UE Capability and supported LTE bands for Samsung S8 SM-G950F

[coach]

Hello experts,

We have purchased a commercial Samsung SM-G950F UE for drive testing. According to multiple sources, this phone supports the following LTE bands: 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 32(1500), 66(1700/2100), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500).

However, when getting the UE Capability Information message from TEMS Investigation, I only get on the SupportedBandListEUTRA field bands 2,3,4,12 and 17.

Has anyone encountered this issue before? I need this phone for a project that uses band 20 (not listed in the UE capability message, but apparently supported by the phone) Could it be that the phone's firmware is restricting the UE Capability that is being reported?

Thanks

[eta004]

Hi,

Have you identifed the solution for your question ?

[parto_tegal]

Hi

Try to key-in this code: *#2683662#, you can check the activated LTE bands on the phone itself.
Unfortunately, this code is not always working on S8, only on G950FXXU1AQF7 (CMIIW).
Also be careful, flashing custom kernel may close your diagnostic port unless you have a "token" to re-activate it.

Regards,
-pt-

[coach]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply!

When I wrote my initial post, I had only tested the phone in a different country than where it was supposed to be used. When I took the phone to the actual operator's network, the UE capability message DID show band 20 and the phone worked properly. So it looks like the UE doesn't report all of its capabilities if it is not needed.

Regards,

[subway]

Hi,

.. So it looks like the UE doesn't report all of its capabilities if it is not needed.



That is not possible, as the phone does not know prior to registration what bands or band combinations are available in a given network. Its the other way around: the UE signals its full capability via the UEcapabilityIndication message, and the network decides based on that what "features" to activate. CA is a typical example to this. The only thing I can think of is that in the Samsung firmware there were some custom presets which limited this and likely other parameters based on SPID.

If you have a protocol trace, it would be nice to see it.

[qqzwc]

I thought that's a fimware issue which can be solved by editing build.prop or hidden menu

[general.1979]

I thought that's a fimware issue which can be solved by editing build.prop or hidden menu

engineer boot & ROM

[khurrambilal01]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply!

When I wrote my initial post, I had only tested the phone in a different country than where it was supposed to be used. When I took the phone to the actual operator's network, the UE capability message DID show band 20 and the phone worked properly. So it looks like the UE doesn't report all of its capabilities if it is not needed.

Regards,
Yes that is the case currently as band combinations and supported bands are so many that if each UE starts sending complete UE compbatilibility reports then it will increase signaling load, hence new features require UE to send only operator specific bands, If you want full UE capacility messages then you have to disable this feature.

[jfowyx]

On Samsung and may other handset vendors; there needs to be an agreement with the Operator on what bands will be supported on a handset model/firmware. So basically, the UE Capability is dependent on agreed bands allowed on the firmware/handset model and Operator SIM provisioning. UE capability adjust automatically depending on what SIM card you insert into the phone. The "open market" handset variants will have a wider band selection but will have limited features, like missing VoLTE capability etc.

[bluep]

Pleae show me how to get UE capability in Tems. I connect Sony XZ with TI 20, try to see in Mode reports or Layer3 messages. But cannot find UE capability information ( tried ti put UE in idle mode, no sim mode, call mode, download mode ...)

[BlackX]

connect to TEMS and flight mode on/off and you will see UEcapability L3 messgae