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Show HN: See *almost* any carriers phone settings (carrierexplode.com)

2 points by simplyalec ↗ HN
Showing off carrier-explode, one of my side projects that continuously archives carrier settings for all major phone brands.

carrier-explode also contains decoders and explanations for all the common baseband configurations, etc.

There’s still quite a bit of work to be done in checking my assumptions, but the tool has already been proven useful for a few enthusiast groups.

58 comments

[ 1.8 ms ] story [ 51.1 ms ] thread
mrweasel
Not really sure what to do with the information, but I love the UI.
willio58
Also interested in this - what does this information unlock?
chiefwilsion
nerd tier 8. and after that you get nerd tier 9
tylergetsay
Reminds me of the CDMA days when the qualcom software got leaked
seba_dos1
It would be great to contribute whatever's applicable to https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mobile-broadband-provider-inf...
KetoManx64
Probably not a good idea if you used AI in any way to help with obtaining this info, they will ban you at the tiniest whif of you using AI
mitxela
Best is to contribute the info, make sure it's accurate, and if they ban someone for contributing accurate info, let them.

GNOME is a circus.

KetoManx64
I disagree, people should not donate their efforts to companies that hate them.
ahmedfromtunis
Are these configs read-only on the phone or is it possible to manipulate them using the data here to de/activate any service?
mycofunguy
What do you use the info you have gathered for? It seems comprehensive but curious as to how you use it?
doublerabbit
Jail broken phone and a modified plist. But expect to be axed by your network.
isomorphic
I saw this linked from MacRumors during the AT&T iPhone 18 Pro Max lockup news discussions. It was interesting to see what AT&T/Apple did to try to get ahead of the issue. So far it looks like they disabled 5G Standalone mode, possibly just to prevent a bug from literally destroying the hardware (possibly only on one batch of phones).

Apple/AT&T still haven't released any kind of statement addressing the issue other than to replace affected hardware.

kridsdale3
I straight up returned my iPhone 18 Pro Max last week. This was infuriating. I was having the baseband lock up and drop to SOS Mode on Verizon, so I got an AT&T eSIM (spent money). Same issue, full loss of connectivity 5 times a day requiring a reboot. So I got a T-Mobile eSIM (spent money). Same issue, full loss of connectivity 5 times a day requiring a reboot.

Then I read online that ONLY the Pro Max uses a Qualcomm modem and the Pro uses Apple C2. My wife's iPhone Air with C2 has great connectivity, better than my 17 Pro Max did before I swapped it for 18.

So I returned the Pro Max, got a Pro, am on T-Mobile full time and my signal strength is good now in buildings that I had 0 or 1 bar before, for years.

Fuck Qualcomm.

iririririr
interesting you're not slightest angry at Apple
teekert
Why would you swap a 17 for an 18? Just curious as someone who just uses phones until they break (just retired my iPhone 12).
subscribed
Why is Qualcomm your bad guy here? Do you think that was malicious, to hurt pro max?

They're not exactly fringe vendor, design bugs happen, but I thought the phone maker would be responsible for knowingly selling phones with faulty components. No?

etatester
This is super cool. Particularly for the fact that it just showed my country's operators rather than the usual America First.
esperent
[delayed]
pftburger
Same! I stayed on the site to explore instead of just clicking away. Seeing relevant information definitely helps engagement.
denysvitali
What's more useful, or at least was a while ago, is the CA combos list - basically showing which bands can be aggregated and how.

A while ago I built a decoder for that (Qualcomm only!), it was fun and helped me improve the support of my device for my carrier.

https://github.com/denysvitali/ca-combos-editor

tantalor
How did you build the UI? Is it custom?
simplyalec
plain old CSS w/ svelte (and their new-ish remote functions)!
roundup
Can I use these settings to disable incoming calls? Does GrapheneOS have this option at the android level?
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
KetoManx64
No, but you can automate rejecting an incoming call with Tasker
a022311
You could use SpamBlocker and configure it to block everything. AFAIK you can't do this at the android level. If you don't need outgoing calls either, just use a data-only SIM.
jakobdabo
I wonder which field is responsible for disabling the Personal Hotspot feature? About a year ago mine suddenly got disabled in the phone's UI. Since then, the only time it got enabled was when I was traveling and using a travel eSIM.

It's sad that phone companies allow carriers such anti-user things.

mitxela
Did you buy your phone through the carrier?

There are apps that can act as a SOCKS proxy for limited hotspottivity. Probably mostly on Android.

dawnerd
Mine did the same the other day. I had to toggle airplane mode on and off for it to show again. Probably just an iOS bug if I had to guess.

I have mine on an automation to turn on when I get in my car.

Melatonic
Sounds like a bug ?
FabHK
No, there are many SIMs/plans (typically those with unlimited data) that disable the hotspot (so you can't share the data with others or even your own laptop).
remix2000
seems like the relevant plist keys are CarrierEntitlements (to be removed from plist) and APN type (to be OR'd with the tether enable mask) see here for example https://theapplewiki.com/wiki/Carrier_Bundle

(and BTW, you can find more in-depth articles by quickly googling that term in duckduckgo or elsewhere)

rustcleaner
Nice! Thank you for this public service. Phone makers & carriers should be ashamed of themselves for hiding such important configuration behind proprietary formats. If you [lurker] are a decision maker who decided to make our world this way: for shame, for shaaame!
huijzer
Bible wrote that we wrestle against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12) and that satan is the god of this world (2 Cor 4:4) who deceived everyone (Rev 12:9).

Regardless of whether one believes this, it’s probably nice to know that rulers have been doing bad things for a long time already.

KellyCriterion
Impressive project!

For how long are you running this?

ac29
Not a new revelation, but I think its funny that there is a inflate_signal_strength_bool setting and many carriers set it to true
flyinghamster
It almost reminds me of the 2010s era US market, when both AT&T and T-Mobile passed off their 3G coverage as "4G" even though it wasn't. If you had a suitable phone and got onto a T-Mobile tower that supported DC-HSPA (dual carrier) it was 4G-ish, but it certainly wasn't LTE.

I'm just glad we don't have the GSM vs. CDMA games from LTE onwards. Of course, that doesn't guarantee your phone supports a given carrier's frequencies.

teknolog
What was quite bizarre with the 4G deceit was that at least in SF, AT&T were pretty aggressive with the real LTE rollout so they had to rebrand that to 4G LTE.
zeneno
This is very cool ngl I like it
rootsudo
This is a cute reminder from the old days of PRL files on cdma