Database Users

3G drops to GSM when receiving calls and during calls

I searched all the threads and found nothing on this as far as I can see. I have been having this since day one with my G1. Every time I receive a call on my G1 or during the call it drops from 3G to GSM. I had stock T-Mo roms on my G1 (Pre/Post Cupcake) then JF 1.51 and now cyanogen 4.0.2 and this problem persists. I called T-Mo a few times on this and they exchanged my G1 3 times and gave me a new battery and charger free of charge. Does anyone else have this issue or know of a work around? This happens when I am at home and work. I travel for work to different locations and it still happens. When my phone rings it automatically drops 3G and goes to GSM (no icon next to the radio icon in the status bar). While making calls it stays on 3G for about a few seconds before it craps out and drops to GSM. It totally skips EDGE and GPRS. T-Mo said they sent out radio antenna tech's to the antennas near my home and they said all is fine and dandy. I live In Queens NY and work in the Bronx. When I travel to Brooklyn its the same as well as driving though Manhattan. I hope someone can help me with this.

PeterC18st said:
I searched all the threads and found nothing on this as far as I can see. I have been having this since day one with my G1. Every time I receive a call on my G1 or during the call it drops from 3G to GSM. I had stock T-Mo roms on my G1 (Pre/Post Cupcake) then JF 1.51 and now cyanogen 4.0.2 and this problem persists. I called T-Mo a few times on this and they exchanged my G1 3 times and gave me a new battery and charger free of charge. Does anyone else have this issue or know of a work around? This happens when I am at home and work. I travel for work to different locations and it still happens. When my phone rings it automatically drops 3G and goes to GSM (no icon next to the radio icon in the status bar). While making calls it stays on 3G for about a few seconds before it craps out and drops to GSM. It totally skips EDGE and GPRS. T-Mo said they sent out radio antenna tech's to the antennas near my home and they said all is fine and dandy. I live In Queens NY and work in the Bronx. When I travel to Brooklyn its the same as well as driving though Manhattan. I hope someone can help me with this.
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ive always had this as well .. just never considered it a bug lol ... but i could see why someone would wanna keep their 3g while on a call .. reminds me of how sidekicks would lose data connectivity due to a call

xidominicanoix said:
but i could see why someone would wanna keep their 3g while on a call .. reminds me of how sidekicks would lose data connectivity due to a call
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Could you elaborate?
If you've had 3 G1's and a tech says there's nothing wrong with the network then it's clearly an issues with cupcake, be it a feature or a bug...
I don't really see why you would want to keep data conectivity while in a call, (unless you're downloading something in the background..?) so it sounds like a way to save battery..

AdrianK said:
Could you elaborate?
If you've had 3 G1's and a tech says there's nothing wrong with the network then it's clearly an issues with cupcake, be it a feature or a bug...
I don't really see why you would want to keep data conectivity while in a call, (unless you're downloading something in the background..?) so it sounds like a way to save battery..
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Here's a perfect example where 3G would rule when working properly.
I'm talking to my wife on my BT headset while driving home from work. I have my G1 on my dash with google maps running with traffic patterns showing. While talking I am able to talk clearly on 3G and still see where traffic is building so I can avoid it. Being stuck in rush hour in NYC sux homeless man [email protected] Whenever I do this and my 3G connection drops my call quality drops and we both hear it while we're talking and then it cuts in and out and the call drops then I dont get updates. It's a feature I would really like to have. Even when Im working and talking and downloading a new update of an app. This happens when I am at a static location as well. I know driving from cell tower to cell tower can have bad effects but it does the same when I'm just at home or any of my work locations. When 3G works properly which is rare its amazing. Its helped me get un lost and find my way many of times.
Point being when T-Mo released the 3G statement they said all users with 3G phones will expierence higher call quality from the extra bandwidth. Why would they cap or or disable it when they are promoting it? I see the the point of saving battery life but it still shouldnt be happening. 3G is made for that feature to work voice + data being accessed together.

