Database Users

DEV: PPP Issues. Improvement + Summary

This possibly needs to be in the dev section but I will start here.
First off this is not a complaint. What I initially want to do is get an understanding (Technical) of the issues around the PPP dropouts and locks ups.
From where I sit this is the only outstanding issue around the current android builds. Simply the phone rocks on SD card and is ultra stable and fun.
I have noticed various wiki'sstate that internet access is complete however obviously not.
There are a number of issues such as
1: Network dropout. Data connectivity will stop responding. Restart of the radio or mobile data needed
2: Network freeze. Android restart as the radio will not turnoff.
3: console level networking not avail. Eg ping etc simply does not work. DNS does not resolve and ping cannot find a route. Std Android this works fine.
4: Related issues. GPS-A data not downloadable. Only via application layer tool.
Is PPP the default connection type on factory android builds?
What is the difference between the HD2 in dev and a std android with the implementation of the data connection.
How can I help. I have over 20 years in IT and have a thorough understanding of TCP IP layers and routing. I have reasonable understanding of Linux and the kernel IP stack but zero understanding of the android kernel or application layer.
I also have dollars to contribute.
Update:
Currently I am trying all four with isome improvements
1: Updated the Ril WRapper with no luck.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=794309
2: Change the phones default connection to GSM PL.
Change the setting found in the menu phone info when you "call" *#*#4636#*#*. There is a option to choose your preferred network. Set to GSM auto (PRL)
3: Update DNS settings.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=812930
4: Ensure the correct APN's are being used.
This is no internet versus unstable Internet.
Note. Currently trying all four and things are improving. Had my first dropout after 36 hours versus 2 per day. It happened whilst using the GPS and making a call which always tend to be a stresser anyway. Will try to keep this thread updated.
This thread also has a number of updates http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=813148
I am running a stock WinMo Rom (Latest European release 3.14 I believe). 2.15 radio on a Telstra Network in Australia. My phone is a T8585. Also running [19.10.10]|<<Mdeejay FroYo Sense Series>>|2.25.771.1| cos I like the transparent titlebars
Now I have been running all 4 of the above for around a week now and have to say there is a def improvement. Where it was common to get multiple disconnects per day I have only had 3 in the last week. Mainly when I use the GPS.
I am still searching and have yet to find a 100% fix the stability is now at a point of reasonable reliable. Also noted that the Devs are still hard at work on this.
Update 31-10-2010
A good test is to open google maps while driving. Its about the only time I get a drop out now.
The GPS kicking in always stresses the radio and that combined with the handover of cell sites is a great deal breaker.
This also seems to be consist with my suspicions around the poor handling of corrupt connections.
Eg the system on fresh boot only has a table for handling 50 connections line. This ensures it can handle multiple simultaneous connections as well as background coms.
Now when a connection is damaged or locked normally it should timeout and/or then be deleted from the table. My suspicions is that this is not happening and all the avail connection handling are slowly filling up until there are now free. Frozen this is why it seems to be very unlikely for a freeze to occur straight after a restart but more likely after a day. Also dependent on stress environments. Homes with lots of RF noise, Long way from cell towers, driving, lots of gps use, Wifi cut over.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=812930&page=7
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=794309

Thanks for the response.
I was not looking for work around but more technical information to try and identify where the issue lies. curious to see if ppp is the default and if the ppp implementation should work or is it still a hack/work around.
The steps I have tried are
1: Updated the Ril WRapper with no luck. No improvement
2: Change the phones default connection to GSM PL. No improvement
3: Update DNS settings. Still testing however does not resolve console level network issues and unlikely related to ppp freeze. No logic?
4: Ensure the correct APN's are being used. No improvement
Note. Currently trying all three
This is also separate to a lot of people issues around APN's. From the application layer internet works fine except for the freeze.

