How To Use 2G Only? - Atrix 4G General

Is there a way I can make the Atrix use 2G only, to save battery? I can't seem to find the option in settings like it is for other phones.

Cm7 has this option
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Alien too...

Sorry I didn't clarify - I am talking about stock.

Then you can enter *#*#4636#*#* on the dialer and choose 'phone options' . Then select GSM only(prl) . That should give you 2g only.
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well theres roms that enables it to switch to 2g and 3g. Any of them. But there is a thread that changes that and you can pick from either one.
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I have tried the #*#* method, cm7 and alien. While all three will show the option to change them they won't stick. I'm using alien v4 and have 2g only checked and rebooted yet I still get 3G and H logos on my status bar as well as 3g speeds when sending mms, web browsing, ect. I believe this has more to do with AT&T than the Atrix itself as AT&T began phasing out their edge network a few months back.

I used the* #* method before I was even rooted, and it worked just fine. Edge is not really 2g, more 2.5g so AT&T phasing out their Edge network shouldn't really influence this.
Sure you set it to gsm only and not gsm auto?

The Defy has it as standard, and that's essentially the Atrix's little brother in my eyes.
This is a little off topic, but is related some how... but..
Its becoming apparent to me that among some users the automatic assumption that the solution is to either flash a custom rom to fix a simple thing like this or that the user is using a custom rom.
Some of us are stock users, even though we are on a forum orientated at development and customisation, so please do not assume?

From memory Widgetsoid allows you to add a 2g/3g widget to your screen to enable / disable 3g. Tasker & Locale should be able to do it as well depending on conditions (e.g. battery <30%)

Related

Problem with Froyo in general or CM6?

I am running into a problem with my phone and Froyo. I've tried the CM 6 RC1 and Eugenes latest Froyo rom. Both have only had an option to force my phone to use 2G only. I need the option that is in Eclair to force 3G (WCDMA). My phone likes to drop down to edge, even when it has a full 3G signal, randomly and it's really annoying. Forcing my phone to only use 3G is nice when I want to tether. Any thoughts on how to force 3G in Froyo?
open up your dial pad (like you're going to call someone)
press: *#*#4636#*#*
once you've done that, you will open up the menu, click phone information, from there you can chose the one you want.
After I press: *#*#4636#*#*, will I be able to do that again to go back to both?
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yes you will
Download the "Network" app from the market, free of course. It basically bypasses you typin in the the Star Code and then clicking Phone Information > just takes you right to the menu. I too, miss the ease of swapping 2g/3g of Espresso, but the overclock kernel and this app makes it a lot easier. I live literally right on the verge of 3G spectrum due to my evil power lines, grrr
slughappy1 said:
After I press: *#*#4636#*#*, will I be able to do that again to go back to both?
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Yes, WCDMA refers to HSPA+/3G and GSM is 2G/1G so just keep that in mind when choosing your network type.

[Q] HSPA+ or 3g or 2g setting

hi i came from a mytouch slide and i was able to set the network to 2g or 3g or even both at the same time. is there a way to turn off 2g on the g2? or even turn off HSPA+ and only use 3g? i've been looking around and can't seem to find anything on this. i'm not rooted but if i need to be that will be fine.
Have you tried dialing#*#*4636*#*#?
Sent from my CyanogenMod powered G2.
Yes. The easiest way is to go to the phone dialer and type in:
*#*#4636#*#*
This will take you to a menu.
1) Choose "Phone Information"
2) Scroll down and there is a drop down menu.
Default is "WCDMA Preferred" --- Which is 3G/2G with 3G preferred.
You may choose WCDMA only for 3G only or Edge for 2G only.
I don't think you can turn off hspa+ but you can just go to settings ---- wireless--- mobile networks--- and just check 2g only for edge and leave it off for 3g/H+
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ischagoi2 said:
hi i came from a mytouch slide and i was able to set the network to 2g or 3g or even both at the same time. is there a way to turn off 2g on the g2? or even turn off HSPA+ and only use 3g? i've been looking around and can't seem to find anything on this. i'm not rooted but if i need to be that will be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... hspa+ ***IS*** 3g.... so you apparently want to choose between 3g and 3g? Can't happen.
it can be done but requires a reboot. You will need to add/change the setting "hsxpa=0" in the build.prop. this will remove the "4g" also you may need to change lines that referance the ril libraries to remove the reference to "rilswitch". But that might just be with cm6...
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Can't get HSDPA on T-Mobile UK

