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After checking in to why this would not work I was told that it just isn't supported. You can use 4G and wifi data duringa call but not 3G. It's a little bit ofa draw back for me. I was just wondering what any one else's thoughts where on this?
I do like the phone so far other than this.
tman73 said:
After checking in to why this would not work I was told that it just isn't supported. You can use 4G and wifi data duringa call but not 3G. It's a little bit ofa draw back for me. I was just wondering what any one else's thoughts where on this?
I do like the phone so far other than this.
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I'm taking a chance on sounding silly, but that's just the way it is on CDMA networks. You can only do one or the other on 3G: voice or data. Being able to use voice and data simultaneously is a perk of 4G, LTE or wifi. Of course, if you have no LTE available where you are, or no wifi, it's voice or data. I know it's frustrating. I live in Minneapolis, Uptown area. We never did get very good Wimax at our house, especially indoors.
When the LTE phones came out, I was in no hurry to upgrade, as there was no LTE anywhere in the Twin Cities. No one could hazard a guess as to when it would be rolled out. The Evo LTE has been out for almost a year, and LTE is finally becoming available. It's still pretty spotty, though. The good thing is, even with a weak signal at my house, I still can get nearly 5000kbps down inside my house. That's a lot better than 3G for sure! Sprint is saying we'll have LTE pretty much throughout the city in the next couple of months. I'll believe that when I see it.
I like my S 4 pretty well. It's still strange getting used to Touch Whiz after Sense. I moved to the S 4 after having the original Evo and then the Evo 3D. I'm looking forward to rooting and being able to run custom ROMS on my S 4.
smarcin said:
I'm taking a chance on sounding silly, but that's just the way it is on CDMA networks. You can only do one or the other on 3G: voice or data. Being able to use voice and data simultaneously is a perk of 4G, LTE or wifi. Of course, if you have no LTE available where you are, or no wifi, it's voice or data. I know it's frustrating. I live in Minneapolis, Uptown area. We never did get very good Wimax at our house, especially indoors.
...
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That's not exactly accurate. Some phones can do simultaneous CDMA voice and data. However, it requires extra complexity in the phone (what's called "multiple paths") and with Sprint going to LTE, they decided to put a separate transmit path in the device just for LTE (and Wi-Fi).
smarcin said:
I'm taking a chance on sounding silly, but that's just the way it is on CDMA networks. You can only do one or the other on 3G: voice or data. Being able to use voice and data simultaneously is a perk of 4G, LTE or wifi. Of course, if you have no LTE available where you are, or no wifi, it's voice or data. I know it's frustrating. I live in Minneapolis, Uptown area. We never did get very good Wimax at our house, especially indoors.
When the LTE phones came out, I was in no hurry to upgrade, as there was no LTE anywhere in the Twin Cities. No one could hazard a guess as to when it would be rolled out. The Evo LTE has been out for almost a year, and LTE is finally becoming available. It's still pretty spotty, though. The good thing is, even with a weak signal at my house, I still can get nearly 5000kbps down inside my house. That's a lot better than 3G for sure! Sprint is saying we'll have LTE pretty much throughout the city in the next couple of months. I'll believe that when I see it.
I like my S 4 pretty well. It's still strange getting used to Touch Whiz after Sense. I moved to the S 4 after having the original Evo and then the Evo 3D. I'm looking forward to rooting and being able to run custom ROMS on my S 4.
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There's no harm in sounding silly. :silly: We forgive you.
The Sprint S3 and Evo 4G LTE both do it, it's called SVDO, simultaneous voice and EVDO 3G data (and ofcourse simultaneous voice and LTE and or WiFi).
For some reason, Sprint decided to fore-go SVDO on LTE phones after those two (S3 and Evo 4G LTE) and instead focus on SVLTE. To be fair, in all the years i've been with Sprint (13) i never thought i would ever need or use that feature until i got the S3. The first time i unknowingly used it i didn't even realize that while on a call, i was playing WordFeud multiplayer. It's something i do all the time now, and definitely sad to see it gone on the newer phones.
As their LTE network gets more robust and mature, it won't be much of an issue, but as of now 3G is in more places than their LTE network is. So...
LordLugard said:
There's no harm in sounding silly. :silly: We forgive you.
The Sprint S3 and Evo 4G LTE both do it, it's called SVDO, simultaneous voice and EVDO 3G data (and ofcourse simultaneous voice and LTE and or WiFi).
For some reason, Sprint decided to fore-go SVDO on LTE phones after those two (S3 and Evo 4G LTE) and instead focus on SVLTE. To be fair, in all the years i've been with Sprint (13) i never thought i would ever need or use that feature until i got the S3. The first time i unknowingly used it i didn't even realize that while on a call, i was playing WordFeud multiplayer. It's something i do all the time now, and definitely sad to see it gone on the newer phones.
As their LTE network gets more robust and mature, it won't be much of an issue, but as of now 3G is in more places than their LTE network is. So...
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Thanks to both you guys for setting me straight. I was parroting what I'd always heard from the OG Evo (which I had) and then the 3D, which I just left. Of course, you couldn't do SVDO on either. On the 3D, though, you could do a call + data if on 4G (Wimax), which was and still is, pretty spotty here in Minneapolis-St Paul. Of course, Sprint has been rolling out LTE for a while now. It appears, then disappears a lot. Unfortunately 3G has been awful for months. I will be so thankful when LTE is finally and fully deployed!
