Database Users

settings for better reception?

i switched to att because i got a free 8525 and supposedly i got better reception at my home. when i first got the phone i went into field test mode and reception was about -85db. lately it has been around -98db. are there any settings to help get better reception?

i believe there is.. maybe try a different radio.. i can tell you one thing.. i had a tmobile mda and couldnt hold signal in my basement no matter what. but now that i have the 8525 unlocked i pull 2 bars constant

bump. my 30 days are coming up soon. called att and they put in an incident form. there's nothing else they can do. i love this phone and my rate is good. any way to get better reception?

juicychus said:
bump. my 30 days are coming up soon. called att and they put in an incident form. there's nothing else they can do. i love this phone and my rate is good. any way to get better reception?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your question was answered... upgrade your radio, it improved my reception a ton.
i you don't know how then read the wiki.

External attenna

Does Firmware affect HSDPA (TMo UK)?

Hi,
I'm finding I'm connecting only to UMTS, which is certainly nice, but I know I'm well within the HSDPA coverage zone so I'm wondering why it's not using that. I emailed T-Mo to check that HSDPA is enabled for my account (because I've read about people having some troubles with it) but they've verified that it is, so that's ruled out.
So now I'm wondering if it could have anything to do with the various new builds I've installed since I got it, or whether that could have no possible effect whatsoever. At the moment, settings is saying (And i don't really understand this so any explanation would also be very appreciated, even if you don't solve my problem at all):
Firmware version - 1.5
Baseband version - 62.50S.20.17H_2.22.19.26I
Kernel version - 2.6.27-00392-g8312baf [email protected] )
Build number - dream_devphone-userdebug 1.5 CRB21 147201 test-keys
Does it make any difference that I'm in the UK, or do the ADP build settings for picking up wireless internet (radio? is that the word I want? an explanation for that would be nice as well) work the same in the US as the UK?
Cheers,
Luke =)

Did you perform a speed test to determine your downstream speed? Anything greater than 384kb/s is HSDPA. All released Dream builds are configured for HSXPA. Check the build.prop.

Just ring T-Mo on 150 and speak to technical support, ask for HSDPA to be enabled because you want the better download speed. I'm currently on hold waiting for somebody to sort it out for me as I've never breached 384kb/s in an area where I should be able to get 4.5mb/s.
EDIT: Update time, managed to get HSDPA enabled but had to add web'n'walk plus to my contract, it took effect straight away and now I'm browsing at roughly 1.5mb/s though it does go quicker sometimes.
The phone status menu still states that it is connected via UMTS, so I think that the only reliable way to tell is by your speed.

All sounds interesting..
I wondering, is the reception for HSDPA vs UTMS any different/better?
Im constantly disappointed by my phones reception, 3G seems to be good outside, but crap indoors :-/
I guess I loose around 50% of all calls due to network issues. If HSDPA is a better signal then maybe it could help with this!
Although according to the signal bar icon, my phones is never truly without GPRS reception.. although im not sure I believe it! Sometimes I'm wondering if its sending data over the GPRS alot, and thats blocking the incoming calls (I know data over GPRS will block a call, but Im just not sure how much the G1 does this when its 'asleep').
Thanks for the heads up

I think HSDPA just piggybacks on the UMTS protocol to provide higher packet data rates, the actual phone call portion should remain the same. I've not had any improvement in call quality from the upgrade but then again calls were pretty awesome quality to begin with.
Also had the issue with both incoming and outgoing calls not getting through when in 3G mode on the phone, turned out that it was an issue with their masts and equipment but eventually they got it fixed, took like a month or so and not had anything too bad happen since.

