yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
Awesome! Where did you find this radio?
[Motorola Droid 3] wolski:
I have a stupid question. Will it still works on Verizon CDMA?
[Motorola Droid 3] RWALEY:
I saw it a month or so back on the Rimweb Motorola forum.

Nope. GSM only.
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
FWIW, I moved over to Straight Talk (http://www.straighttalksim.com) today, and all seems to be working just fine. It is actually running on AT&T's system. From what I can tell, AT&T and T-Mobile both run off the same third party (Plateau Wireless) towers in this (fringe) area, but for some oddball reason, I have 1 more bar of signal than I did with T-Mobile. I wouldn't think this would be possible, but it seems to be.
[Motorola Droid 3] RWALEY:
Good to know.

I would imagine that you now have access to AT&T's UMTS band which results in some better reception. You probably have full 3G access too.
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
Unfortunately, only EDGE in this area, but still, perhaps there is a different transmitter for AT&T, even though it is the same tower. It took all of 30 minutes to port my number over, and at $45/mo for the same service (and now I can get 3G, where available), it is less than half what I was paying T-Mobile.

I was roaming in Colorado with T-Mobile on AT&T earlier today, and I did have 3G, FWIW.
[Motorola Droid 3] koukobin:
906 Firmware and Chinese Radio

So the Chinese radio (either the one in the first post or the 34.18.16 in post #196) can work with the .906 Firmware?

can also please somebody re upload the 34.18.16 radio as the link in post #196 is not working anymore (download limit reached).

thanks
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
The first radio does indeed work with .906. I am using it now. I have not tried the other radio, yet.

---------- Post added at 10:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:49 AM ----------

Do you happen to have a good link to 60.2.200? Seems the other link went down.
[Motorola Droid 3] RWALEY:
Yeah, it looks like the QDrive host changed their terms and instituted download limits.

Here is a reupload of the 34.18.16 radio

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71053731/34.18.16 radio.img

I will go back and update the links to the others when I have a chance.

This radio should work on .906, they only locked the kernel and bootloader from being changed.

The radio partition should be completely writable.

---------- Post added at 03:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:11 PM ----------

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71053731/XT883_60.2.200_FB.zip

I don't think you will be able to flash this one either since going to .906 but let us know what happens if you give it a shot.
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
I'm just looking to extract bits and pieces. I'm not thinking it will flash. Thanks for posting it! I will grab it in the morning, when I get to a better connection.
[Motorola Droid 3] blackbuddha:
Until recently, I'd been using a Milestone running CyanogenMod 7.2 RC1 which worked flawlessly on Giffgaff in the UK. My Speedtest results ranged between 100-150 ms for ping and 0.5-3.5 Mbps for download speed. The status bar always showed 3-4 bars out of 4 possible while the signal was regularly recorded between [-100] - [-85] dB. In short, my data connection was stable.

After a few month contemplating, I finally got an unlocked Droid 3. I went ahead to root it and install Steed Droid 4.5 on it. Even though the Speedtest results are pretty much the same, I felt that my data connection is more sluggish than before. The signal ranged between [-115] - [-100] dB; there were only 1-3 bars out of 5 possible on the notification bar and the connection was randomly cut off. These setbacks happened even after I applied a few tweaks to build.prop.

And I came across this thread, I decided to give it and followed RWALEY's instruction to flash a XT862 5.6.890 ROM using the newest baseband from XT883. Then I installed Steel Droid 4.5 and applied the GSM fix from the instruction above. Unfortunately, the modification doesn't any noticeable improvement.

Sorry for my rants but I want to ask you guys here if this mode gives you full signal bar and strong and connection in the US? For any user outside the US, do you see any improvement from this modification?

Cheers.
[Motorola Droid 3] RWALEY:
With any XT883 baseband my XT862 signal has always been between -90 and -105 at home and as high as -70 when in areas with better reception. This has been pretty consistent with other phones I also use. I have setup multiple XT862 phones and got the exact same results.

Typically I get around 3 to 5 Mbps but I have gotten it up to 10 or so in areas with HSPA+. The data and voice has been pretty stable. Even in an area with poor reception, the XT862 has performed well. Much more so than any other Android phone I have previously used.

All results have been from the AT&T 3G network. My area only uses the 1900MHz band.
[Motorola Droid 3] blackbuddha:
Thank you for your remark!

