[Google Pixel 4a 5G Guides, News, & Discussion] yoyo linuxien:
Hi !

Some of you might have been able to enable 5G on your Pixel 4a 5G thanks to the answers of @Lemon200 and @mordof. I just wanted to post a complete guide to make this more clear for everyone.

PREREQUISITES

A rooted Pixel 4a 5G

Having QPST

Downloading the attached Xperia 1 Qualcomm Drivers

ADB

Be sure Network Signal Guru is closed

Connecting to QPST

Enable USB debug

Connect your phone to your Windows PC

Open PowerShell

adb shell
su
resetprop ro.bootmode usbradio
resetprop ro.build.type userdebug
setprop sys.usb.config diag,diag_mdm,adb
diag_mdlog

cancel (ctrl+c) once it starts to "hang" at failed to open diag socket

change usb config (file transfer, no file transfer)

Now open device manager, you should see an unknown device.

Right click the device and select Update driver.

Select "Browse my computer for drivers"

Select "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer".

Select "All devices".

Browse drivers in extracted Xperia 1 Qualcomm Drivers folder and select qcuser.inf

Then find "Qualcomm HS-USB MDM Diagnostics 90B6" and click "Next" to install it. Ignore the warning.

Now you can open QPST. Be sure your Pixel 4a 5G is correctly detected and open " Start Clients -menu -> QPST EFS Explorer"

Modifying Files

Now that you have QPST EFS Explorer open, go to the policyman directory.

We first want to edit carrier_polixy.xml. Download it and save a copy somewhere.

Enabling 5G

You have 2 ways to do that. You can either add your carrier by adding in the first list

<plmn_list name="plmn_carrier-country">MCC-MNC</plmn_list>

(replace carrier-country and MCC-MNC by the correct names and values, for example, it is plmn_free-fr for Free Mobile in France and MCC-MNC are 208-15 and 208-16[if your carrier have two or more MNC just add them all, it should be something like that : <plmn_list name="plmn_free-fr">208-15 208-16</plmn_list>])

And then add

<imsi_plmn_in list="plmn_carrier-country" />

(replace carrier-country by the correct names)

before the last

</any_of>
<then>
<rat_capability base="none">
<include> G W L 5G </include>
</rat_capability>
<stop />
</then>

---

Alternatively can add "5G" at the end of every rat_capability field.

You will go from something like this

<rat_capability base="none">
<include> G W L </include>
</rat_capability>

to

<rat_capability base="none">
<include> G W L 5G </include>
</rat_capability>

Save, and replace the file with the edited one.

If your Carrier uses DSS you should follow the next step. If it doesn't, you can reboot now and enjoy your new 5G phone.

The next step is very useful to actually connect to the antenna for carriers using the same frequencies for LTE and 5G (for example, B28 for LTE and n28 for 5G both using the 700 MHz frequency).

Enable DSS

We want to edit lte_feature_restrictions.xml. Download it and save a copy somewhere.

First, find

<plmn_list name="dss_plmns" ns="global">
228-01 505-01 505-11 505-39 505-71 505-72 204-04 262-02 204-16 204-20 232-03 232-04 232-07
</plmn_list>

Add your MCC+MNC in this list.

Then, replace

<lte_feature name="NR_DSS">
<all_of>
<boolean_test name="carrier:dss_is_enabled" />
<any_of>
<serving_plmn_in list="plmn_att" />
<serving_plmn_in list="plmn_cricket" />
<serving_plmn_in list="plmn_firstnet" />
<serving_plmn_in list="plmn_rogers" />
<serving_plmn_in list="plmn_dtag (high)" />
<serving_plmn_in list="plmn_vfie" />
<serving_plmn_in list="plmn_testra" />
<serving_plmn_in list="plmn_vzw" />
<serving_plmn_in list="plmn_tmo" />
</any_of>
</all_of>
</lte_feature>

with

<lte_feature name="NR_DSS">
<any_of>
<boolean_test name="carrier:dss_is_enabled" />
<serving_plmn_in list="dss_plmns" />
</any_of>
</lte_feature>

Save, replace the file with the edited one and reboot.

You should now be able to fully access to the 5G network.

---

To check if everything worked, if you are near a 5G antenna, you can use Network Signal Guru to check if you really are connected in NR-NSA (non standalone 5G).

You can also dial *#*#4636#*#*.

You should see NR Available : True and NR State : CONNECTED.

Also, be sure your preferred network type has been set to NR/LTE/*the other types of network your country uses*