Database Users

a "U" where the "G" used to be

K ya know beside the signal bar it shows a "G" then if you click on it it asks if you want to turn on wireless, well now there is a "U".
Is there someplace that can tell me what all these symbols mean?

Wow.... seriously... where do you live?
The U means that you now are connected to UMTS which gives you the "broadband" access through your provider. Make sure you have unlim data plan. It will start to eat it up when you realize what you get to do with all that bandwidth. Have FUN!!!

well does it eat up data if you "dont" use messenger or web browse? AKA: just use the phone?
I do have a data plan for unlimited text messaging and i use Wifi when i wanna surf.

Quick guide:
Starting with the slowest.
Second Generation:
GSM
GPRS (the G symbol)
EDGE (the E symbol)
Third Generation:
UMTS (the U symbol or depending on localisation, 3G symbol)
HSDPA (the H symbol, if you've got this, then you're in for some fast download speeds)
It all depends on which network you're on and proximity to a tower as to what speed you will actually get.
There are other types, but these are the ones you're more likely to come across using a Hermes.

U Bet
ROTFLMAO.... I thought I had a bug in my ROM after flashing it, even went to the trouble of rolling back.
What a freakin' idiot I am!....

I live in an area where i see U and H fairly often up there.
However, to me it makes little difference, I don't download large files with the device. Web browsing seems mostly unaffected by the connection type.

Having the device in 3G or 3.5G modes does however drain the battery somewhat faster. I saw the difference in my Uni. Can't comment on EDGE as the Uni doesn't have it, I'll be getting my Hermes today so I should be able to comment on that.

It would be logical that the faster connection speeds would drain the battery faster, but I don't know how much faster we're talking about.
However, if battery life is a concern at all for anyone reading this, I would recommend turning off 3G altogether. Why? Web pages are going to render just as fast. Surfing the web is painful on these things regardless of the connection type.

On T-Mobile at least - here is a rough guide for the download speeds for different connection types. These are averages and do change and vary with signal strength. I work for T-Mobile, so these are accurate ^^
GPRS - around 44 kbps
UTMS (3G) - around 386 kbps
HSDPA (3.5G) - up to 1.8 mbps (increasing to 3.6 soon)
If you are on T-Mobile, and in a 3G area, then you will be most likely connected to HSDPA as it covers the whole of their 3G network.
Hope this is of some interest....

Doom Tints said:
if battery life is a concern at all for anyone reading this, I would recommend turning off 3G altogether.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But how? AFAIK it's not trivial with my unit: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=337485.

From your network type, select 'GSM' instead of 'Auto', which I'm sure it is on now. That will do the trick. You might see an 'E' if you service provider offers EDGE, but this won't be an issue, otherwise you will just see the 'G' again.

Thank you. Now I know that in this sense, WCDMA = UMTS = "3G" icon.

Doom Tints said:
From your network type, select 'GSM' instead of 'Auto', which I'm sure it is on now. That will do the trick. You might see an 'E' if you service provider offers EDGE, but this won't be an issue, otherwise you will just see the 'G' again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That looks notoriously like one of my posts earlier in another thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=337485

Yeah. Someone said OH MY I HOW DO I DO THIS IT'S HARD OMG and then pasted a link to your thread, which says clearly how to do it.
A simple cut and paste seemed in order.

Radio Access Technologies
Hmmm...u poor guys..in Austria the speeds are different:
HSDPA : 7,2 MB (yep MegaBits) DL and 1,7 Mbits UL
BTW: HSDPA is not 3.5G its just a bunch of new coding schemes and NodeB software mods :.)

homerjay1981 said:
Hmmm...u poor guys..in Austria the speeds are different:
HSDPA : 7,2 MB (yep MegaBits) DL and 1,7 Mbits UL
BTW: HSDPA is not 3.5G its just a bunch of new coding schemes and NodeB software mods :.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile UK will have these speeds by the end of 2008 all going well

Well my phone bill is the same so thats good
Text messages get sent a tiny bit faster, surfing is a bit faster. I dont see what the big deal about the HW upgrade was. oh well

3G on HTC TOUCH HD In NYC

Not trying to start any problems with my first posting but, The 3G icon on my touch hd has change a few times during since I purchased it, Does anyone know if this has been caused by any changes with EDGE.

What do you mean by has changed a few times? You never got 3G in New York did you?

