Enabling the GSM radio

DiamondJay20 · Jul 29, 2012

I did a SIM card check on Surfing Dino's SIM info app, and this phone does have a SIM card. We know that the other Galaxy S3s have GSM capabilities, and Verizon is releasing an OTA soon to allow global roaming. While Sprint's SIM is embedded, it wouldn't be too hard to access it with a knife and cut the plastic, or order a backpiece of ebay. Can someone work on, or is someone working on finding a way to hack this, or verify if the Sprint version could be hacked to support a GSM update? I heard someone hacked the Verizon Galaxy Nexus to do this.

I'd love to take my GS3 around the world and sell my Photon.

freeza · Jul 29, 2012

The Sprint version's SIM card is for LTE.

DiamondJay20 · Jul 29, 2012

freeza said:
The Sprint version's SIM card is for LTE.

I know that, and I know SIM cards are why Verizon has them in their 4G LTE phones. But as Verizon is releasing an update to the Rezound, Spectrum, Razr (reg. and Maxx), and their version of the Galaxy S3, I'd assume the SIM card function in both Sprint and Verizon Galaxy S3's is the same inside the US, as they're both CDMA carriers.

What I wanna know is if the SIM card could possibly be taken out, replaced with a foreign SIM and put back in if a hack could be developed to allow GSM use/roaming on the Sprint Galaxy S3.

s3xda · Jul 29, 2012

DiamondJay20 said:
I know that, and I know SIM cards are why Verizon has them in their 4G LTE phones. But as Verizon is releasing an update to the Rezound, Spectrum, Razr (reg. and Maxx), and their version of the Galaxy S3, I'd assume the SIM card function in both Sprint and Verizon Galaxy S3's is the same inside the US, as they're both CDMA carriers.

What I wanna know is if the SIM card could possibly be taken out, replaced with a foreign SIM and put back in if a hack could be developed to allow GSM use/roaming on the Sprint Galaxy S3.

its different from a SIM card even tho it looks exactly like one. It only has the network info required to use lte for that particular provider. The contents of those chips arent modifiable

DiamondJay20 · Jul 29, 2012

I know, but I mean if a firmware hack which could enable GSM roaming when the Sprint SIM is out would b possible, also to see if the Sprint SIM is welded to the thing or not

Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

tdwp16 · Jul 29, 2012

DiamondJay20 said:
I know, but I mean if a firmware hack which could enable GSM roaming when the Sprint SIM is out would b possible, also to see if the Sprint SIM is welded to the thing or not

Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

Not "welded" soldered.. lol

Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

jbadboy2007 · Jul 29, 2012

Dont count on it and this should have been in the general section.

bl8zeone360 · Jul 29, 2012

There is no removable sim in the sprint galaxy s3. I repair phone for a living. There is a component on the board that controls the radio frequencies.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

nabbed · Jul 29, 2012

This phone doesn't have a gsm radio, correct?

jarnow94 · Jul 29, 2012

nabbed said:
This phone doesn't have a gsm radio, correct?

As far as I know, no. And "enabling" it would be impossible because we only have an embedded LTE SIM; even if we could desolder it a regular GSM SIM wouldn't work (at least from what I understand).

Blad3 · Jul 29, 2012

jbadboy2007 said:
Dont count on it and this should have been in the general section.

^^^

DiamondJay20 · Jul 29, 2012

elfhater said:
As far as I know, no. And "enabling" it would be impossible because we only have an embedded LTE SIM; even if we could desolder it a regular GSM SIM wouldn't work (at least from what I understand).

how do you know its soldered? A Sprint rep told me on the phone, for what thats worth, that if something went wrong with the SIM I could take it to a Sprint store and have it fixed, and I doubt a Sprint store has soldering equipment.

freeza · Jul 30, 2012

The Sprint Galaxy S III does not have a GSM radio to enable anyway. The SIM is for LTE, even replacing it with a GSM SIM card wouldn't do anything but stop your LTE from working.

DiamondJay20 · Jul 30, 2012

freeza said:
The Sprint Galaxy S III does not have a GSM radio to enable anyway. The SIM is for LTE, even replacing it with a GSM SIM card wouldn't do anything but stop your LTE from working.

