Database Users

Toggle between 3G preferred, 3G only, 2G only

I know it's possible to get this screen by going into the Phone, then dialing *#*#4636#*#*, but is there any app that can be placed on the home screen to accomplish this? I've already tried creating a contact with a phone number of *#*#4636#*#* but that actually tries to dial the number instead...
For what it's worth, I've found that I have solid 3G coverage all over my home if I force the N1 to run on 3G only. Yet if I use 3G preferred, it goes between 3G and EDGE quite a lot. But obviously when I go out I'd want to be able to switch it back to 3G preferred quickly so that I don't totally lose service when outside of a 3G area.
Thanks,
gsv

The 'Phone Info' app on the market does this I think.

That works perfectly, thanks!

Vibrant takes forever to switch between 3g/edge

Ok, first off my Vibrant has flat out awful reception.. fluctuates randomly between 4 bars and 0 bars on 3g and sometimes cant get more than 1 bar 3g in the middle of an HSPA+ city(Memphis). Its not a bar display problem, sometimes my speedtest shows download speeds as low as 150kbps. If that wasnt bad enough it takes forever to switch between 3g and edge, by forever I mean sometimes a full 60 seconds+ and if Im running a data using program (Pandora for instance) it sometimes refuses to switch at all... Is this a known issue or is it just my phone?? I know my G1 did not have these issues.

Try doing a master reset on your device.

If the master reset dosen't work, you might reflash the full stock rom from the android dev section. There's alot of people that have been reporting substantial increases in their reception and connection speeds.
And if you think it takes a long time to switch b/t 3g and edge, you ought to try owning an evo for a month. It takes FOREVA to switch the 4g radio on and off, at least 3 min for me, takes about that long to turn it on after a reset too.

Just because you're in a HSPA+ city doesn't mean you're on the HSPA+ network.
If you're having problems with it aquiring the 3G network try a new sim.
The G1 has mediocre reception but it is aided by the fact that the antenna is at the top and not the bottom like all other phones.

Bump,
I am actually having this problem too, I have tried a factory reset, I also tried reflashing the T-Mobile stock fimware, but it has not helped. I have good 3g and edge reception where I live.
Oh yeah, I am using ATT on the vibrant.

When this happens (ie. not switching between network or slow switch time), you can trigger airplane mode and then undo it and the phone will pick up the right network or switch network faster. For example, if use 2g network is checked, it will enter Edge, etc.

I see exactly what you guys are talking about, locking it on 3G will fix this right up. I was driving down the freeway and I KNOW I was passing 3G towers, but the Vibrant stayed on EDGE for way too long. I locked it on 3G and I never lost the signal and it was 4 bars for nearly all of the trip so I know 3G was there, it just wasn't switching back fast enough.
Looking under the Samsung debug mode, the Vibrant will hold onto 3G until -115 Recieve power, which is basically -115dBm under the Android network menu. Of course over -101 RSCP, it will show 0 bars so it's hard to know when reception is acutally really bad.
It should show -0 bars at -113dBm, 1 bar until -101dBm, 2 bars until -89dBm, 3 bars until -79dBm, and 4 bars until -51dBm.

just disable the extra frequencies from service menu and it will be super quick.

I'll try that, at any rate it should be remedied by Samsung.

mohitmoudgil said:
just disable the extra frequencies from service menu and it will be super quick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you talking about locking it to 3g or something else?

ttabbal said:
Are you talking about locking it to 3g or something else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure hes talking about only having it on 1900/1700 (combi bands)

pyun said:
If the master reset dosen't work, you might reflash the full stock rom from the android dev section. There's alot of people that have been reporting substantial increases in their reception and connection speeds.
And if you think it takes a long time to switch b/t 3g and edge, you ought to try owning an evo for a month. It takes FOREVA to switch the 4g radio on and off, at least 3 min for me, takes about that long to turn it on after a reset too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it matter if you flash from nandroid backup or oden?

