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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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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.
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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)
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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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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.
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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.
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.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
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.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
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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.
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You're probably best starting a new thread for this btw as it's likely to be a different issue to the ops
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And now after the 2.3.3 update it switches to HSDPA perfectly.
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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.
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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.
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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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.
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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
Hi all, I noticed a strange behavior on my Galaxy S4.
If I leave WCDMA/GSM Auto, it often use 2G (GPRS) Network when the 3G signal is low.
If I decide to user only WCDMA, I always have 3G or H+ signal, even when there is a poor field. I can phone and browse the web.
So the question is: is there any way to change the threshold used by the phone to decide which of the band is better to use?
I would like to have GSM active only where there is NO 3G field... otherwise I want to stai in 3G.
Thanks in advance.
I have the exact same problem. It's very annoying. I haven't find any solution and I just use only wcdma. My wife's s3 works flawlessly.
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I hope there's an app on the market for that, otherwise I know CM got many options where u prefer 2g to 3g and vice versa.