My phone has definitely never reached to -70 dBm. The best signal I've ever had on my XT862 is -85 dBm with 3 bars on notification. Also, even though the mobile network type in Settings is HSPA, only 3G icon displays on notification and sometime its colour changes between white and blue (on Steel Droid 4.5). While my speed being significantly lower than yours may have something to do with the actually speed from giffgaff, the fact that the data connection is frequently cut off is rather annoying.

I'm also contemplating on fiddling with my build.prop. After comparing your version and Steel Droid version of the file, I noticed several differences. Do you have any advice about merging them together? In addtion, will editing the following parameters do any harm to my device?

Cheers!
[Motorola Droid 3] RWALEY:
I will have to look over the parameters again but I believe the following are absolutely needed to run the XT883 baseband as is:

ro.build.id

ro.build.version.incremental

ro.build.version.sdk

ro.build.version.codename

ro.build.type

ro.build.user

ro.build.host

The others can be modified to whatever you want it to display.

There may be some build.prop tweaks that could enhance other frequencies reception but since I only have 1900 to work with I am unable to test that out.

However, since your raw signal has not been above -85 it may be something with your particular phone. Do you get the same readings on UMTS and GSM?
[Motorola Droid 3] blackbuddha:
Does it show the same icon on your phone or a proper H?

On XT862 using XT883 radio and running Steel Droid 4.5, the readings on GSM are slightly better than UTSM. The signal now records 4 bars and ranges in [-90]-[-80] dBm.

When you mentioned about the frequency, I did a check on the basebands of XT862, XT860 and XT883 on GSMArena. All of them support the same GSM and HSDPA bands. Given that we want XT862 to run on GSM not CDMA, we should have chosen XT860 radio.img as the substitution; thus, I don't quite understand with the choice of XT883. On the same subject, I came across the following threads:

They all dealt with the tweaking of the baseband in Qualcomm MDM6600 which is also assembled in the Droid 3 family. In overall, their aim is to switch the baseband from USA to Euro settings.

Also, I think my provider Giffgaff, who hijacks the O2 network, operates on the bands 900 for GSM and 2100 for HSDPA. Therefore, could you specify tell which parameters I should look at in build.prop? I'll test them myself.

Cheers.
[Motorola Droid 3] RWALEY:
I use Eclipse, that ROM only shows 3G. Not to worry about the icon, it is just cosmetic. The phone has the capability to get up to 14.4 HSDPA.

At the bottom of my build.prop, the area marked GSM SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS, that would be the place to experiment with. I believe those settings are tweaked for 1900MHz. You may want to try some different hsdpa/hsupa categories. I do not know what it would be for 2100. I would probably wait for some other non-US users to chime in and see if they are also experiencing your reception issues.

Also, I am fairly certain flashing the XT860 radio will not work due to a signature mismatch. The XT862/XT883 are the exact same hardware, same signatures and everything. I believe the XT860 does have some differences.

There is a collection of XT860 fastboot SBF files here:

http://sbf.droid-developers.org/umts_solana/list.php

I have contemplated flashing one but I do not want to permanently brick the phone. Perhaps someone else knows if they will work?
[Motorola Droid 3] blackbuddha:
I've just found a post from The Solutor stating that flashing between XT862 and XT860 was impossible due to signature mismatch. This post was way back to October 2011 but perhaps nobody is interested in this area so there is no development.

A quick look at the section you mentioned in build.prop, did you get the idea from zepplinrox's scripts. If so, I couldn't find any explanation on them as I'm not really a techie myself.

Anyway, I'll call it a night since it's 4.00 AM here. I haven't felt this interested since I first got my old Milestone.

Thanks for your patience. Happy Easter!

P.S: about the icon being cosmetic, do you also think that those notification bars are just for show?
[Motorola Droid 3] RWALEY:
I got the idea from development on the Droid 2 Global, along with bits and pieces from other build.prop files from the XT862, 860, and 883. That was just a collaboration of many of the little tweaks that were used. It definitely seemed to have helped me, at least for data. I am not certain if there is a known guide for editing, it has mostly been trial and error for me.

The notification bars are also cosmetic. Prior to the build.prop edit for ro.mot.phonemode.vzwglobalphone it was deliberately lowered by Verizon. It has no bearing on phone operation, just a visual representation.