No problem, welcome. We are all here to help and learn from each other along the way. :good:
smarcin said:
Thanks to both you guys for setting me straight. I was parroting what I'd always heard from the OG Evo (which I had) and then the 3D, which I just left. Of course, you couldn't do SVDO on either. On the 3D, though, you could do a call + data if on 4G (Wimax), which was and still is, pretty spotty here in Minneapolis-St Paul. Of course, Sprint has been rolling out LTE for a while now. It appears, then disappears a lot. Unfortunately 3G has been awful for months. I will be so thankful when LTE is finally and fully deployed!
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Those devices did not support SVDO. I know the S3 and EVO LTE support it, and possible the Nexus LTE (additionally, the newest Optimus maybe?). I really liked this feature when on the phone and being able to quickly check email or pull up traffic info without relying on WiFi.
The S4 does not support simultaneous voice+data, and I believe that anandtech/ars had good articles describing the data paths employed by the HTC One and S4.
What I found interesting is that when the 4G connection drops out and 3G connects, I can just send a text and get 4G back immediately instead of waiting to hop towers. I suspect that a phone call would serve the same purpose.
Also, toggling 4G off and on will get you back the same mobile IP address. This is not the case with 3G, which results in a new IP address being assigned. In order to get a new IP on LTE, you have to toggle airplane mode (which is likely why this is the first step in troubleshooting LTE connectivity).
Thought I'd help you all out to understand it since you all are sooooo new to having LTE on your phones and all (that was a joke, don't get bent out of shape over it....)
The LTE standard only supports packet switching with its all-IP network. Voice calls in GSM, UMTS and CDMA2000 are circuit switched, so with the adoption of LTE, carriers will have to re-engineer their voice call network. Three different approaches sprang up. Most major backers of LTE preferred and promoted VoLTE (Voice over LTE, an implementation of IP Multimedia Subsystem or IMS) from the beginning. The lack of software support in initial LTE devices as well as core network devices however led to a number of carriers promoting VoLGA (Voice over LTE Generic Access) as an interim solution.[13] The idea was to use the same principles as GAN (Generic Access Network, also known as UMA or Unlicensed Mobile Access), which defines the protocols through which a mobile handset can perform voice calls over a customer's private Internet connection, usually over wireless LAN. VoLGA however never gained much support, because VoLTE (IMS) promises much more flexible services, albeit at the cost of having to upgrade the entire voice call infrastructure. While the industry has seemingly standardized on VoLTE for the future, the demand for voice calls today has led LTE carriers to introduce CSFB (Circuit Switched Fallback) as a stopgap measure. When placing or receiving a voice call, LTE handsets will fall back to old 2G or 3G networks for the duration of the call.
Source
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Just to be a bit more clear, it was not a sprint decision it is based on Qualcomm's chip design. The s4 krait simply supported svdo out the box and the snapdragon 600 doesn't.
themuffinman said:
Just to be a bit more clear, it was not a sprint decision it is based on Qualcomm's chip design. The s4 krait simply supported svdo out the box and the snapdragon 600 doesn't.
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I am not sure that is correct. First of all, the 600 is the CPU, not the modem - which is a separate component altogether. Secondly, I believe SVDO support is more a factor of the front end RF design being set up to feed multiple transmit paths to the modem, which in the case of the Qualcomm modem, I believe has the necessary additional ports to handle it. However, it would have necessitated a more complex RF design which Sprint and Samsung probably opted to forgo, given that Sprint's is already getting on the LTE bandwagon.
myphone12345 said:
I am not sure that is correct. First of all, the 600 is the CPU, not the modem - which is a separate component altogether. Secondly, I believe SVDO support is more a factor of the front end RF design being set up to feed multiple paths to the modem, which in the case of the Qualcomm modem, I believe has the necessary additional ports to handle it. However, it would have necessitated a more complex RF design which Sprint and Samsung probably opted to forgo, given that Sprint's is already getting on the LTE bandwagon.
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You are absolutely correct but wouldn't that be dependent on whether the modem supported that design?
themuffinman said:
You are absolutely correct but wouldn't that be dependent on whether the modem supported that design?
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My best guess is that the advanced modem in the S4 could handle it, but to add it on top of SVLTE along with the newer MIMO antenna configurations and multi-band transceivers and switches found in the latest LTE capable handsets would require the addition of another RF chain in the device and thus significantly raise the complexity of the design to a degree that doesn't make it worthwhile for Samsung to implement it.
It's not going to happen.... It's a USA cdma limitation it has NOTHING to do with the phone
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
hyelton said:
It's not going to happen.... It's a USA cdma limitation it has NOTHING to do with the phone
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
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Yes, for the most part, cdma devices has never been able to do voice and 3g data simultaneously but there is something called svdo which allows supported devices to do just that. The HTC thunderbolt on verizon was one of the first phones to support svdo(simultaneous voice and data over 3g on a cdma network). Getting it to work has absolutely nothing to do with the network but how the phone is designed. Now I am a sprint customer so I don't know what other devices supported it on verizon since but I do know that both sprint and verizon's gs3 both support svdo as well as sprints evo lte and a few other devices.
hyelton said:
It's not going to happen.... It's a USA cdma limitation it has NOTHING to do with the phone
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
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Not true. There have been several devices that could do it.
myphone12345 said:
Not true. There have been several devices that could do it.
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Oh theres plenty!! of devices that support it!! Its the NETWORK that does not.
hyelton said:
Oh theres plenty!! of devices that support it!! Its the NETWORK that does not.
