LG Nexus 4 LTE comes with LTE 4G (Sort of)

As shoppers eagerly wait for the Google Nexus 4 to be restocked, early adopters have since received their phone and some hack sites have stripped the phone. As part of that initial approach, tech websites were quick to point out that there was actually a LTE Chip in the phone. Well, it turns out that the chip can be enabled with just a keycode activation. Easy Peasy.

To enable LTE, you need to go into a debug menu (by typing *#*#4636#*#* into the dialer) and change the setting from WCDMA preferred to one of the LTE-enabled options.

Depending on the telco you are using, you might have to enter an APN for it to be able to connect but it’s as simple as that. This have been verified on Canada’s Telecommunication Networks for TELUS and Rogers. Whether this would be enabled in Singapore remains to be seen, as Canada 4G LTE network operates on Band 4 (1700Mhz / 2100MHz), while Singapore M1, Starhub and Singtel are actually operating on 1800 and 2600 (Band 3 and 7) MHz frequencies. So while it would be interesting to see if the 4G enabled Nexus 4 could tap on the Singapore 4G infrastructure, don’t keep your hopes up for the time being. As can be seen from the three models of iPhone 5 to cater to the various LTE bands, it is unlikely that the LTE chip embedded within Nexus 4 would be able to support our local networks.

And that’s a bummer. While LTe is still in its infancy stage, it is still a good option to have. Furthermore, the Singapore 3G bandwidth have seen a massive slowdown last year and speeds did not seem to improve and had appeared to gotten worse in the recent months after the 4G LTE network was launched. Just read all the complains on the HWZ forum!