The true way to measure signal strength is the raw dBm data. Anything up to the -115 range should work for voice. Data usually seems to stutter around -105. -75 to -100 is generally the recommended level for stable operation.
[Motorola Droid 3] phonephoenix:
ICS build props don't work, changing telephony to a 3 does nothing. Baseband remains unknown and will not switch in 4636 mode

Such a waste of time. It doesn't work.
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
Great attitude! Now go search. Lots of people have GSM working on ICS.
[Motorola Droid 3] phonephoenix:
Oi positive attitude paid off. Search wouldn't help. No one has said that the radio from page EIGHTEEN was the only method of getting ICS. I think people should know that the first method on the first page does not work. I mean the real directions are all the way on page 18. that is ridiculous.
[Motorola Droid 3] blackbuddha:
There a copy of build.prop here. Good luck.
[Motorola Droid 3] RWALEY:
Those instructions are not for ICS, it is just a guide on how to get the most up to date XT883 baseband. In fact, this entire thread is just to enable AT&T/T-Mobile on the XT862 stock, nothing to do with ICS.

For the ICS roms, try flashing ChocolateShein's build.prop, ignore any messages of failure. That is normal, it is only moving a single file, not an entire ROM. If you still have issues then unzip his file and manually place the build.prop in /system using Root Explorer.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1560519
[Motorola Droid 3] phonephoenix:
I've got it down. Thanks
[Motorola Droid 3] Alex1123:
Question, im new to the droid 3 i just rooted it and now i want to have the radio ready before i buy an unlock code, will this make it work with at&t and t-mobile in the US?

Nevermind lol i figured that out but im having issues with cmd saying flashing the radio (moto-fastboot flash radio radio.img) is not a command any help please.

UPDATE figured it out
[Motorola Droid 3] koukobin:
AT&T - ICS and 3G Conncetion working

I confirm that after using the Chinese radio and the build.prop from the following link:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=23884104&postcount=1368

i have 3G connection (AT&T) working with CM9 ICS.
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
Which radio are you using? There are now three different one floating through this thread.
[Motorola Droid 3] koukobin:
I am using the first radio from the original post. (n_16.18.16s)

The phone i tried it, was running 5.7.905 firmware and i went back to 5.6.890 (Kernel and bootloader remained intact as expected). Then i rooted the phone and flashed the chinese radio. I installed CM9 and then i used the buid.prop from the above link.

I have to say that i had to push manually the build.prop by using Root Explorer. I couldn't flash the zip from the above link.
[Motorola Droid 3] blackbuddha:
After more than a week using XT860 radio, I've finally settled down with a XT862 using its own radio and running CyanogenMod 7 (I don't know if it's 7.1 or 7.2 though). In spite of RWALEY's instruction, the cumbersome process of flashing XT860 radio did neither show real improvement nor convince me. In the end, the cause might even lie with the provider. I might as well drop a call to customer service to see if they put any restriction, as happened to another member here.
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
So you used a XT860 radio on an XT862? I did not even know you could do that. Thought the XT883 radio on the XT862 was the only option, in that regard.
[Motorola Droid 3] phonephoenix:
I agree, And I would say that the first radio seems to be more stable. I have build prop issues or invalid sim issues or force close issues, especially with the newest xt883
[Motorola Droid 3] blackbuddha:
My bad, I meant to say XT883. How I wish it could be XT860 :o!
[Motorola Droid 3] Alex1123:
i need some help ive flashed the radio but know when i put in the sim card it doesnt ask me to input the code and in the settings the option to use gsm is gone can someone help me.
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
Most likely your build.prop is not setup properly. What ROM are you trying to use?
[Motorola Droid 3] Alex1123:
Im on stock this phone just had the radio flashed should i flash it again with the build.prop the option to use gsm radio and all that dissapeared randomly
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
Use one of the build.prop files from this thread, and it should work just fine. I would boot the phone without the SIM in, dial *#*#4636#*#*, and select GSM Auto (PRL) in the Phone Information menu. This will not work until you have a proper build.prop though.
[Motorola Droid 3] Alex1123:
ok but whats really strange is that when i put the sim in it doesnt ask me for the unlock code i have the unlock code ready but i cant put it in anywhere but ill try what u said and post my results. thanks

lol thank you so much after typing that in and switching to auto gsm prl it worked :D
[Motorola Droid 3] koukobin:
EDIT: i just saw your problem was solved.
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
Excellent! Glad you got it working!
[Motorola Droid 3] datinhkhach:
Hi , how to know what radio are using?

