Hello,
I was wondering that now with root and BL unlock, is it possible to enable more bands to work with AT&T LTE? I enjoy the Turbo and having H+ only isn't exactly a deal breaker, but LTE would be nice to have yet. Any help appreciated!
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
mustafu said:
Hello,
I was wondering that now with root and BL unlock, is it possible to enable more bands to work with AT&T LTE? I enjoy the Turbo and having H+ only isn't exactly a deal breaker, but LTE would be nice to have yet. Any help appreciated!
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
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Unless the Droid Turbo XT1254 has the AT&T LTE bands, there's no way to "enable" them.
Besides the Turbo already works on almost any carrier, you just have to edit the APN settings for your network.
Latiken said:
Unless the Droid Turbo XT1254 has the AT&T LTE bands, there's no way to "enable" them.
Besides the Turbo already works on almost any carrier, you just have to edit the APN settings for your network.
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Thank you. I was under the impression that the bands were present, just not enabled or something. But the bands just simply aren't there.
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mustafu said:
Thank you. I was under the impression that the bands were present, just not enabled or something. But the bands just simply aren't there.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
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That's unfortunate. If you can, you could buy the US Moto Maxx, I'm sure that one has the LTE bands.
Latiken said:
Unless the Droid Turbo XT1254 has the AT&T LTE bands, there's no way to "enable" them.
Besides the Turbo already works on almost any carrier, you just have to edit the APN settings for your network.
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Click to collapse
Latiken said:
That's unfortunate. If you can, you could buy the US Moto Maxx, I'm sure that one has the LTE bands.
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The Droid Turbo XT1254/U.S. Moto Maxx XT1250 (same identical device, same FCC ID) does not have all the AT&T bands. AT&T uses LTE bands 2, 4, 5, 17.
Only the "international" Moto Maxx XT1225 & Moto Turbo XT1225 has all the AT&T bands. The XT1225 has a different FCC ID from the XT1254/XT1250 -- has no CDMA bands, but has more HSPA bands, and a different mix of LTE bands (bands 5 and 7, but no band 13). The radios between the XT1250/XT1254 and the XT1225 are not compatible, so you cannot flash one over the other.
You CAN use the Droid Turbo/U.S. Moto Maxx on AT&T, but you will not have LTE bands 5 and 17. Here in the Atlanta area, LTE band 17 is used extensively. You would only have LTE bands 2 & 4. For AT&T, you would be missing LTE bands 5 & 17. Which means you would drop down to HSPA (3G) in those areas where 2 & 4 were not available. In metro Atlanta, if I had the Droid Turbo on AT&T I would be on LTE band 2 half the time (north of Atlanta) and HSPA the rest of the time (in Atlanta, and south), since it doesn't have LTE band 17.
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All the Quarks share LTE bands 2, 3, 4, and 7. In the FCC letter it only mentions they share LTE bands 2 & 4, because no U.S. carriers use LTE bands 3 & 7, and the FCC is a U.S. regulatory agency.
Can you "enable" LTE bands 5 & 17 on the XT1254/XT1250?
Conversely, can you enable LTE band 13 on the XT1225?
Theoretically you could, since another Quark model has them... but realistically probably not. Samsung, One Plus, and others manufacturers disable bands not needed on their phones for various regions/carriers -- and by rooting and using modem software (ike QPST/QXDM) people have been able to "enable" additional LTE bands in various Snapdragon phones. The Galaxy S5 in Europe has the bands needed there, and the Galaxy S5 in Latin America has the bands needed there. The bands not needed are disabled via software interface, and by editing that people have been able to create "world" phones with all bands enabled! (Google it.)
The difference in Nexus phones is those bands are NOT disabled.
But that only works if the bands were there to begin with, then disabled by the manufacturer. People have tried to add LTE band 20 (used in Europe) to the Moto XT1225 and were not successful. It would show it was enabled but they could not receive/send any signal on that band. The issue is no Quarks anywhere have LTE band 20, so there's not really an LTE band 20 that can be enabled. Like turning on a light switch that's not connected to anything.
HOWEVER, theoretically, since one variant of Quark has LTE band 13 and the other doesn't, and other variant has LTE band 5 & 17 and the other doesn't, you could create a Quark that had ALL the bands between the two: 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 13, 17.. But it would depend on if Motorola/Lenovo manufacturer is similar process to Samsung and One Plus. Are all those bands there and they just disable what they don't want? Or do they use completely separate radio firmware for both variants?
I don't have the time or patience to go looking for bands I don't need. I did all the band enabling stuff earlier before Motorola admitted the XT1225 had LTE band 5 already.
This is a screenshot of the "3G" bands in QPST. There's similar interface for the LTE bands. But it was a LOT of hassle, and then I found out the XT1225 already had LTE band 5. It was in the FCC tests, but not in the official specs when first released. Only MONTHS later when the XT1225 was released in India (under the Moto Turbo name) did Motorola finally put LTE band 5 in the specs.
Thanks! That was very informative. I'm ok with HSPA+, which I get 90% of the time and LTE the other 10. The Verizon XT1254 even has a proper "H+" icon, I had read previously it says "3G"
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
At least you'll be saving a lot of battery life with this beast of a phone.
