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Aeternum

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So I have some questions about the lte compatibility. What companies are provisioning the devices IMEI's? Who and when will the be registered after manufacturing?
I'd like to slap it on Verizon for coverage reasons, and it should work fine, but there doesn't appear to be any clear indication the pyras imei will be accessible. At least easily. Which will be needed to activate it on an account with a carrier.
 
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Since when do imeis need that? Never heard of that.
 
In order to activate a device on a carrier it needs the iccid and the imei. Unless it's only 3g compatible in which case it just needs the iccid. The iccid is the Sim card. But each lte module/antenna will need to be assigned an imei
 
The module is produced with one already.
And the carrier automatically gets it when the sim card is insertet.
At least thats how i always thought it works.
 
Nah, each imei is specific to a company. It might be assigned when it's manufactured, but what company will they be registered with, and you can't dial activate the Sim because you can't dial #866 to activate. :p
Additionally, for the telephony, I assume an application will have to be developed to use that properly.
[doublepost=1522968772,1522968589][/doublepost]Smartphones can switch when already provisioned on a network because the Sim disconnect leaves it pending a new sim, courtesy of the intelligent folks at any phone carrier, they understand that a Sim was removed, and tell the nearest towers to return a waiting signal to activate with the new sim when you switch out a Sim. Phones are also default cdma, I doubt that the pyra will be a cdma device and as such won't be capable of certain things such as that without effort on the carriers part.

On a side note, I wonder what Verizon will classify the device as, non of my soups seem to have the slightest idea and there's nothing in out Acss systems. :p
 
I don't actually understand what you're talking about. IMEIs aren't assigned to a specific company, they're unique device identifiers. I haven't used a device that was "for" a specific carrier in over a decade. Buy new, unlocked phone, stick in SIM card, no problem connecting to network. Like, I did my homework and made sure the phone used the right bands, but otherwise it just works. I expect the Pyra to be the same. I suspect since you're "on the inside" you've got some specific knowledge that us on the outside don't and are using terms in ways we're not familiar with.

That being said, you won't have much luck with Verizon I suspect. The company that makes the radio, Gemalto, makes a Verizon specific one which makes me suspect that the default NA one that EvilDragon is going with doesn't support them.
 
Haven't read the whole thread but I've used AT&T before and Tmobile now and have always bought unlocked phone to use on their networks. 4G works just fine on a device that supports it. I even used a AT&T phone on Tmobile and a Tmobile phone on AT&T, they just needed to be unlocked.

Verizion. . . They are another story. My sister uses them and she can't buy a used phone UNLESS it is a Verizion phone, and even then she needs to call them to put the phone on her account, she can't just put her SIM in, which is BS. I don't think you'll be able to use your Pyra with Verizion, you could ask but I don't think it will be possible.

AFAIK Verizion is the only carrier in the world like this. If you aren't going to use your Pyra as a phone you might want to get a cheap carrier with unlimited data to use with your Pyra. If you switch carriers for your Pyra MAKE SURE YOU CARRY OVER YOUR PHONE NUMBER, it is easily transfered, just tell your new carrier your current phone number and they'll put a hold on it so they'll get it the second you tell Verizion where to go. If you do make sure you let them know why, locking their users into their phones sucks.

Sorry to tell you the bad news but it is just how Verizion is.
 
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This may be why Gemalto offers a Verizon specific chip, one which is "officially sanctioned" by Verizon.
So it is a chip, not a sim? so if the Pyra doesn't have it then it won't work?

I researched it years ago when I was helping my sister and remember now it used different bands but it was a while ago. I just remember I walked away from it knowing I'd never have them as a carrier. They are really popular here in the US but not with those who like hack their phones in any way.
 
As others have said already (but I'll make my own attempt to lay it out clearly if nobody minds), an IMEI is like a network MAC address, in that it's assigned by the radio manufacturer. The Pyra will have whatever is already set by the manufacturer of its 4G modem chip. You should be able to get this by trying to dial *#06# - which I think should work even if you've not got a SIM card yet. To begin with you'll need to look up a couple of hayes modem/AT codes and squirt them into a specific device under /dev to get it to return them, but that shouldn't be that hard to do. I don't yet know via what channel the code will come back mind you, but I'm sure we can figure that out once a few of us have our devices.
 
It was funy to read how Verizon's backwards and strange ways herited from the dark ages of cdma2000 would be the worlwide norm :D
 
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So it is a chip, not a sim? so if the Pyra doesn't have it then it won't work?
You need the SIM as well, but the cell modem chip comes in a few flavours, one of which specifically says it's for Verizon. It costs more.
I'm just guessing, but it sounds like Verizon is hyper restrictive of their network, only allowing certain pre-approved devices on, which is where this chip came from and probably why it costs more, to get the Verizon Stamp Of Approval. It still needs a Verizon SIM though.
I don't think there'll be a problem with any other carrier, but we won't actually know until someone tries.
 