As the title says, I'm not getting HSDPA in areas where I was getting it before with my Galaxy S. I only ever get 3G and it is driving me nuts!
Is there anyway to change it to allow HSDPA on the phone? It is noticably slower, particularly streaming videos.
I'm on T-Mobile UK with the web & walk+ tariff.
Are you running the stock rom?
If so - afaik you get 3G for both 3G and HSDPA. Check your connection type in "About Phone" in settings - should be under "status".
Highland3r is correct. HSDPA is a 3G technology, and the stock ROM on the Nexus S does not differentiate it in the connection type display. You are most likely connected to your provider's HSPA network, your phone simply doesn't advertise that fact.
T mobile UK, uses a different band
it uses the same frequency as the 3G from ATT in USA
Nexus S is an AWS band phone
I'm having a similar issue with my Nexus S on Orange UK. I have to manually force it to use HSDPA in the engineer's menu but after a certain amount of time it defaults to UMTS.
My brother-in-law's Galaxy S has a constant HSDPA connection.
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I'm on vodafone in the uk and I get HSPA mostly all of the time, u guys are right, it says 3g in the bar at the top of the screen but looking deeper it is in actual fact HSPA.
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it's been like this since Android 2.3. They only display 3G whether your using 3G or HSDPA... they are essentially the same.
Therefore they just show 3G...
I prefer it to show me 3G or H or UMTS ( sometimes on UMTS aswell and still shows as 3G )
I am currently on CM7 and it does display H most of the time as the coverage is pretty good where I am. This has been the case even before I rooted the phone.
Thanks for the info guys, like Highlan3r suggested it has HSDPA in the status menu but 3G in the notification bar! It is the stock ROM also, just found it a bit unusual since changing from the Galaxy S only a week ago but now I know.
Thanks again!
Just to clarify, my Nexus S shows UMTS under status, even when a data connection is active. If I force it onto HSDPA by selecting WCDMA only in the engineer's menu, it again reverts to UMTS after a certain length of time.
My brother-in-law's Galaxy S has constant HSDPA connection on the same network. We are both using stock roms.
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you will only see HSDPA when there is network traffic. If the connection's idle, it goes back to display UMTS (to save battery and network resources)
Nexus-S said:
Just to clarify, my Nexus S shows UMTS under status, even when a data connection is active. If I force it onto HSDPA by selecting WCDMA only in the engineer's menu, it again reverts to UMTS after a certain length of time.
My brother-in-law's Galaxy S has constant HSDPA connection on the same network. We are both using stock roms.
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Click to collapse
Are you using a custom ROM of any kind? It _could_ be an issue with the APN's setup - CM7 for example doesn't set a default APN on my phone which seems to cause mobile data connectivity problems until a default is set/the extra crap is removed.
<edit>
You're probably best starting a new thread for this btw as it's likely to be a different issue to the ops
</edit>
And now after the 2.3.3 update it switches to HSDPA perfectly.
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H and 3g switching

