yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] unremarked:
I've never said it was impossible, only very difficult. I had a customer come into my store once with an international HTC Trophy. The phone was up and running on the network, but she was having some pretty major issues--mostly around SMS, and MMS. I wasn't able to be much help to her because the system had no idea what the heck phone she was using. I had a feeling it was an APN issue, but couldn't find anything in InfoManager(... which is not surprising if you've ever used it).

I had another business customer who designed, constructed, and wanted to use his own custom 4G LTE modems on our network. It took a long time for the "certifications," but they were eventually given access. I wasn't much involved in that process, though.

Bingo. That's why I spoke up in this thread with the experience I have working at VZW. I usually steer away from unhappy threads such as people who are boohooing about some minor detail that they don't like about their phone(firstworldproblems) or defect threads unless I've experienced the problem myself.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] lilotimz:
I hope you Verizon guys do know the Nexus 5 CDMA + LTE side is strictly designed for Sprint using a single radio solution for both CDMA/1x And LTE. Verizon devices and practically every other carrier uses SVLTE (Simultaneous voice and data (lte)) and thus have two radios that handle the separate radio paths.

As such, the network needs to be able to handle said single radio solution and implement a circuit switch fallback system (CSFB) which Sprint users are experiencing first hand issues with thanks to legacy sites (which does not support CSFB) intermingling with upgraded sites and other shennanigans which effectively make your phone a 3G only.

In other words.. it's fruitless.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] hotleadsingerguy:
That's not true at all. To my knowledge, there is not a single SVLTE device running on Verizon's network, at this time. There's even a good chance they won't have one in the future, either, since they're leaning more toward VoLTE (which negates the need for SVLTE, since it runs using VoIP).

There are a few phones that have the capability to support SVLTE (the Motorola RAZR Maxx, Galaxy Nexus, etc...), but the functionality is currently disabled and will remain so for the foreseeable future, since Verizon hasn't even enabled the capability at the tower level.

Either way, what you're saying is irrelevant, with regards to doing what this topic is attempting.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] meballard:
I don't know the technical implementation, but actually a majority (I believe majority, certainly a lot of them) of LTE phones support simultaneous voice and data on both 3G and 4G LTE.

I know this from experience, I have used both the Thunderbolt and the Galaxy S3 as my primary phones on Verizon, and they both support simultaneous voice and data on both 3G and 4G LTE.

Relevant from a user perspective if/when someone figures out how to get the N5 working on Verizon, but not that relevant before then.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] unremarked:
As many have noted before, on Verizon, voice calls go out over the CDMA network and data goes out over the LTE. Thus, on Verizon you have talk/surf at the same time where you did not before on pure CDMA devices. And if you were in a non-LTE area, you wouldn't be able to do this. This is generally due to a dual antennae setup as noted in previous posts(also why you saw bad battery life on first/second gen LTE devices).

Interesting observation as a current user of both AT&T and T-Mobile: Their LTE networks disconnect when on a call, and you're passed to the HSPA(+) networks. Relevant to this conversation? Probably not, but I found it interesting nonetheless.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] geebdroid:
This is true. However, most if not all the 4g phones on Verizon support SVDO which allows simultaneous voice and data over the CDMA connection.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] hotleadsingerguy:
Again, not correct.

Both the Thunderbolt and Galaxy S3 (as well as a few other models) support SVDO, which is simultaneous voice and data over EVDO/3G, but not a single phone yet supports SVLTE -- Verizon has not yet enabled the functionality on their network.

I've owned probably 6-7 Verizon phones that worked with their LTE network (I change phones often) and not a single one of them has supported SVLTE. Probably half of them can support SVDO, but Verizon's 3G network is all but useless, so it's not exactly a huge benefit.

---------- Post added at 09:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:09 AM ----------

As for the first part, please read my previous post.