(From OP)
Okay, so i'm in Central London, I usually get about 9-12 asu signal strength, and yet I've still never got more than that 384kb/s internet on the many speed tests I've run. Just got off the phone to tmobile tech support and they've double checked everything as much as possible and HSDPA services are definitely enabled on my account, so they keep reassuring me that HSDPA is variable based on signal strength and we can't guarantee you'll connect, but I'm really not convinced because I've never actually got HSDPA speeds.
Any ideas on what I should do? I'm paying for HSDPA but I'm not convinced I'm getting it. Anywhere I can go with such an insanely high signal strength that I can definitively prove somethings wrong if I still don't surpass 384kb/s?
The person at the desk said to try and find somebody with a G1 who is connecting to HSDPA, stand by them and see if I connect myself; I'm wondering if I could go to a west end t-mobile shop and boot up their model G1 and run a speed test on that, then compare it to mine.
Any of you guys in the UK actually getting more than 384kb/s, and if so any advice?
Thanks again, Luke.

insperatum said:
(From OP)
Any of you guys in the UK actually getting more than 384kb/s, and if so any advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in Burgess Hill in West Sussex, running JF ADP 1.5 rom with the associated radio update and according to Xtremelabs Speedtest app I just got 671.6Kbit/s down and 143Kbit/s up, my mobile network type is shown as UTMS and my Baseband, Kernel and Build versions match yours exactly.
Does that help at all?

atconc said:
I'm in Burgess Hill in West Sussex, running JF ADP 1.5 rom with the associated radio update and according to Xtremelabs Speedtest app I just got 671.6Kbit/s down and 143Kbit/s up, my mobile network type is shown as UTMS and my Baseband, Kernel and Build versions match yours exactly.
Does that help at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, well it certainly was very helpful. Narrows a lot of stuff out =D
As for useful, I'm not too sure All that's changed is I know there's somebody out there in seemingly exactly the same situation as me but without a problem
Oh also, what's your signal strength? I tend to max out at 11 or 12 asu.

insperatum said:
so they keep reassuring me that HSDPA is variable based on signal strength and we can't guarantee you'll connect, but I'm really not convinced because I've never actually got HSDPA speeds.
Any ideas on what I should do? I'm paying for HSDPA but I'm not convinced I'm getting it. Anywhere I can go with such an insanely high signal strength that I can definitively prove somethings wrong if I still don't surpass 384kb/s?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem isnt so much signal strength as bandwidth saturation. Unlike Time-Division based access schemes, WCDMA allows theoretically for an infinite number (limited only by how much bandwidth loss is considered acceptable by the carrier) of users to connect to a cell node over the same swath of frequency. By encoding each user's data stream with a unique code, the cell node can pick out a user's signal by looking for the expected coding (all the other user's streams appear as overlapping noise basically). Of course the more users on that same band of frequency, the more perceived "noise" there will be, which will result in reduced bandwidth for each individual user (you).
If you run a speed test at night, it should have a much better outcome.

jashsu said:
If you run a speed test at night, it should have a much better outcome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Midnight, 113Kb/s, and I'm off to bed. I'll see how it's doing in the morning. Night ^.^

insperatum said:
Midnight, 113Kb/s, and I'm off to bed. I'll see how it's doing in the morning. Night ^.^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yikes. How many bars signal do you have for 3G?

Morning -yawn-
jashsu said:
Yikes. How many bars signal do you have for 3G?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally 3 bars, and settings saying something between 9 and 12 asu. I think I was on 11asu when I ran the test last night I think I was on 11asu. This morning for some reason I'm down to 2 bars, 6 asu and up to 190kb/s. *sigh*
Oh, and by the way, t-mobile list my postcode as being within the 4 bar (out of 5 this time) 'very good coverage' area for 3G.
Recommendations?
Update: Blimey. Just went up to 12 asu and scored 350kb/s. Soooo close!

Oh my god! UPDATE!
So a couple of days ago I bought a packet of those crappy chinese £2 signal booster stickers which you just stick to your phone and supposedly you get insanely better reception, not expecting it to work at all but hey, what's £2 for a chance at amazing signal.
And it worked! Turned off phone, stuck it inside behind the battery, rebooted and BAM: first speed test I ran I got 550kb/s. Next one I got over 700!
So I'm really surprised. Anybody having similar trouble getting an HSDPA signal should definitely try getting a a pack of these on ebay to see if it helps.
=D
Update: Turns out all of the above is total bull****. Please disregard.

