Anyone have 2x Carrier Aggregation working on LTE? (Qualcomm)

Search This thread

digiblur

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2007
3,149
2,074
I'm not sure if there any non-Qualcomm variants of this phone so if there isn't please let me know. I'm curious if anyone has carrier aggregation working on their devices? I have the unlocked US XT1806 variant and noticed I wasn't seeing the speeds on LTE I was supposed to be seeing. I checked the FCC certification documents and verified my FCC ID matched the one listed and I see it was tested and certified with many different 2xCA combos on the LTE side. Confusion indeed! Once I unlocked and rooted the device I was able to load up the awesome Network Signal Guru app and sure enough there was no carrier aggregation going on, usually a speed test in the background will kick the radio into 2xCA mode if the tower supports it. I saw this same exact behavior with the Moto E4 Plus but I ended up returning that phone for various reasons.

However! After a bit of digging around with some QPST NV items on the chipset I was able to enable 2xCA! And yes, it was certified by the FCC so no worries there! Not sure why they disabled it but I'm trying to gauge if others are seeing the same disabled CA on other variants. I will end up doing a guide on how to enable it if there is enough need.

"But wait!? What's 2xCA?" It's where your phone combines more "lanes" of the LTE highway to give you faster speeds and/or better throughput especially in congested areas. It's a good thing to have when there is no WiFi around.

Motorola even advertises this phone as a Cat 7 LTE modem which is strange that it is a Cat 6 modem shown in the FCC docs. Without CA, it's kinda hard to get 300 megabit down that Cat6 has.
 

digiblur

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2007
3,149
2,074
What carrier is this for and how can we check and enable CA if available?

Actually any carrier than supports CA and has it deployed in your area. You'll need root and to install Network Signal Guru to check. If we get a few checks of things out there and we find more with it disabled then I'll do the guide otherwise it would be kinda pointless.
 

THERAJ12

Senior Member
Feb 16, 2009
461
36
Google Pixel 6
Google Pixel 7
Actually any carrier than supports CA and has it deployed in your area. You'll need root and to install Network Signal Guru to check. If we get a few checks of things out there and we find more with it disabled then I'll do the guide otherwise it would be kinda pointless.

I'm on Verizon rooted and I have installed the app, where do I check for CA? Appreciate your help with this.
 

digiblur

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2007
3,149
2,074
I'm on Verizon rooted and I have installed the app, where do I check for CA? Appreciate your help with this.

Run a speed test in the background on LTE and flip over to NSG. Scroll one screen over and see if it has 1 or 2 carriers listed. Feel free to screenshot.
 

THERAJ12

Senior Member
Feb 16, 2009
461
36
Google Pixel 6
Google Pixel 7

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20171204-205321.png
    Screenshot_20171204-205321.png
    157.6 KB · Views: 394

digiblur

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2007
3,149
2,074
Yep, it should be showing band 13 in the CA mix or possibly band 2 if deployed in your market. Which model is this?
 

mrchman

Senior Member
Jul 20, 2017
61
11
I also got an xt1806 recently, unlocked on Verizon. I'm in a pretty rural area and speeds are pretty spotty due to obstacles between me and the tower.
Though it does stay in LTE most of the time, on band 13. I'm using LTE Discovery app off of the app store.
 

digiblur

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2007
3,149
2,074
I also got an xt1806 recently, unlocked on Verizon. I'm in a pretty rural area and speeds are pretty spotty due to obstacles between me and the tower.
Though it does stay in LTE most of the time, on band 13. I'm using LTE Discovery app off of the app store.
I use the SignalCheck Pro app as like the notification and notes on sites. Do you ever see other bands?

Another great app is CellMapper. Maps out your area and estimates tower locations, shows the bands etc. Crowdsourced app, pretty awesome app and website.
 

mrchman

Senior Member
Jul 20, 2017
61
11
I use the SignalCheck Pro app as like the notification and notes on sites. Do you ever see other bands?

Another great app is CellMapper. Maps out your area and estimates tower locations, shows the bands etc. Crowdsourced app, pretty awesome app and website.

As expected, using cell mapper, there's no data in this town, severe lack of technology here... I'll use it for awhile to generate some data.

Band 13 is all I ever see. 700MHz~. It apparently sees other LTE bands, but they're not identified.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot_20171205-184934.jpg
    Screenshot_20171205-184934.jpg
    156.9 KB · Views: 224

digiblur

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2007
3,149
2,074
As expected, using cell mapper, there's no data in this town, severe lack of technology here... I'll use it for awhile to generate some data.

Band 13 is all I ever see. 700MHz~. It apparently sees other LTE bands, but they're not identified.

That's still band 13. 5230 is the standard Verizon EARFCN for band 13.
 

digiblur

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2007
3,149
2,074
XT1806 64gb on Verizon....do I need to enable CA per the method you mentioned before?

I haven't done the guide yet, as I've only seen one other person confirm it. Not sure how many other variants there out there or even if they could check if some of those variants are bootloader locked though.