I believe rmnet is android's default connection and ppp is winmo's. I think dft reengineered ppp for Android. Remember seeing it some where when ppp first started to appear. Of course this is how I remember it and my life is hectic so it might be the opposite.
Sent from my Mytouch HD2

So I understand that one of the issues with RMNET was dropped packets. Was this due to it not being correctly engineered/implemented or just a nature of the beast?
Also with the issues everyone is having why are we not continuing to investigate RMNET as at least this was initially more stable and more of a native option.

dusty_nz said:
So I understand that one of the issues with RMNET was dropped packets. Was this due to it not being correctly engineered/implemented or just a nature of the beast?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is because it isn't implemented correctly. The radio receiver in our phones was made for PPP, not for RMNET. Latter is standard in native android devices. And there it works very fast and stable. So the devs had to implement PPP in android, which isn't proper working. But they're working on it to improve the stability, I'm pretty sure 'bout that. At least it does work and I had never problems with loosing my connection and bad speeds.
Edit: Those are the known steps to get it at least halfways stable working.
Cheers

Okay.
Did some more playing.
Both RMNET and PPP allow pinging from the console. Just had to enable SU first.
Thanks everyone for your info. Will try my best to be patient.

dusty_nz said:
Okay.
Did some more playing.
Both RMNET and PPP allow pinging from the console. Just had to enable SU first.
Thanks everyone for your info. Will try my best to be patient.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But did you also have a delay till it worked? It took me about 20 seconds before any reply came up. And does your ping test work if you try it in the hidden menu when you "call" *#*#4636#*#*?

Aye.
There was a delay and the hidden menu ping does not work either.
Still needs work.

dusty_nz said:
Aye.
There was a delay and the hidden menu ping does not work either.
Still needs work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right.
Have you seen this thread? It might be a possible solution.
Some people have reported that it works. But I had no time to test it. Had to move servers

That is fix number 3. Update DNS. Testing now. Only been 24 hours however no drops.
Seems strange thou. Hard to imagine it is a DNS issue.

On a side note. Does anyone know what changes to the Rom are needed when installing an RMNET kernel?
Eg If I took the latest MDeejay rom and changed the kernel?

Update
Update on first post.
Def improvements to be found. DNS seems to be the biggest improvement for me but also running all 4 at once.

dusty_nz said:
On a side note. Does anyone know what changes to the Rom are needed when installing an RMNET kernel?
Eg If I took the latest MDeejay rom and changed the kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No one who knows cares enough to answer.
As far as I can tell, no 'modern' build uses an rmnet kernel anymore, because apparently the chefs either don't care about data reception, or don't think that there is a problem because they don't leave a build on long enough for it to start developing problems.

enneract said:
No one who knows cares enough to answer.
As far as I can tell, no 'modern' build uses an rmnet kernel anymore, because apparently the chefs either don't care about data reception, or don't think that there is a problem because they don't leave a build on long enough for it to start developing problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
any build that says it uses michyprima r11 is still rmnet based. I don't think the nexus one-based kernels worked with ppp at all.
on another note, I was getting loads of Network Freezes (where flicking airplane mode wouldn't reset the data connection) since last week despite not fundamentally changing anything in my Android setup (see sig). However been doing some research around xda yesterday and may have found something else that's improved my ppp connection stability (so far) and resolved my constant network freeze issue... will update when I've tested this for a few more days.

Some improvment?
APNs are correct, Did the RIL_WRAPPER with no significant improvment. This morning I changed to GSM PRL and noticed an improvment.
Before the GSM PRL, I had many PPP drops, especially when streaming large amounts of data. After the GSM PRL update, I did try streaming youtube, Last.FM, slingpalyer together and NetTest, concurrently, everything is working with no PPP drop.
This is not enough to reach a conclusion, but nevertheless, I never could have done it before
Have a look here.
Stock rom 1.48 WWE, radio 2.15.50 and Froyostone 3.2
Thanks for the support!
BTW: How can I obtain the DNS information for my mobile carrier?

Just report.
I didn't believe change dns will work.
But after I change dns, the data suddenly work ( no need to restart!).
So I think it have something relate to dns.