PS : Bad English ^^
[Motorola Droid 3] koukobin:
Go to settings --> about phone --> and read the field which says "baseband version"
[Motorola Droid 3] datinhkhach:
So , If replace XT883 radio.img from first page , what's "baseband version" filed say ?
[Motorola Droid 3] huythanhdang:
Pls would any one give me any suggestion. I have followed the instruction:

- Flash back to .890

- Safestrap and then SteelDroid 4.5

- Flash the radio and overwrite the build.prop

Now my XT862 becomes 883 with:

- System version: 57.1.60.XT883.ChinaTelecom.en.CN

- Model number: XT883

- Baseband: n_34.18.16s

I have forced the phone to 2G and manually chose the carrier.

However, the phone just said "Phone is subsidy locked. Contact..." and when I choose any carrier manually, it got the orange triangle icon with "Selected network unavailable"

I have repeated these times to make sure nothing is missed. Still couldn't got any clue

Shall anyone help suggest something that I can try out?

Many thanks to all!
[Motorola Droid 3] jmpz:
Your phone is locked. You should try to buy unlock code and if won't help then you are in my situation with a brick-like phone ((
[Motorola Droid 3] sic4672:
You need to either buy an unlock code, or ask Verizon to unlock it for you. They will do it if you have been a customer longer than 10 months.
[Motorola Droid 3] huythanhdang:
This is the last thing on earth I would ever wish to hear :( But thanks anyway.

So now my only hope is to send it back to US, find someone using Verizon to bring it to Verizon service to unlock?

Update: Thanks to all for your support. My decision is to DHL my D3 back to US to find a chance to get it back to life. Long live the Droid!!!
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
You need an unlock code for your phone. They are available many places online, including eBay.
[Motorola Droid 3] blackbuddha:
You don't need to send the phone back. You should try to get your relatives or friends in the US who have an account with Verizon to ask for the unlock code. Sending the phone to the US then importing it back will just cost you more custom duty and the risk of losing it.
[Motorola Droid 3] nemiroG1:
Or you can just try an eBay code:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...3+xt862+unlock+code&_sacat=See-All-Categories
[Motorola Droid 3] phonephoenix:
May not be possible to unlock even with the code. A lot of Droid 3's have had their IMEI's switched. Some estimate at 30%. I would say 10-20% but it isn't too uncommon for both codes to fail.
[Motorola Droid 3] huythanhdang:
Thanks for the advice, but do I really have to bring the phone when I come to Verizon service asking for the code?

Did anyone succeed getting the code without phone in US pls let me know :)

Cheers

---------- Post added at 07:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:50 AM ----------

That is exactly what I got, 2 codes from more than 2 sources, including swiftunlock and cellunlocker.net. The swiftunlock told me that thier database is from Motorola, and Verizon has changed them. So I hope the one provided from Verizon would work
[Motorola Droid 3] sic4672:
you don't have to take the phone to the store. You can call and have them unlock it for you. Best bet is let a friend or someone in the US activate the phone on their account, let them request the unlock code (provided they meet the criteria), and then once it's unlocked, have the friend reactivate their existing phone so you get the D3 back
[Motorola Droid 3] COMPACTER:
Ok to those that keep giving false information about unlocking please please please do not post unless you even know what the hell your talking about.

If you purchase a Moto XT862 Verizon or XT883 or XT860 these can all be unlocked by IMEI to work on either Bell, Telus, Rogers, Fido etc...

Do not send the members wrong information if you have no clue.

You DO NOT need to get Verizon to unlock or release the phone, just buy an IMEI remote unlock code and your good to go, i know this and can confirm this as i have done this many times myself and i have service with Telus, Bell & Rogers in my home.
[Motorola Droid 3] will5:
@COMPACTER. you are wrong. There are a couple of d3 that won´t unlock with a unlock code from ebay or somewhere else.

Verizon changed the codes on some phones.

They did the same with the droid 2 global, and still they haven´t found a solution.

The only way to get this phones unlocked, is through software unlock, like the russian team made for the defy. But still there is no sw unlock for d3. Im hoping that with kexec bootloader we can load a custom unlocked radio...
[Motorola Droid 3] 5318008:
Good news for everyone using a Droid 3 on T-Mobile USA.
[Motorola Droid 3] noobsquared:
I have a quick question for anyone who tried this.