As for the latter paragraph, it's the same as CDMA networks: LTE does not support actual voice transmission. Once phones and networks start openly supporting VoLTE the phones will retain the LTE connection during calls, but until that point pretty much all phones on the market drop to EVDO/HSPA to make phone calls.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] joshnichols189:
Okay we get it. SVDO over CDMA+LTE and not solely LTE.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Johmama:
Found this thread over on the Nexus 7 forum: Just Got a Nexus 7 Activated on a New Line with Verizon.

That's just one prime example of doing things that are "impossible" because "Verizon won't allow it!" Now there are still two big hurdles we have to overcome: somehow activating Band 13 LTE (assuming we can)(Band 4 isn't yet widespread), and getting past the CDMA white-list registration. We may never get the latter to work, but this is still an endeavor worth investing time. There are still too many paths we have yet to explore.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] joshnichols189:
The Nexus 7 also has a different SoC than the Nexus 5, and again, there is no evidence that the hardware supports it in the way the G2 does.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Johmama:
My point being, there is no evidence to suggest that the SoC in the Nexus 5 does not support Band 13 LTE. As long as we are in a gray-area about things like that, this is worth pursuing. Heck, as long as we don't definitively know exactly what is keeping us back (different version of the same chipset? Different chipset altogether?), it's worth pursuing. I keep referencing the Nexus 4 and it's LTE support. It may or may not be as simple as a radio edit, but again, it's still worth it to look into it until we know.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] meballard:
I did not say it supported SVLTE, I said it supported LTE and a simultaneous voice call. I didn't specify it in my post, but I fully know that the voice call goes on CDMA, and the data stays active on LTE. The phones keep an active CDMA and LTE connection simultaneously, and allows for both to be active simultaneously. Regardless of how, my post was accurate in that a lot of Verizon devices support simultaneous data and voice while on LTE or CDMA, even if it using two different technologies simultaneous to support that.

Completely true for the iPhone and for AT&T/T-Mobile (not sure about Sprint), but since a lot of Verizon phones keep CDMA and LTE active simultaneously (including the Thunderbolt and the S3), you can be using LTE data while on a phone call.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] hotleadsingerguy:
Totally different...the Nexus 7 was created to support Verizon's network. The only thing holding it back there was Verizon not-yet being willing to activate it. The hardware supported it, completely. The Nexus 5 is different in that the hardware was never built to support Verizon's network.

Not exactly my meaning...When a phone supports SVDO it doesn't mean "you can call on EVDO and use data from your LTE connection". It means that, when you're on a voice call, only EVDO is used. This existed on a few Android phones, but only because those phones generally had 2 separate radios (both CDMA/EVDO radios that used the same frequencies). The second radio would be used for calling, which left the first connection active for data transmission. Moving to LTE allowed the initial batch of phones to support simultaneous voice and data because the LTE radio was a separate module installed in most of the phones. It was the reason the simultaneous use was doable, but it's also the reason why the battery life was horrible on the initial batch of phones -- they'd have to have both radios powered on, pretty much all the time.

That's different for most modern LTE phones, because they use a singular radio chip for all frequencies. Even the iPhone 5S/C now do the same, which means that phones utilizing a singular radio module cannot do simultaneous voice and data. In this case, unless you have a WiFi connection you're unable to use data while on a call...and that's true for mostly all modern smartphones on big red's network.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Johmama:
But that's my point. You're just assuming the hardware does not support Verizon's network. What if it does? What if all it takes to activate Band 13 LTE on the Nexus 5 is a radio edit a la the Nexus 4?

The Snapdragon 800 supports all bands that Verizon uses. Band 4 and Band 13 LTE, Band 0 and Band 1 CDMA. I'm not aware of any custom hardware revisions that were made to the standard SD800 chip that was put into the Nexus 5, but if there were none, then the hardware is compatible.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] satadru:
Ok this is interesting. So they setup a verizon tablet account on their sim, and then switched over the account to the new IMEI on verizon's site.