Same thing. Updating the DNS in the build.pro file seems to have the greatest benefit.
I have a suspicion that the issues are caused with the network driver not flushing dead connections. Eg outgoing requests that to not get a reply. Ideally they should be flushed other wise the connection cache will fill until it can no longer take more connections. Symptom dead/frozen internet
All the symptoms seem to relate to this sort of issue
Things like ppp drop out more likely when on the move (More dropped packets). GPS and wifi but back. etc.

@Dusty_Nz,
Thanks for your help, this is a great thread and its certainly appreciated (the devs are busy enough as it is, xda member contributions are a great help).
As it was asked a few posts up, how do I obtain the DNS settings for my carrier? I am using TMobile US and I'd like to test your observations.
Thanks!
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

tgtoys said:
@Dusty_Nz,
Thanks for your help, this is a great thread and its certainly appreciated (the devs are busy enough as it is, xda member contributions are a great help).
As it was asked a few posts up, how do I obtain the DNS settings for my carrier? I am using TMobile US and I'd like to test your observations.
Thanks!
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Follow the link on post 3
will then lead you here.
http://www.opengear.com/faq383-Confi...-APNs.html#USA

[Q] Is there a way to keep the Wifi connection stable?

This is a brand new unrooted Mytouch 4G, so I suppose I haven't done anything wrong yet. =P
I tried the wifi connection on this phone, and it usually works great. But I later found out the it's not very stable. I carry this phone with me and walk around the campus, it doesn't always receive wifi signal like my iPad would always do. Also, sometimes even when it shows that I am connected, the internet based software such as skype will not work (making phone call without hearing any voice).
Is there a software/app that can help? Or maybe I should root my phone for a better version of operating system?

On the stock ROM and all Sense ROMs, there is an option under WiFi Settings -> Advanced -> Best WiFi Performance. Try selecting that and see if it makes a difference.

aeroxy said:
This is a brand new unrooted Mytouch 4G, so I suppose I haven't done anything wrong yet. =P
I tried the wifi connection on this phone, and it usually works great. But I later found out the it's not very stable. I carry this phone with me and walk around the campus, it doesn't always receive wifi signal like my iPad would always do. Also, sometimes even when it shows that I am connected, the internet based software such as skype will not work (making phone call without hearing any voice).
Is there a software/app that can help? Or maybe I should root my phone for a better version of operating system?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WOO! lol i found someone in the same boat as me...I go college as well and my ipad connects fine, but my laptop and phone (for some weird reason do not). Ive tried a whole variety of differernt rom and kernel combinations including stock, but nothing would work. I really really really wanted to stay stock on my phone because I like it so much, but it just wouldnt work. Then I tried the evil 4g HD rom with fauxs sense smartass kernel and suddenly wifi was working amazing! It connected as soon as I clicked turn on wifi and stayed connected throughout the day even though I was walking around campus. Plus the rom has sense so its not straying too far from stock! I dont know what the reason is, but you should give it a go and see if it works for you!

I finally determine to try your method. I can't find evil 4G HD rom. Did you mean Evo?

aeroxy said:
I finally determine to try your method. I can't find evil 4G HD rom. Did you mean Evo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no...i mean this one
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=878320

Also, can you give me links to the sense, rom and the kernel that work for you?

aeroxy said:
Also, can you give me links to the sense, rom and the kernel that work for you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the rom mentioned above....and the kernel with stock voltage cfs found on this page
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=941141
specifically this one
http://www.mediafire.com/?peijjco6hbw6wqd

[Q] CM 7.0.3 wildfire data connection toggle lag

hello there,
i rooted my wildfire a few days back & flashed CM 7.0.3 stable mod and now im experiencing a lag in data connection toggle.
once the phone is rebooted/turned on i can enable data access over mobile network, but after a while i can not... even though the data enable box is ticked & when i check the network type, it remains at HSDPA.
to re-enable data, i have to reboot or put the phone into airplane mode & back!
hope u guys can help me out!
cheers

same problem here!

i suggest u to move over to CM7 nightlies builds..its more stable then the "stable" 1 and seem so good so far..