The 850mhz bandwidth was converted from 2G to 3G. http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=2195
"AT&T is apparently changing the 2G and EDGE band, from its current 850Mhz to the weaker 1900Mhz. What that means, is that devices without 3G capabilities, like the original iPhone, will have to cope with the reduced coverage that the new 1900Mhz band has. In the other hand, devices supporting 3G networks like the AT&T Fuze, Tilt, Epix etc, will only benefit from this upgrade, as the 850Mhz band provides much better coverage, especially indoors."
Are you really getting a 3G signal in NYC? If that's the case I'm buying one

My Edge (E)icon has turned to G on about 20 occasions since purchase two week ago.Its not a steady G but will last about two minutes and then goes back to E

Interesting that you posted this. I am using my THD in NYC and NJ areas with T-Mobile USA. I have also noticed that the "E" icon on my THD had changed to "G" at some areas in NYC. But I have not noticed any difference in the data speed.
I just thought that my phone is able to acknowledge the T-Mobile 3G signal, but does not have to facility to access it. I do not know the technicalities behind it.

Isn't the "G" icon for a slower connection than EDGE? i.e. GPRS

yes!!!! now we have firm confirmation that touch hd is capable of 1G and 2G (EDGE)

buggybug0 said:
yes!!!! now we have firm confirmation that touch hd is capable of 1G and 2G (EDGE)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is fricken HILARIOUS...!!!

bugsykoosh said:
The 850mhz bandwidth was converted from 2G to 3G. http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=2195
"AT&T is apparently changing the 2G and EDGE band, from its current 850Mhz to the weaker 1900Mhz. What that means, is that devices without 3G capabilities, like the original iPhone, will have to cope with the reduced coverage that the new 1900Mhz band has. In the other hand, devices supporting 3G networks like the AT&T Fuze, Tilt, Epix etc, will only benefit from this upgrade, as the 850Mhz band provides much better coverage, especially indoors."
Are you really getting a 3G signal in NYC? If that's the case I'm buying one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What this means is that us in the usa better hope that we can enable 3G on the HD soon.

ya. even if tmobile does require both bands, one for down and one for up, it'd be nice if only 1 workded (down) and we were able to at least be able to DL quickly or something. any speed boost is better than none

Just to throw it out there:
Don't know if it is 3G but my "E" changed to "G" on few occasions, for few minutes here in LA, CA (T-mobile). I didn't sample the connection speed, however; thus, wasn't able to tell any difference with the download speed. Edge is good enough for my usage, tbh.
--cheers

aabye said:
Just to throw it out there:
Don't know if it is 3G but my "E" changed to "G" on few occasions, for few minutes here in LA, CA (T-mobile). I didn't sample the connection speed, however; thus, wasn't able to tell any difference with the download speed. Edge is good enough for my usage, tbh.--cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
G = gprs 1G which is not 3G and it's slower than Edge 2G....

When I look at the G settings
Its says GPRS,3G

aabye said:
Just to throw it out there:
Don't know if it is 3G but my "E" changed to "G" on few occasions, for few minutes here in LA, CA (T-mobile). I didn't sample the connection speed, however; thus, wasn't able to tell any difference with the download speed. Edge is good enough for my usage, tbh.
--cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You guys...these are the icons you'd expect to see on your HD for GSM coverage in order of speed:
G - Normal GPRS data
E - Enhanced Edge data
3G - 3G coverage
H - HSDPA, 3G turns to HSDPA on some networks while downloading data then switches back to 3G a few seconds after data use.
If you are seeing a G on the top bar, it means the HD is in the slowest GPRS data rate mode.

Thanks for the clarification, guys; I thought so. Oh well, no need for wishful thinking, then. 2G or not 2G...blah, curse you Hamlet!
--'night

Matterhorn said:
You guys...these are the icons you'd expect to see on your HD for GSM coverage in order of speed:
G - Normal GPRS data
E - Enhanced Edge data
3G - 3G coverage
H - HSDPA, 3G turns to HSDPA on some networks while downloading data then switches back to 3G a few seconds after data use.
If you are seeing a G on the top bar, it means the HD is in the slowest GPRS data rate mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
max speed technically...(at least in Germany)
GSM:
G --> 56kps (0,05MBit/s)
E --> 256kps (0,25Mbit/s)
UMTS:
3G --> 384kps (0,38Mbit/s)
HSDPA --> 3,6; 7,2; 14.4 Mbit!!! (depending on operator) --> sometimes called 3.5G
LTE (long term evolution) --> 4G (Generation)
coming in 2010 from 25Mbit onwards
using opera, just for surfing, i think EDGE is enough. (without using flash in opera)
regards
irm
p.s. @galaxys: the old analog network is to be considered as the 1st generation; GSM (incl. EDGE) is the 2nd generation. EDGE is some sort of speed upgrade like HSDPA for UMTS.
-

Blacqsmith said:
Its says GPRS,3G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your saying that it said 3G on the top of your screen not just G? If so can you post what rom/radio you are using?
You can find this in settings/system/device information

Blacqsmith said:
Its says GPRS,3G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this on the top bar or is it the popup network setting bubble? Take a pic for us...