I have 4 full bars - My signal strength shows -77dBm 18 asu
Today I'm hitting up to 1288.0 Kbit/s too I guess that Burgess Hill is probably not too heavily saturated in terms of 3G use and it probably helps that I can see the 3g masts on the building across the street from the office window.

insperatum said:
And it worked! Turned off phone, stuck it inside behind the battery, rebooted and BAM: first speed test I ran I got 550kb/s. Next one I got over 700!\
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those stickers are pretty widely regarded as junk science. The reboot probably did the trick.

jashsu said:
Those stickers are pretty widely regarded as junk science. The reboot probably did the trick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah okay, I'll try again with a control and see how it does. Thanks.
________________________________________________________
Yep, you're entirely right. It was the reboot that helped (also coincidence played a nice part; it just happened that I got really high the first time I tried with the stickers in). I tried a few times without them, and didn't score too well the first two times, but got over 800 the third =)
So this leads me to my last question in my journey then. Why is it that my internet is really fast when I first boot up, and then sinks down again. No matter how many speed tests I did, nor when I did them I could never get more than about 350kb/s until I rebooted. Why should rebooting help - Programs I've installed using up resources? Overheating?
And thanks again Jashsu, you saved me from continuing to be a massive idiot.

I have run out of ideas! 3G Limited?

Hello there new guy here, and XDA noob
For a while now, about 2 years i have been stuck on a maximum of 250 kbps. Previously i had a HTC Desire Rooted and with custom rom Redux. I could never get above 250 kbps on 3g.
Now i have a HTC One X, and yet im still getting the same speeds, which kinda rules out any hardware bottlenecks. I can run on both T-Mobile and Orange Uk (because they merged). My brother owns a HTC Sensation and runs on the exact same carrier as i do and uses the same mast and manages to gain over 500kbps.. HOW?!
I tried ringing orange and asking if there was any limitations and they said no, they even put me through to the best tech service they had :l. Any ideas guys? I would be very rgateful if you could give me any insight. thanks

need more info. this doesnt sound right at all. where do you live? ever checked your distance to nearest cell tower? do you know of anyone else getting better speeds on the same network?
do you have proper network selected in settings? correct APN?
perhaps network build.prop tweaks? sometimes they help other times they can hurt..
also *#*#INFO#*#* select phone information and radio band.
could also have a bad SIM card if it is old.

I live in the UK, Around Birmingham and Coventry. I'm usually always on full signal and iv'e even been as close as the "Danger Radiation" sign lol My brother typically gets over 500 kbps and is pretty consistant... lucky B... :l
Correct APN? I presume you mean Carrier? im with Orange and it all seems grand.. so i think anyways.
Build.prop, i wouldn't know where to start with that ,i presume make a backup and try flashing an update.zip, if any problems use restore?
Not quit sure what im looking for in Phone info, help me out ?
And im sure it's not the sim card, it's the new micro sim that came with the phone !

APN = access point name
and you would only have access to your build.prop(properties) if you are rooted.
phone info; try entering this into the dialer : *#*#4636#*#*
select phone information (then you might need to press menu button) and choose radio band from there. You may also be able to change this in settings.
Is 500kbs the fastest speed you guys have seen? sounds very odd. I think I may have heard of this.. being too close to a tower causes terrible speeds, if it is fact the case, you may want to try connecting to the next closest tower. there should be some free apps around to view your cell tower info and possibly even change towers.
500kbs is not 3g.

Yeah it looks like all my APN settings and band is correct, if they weren't i wouldn't really be on a 3g signal what so ever. No other useful information is seen in info, Also, i have tried switching between carriers and tried the speed test on many many differen't towers. Im really stumped myself, and my phones rooted, but without RUU i can't install any Radio drivers can i?

3G service usually does not get above 2mb which in reality is only 200kbs.. i ran a speed test on a buddy's iPhone and it was only 1.54mb which is only 150kbs.... So you are right in the mid grade of speed... Get a 4G cell...

