hz band that is needed for TMO 3G speeds.
I am hopingIi am wrong here and that someone knows otherwise.
I did find a few references to some TMO phones working on ATT bands but those obviously wont help me if I am trying to use an upgrade discount.
I was only searching current ATT phones so if someone knows of an older version let me know too.
Well I would recommend finding more concrete evidence on what freq Tmo has in your area and try this before buying but for example (acording to phonearena) Tmobile's Galaxy S 2 runs GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 same as ATT"s Galaxy S 2 (not skyrocket). TMO's Galaxy S runs UMTS 1700/2100, 2100 mhz. ATT's Galaxy S 2 (not skyrocket) runs umts 850, 1900, 2100 mhz. Meaning its possible to get edge, 3g and HSPA+ on att's Galaxy S 2 (not skyrocket) on Tmo. But That would depend on your area and how Tmo uses the different freq.
Edit: Its just an example but you can check more phones to see if any of them have overlapping frequencies.
So maybe there is hope.
I was under the impression that TMO needed 1700/2100 for 3G in my area as one was an upload and the other a download frequency.
What I did was pull up all the Android ATT phones I was currently eligible for and then typed the name into the xda search bar followed by 'tmobile'. That would usually take me to a thread in which someone was asking if that phone would also work on TMO 3G and it was invariably replied that they would only work on Edge with a TMO sim card.
I didnt check the GS2 or the Skyrocket though. I will do that today. Thanks for the reply. I knew there would be xda members out there that would have a better idea than me of how to find out.
I will do you a favor and check both of my gs2's with my wife's T-Mobile sim tonight.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727
Pirateghost said:
I will do you a favor and check both of my gs2's with my wife's T-Mobile sim tonight.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727
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Cool! Thank you.
A bit more research on xda says that there are some TMO phones ( Defy and Amaze 4G ) that work on the ATT 3G bands. That doesn't really help me much though. LOL.
FireRaider said:
Cool! Thank you.
A bit more research on xda says that there are some TMO phones ( Defy and Amaze 4G ) that work on the ATT 3G bands. That doesn't really help me much though. LOL.
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i wouldnt put much hope into it. you might get lucky in that the skyrocket works on TMo, but its doubtful. i have never seen an AT&T phone work on Tmo's 3g
Pirateghost said:
i wouldnt put much hope into it. you might get lucky in that the skyrocket works on TMo, but its doubtful. i have never seen an AT&T phone work on Tmo's 3g
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Click to collapse
Skyrocket won't work. It doesn't have UMTS 2100 (Skyrocket runs on 850, 1900). The "Attain" (none lte) might because it has 2100.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1299211
This thread says we are out off luck on this quest.
What I said. It might depending on the area. If where the OP lives Tmo uses the UMTS 2100mhz then he is lucky else he is SOL.
Edit: after finishing reading IF the phone uses 1700 for dl and 2100 for ul then ya tough luck D=
Currently running a ICS rom on my Galaxy S i9000
Bell canada is getting way to greedy... so i was thinking to switch over to
http://windmobile.ca/en/Pages/default.aspx
unlimited everything... 40$ (i live in Toronto)
question is can i get the Galaxy S to work on the Wind Mobile network?
and does anyone have experience with wind mobile?
*Text Removed
currently using JVO
if flashing a new modem is all i have to do ill be cancelling my contract today!
thanks for the quick reply...
i see you are with bell are you happy with em?
I'm actually with Virgin, same network as Bell but much cheaper. You could check out what they have on offer.
So I checked online, Wind uses UMTS band 4 (1700mhz) while Bell uses Band 5.