Anybody want to try this with their verizon tablet activated sim by switching over the active IMEI on the vzw web site?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bigshotrob22:
Won't work until the radio/bands are functional. Until then anything is pretty much useless. Maybe people who live in the Band 4 area can try it.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] satadru:
In a Band 4 Area. It's definitely not activating.

Amusingly/irritatingly, if you look at the box, it notes the supported bands:

LTE 800/850/AWS/

700

/1900/2100/TD2600

Grrr. Certainly looks like Band 13, right?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Dragn4rce:
So it's dead lol. Interesting.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] lankyboy29:
Wrong...

Check your facts people. The hardware is the same as the LG G2. Same modems.

http://www.thenexus5.com/nexus-5-is-compatible-with-verizon-so-why-wont-big-red-sell-it/

Is Nexus 5 Compatible with Verizon?

While these and other higher ups would like the Nexus and Android community believing that the Nexus 5 simply isn’t compatible with Verizon’s CDMA/LTE network, it has come to our attention that this simply is not the case.

In fact, according to an iFixit Nexus 5 teardown via a NetworkWorld report, Nexus 5 certainly is compatible with Verizon’s network – whether Google, Pichai, and the rest of those higher ups like it or not. It would appear that LG installed a tiny little piece of technology in the Nexus 5 that iFixit found that speaks the truth – and quite loudly.

That little piece of technology is called the Qualcomm WTR1605L transceiver – and it works to connect the different wireless networks together.

Qualcomm Transister

Transistor by Qualcomm Makes Nexus 5 Compatible with Verizon
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Dani897:
transistor? or transceiver?

also what good is a transceiver if you don't have the antenna... there are many phones that don't work on t-mobile 3g despite haveing the same radio as the equivilent t-mo phone... the transceiver doesn't mean anything, it's just one piece of a puzzle. even if the g2 baseband and ril can be easily ported it doesn't guaranty functionality.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] lankyboy29:
time will tell....
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] kylelipp:
There is no 4G Dummy ESN. There is only a 3G dummy esn (13800000400). The 4G ESN is a Unicorn. The only way I see this working is IF there is a way to flash the G2 modem, and set up a VZW APN. IDK im not a dev.

Def would love for this to work.

Im very happy about whatever deal with the devil was made, because I have the Moto X and Updated it to Kit Kat. Woo. First Lol :P

Source: Indirect Verizon Sales Rep.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] satadru:
Has anybody tried restoring a LG G2 qcn to their N5 using a tool like qpst?

Something along these lines, but with the LG G2 radio configuration.

I've never used qpst before, nor do I know which version works for the G2 and the N5, but since we're talking a qualcomm radio chip here (albeit newer than the one used on the SGS4) a similar process might work to that used to switch between radio configurations for the North American SGS4 variants.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] el6006:
When I received my N5, I took the Verizon SIM from my Millenicom MiFi. Needless to say, it didn't work. :(
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] imablackhat:
I had Verizon for 15 years. Just got my n5 and canceled. Didn't even try a new Sim. I just don't care. I went straight talk. Gave up my truly unlimited. Verizon is awful.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] equake:
This may or may not be relevant but I have a VZW GS4 that was able to connect to LTE using as SIM for AIO wireless which is ATTs network. But to connect to LTE I had to switch to LTE/GSM auto (PRL) mode in the device info screen.

I suspect that to connect to VZW that the modem must be toggled to LTE/CDMA auto (PRL) mode from the phone device info.

My 2 cents.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] satadru:
So to be clear, these are the bands that the radio is configured for, likely in the nv configuration for the radio. This device has been certified through the FCC to work for those bands.

That says nothing about what this hardware is actually capable of.

Other devices sharing a qualcomm chipset have been able to switch back and forth between enabled frequencies. This has happened most recently with the shared qualcomm chipset on North American SGS4 models.

