How to: Disable 3G or 2G on AT&T Bolds without debranding
- AT&T used to take away the option of using only the 2G network on the Bold. New versions of the OS let you pick 2G only, but not 3G only. The phone will favor 3G even in areas where 3G coverage is poor, and 3G drains batteries much faster. For many people, using 2G only is a good option for fixing this. On the other hand, the newest OS 5.0 betas reboot spontaneously when 2G is active, and some report that the reboots are dramatically reduced, if not completely eliminated by disabling 2G.
It has long been thought that the only to disable one band or the other is to debrand your phone, and the only known way to do that requires hacked software that was possibly leaked from RIM illegally, and the process voids your warranty. I'm not writing this to tell you whether or not you should debrand your phone. There are tons of threads here and on other forums about the topic, so I'll leave it to you to weigh the benefits against the potential risks. I'm simply writing this to let people know that it's possible to control whether your Bold uses 2G or 3G (or both) without voiding your warranty, as it doesn't seem to be common knowledge yet, even amongst power users.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO UNBRAND YOUR AT&T PHONE IN ORDER TO SWITCH BETWEEN 2G AND 3G!!!
Here's how you can do it without unbranding:
Step 1: Get yourself access to the engineering screens.
The engineering screens (or escreens) offer many settings you can't get to in the phone's normal menu system. When you get your phone from AT&T, the escreens are not accessible. They've been replaced by a screen called Help Me!
To unlock the escreens, open the Help Me! screen (press Alt+Shift+H or hold the alt key and type EACE). Enter the app version (including any spaces or parentheses), PIN, and uptime as displayed on the Help Me! screen into the form at this site:
EDIT: As you can see by following the above link, Thyth as forced to stop hosting a code generator. Here's on you can save locally: http://forums.crackberry.com/f83/eng...ml#post4305607
Type the code it generates on your BlackBerry with the same Help Me! screen still open. You won't see what you're typing, but if you get the code entered correctly, the escreens will be unlocked. They can be accessed by using the same key commands as above, for as long as you choose in the duration field in the form on Thyth's site.
Step 2. Read the following disclaimer, then open the escreen.
DISCLAIMER: The engineering screens are dangerous if you're not careful. Please read a bit about them before messing with them, and write down anything you change along with the order in which you changed things, so you can undo any changes you make. I'm not responsible for what you do to your phone by changing a bunch of stuff in the escreens. But then, if you were all ready to scrap your warranty by using pirated software to debrand your Bold, I'd still say this is perhaps a safer route. If you agree, proceed:Click on Mobile Network Engineering Screens, then PLMN Selection. Change the Selection Mode to Manual. If you want to force your phone to stay on 2G connections, disable RAT_UTRAN. If you want to force it to use 3G connections, disable RAT_GERAN. To allow it to choose between the two, enable both UTRAN and GERAN. The type of connection your phone finds will be listed under the Network List.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Does this unlock the network choice in the 'Manage Connections' menu, or do you have to go to the engineering screen every time you want to change to 2G/3G/Auto?
A: The Mobile Network menu is still the AT&T version, where the only choice is for data: on/off/off while roaming. You will be able to switch back and forth, just like non-AT&T branded phones can, but it has to be done through the escreen. Once you've done it a few times however, you'll find it doesn't take very long.
Q: Do you have to set this every time the phone is restarted?
A: The engineering screens will stay available for the length of time you choose on Thyth's site, even after a reboot. The changes you make to the PLMN screen do not. Restarting the phone or disabling and re-enabling the radio resets the device with AT&T's settings. Enabling or disabling WiFi also resets AT&T's settings, so be aware of that when you decide when to enable/disable each type of connection. It's also worth mentioning that when WiFi is not in use, leaving it enabled uses much less battery power than 3G, so leaving it on and then disabling 3G should still give you a noticable improvement in battery life.
Q: If I have both UTRAN and GERAN enabled, will the phone seek out either 2G or 3G and determine on its own which to use?
A: As of right now, I think it seems like my phone favors 3G when both RATs are enabled. I'm still trying to determine if Manual/Automatic mode or BlackBerry Network Selection have anything to do with which network the phone choses.
Q: So after 30 days, do you have to repeat the whole process?
A: Yes. Thyth's page allows you to gain access to the escreens for up to 30 days at a time, so you will have to unlock it again once the Help Me! screen comes back. His page works in BlackBerry's mobile browser, though, so getting a new code while on the go and re-enabling the escreens shouldn't be too much work.
Q: Is there a way besides unbranding that will unlock the escreen permenantly?
A: As of right now, I don't think so. It's entirely possible that I'm missing something and I welcome any information that proves me wrong, but the vendor branding seems to reload every time the radio is reset.
Q: What are all these other settings in the escreens?
A: Honestly, for the most part I don't know. Some are relatively obvious, there are some about which I have theories, but many of the options are fairly enigmatic at this point, and it's entirely possible that many of them don't even work when your phone hasn't been unbranded. Other threads are growing every day with discussion of the ecreens. Feel free to discuss other escreen settings in this thread as well if you want, but for now I think I will only be updating this tutorial with escreen settings that are relevant to the specific goal of enabling the features that AT&T branding prevents users from using.
Q: I want to make my changes permanent... Where do I learn more about unbranding?
A: There are threads in lots of forums that address the procedure, benefits, and potential risks of unbranding. Search engines are your friend. I recommend getting started by reading this thread: http://forums.crackberry.com/f83/unl...y-mean-182055/
A big thank you to Tronyx, Garz, Thyth, Croe, and others who have contributed to discussion of this topic! They've provided lots of hard work, and shared advice and information. All I did was gather it all into a single post, provide some personal trial and error, and take some screenshots.
Last edited by digitalb0y; 12-15-09 at 06:28 AM.
04-16-09 04:21 AMLike 0 - Also, I chose 30 days when I used the Thyth-O-Matic page, so I can't view the Help Me! screen for another 29 of them. If someone who still has a Help Me! screen could take a screenshot for me to add to this article I'd be grateful. Hope someone finds some of this helpful!
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com04-16-09 04:46 AMLike 0 -
- Unfortunately, my Mobile Network menu is still the lame-@$$ AT&T version, where my only choice is for data on/off/off while roaming. I can switch back and forth without even disabling the radio and still have a reliable connection after each switch, but I have to do it all through the escreen.04-16-09 05:34 AMLike 0
- Also, I chose 30 days when I used the Thyth-O-Matic page, so I can't view the Help Me! screen for another 29 of them. If someone who still has a Help Me! screen could take a screenshot for me to add to this article I'd be grateful. Hope someone finds some of this helpful!04-16-09 06:18 AMLike 0
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- Is this going to disable the 3G radio? I don't have 3G in my area, but I have an unlocked AT&T Bold on T-Mobile. I want to turn off the 3G radio to conserve battery. Will following these steps completely disable the 3G radio?
Last edited by Krynj; 04-16-09 at 09:38 AM.
04-16-09 07:32 AMLike 0 - Unfortunately, my Mobile Network menu is still the lame-@$$ AT&T version, where my only choice is for data on/off/off while roaming. I can switch back and forth without even disabling the radio and still have a reliable connection after each switch, but I have to do it all through the escreen.
Does anybody know if de-branding will bring the 3G on/off settings up in the regular menu?
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com04-16-09 08:20 AMLike 0 -
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How to: Disable 3G or 2G on AT&T Bolds without debranding
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