Asus Laser ZE551KL (Z00T) - add LTE Band 12

[SoNic67]

In order to make this good phone great it needed two things:
1. VoLTE - that was added by the MM update
2. For US, T-Mobile needs also the LTE band 12. This is VERY close to B17 (both 700MHz bands, blocks "a,b" for 12 and "b" for 17) so enabling it in the radio might work (analog side allowing the extra band). Asus filled with FCC test reports that show Band 12 as "passed" the testing. And somehow choose not to enable it.

What I did for now. I downloaded a package from around here that contains the Qualcom diag software QPST and QXDM Pro. Search for them.
1. Enable USB Debugging on the phone. Plug in the phone and the diag drivers will install (I'm on Windows 10 here, I have installed previously the drivers from Asus). Now the diag mode can be enabled in ADB:
ADB shell (should connect to the phone)
setprop sys.usb.config diag,adb
2. After drivers install automatically (Windows 10), the QPST server recognize the phone on COM4
3. Now the QXDM Pro can read the NV values. I am interested in LTE part - add B12. I recalculated the values for existing ones against the published specs and they matched, so the software that calculate the values seemed to work correctly. For LTE bands 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,17,20 the NV 06828 value is 590047. IMO nothing else need to change in the other sections of NV.
4. Calculated the new value with the band 12 added. New value that resulted is 592095. Insert the value in the field, pressed "Write". Then pressed "Read" and the value was there. Cool, now is time to reboot the phone, to activate the new value.
5. Phone rebooted, nothing different. Read again the NV 06828 and... it's back to the original value! Seems that at reboot the firmware rewrites that value. Not cool!!!

Now I am not sure if the drivers prevent the actual write to the chip or if the firmware re-writes at boot time the OE values.
Luk1337 stated that "/system/bin/rmt_storage overwrites the settings".

Maybe someone can patch that?

PS: This was my inspiration: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=56577252&postcount=455

 

[argblah]

If someone is able to enable Band 12 in the firmware, do you think T-Mobile's network will recognize that a ZE551KL running Asus's official version of MM has VoLTE support and immediately allow those phones to use Band 12?

 

[SoNic67]

Yes, it has VoLTE now (CM13 too), it is just missing the B12 for T-Mobile.

LE: On CM13 Enhanced LTE is available starting with the 20160707 nightly.

 

[LuK1337]

Yes, it has VoLTE now (CM13 too), it is just missing the B12 for T-Mobile.

We don't have VoLTE in CM fyi. You just had a testing build with it.

 

[SoNic67]

Sorry. Forgot that I was special . I was using lately the SIM in my other phone (that has band 12), so I didn't noticed.

PS: It's the future though, every carrier wants to get rid of all different standards and simplify - LTE equipment is common for everyone.

 

[SoNic67]

Update:
Since I had another Snapdragon device, I decided to try it on that too. It's an Alcatel Onetouch Fierce XL sold by MetroPCS (T-Mobile network in US) - Snapdragon 210, MSM8909, Alcatel 5054N. The FCC registration for that phone shows LTE bands 2, 4, 5, 7, 12. The phone has natively Enhanced LTE which include VoLTE and HD audio. Also it has WiFi calling.
Good stuff.

I tried the same procedure as above and read the NV06828. In the MetroPCS phone this was 2058. Using the calculator I find out that the active bands are only 2, 4, 12 (the bands that T-Mobile operates).
Well, band 5 and 17 are needed for AT&T/Cricket (well maybe I needed to add only 5, since AT&T was forced recently by FCC to allow band 12 devices on it's band 17 and they even started selling band 12 devices).
So I did go ahead and change the NV06828 with the new value. Write, Reboot, Read... The setting "sticked"! Now, I don't have a way to test the actual functionality since I would need a Cricket SIM and drive away in a area served only by band 5, but I have a feeling that it will work (because FCC registration includes that band, I assume that the hardware can handle it).

 

[SoNic67]

The stock FW, when presented with the "setprop sys.usb.config diag,adb", it just closes the ADB connection, so I cannot enter diag mode like in CM13.

 

[SoNic67]

UPDATE: Since I have moved today to AT&T, I don't need the B12 anymore.
However, the stupidity of Asus is overwhelming - the FCC testing letter includes the B12 (passed) for the ZE551KL (Z00TD):
https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm
Search for the FCCID: MSQ Z00TD and hit one of the 700MHz reports. You will get the attached pdf.

 

[Cr0ssL1nk]

Even if OP gave up, some people like me still wants to enable some bands back too.