I am stuck with something I didn't read properly.

Basically, I copied all the files, did rsd and now when I am in recovery, it says to do this:

install update zip from sdcard

select "SOLANA_SLNCT-57.1.60_Fastboot.zip"

repeat for "GoogleMobileServicePack_XT883_update_r7.zip"

reboot system

Did you mean "SOLANA_SLNCT-57.1.60_Fastboot.zip" or "Blur_Version.57.1.60-60.3.250.XT883.ChinaTelecom.en.CN.zip"?

We never copied "SOLANA_SLNCT-57.1.60_Fastboot.zip" on the device.

We used it with RSD lite so why would we select it again from fastboot?

I am guessing it was a typo and you meant:

Place phone in Recovery Mode ("x" + power)

install update zip from sdcard

select "Blur_Version.57.1.60-60.3.250.XT883.ChinaTelecom.en.CN.zip"

repeat for "GoogleMobileServicePack_XT883_update_r7.zip"

reboot system

Is that correct or am I missing something?
[Motorola Droid 3] leerpsp:
if its saying saying unlock failed then the code does not work and if you thank about it all you have to do is flash the radio and it will work with out the code i will not have verizon come the 1st and will have a bad esn so im going to flash the radio and see if it will work with out buying the code 1st by the looks of it no one has tested it and i think i will and if it works then no one has to wast the money on them codes no more so i will test that the 1st by how it looks and what my co workers have told me it will work with out the code because they have the droid 3 and told me they did just that so thats what i will do if it works for me i will let you know
[Motorola Droid 3] noobsquared:
Nvm, I'm an idiot.

Thank you.
[Motorola Droid 3] COMPACTER:
Well i am just advising that i have already unlocked 100 verizon phone and 10 of those were in fact D3's and 3 of those were recently purchased brand new from verizon from a friend in the USA and i unlocked them all using codes so i don't know if luck is involved but just from personal experience i have done them with success., Purchasing codes from ebay is 50/50 you need them done by a legit company and if all else fails if you do come accross issues you can always use MEID software, however using the unlock codes seems to be the fix in my opinion.
[Motorola Droid 3] MrObvious:
It is rare but it happens. Unlock4moto is a good site and won't steer you wrong.
[Motorola Droid 3] RWALEY:
I wasn't aware of MEID software being able to SIM unlock the phone. Thought that was just to reflash the phone to a different CDMA provider.

There is something with the IMEI algorithm being used on certain phones, just like on the Droid 2 Global. The unlocking services use the Motorola factory algorithm, for some reason Verizon has some phones with a proprietary algorithm that only they can unlock.
[Motorola Droid 3] will5:
Yep, it`s the same way of droid2 global.

Sellers of unlock codes are advertising about verizon changed codes. Most will work with unlock codes.,others wont.

Defy`s got a super simple soft unlock from a russian team. Just 2 files to replace and only works on cm7/9.

Hope anyone with knowledge could take a look.

Also, running an unsigned baseband with kexec should also do the job, but no unsigned bw atm.

Dont know about meid software, any link? Thanks
[Motorola Droid 3] nasty007:
hello

im using Droid 3 in Europe on GSM network, bought it on Ebay unlocked so i don't have unlock code.

everything is working fine but my question is if i ever going to need SBF (i flash a lot of ROMS) will i still have SIM unlocked phone or it will lock after SBF?

Thanks
[Motorola Droid 3] LaZiODROID:
Nasty: I've sbf'd my xt860 many many times and did not lose the carrier unlock. (Unlocked from Bell, using on Rogers, in Canada). I think you'll be ok

Sent from my XT860
[Motorola Droid 3] nasty007:
Thanks for speedy answer, im using xt862 but i guess(hope) if some day i must SBF it will be OK
[Motorola Droid 3] tspx23:
I got an unlock failed message but my sim card still worked and the error message went away when I entered the unlock code.

You will need an unlock code to use the d3 on a gsm network. I speculate that it failed because I used a T-mobile sim card, if you use a sim card from out of the country it should display a message saying that it is successfully unlocked.
[Motorola Droid 3] tspx23:
it will not work without unlocking the d3. if you managed to do this please share your steps.

I tried without the unlock code and it did not work for me.
[Motorola Droid 3] :
Just get a Milestone 3/XT860. About the same price and works out of the box with AT&T.