heygrl said:
I'm pretty sure hes talking about only having it on 1900/1700 (combi bands)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an unintuitive user interface. sheesh.
Looking at Wikipedia, it looks like TMO uses 1700/2100 WCDMA and 850/1900 GSM (2G/EDGE). There's also a WCDMA 1900, but according to what I'm reading, TMO doesn't use WCDMA signaling on 1900, just GSM/EDGE.
To try it, go to the service menu using the steps for 3G locking and select 1700 only instead of WCDMA ALL. Then go back using menu/back (not the back button) twice and go to Combi Bands and select WCDMA 2100. That should enable just 1700/2100 WCDMA 3G service. Turning on PCS 1900 does seem to get me an EDGE connection. Enabling GSM 850 ONLY gives me emergency calls only, so it might be worth keeping on for 911 calls. 850 goes further so it might have service when the others don't.
I don't get 3G service in my basement, for example, so I would like to keep EDGE enabled. Hopefully enabling just the bands that I would use will help keep the search times down.

JasonCook said:
Does it matter if you flash from nandroid backup or oden?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To really get a full re-flash, you need Odin right now. It should be possible to do it without Odin now, but I don't know if anyone has put together a stock ROM that way yet.
I didn't see any difference in speed/stability with the stock Odin flash, but others might have. It seems to depend on the network more than the local stuff.

Band IV 1700 includes 2100Mhz so you don't have to enable it. From what I can tell, no.. combi-bands doesn't do much for the slow 3G requisition. I'm just going to lock it on 3G when I'm not at home.

PaiPiePia said:
When this happens (ie. not switching between network or slow switch time), you can trigger airplane mode and then undo it and the phone will pick up the right network or switch network faster. For example, if use 2g network is checked, it will enter Edge, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This didn't work for me. I would do this, and it would only work changing from 3G to EDGE. But, from when I would put it on use 3g, it would first change from airplane mode to EDGE, then take around 1 min to change to 3G.

mohitmoudgil said:
just disable the extra frequencies from service menu and it will be super quick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I disable the frequencies? I can only seem to enable them.

Network dies when I turn off 2g

Anyone have this problem? It happens ever time
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Hmm.... seems like your phone might be in WCDMA mode only... It should be in WCDMA-Preferred since you plan on using 3G and 2G
Go to your phone dialer and dial *#*#4636#*#*
and Diagnostics Menu should come up..... Go to PHONE INFORMATION.... Scroll down and Set Network Type to: WCDMA Preferred
see if that helps...

Thanks for the reply i am on tmobile and it is defaulted to GSM. Will changing it be any different than GSM?

my phone does that as well right now at home even though i have it on WCDMA preferred, t-mo has been having issues with their 4G towers and their DNS servers lately that has been affecting many people with newer phones/SIM cards and in 4G areas, t-mo has not released an ETA on a fix but i have been dealing with it for a month now at my home and i am about ready to switch carriers

tvdang7 said:
Thanks for the reply i am on tmobile and it is defaulted to GSM. Will changing it be any different than GSM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, it'll still be the same. WCDMA-Preferred means that then phone will Prioritize 3G/4G signal over an EDGE signal. So If you are in a decent 4G/3G coverage the phone will set itself into 3G/4G mode... and when you move into an area where you have a weaker 3G/4G signal...t han the phone will be in EDGE mode.

Keep in mind that if you're referring about using WCDMA Preferred in a 3G/4G coverage area - but only 2G works - then you have a network issue. This isn't so much a device issue as it is a MSISDN issue on the network or a potential tower issue.
If you get no signal on 3G/4G and signal is there on 2G - check your coverage first - then if coverage shows you should have 3G/4G, call TMO and let them know, they'll need to do a service request or trouble ticket based on the location and breadth of the issue you're having.