Anyone noticed on gs2 it switches to 3g until H is needed for data. If I'm in an H area it doesn't stay in that mode all the time.
I know H drains battery more so on the gs1 could the same functioning be transported. In theory giving better battery life?
Just my input and maybe a tribute to my old faithful gs1 and the great community
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Same for my sgs2 (I am on orange)
At first I just thought signal was not so great in area I live but then the H pops back when I start downloading and using net, I can see why they have made it this way but I am also a little unsure as to how much this helps, the swapping from 3g to h then 3g to h and so on and if this itself does not either slow our use as we wait for it to swap back to h and if saves energy or uses more? (like in a car changing gears more often uses more fuel)
skibadee said:
Anyone noticed on gs2 it switches to 3g until H is needed for data. If I'm in an H area it doesn't stay in that mode all the time.
I know H drains battery more so on the gs1 could the same functioning be transported. In theory giving better battery life?
Just my input and maybe a tribute to my old faithful gs1 and the great community
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Click to collapse
Yes. There are quite a few people with 3G and HSDPA issues:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1074396
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1073958
Yours may not be an actual problem if your getting decent speeds but mine is failing to stay on HSDPA when downloading and getting very poor results (64kbps) in an area which I normally get around 2000kbps.
I've spoken to Samsung but they have yet to respond with a resolution.
Dont know if its an issue for me as it swaps back to 3g once its got all it needs (page loaded) its stays 3g until i click on next page or it needs it then jumps to H again.
voodoochild2008 said:
Dont know if its an issue for me as it swaps back to 3g once its got all it needs (page loaded) its stays 3g until i click on next page or it needs it then jumps to H again.
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Same here - no problem with speeds or whatever, but once it's finished it changes back to 3g. I'm on vodafone.
I'm in Australia with H+ and it will only switch to that when I'm actively downloading something, could be a battery saving feature?
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It's not an issue, my SGS does the same thing.
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Ahh see my sgs (i9000)didn't. It was always on H or 3g depending on signal.
I flashed God knows how many Roms and kernels (mainly darkys & voodoo/speedmod) it never switched like this.
Oh and my battery lasts way longer on my sgs2
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I noticed this too but I have yet to properly test it to see if that's actually what it's doing....
my nexus one also stays on H always and never switches back and forth for the data transfer.
however i thin kit is network dependent sometimes, because when i traveled to a different city a few weeks ago suddenly it would switch between 3G and H anytime data transferred. as soon as i drove about 15 minutes north out of that city, it returned to constant H and back to normal.
so i dont know exactly how or why this is caused. i'd prefer to jsut stay on H and not change back and forth.
Depending on Carrier actively terminating HSPA when data transfer finished?
Is the same on my HD 2 .
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I chose Orange via CPW. I received my SGS 2 yesterday. Such a stunning phone but I'm returning it as I can't connect via HSPDA. My two O2 Galaxy S's sitting on same desk connect at H without issue. If I take out the Orange contract SIM and replace it with one of my O2, the SGS 2 connects at HSPDA immediately. Definitely an Orange issue.
Hopefully I can take advantage of CPW policy to find a network that works for me. Would be great if I could keep the handset (put protective screen on it and time spent customising handset) and pop in another SIM.
Anyone tried changing the preferred network type? On my Nexus One the default (which I never changed) was WCDMA preferred, on the GSII it's GSM/CDMA auto (PRL). A brief bit of research online suggests that this does affect how the phone switches between available network types.
(*#*#4636#*#* then Phone Information, then scroll down, for those who don't know where this is)
snoopstah said:
Anyone tried changing the preferred network type? On my Nexus One the default (which I never changed) was WCDMA preferred, on the GSII it's GSM/CDMA auto (PRL). A brief bit of research online suggests that this does affect how the phone switches between available network types.
(*#*#4636#*#* then Phone Information, then scroll down, for those who don't know where this is)
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Click to collapse
thank you for useful info
I get this issue when I have GSM/WCDMA (Auto mode) selected.
Speed tests are rather slow even when it switches to H. When I select WCDMA only I get great speeds (3Mb+). Still switches between 3G and H though.
My issue is that I've never been able to connect to H+ in central London on Three. Not sure if it's my phone or the network.
This is actually how the umts/hspa technology works. HSPA as a technology is only for data, so it's used only then. Carriers drops the connection back to umts if data is not used.
This is also related to the FastDormancy bug discussed here. So it might also relate to why this phone does it so often or fast.
I've tested two usb-modems and another phone in my location and they all do exactly the same thing what galaxy s ii.
My network provider always drops the connection to 3G if data is not used, it can't be forced. A way around it is to keep a small download going.
E.g. if I use a usb-modem on my laptop and want to keep it in HSPA (for some reason...), I just put wget with 1kt/s download in the background.
The networks capacity is not limitless, so older technologies is used instead.
Hope this clarifies things.
gvoima said:
This is actually how the umts/hspa technology works. HSPA as a technology is only for data, so it's used only then. Carriers drops the connection back to umts if data is not used.
This is also related to the FastDormancy bug discussed here. So it might also relate to why this phone does it so often or fast.
I've tested two usb-modems and another phone in my location and they all do exactly the same thing what galaxy s ii.
My network provider always drops the connection to 3G if data is not used, it can't be forced. A way around it is to keep a small download going.
E.g. if I use a usb-modem on my laptop and want to keep it in HSPA (for some reason...), I just put wget with 1kt/s download in the background.
The networks capacity is not limitless, so older technologies is used instead.
Hope this clarifies things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My problem is not that it goes back to 3G but it's dropping back every few seconds, even whilst downloading. It doesn't happen on my other Android handsets on the same network. So it is a problem.
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I'm in U.S. on AT&T, with an HTC Inspire "4G" and SGS2. The Inspire stays on H+ at all times, idle or active. The SGS2 does bump up to H+ on demand it seems. BTW, The SGS Tools app with the dialer codes still works fine on this device. I've been messing with network bands since I got the phone.
Just to add. I'm using the same vodafone sim card from my old sgs and it always stayed on H unless signal was 3g only area.
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I've posted in many threads regarding this
It didn't do it on my SGS with same sim card/network. Speed results between the two are very similar. Only network performance issues experienced were when immediately after i swapped out the sim card from captivate to SGSII and shortly after i switched my data plan from smartphone plan to medianet

