Has anyone seen a notable drop in signal quality on the fascinate compared to their previous VZW phone?
I had a BB Curve 8530 before and I upgraded to the Fascinate in September. Obviously the curve is better for email, but I like the Fascinates potential in every other area.
However one quality of a phone that I think the Fascinate should excel in but so far has disappointed me is signal strength.
In the same places and locations I used my other phone, I see consistently weaker signal, occasional dropped calls etc. Why if this phone uses newer and presumably better technology than the BB Curve 8530 (which was only Evdo Rev 0 and not even Rev A ) does it have seemingly less reliable signal strength and quality?
My signal strength has been great, but I came from T-mo, so I cant compare. I have noticed that when I had my nexus, I would pick-up my wifi signal all the way to my mailbox, whereas now I lose it when I leave the front porch.
I'm talking about a 90' difference there.
I have had numerous issues with email connectivity but not voice calls. Took it back to the vz store 3 times, had 3 different prl lists sent to it, with no success. Got tired of dealing with the store & called vz tech support. While troubleshooting, the rep had me change the mobile data setting from automatic a (the default it had on it) to automatic b & I noticed more signal bars immediately after reboot. Still don't know if it'll fix email, my new replacement comes tomorrow.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
where is this setting located?
Sent from my Voodoo Fascinate using XDA App
I have noticed a slight drop from by Droid 1 but nothing too crazy. When I was driving though a dead area for cell coverage with my friend who has the Droid 1, mine went out of service about a minute or two before his did.
Yeah what you guys are talking about is on the mark with what i have been noticing. Weaker wifi pickup, etc
This is my first android phone but i learned that people do alot of custom baseband work. Do you know if anyone has done any work on the fascinate baseband?
The email issue was part of verizons "known issues" that were supposedly patched in the D01 update not too long ago... I still dont think my exchange email is 100%... my 30 days is up tomorrow
AlgorithmX said:
where is this setting located?
Look in menu>settings>wireless&networks>mobile networks>system select. Mine was set to automatic a by default, just select automatic b and try it.
Sent from my Voodoo Fascinate using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
There is no Automatic B option under settings.
You are right. From the home screen, press menu, select wireless&network category, swipe up page to access mobile networks category (near bottom of page), select mobile networks & of the 2 options you now see select the bottom one (system select). You get a pop-up window with "home only", "automatic a" & "automatic b". Select automatic b & back out of there. Reboot from the home screen & see if there's a difference. There was for me.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
It is true i used to have the DX at work and have full signal and with the SGS i have like 2 bars
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk
garywojdan81 said:
You are right. From the home screen, press menu, select wireless&network category, swipe up page to access mobile networks category (near bottom of page), select mobile networks & of the 2 options you now see select the bottom one (system select). You get a pop-up window with "home only", "automatic a" & "automatic b". Select automatic b & back out of there. Reboot from the home screen & see if there's a difference. There was for me.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only have home only and automatic.
garywojdan81 said:
You are right. From the home screen, press menu, select wireless&network category, swipe up page to access mobile networks category (near bottom of page), select mobile networks & of the 2 options you now see select the bottom one (system select). You get a pop-up window with "home only", "automatic a" & "automatic b". Select automatic b & back out of there. Reboot from the home screen & see if there's a difference. There was for me.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just checked mine, it only gives me two options, Home only and Automatic, there is no option for b or a.
GoogleAndroid said:
I only have home only and automatic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I lived in Ohio all of my life until about 4 years ago when I made the mistake of moving to California. I learned when I moved here and switched my billing that Verizon is still on at least 2 disjointed systems from all of the mergers and buyouts from years ago. In Ohio we had the option of Home Only, Automatic A and Automatic B. In California that option isn't available and there's only Home Only and Automatic. I believe (but don't quote me!) that in Ohio Automatic A preferred Verizon towers and Automatic B preferred Alltel towers.