---------- Post added at 12:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:41 PM ----------

That's not going to work. This is a phone device. The CDMA carriers carry all voice traffic over CDMA channels. These CDMA channels require the device MEID to be whitelisted. This device does support those CDMA channels, but the device MEID isn't whitelisted by Verizon, so it won't connect.

Non-voice devices should connect just fine, as the Nexus 7 does, since just LTE connections don't actually use the CDMA channels at all (unless you have fallback to EVDO enabled.)

Things may change once the carriers push out VoLTE, but until then I would suggest working to get the LTE bands supported, and then get the device to register as a tablet so it doesn't bother trying to connect up CDMA. If you can get the 700Mhz LTE working (through support of LTE Band 13, the 700 Mhz C Block), then Verizon should let you connect, since they're required to let all devices connect that have 700Mhz capabilities as part of the Open Access provisions of that spectrum auction.

(IANAL, so don't hold me to any of this.)
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] equake:
I'm just mentioning the how but if the requisite IMEI needs registration it will never get on the CDMA network.

I think because the Modem searches the networks in a particular order it will never register correctly anyways. In my particular neighborhood I was connected to band 4 on the ATT LTE network rather than band 17.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] butterflysmasher:
So I'm posting this from my nexus 5 on Verizon LTE. I don't know what's changed but I was able to register on the network with my sim card. No voice as expected.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] geebdroid:
Show me.

Screenshot or it didn't happen.

I mean it in the kindest way possible, I'm just a natural born skeptic.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] equake:
You must be in a LTE band 4 area.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Dragn4rce:
Hmm. I want to believe you. But then again anyone can just come here and say they have an N5 working on VZW LTE. A screen shot would be nice.

Not trying to be rude. Just we have A LOT of people here who couldn't connect just by putting in their sim card. So why would your device be any different? And apparently it is since it seems to work. So we want to know what is specifically allowing you to connect. A screen shot would be great like me and someone else already said.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] butterflysmasher:
I had edited my APN file manually a few weeks back, but I'm not sure why when I tried today verizon was there (unless they did just roll out the new band in my area).

http://imgur.com/a/sba3l#5 here are some screenshots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQQ-7uCLs2c Here's a video showing that it's a nexus 5 connected to Verizon.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dr_w:
If you don't mind saying so, where do you live. I'm guessing it's band 4 you are picking up.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] butterflysmasher:
I'm just outside of Atlanta
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Johmama:
Can anyone produce the legal proofs of this? I hear everywhere that Verizon is legally required to allow all Band 13 LTE (Upper SMH block C)-compatible devices to use that spectrum, and I believe it, except for one thing. As far as I know, people are still unable to activate their Nexus 7 'deb' without some workaround or foolery. If they are legally required to activate all Band 13 devices, how can they be getting away with that? Shouldn't they be liable for a lawsuit, or more plainly, a penalty?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] TheWhiteChallenger:
They are still allowed to put it through there approvals for network security reasons. Somebfar they have take about 3 times what their stated review and approval process should take (6 weeks) so should their be consistence. Yes. Will their be, only if someone high up at Verizon leaks something proving Verizon is intentionally dragging its fret on approval to prevent access. But on that note the N7 is really coming, there are already n7 accessories in vzws system with product numbers assigned they just show as "no stock" for now.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Johmama:
Oh ok, I suppose that makes sense. You can bet that they are intentionally dragging their feet, that's Verizon for you. But I suppose, as you said, they could just keep saying that they're trying to approve it.

