LTE Compatibility Check

[kyledjlee707]

Hello Public Mobile Community,

I've been with Public Mobile for about a year now and my Galaxy S6 is woefully dying and I am looking to upgrade. I'd found a few prospective phones but thankfully realized that I should check LTE network compatibility with Public Mobile (Alberta) before I order anything. Correct me if I'm wrong please, I should be looking for a phone able to connect to FDD Band 4 such as this Xiaomi or this Huawei in order to ensure that LTE works? And am I correct in assuming that a phone such as this Honor, I should avoid since it doesn't have Band 4?

Appreciate the help, hope to hear back soon from some people!

[kyledjlee707]

@will13am wrote:

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@kyledjlee707 wrote:

Wow that was really helpful, thank you very much!

As for the phone, after you mentioned the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 I was super impressed by it and did a lot of research on it. I'm very tempted to grab it but I'm not a huge fan of Xiaomi's MIUI so I'd want to root and boot up a rom on it but it seems there's a recent issue with anti-rollback changes that may brick the phone - so I'm just going to do further research and check out more midrange phones and hopefully figure out if I should get the Note 5!

Thanks again!

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No problem.  The phone has official lineage OS support.  The only negative is Xiaomi requires a 360 hour cooling off period before they will let you unlock the bootloader.  It's kind of funny how they worded the warning on their bootloader unlock software.  I won't offer up the spoiler.  You can check it out for yourself when you get one.  Make sure you attempt the bootloader unlock right away to start the 360 hour countdown clock.  Xiaomi has added an extra layer of protection on firmware anti roll back.  If you roll back firmware, the phone will soft brick and require Xiaomi approval to unlock.  There's no need to fear anything when using quality roms like lineage.  They don't package OEM firmware inside their OS.  So anti rollback is never a concern.

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Apologies, forgot to press reply. If you could check out my previous post that would be awesome!

[kyledjlee707]

Ah that's good to hear. I was thinking of loading up either Lineage OS or Pixel Experience to replace MIUI. The 360hour cooldown period is a serious bummer but it is what it is.

I realize that this has digressed from the original question - but could I ask a little about the new Anti-Rollback bricking issue? What exactly would I need to (hypothetically) do to cause the phone to brick? Because my plan is to order the phone, receive it, immediately initiate the unlock process to begin the 360hour counter (continue to use my current phone until I can actually unlock), and once unlocked flash my chosen custom ROM on. I am hoping that as long as I follow the steps correctly I will not be at any risk of bricking?

And lastly, I apologize! Could you reference me to a possible step-by-step guide you followed for unlocking/TWRP/customrom?

Thanks again!

[will13am]

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@kyledjlee707 wrote:

Wow that was really helpful, thank you very much!

As for the phone, after you mentioned the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 I was super impressed by it and did a lot of research on it. I'm very tempted to grab it but I'm not a huge fan of Xiaomi's MIUI so I'd want to root and boot up a rom on it but it seems there's a recent issue with anti-rollback changes that may brick the phone - so I'm just going to do further research and check out more midrange phones and hopefully figure out if I should get the Note 5!

Thanks again!

---

No problem.  The phone has official lineage OS support.  The only negative is Xiaomi requires a 360 hour cooling off period before they will let you unlock the bootloader.  It's kind of funny how they worded the warning on their bootloader unlock software.  I won't offer up the spoiler.  You can check it out for yourself when you get one.  Make sure you attempt the bootloader unlock right away to start the 360 hour countdown clock.  Xiaomi has added an extra layer of protection on firmware anti roll back.  If you roll back firmware, the phone will soft brick and require Xiaomi approval to unlock.  There's no need to fear anything when using quality roms like lineage.  They don't package OEM firmware inside their OS.  So anti rollback is never a concern.

[kyledjlee707]

Wow that was really helpful, thank you very much!

As for the phone, after you mentioned the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 I was super impressed by it and did a lot of research on it. I'm very tempted to grab it but I'm not a huge fan of Xiaomi's MIUI so I'd want to root and boot up a rom on it but it seems there's a recent issue with anti-rollback changes that may brick the phone - so I'm just going to do further research and check out more midrange phones and hopefully figure out if I should get the Note 5!

Thanks again!

[will13am · Accepted solution]

@kyledjlee707, you are spot on with your assessments of the phones you mentioned.  Having said that, more and more band 4 is not the only game in town as far as LTE bands go.  All the major carriers are repurposing 3G spectrum for LTE service.  That makes band 2 and 5 available as well.  Also, the 700 Mhz auction has made bands 12,13, 17, 29 available for LTE.  Band 7 is the lesser known LTE band.  I find that frequencycheck is a good complement to willmyphonework.  It too is not perfect.

https://www.frequencycheck.com/carriers/telus-canada

In terms of phone choices, your selections are flagships.  Have you considered a mid range phone with a 6 series snapdragon CPU.  I bought this for a friend and I had a chance to test drive it for a couple of weeks.  I have to say for $250 all inclusive, it has to be one of the buys of the year.  It has 3 compatible LTE bands 4, 5, 7.  Interestingly, in the GTA I am connecting to band 5 more than band 4.  Band 7 is quite prevalent as well.  This model is M1803E7SG, global model, not to be mistaken for global rom.  Amazon.ca sells a M1803E7SH (Taiwan model) which adds band 2 LTE.  It is about $100 more.  That is too much to pay for one extra band.

On a side note, Xiaomi is pretty good with software support.  The phone is fully up to date with July android O security patch applied. 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Global-Version-Xiaomi-Redmi-Note-5-4GB-64GB-5-99-18-9-Full-Screen-Du...

[kyledjlee707]

Ah forgot to mention, I've tried using:

willmyphonework.net

frequencycheck.com

apn-canada.gishan.net

to somewhat varying results or the phone isn't listed yet, so I just wanted to confirm.

Thank you though!

[Someone_here]

Not sure about the specifics, but usually www.willmyphonework.net is a good way to know 🙂