Replace radio (GSM/CDMA) in iPhone 5?? Help.

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Gamefreak924

Gamefreak924

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Aug 17, 2016
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I've been stuck with an iPhone 4s for a while and my friend decided to offer me her iPhone 5. I have it now, however, she was on T-Mobile, while I'm on Verizon (different LTE bands). My question is, since there's no other difference in hardware/software other than the cell radios, would it work just to replace the on-board radio chips with ones for a Verizon phone? I've seen a few videos online of people replacing individual chips on phone boards (including one on an iPhone), though not the radio chips. They usually just heat up the chip to remove it, and then place down the new one. Does anyone have any experience with this? Would this even work or turn out well? Are there any rules to follow when doing this? Any helpful answers or tips appreciated. Thank you.

Also, the model is A1428.
 
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hang-the-9


The only way you will change it is to replace the whole insides of the phone, which will cost more than just buying a phone that is made for Verizon. As I said, sell the phone you have, get one for Verizon. If you really like that specific phone since you seem to not want to do that, switch carriers to T-Mobile and activate that phone.
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Chaos2Theory

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Mar 3, 2013
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As a cell phone tech i can easy say no, there is no way to do this for your purpose. its built into the SOC which was already mentioned and there is not a way to replace it. Even if you did you would need to make software modifications to the OS to ensure that it supports the new radios in most cases so definitely no on iOS. I've seen crazier things on android.

 
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Gamefreak924

Gamefreak924

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Is there an alternative route? Would Verizon replace the motherboard for me for cheap to put on their network, or am I stuck buying a motherboard for $100?
 
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hang-the-9

hang-the-9

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Mar 25, 2010
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Considering an iPhone 5 made for Verizon is about $120-150 used, spending money on swapping out the guts of it would be silly.

Sell or trade the phone for one you can use, just make sure you do a factory reset on it and it's not locked to her account or is black-listed due to being stolen or on a delinquent account.
 
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hang-the-9

hang-the-9

Titan
Mar 25, 2010
60,387
1,081
152,940


The only way you will change it is to replace the whole insides of the phone, which will cost more than just buying a phone that is made for Verizon. As I said, sell the phone you have, get one for Verizon. If you really like that specific phone since you seem to not want to do that, switch carriers to T-Mobile and activate that phone.
 
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