After 2 Weeks, I Am Throwing In The Towel

I received the Samsung Focus 2 weeks ago today. After I post this I will be heading over to Amazon Wireless to make return arrangements.
I come from a Windows Mobile (Tilt 2) and I don't think I am yet ready to transition to this type of phone. I depend too much on Pocket Informant and I couldn't find any app to replace that. Actually this is not really the reason I gave up. This is the reason that kept me on the fence.
At my work I have a very poor 3G signal indoors. The signal fluctuates between 2 bars to no signal indication and sometimes switching to Edge. With the Tilt 2 I turn off 3G and that keeps the phone happy. Several times I found the Focus showing no signal (small crossed out circle at the top left). Even after I went to an area with good 3G signal the Focus did not change from its no signal status. I had to actually turn it off and back on (soft reset, I guess) to get a strong 3G signal.
Searching on Google for means to turn 3G off in the Focus showed that only a few months ago there was such an option Settings | Cellular. Apparently now it is removed.
With 3G trying desperately to hang in there instead of just giving up and letting Edge take over, this phone is useless to me 8 to 12 hours a day. The Tilt 2 had a similar issue before I tweaked it to give me the band switch. However the Tilt 2 did not get stuck in the no signal state. I wish AT&T did not remove this from settings.
So long, Focus.

Um... there's totally still an option called Cellular in Settings. Whatever, though. If you don't enjoy the phone, there's no reason for you to keep it. However, there's equally no reason for you to share this information with us, since a large part of your issue is born of ignorance of the OS (not finding a setting that is clearly there) and your lack of enjoyment of the phone should have no effect on anyone who owns one.

FishFaceMcGee said:
Um... there's totally still an option called Cellular in Settings. Whatever, though. If you don't enjoy the phone, there's no reason for you to keep it. However, there's equally no reason for you to share this information with us, since a large part of your issue is born of ignorance of the OS (not finding a setting that is clearly there) and your lack of enjoyment of the phone should have no effect on anyone who owns one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the Cellular option is still there, in Settings. However, unlike screen shots or pictures I saw during my search (see this sample), I do not have the option to turn off 3G.
If your phone has it, good for you. Mine does not. Hardly a reason to call me ignorant for this though.

That's strange. My Focus appears to have better reception than my Tilt 2.
Actually, the 3G only setting is under the diagnostic menu I believe. The should have a thread in this forum on it.
Update
I checked and its under the test menu
*#32489#
Back
Back
[7] Network control
[2] Band Setting
This may help you.

Tempest790 said:
That's strange. My Focus appears to have better reception than my Tilt 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, side by side, the 2 phones had a similar reception. The Tilt 2 got an extra bar or 2 when I forced it to Edge. However, the Tilt 2 did not get stuck with the no signal indication.
Actually, the 3G only setting is under the diagnostic menu I believe. The should have a thread in this forum on it.
Update
I checked and its under the test menu
*#32489#
Back
Back
[7] Network control
[2] Band Setting
This may help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While at this moment I do not have the phone with me, I just looked in the PDF I downloaded from that other thread (the PDF shows [2] Band Selection) and I remember that I was in that area and when I tried to make a change I got a message saying something about the selection or option being restricted. Sorry, but I do not remember the exact words. I guess I could try again later tonight after I get home. Thank you.

Tempest790 said:
Update
I checked and its under the test menu
*#32489#
Back
Back
[7] Network control
[2] Band Setting
This may help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I select "[2] Band Selection" the exact message is:
"RAT Selection option is restricted".

Yeah, that's what I got. I also got my phone from freaking Amazon.com and didn't work right. Had do alittle talking around but they me exchange it at the Att Wireless Store. Have you actually tried any other Samsung Focus Phones to see if its just the phone itself?

I got mine from att store, I'm using the org diagnostic app version, I get same error message.

Seed 2.0 said:
I got mine from att store, I'm using the org diagnostic app version, I get same error message.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would switch phones then. The phone has to be unlocked to switch bands, even turning off 3G. That's stupid, I know. I have a Dell Venue Pro sitting here that can switch bands but that phone is VERY buggy.