Those are horrible speeds for 3G at the least. Absolutely atrocious!
Have you tried consulting your carrier? Perhaps they could resolve the issue.

emuhack said:
3G service usually does not get above 2mb which in reality is only 200kbs.. i ran a speed test on a buddy's iPhone and it was only 1.54mb which is only 150kbs.... So you are right in the mid grade of speed... Get a 4G cell...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My brother has a HTC Sensation and is able to get 600 kb/s+ I hope your not confusing it with kbps ! Sorry if i confused you !
And yeah i contacted them a while ago and they said everything was fine from their end !
I have a HTC ONE X, surely that's capable of H+, Something isn't right.

Signal booster without wifi, or phone mod? RESOLVED - Sort of

Just moved to a rural area and the Verizon map shows I should have either 3g or 4g (right on the edge of the line between the two) in my location. But if I hold my tongue just right, at best I may get 1 bar of 3g. And if I'm indoors, forget it. Not even voice calls or texts. Any apps to try for this? I guess I kind of doubt it.
My main question is, has anybody tried any of the signal boosters? Not the ones that use wifi, because I don't get that in my rural area either. It seems I just bought a place in an infamous dead spot. I'm talking about one of the tower mounted "repeaters" like the ones at Wilson Electronics. There is a local company that sells and installs them, for $1800! Yikes! I'm wondering if they could possibly work THAT well? Anybody have any experience with these?
Edit:
I've sort of resolved this, in case anybody runs across this thread. Not the resolution I was looking for, but something is better than nothing. I wound up having to get a local "wireless" internet connection. Instead of broadband, its an antenna that goes on the roof, and a modem that looks like it was made in the 80's that goes inside. Verizon hooked me up with a Samsung booster and it actually seems to work really well. I've only had it for a day, but so far, no dropped calls, no crackling, great sounding calls and immediate text deliveries. Oh, and the internet is rated at 4mbps in case anybody is shopping around to fix a similar problem. Wish I had more info on the Wilson, non-wifi boosters. Maybe in the future...

scott_65 said:
Just moved to a rural area and the Verizon map shows I should have either 3g or 4g (right on the edge of the line between the two) in my location. But if I hold my tongue just right, at best I may get 1 bar of 3g. And if I'm indoors, forget it. Not even voice calls or texts. Any apps to try for this? I guess I kind of doubt it.
My main question is, has anybody tried any of the signal boosters? Not the ones that use wifi, because I don't get that in my rural area either. It seems I just bought a place in an infamous dead spot. I'm talking about one of the tower mounted "repeaters" like the ones at Wilson Electronics. There is a local company that sells and installs them, for $1800! Yikes! I'm wondering if they could possibly work THAT well? Anybody have any experience with these?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea about signal boosters but you can try different modems and see if that helps, if you haven't already. Just put your phone in download mode and flash thru odin. You may need to be rooted if you aren't. Not 100% on being rooted to flash modems but I would be rooted to make sure. I'm on NC2 leak and that modem was awful for me. Now I'm on NC2 with the NC4 modem and it's been lovely.
Link : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47400062&postcount=1

Thats good to know, thanks! I'm having horrible luck on NC2 as well. But my wife is using my old note 2 running an old jb rom I had on it (I think maybe cleanrom). She's having the same problems. So I know its not just the phone, it is the actual signal at this location. But I will try the modem change, since my signal has suffered everywhere else too.
Would still like info on boosters if anybody else has used them, thanks

scott_65 said:
Thats good to know, thanks! I'm having horrible luck on NC2 as well. But my wife is using my old note 2 running an old jb rom I had on it (I think maybe cleanrom). She's having the same problems. So I know its not just the phone, it is the actual signal at this location. But I will try the modem change, since my signal has suffered everywhere else too.
Would still like info on boosters if anybody else has used them, thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, then maybe my info won't help if you're wife's phone signal is sucking too, but I tried.

Sorry man, wasn't trying to be rude at all, your info was much appreciated! I just downloaded and installed the NC4 modem, I'm using it as we speak. I appreciate any help that anybody on these forums offers me. Your knowledge will undoubtedly help out my situation.
That being said, I'm also looking for information from anyone that has used one of these boosters for this other particular reception problem that I'm having. I was merely stating that, while your solution will likely help my phones individual signal strength, my location is requiring a little more effort than just a phone enhancement. Sorry if I came across rude or offended in any way. Its never my intentions

You weren't rude at all dude, sorry if I gave you that impression. We're good.....

