Database Users

Can a Canadian SGS be put to 2G?

I heard that sometimes switching to 2G has given some people better reception in certain areas. Can I do this on my Samsung Vibrant (Bell Mobility)? I don't see the option in the menu

The Bell Galaxy S unfortunately cannot be put into 2g mode on Bell's network, and here is why:
Bell's current 3g/HSDPA network uses GSM cell technology, enabling SIM devices such as the Galaxy S and IPhone to work on it's network. Prior to launching this network Bell used a CDMA network similar to Verizon and Sprint in the states. Bell launched their new GSM network in order to be able to get the newest phones and stay competitive with Rogers. Because Bell's 1g and 2g networks are CDMA based they are not compatible with the GSM radio chip in the Galaxy S. This is why newer Bell phones have SIM cards but older ones do not.
If the option to use 2g networks were there (and it was in my original Bell Galaxy i7500) you would completely disconnect from the cellular network if you enabled it. The option is available on Rogers Android phones and does work as Rogers has a 1g/2g GSM network that the phone can fall back on.
This isn't much of a problem in urban centres (and most places in Southern Ontario) as Bell's 3G network is quite large and reliable. You may run into trouble in rural areas where Bell may not have upgraded their towers to broadcast the new network. I believe in these areas the phone goes into roaming and utilizes Rogers 1g/2g network.
Hope this clears up the issue for you

Nirvana388 said:
The Bell Galaxy S unfortunately cannot be put into 2g mode on Bell's network, and here is why:
Bell's current 3g/HSDPA network uses GSM cell technology, enabling SIM devices such as the Galaxy S and IPhone to work on it's network. Prior to launching this network Bell used a CDMA network similar to Verizon and Sprint in the states. Bell launched their new GSM network in order to be able to get the newest phones and stay competitive with Rogers. Because Bell's 1g and 2g networks are CDMA based they are not compatible with the GSM radio chip in the Galaxy S. This is why newer Bell phones have SIM cards but older ones do not.
If the option to use 2g networks were there (and it was in my original Bell Galaxy i7500) you would completely disconnect from the cellular network if you enabled it. The option is available on Rogers Android phones and does work as Rogers has a 1g/2g GSM network that the phone can fall back on.
This isn't much of a problem in urban centres (and most places in Southern Ontario) as Bell's 3G network is quite large and reliable. You may run into trouble in rural areas where Bell may not have upgraded their towers to broadcast the new network. I believe in these areas the phone goes into roaming and utilizes Rogers 1g/2g network.
Hope this clears up the issue for you
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Wow...thanks for the great info! Weird thing is, the ONLY place i have ever had any problem is at my work (a university in lower mainland). Is there anything I can do? Seems like most calls go straight to voicemail. Thanks for the great info again!

Unfortunately some buildings are just great at blocking signal due to their construction or design, I know a lot of University campus buildings are designed to block cell reception to prevent phones from being used in class. My workplace building is particularly bad at blocking cell reception. On my old bell phone which was on their cmda network I got no reception at my desk. On my galaxy S with their new network I get anywhere from 1-5 bars but never lose service. If you're in a building that does block signal, there's unfortunately not a lot you can do outside of holding the phone in a location where it gets the best signal.

it will automatically switch between G, 2G and 3G
as long as you are close enough to a window

Nirvana388 said:
Unfortunately some buildings are just great at blocking signal due to their construction or design, I know a lot of University campus buildings are designed to block cell reception to prevent phones from being used in class. My workplace building is particularly bad at blocking cell reception. On my old bell phone which was on their cmda network I got no reception at my desk. On my galaxy S with their new network I get anywhere from 1-5 bars but never lose service. If you're in a building that does block signal, there's unfortunately not a lot you can do outside of holding the phone in a location where it gets the best signal.
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I would of thought it was the building too....but my co-workers get full reception. No static, no dropped calls, crystal clear reception. Could it be a Bell dead spot?

Singhman said:
I would of thought it was the building too....but my co-workers get full reception. No static, no dropped calls, crystal clear reception. Could it be a Bell dead spot?
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very possible
some areas have towers from Fido/Rogers, other areas have towers from Bell
in areas where you get all 3 towers (signal crash)
and you get sporadically excellent signal to almost no signal for data even if you are standing outside or near a window.
if you drive a bit further away then everything is back to normal

Network Troubles

Hi Everyone,
I live in Toronto on the Telus network with an unlocked International version of i9000.
In town I have great signal but when I leave an urban area my signal drops to nothing. I can goto Wireless and network->Mobile Networks->Network operators and searches and finds TELUS but when I select it says cannot register onto network.
I've called Telus tech-support and they pushed a SIM update and say they see no errors on their side.
Tests I've done: I switched my SIM card to one from Bell's when out of town and had the same problem. I could see the Bell network but couldn't register onto it. But Bell service would resume when I reached an urban area.
I've had the issue with stock ROM (which I suspected was due to wrong modem) but then I flashed a Bell compatible modem and I have the same issue.
I'm running international i9000 Doc's JPY Rom (wipe isntall): and flashed JL2 modem (Bell 850/1900). I have 2100mhz 1900mhz and 850mhz WCDMA frequencies selected in bands menu.
I've been having this issue since August and if anyone has any ideas on what I can try please let me know.

