Database Users

Sprint 4G in North Chicagoland!

I'm amazed, day 1 of launch I didn't get 4G anywhere except Chicago!
Over the past couple days I am getting 4G even in Round Lake & Grayslake, most surprising if you are aware of the area. It's relatively lower income in the area compared to the suburbs 10min South.
Around Lincolnshire I hit 3.8Mbps! I was under the impression 3Mbps was the cap, that's what I get (solid speed) when I checked 4G in Chicago.
I wont lie, I'm impressed, 4G was scarce just a week ago!

No 4g for me :<
You are lucky....
I live in Lake Forest - No 4g for me, and it's a very affluent area. Worse, I get NO SIGNAL in my home (3g / 4g, cell).
I specifically left AT&T because of dropped calls and lack of 3g service. I may have to leave Sprint because of no service....
Any idea if they will be adding towers anytime soon?
I wish there was a way to test Verizon before I switched again.

I have no idea, but hey...you've got another 2+ weeks to decide.
That does stink though, in general I've experienced good service...have you upgraded the radio on your Evo? That makes a difference.

I've rooted, and have a de-crapified build with the latest updates.
The lack of service also kills my battery, as it's continually trying to connect unless I go into airplane mode.
Major bummer :<

alexzogh said:
I've rooted, and have a de-crapified build with the latest updates.
The lack of service also kills my battery, as it's continually trying to connect unless I go into airplane mode.
Major bummer :<
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Call retentions and tell then you get lousy voice service. They gave me a free Airave and waved the monthly charge. Won't help with data much, with data, but works great for voice. You need a broadband connection with it.

I'm in Evanston and I've picked up 1 or 2 two bars of 4G while outside. Inside I had to get an Ariave. Speeds haven't been impressive so far, 3G actually has been faster when I've tested.

Have you tried flashing a verizon radio to your Evo? Maybe a better signal.

if you go downtown you get what i have in my sig
at my place by midway i get about 4mbps. yesterday i was testing and i was getting around 1 to 1.5 but today testing again i get around 3.5 to 4.5. maybe the weather was messing things up yesterday....i was testing while it was raining. today its gorgeous outside...

No 4G around Waukegan, IL either. Though I get full 3G coverage in and around this area, so I don't mind since data still loads pretty quick.

Grayslake has a 4Gtower - from there it's a long run south till the next. Lake Forest doesn't want any towers on their precious skyline so signal there sucks. Drives me nuts.
I ride the train into downtown from Grayslake so I've been watching 4g rollout closely - will stick with the Hero for a bit yet I suspect. No compelling reason to work around early upgrade mess and short supply. Yet.
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Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App

Anyone getting very poor reception?

I have had my G2 purchased off contract for 3 days now and other than the hinge issue and the 4g internal issue I find that my device just does not want to hold a signal other than E or G. What little time it spends on H is a small percentage of operation time. In the exact same location and time my Vibrant will hold 3 G at two bars and My Nexus One also at 1 or 2 bars the G2 stays on E at 3 or 4 bars or less and when I attempt to dl something it either hangs and goes to G or stays on E and I get the "trouble connecting with server try again and downland unsuccessful. This is the worst reception I have ever had on a phone in this same exact location. I think the G2 is a wonderful phone having the potential to be a super phone. I am hoping that this is just a defect with this unit and I have arranged to have a replacement. Anyone else having this issue?

may be a defect.. I get the same amount of 3G bars that I got on my Blackberry 9700 which is usually around full the areas I frequent.

To the OP I get the same exact problem. Unable to connect to Market even on Edge.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

I spoke with a TMO rep who stated it's a known issue with their network, only effecting 10% of users. I don't believe them.
Data Issue Thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=800322

ddgarcia05 said:
I spoke with a TMO rep who stated it's a known issue with their network, only effecting 10% of users. I don't believe them.
Data Issue Thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=800322
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I got off of the phone with a Rep from T Mobile and they claimed they had to change my web plan to suit the G2. They claimed different connections.They did give it to me at the same price as before but they also claimed it would completely change what has been happening to the device and my other phones(Vibrant and Nexus One) would see an improvement as well. So far after about 5 hours no change whatsoever except for slightly poorer reception. I am beginning to wonder if this G2 is star crossed and was not ready for prime time. I am starting to doubt anything TMobile says at this point.

i get poor reception unless im completely out in the open. i get no reception at all in house vs my iphone 2g, which got solid reception.