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You keep talking like the network is preventing it from being possible, yes there are technical obsticals but obviously there are ways around it. So the botton line is, can you have a phone thats on a cdma network that can do voice and 3g data at the same time? That answer is yes
Seriously, why are we arguing this much about this? Simultaneous voice AND 3G on Sprint, yes, period. S3 and Evo LTE do it, S4 doesn't. Let's move on to other things.
Can't be specific about changes obviously...as per soak instructions...but I can say for sure a certain feature we've all been missing has been restored to us. PM me if you want details.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
So.... It comes with root?
lol to beat me to it! :highfive:
Haha..I wish..but no
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Free mobile app
Yay finally we get Lollipop
Again..I wish... But no
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
Unlocked bands?
Most likely VoLTE...
Longer battery?!
It's VoLTE. Or, simultaneous Voice and Data as was missing from the device at launch with the promise to be fixed with an update by the end of the year.
I'm curious, though, if it counts towards your data allowance to use VoLTE. Does anyone know?
It doesn't count against your data plan according to the Verizon FAQ
swboland said:
It's VoLTE. Or, simultaneous Voice and Data as was missing from the device at launch with the promise to be fixed with an update by the end of the year.
I'm curious, though, if it counts towards your data allowance to use VoLTE. Does anyone know?
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Voice no, video yes.
It's disappointing that the update is (apparently) only/mainly VoLTE, and not Android 5.0. Since carrier certification is a relatively slow, painful process, I think this is a sign that the Lollipop update is more than a couple months away.
I was initially excited about VoLTE, but I wasn't impressed with it when I used it briefly on my Droid Maxx. First, it wasn't reliable- I had dropped calls, and calls that never even rang my phone. Second, it killed my battery. It was rough- really rough- on it. I think both are related to the relatively weak LTE signal I have at home. To deal with the signal problems I have a Verizon network extender, but it looked like my phone was preferring the weak LTE signal over the strong signal from the network extender.
I wish Verizon would have just sucked it up and supported Wifi calling with Advanced Calling 1.0. I don't understand why they dislike Wifi calling so much. They're going to eventually support it, but the company's statements suggest they aren't happy about it. Who knows how much support there will be for it, though. Verizon apparently plans to release a LTE network extender at some point, which is only useful in certain niche situations if Wifi calling is broadly supported on VZW devices.
reggie14 said:
It's disappointing that the update is (apparently) only/mainly VoLTE, and not Android 5.0. Since carrier certification is a relatively slow, painful process, I think this is a sign that the Lollipop update is more than a couple months away.
I was initially excited about VoLTE, but I wasn't impressed with it when I used it briefly on my Droid Maxx. First, it wasn't reliable- I had dropped calls, and calls that never even rang my phone. Second, it killed my battery. It was rough- really rough- on it. I think both are related to the relatively weak LTE signal I have at home. To deal with the signal problems I have a Verizon network extender, but it looked like my phone was preferring the weak LTE signal over the strong signal from the network extender.
I wish Verizon would have just sucked it up and supported Wifi calling with Advanced Calling 1.0. I don't understand why they dislike Wifi calling so much. They're going to eventually support it, but the company's statements suggest they aren't happy about it. Who knows how much support there will be for it, though. Verizon apparently plans to release a LTE network extender at some point, which is only useful in certain niche situations if Wifi calling is broadly supported on VZW devices.
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Wifi calling is for carriers that need someone else's network to supplement their own shortcomings.
That is why they don't implement it.
adrynalyne said:
Wifi calling is for carriers that need someone else's network to supplement their own shortcomings.
That is why they don't implement it.
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So is it just a messaging problem? Verizon doesn't want to support wifi calling because it's an implicit admission that they don't have great coverage everywhere?
Generally, I agree VZW coverage is pretty good. But, it's not great at my house, and its terrible at my workplace. VZW already implicitly acknowledges that they don't have great coverage everywhere by selling network extenders. They're continuing that by coming out with LTE network extenders (someday).
It just seems like its a cheaper, better option to support wifi calling, rather than forcing people (with coverage problems) to shell out $200-300 for a network extender.
adrynalyne said:
Wifi calling is for carriers that need someone else's network to supplement their own shortcomings.
That is why they don't implement it.
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I still think every carrier should support this. I'm in IT, and constantly find myself in data centers, or even meeting rooms deep into a building that you couldn't even make an E-911 call from... It really wouldn't be that difficult. When TMob had UMA back in '08 and I had a BB, I used it extensively. It was never because TMobile didn't have enough coverage.. Carriers basically make money when you use their network. Yes, most people have unlimited plans these days, but they build their network around the use it has. So why wouldn't they want you to be using your phone, minutes, texts, etc? On the other hand, why wouldn't they want to offload congestion to networks they don't have to maintain or pay for? There just aren't any down sides to have WiFi calling/text/mms.
dbornack said:
I still think every carrier should support this. I'm in IT, and constantly find myself in data centers, or even meeting rooms deep into a building that you couldn't even make an E-911 call from... It really wouldn't be that difficult. When TMob had UMA back in '08 and I had a BB, I used it extensively. It was never because TMobile didn't have enough coverage.. Carriers basically make money when you use their network. Yes, most people have unlimited plans these days, but they build their network around the use it has. So why wouldn't they want you to be using your phone, minutes, texts, etc? On the other hand, why wouldn't they want to offload congestion to networks they don't have to maintain or pay for? There just aren't any down sides to have WiFi calling/text/mms.
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You can make calls through Hangouts if that helps ya.
allenrb2 said:
It doesn't count against your data plan according to the Verizon FAQ
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Any chance anyone who has the update can see if it fixes the shutter lag?
phoenixus said:
Any chance anyone who has the update can see if it fixes the shutter lag?
