question about 2g and 3g and service - Nexus One General

Hello All,
I just recently purchased the AT&T nexus one and I just want to make sure my understanding of my question is correct or not. I have noticed that when I am at my house and if I have 3g enabled the signal bars next to the 3g icon are somewhere between 2-4 bars and are always fluctuating, But if i enable the option for use only 2G networks obviously the H or 3g icon disappear and the EDGE icon shows up but the signal strength is at a full 5 bars all the time not fluctuating. It was my understanding that the signal strength bars were completely seperate from the 3g or 2g icons. I thought that the signal strength bars represent my cell signal and whatever icon showed up was the data coverage in the area but they aren't related? Is this correct or is it that the signal strength bars represent the signal of the 3g or 2g?

The signal strength bar represents the 2g or3g signal strength.

Both of you are correct. To make calls or text the signal bars are need to use data the icons are needed.

But you don't make calls on 3g or edge. So I don't understand why the signal strength bars are lower when on 3g as opposed to edge unless its wat the first Guy said. And that doesn't seem correct cause that's basically saying my cell service is worse and I would have a higher chance of getting dropped or no calls at all when I am on 3g as opposed to edge.

not sure about your networks but on every other 3G network you make both call and data,,,

rimrocka0834 said:
But you don't make calls on 3g or edge. So I don't understand why the signal strength bars are lower when on 3g as opposed to edge unless its wat the first Guy said. And that doesn't seem correct cause that's basically saying my cell service is worse and I would have a higher chance of getting dropped or no calls at all when I am on 3g as opposed to edge.
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A couple of notes here:
- All you're seeing here is that 3G service is weaker than 2G/EDGE service at your house. Perhaps there are more EDGE towers around you than 3G-enabled towers, or EDGE runs on a lower frequency such as 850MHz that penetrates through walls better.
- If your 3G service completely drops out, you should fall back to EDGE during the call. There shouldn't be any interruption, but there's a small chance that the call will drop when this happens.
The latter happens to me on TMO all the time if I go into weak 3G, and I've never had a dropped call or issue because of it - so really, as long as you have solid EDGE service, phone calls shouldn't be a problem for you. Note that when you fall back to EDGE, you can't use data while on the call, but if you're still on 3G, it's possible to do so. You can of course combat by this by just using wifi.
Now, on the other hand, AT&T's 3G network is overloaded in some markets, so you may have a dropped call because of that - but that's a different issue altogether.

gsvnet thanks a lot! Cleared up everything I was wondering.

Related

Dropped Calls on X1a... No WDCMA to GSM handoff?

Hi everyone,
I'm on a fringe coverage area with AT&T. I have a pretty new sim card, but I noticed that I get a lot of dropped calls while on 3G (or H). I usually get 1-2 bars on 3G. Shouldn't the call I'm on, hand-off to Edge if the signal is not strong enough on 3G? Right now, its dropping the call altogether on 3G with no fallback to Edge. Is the Xperia's radio to blame for this?
Thanks!
i dont know who is to blame but if your on the fringe as you say, you should just manually set your device to use edge/gsm.
it will save on your battery and have less dropped calls. otherwise, you phone will keep bouncing between signals.
i also have the same problem and i am curious of the answer i dont want to lose 3g all together but i have 1 bar in my house and drop calls also.
Has anyone on AT&T tried to flash their xperia with the Raphael radio? Is the signal alot better?
not just exactly the same problem here, but similar (according to the network). at home, i have no 3g coverage and manage to get edge at best, problem is intermitantly my voice stops, even though i can here the other caller perfectly, the phone still keeps between 2-3 bars of signal, and i can even stay on the call over 30 seconds after it happens. the other caller can just hear like a dead noise. the network has me testing the 3g thing for the next couple of days though.
PS. this also happened with a K850i and a K800i

cdma signal preference

I know its kind of against how cellular is designed to work but I am in a situation where a sprint signal is only barely(0 bars) available and it decides to roam (with the triangle) to a uscellular signal. The problem is that its constantly trying to stay on the sprint signal, realizing that the connection isn't good enough and goes back to the uscellular signal and is just killing performance and battery. Is there any prl update or fix I can make with the evo to just stay on the uscc signal and forget about the crappy sprint signal at this location instead of hopping between the two? Ideally I'd like something automatic but I would even settle for a toggle. The uscellular signal is a repeater that was installed at my workplace. For example, in battery status my evo; the cell standby is at 39%
I am having the EXACT same issue in my office. The repeater signal in my office (850 MHz so it only repeats Verizon / AT&T / T-Mobile) is -70 dBm (full bars on my phone). The Sprint signal from outside through the foot thick cement walls is -102 or worse dBm (aka 1-0 bars). Why the hell will the phone not consistently stay on the higher power signal??
The techknowfile trick is NOT the solution to this problem. This seems like a problem with the phone itself - the whole point of a multi-band phone with free roaming is it should always pick the best signal (in my opinion).
I tried the techknowfile trick as well with no luck. Maybe a different prl? I used the 40060.prl file suggested.