It might just be there 3g network, imo tmobile reception is horrible. Like at my house it is so f'ed up, I can sit in my chair and have 3 bars then walk 2 feet and lose service. It does this all through my house and at my work. They said it must be something in the buildings I am in, bull**** I say because ATT never does that nor did vzw when I used them.

same thing happens with me and 3g and calls..also about the house thing, hows this one for u ill be sitting in the same spot and have good 3g reception and all of a sudden it drops to edge. I know a way around this is to set phone to 3G only but then in areas where theres non im screwed

I don't get it. My wife who had the original iPhone and then 3g and now 3gs never had this issue. She would stay on Edge and 3g depending if she waned to save batery life. My old BB 8700g would always stay on Edge never drop to GSM in my apartment. My 3G doesnt even fall to Edge it goes right to GSM. This is really annoying.

every t-mobile phone I have does this
I'm pretty sure its normal

No one knows if this is a hardware, software, or network problem. Except maybe HTC/T-Mobile/Google.
If your phone stays connected to 3G, it's all good. If it drops down to EDGE, even if for half a second, it will NOT reconnect to 3G until you hang up.

c2tmdsn said:
every t-mobile phone I have does this
I'm pretty sure its normal
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My coworkers Samsung t819 doesn't. That's regular cell phone not a smart phone.
Gary13579 said:
No one knows if this is a hardware, software, or network problem. Except maybe HTC/T-Mobile/Google.
If your phone stays connected to 3G, it's all good. If it drops down to EDGE, even if for half a second, it will NOT reconnect to 3G until you hang up.
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If any of those 3 know they should fix it or at the very least advertise that the calls you make are dropped to the lower bandwidth of the GSM network.
T-Mo finally got 3G for the last year don't dumb it down guys. Fix this.
Yes it is true once your phone drops beneath 3G it will not go to 3G until you hang up the call.

try running 3g only or wdma only by creating phone info shortcut on anycut .. im going to try that out and see if it ever drops .. should be a temporary fix for you atleast with the whole maps thing and such but if you ever in an edge only are your screwed

turboyo said:
try running 3g only or wdma only by creating phone info shortcut on anycut .. im going to try that out and see if it ever drops .. should be a temporary fix for you atleast with the whole maps thing and such but if you ever in an edge only are your screwed
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I changed it to wcdma only in phone info. Hopefully this works. Everywhere I travel to throughout NYC has 3G. Hopefully this works. Also I have noticed that when downloading anything from 3G be it the market or browser it would drop from 3G to Edge as well.

PeterC18st said:
I changed it to wcdma only in phone info. Hopefully this works. Everywhere I travel to throughout NYC has 3G. Hopefully this works. Also I have noticed that when downloading anything from 3G be it the market or browser it would drop from 3G to Edge as well.
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*UPDATE*
While at home downloading apps from Android Market on 3G with wcdma only selected the radio dropped with no netowkr connection. Bust.

PeterC18st said:
I don't get it. My wife who had the original iPhone and then 3g and now 3gs never had this issue. She would stay on Edge and 3g depending if she waned to save batery life. My old BB 8700g would always stay on Edge never drop to GSM in my apartment. My 3G doesnt even fall to Edge it goes right to GSM. This is really annoying.
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Did she use att or tmobile with the iphone? Because att has a much stronger 3g network then tmobile which could be why. I am pretty sure it is something to do with tmobiles network and not your phone, perhaps your area has to many users for it to stay on 3G. I have read about how the cell towers work and they have only so many bands for each user to access at any given time so if tmobile doesn't have enough towers or those things mounted on the towers it may be set up so you only get 3G for data usage and not calls since they don't technically require it to work.

crpercodani said:
Did she use att or tmobile with the iphone? Because att has a much stronger 3g network then tmobile which could be why. I am pretty sure it is something to do with tmobiles network and not your phone, perhaps your area has to many users for it to stay on 3G. I have read about how the cell towers work and they have only so many bands for each user to access at any given time so if tmobile doesn't have enough towers or those things mounted on the towers it may be set up so you only get 3G for data usage and not calls since they don't technically require it to work.
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My wife is on ATT. Isn't lower frequency better at penetrating through walls and such? (T-Mo 1700 MHz and 2100 MHz compared to ATT 1800 MHz) They haven't booted their 850 MHz antennas yet so I hear.
If that is true then why not boot me down to Edge or gprs why all the way down to gsm? I been living in the same area for 26 years. I have been with T-Mo before they even had antennas in my area and walking outside was the only way to get a signal with my phone. Now I get full reception in and out of my apartment and 3G connectivity in my apartment with a signal strength of -93dBm through out my apartment on 3G and -79 dBm on Edge.
T-Mo stated that this should not be happening. Hence the 3 phones new battery and charger and techs to the antennas. I'm starting to think its a HTC Android problem and not a T-Mo problem. Hopefully a new radio update can fix it.