I switched over to Wind about a week ago ($29 unlimited talk/text/data) and I can assure you that your Bell Vibrant I9000m will not work on Wind's network (I tried with my Wind SIM card). The frequency bands that Wind uses (AWS 1700/2100) are not compatible with the Bell Vibrant I9000m handset. If you had a T-Mobile Vibrant I9000m however, then it's possible to have it work with Wind's network, but definitely not if you have the Bell SGS.
adslee said:
I switched over to Wind about a week ago ($29 unlimited talk/text/data) and I can assure you that your Bell Vibrant I9000m will not work on Wind's network (I tried with my Wind SIM card). The frequency bands that Wind uses (AWS 1700/2100) are not compatible with the Bell Vibrant I9000m handset. If you had a T-Mobile Vibrant I9000m however, then it's possible to have it work with Wind's network, but definitely not if you have the Bell SGS.
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Whoops. hopefully tb5 dodged a bullet there.
Thanks for the info!
@snehasish
yea went into the Wind Mobile store today and tried to put 2 sim cards in, a screen came up 'sim pin lock code' for both i dismissed that screen but the phone didn't work.
had the jvo modem running Onecosmic's ICS Port Android 4.0.3 RC2.1
@adslee
that's pretty disappointing... i had high hopes guess ill have to sell it, or get bell to give me a 40$ unlimited everything plan...
Wind uses AWS and that's why it doesn't work. Our phones are GSM quad band.
Did you take a look at what plans Virgin has?
flash a bell modem.. or... in your dialer type, *#2263#* and under multi band make sure 850 is selected... also you will need Wind mobile APN... furthermore...your phone has to be UNLOCKED to use another SIM card...
wow, so much misinformation!
as mentioned before, you can NOT use bell's i9000m on the wind/mobilicity home network.
for UMTS (aka 3G, 3G+, or whatever they are calling it now)
wind/molicity/t-mobile uses 1700/2100 mhz
big 3:telus, rogers, bell (including it's child company, virgin) and att uses 850/1900 mhz
yes, "our phones are GSM quad band" (aka 2G, edge...).
in canada, only rogers has 2G towers. wind uses this rogers 2G for roaming, so yes, you can use your bell i9000m with wind... but only for roaming on 2G.
and no, you can not just "flash a different" modem to make this work.
and no, wind does not use CDMA.
thus, short answer, don't use bell's i9000m on wind.
yea currently looking to buy out a T-mobile device...
on GSM ARENA filtered out 1700 / 2100 mhz phones.
just need to sell my galaxy s as most phone will be $500+
tb5... said:
yea currently looking to buy out a T-mobile device...
on GSM ARENA filtered out 1700 / 2100 mhz phones.
just need to sell my galaxy s as most phone will be $500+
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Click to collapse
you can try looking for "t959" (t-mobile version of galaxy s) on ebay. I see quite a few used ones around $200 + ~$20 shipping (Canada), which is probably around the same amount that you'll be able to sell your i9000m for.
Good luck.
yea i saw that might move up to the SGS2 since i have to sell this phone.
Hi all, I am having trouble getting my unlocked note that I bought from amazon working on my Cincinnati bell network. I have voice but after searching the internet I tried a few different apn settings but can only seem to get the 2g edge network and not 3g let alone 4g. Any help would be greatly appreciated
i believe 2g is all you will get. cincinnati bell runs 1700/2100 3/4g and your note uses 850/1900. same problem as tmobile usa except the few western states using the 1900 for 3/4g.....
Jesus, how can a country that influent be so totally retarded when it comes to getting a mobile phone to work across the entire country? There's like a million standards and not even the same within a single operator. Get with the times - heard about GSM/WCDMA you know that the rest of the entire would uses?
Sent from my superior GT-N7000 using Tapatalk
Thanks, I heard T-Mobile runs the same network as Cincinnati Bell, would their galaxy s II work then?
tmous branded "should" work.. uses the same freq...
You can get more than 2G. CB has their own 3G network but you have to go to the store and upgrade your SIM card
RandoTheKing said:
You can get more than 2G. CB has their own 3G network but you have to go to the store and upgrade your SIM card
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Click to collapse
That does not seem to be the point here... The point is that it seems Cincinnati Bell uses frequencies that are NOT compatible with the N7000 being the 1700/2100 band as opposed to the 850/1900 band that the N7000 uses.
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.