Haha, I also miss how on the VZW system that Ohio was in you could tell if somebody was already on the phone when you called them because there would be a tone at the end of each ring!
garywojdan81 said:
You are right. From the home screen, press menu, select wireless&network category, swipe up page to access mobile networks category (near bottom of page), select mobile networks & of the 2 options you now see select the bottom one (system select). You get a pop-up window with "home only", "automatic a" & "automatic b". Select automatic b & back out of there. Reboot from the home screen & see if there's a difference. There was for me.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only have Home and Automatic. There is not A or B.
garywojdan81 said:
You are right. From the home screen, press menu, select wireless&network category, swipe up page to access mobile networks category (near bottom of page), select mobile networks & of the 2 options you now see select the bottom one (system select). You get a pop-up window with "home only", "automatic a" & "automatic b". Select automatic b & back out of there. Reboot from the home screen & see if there's a difference. There was for me.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No a or b. Just "Home Only" and "Automatic"
Oops,,my bad. I am a former alltel customer in a former alltel area & was unaware of the disparity in configurations across the country.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
garywojdan81 said:
Oops,,my bad. I am a former alltel customer in a former alltel area & was unaware of the disparity in configurations across the country.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You gave me a boner there for a second, I have terrible signal consistency and when I saw no A or B setting, I went soft.
+1
Sent from my Voodoo Fascinate using XDA App
Not that it'll solve your baseband issues... but being that I am a legacy alltel customer, I get shafted with a horrible PRL... manually changing it out got me on the full scale verizon towers and now i'm a good 10-15db better.
Anyways, same thing happened on my Droid Inc... put together a guide tonight for the fascinate for others if you wish to try out different PRL's. Depending on where you live, some that prefer alltel towers over verizon might give you a better signal (if you're a verizon customer) etc..
I don't have this option either.. just Home Only, or Automatic.
Related
Go to Phone and Dial ##778
Choose Edit Mode
Password is 000000
Go to CDMA Settings
Scroll all the way to bottom
Change Home Page, Home Orig, and Roam Orig from EVRC to EVRC-B
Hit Menu and Commit Changes
Phone reboots and walla no more muffed voice calls!
enjoy your uber phone.
ejhart said:
Go to Phone and Dial ##778
Choose Edit Mode
Password is 000000
Go to CDMA Settings
Scroll all the way to bottom
Change Home Page, Home Orig, and Roam Orig from EVRC to EVRC-B
Hit Menu and Commit Changes
Phone reboots and walla no more muffed voice calls!
enjoy your uber phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone can do EVRCB? Sweet.
Explanation for newbies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Variable_Rate_Codec_B
nice.
ejhart said:
Go to Phone and Dial ##778
Choose Edit Mode
Password is 000000
Go to CDMA Settings
Scroll all the way to bottom
Change Home Page, Home Orig, and Roam Orig from EVRC to EVRC-B
Hit Menu and Commit Changes
Phone reboots and walla no more muffed voice calls!
enjoy your uber phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Bro!
Any negatives to this?
ejhart said:
Go to Phone and Dial ##778
Choose Edit Mode
Password is 000000
Go to CDMA Settings
Scroll all the way to bottom
Change Home Page, Home Orig, and Roam Orig from EVRC to EVRC-B
Hit Menu and Commit Changes
Phone reboots and walla no more muffed voice calls!
enjoy your uber phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be Careful
Other forums advise that setting B as the default will mean that you will get NO call quality if you venture into an area where B is not yet supported.
Yeah tell me about it. I changed it to b and couldnt make a call. Must not be in a b supported area
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
So how do we find out what areas have B ?
Worked for me... worried now from posts above lol
This is from another forum, but it wont let me post links because i'm new
It is a good explanation. it's over on incredibleforum dot com thanks to luv2increase
EVRC-B is an advanced, new and better audio codec than regular EVRC. Verizon started rolling out EVRC-B in 2007. The people who have bad experiences with doing this settings change are either:
1) Not in an area of the country where EVRC-B has been implemented yet
or
2) A little too far or just on the outer edge of the EVRC-B range
For those within the viscinity of EVRC-B capable towers, we are "LUCKY"
Why are we lucky? Well, it is a "fact" that EVRC-B will allow better call quality. That is one of the reasons it was designed and implemented!
It was posted earlier, but here it is again just in case some of you didn't see it from page #2:
Enhanced Variable Rate Codec B - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I suggest everyone read that and to make the settings change. If you have worse quality or no reception, then just change it back. Apparently, Verizon hasn't made it to your area yet, unfortunately.
Thanks! Looks easy enough to roll back, just sent it to myself in an e-mail in case I find myself out of a covered area and need to switch back.
I would guess that ROAM would not normally qualify for this setting. So you might not set that one. That might elimitate the issues for most when in areas without the coverage.
Roam Setting
krelvinaz said:
I would guess that ROAM would not normally qualify for this setting. So you might not set that one. That might elimitate the issues for most when in areas without the coverage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has anybody confirmed this?
