Any way to switch UMTS frequency on 8707v?
 

Hi, this is my first post here. This forum rocks!

I never had a BlackBerry before and I wanted to get a cheap one with QWERTY to try out the service. My local telco is Movistar and they are charging an arm and a leg for a BB, so I bought a new unlocked 8707v on newegg and brought it to Argentina.

Movistar does not suport UMTS2100, so I was wondering if anyone has been able to hack the firmware to get the WCDMA chipset to work on 850 or 1900 Mhz. Maybe there is a way to crossflash the radio module from another device.

I tried to get info on the Qualcomm WCDMA chipset, but I could not find a teardown on the web.

Any ideas?

Axel

This is totally impossible.

Hi, thanks for the response.

Do you happen to know the part number of the Qualcomm WCDMA radio the 8707 uses?

Being a software developer I am curious so I'd like to check it out.

The radio frequency could be locked to 2100 due to marketing strategy or network certification. Maybe it does support other frequencies. I wonder if the internal antenna would work...

I don't know the part number unfortunately.

No, it does not support other frequencies.

If you'd like to use a BlackBerry on UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900, you'll need a Bold 9000.

The 8707 cost USD 149, while the 9000 with UMTS 850/1900/2100 costs USD 549. Too much money for what I need, just simple email reading/writing and Messenger service when I am travelling.

I guess I'll upgrade in a year or so when the prices are reasonable.

In understand, I was just letting you know that that is the only way to have UMTS on 850/1900.

It would still be nice to be able to look at the Qualcomm radio specs.

I'm sure they're available on the Internet somewhere.

Seems to be available at teardown.com but I don't have user/pass

I can't post the full link bc I don't have 10 posts yet.