Do you have land-line phone service? I'm thinking of getting one from best buy that costs about $300. It does not use the phone line, per se. It just uses the wiring as the antenna and boosts 4g. Don't remember the name. . .

LeftyGR said:
Do you have land-line phone service? I'm thinking of getting one from best buy that costs about $300. It does not use the phone line, per se. It just uses the wiring as the antenna and boosts 4g. Don't remember the name. . .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have the service, but the old house I bought does still have the wires in it. Same thing I suppose, unless it uses the voltage thats in the wires... Good idea, I'll look into it as well. Thanks!

If you want cell phone voice coverage get a verizon network extender if you have home internet. Otherwise use a wilson electronics db pro 4g or dt4g amplifier system. Amazon sells them at a decent price

[Q] Bad reception / dropped calls / no network

Hey everyone. I don't know if this has been discussed already but I did search the crap out of google only to find, we'll, not much really...
The topic title says it all.. I am having major issues with terrible data reception resulting in unsent SMS and straight to voicemail calls. It is getting really annoying. I have tried everything.. Changed SIM card, Odin back to 4.3 stock, flashed random modems in hope they work...
The really annoying part is that it gets great reception in so local areas.. I went to the BELL store to whine about the problem and the darnn phone was getting 4 bars. Made me look like a fool.
My wife has an s3 with bell and while I get missed calls she gets great reception so it can't be the ISP ..
Is anyone else about to go nuts? Is anyone looking at possible tweaks around this? Thanks

obtuce said:
Hey everyone. I don't know if this has been discussed already but I did search the crap out of google only to find, we'll, not much really...
The topic title says it all.. I am having major issues with terrible data reception resulting in unsent SMS and straight to voicemail calls. It is getting really annoying. I have tried everything.. Changed SIM card, Odin back to 4.3 stock, flashed random modems in hope they work...
The really annoying part is that it gets great reception in so local areas.. I went to the BELL store to whine about the problem and the darnn phone was getting 4 bars. Made me look like a fool.
My wife has an s3 with bell and while I get missed calls she gets great reception so it can't be the ISP ..
Is anyone else about to go nuts? Is anyone looking at possible tweaks around this? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMHO Bell sucks.
Canadian providers just suck.

nicholaschum said:
IMHO Bell sucks.
Canadian providers just suck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your insight lol..

obtuce said:
Thanks for your insight lol..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No seriously.
I have a Canadian Note 3, on Rogers. Occasionally I get only 3G, no signal, and little LTE.
Only in the most crowded places is there good signal, like downtown Toronto.

nicholaschum said:
No seriously.
I have a Canadian Note 3, on Rogers. Occasionally I get only 3G, no signal, and little LTE.
Only in the most crowded places is there good signal, like downtown Toronto.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree my man.. But as i stated, my wife on her S3 gets great signal where i do not... So i think the problem is beyond Rogers/Bell ..

obtuce said:
I agree my man.. But as i stated, my wife on her S3 gets great signal where i do not... So i think the problem is beyond Rogers/Bell ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try updating to the latest 4.4.2 firmware and hope for the best.

nicholaschum said:
Try updating to the latest 4.4.2 firmware and hope for the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
up to date alreay man. i am gonna revert back to stock again and keep it stock for a while to see if it's an issue with custom roms.
in the mean time, am i the only one with bad reception issues?

obtuce said:
up to date alreay man. i am gonna revert back to stock again and keep it stock for a while to see if it's an issue with custom roms.
in the mean time, am i the only one with bad reception issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I also have terrible reception problems on mine. I'm in the US (T-Mobile). This phone has the worst reception and I basically don't get any bars in most buildings I go into (where I used to have full bars on my galaxy s2). For data, I only see "E" all the time and rarely see 4G, again in places where I used to always have excellent reception with my old galaxy S2.
Waiting to see if anyone has a tip or a fix for this. I can't return the phone because I bought it second hand. :crying: