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Toggle 4g/3g/2g on the inspire?

Im going to get the inspire this week but i live in latinamerica, in here we dont the so called "4g" damn we barely have 3g so i was thinking this is going to have a HUGE impact in the already crappy battery life , is there a way to turn off the 4g and just saty in 3g/2g without having to install cm7?

The 3G and 4g are the same. AT&T calls it's hspa network 4g, although else ware it's referred to as 3G. In fact, even at&t called it 3G until recently.
To answer your question, you just have 2 settings. Hspa and edge. So it's 3G/4g or 2g.

tanman21 said:
The 3G and 4g are the same. AT&T calls it's hspa network 4g, although else ware it's referred to as 3G. In fact, even at&t called it 3G until recently.
To answer your question, you just have 2 settings. Hspa and edge. So it's 3G/4g or 2g.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i remember i read somewhere that the evo 4g had an option for switching between 4g and 3g, the 3g from sprint is different? im confused with this stupid marketing move of the so called 4g, and verizon's 4g is just marketing too?
In latin america im gonna get a 4g icon on my phone when im actually just getting 3g? or the 4g sign will appear when it's suppossed to be displaying the ”h” icon , which is the one im getting with my milestone right now

Yep, the evo has two radios. One is cdma and the other is wimax.
The inspire will also display an H. Actually H+.

Chad_Petree said:
Im going to get the inspire this week but i live in latinamerica, in here we dont the so called "4g" damn we barely have 3g so i was thinking this is going to have a HUGE impact in the already crappy battery life , is there a way to turn off the 4g and just saty in 3g/2g without having to install cm7?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to just stick to 2G, you can download Extended Controls from the market and put a 2G/3G toggle on your homescreen. Sticking to 2G will increase your battery life, too.

SmittyRN said:
If you want to just stick to 2G, you can download Extended Controls from the market and put a 2G/3G toggle on your homescreen. Sticking to 2G will increase your battery life, too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, i dont wanna stick to just 2g, so the radios for 3g and 3g are different? when i get 3.5 g the notification bar is gonna display a "H" or its gonna appear as a "H+"

On The HTC Inspire the H+ icon well display for both 3G and HSPA+. So you will not no when your on HSPA+ unless you go to Settings and click on About Phone and then click on Network, and under Mobile Network Type it will say either: HSPDA (3.5g) or HSPA+ (I'm assuming).

I desperately need a solution to this as well.
At work the 3G signal is very crappy and the constant searching and switching all but kills my battery in less than 8 hours. I also get missed calls.
The custom ROM I had in my previous phone (Tilt 2) had the 3G Toggle and it worked beautifully... my battery lasted for 2 days.
*#*#4636#*#* doesn't make the GSM selection stick.
I tried several apps from the market and they only take me to settings and there is nothing there to change to force the phone into constant Edge.

Fuzzy John said:
I desperately need a solution to this as well.
At work the 3G signal is very crappy and the constant searching and switching all but kills my battery in less than 8 hours. I also get missed calls.
The custom ROM I had in my previous phone (Tilt 2) had the 3G Toggle and it worked beautifully... my battery lasted for 2 days.
*#*#4636#*#* doesn't make the GSM selection stick.
I tried several apps from the market and they only take me to settings and there is nothing there to change to force the phone into constant Edge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using CM7. It does have the functional use 2G(EDGE) only.

N5 chooses hspa+ over LTE ??

This is my first time with LTE phone and it seems like at times I have to go into mobile networks and select 3g then select LTE again for the LTE symbol to pop up? I'm on straight talk and just didn't know if this was normal or if the phone will select hspa signal if its better than the LTE signal ?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

i think by default it will when idle fall back to the strongest network cause it saves battery.
but when you need data it will attempt to switch to the fastest available.
cant say for sure but this is what appears to happen on all my phones falls back to 3g and when data is needed it shifts to HSPA+

newtonfb said:
This is my first time with LTE phone and it seems like at times I have to go into mobile networks and select 3g then select LTE again for the LTE symbol to pop up? I'm on straight talk and just didn't know if this was normal or if the phone will select hspa signal if its better than the LTE signal ?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting the same behavior on T-Mobile. My Nexus 4, which was never intended to have its LTE radio used, would stay on LTE, come hell or high water, while I'm in the city and fight to keep it as I left. The Nexus 5 seems picky about it's LTE and only uses it if it deems it good enough. If LTE gets 2 bars or lower, it goes back to HSPA. If you force "LTE only" under the secret dialer menu, it will use its LTE, but when you switch it back to LTE/GSM (PRL), it drops LTE and uses HSPA+. I'm like, "The hell is your problem, your highness?"
I had high hopes driving into work today. I was expecting it to get on LTE much sooner, but it didn't switch until I was deep within the city until I entered the parking structure (which my N4 would still have LTE). While I sit here at work, it refuses to switch to LTE while in the building where my N4, in the same spot, would be happily on LTE.
I just don't get it. I thought LTE would be much better on this device, instead it is worse. I feel like this is a bug of some sort. We are in an age where carriers will begin shutting down their legacy networks (of course, T-Mo is nowhere near as ready), and this phone treats LTE like Sprint WiMax!

Not sure about straight talk but I'm in lte with att if I'm in a lte area.
Sent from the jaws of my Hammerhead!

Just took mine right out the box and as it booted it went right into LTE.
On tmboile.
---------- Post added at 07:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 PM ----------
Just took mine right out the box and as it booted it went right into LTE.
On tmboile.

AndroidKills said:
Just took mine right out the box and as it booted it went right into LTE.
On tmboile.
---------- Post added at 07:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 PM ----------
Just took mine right out the box and as it booted it went right into LTE.
On tmboile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suppose I should re-flash my phone then. It's just silly how my phone keeps preferring HSPA+ over LTE. When I had LTE enabled on my Nexus 4, my battery life really didn't change. I suppose it had, but it wasn't perceptible to me.

I've had really good luck with it connecting to an LTE network when inside of a LTE area.
However this morning I was streaming from soundcloud while driving and I was 10 minutes into the city with LTE coverage and it would switch. As soon as I ran speedtest it switched. So I believe what was said up above to be true. It needs a good reason probably too switch if your current network mode is doing fine for your current data needs/battery.
I did read this phone is using Qualcomm s news LTE chip which saves power. That could probably play a role.
Either way I'm totally fine with it because it responded to my need of a lot of data instantly by switching to LTE when I ran speed test.
So hey if it saves me battery and h+ is enough for streaming from soundcloud I'm not going to argue with it.
Hold this helps.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

Couple of things to keep in mind.
One, your phone will say 3g when not using LTE or HSPA+. This is to save battery, it only shows LTE or H when you are downloading something, or loading a webpage.
Secondly, I have noticed my phone will choose a strong HSPA+ signal over a weak LTE signal. At home, I have a solid LTE connection, so it always says LTE, but at work it switches back and forth from 1 bar of LTE to full bars of HSPA+. Speed wise, they are still comparable, at around 5-6mb/s. At home though, my LTE is around 40mb/s.
Hope this helps.

ArkAngel06 said:
Couple of things to keep in mind.
One, your phone will say 3g when not using LTE or HSPA+. This is to save battery, it only shows LTE or H when you are downloading something, or loading a webpage.
Secondly, I have noticed my phone will choose a strong HSPA+ signal over a weak LTE signal. At home, I have a solid LTE connection, so it always says LTE, but at work it switches back and forth from 1 bar of LTE to full bars of HSPA+. Speed wise, they are still comparable, at around 5-6mb/s. At home though, my LTE is around 40mb/s.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, my Nexus 4 keeping its LTE active all the time except for when making/receiving calls was a "bug" of the hacked radio then? I'm not being sarcastic, I just never owned a true LTE phone before, but my friend who has a Nexus 5 says his LTE has been staying on. It really doesn't make sense for LTE to behave this way as it will replace the legacy networks at some point in the future in which you won't have anything else to fall back to.

Oddly, I haven't noticed this at all. I'm on t-mobile, and my nexus 5 defaults to LTE when I have LTE selected as preferred connection. It doesn't switch to 3g during dormancy as far as I can tell (when I turn the screen back on, its already on LTE).

dijit4l said:
I'm getting the same behavior on T-Mobile. My Nexus 4, which was never intended to have its LTE radio used, would stay on LTE, come hell or high water, while I'm in the city and fight to keep it as I left. The Nexus 5 seems picky about it's LTE and only uses it if it deems it good enough. If LTE gets 2 bars or lower, it goes back to HSPA. If you force "LTE only" under the secret dialer menu, it will use its LTE, but when you switch it back to LTE/GSM (PRL), it drops LTE and uses HSPA+. I'm like, "The hell is your problem, your highness?"
I had high hopes driving into work today. I was expecting it to get on LTE much sooner, but it didn't switch until I was deep within the city until I entered the parking structure (which my N4 would still have LTE). While I sit here at work, it refuses to switch to LTE while in the building where my N4, in the same spot, would be happily on LTE.
I just don't get it. I thought LTE would be much better on this device, instead it is worse. I feel like this is a bug of some sort. We are in an age where carriers will begin shutting down their legacy networks (of course, T-Mo is nowhere near as ready), and this phone treats LTE like Sprint WiMax!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't mind, would you share how to force LTE only under the secret dialer menu?
Thanks.
[EDIT]
I think I found it with the code *#*#4636*#*# -> phone information -> set preferred network type: LTE only
When I do this and reboot, my bars just disappear, and my APN in my mobile network settings disappears too. I'm using net10.
Anybody know a fix to this?

Megiddo2000 said:
If you don't mind, would you share how to force LTE only under the secret dialer menu?
Thanks.
[EDIT]
I think I found it with the code *#*#4636*#*# -> phone information -> set preferred network type: LTE only
When I do this and reboot, my bars just disappear, and my APN in my mobile network settings disappears too. I'm using net10.
Anybody know a fix to this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have to reboot, myself. When I force LTE only, the phone drops HSPA and goes to LTE.
I'd say put it back to GSM/LTE Only (PRL) and then reset your APN settings.

dijit4l said:
I don't have to reboot, myself. When I force LTE only, the phone drops HSPA and goes to LTE.
I'd say put it back to GSM/LTE Only (PRL) and then reset your APN settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when i try dialing that number it says "Connection problem or invalid MMI code."
What's wrong?

_untitled_ said:
when i try dialing that number it says "Connection problem or invalid MMI code."
What's wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
woops, my bad. the code is:
*#*#4636#*#*
(forgot to flip the hashtag asterik in the back)

T-mobile LTE N4 vs N5

I just helped my son install the hybrid modem for his Nexus 4 and set up the T-mobile APN for it. I was about to tell him that he would have to go somewhere else to test it since I never get LTE at home, and then boom, the 4G icon shows up on his phone! I checked Network Signal Info and sure enough, it's got an LTE connection with about 6Mbps transfer rate. Sitting right next to him my N5 has only 3G with occasional switches up to HSPA and back, and a very low transfer rate. What gives? I am able to get LTE on the N5 in other areas of town and it works wonderfully, but around my home it is very weak and almost never runs in LTE mode.
Could it be that the N4 is connecting on a different LTE band? If so, why is the N5 not using that band as well? Is there something that can be done for the N5 to tweak it to improve its LTE reception or how it chooses how to connect to available LTE signals?

Both N4 and N5 have 1700 band so it should get perfect HSDPA.
It might be the towers in your area are busy or the signal is weak.
I use straight talk t-mobil and I get HSDPA around 15Mbps and my friend get a little more on LTE here in chicagoland.
Also for people on Straight talk if you want to get LTE att version you need to get a new simcard and change APN and for t-mobil
just get a new simcard and boom you get LTE.