Fuzzy John said:
Yes, the Cellular option is still there, in Settings. However, unlike screen shots or pictures I saw during my search (see this sample), I do not have the option to turn off 3G.
If your phone has it, good for you. Mine does not. Hardly a reason to call me ignorant for this though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FWIW: 3G = "Data Connection" on the Focus' settings menu. As far as I know, 3G has nothing to do with voice calls. I suspect that the name of that switch was changed with an eye toward future data options on cell phones. I hope that helps. (Even the person who posted that picture notes that they modified the label to be "Cellular Data". You can see that in the comments area of the image/post that you listed. )

GrayWolf is correct
These are GSM phone and voice only works on 2G.. data on 3G and Edge if necessary. that is why you can talk and use the internet at the same time. You turning 3G off does nothing for your call reception what so ever. When you turn off the Celluar data you turn off both 3G and edge. Also I believe the bars are only for the voice service.

ITDRAGON said:
GrayWolf is correct
These are GSM phone and voice only works on 2G.. data on 3G and Edge if necessary. that is why you can talk and use the internet at the same time. You turning 3G off does nothing for your call reception what so ever. When you turn off the Celluar data you turn off both 3G and edge. Also I believe the bars are only for the voice service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This might very well be correct, however on my Tilt 2 I have to turn off 3g in order to get full voice bars back in the location where my room is in my house. It doesn't seem to make any sense; why would the phone's 3g connection interfere w/ the 2g voice? Yet it seems like this is the case.

ITDRAGON said:
GrayWolf is correct
These are GSM phone and voice only works on 2G.. data on 3G and Edge if necessary. that is why you can talk and use the internet at the same time. You turning 3G off does nothing for your call reception what so ever. When you turn off the Celluar data you turn off both 3G and edge. Also I believe the bars are only for the voice service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry. I may have used the wrong terms. After all I admit I am not really familiar with all the terminology. I am more like a user. Anyway, on my Tilt 2 phone I have a switch which turn off 3G. This puts the phone in Edge mode. Gives me a lot better reception in areas where the 3G signal is flaky. True, I cannot talk and do data at the same time. Also true that my data rate is slower. But I can receive and make calls while I am in that area.

ITDRAGON said:
GrayWolf is correct
These are GSM phone and voice only works on 2G.. data on 3G and Edge if necessary. that is why you can talk and use the internet at the same time. You turning 3G off does nothing for your call reception what so ever. When you turn off the Celluar data you turn off both 3G and edge. Also I believe the bars are only for the voice service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. Both voice and data work on 3G if it is available. You can tell this by the fact that once your phone is on 3G, you will not encounter the annoying speaker buzz from GSM phones.
The switch in the settings are for cell data connection. If you turn it off, it turns off the data connection, 2G or 3G. There is no separate setting to turn off 3G data only (a commonly requested feature but non-existent on all AT&T phones). You will always have to access the secret menu to select your band (WCDMA or GSM).
The bars are for signal strength, not just for vocie service.

EDIT: rjohnstone
foxbat121 said:
Nope. Both voice and data work on 3G if it is available. You can tell this by the fact that once your phone is on 3G, you will not encounter the annoying speaker buzz from GSM phones.
The switch in the settings are for cell data connection. If you turn it off, it turns off the data connection, 2G or 3G. There is no separate setting to turn off 3G data only (a commonly requested feature but non-existent on all AT&T phones). You will always have to access the secret menu to select your band (WCDMA or GSM).
The bars are for signal strength, not just for vocie service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
<snipped my "you're wrong" message, but leaving my other data here.>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G contains the following quote:
"The UMTS system, first offered in 2001, standardized by 3GPP, used primarily in Europe, Japan, China (however with a different radio interface) and other regions predominated by GSM 2G system infrastructure. The cell phones are typically UMTS and GSM hybrids. Several radio interfaces are offered, sharing the same infrastructure"
<snipped my "you're wrong" message, but leaving my other data here.>
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=2877
"Modes GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
WCDMA 850 / 1900 / 2100"
Those are the GSM and 3G bands that the Samsung Focus uses. <snipped my "you're wrong" message, but leaving my other data here.>
I'm always willing to accept that I can be wrong (EDIT: and it seems that I was). I'm only human after all. If I'm the one who's somehow misunderstanding, then I would be open to having some information shared so that I can learn more about it. Would you have any links to back your claim up?

GrayWolf said:
I'm sorry to say that you've misunderstood how AT&T's network is set up. 3G + GSM = Data + Voice. Not 3G = Voice & Data.
contains the following quote:
"The UMTS system, first offered in 2001, standardized by 3GPP, used primarily in Europe, Japan, China (however with a different radio interface) and other regions predominated by GSM 2G system infrastructure. The cell phones are typically UMTS and GSM hybrids. Several radio interfaces are offered, sharing the same infrastructure"
To further back the position that our phones do not use 3G to carry voice data:
"Modes GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
WCDMA 850 / 1900 / 2100"
Those are the GSM and 3G bands that the Samsung Focus uses. GSM for voice traffic, WCDMA (3G) for data.
I'm always willing to accept that I can be wrong. I'm only human after all. If I'm the one who's somehow misunderstanding, then I would be open to having some information shared so that I can learn more about it. Would you have any links to back your claim up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T sends both voice and data traffic over the 3G connection when in a 3G area.
The GSM radio only comes into play when the data connection falls back to EDGE (i.e., 3G signal is too weak or not present).
This is why your call drops when you switch from a 3G area to a GSM/EDGE area.
It's a hard hand off to the next tower.

rjohnstone said:
AT&T sends both voice and data traffic over the 3G connection when in a 3G area.
The GSM radio only comes into play when the data connection falls back to EDGE (i.e., 3G signal is too weak or not present).
This is why your call drops when you switch from a 3G area to a GSM/EDGE area.
It's a hard hand off to the next tower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - would you happen to have any links that explains this in any detail?
I looked around after you mentioned it and found that I should have ran a few more keyword searches before posting. So far, the best explanation that I've found seems to be here:
"3G or Non 3G-that is the question"
http://forums.wireless.att.com/t5/G...at-is-the-question/m-p/1544262/highlight/true
The specific/relevant portion that I'm referring to is:
Yea 3G is amazing. It's the replacement for GSM. It's a completely seperate network. When in 3G at present signal in some area's might seem a bit more week than GSM because in some area's it runs on the 1900mhz frequency which has less penetration. But AT&T has plans of phasing out GSM in the future for 3G on the GSM frequency.
But 3G on the W-CDMA side handles call's and data, GSM also does handle voice and data. But the two networks are seperate. For example. If your phone is in 3G then the 3G network is handling the call and not transmitting anything to do with GSM at all. But if you travel to a non 3G area while in the call then your phone will hand off to the GSM network to continue the voice call and the call quality will get that crackly raspy phenomenom. Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that's another person's statement on a forum and, like rjohnstone's post, makes logical sense. I'd love to read a bit more about this, if there are any useful links out there?