Latiken said:
At least you'll be saving a lot of battery life with this beast of a phone.
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Is HSPA+ more battery efficient than LTE I wonder? It's of no consequence since it takes a fair bit of effort to kill the battery in a Turbo, but still curious
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mustafu said:
Is HSPA+ more battery efficient than LTE I wonder? It's of no consequence since it takes a fair bit of effort to kill the battery in a Turbo, but still curious
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
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I think it is, since it's basically just 3G right? I do know that LTE sips your battery like nothing else though.
I ordered the XT1250 on a whim and was apparently confused on what would and wouldn't work. So after reading this and reading some failures others had in enabling band 17, is it safe to assume that I should probably send it back since I won't have good LTE coverage on LTE (especially if I am moving to Atlanta for grad school at GT next semester)? I bought it when I saw the initial xt1225 vs xt1250 vs xt1254 guide that said the 1250 worked with ATT LTE. So it only works with ATT LTE in some areas?
willwalk93 said:
I ordered the XT1250 on a whim and was apparently confused on what would and wouldn't work. So after reading this and reading some failures others had in enabling band 17, is it safe to assume that I should probably send it back since I won't have good LTE coverage on LTE (especially if I am moving to Atlanta for grad school at GT next semester)? I bought it when I saw the initial xt1225 vs xt1250 vs xt1254 guide that said the 1250 worked with ATT LTE. So it only works with ATT LTE in some areas?
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You won't get LTE band 17 on the XT1250 U.S. Moto Maxx (XT1254 Droid Turbo under another name).
I have AT&T, live in metro Atlanta area and use LTE band 17 quite a bit.
I'm in downtown Atlanta right now at work, and I'm on LTE band 17. North of Atlanta, in the suburbs where I live AT&T uses LTE band 2, and further north towards Chattanooga or west towards Alabama there's a lot of LTE band 4. Georgia Tech of course is smack in downtown Atlanta, so you would be there a lot more than me.
Here's my LTE Discovery log, so you can see.
However, you would still have connectivity on AT&T... You would get LTE bands 2 & 4 where those are available, but you would drop down to HSPA in areas where there was only LTE band 17. Nationwide, AT&T uses LTE bands 2, 4, 5, 17. But, in Georgia (and other states I've traveled) I have not encountered LTE band 5 yet.
The XT1250 and XT1254 are identical, down to the FCC ID. Same CDMA, HSPA, and LTE bands.
The XT1225 has a different FCC ID because it has different mix of LTE bands and greater number of LTE bands (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 17), more HSPA bands and no CDMA.
willwalk93 said:
I ordered the XT1250 on a whim and was apparently confused on what would and wouldn't work. So after reading this and reading some failures others had in enabling band 17, is it safe to assume that I should probably send it back since I won't have good LTE coverage on LTE (especially if I am moving to Atlanta for grad school at GT next semester)? I bought it when I saw the initial xt1225 vs xt1250 vs xt1254 guide that said the 1250 worked with ATT LTE. So it only works with ATT LTE in some areas?
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Hard to say...I'm just dealing with HSPA+, I average 5meg down and 1.5-2megs up, so it's adequate for most anything. Of course it pulls LTE some of the time also.
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Gotcha. Thanks guys. I was thinking since Motorola said the antennas were the same that I could enable band 17, but since that's not the case, I may send it back and save up for the xt1225 or the Moto X Force.
willwalk93 said:
Gotcha. Thanks guys. I was thinking since Motorola said the antennas were the same that I could enable band 17, but since that's not the case, I may send it back and save up for the xt1225 or the Moto X Force.
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But is it true that 17 can't be enabled? I'm still looking into this myself as I really don't have the means to get a different phone, at least not one on par with the Verizon Turbo.
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That's kind of what I was getting. I'm still a bit curious. I read in another thread @ChazzMatt said it would be theoretically possible since the Motorola FCC letter stated that they had the same hardware and antenna, but he did not recommend others trying it.
And yeah, I'm a college kid about to start grad school, so I don't have the means to purchase a new international flagship either. I know that if I get the phone and request the unlock code from Motorola, then my warranty is totally void. I'm used to that, I've unlocked and rooted every phone I've ever owned. So if ChazzMatt thinks bands 5 and 17 may actually be there, I'm willing to jump down that rabbit hole if I keep the phone.
EDIT: Also, having grown up in rural MS, 5 megs down is like lightning. My residence wasn't eligible for any internet service better than hughesnet until two months ago when UVerse became available.
willwalk93 said:
That's kind of what I was getting. I'm still a bit curious. I read in another thread @ChazzMatt said it would be theoretically possible since the Motorola FCC letter stated that they had the same hardware and antenna, but he did not recommend others trying it.
And yeah, I'm a college kid about to start grad school, so I don't have the means to purchase a new international flagship either. I know that if I get the phone and request the unlock code from Motorola, then my warranty is totally void. I'm used to that, I've unlocked and rooted every phone I've ever owned. So if ChazzMatt thinks bands 5 and 17 may actually be there, I'm willing to jump down that rabbit hole if I keep the phone.