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There is a definite improvement, IMO
adrynalyne said:
You can make calls through Hangouts if that helps ya.
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Can you? I mean, I knew you could, but it rides WiFi, and doesn't do the Google Voice thing where you still need cell service?
I've been reading through the forum and the Project Fi waiting room thread kind of touches on my subject but there is some digging that has to be done to find post about how their experience has been so far now that they are on the Fi Network...
I've been activated for about a week now. So far the service has been pretty good. I spend most of my days on WIFI so it's a good fit for me. I've only had a few issues so far.
1. My office is really big with many APs, when on a call and walking through the building it gets confused on what it should do. As my phone switches between APs it will move the call over to cell towers and then back to wifi and the end user says that I am cutting out really bad...
2. When I don't have WIFI available and connected to the sprint network I cannot use data and talk on the phone at the same time.. I guess this is what all sprint users currently deal with and is a limitation of technology but I've been with ATT for a long time and am not used to this. I don't believe its just because they are CDMA. Verizon has been doing this for a while now, correct?
3. If I'm connected to the sprint network and on a call then move to an area where tmobile has better service, when I get off of the call my service will go unavailable for multiple seconds while it disconnects and reconnects to the tmobile network.
4. Slowness to send and receive sms/mms to other carriers. This is not recreateable and is random.. Maybe 5% of the time.
5. Reduced daily battery life. Maybe 15%ish.. I think I was able to correct a lot of this by limiting background data.
I don't think this thread is duplicated but if it is point me to the correct location.
I've been activated since May 26. The only difference I notice between Fi and my previous carrier AT&T is the $50 I'm saving every month.
There were some minor hiccups at various points along the way. I had intermittent mobile data for about 48 hours and the first week for a couple days only Hangouts would ring, not the phone. Those problems are long gone now, though. As far as I'm concerned this is the best thing Google has done since Search.
Project Fi user (4 months)
Project Fi is something I wish everybody had a chance to experience. Honestly it is one of the best cell providers in the US. Customer service is amazing, the cell service is great, maybe a few things here and there, but an overall really good experience for this being a beta. Google is doing a really good job! Keep it up
Ive had Fi for 4 months, I live in a very rural part of Illinois. Service is great. I have a lot of 3g, but I am ok with that. I would never switch back to big red. Ive heard things about T-Mobile expanding more in my area so.. that would make my service even better..
I activated Fi in June and have had only minor issues related to network switching. They seem to have been resolved over time and I can't really see any difference in service than when I had TMO or VZW. I live in Orlando and don't travel extensively any more but coverage is more than adequate. And the savings are incredible.
I've had it for a couple months, and I'm satisfied with the service. I noticed my data drops out in certain areas when I'm driving, but it works fine at places I spend most of my time at.
My signal at home is only so-so, as far as internet goes, but that doesn't matter much, as I'm on wi-fi at home, anyway. One minor annoyance I've run into, however, is that occasionally my Fi signal seems to die completely for a brief period of time, and when it does, it crashes whatever app I'm in. It's often during a game (and with my luck, it's usually when I'm doing well...). But it's not a huge deal or anything.
I've been on Fi since early August. Came from Sprint "unlimited" plan, which was not doing me much good because I can't get decent Sprint data coverage at my workplace. And of course I use WiFi at home. So the addition of T-Mobile made a much better network for me. In fact, the switching algorithm keeps me on T-Mobile most of the time as I am out and about town.
Overall, I doubt that the sum of the Sprint and TMO network footprints match the coverage of Verizon. The question is: Is it good enough for you for the price? With one big caveat (see below), for me the answer is yes.
The switching is not perfect, especially on roadtrips. I believe there is a learning algorithm baked in, which includes localized geofencing. But while this improves things over time in routine places, I don't think it works so well the first time you go elsewhere. Gratefully, at least for now, there are leaked -- and not officially supported -- dialer codes to force switching between Sprint and TMO when you must.
Coming from unlimited makes for a paradigm shift because now I pay for cell network data by the megabyte. This is very cost-effective for someone who can stay on WiFi most of the time. I do, so my bills are very low. But if you cannot do that, and you are a heavy data user, this plan is not for you.
The big caveat for me right now is that Marshmallow reportedly breaks data service on TMO Band 12, which is what reaches into my office building with Lollipop 5.1.1. That is why I am in no hurry to upgrade to 6.0 unless and until this gets fixed. B12 coverage is increasingly a big deal for TMO's network footprint. So without it, much of the benefit of a dual network would go away.
I switched from t mobile unlimited. Whenever I'm on sprint on a call, data doesn't work so I manually force the phone to be on t mobile literally all the time which kind of defeats the purpose of having another network. I honestly don't think project fi is a significant improvement over just having t mobile. Adding sprint to fi is kind of like giving a crutch for a dwarf to a normal sized person. The reason I will stay on fi is because I don't believe Google well stop at t mobile and sprint only.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app
Been on fi for a few months now and overall it's been great. My bill has been a couple of bucks less than my prepaid $30/mo tmobile plan. Even though sprint has fairly good coverage in my area, I mostly connect to tmobile networks.
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be happy with just the sprint network. Even though sprint has about the same # of cell towers in my area, signal strength between sprint towers seems to drop off rapidly compared to tmobile's towers. To be competitive, sprint needs to have more than twice the cell tower density to compare to tmobile's coverage. But it's still good to know I have sprint as a backup.
darthmtb said:
Project Fi is something I wish everybody had a chance to experience. Honestly it is one of the best cell providers in the US. Customer service is amazing, the cell service is great, maybe a few things here and there, but an overall really good experience for this being a beta. Google is doing a really good job! Keep it up
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I'd love to join Fi but t-mobile gave me such a good plan (grandfather discount). It will be a big lost if I leave.
I've been on Fi for about 5 months and have used it all over the US, South America, Europe and India. When roaming outside the US, it works exactly like the T-Mobile service it replaced. When I'm home and it runs on Sprint, it sucks. Phone doesn't ring and I miss texts. My service is actually better when I put the SIM card in a T-Mobile phone that can't switch to Sprint.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
i did sign up to fi, and got invited. and i did tell them j wanted to use fi. so they sent me a sim, and the "gifts". but i have no wifi at home, and i average about 25-40gb a month in data usage(tmobile, unlimited). i did the math in my head and it just didnt make any sense to me to switch. i definitely would, but the data costs are just to high. so i wrote them explaining about my data use, and they thanked me. and i havent been bugged by them in the last 2 months at all.
I'm on Verizon unlimited old plan and with great regret decided to try out Fi since they are increasing the price. I don't think anyone can match Verizon's network and I'm paying a reasonable $55 incl taxes. I wish I used more data, I hear people use 6-10GB on average on these unlimited plans, I guess I don't travel as much.
I am sort of afraid what Fi will mean since its after all a beta service. As an MVNO it is not price competitive, $10/GB is a lot for an MVNO to charge, Cricket is much better pricing, but I dont have their signal at home.
I'm glad to see the positive experiences with Fi. I ordered my Nexus 6 and Fi SIM card at lunch today and will activate Fi in a couple weeks once I get a credit back from T-mobile and can properly close my account with them. I'm looking forward to saving about $60 a month with Fi.
I've been activated since June. I came from T-mobile, so the change was all benefit for me in terms of coverage. I came from a Nexus 5 which doesn't have band 12 support. It was nice to be able to use T-Mobiles band 12 once I was on fi with the Nexus 6.
I rarely see sprint in my area, since T-Mobile is much better, but when I get out into the country, I have been connected to sprint where I used to have nothing at all. That's a plus. Also, sprint service allows roaming on Verizon 1x towers, and I have been connected to Verizon a few times.
I got a Fi invite instantly yesterday.
My N6 is stock unrooted Lollipop LMY48T, and uses my Verizon unlimited data SIM, my T-Mobile "WalmartPlan" $30 5gig SIM, or my cricket/aio prepaid SIM, depending.
I only use Google Voice through Hangouts for all my calls, so unlimited talk is not important to me.
If I order a Fi SIM, will I still be able to switch Sims freely or does the phone get locked to Fi only ?
I have heard some rumor that if I accept a Marshmallow OTA or sideload the M images, I will lose T-Mobile band12 LTE. Hope that is not true, since T-Mobile seems to be moving from band4 to band12 everywhere now.
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
trent999 said:
I have heard some rumor that if I accept a Marshmallow OTA or sideload the M images, I will lose T-Mobile band LTE. Hope that is not true, since T-Mobile seems to be moving from band4 to band12 everywhere now.
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The loss of data on Band 12 has been reported by several users who flashed the Marshmallow build. Apparently the difference is in the radio module, because some of them have reported that Band 12 data service is restored by flashing back to one of the latest Lollipop radios on top of the new build.
We don't know if this is by design or a bug.
I have no personal experience myself because I remain on 5.1.1 build LYZ28M.
Seems like going to Marshmallow would be a huge problem for Fi users, then, unless Fi doesn't use band12 LTE?
For quite a while the Nexus6 was almost the only phone out that would support T-Mobile band12, except for a couple of Samsung's. Big part of why I bought mine.
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
trent999 said:
Seems like going to Marshmallow would be a huge problem for Fi users, then, unless Fi doesn't use band12 LTE?
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Click to collapse
Yes, it is a big open question right now. Google and Fi management have been silent about it. The issue may or may not be related to Google's need to certify the new Nexus devices for use on the TMO network directly (using T-Mobile SIMs). We don't know how these requirements relate to the Fi-TMO MVNO agreement, if at all.
It may be that there is just a bug in the Marshmallow 6.0 radio.
trent999 said:
If I order a Fi SIM, will I still be able to switch Sims freely or does the phone get locked to Fi only ?
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Click to collapse
Several Verizon users have reported (a thread in Q&A section) difficulty returning to VZW from Fi.
Any Project Fi user? How is it working out?
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk
It's dope.
Yup. Very happy.
Totally satisfied!
It's awesome!
More than anything I'm happy with the bill. I think mine was $43.xx last month, I'm signed up for 5GB at $70 total. Spent the last year on AT&T Post Paid with a MiFi also on the account at 115ish a month for 15GB. Prior to that I was on AT&T Straight Talk for years.
To be honest, the service is so-so. T-Mobile is T-Mobile, the building penetration sucks, its as mediocre as it was when I got off it in 2011. Sprint does provide better building penetration but the service is slower. I'm often frustrated with Fi's lack of attempt at switching from T-Mo to Sprint or vice-versa. I have Fi-Spy installed and can easily plug in the dialer codes to switch, but why it doesn't do this more proactively is beyond me. Even with the auto switch dialer coder plugged in and a reboot, it rarely switches quickly once a drop in signal is experienced with the carrier in use. The nerd in me thinks its cool to plug in the dialer codes, the normal me is beginning to find it inconvenient. Speeds aren't spectacular, I think that's possibly a function of being in South Louisiana. The carriers invest here last most likely because of the overall poverty of the populous and the gamble that the they can just wait till the network is destroyed by a hurricane and rebuild it with insurance money.
My gut feeling is I'll wait to see if the 6.0.1 release (whenever I finally get it) will make T-Mo work better with the possibility of Band 12. If its not better soon I'll probably switch back to AT&T Straight Talk. AT&T just works everywhere I have been in the US for the last 4 or 5 years. I never have the negative experience I hear people complain about on big blue. The Straight Talk option makes the cost negligible. Although the good ole days of Straight Talk "discount" service cards being sold online for 30ish dollars seems to be gone.
Cellular service is a commodity, while I impress myself with the nerd factor of an aggregated cellular carrier like Google Fi, I just lack the patience to endure the carriers its running on. Struggling with bad or slow service is no longer acceptable with the flexibility of porting numbers to other carriers. $40ish dollars is cheap, but for 50 I could be on Straight Talk on AT&T and not worry about any of the semantics.
...but I did like the Lego kit Google sent me!
aygriffith said:
More than anything I'm happy with the bill. I think mine was $43.xx last month, I'm signed up for 5GB at $70 total. Spent the last year on AT&T Post Paid with a MiFi also on the account at 115ish a month for 15GB. Prior to that I was on AT&T Straight Talk for years.
To be honest, the service is so-so. T-Mobile is T-Mobile, the building penetration sucks, its as mediocre as it was when I got off it in 2011. Sprint does provide better building penetration but the service is slower. I'm often frustrated with Fi's lack of attempt at switching from T-Mo to Sprint or vice-versa. I have Fi-Spy installed and can easily plug in the dialer codes to switch, but why it doesn't do this more proactively is beyond me. Even with the auto switch dialer coder plugged in and a reboot, it rarely switches quickly once a drop in signal is experienced with the carrier in use. The nerd in me thinks its cool to plug in the dialer codes, the normal me is beginning to find it inconvenient. Speeds aren't spectacular, I think that's possibly a function of being in South Louisiana. The carriers invest here last most likely because of the overall poverty of the populous and the gamble that the they can just wait till the network is destroyed by a hurricane and rebuild it with insurance money.
My gut feeling is I'll wait to see if the 6.0.1 release (whenever I finally get it) will make T-Mo work better with the possibility of Band 12. If its not better soon I'll probably switch back to AT&T Straight Talk. AT&T just works everywhere I have been in the US for the last 4 or 5 years. I never have the negative experience I hear people complain about on big blue. The Straight Talk option makes the cost negligible. Although the good ole days of Straight Talk "discount" service cards being sold online for 30ish dollars seems to be gone.
Cellular service is a commodity, while I impress myself with the nerd factor of an aggregated cellular carrier like Google Fi, I just lack the patience to endure the carriers its running on. Struggling with bad or slow service is no longer acceptable with the flexibility of porting numbers to other carriers. $40ish dollars is cheap, but for 50 I could be on Straight Talk on AT&T and not worry about any of the semantics.
...but I did like the Lego kit Google sent me!
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What about calling/texting over wifi? The initial reason I decided not to go with Project Fi was for the reasons you stated-- didn't love the carriers that support it. But the more I think about it, the more intrigued I am. I just switched from AT&T to Verizon and I am hardly using any cell data. I'm at wifi at home, wifi at work, and many places that I go. Project Fi is becoming more appealing for the ability of being able to call/text pretty much anywhere over wifi and not have to worry so much about how good the cell signal is. Plus the idea of auto connecting to open wifi hotspots and securing the connection over a VPN tunnel sounds pretty cool as well.
On another note, I don't have any first hand experience with Tmobile but 6.0.1 should help a lot with cell service in buildings if they have band 12 in your area. The geek in you should just flash the factory images instead of waiting for the OTA
I'm very satisfied with my experience so far. My only complaint, a small one at best, would be there is no way to prefer WiFi calling over cellular like with Tmobile.
It's been solid for me. Not just at home, but a number of the approved hotspots as well when I'm out. And I like that these connections are VPN'd.
coolcat67 said:
What about calling/texting over wifi?
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Data usage
I was thinking of going to Project Fi myself and got the invite already. However, I check my data status usage and it's about 4gb or more per month. And I am counting only the usage not being over wifi. I understand that Project Fi switch automatically over wifi if available so you won't use Data over the air as much. However, I'm with the family plan with 15GB and Data carry over next month on AT&T network. If I'm by myself, I would switch over to Project Fi in a heart beat but with family member, I can't. Just my 2 cents thought.
Solutions Etcetera said:
It's been solid for me. Not just at home, but a number of the approved hotspots as well when I'm out. And I like that these connections are VPN'd.
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I have the exact opposite experience, I rarely get auto connected to hot-spots and when I do they're total garbage. Not just in Louisiana, but in large metros I've traveled to in since getting the service. I think only one held the VPN tunnel indicated by the key icon for long enough to do anything.
coolcat67 said:
What about calling/texting over wifi? The initial reason I decided not to go with Project Fi was for the reasons you stated-- didn't love the carriers that support it. But the more I think about it, the more intrigued I am. I just switched from AT&T to Verizon and I am hardly using any cell data. I'm at wifi at home, wifi at work, and many places that I go. Project Fi is becoming more appealing for the ability of being able to call/text pretty much anywhere over wifi and not have to worry so much about how good the cell signal is. Plus the idea of auto connecting to open wifi hotspots and securing the connection over a VPN tunnel sounds pretty cool as well.
On another note, I don't have any first hand experience with Tmobile but 6.0.1 should help a lot with cell service in buildings if they have band 12 in your area. The geek in you should just flash the factory images instead of waiting for the OTA
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What I do love about the service is the ability to use Hangouts on all my devices and in the web browser and text & MMS from it. I think if I went back to Straight Talk I'd probably leave the number with Google Voice which traditionally I've done the opposite and took the number to the carrier and just had a miscellaneous GV number.
I have had problems with call quality over data. Mainly at my house which is AT&T U-Verse, and to top it off Fi does not seem to realize it and will not switch off to cellular when the call quality dissipates. I've literally had to run out my front door into the middle of my street if I'm mid call so it will switch to cellular. Its either this or attempt to fumble the phone and turn off WiFi. My neighbors probably are suspicious of my mid street calls :laugh:. Again, this is a function of AT&T U-verse having 18mb down at my house. Might switch my internet to cable next month to help with the abysmal ISP speeds with U-verse.
Again, don't expect the phone to just start connecting to tons of VPN'ed Google Certified WiFi networks. You'll be disappointed. I was in large metros all up and down the east coast in Nov and again, this may have happened once in each large city. You're going to be looking for the same old Starbucks and misc WiFi networks to make calls if you're really hoping to find WiFi networks in the wild for calling. I have a free Boingo plan through Amex Plat and it helps give availability to more networks than I had access to before. But its not enough that I wouldn't be worried about cell service.
Fingers crossed on 6.0.1... back in the old days I would have downloaded the image the second it was out and flashed it. As I get older and find myself making more excuses for not getting stuff done I rarely want to spend non existent free time diving into roms or any of that. I just want the phone to work and the service to work. Its a long way from chopping up Blackberry OS installers with different features from different Telcos or my first Android phone being a Sprint Touch Pro 2 launching into Android from Windows Mobile. Getting old (or boring) I guess!
Works great here. Except MMS over hangouts looks like garbage. I would love to use hangouts over my other devices with my Project Fi number, but I send to many picture messages. Anyone else have MMS hangouts quality problems?
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Ulver said:
Works great here. Except MMS over hangouts looks like garbage. I would love to use hangouts over my other devices with my Project Fi number, but I send to many picture messages. Anyone else have MMS hangouts quality problems?
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
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Are you referencing the picture quality of the photos sent? Does it look bad both in Hangouts and also in the receiver's MMS?
Its decent, but I can see why people leave back to Tmobile. I am on WIFI most of the day and yet I manage to use 1.5-2GB per month, I cant imaging using Fi without WIFI. There is no VoLTE an no proper Band 12 implementation. Support is not that great, most replies are copy/paste BS. The whole service is just not as reliable as Tmobile. I pay about $40 bucks for Fi......Tmobile would have been only $50 but everything works 100%, you get som free music and vid streaming, and data falls back to free Edge.
I am gonna stick for a while longer....They said some updates are coming to service in next few month but I call BS on this. Fi team seems to be lying alot about the service and misrepresents it in their advertisement.
aygriffith said:
Are you referencing the picture quality of the photos sent? Does it look bad both in Hangouts and also in the receiver's MMS?
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For me it looks bad on my end and the receivers end via hangouts. I also tried sending pics via my Z3 and the pics look bad on both my wife's Nexus 6 and my Mom's iPhone.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
kolyan said:
The whole service is just not as reliable as Tmobile.
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Weird... I have been on T-Mobile since the days of my RAZR v300 up until just recently. In fact, I still have it on my Moto X. Nothing about it is as good as Fi has been. Granted it is not for folks that are burning through a lot of data, but I have never gone over a Gig, so it's great for me.
Looking at the two phones side by side right now, the TM phone is on HSPA with 4 asu, and the Fi is LTE with 23 asu.
Solutions Etcetera said:
Weird... I have been on T-Mobile since the days of my RAZR v300 up until just recently. In fact, I still have it on my Moto X. Nothing about it is as good as Fi has been. Granted it is not for folks that are burning through a lot of data, but I have never gone over a Gig, so it's great for me.
Looking at the two phones side by side right now, the TM phone is on HSPA with 4 asu, and the Fi is LTE with 23 asu.
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I have Tmobile LTE and VoLTE everywhere pretty much and it switches to Sprint for no reason, I even get Sprint 3G in some places due to bugs. On top of it Tmobile band 12 is not implemented correctly so you end up missing calls and there is no VoLTE support at all. I am not even sure if Tmobile carrier aggression is working on Project Fi
I've been having issues on Project Fi since June, including some spotty roaming in Europe where Tmobile got 5 bars of LTE (capped to 128kbps). Then been dealing with carrier auto switching for over a month now....looks like it just started working with latest Fi app and Android 6.0.1. They also know about all the roaming issues and that Fi doesnt like to connect to roaming providers, thats why they seem to include manual switching in Fi app now so people dont end up with dead phones overseas
They are also kind of lying about equal coverage to Tmo and Sprint....its not equal, at least not yet, lying about 120+ countries where wifi-calling is supported....also bs, real list is around 90-95 countries (not a big deal, but they refuse to fix it)
I switched from Tmobile because I though I will get 100% Tmobile coverage + addition of Sprint with seamless switching (been very buggy) I also need that 256kbps roaming speeds since its double of what Tmobile is offering. Lower bill was just a bonus.....dont really care since its like 10-15 bucks difference
kolyan said:
I've been having issues on Project Fi since June
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Dunno what to tell you; have only been on it since 11/16, but so far it has been great on my 6P.
When I read these comments I wonder how many people were already T-Mobile or Sprint customers and used to so-so coverage and speeds already. Compared in AT&T and Verizon, you're getting what you pay for. Just calling a spade a spade as a long time AT&T customer and a really really long ago T-Mobile and Sprint customer.
It's exactly what they said it was, a beta service. If you want a cheap 5GB of LTE data that works everywhere, get a AT&T Straight Talk sim. If you really think you only use a gig and live in a large metro with a good economy (face it, T-Mobile and Sprint upgrade their carrier equipment metros with better economic conditions first) then you'll be in heaven.
Don't really care about the international, I just buy a sim locally whenever I go overseas. But for the price, if it works, it's a nice feature.
Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk
I have looked thru thread after thread for days and cannot seem to enable WiFi calling on my OnePlus 5 on the AT&T network, Does anyone have a clue?
I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile when I got my OnePlus, so I can't say for sure, but I believe AT&T limits WiFi-Calling to certain devices, and even then, only the AT&T variants of those. (Mostly newer and from big name brands e.g. Apple, Samsung, HTC, LG). Since to my knowledge even an unlocked Galaxy s8 won't have WiFi calling on AT&T, it is unlikely that any OnePlus device will ever have that ability.
reffu said:
I switched from AT&T to T-Mobile when I got my OnePlus, so I can't say for sure, but I believe AT&T limits WiFi-Calling to certain devices, and even then, only the AT&T variants of those. (Mostly newer and from big name brands e.g. Apple, Samsung, HTC, LG). Since to my knowledge even an unlocked Galaxy s8 won't have WiFi calling on AT&T, it is unlikely that any OnePlus device will ever have that ability.
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Yes, I remember reading you can NOT do Wi-Fi calling on att with bring your own device.
Sent from my OnePlus 5 using XDA Labs
MrWilsonxD said:
Yes, I remember reading you can NOT do Wi-Fi calling on att with bring your own device.
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Le Pro3 is the only device that is BYOD and works on AT&T I believe.
Just another reason TMobile is the real deal
Eric214 said:
Just another reason TMobile is the real deal
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Yeah, or any of their mvno's!
I was with family today in Anaheim, a highly populated, very modern city I mean Disneyland is there.
My dad has AT&T, I have mint sim (a t mobile mvno) I had near 70-80db signal, he was bouncing between 120 and up.. Had no signal whatsoever for extended periods of time. And with their low band frequency purchase, it's only getting better. It's anecdotal evidence, but still..
While I don't think t mobile offers the best network, I strongly feel they are going to get there in a couple years should they keep this up..
Sent from my OnePlus 5 using XDA Labs
I'm wondering about WiFi texting can the oneplus 5 do it? Also I noticed when in connected to WiFi I can't send any texts.
Att does not allow the 1+5, albeight the technology is there, to do VoWifi or VoLte. They reserve those features for devices solely purchased from Att, ie Only branded devices. If the Le eco does work it out of the box, that's awesome. Don't tell Att that, lol. I got into a huge argument with Att NatCs and filed troubleshooting tickets only to be told, sorry, since it wasn't purchased directly, no work. I have since made the move to TMobile. Im in NJ as a reference. And to be honest, I find the voice quality vastly better to what I had with Att, with hd voice too. I've hit some spots with little to no coverage, usually at a friend's house but my VoWifi kicks in and I have service once again with no issues.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
Many retail/unlock mobiles have "Wifi Calling" function but not any menu entry to enable , The APP can check the hidden function and enable it if can use.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.widget7.wifi.calling
ppgirl said:
Many retail/unlock mobiles have "Wifi Calling" function but not any menu entry to enable , The APP can check the hidden function and enable it if can use.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wikimediacom.wifi.calling
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Interesting app. But I'm not sure it works.
I install it, on my un-rooted OnePlus 5, then run it - hey! there's a convincing looking setting, for wifi - and so I activate it. But everytime I return to the app, the setting is 'off' again. Does that mean the setting doesn't 'stick' and my phone (running on AT&T) cannot actually use wifi?
Plus, it looks to me as though the app has to remain running (although there's a setting to not display the notification icon, it doesn't seem to 'stick' either).
Ultimately, I cannot seem to get my phone to actually make a wifi call. For this reason, I'm skeptical this app is able to enable wifi calling, on the AT&T network.
I just called ATT.
I want to upgrade to the 5 and i need it to call over wifi as most of the time i'm in a rural situation with no coverage.
The ATT tech support said there would be no problem.
I hate to say it, but they lied (unless there's been a drastic change as-of-late).
Even if you can get them to provision your 5T, it'll only "stick" for a minute or so, and then revert.
AT&T is somewhat "famous" for their lack of BYOD (non-branded) WiFi call/text support. The exception is iOS devices, and a couple of "certified" Android phones; I think the HTC 10 (or maybe it was the 9) was an example, you can probably count these on one hand.
I call At&T today. No changes so far.
AT&T has an issue like this forever, as they do not wish to give that option to all. That is like a drop in profits, and drop in latency and lags. Anyways, too long to explain, but the gist is, they will have loss if they allow full coverage (at least loss on journal entries)..
vdbhb59 said:
at&t has an issue like this forever, as they do not wish to give that option to all. That is like a drop in profits, and drop in latency and lags. Anyways, too long to explain, but the gist is, they will have loss if they allow full coverage (at least loss on journal entries)..
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BOO... At&t... BOO!