I dont have any problems, uses the same cm7, but with latest radio, try changing the radio, else check if u had changed some thing in settings-wireless and networks, or check for some apks like autorun manager or task killers which ends some system applications/process,as some of them are critical for running android os,like android keyboard which when disabled makes your onscreen keyboard disàppear, even though u use some other keyboard input method like better keyboard app.
And i am dam sure that its not a bug in cm7, just becoz as we all know android is an os which largely depends on internet for its functioning, so the developer will take much more care in data connection codes, and a bug like this wont happen. So get a whole check, ur problem will be solved.
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using XDA App

sbasil miui R6.0 SP3

I hope sbasil will read this i cant post in development section.
Ive been using this r6.0 sp3 miui rom quite some time,i must say by far the best rom 4 me yet and i have tried many. Only 2 bugs i have noticed till now. Cant choose network manualy,it automaticaly selects and when i try to set manualy or to see list of networks phone displays error. This doesnt troubled me yet,but when i go abroad manual setting is almost a must have. Second bug ive noticed when im conected to the internet via mobile data stock browser dosent detect connection. Works on wifi though. Installed many different browsers dolphin,opera.... same problem. The funny thing is that mobile firefox detects mobile connection and works with no problem. Only firefox. So when im on wifi i use stock browser,when on mobile data i use firefox. xD. Not a big deal,it doesnt matter as long as firefox works with mobile data. Weird that other browsers do not detect mobile data. I hope if u can fix or at least make patch to fix manual network selection problem. I love this rom and wouldnt change it for nothing else.
Ps. What is best governor to use for saving battery, ima have ondemand 240/800, cant get more than 24hrs on the phone,propably battery going bad, battery time is bad on every rom i tried.
btw keep up the good work,other developers too,some great stuff here.Id buy u a beer or donate some for development but i dont have paypal or any net transaction option on my computer or phone.Ima affraid of that ****. xD So a big THANKS to you 4 now
Love ya all..

About "robotic voice issue"

Hey all,
some of us suffer from the robotic voice issue and the discussion in the dev forums gets out of control, so I decided to open an own thread for this topic.
I hope this will reduce the off-topic talk in the ROM threads (which is against xda rules by the way ). Also this will maybe help the devs to find a solution eventually as they dont have to search through the 500pages in the dev forum to find any useful comments on the topic.
Further I would like to share how to live with the problem
For many users this issue is a dealbreaker for using a ROM. I personally adapted to it as those ROMs/builds without the issue are extremely poor when it comes to performance and especially battery life for me. The current version of the device tree massively improves those too aspects at cost of bringing the robotic voice issue, which is good so, as the issue only affects a few and it can be easily worked-around.
What you can do to work-around the issue:
turn network mode to 2G
Go to Settings => Cellular networks => Preferred network type => 2G
Of course this means that your mobile internet will be way slower. All background service will run without any problems. Only when you for example stream music or videos online or maybe want to use the browser (in fact, therefore it wouldnt even really be necessary) you would have to switch to 3G/4G.
I have the robotic voice issue on every outgoing call when on 3G/4G and never had the problem on 2G. So this is a very stable workaround :good:
Also I have found an app called "Toggle Network Type 5.0" PlayStore - xda
It requires root but using a custom ROM that shouldnt be a deal-breaker. With this app, you can create an widget that toggles between network modes that you can select. So for example to toggle between 2G and 3G/4G
That means it is only one tap on a widget from ready to take a call to highspeed mobile internet :fingers-crossed:
use dual-boot
I'mTheMr released a dualboot app for our device G800F xda-thread. I am using it quite a while now and never had any problems with it. The ROMs are installed to internal storage. Having a device with 12gb internal storage this is absolutely no problem. You can access files, photos etc. from all ROMs.
So you have one ROM (works with rooted stock ROM as well!!!) that you can rely on, say your work partition and when you want to use a custom ROM with all its fancy features and the robotic voice issue is atm no deal-breaker you just choose your secondary in the app and reboot =)
I really hope that one of the devs will take a deeper look into that issue sooner or later. I can put up with it, but getting rid of this problem once and for all would of course be way nicer.
What we know about the issue (or think to know :silly: ):
As I said before it is connected to the latest changes in the device tree by hennymcc, which switched the phone libs. Considering that it doesnt appear on 2G, one can assume that it is the part that controls the mobile data / voLTE. That also means that basically every new ROM has the same bug because they all share hennymcc's device tree.
The ROMs that have the robotic voice issue are:
CM 13 (there are builds that dont have it, but I am speaking of the latest build)
Resurrection Remix
Tesla
PAC-ROM 5
ROMs that dont have the robotic voice issue:
Bliss ROM (latest build used the older version of device tree)
CM 12.1
I have this issue with every outgoing call others only calling specific numbers/providers and most of the users dont have the problem at all. So, it could be related to the provider one uses or more precisely the frequencies your provider uses.
And thats about all information I can provide to the topic. Feel free to add things that I forgot to mention or just dont know and when someone wants to have any specific logs just tell what you need and I am sure there will come a lot then I will of course add a call log with and without robotic voice (2g/3g) but probably not today.
PS: Please excuse the noob language used here and there, I am obviously no dev :angel:

zaworka said:
Hey all,
some of us suffer from the robotic voice issue and the discussion in the dev forums gets out of control, so I decided to open an own thread for this topic.
I hope this will reduce the off-topic talk in the ROM threads (which is against xda rules by the way ). Also this will maybe help the devs to find a solution eventually as they dont have to search through the 500pages in the dev forum to find any useful comments on the topic.
Further I would like to share how to live with the problem
For many users this issue is a dealbreaker for using a ROM. I personally adapted to it as those ROMs/builds without the issue are extremely poor when it comes to performance and especially battery life for me. The current version of the device tree massively improves those too aspects at cost of bringing the robotic voice issue, which is good so, as the issue only affects a few and it can be easily worked-around.
What you can do to work-around the issue:
turn network mode to 2G
Go to Settings => Cellular networks => Preferred network type => 2G
Of course this means that your mobile internet will be way slower. All background service will run without any problems. Only when you for example stream music or videos online or maybe want to use the browser (in fact, therefore it wouldnt even really be necessary) you would have to switch to 3G/4G.
I have the robotic voice issue on every outgoing call when on 3G/4G and never had the problem on 2G. So this is a very stable workaround :good:
Also I have found an app called "Toggle Network Type 5.0" PlayStore - xda
It requires root but using a custom ROM that shouldnt be a deal-breaker. With this app, you can create an widget that toggles between network modes that you can select. So for example to toggle between 2G and 3G/4G
That means it is only one tap on a widget from ready to take a call to highspeed mobile internet :fingers-crossed:
use dual-boot
I'mTheMr released a dualboot app for our device G800F xda-thread. I am using it quite a while now and never had any problems with it. The ROMs are installed to internal storage. Having a device with 12gb internal storage this is absolutely no problem. You can access files, photos etc. from all ROMs.
So you have one ROM (works with rooted stock ROM as well!!!) that you can rely on, say your work partition and when you want to use a custom ROM with all its fancy features and the robotic voice issue is atm no deal-breaker you just choose your secondary in the app and reboot =)
I really hope that one of the devs will take a deeper look into that issue sooner or later. I can put up with it, but getting rid of this problem once and for all would of course be way nicer.
What we know about the issue (or think to know :silly: ):
First of all the bug appears only on marshmallow ROMs, not on lollipop ROMs.
As I said before it is connected to the latest changes in the device tree by hennymcc, which switched the phone libs. Considering that it doesnt appear on 2G, one can assume that it is the part that controls the mobile data / voLTE. That also means that basically every new ROM has the same bug because they all share hennymcc's device tree.
The ROMs that have the robotic voice issue are:
CM 13 (there are builds that dont have it, but I am speaking of the latest build)
Resurrection Remix
Tesla
ROMs that dont have the robotic voice issue:
Bliss ROM (latest build used the older version of device tree)
PAC-ROM 5
CM 12.1
I have this issue with every outgoing call others only calling specific numbers/providers and most of the users dont have the problem at all. So, it could be related to the provider one uses or more precisely the frequencies your provider uses.
And thats about all information I can provide to the topic. Feel free to add things that I forgot to mention or just dont know and when someone wants to have any specific logs just tell what you need and I am sure there will come a lot then I will of course add a call log with and without robotic voice (2g/3g) but probably not today.
PS: Please excuse the noob language used here and there, I am obviously no dev :angel:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good idea for a thread! I actually do have the robotic voice issue with pac-rom 5 also.Maybe I'm alone in that?