I get little to no reception in my basement, whereas with my BB 8900 the reception was poorer but still workable. At least the data works over Wifi.

getting the same problem with both of the G2`s i purchased data service drops and then comes back but thats been happening for about a month even on my touch pro 2

Happened to me also
My first G2 would randomly go from full bars to absolutely no service at all and I would have to turn it off and on to get service again. Since my vibrant wasn't having and problems like that I went and exchanged it for another G2. I haven't dropped signal but I frequently go from full bars 3g to edge or g and back and my data connection seems to hang every once and a while

I have great reception. Just a good as any other device I have had.

I got a replacement G2 yesterday afternoon and it is worse than the first one. The reception or I should say lack of reception is ludicrous. This is after T Mobile supposedly put me on a different connection type (whatever that is ) they could not explain it but did not increase my bill. The radio reception is much worse. The hinges are much looser than the first one and overall I am not a happy camper with this device. I go from 3 bars of H immediately to G than to 2 bars E and then no signal. It just fluctuates. Connecting to market is about a ten or 20 minute affair if it actually finally does connect. Downloading is sporadic at best. Phone has great potential IMO but it is flawed as released.

I get full bars of (H) a majority of the places I am. I'm out in jersey.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

I'm having the opposite issue as most; my cell connection is solid, but as soon as I hold the phone in landscape mode (or press my palm along the 'top' in portrait mode) I lose wifi connectivity instantly. Wifi Analyzer shows between a 20 and 30 dBa drop with either a G or N AP... apparently enough to go from four bars to zero, when I'm standing ten feet from my AP, and even more if I'm in the next room. I've tried the same thing with my G1, and I get at most a 5 dBa drop no matter which way I hold it.
Anyone else having this issue? TMo said that I was the first to call in with it, and to try returning/exchanging the phone under the 'buyer's remorse' period.
...I'll have to find another store though; the PFY manager at my local couldn't seem to understand why I would want to use wifi when I get solid HSPA+ signal, and insisted on redirecting me to the TMo Support phone number. He also seemed to be under the impression that wifi was slower than HSPA. Which might be true, if I didn't pay for a 28mbit connection at home. Or hadn't already hit the TMo 10GB/mo throttle cap.. which drops the data connection speed to 50kbps maximum. With no alternate 'truly unlimited' plan or way to buy even another 10GB.

I have had nothing but "H" yes i am in Boston, yes, yes.
Going to Maine this weekend, will let you know what it does.
H for Hysterically Hyperspeed

Add me to the list because I'm experiencing the same problems where I will be 3 or 4 bars into H and it'll drop down to to G and then back up to E, just sitting there on the desk. I'm on my 3rd G2 and they've all been like this. I was starting to think it's the network then I remembered my N900 was 100% solid 3-3.5G in my house although it did fluctuate quite a bit in between the two.

Fresno, CA G2 very poor data connections though hspa+
Very bad speeds in Fresno, CA that is HSPA+. Usually less than 1Mb down. Often see less than 500k. At a TMobile store with "a cell tower across the street pointing right at us" my G2 and the stores G2 demo phone only got a 3mb down.
I also see a weird pattern of less than 300k down with above 1.2M up often. There is a YouTube video showed some similar Speedtest.net hi/lo combo results called:
T-mobile G1 vs G2 "the face off"

same issue
i am having the same issue and i am bout 20 miles north of charlotte nc there has to be a problem with the antenna or something but who knows.

Atlant, Signal much better with G2 than with Vibrant. Thats about all I can say about it.

Mines is great if im not @ home. Dl are fast and full 4 bars. But we moved to another house which the signal sucks bad. I normaly get 1bar and edge but hell the g1 did the samething. So I dont see a probelm with the phone just tmobile network
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Du22ty said:
Add me to the list because I'm experiencing the same problems where I will be 3 or 4 bars into H and it'll drop down to to G and then back up to E, just sitting there on the desk. I'm on my 3rd G2 and they've all been like this. I was starting to think it's the network then I remembered my N900 was 100% solid 3-3.5G in my house although it did fluctuate quite a bit in between the two.
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Same here. About to take this bad boy back

Noticing stiff 4G cap recently :(

I get strong 4G signal at home and use it for my primary internet so I get a pretty good idea when things change. The past three days i've noticed the speeds consistently went way down, from 5-8 mbit to 1. Speed test app and dslreports both confirm almost exactly 1.0 mbit down AND up, consistently.
This is on either full 4G signal or all but one bar, and it sucks. I get almost the same bandwidth on 3g, around 650 kb down, 800-900 up.
I'm getting a bit irritated, as I know the speeds were much better just a day before. Has anyone else noticed this going on?

creyc said:
I get strong 4G signal at home and use it for my primary internet so I get a pretty good idea when things change. The past three days i've noticed the speeds consistently went way down, from 5-8 mbit to 1. Speed test app and dslreports both confirm almost exactly 1.0 mbit down AND up, consistently.
This is on either full 4G signal or all but one bar, and it sucks. I get almost the same bandwidth on 3g, around 650 kb down, 800-900 up.
I'm getting a bit irritated, as I know the speeds were much better just a day before. Has anyone else noticed this going on?
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How much bandwidth do you typically? ballpark?

might be tower issues/work network related, I yesterday had a 2.3mb 3g and 8.2mb 4g today

well dam just start a class action lawsuit

I tested again today, 1.01 megabits down and up, for the 4th day in a row. really starting to look like a pattern here. It's far too consistent to be network traffic/signal related, I get the same speed morning, day or night..
In the past i've always gotten between 4 megabits on a slow day and 8 megabits on a good day. I just hope this isn't the future of 4G coverage around here, I got on another 4G network 8 miles away with the same speed results, take from that what you will.
As for the class action lawsuit, the sarcasm really isn't necessary. You'd be annoyed too if you watched your speed drop 800% overnight and stay there.

Thats weak sauce and by no means 4G speeds. Have you contacted Sprint? Your area may either 1) not be live 4G yet so they are still doing tests or whatever the **** it is Sprint does or 2) the area is so saturated they are trying to get more fiber optics in there before uncapping it.
Do you have anyone else that has an Evo you can test to see if they get similar results? At least that way you can take yourself out of the equation.

This is common in a few markets. It is not based on throttling due to large data consumption as some rumors say. It is most likely clearwire having issues with towers, usage, etc. If you want to call and talk to someone about it I recommend calling clear and not sprint. What area are you in anyway?

I checked with Clear and they told me my 4G MAC address is operating on Sprints towers, not theirs, so they couldn't tell me any information about my connection or speed issues.
This does bring up an interesting point though, could I have been on the Clear network prior to this week, and thus the large speed difference is from changing networks?
This timeline coincides with a 4G network outage I had 4-5 days ago, and lasting around 24 hours. It's been slow ever since then. Could that have been the switch from Clear 4G to Sprint 4G?

Well I am not an expert on this at all... but I think the person at Clear may not have been correct. From my knowledge, Sprint has no 4G towers (unless you consider Sprint owning 54% Clear owning their towers as well). So if it were me, I would call back to Clearwire another day and talk to somebody else to see if they give you the same answer. I have spoken to various people, both at Sprint and Clear, and I get a variety of answers. The best consensus I have come to, however, is what I stated above - that Sprint does not own it's own towers. It is for this reason that Sprint has to keep pumping money into Clearwire even though they do not want to.
I have been having issues somewhat similar to yours here in the SLC area, but my speeds have been closer to 100 kb. As of yesterday, though, it seems to be doing better.

I spent 45 minutes on the phone with sprint "advanced technical support" where I was tossed around between various departments which all seemed confused by my use of the word "megabit".
One nice rep insisted on asking me "but is that peak bandwidth?" to which I honestly still have no idea how to answer that question, but they ultimately the speed is what it is. Go figure.
This kind of sucks, and makes me like my Evo considerably less. It feels like a cheap bait and switch tactic, except now its passed 30 days and I'm locked in. I'll be visiting the Sprint store (where I've had excellent customer service) and see what they can do for me.

I noticed something interesting the other day. I was holding my Evo on both sides of the bottom and I couldn't get more than 1-2 mbps then I held it on the top end of the sides and my bandwidth got way better almost up to 6 mbps. I tried this a few times each with the same result. Just earlier I reached over 8 mbps and it was still raising till the test ended which makes me think I may have reached up 10mpbs if it would've continued

That's because of the signal attenuation and where the 4G antenna is located in your phone.
Yes...all phones do it...just the iPhone's was a huge fail.

[Q] Reception/Connection issues severe/widespread?

Hi G2 users. I'm torn about buying this phone. I've played with it at the store and love the keyboard, speed, looks, and build quality. However, I've seen comments in this forum and others and in some reviews that the G2 has difficulty getting/maintaining a signal. (I've seen similar reports for the desire z). Though, it does seem like these reports were more common in October than in November. Was the issue addressed (by updates or replacement hardware?) or did users just get used to the issue and decide to focus on the phone's strengths? Or, was the issue never that widespread to begin with?
No matter how great the features of the G2 are, I don't think I could put up with the frustration of not being able to depend on it working when I needed it to. So, what's your experience been? (Interested in everyone's experiences, but would especially love to hear any comments from anyone in the New York City area.)
Also, as I'm new to T-Mobile, I'm curious if building penetration at such high frequencies is an issue I should be concerned about. I know Sprint's Wi-Max is using even higher frequencies, but I've read some very daunting tales about it's lack of building penetration.
Thanks very much for your help.

My experience has been meh. WiFi calling has made my experience better than I could ever have hoped for though.
Any signal issues are probably t-mobile's fault IMO.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 running Cyanogenmod.

I have a TP2 and a G2.. the TP2 has better reception than the G2.. the G2 slips a bit from the TP2.. with my TP2 inside my house, i will always have 4 bars (max).. with my G2, it'll switch between 3 & 4 bars.
also, it seems like data connection hangs randomly at times (data icon (H) stays lit tho).. not sure why this happens.. i don't have random data hang ups with my TP2.

My G2 has had absolutely worthless internet lately. I am getting quite pissed off that I'm spending the money on a data plan, I understand it sucks in my house, but when I am out around town I still barely get a signal. I'm literally getting speeds like 15kbps.

theratdude64 said:
My G2 has had absolutely worthless internet lately. I am getting quite pissed off that I'm spending the money on a data plan, I understand it sucks in my house, but when I am out around town I still barely get a signal. I'm literally getting speeds like 15kbps.
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u must be away from a HSPA+ tower.. i pull in 8mbps with my G2.

It used to do about 3500 down was my best... now it's WORTHLESS. I can barely even check a website for a phone number all over town where it used to work.

theratdude64 said:
It used to do about 3500 down was my best... now it's WORTHLESS. I can barely even check a website for a phone number all over town where it used to work.
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must be your towers.. they might be temporarily down, or your being throttled until your next billing cycle.

I just switched from a Nexus One, which can't hold a single worth crap. My G2 hasn't switched to EDGE at all and I get great speeds on HSPA+. Granted, T-Mobile has my area fully covered for HSPA+. I haven't taken it up into the mountains, yet, with it being winter here in Utah.

I'm in Brooklyn, so the reception is good outside, but once I get home, where I have only about 1 or 2 bars with edge and 3G, it will drop the signal sometimes. Sometimes even while texting, it will drop the signal, and will have to wait until the phone gains reception to send the message.

Blown away by how great signal is on this device in low signal areas!.

Just got my N4 last night, I have been driving the same commute for years now and i know every deadspot along the way.
Last night on my way home I was streaming the Anthonycumia show audio feed via Chrome, and I was holding 3-4 bars of LTE
when I got zero service historically. Unreal! not 1 time did the stream cut out when I was constantly having issues with all my older devices,
Droid x
Galaxy nexus,
Note 3
LG G2
Those older devices would all drop signal to 0 up in the sticks, where the Note 4 holds 2-4 bars consistently.
In the house, I would get 1 (2 if lucky) bars of 3g and could barely every hold a phone conversation.
Now, again 2-3 bars LTE and I can even use download booster.
Impressed to say the least. Anyone else noticing amazing signal?
Samsung finally has a great radio!

I'm with you, signal has been great.

I concur...i work in a lot of dead spot areas where the rich live and since they dont need cell coverage because of wifi they dont allow towers around. Note 3 was dead inside the house im working...now its mostly on 4g most of the time except for a few random outages...big improvement overall, at least if i walk out i get excellent coverage now
Sent from my SM-N910V using XDA Free mobile app

you guys are lucky...