It was funy to read how Verizon's backwards and strange ways herited from the dark ages of cdma2000 would be the worlwide norm :D
Hey now, I love verizon. :p
Also, anyone knows what this delectable looking key will do?
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Haven't read the whole thread but I've used AT&T before and Tmobile now and have always bought unlocked phone to use on their networks. 4G works just fine on a device that supports it. I even used a AT&T phone on Tmobile and a Tmobile phone on AT&T, they just needed to be unlocked.

Verizion. . . They are another story. My sister uses them and she can't buy a used phone UNLESS it is a Verizion phone, and even then she needs to call them to put the phone on her account, she can't just put her SIM in, which is BS. I don't think you'll be able to use your Pyra with Verizion, you could ask but I don't think it will be possible.

AFAIK Verizion is the only carrier in the world like this. If you aren't going to use your Pyra as a phone you might want to get a cheap carrier with unlimited data to use with your Pyra. If you switch carriers for your Pyra MAKE SURE YOU CARRY OVER YOUR PHONE NUMBER, it is easily transfered, just tell your new carrier your current phone number and they'll put a hold on it so they'll get it the second you tell Verizion where to go. If you do make sure you let them know why, locking their users into their phones sucks.

Sorry to tell you the bad news but it is just how Verizion is.

Dude that's just, smh, nvm. I'm a network engineer for Verizon, I work with a team on managing the national switch. I want to put it on the verizon network so I can hook it into some of our internal systems. Would be super cool to have a portable diagnostics tool for when i go in between network nodes and various cell sites. As for locked sims, the issue is that at&t and tmobile use lower band signals. Verizons CDMA network is not always compatible with gsm based devices, however now days, smartphones come with both antenna types and can be switched between cdma, gsm and global network modes. As long as the device isnt sim locked to another carrier, and can switch to global or cdma it will work perfectly fine on verizons network. As for cheap, my employee discount makes it infinitely better then anything a crappy carrier like tmobile could give me.
 
I'd assume that key will be mapped to win/meta by default - and will do whatever you configure it to do.

Obvious uses are:
  • Open an application launcher (as it would under Windows)
  • Open a system menu of some sort
  • Act as an additional modifier
It might also be used for triggering a hard reset, as the corresponding button is on a Pandora.
 
Also, anyone knows what this delectable looking key will do?

Pyra button:

It's a simple button.
I have it mapped on my Prototype to open up the Main Application Window.
Same as on the Pandora. That's the most useful setting in my opinion.

It might also be used for triggering a hard reset, as the corresponding button is on a Pandora.

Hard reset is to hold down the Power button for some seconds
 
I don't believe the Pyra supports CDMA at all. From what I've read, it's GSM only.
 
On Pandora:
the logo button will open "start" menu - what's this called in xfce/the non-windows world? application menu?
Holding it opens a menu for killing running applications - iirc
All very handy imo
 
I don't believe the Pyra supports CDMA at all. From what I've read, it's GSM only.
Yes, but GSM only covered 2G technologies; plain 2G, GPRS, EDGE and so on. None of those are really much use for a data centric platform. In the 3G space we went for UMTS and HSPA while I believe the states went for cdma2000 and EV-DO. However in terms of LTE (which is sometimes branded as 4G but isn't really) LTE is LTE and is the same on both sides of the pond, so even providers who use CDMA for their 2G coverage uses the same LTE (albeit on slighly different frequencies sometimes, which is why we have two variants of the chipset).

* My research shows that there are a few UMTS networks in the US, chiefly provided by AT&T. These will give US-cellular Pyras a 3G fallback if they can't find an LTE network.

To my surprise, SMS isn't an explictly 2G technology, although it arose initially with the arrival of 2G. It's actually part of the SS7 singnalling stack, thus shared between 2G (GSM) and 3G (UMTS) - no idea about cdma/cdma2000. I think if pure-LTE devices want to support short messages, they need to do it via the SCPT, and there seems to have been various proposals about how do that from five years ago or more - I'm not sure what most settled on in the end. I think where I am most expect you to still be connected to 3G in addition if you want to send an SMS.
 
AFAIK Verizion is the only carrier in the world like this.
South Korea used to be like this when they used cdma2000. Now it's UMTS and LTE with sim cards so no problems anymore.

Turkey has a nationwide IMEI whitelist to enforce a cellphone tax. If you want to use a phone (or Pyra I guess) bought abroad with a local SIM card you need to register its IMEI and pay a tax to do so. If you roam with a foreign SIM there is no need.
 
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