[Q] AT&T Radio & XT1053

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sparkplugDev

Senior Member
Apr 6, 2012
383
113
Maryland
So, this is a rather unique predicament so I'm not surprised that there aren't any threads available on it but I have an XT1053 because I like to not have bloat on my phone, however, I also use AT&T because I enjoy having a phone signal.

It's been my understanding that in order to get the intended battery life promised by Motorola, I need to have the radio that is optimized for AT&T's signal bands because if you don't have an AT&T branded phone then f**k you (says AT&T).

My question is if anyone can speak on any authority as to whether it would even be possible to (obtain and) flash the AT&T radio to the XT1053 without bricking it and how far that would go as far as solving my problem of having a phone signal and good battery life.

Thanks.
Sparkplug
 

samwathegreat

Senior Member
Apr 17, 2010
2,096
1,843
So, this is a rather unique predicament so I'm not surprised that there aren't any threads available on it but I have an XT1053 because I like to not have bloat on my phone, however, I also use AT&T because I enjoy having a phone signal.

It's been my understanding that in order to get the intended battery life promised by Motorola, I need to have the radio that is optimized for AT&T's signal bands because if you don't have an AT&T branded phone then f**k you (says AT&T).

My question is if anyone can speak on any authority as to whether it would even be possible to (obtain and) flash the AT&T radio to the XT1053 without bricking it and how far that would go as far as solving my problem of having a phone signal and good battery life.

Thanks.
Sparkplug

Flashing the AT&T radio probably won't help. GSM stands for "Global Standard for Mobile Communications". It is a standard and does not differ from carrier to carrier.

Additionally, the XT1053 supports 1 extra UTMS band, and lacks 2 LTE bands that the XT1058 has (but this doesn't affect you because AT&T doesn't use those 2 bands, and the XT1053 DOES support all the bands AT&T currently uses).

You can flash the XT1058 baseband IF you have an unlocked bootloader, but you probably won't get any support here. We don't like to support phones with mismatched software/basebands -- they just cause too many problems.

If you insist on doing it (assuming you are unlocked), you would flash fsg.mbn (modem) from the XT1058 SBF, and you would need to:

fastboot erase modemst1
fastboot erase modemst2

I urge you not to do this. Flashing a mismatched radio will often result in WORSE battery life, and you may not even get a signal on some or all bands.
 

sparkplugDev

Senior Member
Apr 6, 2012
383
113
Maryland
Flashing the AT&T radio probably won't help. GSM stands for "Global Standard for Mobile Communications". It is a standard and does not differ from carrier to carrier.

Additionally, the XT1053 supports 1 extra UTMS band, and lacks 2 LTE bands that the XT1058 has (but this doesn't affect you because AT&T doesn't use those 2 bands, and the XT1053 DOES support all the bands AT&T currently uses).

You can flash the XT1058 baseband IF you have an unlocked bootloader, but you probably won't get any support here. We don't like to support phones with mismatched software/basebands -- they just cause too many problems.

If you insist on doing it (assuming you are unlocked), you would flash fsg.mbn (modem) from the XT1058 SBF, and you would need to:

fastboot erase modemst1
fastboot erase modemst2

I urge you not to do this. Flashing a mismatched radio will often result in WORSE battery life, and you may not even get a signal on some or all bands.

I didn't even consider that the baseband and software would then be mismatched. Thanks for the advice. Time to abandon this short-lived mission into the darkness.
 
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helldogg75

Senior Member
Oct 29, 2011
191
42
Just to pile on...I am also using a XT1053 on AT&T and I get great signal and great battery life.

Sent from my XT1053 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
 

Soldier 2.0

Senior Member
Nov 6, 2012
893
310
www.youtube.com
Isn't Att refarming their network to allow LTE on their 850 signal which the 1053 lacks?

I read that a while ago so excuse my lack of proper terminology.

---------- Post added at 09:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:55 PM ----------

http://gigaom.com/2013/11/07/att-begins-cannibalizing-its-2g-and-3g-networks-to-boost-lte-capacity/

---------- Post added at 10:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:58 PM ----------

t also means that AT&T almost certainly has plans to repurpose some of its 850 MHz cellular spectrum for LTE as well.
 

samwathegreat

Senior Member
Apr 17, 2010
2,096
1,843
Isn't Att refarming their network to allow LTE on their 850 signal which the 1053 lacks?

I read that a while ago so excuse my lack of proper terminology.

---------- Post added at 09:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:55 PM ----------

http://gigaom.com/2013/11/07/att-begins-cannibalizing-its-2g-and-3g-networks-to-boost-lte-capacity/

---------- Post added at 10:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:58 PM ----------

t also means that AT&T almost certainly has plans to repurpose some of its 850 MHz cellular spectrum for LTE as well.

I believe you are correct, but as of now XT1053 supports all at&t bands currently in use.

Conversely, until t mobile finishes refarming their PCS spectrum for hspa+, those using the xt1058 on T-Mobile will have areas that only EDGE data will be available (yuck!).

But for all we know, AT&T won't finish refarming until the Moto X is obsolete....
 

mandrsn1

Senior Member
Jun 20, 2009
446
71
I didn't even consider that the baseband and software would then be mismatched. Thanks for the advice. Time to abandon this short-lived mission into the darkness.

I was running the AT&T radio with the Dev software, both pulled from 4.4.2 SBF files.

Now I am running the straight Dev software 4.4.3.

There is no signal difference.
 
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retailguy

Senior Member
Sep 29, 2011
99
20
I believe you are correct, but as of now XT1053 supports all at&t bands currently in use.

I'm not entirely sure that this is true. It seems to me that I read here somewhere that vermont? perhaps was using band 5 and using the XT1053 only allowed the user 4G HSPA+ and not 4G LTE.

I think there may be a few places in the US that ATT is using band 5 for LTE which the XT 1053 does not support.
 
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samwathegreat

Senior Member
Apr 17, 2010
2,096
1,843
I'm not entirely sure that this is true. It seems to me that I read here somewhere that vermont? perhaps was using band 5 and using the XT1053 only allowed the user 4G HSPA+ and not 4G LTE.

I think there may be a few places in the US that ATT is using band 5 for LTE which the XT 1053 does not support.

You may be correct... I know that AT&T is testing the new band. The way I understood, they plan to use the new band to supplement the existing LTE, just like Verizon is doing with their AWS spectrum.... To provide additional backhaul and not to replace the LTE spectrum currently in use. This is speculation, of course...
 

samwathegreat

Senior Member
Apr 17, 2010
2,096
1,843
Flashing the AT&T radio probably won't help. GSM stands for "Global Standard for Mobile Communications". It is a standard and does not differ from carrier to carrier.

Additionally, the XT1053 supports 1 extra UTMS band, and lacks 2 LTE bands that the XT1058 has (but this doesn't affect you because AT&T doesn't use those 2 bands, and the XT1053 DOES support all the bands AT&T currently uses).

You can flash the XT1058 baseband IF you have an unlocked bootloader, but you probably won't get any support here. We don't like to support phones with mismatched software/basebands -- they just cause too many problems.

If you insist on doing it (assuming you are unlocked), you would flash fsg.mbn (modem) from the XT1058 SBF, and you would need to:

fastboot erase modemst1
fastboot erase modemst2

I urge you not to do this. Flashing a mismatched radio will often result in WORSE battery life, and you may not even get a signal on some or all bands.

I need to revise my previous statement. I've discovered that "NON-HLOS.bin" is the actual modem/baseband itself, and "fsg.mbn" appears to be a master backup of the baseband cache.
 

TLH11

Senior Member
Oct 30, 2012
52
2
Is not easier to flash a retail xt1058 ROM entirely? To avoid software mismatch, and use/unlock the bands from that model?
I have a xt1052 and I need the xt1058 modem/radio/bands to be able to use 4g on my country. That would help?
 

KidJoe

Inactive Recognized Contributor
Aug 23, 2008
3,211
1,561
Thorndale/Romansville, PA
Is not easier to flash a retail xt1058 ROM entirely? To avoid software mismatch, and use/unlock the bands from that model?
I have a xt1052 and I need the xt1058 modem/radio/bands to be able to use 4g on my country. That would help?
this is an old thread you are resurrecting..