Force phone to use H network instead of E

Just got the G2...awesome so far...only one annoyance. The tmo HSPA+ network has been available to me almost everywhere (in houston) but it seems to switch to the Edge (3G) network whenever it wants? Is there a way to force or to stay on the 4G network? Thanks!
GPRS (G) AND EDGE (E) are both 2G technologies (EDGE is on top of GPRS). 3G is UMTS, and HSDPA is again on top of UMTS. You can find a setting for 2G only in Android options, but there is nothing to force 3G speeds. The reason is that phone uses HSDPA all the time unless there is no HSDPA signal, then it drops to EDGE, or GPRS.
So you cannot force it, it's defined by what can the mobile network provide at that specific spot. If there is no 3G/HSDPA coverage, you have no 3G speeds. It is as simple as that. It's like if you would like to use WiFi even at places with no WiFi coverage - you cannot, because it's not there.
Ok, but lets say for instance sitting at my desk at work i'll be connected HSPA+ for 10 minutes and then it drops down to Edge? Whats the reason for that?
You were at the the borderline of what is and what is not a acceptable level of signal from the network tower. For 10 minutes it was above the limit, then it dropped and it was not more usable, so the phone dropped to lower speed.
thanks for the explanation man!
Wrong forum though. This this about having separate G2 and DZ forums is bound to lead to lots of this, I guess.

[Q] Sporadic Signal Loss

Okay so i've got an aria rooted and flashed with the Liberated 2.2 rom. I've been using it for the past 3 months and I've noticed that I will go from full service while a phone call is comming in and complete signal loss when I answer it. I have set the phone on a table and watched the network signal strength go from -113 dBm and 0asu to -81 dBm and 16asu and vise versa. I have also noticed that when I lose signal my "H" for the data goes with it and service comes back a few seconds later very strong but showing "G". From there it will go to "E" then back to "H".
Could anyone explain this or have a better reason as to why this is happening? Maybe its just based on the connection where I live but I've used the app Antennas and the tower is about 1/3 mile away.
Any info or help would be awesome
Thanks
i'm not sure why this would happen outside of a poor bit of service where you're living.
i used the various roms for the aria and never had any sort of service loss issue.
as far as the icons switching around, e = edge network (2g), h = hspa (3g). when your phone drops its connection, it tries to reconnect as fast as possible, usually with edge, then after its strong it looks for the 3g connection.

How to Show HSPA+ Signal bars when connected to LTE?

I realize this is a longshot, but I pretty much have 1-2 bars of LTE and 4-5 bars of HSPA+ everywhere. The issue is the signal meter always shows the LTE signal strength, so I have no idea how many HSPA+ bars I have at a given location , which gives me no indication of how reliable my phone calls are going to be.
To give an example, I could be stareing at my phone with Zero or 1 bars of LTE, and as soon as I recieve a phone call it switches to HSPA+ display and it has full bars.
I actually disable LTE completely because seeing 1 bar all the time as my signal just annoys the heck out of me. It would be nice if i could have 2 signal meters or some other workaround...
cloneman1 said:
I realize this is a longshot, but I pretty much have 1-2 bars of LTE and 4-5 bars of HSPA+ everywhere. The issue is the signal meter always shows the LTE signal strength, so I have no idea how many HSPA+ bars I have at a given location , which gives me no indication of how reliable my phone calls are going to be.
To give an example, I could be stareing at my phone with Zero or 1 bars of LTE, and as soon as I recieve a phone call it switches to HSPA+ display and it has full bars.
I actually disable LTE completely because seeing 1 bar all the time as my signal just annoys the heck out of me. It would be nice if i could have 2 signal meters or some other workaround...
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Just leave it on LTE. Whether LTE or H+, your signal strength for calls remains the same. You've only got one data connection, so multiple meters wouldn't be possible anyway. A better indication is your dBm/ASU numbers. You can find apps/widgets that display this information without having to go into your settings.

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