[QtMoko] GSM not turning on / registering

Michael Spacefalcon msokolov at ivan.Harhan.ORG
Mon May 19 06:18:45 CEST 2014


Nick <openmoko-community at njw.me.uk> wrote:

> The phone that works is 3G, and it doesn't seem to have a 'force 2G' 
> option anywhere.

The option in question often goes by different names: it may also be
named "network type" or "network selection" etc, with the choices
being GSM or WCDMA or both.  Try selecting GSM if you can find the
elusive option.

> I'm in the Greater Boston area,

Ahh - I didn't realize you were still here in the States - I remember
you asking on this list a few months ago about GSM frequency bands in
USA, with the intention of traveling to Boston area, but it was back
in February, so I thought the trip was over and you were back home in
the UK.

How long ago have you arrived in Boston?  Is the FR-not-working
problem something that happened upon arrival in USA, or has it been
working for you for a while in this part of the world?

> so I can't imagine 
> the phone company could just have turned off 2G here yet; there are 
> too many subscribers around.
> [...]
> As I said, I'm in the USA now, and I'm on ATT, FWIW.

Ahh, so you decided to be adventurous and use AT&T instead of the more
tried & tested T-Mobile.  Before we spend an inordinate amount of
effort figuring out why your FR doesn't work on AT&T in Boston,
perhaps you could try a T-Mobile SIM card just as a quick test?  If
you don't have one, just go into any T-Mobile store and ask them to
borrow a SIM for a few minutes to test in your phone while inside
their store.

Also if there is any chance you might visit California before you go
back to the UK, we could meet up and do some GSM hacking together. :)

> Basically because I just want a dumbphone that works, really, so 
> tend towards laziness regarding my phone nowadays.

If you are using your FR as an oversized dumbphone, have you considered
using a real dumbphone instead?  You might want to grab a Mot C139 on
ebay while they are still available - it is one of the models which I
am using for FreeCalypso firmware bring-up (along with the Neo FR and
Pirelli DP-L10) before building my own dumbphone hardware, and it has
the advantage of being a very simple dumbphone with full schematics
available (unlike the Pirelli).

That Linux application processor on the Neo really adds a lot of extra
complexity into the mix, and I find true dumbphones to be much easier
to work with, as in hack, troubleshoot and actually use on an everyday
basis.

VLR,
SF



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