Wrong carrier

Apparently, my room is the only place in the US I sometimes get AT&T signal, but rest of the time my cellphone connects to the Sprint network. I went to a couple other states on the weekend and I got AT&T signal after coming back to my room. I have LS980 and tried to install different roms. None of them worked. I get 'com.android.phone crashed' while trying to access Network Carriers. Please help!

Do Sprint cell phones roam on the AT&T network? Is there a way to disable roaming?

Guide to get 4G LTE Total Wireless ( Verizon ) with 3G issue

First you need to make sure your APN settings are correct.
With my service I had to change that APN to tracphone.vzwentp and that got my 3G service.
After that Dial *#*#4636#*#* for phone testing
Go into * Phone information *
Then down to * Set preferred network type * and set it to * LTE/CDMA auto (PRL) *
This helped give me 4G LTE
And or you need to change the preferred network under cellular network settings to LTE/CDMA
First post so let me know if I need to change anything thanks
So apparently when I changed the band over to USA Band it gave me LTE. The calling worked for around two days and then just stopped working but I still had LTE.
Once I changed the Band back over to Cellular it gave me calling and txt back. I can switch it back and forth to get either 3G or 4G.
I'm hoping that with the new Nougat update it will fix this issue but for now if your calling and LTE work for you on USA Band more power too you.
If the Nougat update doesn't fix this issue I'm going back to Straight Talk AT&T where I had 4G LTE, Talk, and TXT
Motorola Moto G4 XT1625
Total Wireless (Verizon Network)
Android 6.0.1

What 4g speeds are you getting? Hear Verizon mvno are capped at 5mbps

brownd7380 said:
What 4g speeds are you getting? Hear Verizon mvno are capped at 5mbps
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I only get 5.4mbps down and 2.3mbps up so far.
I'm headed to California in two weeks where I wanted to test it.
Before when I was a Verizon customer I got 65mbps down so I'll see if it's different there too.

It's possible it is throttled. I have Net10 and using the CDMA option because Verizon has awesome signal where I live compared to att. Att did have higher speed rates on LTE but 5mpbs is more than enough for what I need and what anyone should need.

All Verizon MVNOs are throttled to ~5Mbps down, ~2Mbps up. Only Verizon Prepaid proper and Verizon Postpaid are unthrottled.

Hi there, your guide helped me get on LTE. Thank you!
United States band option is located in the 3 dots in the upper right hand corner.

So why in the world is it that these MVNOs recognize this phone straight away using the verizon network, but through VZW I can only get 3G? This is infuriating! I set up several of these for friends on prepaid networks and they all worked straight away with 4G. Finally added our son to our VZW plan so he could use his phone as an actual phone and it's stuck in 3G hell.

I'm on an MNVO using Verizon's network and it defaulted to 3G. I had to do this to get on 4G. I've lost the ability to make phone calls though, so I'm using hangouts for that function.
I can confirm that regular calling does not function on 4G LTE so like the OP, I am having to switch back and forth on Automatic and United States which is aggrivating.

I hope this helps someone:
I have LineageOS 14 nightly installed on this phone. I was going to return it because I was tired of dealing with the switch to make calls.
I figured out that my baseband wasn't the latest, so I figured one final nuclear option of flashing the stock back on to the device would potentially help this.
After a long bout with a soft bricked phone, I managed to get the phone to flash back to stock Amazon adz and then take an OTA. My baseband changed from x45R to x62R.
I then reflashed TWRP and LineageOS 14. It still didn't work but I played around with the settings and managed to get it working. You have to set the Radio Band to Automatic and then you'll get LTE data and CDMA voice. Preferred network type in Mobile network settings is LTE / CDMA. FYI The settings may reset after a reboot.

935p unlocked and flashed to 935u but can't pick up cdma bands

So maybe this was a bad idea but I'm on boom mobile (verizon mvno) and thought I could save some money and picked up a sprint s7 edge on sale, I just had it unlocked and they flashed it to the 935u unlocked version. The problem is I can't connect to the verizon network, after playing around with it a bit I got it to connect to the verizon lte network but still no voice. In my meager attempts to troubleshoot I noticed I have the options under network mode of
LTE/3g/2g -->> this picks up all networks in my area (Verizon, Sprint, ATT, Tmobile, US Cellular)
3g/2g --> only shows ATT and Tmobile
3g --> only shows ATT and Tmobile
2g --> only Tmobile
So I'm thinking my phone isn't setup right to connect to cdma networks which I thought the 935u rom was supposed to do. Anyone have any tips on how i can further troubleshoot this?
Thanks in advance.
edit: Well I installed a program called 4g LTE switch and set it to cdma only and I was able to make a phone call (3g data also worked) like that but changing it to LTE/cdma wouldn't let me make a call but LTE data worked, if i leave it set to LTE/cdma and reboot it switches back to LTE only.
edit2: Maybe it's trying to connect to volte which isn't offered for Verizon MVNO's yet but i don't see any settings available to disable that.
edit3: When set to LTE/CDMA I could sometimes make outgoing calls, sometimes I would get the double dial prompt, it was very slow to switch between LTE and CDMA so I would miss incoming phone calls.
I threw in the towel and just flashed the latest Verizon rom and it's working properly.