Phones
All active phones support these US LTE bands at minimum: B2/4/5/12/13/25/26/41/66/71. All active phones except the Pixel 3a, the A52, and the Moto e5 Play support at least n25/41/66/71.
| Phone Model | OS | SCP Suffix | Service | Carrier | Typical Band Lock | Addl. LTE Bands | Addl. 5G Bands |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung S21FE | 12 | _s21fe | T-Mobile | T-Mobile | n25 | 14/30/46/48 | |
| Samsung A42 5G | 12 | _a42vz | US Mobile | Verizon | 14/29/30/46/48 | 2/5/77/78/(260/261) | |
| Google Pixel 3a | 11 | _att | H2O | AT&T | B2/5/12/30/66 | 14/29/30 | |
| Moto G 5G 2023 | 13 | _tmo_b12_canadian | Tello | T-Mobile | B12 | 14/29/30/48 | 2/5/12/14/26/29/30/48/70/77/78 |
| Moto e5 Play | 8 | _tmo_aws_e5 | Tello | T-Mobile | B4/66 | ||
| Moto e5 Play | 8 | _tmo_pcs_e5 | Tello | T-Mobile | B2/25 | ||
| Samsung A52 5G | 12 | _a52 | T-Mobile | T-Mobile | B71/41/26/48 | 14/29/30/46/48 | 71 only |
| Moto G 5G 2023 | 13 | _tmo_n71_silver | Tello | T-Mobile | n71 | 14/29/30/48 | 2/5/12/14/26/29/30/48/70/77/78 |
| Moto G 5G Power 2024 | 15 | TBD | Tello | T-Mobile | n41 | 14/29/30/48 | 2/5/12/14/26/29/30/48/70/77/78 |
| Moto G 5G 2023 | 13 | _uscc | US Cellular | US Cellular | B14 | 14/29/30/48 | 2/5/12/14/26/29/30/48/70/77/78 |
| Moto Edge 2022 | 12 | _dish | Boost | Dish | 14/29/30/48 | 2/5/12/14/26/29/30/48/70/77/78 | |
| Moto G 5G 2024 | 14 | _tmo_n41_g2024 | N/A | N/A | n77 | 14/29/30/48 | 2/5/12/14/26/29/30/48/70/77/78 |
Comments on each.
Samsung S21FE - This is my primary phone. I've disabled all updates to prevent losing access to the band selection menu. Basically my favorite Samsung phone, which is ironic given how many I've tested.
Samsung A42 5G - This is my second-favorite Samsung phone. In each case, I bought Verizon-locked models and then ran 60 days of pre-paid Verizon service to unlock. This phone best handles 5G SA out of the non-S21FE Samsung phones, but still isn't ideal. I'm using the second one with an u
Samsung A52 5G - This phone has case damage, and is held together with electrical tape. I have had fits trying to get it to work properly with SA, and ultimately only convinced it to allow me to do n71 SA in a half-broken state; it otherwise supports the bands of the A42. I'm now using an inactive SIM and locking this phone to B71/B41/B26 to capture any LTE still running in those bands.
Samsung A32 5G - This phone does not provide TA values on LTE. - My least favorite Samsung phone. Can't use it on LTE due to lack of TA values, and similar issues to the A52 on NR. Currently on loan to my parents for use with Mobal's international phone service for traveling; thus, my B41/26 A42 5G is currently on n71 duty. On the other hand, this is the only phone I ever coaxed into showing me Dish's NCIs, which it did precisely twice, and never since.
Pixel 3a - Rooted. - This phone is fine, I suppose. Does a lot, also a decent size, but has some kind of power saving feature that keeps killing Cell Mapper, and only Cell Mapper. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out what's wrong without success.
Moto e5 Play (XT1921 - james) - Rooted. - At one time, I had standardized on these and had many of them. Alas, with NR now available, they're being gradually phased out. Still my favorite phone: small, supported all the bands I needed (AT&T needed a separate model), replaceable battery. These have the weakest batteries of any of the devices I have, so they both get prominent placement in two of my four dashboard phone holders so I can swap the power cord back and forth and prevent either from dying.
Moto One 5G Ace (XT2113 - kiev) - Rooted. - For whatever reason, it doesn't expose the band locking options for NR bands, so I use it with LTE only. Battery bulging badly, so this phone has been retired.
Moto Edge 2022 (XT2205 - tesla) - Rooted. - In theory, this should be my favorite phone, for a lot of reasons. Unfortunately, it has an issue on my Tello SIM where every so often, it acts like the SIM has been pulled and plugged back in, and my band locking resets. The Boost SIM does not have this issue. I don't know if it's inherent to the MediaTek chipset or what, but it has me wary of buying any more of these. It's otherwise ideal: supports every band I want to have, provides more accurate TA values than any other phone I have, has a built-in band locking screen. All it would need is support for NR TA values in an Android 14 update, and the continued availability of the built-in band locking screen in that update.
Moto G 5G 2023 (XT2313 - pnangn) - Rooted. - The first one of these I bought couldn't be rooted for some reason, and I'm going to have to send it in for service. Bought a second one in the metallic color instead of black on eBay ($125!), and got it successfully rooted. Very happy with this device so far. Like the Edge 2022, it has a built-in band locking screen and supports every band I want. Added a third one for US Cellular, which is locked to Band 14 outside of US Cellular territory to guarantee I catch it, and generally not band locked within US Cellular territory.
Moto G 5G 2024 (XT2417 - fogo) - Rooted. - Bought in the hopes of adding NR TA values, but no dice. Otherwise very similar to the 2023 model and perfectly usable.