Idk if I'd worry about it. In most places the HSDPA speeds for T-Mobile are the same or better than the LTE speeds you would get. I'm in the far north chicago suburbs and I get LTE and HSDPA downloads at 25mbps. The LTE coverage is still a bit spotty. Its probably only worth it if I you're in a developed urban area. However it is a bit strange that you guys have the same hardware, service and location but different connections. The only thing I can think of is that I've seen some people instruct to setup the apn as fast.tmobile.com. however mine only worked with fast.T-Mobile.com (with the dash). I would also check to confirm that your phone is set to lte preferred (LTE/gsm) and not gsm priority. Those are the only things I can think that I can think of. Hope it helps.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

gorilla p said:
Idk if I'd worry about it. In most places the HSDPA speeds for T-Mobile are the same or better than the LTE speeds you would get. I'm in the far north chicago suburbs and I get LTE and HSDPA downloads at 25mbps. The LTE coverage is still a bit spotty. Its probably only worth it if I you're in a developed urban area. However it is a bit strange that you guys have the same hardware, service and location but different connections. The only thing I can think of is that I've seen some people instruct to setup the apn as fast.tmobile.com. however mine only worked with fast.T-Mobile.com (with the dash). I would also check to confirm that your phone is set to lte preferred (LTE/gsm) and not gsm priority. Those are the only things I can think that I can think of. Hope it helps.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile 4G LTE will properly works on fast.t-mobile.com, fast.tmobile.com is not the proper APN (the - matters)
There are just way too many variables. Maybe his modem has better reception, newer sim card, etc.

RobinD42 said:
I just helped my son install the hybrid modem for his Nexus 4 and set up the T-mobile APN for it. I was about to tell him that he would have to go somewhere else to test it since I never get LTE at home, and then boom, the 4G icon shows up on his phone! I checked Network Signal Info and sure enough, it's got an LTE connection with about 6Mbps transfer rate. Sitting right next to him my N5 has only 3G with occasional switches up to HSPA and back, and a very low transfer rate. What gives? I am able to get LTE on the N5 in other areas of town and it works wonderfully, but around my home it is very weak and almost never runs in LTE mode.
Could it be that the N4 is connecting on a different LTE band? If so, why is the N5 not using that band as well? Is there something that can be done for the N5 to tweak it to improve its LTE reception or how it chooses how to connect to available LTE signals?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fwiw there are other threads where people have reported that the N4 picks up LTE in the same place that an N5 does not. So you are not alone. N4 may have a stronger radio. That would be unfortunate... Never good to see a step backwards on something as important as that.
Sent from my Nexus 5

Good news everyone! I too has having this problem. My Nexus 4 was an LTE champ and then it was a huge let down that my Nexus 5 was treating LTE like it had cooties, but now my Nexus 5 works the way it should. What I did was go to my nearest T-Mobile store and told the representative what was happening. He called tech support and they ended up doing some sort of reset to my account. I also had questions about my SIM card and felt that it could have been at fault. He offered to switch it out to the new ISIS SIM and as soon as my phone booted up, it was on LTE. Since then, it has behaved like my Nexus 4. I am even in my office where the Nexus 5 wasn't picking up LTE, but my Nexus 4 was, and it is on LTE at the moment.
I am not sure if the reset that tech support did solved the problem or the new SIM, but I would definately give that a try--it didn't cost me anything and now I am happy with my Nexus 5. Good luck!

In my experience my N4 has slightly better signal pickup than my N5.
The real reason is probably differences in the radios' priority algorithms. Set your N5 to LTE-only and see what happens, I imagine you'll get LTE.

dijit4l said:
I am not sure if the reset that tech support did solved the problem or the new SIM, but I would definately give that a try--it didn't cost me anything and now I am happy with my Nexus 5. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you not get LTE at all, or really poor LTE signal/speed?

tcristy said:
Did you not get LTE at all, or really poor LTE signal/speed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would get LTE eventually only to lose it when it reached 2 bars or lower. It was really weird. I would be in areas where one would get 5 bars of LTE and the phone would sit on HSPA until I would show the phone it was on LTE by switching to LTE Only under the secret dialer menu and then back to GSM/LTE (if you use LTE only, you will lose voice). Then it would hold LTE until it reached 1-2 bars and then go back to HSPA.
I hope this helps.

I am seeing strange readings of signal strength. I see a 10+ db difference between what is reported in the phone status and an app like rootmetrics.
I don't know which one is misrepresenting the signal strength but it seems the roometrics is more accurate because my nexus 4 the signal strength is roughly the same on lte.
Can anyone else confirm?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

LTE Only Searching For Service Battery?