spookcity138 said:
Good idea for a thread! I actually do have the robotic voice issue with pac-rom 5 also.Maybe I'm alone in that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edited OP and put it to the roms with robotic voice

zaworka said:
Hey all,
some of us suffer from the robotic voice issue and the discussion in the dev forums gets out of control, so I decided to open an own thread for this topic.
I hope this will reduce the off-topic talk in the ROM threads (which is against xda rules by the way ). Also this will maybe help the devs to find a solution eventually as they dont have to search through the 500pages in the dev forum to find any useful comments on the topic.
Further I would like to share how to live with the problem
For many users this issue is a dealbreaker for using a ROM. I personally adapted to it as those ROMs/builds without the issue are extremely poor when it comes to performance and especially battery life for me. The current version of the device tree massively improves those too aspects at cost of bringing the robotic voice issue, which is good so, as the issue only affects a few and it can be easily worked-around.
What you can do to work-around the issue:
turn network mode to 2G
Go to Settings => Cellular networks => Preferred network type => 2G
Of course this means that your mobile internet will be way slower. All background service will run without any problems. Only when you for example stream music or videos online or maybe want to use the browser (in fact, therefore it wouldnt even really be necessary) you would have to switch to 3G/4G.
I have the robotic voice issue on every outgoing call when on 3G/4G and never had the problem on 2G. So this is a very stable workaround :good:
Also I have found an app called "Toggle Network Type 5.0" PlayStore - xda
It requires root but using a custom ROM that shouldnt be a deal-breaker. With this app, you can create an widget that toggles between network modes that you can select. So for example to toggle between 2G and 3G/4G
That means it is only one tap on a widget from ready to take a call to highspeed mobile internet :fingers-crossed:
use dual-boot
I'mTheMr released a dualboot app for our device G800F xda-thread. I am using it quite a while now and never had any problems with it. The ROMs are installed to internal storage. Having a device with 12gb internal storage this is absolutely no problem. You can access files, photos etc. from all ROMs.
So you have one ROM (works with rooted stock ROM as well!!!) that you can rely on, say your work partition and when you want to use a custom ROM with all its fancy features and the robotic voice issue is atm no deal-breaker you just choose your secondary in the app and reboot =)
I really hope that one of the devs will take a deeper look into that issue sooner or later. I can put up with it, but getting rid of this problem once and for all would of course be way nicer.
What we know about the issue (or think to know :silly: ):
As I said before it is connected to the latest changes in the device tree by hennymcc, which switched the phone libs. Considering that it doesnt appear on 2G, one can assume that it is the part that controls the mobile data / voLTE. That also means that basically every new ROM has the same bug because they all share hennymcc's device tree.
The ROMs that have the robotic voice issue are:
CM 13 (there are builds that dont have it, but I am speaking of the latest build)
Resurrection Remix
Tesla
PAC-ROM 5
ROMs that dont have the robotic voice issue:
Bliss ROM (latest build used the older version of device tree)
CM 12.1
I have this issue with every outgoing call others only calling specific numbers/providers and most of the users dont have the problem at all. So, it could be related to the provider one uses or more precisely the frequencies your provider uses.
And thats about all information I can provide to the topic. Feel free to add things that I forgot to mention or just dont know and when someone wants to have any specific logs just tell what you need and I am sure there will come a lot then I will of course add a call log with and without robotic voice (2g/3g) but probably not today.
PS: Please excuse the noob language used here and there, I am obviously no dev :angel:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good idea but i have an costum rom(Rescurretion Remix) and can't fix it can i get help?