A nice explanation of EDGE/3G/4G/HSPA/LTE
Network Symbols Explained
*As I’ve only had AT&T, I can only speak for how it is with them.*
Firstly, AT&T stock LTE phones always showing 4G is a lie. It will show 4G wether you have HPSA or HPSA+. Technically 4G doesn’t even exist. It’s a marketing gimmick.
According to AT&T here is how the symbols work:
- E(dge): GSM – The slowest of the slow.
- 3G: HSPA or UMTS – High Speed Pack Access and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
- 3G(+): HSPA+ – An upgrade to the HSPA protocal. This is your average network.
- 4G: HSPA+ – Tower upgrade. Enhanced backhaul. (essentially the same tech as 3G+)
- 4G LTE: LTE – Long Term Evolution. On LTE you should typically expect speeds no less then 20mbps.
If you are using the RumRaider ROM (as of 1/3/’12) your symbols will appear as:
- E – E
- 3G/3G+ – 3G
- 4G – H
- 4G LTE – 4G
via General Knowledge Thread – xda-developers.
Bell/Telus/Sprint/Verizon also operate an older 3G network using CDMA2000 technology. 1x, EV-DO and 1xEV refer to CDMA2000 extensions for enhanced data.
Gotta love when marketing brings “technical” terms to the masses.
Here’s how to “de-blur” a Motorola MB502 (aka Charm) from Telus Mobility. The process assumes a stock Telus Charm, and a Windows XP system, although tools exist that allow flashing from Linux.
- Download and install the Motorola phone flashing tools. This means the Motorola USB drivers (get them from MOTODEV) and RSDlite.
- Download the “deblur” sbf from Motorola (see http://and-developers.com/sbf:mb502 , download BASEM_U3_01.12.4_DEBLUR_SIGNED) and ungzip.
- Connect your Charm. Enable USB debugging under Settings > Applications > Development. From the notifications menu, make sure the phone is connected for “Charge Only”
- Run RSDlite, select the decompressed sbf file and flash.
- The phone will reboot once it’s done flashing. Wait for it to finish, then hold the power button and power down the phone. Remove and replace the battery, then power up the phone again.
Now, at this point, if you’re lucky, your Charm may “Just work”. If you see signal bars and can make phone calls, then you’re in the clear. Set up your APN and you’re good to go. This happened with one of my Charms, but oddly enough, the other (seemingly identical) device just wouldn’t pick up the Bell HSPA network. I did eventually get it working, but don’t remember the steps and now have two working Charms.
If your phone doesn’t pick up the cell network, then please wait for my next post. I will be intentionally bricking one of my phones using the T-Mobile ROM in order to figure out how to fix it.
Comments (0) 
Themocracy