EDIT: Also, having grown up in rural MS, 5 megs down is like lightning. My residence wasn't eligible for any internet service better than hughesnet until two months ago when UVerse became available.
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If you're willing to jump through the QPST, QXDM, LTE bands calculator and similar software hoops , you can try. But, if it doesn't work for you, don't blame me. Adding LTE bands 5 and 17 to the XT1250/XT1254 is more feasible than trying to add something like LTE band 20 (Europe) since at least another Quark (XT1225) does have them. Or adding LTE band 13 to the XT1225...since the XT1250/XT1254 has it. But I don't need LTE band 13, so I'm not concerned.
I did a crash course in all this last year, before Motorola finally admitted the XT1225 had LTE band 5. It was there in the FCC tests, but then was not listed in the official specs -- for some strange reason -- when the phone was sold in various Latin American countries. (I think Motorola originally was going to sell the XT1225 through AT&T, which is why it has ALL the AT&T LTE bands, then changed their plans.) Then, when the Moto Turbo XT1225, with the same FCC ID as the Moto Maxx XT1225 debuted in India, Motorola finally listed all the LTE bands.
(Two devices with the same FCC ID have identical communication properties, bands, etc. This is by law, due the American Disabilities Act. Handicapped people depend on this stuff and companies can be fined large amounts of money by the government, plus be liable for MILLIONS in lawsuits from eager lawyers. That was why when I found the XT1250 U.S. Moto Maxx and XT1254 Droid Turbo had the same FCC ID, all the arguments for Verizon "exclusivity" were over. Legally, technically, everything, they are the same device. Don't care if they have different Motorola model names or numbers.)
But I went through all this stuff to enable the "missing" LTE band 5, when it was already there!
By the way, when the FCC tests phones, they only test for bands used by U.S. carriers, which is why for instance LTE band 7 is not listed in the FCC test results, but is listed in the official XT1225 specs. It's a band used extensively in Latin America countries.
ChazzMatt said:
If you're willing to jump through the QPST, QXDM, LTE bands calculator and similar software hoops , you can try. But, if it doesn't work for you, don't blame me. Adding LTE bands 5 and 17 to the XT1250/XT1254 is more feasible than trying to add something like LTE band 20 (Europe) since at least another Quark (XT1225) does have them. Or adding LTE band 13 to the XT1225...since the XT1250/XT1254 has it. But I don't need LTE band 13, so I'm not concerned.
I did a crash course in all this last year, before Motorola finally admitted the XT1225 had LTE band 5. It was there in the FCC tests, but then was not listed in the official specs -- for some strange reason. (I think Motorola originally was going to sell the XT1225 through AT&T, which is why it has ALL the AT&T LTE bands.) Then, when the Moto Turbo XT1225, with the same FCC ID as the Moto Maxx XT1225 debuted in India, Motorola finally listed all the LTE bands.
But I went through all this stuff to enable the "missing" LTE band 5, when it was already there!
By the way, when the FCC tests phones, they only test for bands used by U.S. carriers, which is why for instance LTE band 7 is not listed in the FCC test results, but is listed in the official XT1225 specs. It's a band used extensively in Latin America countries.
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Oh, I certainly wouldn't blame you. You never claimed it would actually work, just that it was possible. I haven't read through all the nitty gritty details of the process yet, since I was on the fence about using it. But I do have three questions before I try it:
1) How long do you think it would take?
2) Would I need to repeat the process any time I flashed a new ROM?
3) Is the risk of failure limited more to the bands just not being there or actually hard bricking the phone?
If the process doesn't take a terribly long time and the phone comes in by Wednesday (which it should), I can try it before I head to Georgia Tech for a visit Thursday.
willwalk93 said:
Oh, I certainly wouldn't blame you. You never claimed it would actually work, just that it was possible. I haven't read through all the nitty gritty details of the process yet, since I was on the fence about using it. But I do have three questions before I try it:
1) How long do you think it would take?
2) Would I need to repeat the process any time I flashed a new ROM?
3) Is the risk of failure limited more to the bands just not being there or actually hard bricking the phone?
If the process doesn't take a terribly long time and the phone comes in by Wednesday (which it should), I can try it before I head to Georgia Tech for a visit Thursday.
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1. I wouldn't rush it
2. No, if successful, the changes would be permanent and persist between ROMs
3. Not sure, if you refer to answer 1 though, you should be alright
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Sweet. I may give it a shot. I'm rocking band 2 lte at my current location and back home, so worst case scenario, I don't get it. I'll let you know if I get it working. I'll have to get the phone and unlock the bootloader and all then familiarize myself with Motorola procedures since I'm used to HTC and Samsung.
willwalk93 said:
Sweet. I may give it a shot. I'm rocking band 2 lte at my current location and back home, so worst case scenario, I don't get it. I'll let you know if I get it working. I'll have to get the phone and unlock the bootloader and all then familiarize myself with Motorola procedures since I'm used to HTC and Samsung.
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Cool, I'm gonna do the same and I'll let ya know if I manage it also. I was looking around at alternative phone options, but honestly, my Turbo doesn't leave me wanting
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