Network Mode - Verizon

I noticed that by default this phone is setup to use "Global" as the preferred network mode. I'm thinking that means it'll try to use CDMA, LTE, and GSM networks. I noticed there's a setting for "LTE / CDMA" and I'm thinking this setting may save some battery because the radio software wont try to use the non-existent GSM for Verizon.
Anyone play around with this setting and notice a difference? I just switched to LTE / CDMA. I lost data until I rebooted and now everything is working fine. It's odd that it was set as Global to begin with.
I did the same thing you did. I notice no difference but it does work fine. I also tried fooling around with lte on/off app. Is there a simple widget that can be used to toggle between 4g and 3g? If I know i won't be using the phone for a while i would like to switch to 3g to save battery.
skinien said:
I noticed that by default this phone is setup to use "Global" as the preferred network mode. I'm thinking that means it'll try to use CDMA, LTE, and GSM networks. I noticed there's a setting for "LTE / CDMA" and I'm thinking this setting may save some battery because the radio software wont try to use the non-existent GSM for Verizon.
Anyone play around with this setting and notice a difference? I just switched to LTE / CDMA. I lost data until I rebooted and now everything is working fine. It's odd that it was set as Global to begin with.
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Bump.
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recDNA said:
I did the same thing you did. I notice no difference but it does work fine. I also tried fooling around with lte on/off app. Is there a simple widget that can be used to toggle between 4g and 3g? If I know i won't be using the phone for a while i would like to switch to 3g to save battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can download an app called Phone Info -- open it up and go down to Network mode, select CDMA (Auto) that will force 3G only.
It will remain until you reboot.
I used to do this with my OG HD and it did save quite a bit of battery but in my semi-scientific tests the difference on the Maxx HD is almost nonexistent, certainly not worth the reduction in speed or the inability to use data and voice simultaneously.
I don't know if you noticed but, data and voice simultaneously is possible even in 3g mode with the razrHD Max. The greatest android phone verizon has ever offered.
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