I didn't even know GSM was still used in that way, I thought GPRS would be the bare minimum. How can you tell the difference? I use to only get a G icon and I looked it up and for the g1 it said that meant GPRS, what does it show for GSM? Not like any of this matters though.
I really have no idea why all this is happening to your G1 but I hope it gets resolved, good luck.
edit: on the tmobile coverage map it says edge/gprs and 3g, no gsm. does that make any difference? I checked for NYC overall not any specific boroughs.

crpercodani said:
I didn't even know GSM was still used in that way, I thought GPRS would be the bare minimum. How can you tell the difference? I use to only get a G icon and I looked it up and for the g1 it said that meant GPRS, what does it show for GSM? Not like any of this matters though.
I really have no idea why all this is happening to your G1 but I hope it gets resolved, good luck.
edit: on the tmobile coverage map it says edge/gprs and 3g, no gsm. does that make any difference? I checked for NYC overall not any specific boroughs.
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GSM is what Edge Gprs and 3G run off of. Think of it as a progression. GSM>GPRS>EDGE>3G.
The way I know it is on GSM is to the left of the Radio icon on the home screen there is another icon that shows the network your on. 3G=3G E=EDGE G=GPRS and no icon means GSM. GSM is still being used. Most SMS and MMS messages get sent to your from through GSM while you are on a call.

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.
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Are you talking about locking it to 3g or something else?

ttabbal said:
Are you talking about locking it to 3g or something else?
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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.
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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)
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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?
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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.
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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.
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How do I disable the frequencies? I can only seem to enable them.

[Q] 3G @ no bars not switching to edge

Hey folks, I noticed that on my At&t samsung focus that the connection often doesn't switch down to edge when 3G is at no bars(tested-no data). And I know that areas I visit often have edge coverage because i can turn off 3G manually and get good reception... but any insights/solutions as to why the focus doesn't automatically switch bands/connections? radio bug?
edit: I did do the hsupa/dpa release hack via diagnosis console.

This also bugged me. In my experience this is not limited to the Focus. I encountered the same issue with the Tilt 2. It took probably a complete loss of 3G signal for the phone to switch to Edge and then even though the Edge signal had 2 bars, as soon as it got just a trace of 3G signal it went right back. Fortunately with the Tilt 2 I am able to turn off 3G and the phone stays in Edge all day long in areas where 3G os crappy. I wasn't able to do that with the Focus.

frighte said:
Hey folks, I noticed that on my At&t samsung focus that the connection often doesn't switch down to edge when 3G is at no bars(tested-no data). And I know that areas I visit often have edge coverage because i can turn off 3G manually and get good reception... but any insights/solutions as to why the focus doesn't automatically switch bands/connections? radio bug?
edit: I did do the hsupa/dpa release hack via diagnosis console.
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I'm having these problems as well and I also did the hack. Since then I keep getting cannot connect messages in IE. It was so frustrating that I undid the hack(?) and this happens all the time. Can someone give me the settings to make sure I restored the original settings.

Signal Problem

No matter what I do my phone will not switch to edge. I tried enabling the 3g toggle and when i turn it off it stays on 3g. My signal would drop down all the way to no signal and not even go into edge. Anyone else having the same problem? This is my third focus so far and the previous one had the same thing.

I have a captivate and a focus, and both pick up 2g edge. Of course, where I live, I do not have 3g coverage. However, when I go to work, I have 3g coverage. On my captivate, to pick up 2g edge service at work, I have to manually disable the 3g wcdma bands on my device. Of course, I would prefer to connect to 3g over edge anytime, so I haven't tested with the focus. I am not even sure if I can manually pick what bands to connect on with the focus. On the captivate, I go to the phone dialer, and dial *#0011# to see what band I am connected on, and dial *#2263# to select which bands to connect to. If you are looking for the best speed and signal possible, you should try to connect on wcdma 850mhz band if your phone will allow you to choose. I will do some testing on my focus and see what I can come up with.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I just received my second focus, due to it getting run over, and this new Focus has the same problem as the op. It will go into 2g but first it goes to no bars on 3g, which means I lose the call. This is at my home so it's really aggravating, it loses signal every time. It will go from 3 bars on 3g to nothing.
I don't understand how this phone sucks yet my last Focus didn't do this. I need to ask for a replacement again. I'm not sure it matters though because the op is on his third phone. I guess I should have switched carriers as I had the same damn problem with my Fuze.

