Hacking a CDMA phone to work with Public Mobile?

**bionicsteve** · 07-04-2012, 04:40 PM

Is there a way to hack a CDMA phone to use with Publc Mobile? Their $45 voice/data plan suits me fine (something similar with another carrier would cost me $100 or more) but their phones all have lousy performance. I am currently using the ZTE N762.

I've been working on computers since the old reel tape models in the 70s, so I'm not afraid of rolling up my sleeves so long as the instructions are thorough. :-)

Sorry if I missed the answer in another thread, I looked but couldn't find anything.

**cricketfan** · 07-04-2012, 09:36 PM

No

Sent from my LG-P999

**kocoman** · 07-06-2012, 02:01 AM

Maybe, but I have not been able to buy a public mobile phone (EVDO Android ones only), as all stores need activation, else they don't sell to you.

people on kijiji sell them for $100 will reply me, but not the ones who sell for $60

On your phone, if you can get the QPST / Diag port to show up, then we can try the next thing..

**o2qc418** · 07-06-2012, 10:35 PM

Originally Posted by kocoman

Maybe, but I have not been able to buy a public mobile phone (EVDO Android ones only), as all stores need activation, else they don't sell to you.

people on kijiji sell them for $100 will reply me, but not the ones who sell for $60

On your phone, if you can get the QPST / Diag port to show up, then we can try the next thing..

The problem is band ? No ? I think setting via qpst is not a problem ...

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

**kocoman** · 07-07-2012, 08:54 AM

As to the band, newer chipsets such as MDM6600/MDM6610 (iphone 4 CDMA, iPhone 4s) would support it (according to pdf specs), (r whatever qualcomm chipset the N762 uses (still unknown)

I assume all Public Mobile phones are Qualcomm based, because CDMA is patent to Qualcomm only.

If anyone have iphone 4s(GSM), can they try to use *22801(Bell), *22803(Telus), then to *22809 to see if Public is near the *22809 side? (Band class 14)

As to QPST port, no one have done it and posted it here so I don't know anything.

The other problem is its not possible to extract AAA/AN passwords from RAM anymore in newer firmwares (can't do RAM dump, resets modem). have to hack the baseband, i.e.:

http://ftp.ccc.de/congress/2011/mp4-...eband_h264.mp4

http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011/F...-qcombbdbg.pdf

In the ipad 3, there is a GWL mode, that I have no clue what that is (based on google search). I am trying to convert ipad 3 GSM into EVDO mode

I am waiting for iphone 5, then the price of iphone 4s will drop then I can buy it and look at it. So don't expect anything new from me for a long while.

I still think PM's Android EVDO phones are too expansive for testing. The rest of the line are 1X phones, very old and should not be selling for such high price.

If it was like iphone then even if I can't get the phone onto PM, I can still use it for development. The 1X phones have no use at all if it can't be cracked

**Jonavin** · 07-12-2012, 09:57 AM

You need more than just chipset compatibility. Since iPhone 4, the chips used by Apple has had the ability to support AWS as well as PCS-G. They just decide not to implement/test the antenna and software for this.

It doesn't even matter if you have a 100% compatible device anyway. With very few exceptions CDMA carrier don't allow foreign handsets ESN on their network.

If you want any choice in your phone, don't go with a CDMA carrier.

**PRODUO1** · 07-30-2012, 09:34 PM

NO, you will need to buy one of the their phone to use the public mobile service.

**Mann Incognito** · 08-06-2012, 07:52 AM

Let's assume it could be done, the question that needs to be asked is WHY???

I'm not bashing Public, they do what they do and people seem happy with that, but what's the point of hacking a decent phone onto a network that wouldn't make the effort worth the while? If you're looking for faster data speeds then you'll be better off using that phone on the network it was intended for.

**ziadsa** · 09-19-2012, 10:55 AM

But guys,
all Public mobile phones are slow like hell,
the technology used in them its like the first android phone releases,
each time they release a phone i buy it, use it for 1 month and cancel my service, because the phone is too slow.

from an android background of phones i use galaxy SIII and galaxy note, i am not able to adapt with public mobile phones.

it could be nice if we get a list of compatible CDMA phone so we can go and buy them and use them on public mobile network.

and they can charge us small provision fees to make the phone work on there network with BYOD option.

**mGeek** · 09-20-2012, 01:07 PM

You don't think if any of those phones worked with Public Mobile they would be selling them right now? The problem is there isn't any phone that are mass produced with PCS-G band and Public Mobile actually has to work with manufacturers to get the extra band added. No other active carrier in the world even uses this band for CDMA. Sprint has it, but they are deploying it for LTE, which the new iPhone 5 supports.

BYOD doesn't work when you don't use SIM cards. In China they have CDMA with SIM cards.

**cloneman** · 09-28-2012, 01:25 PM

Originally Posted by Mann Incognito

Let's assume it could be done, the question that needs to be asked is WHY???

I'm not bashing Public, they do what they do and people seem happy with that, but what's the point of hacking a decent phone onto a network that wouldn't make the effort worth the while? If you're looking for faster data speeds then you'll be better off using that phone on the network it was intended for.

Seeing as you have WIND in your signature it's easy for you to not understand what a major deal it would be to have public mobile have decent phones, even on slow 3G, in the Quebec Market, which has no "real" new entrants.