There is a setting, probably hidden and changable via Advance Config and/or HD Tweak where if a network has 3G capability then it shows "<network> - 3G" (I disabled it via one of them)
This is regardless of whether your phone itself can handle the 3G network, which in the case of Touch HD it cannot as the device does not support the frequency of US 3G bands
Mine shows "O2 UK - 3G" for this reason regardless of whether it says G, E, 3G or H at the top of the screen.
Additionally, the "generation" things are as follows:
- - GSM - 1G
G - GPRS - 2G
E - EDGE - 2.5G
3G - UMTS - 3G (surprise surprise)
H - HSDPA - 3.5G

HSDPA or 3G speed?... I go crazy!

I have a question regarding the HSDPA on the TMOUS HD2. I used a Diamond back in Germany and when I was in an area with HSDPA reception it was indicated by a "H" in the taskbar. Now I am using the HD2 in Baltimore. From what I`ve read there should be HSDPA available arround here (especially since I am in Downtown B`more) however I only get the 3G symbol in the taskbar. I have also been in DC over the weekend and it was the same only 3G. But I am quite sure they have the HSDPA network available there. Does that mean my HD2 doesn`t get the faster HSDPA speeds at all?
I did a speed test using mobilespeedtest.com and IE.8 teethered WiFi connection on a Windows 7 system. My results in Downtown Baltimore are: "Your speed: 1428.571 Kbps Your latency: 0.561 seconds Transferred 100 KB in 0.56 seconds". With a 4 bars 3G symbol instead of a H in the taskbar. Aren't this speeds you would expect on a HSDPA network? I am running the original stock ROM on my HD2 by the way.

I am pretty sure most carriers use 3G with hspda enhancements, aka 3.5g, which would allow the speed above 3G's cap (364 kbps). As far as why your phone states H instead of 3G, it is dependent on the phone and icon set your phone uses. Some roms will show 3G and others will show H.

where do you find the HSPDA settings? I know they were somewhere but I can't find them!

I think the 3G/HSDPA is weird on the HD2. I can sit in one place and watch it change from Edge to HSDPA without moving the phone (and sometimes a random 3g will show up).
It definitely sounds like you have HSDPA since those are some nice speeds. Mine says 'H' and I get around 780kbps, so you're double that. As long as you have a fast data transfer (and you do) I wouldn't worry =)

Svegetto said:
I think the 3G/HSDPA is weird on the HD2. I can sit in one place and watch it change from Edge to HSDPA without moving the phone (and sometimes a random 3g will show up).
It definitely sounds like you have HSDPA since those are some nice speeds. Mine says 'H' and I get around 780kbps, so you're double that. As long as you have a fast data transfer (and you do) I wouldn't worry =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was in Las Vegas Convention recently, and witnessed the power of HSPA+.
HOLY CRAP. Why can't we have that speed ALL over the world?

I was always under the impression 3G was better than H. Perhaps it's a good thing then that mine's usually H then! Where does E fit into the speed scale?

E = Edge. the slowest.

actually GPRS is even slower than EDGE
if i remember EDGE = 500kbps
GPRS = 360kbps

GRPS = 2G
EDGE = 2.5G (sorta)
3G = 3G
H (HSDPA) = 3.5G

3G issue with Cyan on MT3G 1.2

I've installed a couple of the CM 5 ROMS based on the threads that say works on Fender. However, I am having the worst time with 3G. Downloading from the market is painfully slow and many apps will not work, because they rely on a 3G signal. For example, T-Mobile Visual Voicemail will not load. I cannot find a fix. Is anyone else experiencing this problem? Any solutions? CM 5.07 test 2.

I am noticing the same thing. I also can't access the apn list. It just gives me an error.

So frustrating. The ROM is great, but without 3G, it's worthless. And I can't search for networks either.

Yep that the exact same feeling here.

I think I might have a solution. Type this in to the dialer *#*#4636#*#* then go to phone information and then scroll down to were it says "set preferred network type" then select wcdma only. Let it drop the radio connection then it should connect to 3g. After that you should be able to reset it to wcdma preferred. This fixed my 3g.

My 3G works fine for me. But it shows as HSPDA instead.

Thats what I get now, but we weren't getting that earlier.

shadowofzeus said:
I think I might have a solution. Type this in to the dialer *#*#4636#*#* then go to phone information and then scroll down to were it says "set preferred network type" then select wcdma only. Let it drop the radio connection then it should connect to 3g. After that you should be able to reset it to wcdma preferred. This fixed my 3g.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, dude! While 3G isn't perfect, it's much better now. I really appreciate it.

