• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

LTE on $30 Plan

rs98

Well-Known Member
Dec 19, 2012
220
15
CT
Right now I am on Virgin Mobile with an Evo V, but I would really like to switch to T-Mobile on its $30 per month prepaid plan with 100 minutes and 5 GB of data. Does anyone know if this plan allows T-Mobile's new LTE when it becomes live? I would be getting an unlocked Nexus 5 or whatever the next Nexus is when it comes out.
 
This is good news. I do hope the next Nexus has an LTE radio that is accessible without hacking. And oddly, I used Sensorly and it seems fairly inaccurate in my area. I use Sprint 4G Wimax which does not show up, and neither does T-Mobile LTE. But I doubt there is LTE here in Farmington CT as the only densely populated place around here is Hartford.
 
Upvote 0
This is good news. I do hope the next Nexus has an LTE radio that is accessible without hacking. And oddly, I used Sensorly and it seems fairly inaccurate in my area. I use Sprint 4G Wimax which does not show up, and neither does T-Mobile LTE. But I doubt there is LTE here in Farmington CT as the only densely populated place around here is Hartford.
Sensorly is user involved mapping of these networks, so if users in your area do not use sensorly then they will not have any record of it.

hartford should have tmo lte but I am not sure on that.
 
Upvote 0
I am not sure if LTE has officially launched in my area as I have an unlocked AT&T Note. But, I have been watching for it.

So if i get an At&t phone that has lte and unlock it myself (or buy it unlocked :rolleyes:) it can use lte on t-mobile?

I thought AT&T and T-Mobile had different bands for lte?

PS. Hey tube if you still have an Amaze you should check out the development section on xda, I made a rom. :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: tube517
Upvote 0
So if i get an At&t phone that has lte and unlock it myself (or buy it unlocked :rolleyes:) it can use lte on t-mobile?

I thought AT&T and T-Mobile had different bands for lte?

PS. Hey tube if you still have an Amaze you should check out the development section on xda, I made a rom. :D

They do use different bands for their main lte deployment. AT&T is the 700 and T-Mobile the 1700. However in some areas, at&t has the 1700 deployed as lte and therefore to accommodate this, some of their phones support both frequencies.
 
Upvote 0
So if i get an At&t phone that has lte and unlock it myself (or buy it unlocked :rolleyes:) it can use lte on t-mobile?

I thought AT&T and T-Mobile had different bands for lte?

PS. Hey tube if you still have an Amaze you should check out the development section on xda, I made a rom. :D

They do use different bands for their main lte deployment. AT&T is the 700 and T-Mobile the 1700. However in some areas, at&t has the 1700 deployed as lte and therefore to accommodate this, some of their phones support both frequencies.

Yeah, when I unlocked my phone I put my TMO sim and I tested the speeds and Speedtest showed "LTE". The thing is, the phone was on Gingerbread and was not rooted. I rooted it right away and flashed a JB ROM and never looked back. I am wondering if it was reallly LTE or not.

Super, I still have my Amaze and I will check out your ROM :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: SuperAfnan
Upvote 0
Yeah, when I unlocked my phone I put my TMO sim and I tested the speeds and Speedtest showed "LTE". The thing is, the phone was on Gingerbread and was not rooted. I rooted it right away and flashed a JB ROM and never looked back. I am wondering if it was reallly LTE or not.

Super, I still have my Amaze and I will check out your ROM :D
Where are you I know LTE has rolled out in many places already.

Super I bought a AT&T Galaxy S3. It has all the frequencies needed, both WCDMA and LTE. However the WCDMA 1700/2100 is software locked, and so far it can only be unlocked until you reboot then it locks back up and the mod has to be done again, very annoying.

However it picks up LTE without doing anything to it.

The S3 will go to my wife on metro, with lte that is why I didnt get a tmo s3, too new to have used lte ones available. and they want to much for them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SuperAfnan
Upvote 0
Op
Where are you I know LTE has rolled out in many places already.

Super I bought a AT&T Galaxy S3. It has all the frequencies needed, both WCDMA and LTE. However the WCDMA 1700/2100 is software locked, and so far it can only be unlocked until you reboot then it locks back up and the mod has to be done again, very annoying.

However it picks up LTE without doing anything to it.

The S3 will go to my wife on metro, with lte that is why I didnt get a tmo s3, too new to have used lte ones available. and they want to much for them.

Ah nice.

So you mean the WCDMA has to be unlocked every time you reboot. And WCDMA is hspa/hspa+/hsdpa ? Sorry for being a noob at frequencies lol.

So AT&T gs3's have lte which does work on T-mobile when unlocked. And it has 700mhz and class 17 /2100 for lte, according to gsmarena.

I'm not sure what class 17 means though. Since you're in Jax like me at least I know that it has working lte lol.

Another question to people, is the 1700 band AWS and is the 1900 band UMTS? Because I have an Amaze unlocked and I think T-Mobile refarmed the frequencies.

If that is the case T-mobile has definitely refarmed Jacksonville to 1900 hspa+. :)

Thanks for the help guys.
 
Upvote 0
Where are you I know LTE has rolled out in many places already.

Super I bought a AT&T Galaxy S3. It has all the frequencies needed, both WCDMA and LTE. However the WCDMA 1700/2100 is software locked, and so far it can only be unlocked until you reboot then it locks back up and the mod has to be done again, very annoying.

However it picks up LTE without doing anything to it.

The S3 will go to my wife on metro, with lte that is why I didnt get a tmo s3, too new to have used lte ones available. and they want to much for them.

Virginia Beach, VA. However, since I rooted, I haven't seen the "LTE" notification in the SpeedTest app. I only see "cell"
 
Upvote 0
Op

Ah nice.

So you mean the WCDMA has to be unlocked every time you reboot. And WCDMA is hspa/hspa+/hsdpa ? Sorry for being a noob at frequencies lol.
WCDMA is the technology, and what they call umts which is also hspa.
So AT&T gs3's have lte which does work on T-mobile when unlocked. And it has 700mhz and class 17 /2100 for lte, according to gsmarena.
As soon as the sim is unlocked the phone works on both the refarmed towers (they run on 1900mhz) and LTE (running on 1700/2100) those frequencies are native to att as well which is why they work.
I'm not sure what class 17 means though. Since you're in Jax like me at least I know that it has working lte lol.
I am not sure what class 17 is, do you mean Band 17? if that is the case that would be the lte 700mhz that is native to att in most markets.
Another question to people, is the 1700 band AWS and is the 1900 band UMTS? Because I have an Amaze unlocked and I think T-Mobile refarmed the frequencies.
1700/2100 is called AWS 1900 is called PCS The UMTS is part of the technology.
And yes jax is refarmed though only in some areas, its difficult to roll it out across the entire city.

If that is the case T-mobile has definitely refarmed Jacksonville to 1900 hspa+. :)

Thanks for the help guys.
Also Since 1900 is only one frequency, unlike 1700/2100 it can only do half the speed, hspa 21 instead of hspa 42.
Virginia Beach, VA. However, since I rooted, I haven't seen the "LTE" notification in the SpeedTest app. I only see "cell"

Virginia Beach Va has LTE
I am fairly certain I spoke with you about your Note 1 before, the modem that you flashed from the tmo s2 does not have lte so lte was turned off.:(
 
Upvote 0
Also Since 1900 is only one frequency, unlike 1700/2100 it can only do half the speed, hspa 21 instead of hspa 42.


Virginia Beach Va has LTE
I am fairly certain I spoke with you about your Note 1 before, the modem that you flashed from the tmo s2 does not have lte so lte was turned off.:(

Yeah, we did post about it before. But, my current ROM is an AOSP ROM and I didn't flash any modems so I'm not sure what it would be. I'm getting good speeds but I'm not sure if it is LTE or HSPA+ when it says "Cell" in the Speedtest app
 
Upvote 0
Yeah, we did post about it before. But, my current ROM is an AOSP ROM and I didn't flash any modems so I'm not sure what it would be. I'm getting good speeds but I'm not sure if it is LTE or HSPA+ when it says "Cell" in the Speedtest app
the tmo modem you flashed before would be the one your still running on it will give you 1700/2100 hspa, if you were still on att modem you would only get 1900 hspa but you would see lte.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tube517
Upvote 0
I'm on an AOSP rom not a stock ROM. I reflashed the AT&T modem and only see HSPA.

I'm going to try and restore a nandroid of a stock AT&T rom.
When you are back on stock check the menu *#0011#, and also *#2263#
see the first will tell you what band your currently using, Band 4 is 1700/2100
Band 2 is 1900

the second will allow you to select bands, see if lte is band 4 is selectable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tube517
Upvote 0
When you are back on stock check the menu *#0011#, and also *#2263#
see the first will tell you what band your currently using, Band 4 is 1700/2100
Band 2 is 1900

the second will allow you to select bands, see if lte is band 4 is selectable.

I flashed the stock ROM and it's showing LTE in SpeedTest. Band 4 is already showing. I will flash my speedtest screenshot later but looks good. I want to see if i get some higher data speeds when I go out later
 
Upvote 0
evuduvuv.jpg
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones