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ATT 2G mini tower forcing Edge

My office has an 850 abnd ATT mini cell installed in our server room. The tower was installed because we were getting bad blackberry coverage which are all Edge models. I happen to sit directly outside of the server room and am about 15 feet from the mini cell tower. My Fuze is insistent on using the 850 2G connection instead of getting a 3G signal. I am in downtown Chicago which has fairly decent 3G coverage. I am on the 50th floor of the ATT building but I can't get ATT 3G service! I can go down to lower floors and I have no problem getting 3G. I can only assume my phone is being told "hey, I have a killer 2G signal, lets use that!"
I am able to disable 3G by using com manager. Does something similar exist for disabling 2G? Is there something I can do when I am at work to not use the 850 band? Unfortunately, moving is not an option.

You can enable the 'band select' part of the phone options, and lock it to WCDMA
As I recall, the registry entry to do so is:
Code:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\OEM\PhoneSetting]
"ShowUMTSBandPage"=dword:00000001

Att uses cdma?

I do believe Da_G just had a bad mental picture of the screen he's talking about.. The page in question is not page you'd tend to visit frequently
Top drop down: Auto, GSM, WCDMA
Bottom drop down: Band selection
I don't The exact options for whats in "Band selection" but it lets you force the phone to use only certain frequencies... The only problem I see is, I do believe AT&T uses the same frequencies for 2g and 3g... or at least depending on what area you're in, 3G might be on 850, or it might be on 1900.. so you travel a bit and your 'force 3g' doesn't work anymore... i'm too tired right now to figure out if your phone would still work in such a situation... I think so >.>

I already had the band select reg key applied. I changed the phone options from auto to WCDMA.
I am seeing an H instead of E but I am not seeing HSPDA speeds. It "feels" like I am on a 2G connection. One speed tst did show 483kbut/sec but I am use to seeing 1200-1500 when I have true 3G.
I know ATT uses different bands in Chicago for 2G and 3G. If they start using 850 for 3G like BG reported then my problem will dgo away.
I just want to stream Cubs games from my MEdiaCenter while im at work... is that so much to ask? Need at least 768 to get a decent picture.

Sounds like you need to enable the Advanced Network tool, and turn on HSUPA

freekquency said:
Att uses cdma?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your typical "GSM" carrier uses Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) technology for 3G.

The correct answer is NO att does not use cdma. lol
What kind of answer was that anyway? "typical?" hahahha
(ok work time! this 5e isnt gonna install itself

hi
just used bandswitch and change to UMTS then do a solf reset
and u will have 3g. it work for me.
this is the link i have for u.
sry my english is no to good but i try
u need to run without the touch flow
so u can see the program
http://rapidshare.com/files/226975669/BandSwitch.rar

Does 2G or 3G affect the voice quality??

I understand that 2G and 3G has more to do with data speed. However does the voice quality differ between the two??? I can't find much consensus on the subject. Thank you.

unless your operator have strange equipment it would be 100% the same

A wireless communications guy who is a fanatic with cell phones on youtube (aka absalon3) once said that his Nokia E90 kept dropping calls because it did not support the U.S. 3G frequencies at his carrier.
So yes, if you don't have 3G access or subscription, than your phone is more likely to have a weaker signal--hence the dropped calls.

poetryrocksalot said:
A wireless communications guy who is a fanatic with cell phones on youtube (aka absalon3) once said that his Nokia E90 kept dropping calls because it did not support the U.S. 3G frequencies at his carrier.
So yes, if you don't have 3G access or subscription, than your phone is more likely to have a weaker signal--hence the dropped calls.
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i dont think so. gsm 3g devices can have simultaneous voice and data connections 3g and voice are totally separate.

josefcrist said:
i dont think so. gsm 3g devices can have simultaneous voice and data connections 3g and voice are totally separate.
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Check out Absalon3's video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNrRNUZfqkQ
He says that the lack of 3G hardware meant that he got dropped calls.
On another video he claims to have a degree on some sort of communications thing. I haven't looked for the video because I don't know which one it is on the top of my head. Anyways it sounded as if his 'degree' made him an expert on cell phones.
I also have a Nokia E90 and the reception isn't as good as my North American version of Xperia X1. However, I do understand that reception is also determined by the other hardware factors.

Well thank you guys, this is why I had trouble finding out definitive info on this. It seems that there are no hard fact, just anecdotal evidences.
I am trying to decide whether I have to go with a higher price Telus HTC Hero (3G on ATT), or I can stick with a cheaper price HTC Hero (2G on ATT). I don't give a crap about data, however, voice is very important, after all it is a phone.

"gsm 3g devices can have simultaneous voice and data connections 3g and voice are totally separate."
not just gsm 3g devices
gsm since gprs (1g) have supported simultaneous voice and data
that is if the operators equipment support it too
had simultaneous data and voice on all my 1g gsm smartphones

Many 3G operators have their 2G service provided by another operator in low coverage areas, so when moving between 3G and 2G and vice versa there can sometimes be line drops.
The actual voice quality between a 2G phone call and a 3G phone call is no different.
Research your desired operator's coverage in your area for both 2G and 3G, then decide.

From what I've seen, and also from the maps on their websites.
If you have a phone with 2G and 3G you have the most coverage.
Now if you have a 2G device you will only have coverage in the 2G area, so if there are places that only have 3G in their area, you will get a dropped call.
This is practically useless for the large decent carriers like AT&T and Verizon who have a lot of coverage. But maybe it's a problem for some other carriers.
Also from the maps it looks like most 2G area have 3G.
Just my .02, I have nothing really to back this up. Best thing you can do is make sure you have good coverage.
ATT's Webpage for Coverage
There are other places where you can find a carriers coverage.

SGS supports HSPA+ ?

Hello ,
I have a Samsung Galaxy S . My carrier never had a 3G network .. so ive never really felt what its like to use a smartphone to its full potential .
And just a week ago they introduced HSPA+ . Now i have a couple of questions , since this wireless technology is evolving too fast for me to catch up with :
- HSPA+ is 4g ? 3.5g ?
- Does my phone support it ? to my understandings , i can connect to it but not at full speeds (21Mbps)
- Is that good news for me ? i mean they skipped 3g and launched HSPA+ ? should i be happy with that ?
Excuse my noobness ,
Cheers !

Your speeds will depend on your network and possibly your data plan.
Different carriers use different "bands" for high-speed data and the SGS may or may not support your carrier's band. T-Mobile, for example, uses the "AWS" band, which is not the same that, for example, AT&T uses.
If your data plan doesn't allow access to the APN that supports HDPSA+ then you won't have access to those speeds, even if your phone has a compatible radio.
There is a lot of specs-manship and marketing hype about what is and what isn't 4G.
On my SGS4G I am seeing over 4 Mbps down and over 1.5 Mbps up with T-Mobile in the San Francisco Bay area. I've only tested one location (that has mediocre signal levels), so it may be better elsewhere.

Checking HSPA status

Hi everyone!
I'm using Nexus S 9023 on Softbank (Japan). I used speedtest.net and the speed was extremely slow, only 0.75Mpbs for dowload and 1.05Mbps for upload.
I wonder how to check if my phone can use HSPA or not? Or is it softbank slow or Nexus S doesn't support HSPA on softbank?
Note: I try to download some file and check the network status. It only shows UTMS

I'm using Nexus S 9023 on Softbank (Japan). I used speedtest.net and the speed was extremely slow, only 0.75Mpbs for dowload and 1.05Mbps for upload.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are aware that you are sharing the cell bandwidth with all the Japanese people in same cell, right? Just remember that everyone of them is surfing 2chan just when you do your speed test
I wonder how to check if my phone can use HSPA or not? Or is it softbank slow or Nexus S doesn't support HSPA on softbank?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can use HSPA and it does, obviously. Standard UMTS would only give 384kBit/s downspeed max.
Note: I try to download some file and check the network status. It only shows UTMS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HSPA is part of UMTS.

cgi said:
You are aware that you are sharing the cell bandwidth with all the Japanese people in same cell, right? Just remember that everyone of them is surfing 2chan just when you do your speed test
It can use HSPA and it does, obviously. Standard UMTS would only give 384kBit/s downspeed max.
HSPA is part of UMTS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Thanks for the thorough reply.
I'm from Vietnam and the networks in my country typically reaches around 3.0Mbps for downlink and 1-2Mbps for uplink. So I thought in Japan in should be somewhat better.

I can only say that Softbank Mobile has a somewhat turbulent past. It was first J-Phone, later bought by Vodafone, which lost customers.
There is that passage on wikipedia that says "Vodafone 3G failed to attract subscribers because Vodafone cut back investments in 3G services in Japan in 2002/3".
I don't know how to interpret that statement, but it could mean that they didn't put enough money into the network.
Anyway, they sold the business to Softbank in 2006 and I have no idea how things evolved from there.
However, the lowest specified HSDPA speed i found specified is 1.2Mbps (for the whole cell, or maybe for 5 codes, see table at https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/HSDPA)

try to call
*#*#4636#*#*

cgi said:
It can use HSPA and it does, obviously. Standard UMTS would only give 384kBit/s downspeed max.
HSPA is part of UMTS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do get speed more than 384kbps even when I am speed testing and the phone information shows that I am on UMTS, I am just guessing that the update is not that fast. Coz I do get HSDPA like 50% of the time.

eBay error :/

So, just bought an HD7 from eBay (in the UK) and I violated my normal rule of only buying things with a 'real' picture.
My 'unlocked' HD7 has just shown up and is T-Mobile branded. I know this doesn't mean it's locked, but I was under the impression that T-Mo in the UK didn't ever carry this phone so it really looks to me like it's from the US.
Now, I need some advice as to how acceptable this is going to be. My main concern is 3G bands. Now, with my UK SIM I'm seeing '3G' in the top left corner, which surprised me a little as I thought the bands were totally different.
I'm getting around 2/3rds of the download speed I was getting on my HTC Sensation in a quick spot test (~1Mbps vs ~1.5Mbps).
Any thoughts?

If your not using a T-Mobile sim and you still have a connection then the phone is unlocked but still branded. This wont cause you any problems that I know off.
Speed tests are a bit odd to do on mobiles and very unreliable.
Not sure what you mean by 3G Bands. 3G is 3G it should when you have a better signal up to H (HSDPA) which is the 7.5Mb speed if i remember right. If it only showed G then i would be worried.

Well, I get the unlocked bit, certainly works from that POV.
I've worked out the difference is HSPA, like you say, so that's what's missing

karnka said:
Well, I get the unlocked bit, certainly works from that POV.
I've worked out the difference is HSPA, like you say, so that's what's missing
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HSDPA works on the same bands and standard 3G - in the UK is 2100MHz. If you're getting 3G but not HSDPA it's either a problem with the phones software not switching, or that the mast your phone has decided to use doesn't support HSDPA for whatever reason.
HSDPA is essentially a software update to the original 3G technology.

That's actually really helpful, thanks.
So, if I see _anything_ 3G related then all is good.

HSDPA should show as 3G+ icon. But OEMs can make the 3G+ icon show as just 3G, so you might be on HSDPA and even not know about it. Run some speed test when you have better signal strength

Indeed anything 3G related is all good.
HTC will normally replace 3G+ with a H, for obvious reasons. I don't know if TMO america have any weird definitions in place though.
Also, the maximum transfer speed of 3G is 386Kb/s, so your rating of 1Mb/s (equivalent to 1024Kb/s) suggests you're on HSDPA anyway.