Thanks!
Little better. until real update prolly won't be fix.
krelvinaz said:
I would guess that ROAM would not normally qualify for this setting. So you might not set that one. That might elimitate the issues for most when in areas without the coverage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
depends on where your roaming and if that area has updated software. It doesn't hurt to have it on -b, if you end up in a roaming area and can't make calls it only takes a min to switch back.
When I do this I am no longer able to make calls out from my phone. I can receive and answer them, but I can't call anyone.
Sorry, I just read the posts about maybe not being in the area where "B" is covered. I guess I fall into that category.
ejhart said:
Go to Phone and Dial ##778
Choose Edit Mode
Password is 000000
Go to CDMA Settings
Scroll all the way to bottom
Change Home Page, Home Orig, and Roam Orig from EVRC to EVRC-B
Hit Menu and Commit Changes
Phone reboots and walla no more muffed voice calls!
enjoy your uber phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't seem to work with CyanogenMod 6.0.2
I think it's because epst is only available on htc roms.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
quality
got my first call with it and def has some improvement. what im worried about is how much i travel and if that will effect my ability to make calls. if i dont change my roaming setting and leave it alone and drive about 50 miles away is that considered home is or is that roaming?
It doesn't work on AOSP ROMs, so if anyone wants to change those, flash a sense rom, change it and then go back to aosp.
I've been trying to get a juicy theme going on but I'm having real trouble finding a switch to allow direct access to allow me to switch mobile data on and off.
SwitchPro doesn't allow me to do it, both "Data Connection" and "2g 3g" only switch it off for a few seconds and then it pops back up. If I then go into settings, Wireless, Mobile network shows as being ticked, yet says "Connection failed" - It is of course connected and functional.
Extended Controls 2g/3g and Data Network do exactly the same.
There is, of course, the native Sense UI widget...so how hard can it be if you don't want to use Sense?
Is there a widget out there that will allow me to directly switch Mobile Network (data) on and off from the homescreen?
Currently on latest Mocado R8 custom bake.
i had that problem before as well..what i did is remove the defualt apn and add them back manually..and the problem solve..u can try on this method..
Try APNDroid:
http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.google.code.apndroid
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
benman27 said:
Try APNDroid:
http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.google.code.apndroid
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can change switch pro's settings to make it do the same thing as APNDroid too.
Lennyuk said:
you can change switch pro's settings to make it do the same thing as APNDroid too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you give me a quick step-by-step?
Will try apnDroid too, thanks guys.
EDIT - apndroid simply disables it for a few seconds, it then reconnects.
widget didnt do anything.
I need one because you have to press and hold the power button and it seems a bit rough on it and we all know that these little buttons always go bad so a widget would be great for relieving the burdon on the power button.
any other suggestions, for a rooted evo?
ok guys... I found this in another device forum related to wp7. I just got this LG Quantum yesterday so I'm learning as I go along.
I used the code ##3282# and hit dial.
This brought up some field test menu.
Don't choose anything from the menu, instead at the bottom hit the "..." and choose settings.
Then choose "Network Type", 2G. Its showing Edge for me now.
If you go back to the menu, it again shows "Automatic" but the setting seems to stick.
Report back to this thread if you see different results.
Still need to figure out:
- Persistent Wifi
- Peak / off Peak settings for Corporate Email.
vkeswani said:
ok guys... I found this in another device forum related to wp7. I just got this LG Quantum yesterday so I'm learning as I go along.
I used the code ##3282# and hit dial.
This brought up some field test menu.
Don't choose anything from the menu, instead at the bottom hit the "..." and choose settings.
Then choose "Network Type", 2G. Its showing Edge for me now.
If you go back to the menu, it again shows "Automatic" but the setting seems to stick.
Report back to this thread if you see different results.
Still need to figure out:
- Persistent Wifi
- Peak / off Peak settings for Corporate Email.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nicely done. I'm on a 2G network too. Good find!
The settings stick for you? Huh.. Every time I try that no matter what I pick, auto, 2g or 3g nothing happens..
Work perfectly thanks
Works for me too, thx for it.
The only thing is, it will be reset all the time. I don't really know why. No need to restart, it is reset to default "only 3G" without doing something.
Someone who knows why?
Regards.
I keep seeing in reviews that they get much better battery life in hspa+ mode and when they turn on lte battery suffers etc
So can we turn off lte??
jdhommert said:
I keep seeing in reviews that they get much better battery life in hspa+ mode and when they turn on lte battery suffers etc
So can we turn off lte??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can.
Here's from Sean's SKYICS.
It's on Page # 3, Look for APNs just do *#2263# choose WCDMA instead of LTE, , I just tried mine and voila, :victory:
pakxelaos said:
Yes, you can.
Here's from Sean's SKYICS.
It's on Page # 3, Look for APNs just do *#2263# choose WCDMA instead of LTE, , I just tried mine and voila, :victory:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't work. Brings up an option that says "RAT Selection Option is restricted" I can't select anything or make any changes (it also doesn't give an option for Cellular type" looks like AT&T locked it down again.)
pakxelaos said:
Yes, you can.
Here's from Sean's SKYICS.
It's on Page # 3, Look for APNs just do *#2263# choose WCDMA instead of LTE, , I just tried mine and voila, :victory:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't work and even if it works upon reboot you will have LTE again
naturefreak85 said:
Doesn't work. Brings up an option that says "RAT Selection Option is restricted" I can't select anything or make any changes (it also doesn't give an option for Cellular type" looks like AT&T locked it down again.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you take the SIM card out before you do that ? It won't work with the SIM in.
daraj said:
It doesn't work and even if it works upon reboot you will have LTE again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should stay here's how.
With the SIM card remove Dial *#2263# select WCDMA, select All, then bottom left haptic button select end and reboot with the SIM card in
I mean don't do the next step (Open dialer again.Dial *#2263# select automatic)
maybe this could be a project for the devs that allow us to simply enable and disable using radio buttons or something.
anyone know if it's possible?
rwc3b said:
maybe this could be a project for the devs that allow us to simply enable and disable using radio buttons or something.
anyone know if it's possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is possible but we'll have to be patient.
Does it drain battery even if you are not in an LTE supplied area?
Originally Posted by brkaras View Post Well my friends I have found the answer...please note if you don't have ICS build on your phone I'm not sure if this will work but I am running ICS 4.0.4 UCLE2 build and this should work for all ICS builds.
1.Click on Menu button and go to Settings.
2. Go to "More....", once in, click on "Mobile Networks"
3. Go to "Access Point Names"
4. Once in you will see "AT&T PTA" with a radial button as your only option. This is the default gateway.
5. Click on Menu button below, and you will have two choices, "New APN" or "Reset to default" click on New APN.
You will see a series of lines under "Edit Access Point" and click on "APN" and enter as follows "wap.cingular"
If you like you can rename the "Name" to whatever you like...I used "AT&T HSPA+"
Click "Save"
This will give you access to HSPA+ network only. I found this info online for the Galaxy SIII with ICS coming stock. This is an ICS only option I believe, I don't recall cause I dumped the Gingerbread 2.3.6 cause it was burning up batteries like crazy.
Please be advised I have the Galaxy SII Skyrocket, they are building the LTE network in my area as we speak and I was getting all sorts of interference from their testing and upgrades so until its complete I'm running HSPA+ only and the problems went away.
Hope this helps!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
carica42 said:
Originally Posted by brkaras View Post Well my friends I have found the answer...please note if you don't have ICS build on your phone I'm not sure if this will work but I am running ICS 4.0.4 UCLE2 build and this should work for all ICS builds.
1.Click on Menu button and go to Settings.
2. Go to "More....", once in, click on "Mobile Networks"
3. Go to "Access Point Names"
4. Once in you will see "AT&T PTA" with a radial button as your only option. This is the default gateway.
5. Click on Menu button below, and you will have two choices, "New APN" or "Reset to default" click on New APN.
You will see a series of lines under "Edit Access Point" and click on "APN" and enter as follows "wap.cingular"
If you like you can rename the "Name" to whatever you like...I used "AT&T HSPA+"
Click "Save"
This will give you access to HSPA+ network only. I found this info online for the Galaxy SIII with ICS coming stock. This is an ICS only option I believe, I don't recall cause I dumped the Gingerbread 2.3.6 cause it was burning up batteries like crazy.
Please be advised I have the Galaxy SII Skyrocket, they are building the LTE network in my area as we speak and I was getting all sorts of interference from their testing and upgrades so until its complete I'm running HSPA+ only and the problems went away.
Hope this helps!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That might work. But it will not turn off the LTE radio, the phone will still have LTE on but will connect to the slower internet. LTE remains on=battery drain is on.
