EU vs. US cellular hardware.


peasthope

Still Fresh
Joined
Oct 8, 2017
Messages
1
Age
73
Unfortunate that the world has two cellular systems; yellow and orange on the map. Given this circumstance and the prevalence of travel, I wonder whether a device can work worldwide. Can a chipset support both systems? Or one p.c.b., with some components duplicated?
 
There are more than two telephony systems in use at the moment, but yeah there are two frequency sets of LTE that cover a large part of the developed world. You could build a PCB that supports both, but at present you'd need two chips because nobody makes one that covers all of the freqencies just yet. Apparently one aerial can support all the frequencies you require though, so you can just have one of those in the optimal position at least.

In terms of the Pyra, these chips have quite a large footprint, so there's no space to put two of them on a mainboard and to wire them in unfortunately. Maybe in a few years somebody will make a chip that support all of the frequencies, as that seems to be the way the industry has been moving. We'd probably need a bit of PCB rework to support such a chip, but with the Pyra being a modular system that shouldn't prevent it working.
 
Yes, the manufacturer makes another cellular modem chip that is "worldwide". It's got a little from both NA and EU: it doesn't give you the full spectrum you'd get if you went with the region specific chip but it would allow you to get something nearly everywhere in the world, if you research it carefully.
I'm not sure if ED has any plans to use it though: it'd require a different antenna and it costs $5 more a piece, though the replacement of the chip itself is easy to do at manufacturing. Unfortunately it can't be replaced after it's been built, however, so you wouldn't be able to pick one and then upgrade it later.
 
There are more than two telephony systems in use at the moment, but yeah there are two frequency sets of LTE that cover a large part of the developed world.
I would add that in the developing world, the EU frequencies are used almost everywhere for 2G & 3G.

Yes, the manufacturer makes another cellular modem chip that is "worldwide". It's got a little from both NA and EU: it doesn't give you the full spectrum you'd get if you went with the region specific chip but it would allow you to get something nearly everywhere in the world, if you research it carefully.
I'm not sure if ED has any plans to use it though: it'd require a different antenna and it costs $5 more a piece, though the replacement of the chip itself is easy to do at manufacturing. Unfortunately it can't be replaced after it's been built, however, so you wouldn't be able to pick one and then upgrade it later.
Unless there is a new one, the worldwide modem doesn't do LTE which is why it was not considered. I wouldn't be too surprised to see Korea and Japan abandon 3G in a not too distant future.

I think if you are mostly staying in North America you should use a US modem Pyra and a global (EU) wireless router or cheap smartphone to use as a wireless router when traveling elsewhere in the world.
If you are mostly staying anywhere else, use a EU modem Pyra and use a North American device only when traveling there if needed. Or even use a roaming SIM card, when I traveled in the Washington DC area once for work, my EU phone had no problem getting network coverage so I guess there was at least one operator providing 3G service in a compatible frequency.
 
Last edited:
The Pyra doesn't support all frequencies, countries and service providers might only use frequencies for 4G the Pyra doesn't support.
When this happens the Pyra might be still able to use 2G/3G.
In case you cannot use any of these you can still use wifi.

If really need mobile internet in a unsupported country you could get a USB wireless dongle and simcard from a supported provider and use this on the Pyra (if this USB device is supported by linux).

For users that don't travel outside of their region this will be less of a problem.
 
2G isnt always an option
Not a big deal usually, Korea no longer has 2G and it's been a few years already, they have good 3G coverage replacing it. In France 2G is still supported everywhere but the 3G on 900MHz and 4G on 800 and 700MHz are being deployed a lot to prepare for a future 2G phase out.
 
Unless there is a new one, the worldwide modem doesn't do LTE which is why it was not considered. I wouldn't be too surprised to see Korea and Japan abandon 3G in a not too distant future.
Hmm, I could've sworn the PLS8-X had some US and some EU bands, like the PHS8-P, but now that I'm looking at it again it does apparently only have US LTE bands, build specifically for Verizon apparently. My mistake, sorry.
 
Well, they may have been asked for by Verizon but that doesn't stop you using them on any other network in other countries if any of them are using the same frequencies. Its up to you to find out if anyone else in your home country is using the same LTE frequencies.
 
I'm bicycling through Latin America right now and I have a US Tmobile plan that has had phenomenal coverage here. It uses the same spectrum as AT&T and Sprint so I'm getting the US one now and if I tour Europe afterwards I'll need to get at the very least the CPU board with the EU chip. I'm going slow though, I've been out 7 months and just today left Mexico and passed into Guatemala so maybe an upgrade will be out by the time I finish Latin America and I'll just get the EU upgrade.

Cellular and electricity/power plugs aren't universal globally unfortunately.
 
Well, it's all swappable, and to change either of them you'll need to power down the unit, remove the battery, remove the bottom screws and open the case. A CPU board can fairly easily be swapped from there, while to swap a main board all you need to do is disconnect the CPU board and the LCD cable, and swap out the board and reconnect everything.

But don't let me stop you getting a second Pyra ;)
 
Ah beans, that's right, I knew that but got mixed up. Hmm, guess I'll need to get a second Pyra then.

It doesn't matter.
All you need to do is to remove the mainboard and use the EU one.
You can use you CPU board with either version.

The only connected part is the LCD cable.
 
Well, it's all swappable, and to change either of them you'll need to power down the unit, remove the battery, remove the bottom screws and open the case. A CPU board can fairly easily be swapped from there, while to swap a main board all you need to do is disconnect the CPU board and the LCD cable, and swap out the board and reconnect everything.

But don't let me stop you getting a second Pyra ;)
It doesn't matter.
All you need to do is to remove the mainboard and use the EU one.
You can use you CPU board with either version.

The only connected part is the LCD cable.

That´s actually a very descent idea and a cool feature.
Change your mainboard an go to the US, come back and change back.
No need for dongles that could break off the USB port, no need for a second device, no need to sync data between devices.
 
It doesn't matter.
All you need to do is to remove the mainboard and use the EU one.
You can use you CPU board with either version.

The only connected part is the LCD cable.
I guess that would save a lot of money. I've repaired my nephew's DS Lite so I'm guessing I can do that.
 
Back
Top