GrayWolf said:
Thanks - would you happen to have any links that explains this in any detail?
I looked around after you mentioned it and found that I should have ran a few more keyword searches before posting. So far, the best explanation that I've found seems to be here:
"3G or Non 3G-that is the question"
The specific/relevant portion that I'm referring to is:
Now that's another person's statement on a forum and, like rjohnstone's post, makes logical sense. I'd love to read a bit more about this, if there are any useful links out there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Graywolf,
My friend is a tower manager for T-Mobile.
He helped setup the initial GSM/EDGE network for Cingular back when they leased tower time from T-Mobile while they were making the transition from TDMA devices from the old AT&T network.
He explained how the call handlers worked and how the air interface works when handing off from UMTS/HSPA over to the GSM/EDGE network.
All of AT&T's handsets are programmed to use either GSM/EDGE or UMTS/HSPA, not both at the same time.
The point is, a handset can't have a GSM voice call and an HSPA data session occurring at the same time. The radios are not configured to allow it.
Many towers run both GSM/EDGE radios and UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+ radios.
Mainly to support legacy devices.
You will also notice that the old network is still there when you turn of the 3G radio in an iPhone or any other handset that permits it.
Yes, AT&T is working to decommission the older GSM/EDGE towers all together to recover the 850Mhz frequencies for use with HSPA+. This will give them better building penetration in large metropolitan areas.
Right now, AT&T does use the 1900MHz band for HSPA, and as the residence of NY will tell you, it sucks at going through walls.
You will have to do some digging for old AT&T press releases, but the info is out there.

Gotta give credit where it's due. I appreciate the technical detail combined with layman phrasing. I'll do more digging later but you've given me a nice high-level view of things. I did have a suspicion that my understanding was flawed somehow. Thanks for taking the time to share, rjohnstone!

Yep your right I typed it wrong.. voice and data both work on 2G and 3G, but I know I'm in a 3G area only and when I turn data off 3G goes out. Now that doesn't mean I'm only making or recieving calls on the 2G band. It just mean 3G data is off. So if you want to turn off 3G all together, I don't see it on these phones yet. When I turn the celluar data back on, the 3G symbol comes back on, because it would be pretty dumb for the 3G to be controlled by turning data on and off.

[Q] Best Network Type?

So when I got my Mytouch 4g I realized the default radio is set to GSM only, however with my stock Nexus One it is set to WCDMA preferred.
I've been using my MT4G for about a month now, two weeks with it on GSM Only and another two weeks with it on WCDMA preferred.
I've noticed that while on GSM only it tends to prefer edge instead of 3g or HSDPA+ and find it very annoying because it does it in places where I know i hit HSDPA+.
When I set it to WCDMA preferred i've noticed that it sticks to 3g/hsdpa+ a lot more often and it's stable, except for in the market. A lot of the times when i go into the market while in wcdma preferred it times out and tells me theres no connection or something like that.
Can anyone tell me which network type is best for this phone? Or maybe explain them a little bit? I just find it odd that my Nexus One and my Mytouch 4g have different defaults if they're both on the same carrier

its prob just the setting it was on when the phone was out the box. when i got mine, it was set on auto. "gsm only" will NOT allow you to connect to 3G or hsdpa+! gsm is edge and gprs! if you want it to chose between the two then AUTO is the way to go. it will prob pick wcdma first and then only jump down to gsm when the wcdma signal is weak or non-existent. i prefer mine on wcdma all the time too. i havent had any issues with the market as of yet. you might want to try to clear the data and cache in market and see if that helps. when mine is on auto it 99% of the time stays on wcdma until the signal gets weak and then auto switches to gsm/edge. the only reason i dont keep mine on auto is because when its on auto and i receive a phone call, i dont get data(the H or E disappears while on call, then pick back up when i end the call) and i need to have data going in and out while on the phone to get emails from school and my job so therefore i leave it on wcdma only

Thats pretty much correct. GSM only means 2g only. Wcdma only means 3g only. So if you dont have a 3g sig. You have no sig. Wcdma prefered/auto means that it will stay on 3g untill the signal becomes low and switches to 2g. When it finds a good 3g signal again it will switch back to 3g.
If you hav it on auto, when your on a call it stays on 3g until it gets low then switches to 2g to keep the call alive. But it does NOT switch back to 3G untill you hang up.
I usually keep mine on wcdma only because i have good 3g where i live and i hate when it switches to 2g during a call because i personally can notice a sound quality difference and i alao like to be able to use internet in call if i need it