Low signal - not the phone

So I've been using this Omnia 7 for a while now. Fantastic phone. I bought it from a dealer in the UK and have been using it in Canada.
The phone works great with my carrier, but it drops signal every few minutes and refuses to get it back for a while. It's on the latest version of Mango Zune finds. If I leave it sitting in a spot, it gets full 3G+, is blazing fast, sends and receives texts instantly. But if I'm on the move, it's constantly dropping signal.
Anyone have any idea how I could fix this? It's becoming really annoying.
I know it's not the phone's hardware - I sent in the previous one because I thought it might be, and I had the exact same issue.

don't know what frequency your carrier uses but on att in US it doesn't support all the bands.. it's usually good for me though but some areas I have to disable 3g and I get better and consistent signal on edge. needs to be unlocked use samsung tools to enable 3g toggle

My carrier supports tri-band HSPA (900/1900/2100) and GSM. I regularly get 3G+ or full-strength 3G around the city - however, it seems that if I move around it drops signal right away.
For the 3G toggle, do I have to do a Chevron unlock? Or is there a simpler way?

I've had this problem for a long time and there simply doesn't appear to be a fix.

Oh, man. That really saddens me. I love this phone, and it's perfect when it works!

Cuddlesy said:
My carrier supports tri-band HSPA (900/1900/2100) and GSM. I regularly get 3G+ or full-strength 3G around the city - however, it seems that if I move around it drops signal right away.
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interesting, I've never had a connection problem like that even when driving on the highway
For the 3G toggle, do I have to do a Chevron unlock? Or is there a simpler way?
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yes you need chevron unlock to install the xap, it will add the toggle to your "cellular" settings menu

DatDereX1 said:
interesting, I've never had a connection problem like that even when driving on the highway
yes you need chevron unlock to install the xap, it will add the toggle to your "cellular" settings menu
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It's bizarre, truly. My city isn't that big, and my provider has a pretty good network. There are moments where I'm on the road and I have blazing-fast 3G+, then the next second no signal at all, repeat. I know it's not the carrier, because my old phone (using the same SIM) had no such issues, and I know it's not the hardware, because this is the second Omnia to do this. Gah!
I'm wary of Chevron unlock because everything already sort-of works, and I already have a Data toggle... I don't want to make it work less, especially because I have no idea what firmware I would restore to if I mess up.

Cuddlesy said:
My carrier supports tri-band HSPA (900/1900/2100) and GSM. I regularly get 3G+ or full-strength 3G around the city - however, it seems that if I move around it drops signal right away.
For the 3G toggle, do I have to do a Chevron unlock? Or is there a simpler way?
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what's your carrier?
what's your nationality?
it is a secret??

DJBlaster-303 said:
what's your carrier?
what's your nationality?
it is a secret??
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Manitoba Telecom Services in Canada. I checked, and they have the exact same network type as T-Mobile Germany, which is where this phone originally came from. It should work fine but it doesn't!

strange issues, sorry but i believed you were from Europe, anyway the phone should automatically switch to E (dge) when it's not covered by 3G+, at least this is what happens to me, but i'm on different carrier

DJBlaster-303 said:
strange issues, sorry but i believed you were from Europe, anyway the phone should automatically switch to E (dge) when it's not covered by 3G+, at least this is what happens to me, but i'm on different carrier
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I think it's just low signal strength - it's typically out of reception in buildings, tunnels or basements, even though my old phone had reception there.

I live in London, I am on T-Mobile, with a T-Mobile branded handset which i chevronned to Mango.
I have lots of signal problems, which I posted about previouslty.
Would love some help - generally my signal either gets stuck on GPRS, or zero. I rarely see 3G in places I used to get full 3G+
help