If you find something, please post (guides, clues, etc) it here.

UPDATE: Since I have moved today to AT&T, I don't need the B12 anymore.
However, the stupidity of Asus is overwhelming - the FCC testing letter includes the B12 (passed) for the ZE551KL (Z00TD):
https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm
Search for the FCCID: MSQ Z00TD and hit one of the 700MHz reports. You will get the attached pdf.

It's stupid for clients like us for sure, but for Asus it's market segmentation and planned obsolescence.

 

[SoNic67]

I'm the OP. I have asked a support question and Asus said this:

Sorry for the inconvenience and I'll convey your request to the related department for further help on this issue.

Whatever...

 

[SoNic67]

I have decided to sell my Asus. Sure, I lost money by doing this (the guy who bought it is happy about that I guess), but I now know better than buy from Asus anything. I thought it will be a great unlocked phone, but Asus managed to screw it up for me in several ways. They might fix this issue in later firmware updates, or they might not. I just don't have patience.

It might be a great phone for many users around here, more power to them.

PS: For future reference, those are the original NV values:

For Asus ZE551KL (Z00TD)
ID	Description			Name				Category 		Size	Value
01877 	RF Band Configuration 		rf_bc_config 			CDMA			64	562950069289856
00441	Band Class Preference		band_pref			CDMA			8	0
												16	0x380
00946	Expand Band Preference		band_pref_16_31	System					8	0
												16	0x0EE8
02954	Bits 32 to 63 Of Band Pref	band_pref_32_63	System					8	0
												32	268566528
06828	LTE BC Config			LTE_BC_CONFIG_type.lte.config	UINT64			64	590047
					LTE_BC_CONFIG_type.lte.config_extUINT64			64	0
06829	LTE BC Config DIV		lte_bc_config_div		UINT64			64	0
									UINT64			64	0


Change to add B12 (but reverts to stock at reboot):
06828													592095

 

[Cr0ssL1nk]

I'm the OP. I have asked a support question and Asus said this:

Whatever...

Obviously some pure bull**** from Asus...

I have decided to sell my Asus. Sure, I lost money by doing this (the guy who bought it is happy about that I guess), but I now know better than buy from Asus anything. I thought it will be a great unlocked phone, but Asus managed to screw it up for me in several ways. They might fix this issue in later firmware updates, or they might not. I just don't have patience.

It might be a great phone for many users around here, more power to them.

PS: For future reference, those are the original NV values:

For Asus ZE551KL (Z00TD)
ID	Description			Name				Category 		Size	Value
01877 	RF Band Configuration 		rf_bc_config 			CDMA			64	562950069289856
00441	Band Class Preference		band_pref			CDMA			8	0
												16	0x380
00946	Expand Band Preference		band_pref_16_31	System					8	0
												16	0x0EE8
02954	Bits 32 to 63 Of Band Pref	band_pref_32_63	System					8	0
												32	268566528
06828	LTE BC Config			LTE_BC_CONFIG_type.lte.config	UINT64			64	590047
					LTE_BC_CONFIG_type.lte.config_extUINT64			64	0
06829	LTE BC Config DIV		lte_bc_config_div		UINT64			64	0
									UINT64			64	0


Change to add B12 (but reverts to stock at reboot):
06828													592095

Thanks for the reply and sorry for the delay !

How did you find these values ? Do you have any sources ?

My guess is your modifications always gets erased on reboot because something is write-protected like the RIL, RUU (HTC), CSC (Samsung), etc. It happens on most branded phones an that's a real bummer.

So the next step would be to unlock that part, unfortunately I'm only able to do that on branded HTCs and Samsung phones. But there may be a generic way to do it through adb shell or fastboot for not branded phones ?

Edit: The closest way I've found for that comes from that topic: http://forum.xda-developers.com/zenfone-2-laser/help/ze550kl-stuck-edge-modem-reflashing-t3427402

 

[SoNic67]

Values are read by me from my device and hand written in a file.

However, like I said above, I have moved on (to a Moto G4 Plus)...

 

[Cr0ssL1nk]

Values are read by me from my device and hand written in a file.

However, like I said above, I have moved on (to a Moto G4 Plus)...

Oh sorry, by sources I mean do you have any links showing you how to change these values ?

Same for links showing you what are the values, where the files are, etc.

Anything is good

 

[SoNic67]

First post.

 

[ariban99]

is there a way today to unlock all bands. i just bought the zenfone 2 laser, i can install cyanogenmod 13 on it, but is there a tutorial how to unlock bands once i install cyanogenmod 13?

thank you
Ben