Hello everyone,
In the last 4 months I have been using a foreign SIM card. Last night I came home, and I cannot return to CDMA mode and resume use of my normal Sprint service. I cannot change the network type in the settings (screenshots attached)
I was told that I might need to do a complete factory reset, but honestly I would hate to do that and find out that my foreign SIM card will no longer work for some reason.
My question: Is there any way to reset the mobile network settings to Sprint factory defaults? I have a feeling that the foreign SIM modified settings unbeknownst to me.
Attachments:
In the first picture, you can see that the menu has the option to change to CDMA EVDO LTE, but once that's selected, it doesn't enact any changes. I am not able to revert to CDMA mode.
Hope you guys can help! Thanks in advance.
Another symptom:
All ##****# hidden menus no longer work.
Try *#0011# instead. It will present you with a debug screen. Press the left soft key (menu button that glows) and select "key input", type the number 1 and press OK, the press the left soft key again and select "back". Repeat this until the screen changes to a different menu. Once at the new menu press the left soft key and back one more time. You should see a selection for cdma, press that then select common. Press next page twice and on the third page there should be an option for "pref mode set", select that, then select cdma/lte (or something similar I can't remember off the top of my head), reboot the phone and you should be back to norm.
However if your phone somehow took an update when you got home from traveling and Is on mja now, you might have to to a clean wipe and odin a full modem/kernal/rom.
Let me know if this works!
Sent from my SPH-L720 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
imbmiller said:
Try *#0011# instead. It will present you with a debug screen. Press the left soft key (menu button that glows) and select "key input", type the number 1 and press OK, the press the left soft key again and select "back". Repeat this until the screen changes to a different menu. Once at the new menu press the left soft key and back one more time. You should see a selection for cdma, press that then select common. Press next page twice and on the third page there should be an option for "pref mode set", select that, then select cdma/lte (or something similar I can't remember off the top of my head), reboot the phone and you should be back to norm.
However if your phone somehow took an update when you got home from traveling and Is on mja now, you might have to to a clean wipe and odin a full modem/kernal/rom.
Let me know if this works!
Sent from my SPH-L720 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude you're a lifesaver. PM me your paypal information you saved me hundreds of dollars.
ehaalandtluk said:
Dude you're a lifesaver. PM me your paypal information you saved me hundreds of dollars.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent man, stoked it worked for you! I don't PayPal but my btc is 1EECaxqfMX17yqX7Y4ecphHWwUenvbXvXC. Don't stress though, I help because I love, Merry Christmas!
Sent from my SPH-L720 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
imbmiller said:
Try *#0011# instead. It will present you with a debug screen. Press the left soft key (menu button that glows) and select "key input", type the number 1 and press OK, the press the left soft key again and select "back". Repeat this until the screen changes to a different menu. Once at the new menu press the left soft key and back one more time. You should see a selection for cdma, press that then select common. Press next page twice and on the third page there should be an option for "pref mode set", select that, then select cdma/lte (or something similar I can't remember off the top of my head), reboot the phone and you should be back to norm.
However if your phone somehow took an update when you got home from traveling and Is on mja now, you might have to to a clean wipe and odin a full modem/kernal/rom.
Let me know if this works!
Sent from my SPH-L720 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
imbmiller said:
Excellent man, stoked it worked for you! I don't PayPal but my btc is 1EECaxqfMX17yqX7Y4ecphHWwUenvbXvXC. Don't stress though, I help because I love, Merry Christmas!
Sent from my SPH-L720 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, regretfully, I never got in to bitcoins!
Anyways, I had another question. How do I revert to stock completely? I would like to get to the point where I can use the original dialer codes (still won't work). I do have data now, but 3434 or 3282 don't work. Also, cannot update profiles OTA/download updates. (See screenshot)
Also, what is the magic OTA that locks your phone? MJA? I'm still on MDL, but I wouldn't mind upgrading if it would benefit me at all.
Oh, I'm not out of the woods yet.
Cannot receive calls/texts, but I can make them. Also, cannot attempt to re-activate the phone, saying there's no network.
ehaalandtluk said:
Oh, I'm not out of the woods yet.
Cannot receive calls/texts, but I can make them. Also, cannot attempt to re-activate the phone, saying there's no network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try over WiFi ##72786# if your dialer codes work now.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
daniel4653 said:
Try over WiFi ##72786# if your dialer codes work now.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't work either.