Xperia M5, technical differences between e5603, e5606 and e5653

[beniot9888]

Hello,

A friend of mine bought me an Xperia M5 while in Singapore. It's a e5653.

Unfortunately, it's not fully compatible with the LTE bands we use here, in France. The compatible model is the e5603, according to the M5 white paper.

Are the differences between the 2 models only software relater or are hardware related? Is there a way to flash the phone and turn it into a e5603?

Thanks,

[Hampus]

Hi,

To the best of my knowledge, this is hardware related when it comes to the LTE bands and not software related.

[Uliwooly · Accepted solution]

@beniot9888

LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 20(800) - E5603

LTE band 2(1900), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 28(700) - E5606

LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 28(700), 40(2300) - E5653

You can flash different firmwares BUT it won't change the 3G nor the LTE frequencies as this are hardware dependant not software. 

[beniot9888]

Well, too bad for me!

Thanks for the reply.

[Uliwooly]

@beniot9888

Anytime

[pjotrg]

Hi Benoit,

It depends also from the provider you have in France. The type of phone you mention does NOT support the LTE band 20 (800 Mhz), which all French providers support) but it DOES support the LTE band 7 (2600 Mhz, all providers in France support this band). To have a better 4G coverage with this specific model you should sign up with Bouygues, as they are the only one to also support LTE band 7 (1800 Mhz)

Bouygues	800	20	FDD	Jul 2013	N/A		10 MHz [8][95][96][97][98][99]
Bouygues	1800	3	FDD	Oct 2013		Jun 2014	15 MHz in use [8][97][99][100][101] Carrier aggregation of 30 MHz (CA_3A_7A).
Bouygues	2600	7	FDD	April 2013	N/A	Jun 2014	15 MHz [8][97][99][99][100][102][103] Carrier aggregation of 30 MHz (CA_3A_7A).
Free	2600	7	FDD	Dec 2013	Dec 2013		20 MHz [8][103][104]
Orange	800	20	FDD	Aug 2013	N/A	Jul 2014	10 MHz [8][95][105][106] Carrier aggregation of 30 MHz (CA_7A_20A).
Orange	2600	7	FDD	Nov 2012	Nov 2012	Jul 2014	20 MHz [8][103][106][107] Carrier aggregation of 30 MHz (CA_7A_20A).
SFR	800	20	FDD	Jul 2013	N/A	Oct 2014	10 MHz [8][95][96][108][109][110] Carrier aggregation of 25 MHz (CA_7A_20A).
SFR	2600	7	FDD	Nov 2012	N/A	Oct 2014	15 MHz [8][103][109][110][111][112] Carrier aggregation of 25 MHz (CA_7A_20A).

More info can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks_in_Europe

[beniot9888]

Thanks pjotrg for your reply. I indeed searched those information's and got the same result. Unfortunately, I was an SFR user.

I managed to solve the problem, though: I got rid of the phone. This 4g problem and an awful lot of bugs convinced me to do so. I could have lived with the reduced 4g cover, but as there was so many other stuff that disappointed me... 😕

Thanks again.