The cell coverage at my house has always been atrocious, but I'm actually consistently getting a decent signal at my house with the Note 4. I'm really happy about it.

mlee0921 said:
you guys are lucky...
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verizon just sucks in general, but there's hope. call and complain about your awful speeds numerous times.
my speeds, when LTE first came out, were like 10-15mbps. then as more people got phones, especially the dumbass iphone, the speeds were horrendous and for 2.5 years, i would get 0.5mbps. yeah, not even 1mbps. 3g was faster.
so once a week, i called to complain to verizon over and over, and basically every time had them put in a service ticket because their tower was obviously unable to handle the amount of phones around here.
months later, all of a sudden my speeds jump...and now i'm getting a constant 25-30mbps every day in the same exact area.
honestly, i'd say complain and have atech goto the tower itself.

jayochs said:
verizon just sucks in general, but there's hope. call and complain about your awful speeds numerous times.
my speeds, when LTE first came out, were like 10-15mbps. then as more people got phones, especially the dumbass iphone, the speeds were horrendous and for 2.5 years, i would get 0.5mbps. yeah, not even 1mbps. 3g was faster.
so once a week, i called to complain to verizon over and over, and basically every time had them put in a service ticket because their tower was obviously unable to handle the amount of phones around here.
months later, all of a sudden my speeds jump...and now i'm getting a constant 25-30mbps every day in the same exact area.
honestly, i'd say complain and have atech goto the tower itself.
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Not to say your complains didn't work, but what probably happened was that they installed and enabled AWS (XLTE in marketing speak) in your area. Something that Verizon was going to do anyways.

oilfighter said:
Not to say your complains didn't work, but what probably happened was that they installed and enabled AWS (XLTE in marketing speak) in your area. Something that Verizon was going to do anyways.
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they claimed there's no XLTE over here. the only place in NJ that has it right now is atlantic city, and that's over an hour south of me.
i honestly think the tower was overloaded and maybe they worked on it. i'm in an area that was hit hard by Sandy 2 years ago, and since then, the LTE has sucked. apparently a lot of VZW fiber lines in the area were damaged bad during the storm, which is why we had little to no data service during the storm down here.

the voice quality during calls, sounds crystal clear. much nicer than the note 2!

I agree totally. Reception on this phone is unmatched by any Verizon phone ive had to date and ive had plenty. Its so good im hoping root comes in a hurry so i can freeze the update packages in titanium backup so the phone will not take an update and ruin the experience like KitKrap done to the note 3.

concur...at my desk right now, on my N3, I would barely get a signal. had to set my phone on the very edge of the desk near the window.
with this beautiful beast, I'm getting 4 of 5 bars.

I wasn't very hopeful after reading comments here but the signal strength for data has been WWWWAAAAYYYY better than my old GS3. I'd drop in and out going in and out of buildings and I go into a lot of concrete construction buildings and skyscrapers for work and usually I'd kick back to 3G. So far it hasn't dropped back and is chuggin' along.

Im coming from Motorolas and they have excellent signal strength. I dont see a difference in signal so it is a great improvement from the previous samsung phones ive had (S3 and Note3).

Both my wifes Note 4 and mine have had calls dropped and signal issues in our house. We just switched to Verizon for the first time. We came from US cellular and Straight talk and never had a single reception issue at our house. We live just north of Milwaukee in a town of 30k people. We called Verizon to complain and they started a ticket to have it checked out. The technician emailed me back a few days later and said everything is fine at the tower and in our area. He said there are several factors that can contribute to poor reception like building material of the house, tree/leaves foliage especially in summer months (ah its November and every leaf is on the ground now) and other RF in the area. Again, I never had a dropped call with any of my phones with US cellular in the 8 years I was with them. Needless to say, we were about to cancel our service with them and they offered to give us a free signal booster for our house. Hopefully this will fix our problems at our house, from what I have read, those signal boosters make a world of difference.
Whats weird is the signal strength is usually about -103dbm which is about the same when I checked with some of my old US cellular phones in our house. Because its happening with both my note 4 and my wifes, I don't think its the phone.
Sounds like the note 4 has good radio in it so hopefully my house is just in the cellular Bermuda triangle for Verizon and the booster will solve our issues at home.

This phone really impress me too with its signal power even in low signal areas it has really good signal.

Have to agree. I work at 2 locations and at the second spot there is horrible reception with my old Note 3 and iPhone 6 (when I had it). But when I came in with my Note 4 I was pleasantly surprised to see that my 4G icon was on with data. And my battery life is better because it's not working overtime for a signal.

No complaints here
Sent from my SM-N910V using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

my iPhone 5s (expectedly) got terrible signal at my school, so did my DROID Razr M. Now i'm rocking 2 bars of 4g. No complaints here.

Same here!
Noticed it while driving to work. My hour commute was hell with my note 2 if I didnt have music pre-downloaded to my phone. When I streamed music, I'd lose signal half of the trip (which is normal for any phone before the N4).
Last couple days I've noticed that I can stream music with little to no pause for streaming.

I live in bumfk... phone has a good radio regardless