Which brings up another point: could Verizon use the excuse "Well the Nexus 5 doesn't officially support Band 13, so it required hacks to make it compatible. Therefore, we view it as insecure and cannot allow it onto our network"? I bet they at least try to. Not that I want anyone to stop any progress on this front, this is just my prediction.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] TheWhiteChallenger:
That's exactly right but thats not even the really concern. FCC has not approved band 13 on a nexus 5 so hacking it in would be a major violation and thats serious. I don't specifically know the penalty for operating an unapproved radio band but recording a phone call your not apart of can carry up to a 10 year prison term. So you can imagine fcc regulation in general is not to be messed with. Now that being said launching a fight for approval with hacked radio is clearly shooting yourself in the foot slipping it in under vzws nose might be possible. Theoretically voice should be able to be made to work as sprint uses the same CDMA bands how that would be done, idk, but the hardware is there.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] satadru:
I imagine the penalties might be equivalent to enabling LTE Band 4 for T-Mobile on the Nexus 4. Many Bothans went to prison for that hack...
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Han Solo 1:
I hate Verizon. Which is why I switched to T-Mobile.

They are the biggest piles of garbage in the United States. I've heard of nation-wide cocaine trafficking rings with more compassion for their customers than the Big Red Pimple.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] obsanity:
I just started reading this thread and while I'm not going to argue with anyone I can provide some facts for you guys:

LTE is a GSM standard and devices will provision correctly unless IMEI is specifically blacklisted by the carrier. This is how the new N7 works by swapping the SIM even though VZW doesn't support it yet.

Radio images can not be flashed unless they are properly signed or the phone has S-OFF. In the case of N5 it is not possible and only official or leaked radios will work. And of course one could make a flashable zip file for recovery but flashing it could and most likely will brick your device permanently. There is no way to tell simply because nobody has source files to make heads or tails.

The legality of changing IMEI and even providing an option in settings has been greatly debated by CM contributors and ultimately Steve decided that CM will not include such a function. And it was not for legal reasons. It is technically legal for a person to do this for testing purposes, certainly Google has provided a way through fastboot, but it is illegal to use it to cheat or spoof service. Same reason why it is illegal to change a MAC address of a network device but many routers let you do it for various reasons.

The Snapdragon 800 is capable of many LTE , GSM and CDMA bands and has them all built in. The N5 has the same chip and radio as the Note 3 on VZW. The problem is with radio amplifiers and the limited amount you can fit on one device. Band 13 amplifier didn't make the cut on N5 and band 4 amplifier did on both N5 and N4.

Now for theories. You should be able to switch the N5 to LTE only mode and pop in a VZW SIM. It should work just fine for data. You should also be able to change an IMEI of your N5 with a known VZW device capable of LTE which was already provisioned by the carrier and it should work as a normal VZW phone. It will just not switch to LTE unless band 4 towers are in the area.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] unremarked:
It's interesting that you were able to do a Speed Test after your signal strength went from -115dBm to 0dBm while you were in the Settings app.

Admittedly, this could just be a fluke or a misreporting by the system due to your modified APN settings. In any which case, nice work. Very impressed.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] boogila2:
How did you get your adb settings to stick. Someone commented on your video and wanted to know and I'm curious as well
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] boogila2:
Also guys, I would like to refer you to this google groups conversation. Someone named "Ken GS4" Actually called verizon customer support and they helped him to activate the imei in their system!

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/nexus/Jv9FAwucMWM/7pIfTKxY5yUJ
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] butterflysmasher:
Huh, The APN file is actually back to stock.

I guess some other factor is allowing the LTE connection to take place (SIM card being registered I guess?)
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] lordscipio:
looks like verizon can register the IMEI, but it didnt work for some reason. See his post. Hopefully someone can modify the Kernel/ROM if that is what is preventing it from working

From the google forum:
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] speedfreak228:
Are there any dev's working in getting the n5 to work on verizon? I would love to buy one
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Dragn4rce:
I got my Nexus 5 yesterday. I think there are some tricks that I found that will work.

BUT I need the damn MSL(one way is sprint buuuut I'm a Verizon customer!) or get the phone into Modem Mode. Any ideas!?!
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Dragn4rce:
Got the code, tomorrow is the day I'll actually try to get it to work on Verizon.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] speedfreak228:
Let me know if you getting it working