Not a problem just found it trolling around the forum.

In the newest Cyanogen 5.0.7-test2, the H symbol really means EDGE. Just download Firerat's voice and data fix and flash that. It will fix up the spotty 3G that you are receiving.

My 3G is working fine I just had to flash the kernel for Cyanogen 5.0.7 Test 1 to fix the battery drain

I don't think that is true because that is what pops up when you switch it to wcdma. If you switch it to edge it shows E so I am sure it is 3g, also a quick speed test tests at 3g speeds.

3G = 364 KBPS connection
HSDPA (also called 3.5G) = 1.5 = 3 MBPS connection

BrutalDrew said:
3G = 364 KBPS connection
HSDPA (also called 3.5G) = 1.5 = 3 MBPS connection
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, should we use 3G or HSDPA? I still get random network errors on 3G, but the connection is so much better than before applying the firerat update, fixing permissions, and using the method shadowofzeus suggested. To be clear, the last is what helped.

from my understanding is that HSDPA is the next step up from 3G. this rom just opened up the phone to being able to support the higher speeds.

UberMario said:
In the newest Cyanogen 5.0.7-test2, the H symbol really means EDGE. Just download Firerat's voice and data fix and flash that. It will fix up the spotty 3G that you are receiving.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh. I put my phone on 2g only when I'm at work to save battery (the 3g in this area sucks). I usually have it on 3g everywhere else. When I use something that needs data (twitter, browser, market) it jumps up to H, then back down to 3g when it's done transferring data.

3g htc hd 2

At the top were you see signal strength I nebver seem to have 3G enabled and internet seems to be slugish I sometimes have the Letters G,H,U I don't know what these mean is there a way I can have 3G all the time?
Thanks. Stock Rom!

as far as i know h and u stand for 3g not sure tho

djteotancolis said:
as far as i know h and u stand for 3g not sure tho
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it does its so slow. I want to know how to enable 3G permanently.

were you getting faster 3g on other phones? and i think there is a cab but u may have to search for that

As far as I know (In my area) H is for HSDPA, which is an enhanced form of 3G. So it seems that you are getting 3G data... While G stands for GPRS, which is 2G.
No idea what the U would stand for though.
Also, if you have 3G enabled to auto-connect (I presume it is, if it's switching between the connections,) then your phone should just pick up a 3G signal whenever it can find it. If 3G is patchy in your area, you won't be able to get it all the time.

theblake said:
As far as I know (In my area) H is for HSDPA, which is an enhanced form of 3G. So it seems that you are getting 3G data... While G stands for GPRS, which is 2G.
No idea what the U would stand for though.
Also, if you have 3G enabled to auto-connect (I presume it is, if it's switching between the connections,) then your phone should just pick up a 3G signal whenever it can find it. If 3G is patchy in your area, you won't be able to get it all the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right I see when I'm on HSDPA it is still very sluggish until I seem to hit 3G and its like wi-fi, so my 3G is already connected just needs a place with good signal when I'm on way to college on the bus I seem so find a good area with 3G. Thanks for your help.

H = 3G
G = 1G (G is much much slower than E=Edge=2G)
If you want to have 3G only enabled go to Settings>Wireless Controlls>Phone>Band>WCDMA (Note that if you're in an area with no 3g, you will have zero signal and the phone will not switch to edge or gprs).

In the right order:
G=1G: 'Global System for Mobile communication', or GSM, basic mobile network.. can be used only for SMS and Phone calls
E=2G: EDGE (or 'Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution'), basicly GSM and GPRS (data transfer) combines..it allowes for speeds over the mobile network up to 9 600 bit/s
U=3G: 'Universal Mobile Telecommunications System', or 'UMTS' up to 2 Mbit/s data transfer on stationary devices and up to 384 kbit/s on mobile devices. About 40 times faster than GSM. This enables you to transfer data, such as images and be able to transfer data during a phonecall.. like sending a MMS or using Video Calls.
H=3G: 'High Speed Downlink Packet Access', or HSDPA, it allows for speeds up to 14,4 Mb/s though it is normally (at least in scandinavia) offered commercially in lower speeds, up to 7,2 Mb/s
Note: Because the most operators use high frequency to transmit '3G' signals, wich can cause your signal to be lower if you're inside (house or whatever, not outside), some operators though, transmit on a lower frequency, though then it's called CMDA, wich is also a form of '3G'

Had the same problem with a Telstra HD2 on Optus. Here's what you need to do. Settings -> Wireless controls -> phone -> Band -> Select auto for both. That should do it.