I wanna know if one could hack it with a GSM ROM/radio like they did with Verizon's Galaxy Nexus. Thats what this thread is about.

nicholaaaas · Jul 30, 2012

DiamondJay20 said:
how do you know its soldered? A Sprint rep told me on the phone, for what thats worth, that if something went wrong with the SIM I could take it to a Sprint store and have it fixed, and I doubt a Sprint store has soldering equipment.

soldering equipment? you mean a soldering iron?

why do you want to go through all this trouble? if you want a gsm phone so bad go to att or tmo

dannyboyex · Jul 30, 2012

nicholaaaas said:
soldering equipment? you mean a soldering iron?

why do you want to go through all this trouble? if you want a gsm phone so bad go to att or tmo

It would be nice to have if you ever travel out of the US

Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

Valicore · Jul 30, 2012

All the chipsets are the same for all US S3s, so they all theoretically have the ability to support GSM. However, they need power amplifiers and antennas to hook into that capability of the chipset, and no one knows whether or not Sprint's version of the S3 has those things, and I'm not an engineer so I wouldn't know where to begin to try and figure it out. I don't particularly want to void the warranty on my phone, so I haven't taken off the back cover and don't know if the SIM is actually embedded (soldered onto the board) or is just non-user accessible.

We know the VZW model has this capability because they tested it when it was going through the FCC, in addition they said it would. In the larger picture the reason that it has this ability is related to restrictions placed on Verizon due to the spectrum they purchased which prevents them from locking down their phones. Sprint, as far as I know, has no such restrictions/requirements placed upon it and thus, other than just because I really would like it to be possible, it isn't likely that that capability is built into the phone and, even if it is, I doubt we'll ever get access to a radio that would allow us to take advantage of it. I'd love it if anyone had more information on this though, I'd kill to use my phone abroad.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium

DiamondJay20 · Jul 30, 2012

Valicore said:
All the chipsets are the same for all US S3s, so they all theoretically have the ability to support GSM. However, they need power amplifiers and antennas to hook into that capability of the chipset, and no one knows whether or not Sprint's version of the S3 has those things, and I'm not an engineer so I wouldn't know where to begin to try and figure it out. I don't particularly want to void the warranty on my phone, so I haven't taken off the back cover and don't know if the SIM is actually embedded (soldered onto the board) or is just non-user accessible.

We know the VZW model has this capability because they tested it when it was going through the FCC, in addition they said it would. In the larger picture the reason that it has this ability is related to restrictions placed on Verizon due to the spectrum they purchased which prevents them from locking down their phones. Sprint, as far as I know, has no such restrictions/requirements placed upon it and thus, other than just because I really would like it to be possible, it isn't likely that that capability is built into the phone and, even if it is, I doubt we'll ever get access to a radio that would allow us to take advantage of it. I'd love it if anyone had more information on this though, I'd kill to use my phone abroad.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium

If others would be willing to donate, I would be willing to donate too, to get a teardown of the phone to see about this. Why Sprint would ever let one of the biggest sellers of the year go without a HUGE selling point, I don't know. I do also wonder, would Samsung spend the money when manufacturing them to make hundreds of thousands, if not millions of phones substantially different and cut into their margins when the carrier can lock it down anyway?

why do you want to go through all this trouble? if you want a gsm phone so bad go to att or tmo

Or I want the Sprint pricing, unlimited, LTE (which T-Mobile's not gonna have for some time), but flexibility and to be able to take the phone I paid over 600+ for abroad.

roxy.schram · Jul 30, 2012

Okay. I for one do believe it would be possible but I'm not willing to disassemble my S3. I know from past experience that Verizon's slot used by their LTE slot is nothing more than a standard SIM slot. I know this because I've radio hacked the Bionic to use on AT&T and people have done the same for the Razr. The Qualcomm MSM radio chip when hacked with RadioComm which I happen to have a copy of allowed me to enable AT&T freq. I've done the same with the Droid 2 Global and Droid 3. The Droid 4 is also able to as well I believe. Qualcomm manufactures the radios, not the providers and not Samsung. Therefore the functions are there do use GSM freq. Whether or not the phone actually have the slot is a different story and until I see pictures of a Sprint S3 with the slot then I'm going to assume it doesn't.

DiamondJay20 · Jul 30, 2012

remijenkins said:
Okay. I for one do believe it would be possible but I'm not willing to disassemble my S3. I know from past experience that Verizon's slot used by their LTE slot is nothing more than a standard SIM slot. I know this because I've radio hacked the Bionic to use on AT&T and people have done the same for the Razr. The Qualcomm MSM radio chip when hacked with RadioComm which I happen to have a copy of allowed me to enable AT&T freq. I've done the same with the Droid 2 Global and Droid 3. The Droid 4 is also able to as well I believe. Qualcomm manufactures the radios, not the providers and not Samsung. Therefore the functions are there do use GSM freq. Whether or not the phone actually have the slot is a different story and until I see pictures of a Sprint S3 with the slot then I'm going to assume it doesn't.

http://www.globaldirectparts.com/PhotoDetails.asp?ShowDESC=N&ProductCode=SMSNG6116840 there's a picture of the SIM slot

Enabling the GSM radio

Senior Member

Recognized Developer

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Recognized Developer

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

roxy.schram

Guest

Senior Member

Similar threads

Top Liked Posts