I usually recomend NOT fully flashing the rom from a different model. We've seen the GPT.BIN be different enough between models, even among the same ROM versions (i.e. GPT.BIN from one 4.4.4 not matching GPT.BIN of another 4.4.4 rom). That presents challanges to try a different rom, or flash back.

And flashing another modem file, or rom file does not necessarily mean you will enable those "other bands" because the phone's HARDWARE also is a factor.

In other words, due to different hardware, flashing an XT1058's rom or modem files onto an XT1053 or XT10052, might not enable any new/extra bands due to hardware differences. And if you do cross flash (as its called), the GPT.BIN differences might prevent you in returning to the correct ROM for your phone/carrier.
 
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    So, this is a rather unique predicament so I'm not surprised that there aren't any threads available on it but I have an XT1053 because I like to not have bloat on my phone, however, I also use AT&T because I enjoy having a phone signal.

    It's been my understanding that in order to get the intended battery life promised by Motorola, I need to have the radio that is optimized for AT&T's signal bands because if you don't have an AT&T branded phone then f**k you (says AT&T).

    My question is if anyone can speak on any authority as to whether it would even be possible to (obtain and) flash the AT&T radio to the XT1053 without bricking it and how far that would go as far as solving my problem of having a phone signal and good battery life.

    Thanks.
    Sparkplug

    Flashing the AT&T radio probably won't help. GSM stands for "Global Standard for Mobile Communications". It is a standard and does not differ from carrier to carrier.

    Additionally, the XT1053 supports 1 extra UTMS band, and lacks 2 LTE bands that the XT1058 has (but this doesn't affect you because AT&T doesn't use those 2 bands, and the XT1053 DOES support all the bands AT&T currently uses).

    You can flash the XT1058 baseband IF you have an unlocked bootloader, but you probably won't get any support here. We don't like to support phones with mismatched software/basebands -- they just cause too many problems.

    If you insist on doing it (assuming you are unlocked), you would flash fsg.mbn (modem) from the XT1058 SBF, and you would need to:

    fastboot erase modemst1
    fastboot erase modemst2

    I urge you not to do this. Flashing a mismatched radio will often result in WORSE battery life, and you may not even get a signal on some or all bands.
    1
    Flashing the AT&T radio probably won't help. GSM stands for "Global Standard for Mobile Communications". It is a standard and does not differ from carrier to carrier.

    Additionally, the XT1053 supports 1 extra UTMS band, and lacks 2 LTE bands that the XT1058 has (but this doesn't affect you because AT&T doesn't use those 2 bands, and the XT1053 DOES support all the bands AT&T currently uses).

    You can flash the XT1058 baseband IF you have an unlocked bootloader, but you probably won't get any support here. We don't like to support phones with mismatched software/basebands -- they just cause too many problems.

    If you insist on doing it (assuming you are unlocked), you would flash fsg.mbn (modem) from the XT1058 SBF, and you would need to:

    fastboot erase modemst1
    fastboot erase modemst2

    I urge you not to do this. Flashing a mismatched radio will often result in WORSE battery life, and you may not even get a signal on some or all bands.

    I didn't even consider that the baseband and software would then be mismatched. Thanks for the advice. Time to abandon this short-lived mission into the darkness.
    1
    I didn't even consider that the baseband and software would then be mismatched. Thanks for the advice. Time to abandon this short-lived mission into the darkness.

    I was running the AT&T radio with the Dev software, both pulled from 4.4.2 SBF files.

    Now I am running the straight Dev software 4.4.3.

    There is no signal difference.
    1
    I believe you are correct, but as of now XT1053 supports all at&t bands currently in use.

    I'm not entirely sure that this is true. It seems to me that I read here somewhere that vermont? perhaps was using band 5 and using the XT1053 only allowed the user 4G HSPA+ and not 4G LTE.

    I think there may be a few places in the US that ATT is using band 5 for LTE which the XT 1053 does not support.
    1
    That's interesting. You didn't encounter any stability issues with that?

    Not at all