Hi everyone. Quick question. I searched but didn't find much, but I was wanting to use LTE only (*#*#4636#*#*, Phone, LTE Only), and it does work but on Sprint, it disables 1x and pretends like the phone has no coverage and then does the "Searching for Service" and the battery drains like crazy. Any ideas?

MrObvious said:
Hi everyone. Quick question. I searched but didn't find much, but I was wanting to use LTE only (*#*#4636#*#*, Phone, LTE Only), and it does work but on Sprint, it disables 1x and pretends like the phone has no coverage and then does the "Searching for Service" and the battery drains like crazy. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That mode disables all voice and texting abilities, I don't think you can use that on a phone, especially not a phone on Sprint.
turn it back, if the phone doesn't think it has a good enough signal to use LTE, trust it and drop to 3G you'll be better off.

Use global setting for Sprint
Sent from my Nexus 5

I don't want 3g though because my phone has the power to get a signal but if it gets down to 1 bar roughly (driving between towers and I'm in a fairly big city so it's not a coverage/reception issue) and it drops to 3g, despite the fact that it'll get stronger if it waits 5 more seconds.

you can not get/make phonecalls on lte only, period. its for data only.

indeed. setting it through the dialer to lte only, makes that lte data channel the only channel, it kills the ehrpd / 1x cdma 200 ip hand-off needed for voice paging to & from the network..
but NOW i know WHY you were forcing lte only via the dialer (didn't know at 1st)
but where you are (if you're on srpint) this is what' was reported happening -
Sprint used to have "same-as-native" 3G service in the western half of Kansas via those carriers, and even used to show it as Native on their coverage maps. Then it changed to Off-Network roaming a couple years ago. They even stopped Native service along I-70 through most of Kansas and eastern Colorado. Sounds like some of those carriers aren't being too accommodating to Sprint nowadays.
via the HoFo App
i didn't know, the hometown of sprint, was having such a hard time covering, it's own home state..

j'vai said:
indeed. setting it through the dialer to lte only, makes that lte data channel the only channel, it kills the ehrpd / 1x cdma 200 ip hand-off needed for voice paging to & from the network..
but NOW i know WHY you were forcing lte only via the dialer (didn't know at 1st)
but where you are (if you're on srpint) this is what' was reported happening -
Sprint used to have "same-as-native" 3G service in the western half of Kansas via those carriers, and even used to show it as Native on their coverage maps. Then it changed to Off-Network roaming a couple years ago. They even stopped Native service along I-70 through most of Kansas and eastern Colorado. Sounds like some of those carriers aren't being too accommodating to Sprint nowadays.
via the HoFo App
i didn't know, the hometown of sprint, was having such a hard time covering, it's own home state..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's inaccurate for me as I'm in central KS. That only applies for west KS. I'm in a native market with LTE, NV, and band 25 and 26.

MrObvious said:
I don't want 3g though because my phone has the power to get a signal but if it gets down to 1 bar roughly (driving between towers and I'm in a fairly big city so it's not a coverage/reception issue) and it drops to 3g, despite the fact that it'll get stronger if it waits 5 more seconds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok.. central ks..
what were your settings prior, to lte only?

Just LTE/CDMA. There are times I want to set LTE only so I don't drop 4g. Of course I have service with that setting.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

you know, that going via the keypad to set LTE only you'll kill the fall back bridge to 1xrtt voice & evdo 3g, right?
& every time you want to have voice service you'd have to do the toggle to undo LTE only , then when you want it back LTE only ..
you say "you don't want evdo 3g" but the devil in the details are, you'll not have voice service ither, that way..
is it worth that trouble?

Why does LTE connection seem weaker than other sprint LTE phones?

My GS5 seems to have a very weak LTE signal. I disabled all bands except for band 25 because the phone was trying to signal hop killing the battery. My girlfriend has the Note 3 which can only pick up band 25. When my phone is right next to hers, she can have a very strong LTE signal and my GS5 will either have a very weak signal or drop down to 3G. The only LTE band in my area that's currently pretty strong is the 1900mhz band. I can barely connect to that. Anyone else having weak signal or connection issues?
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app

Eckono said:
My GS5 seems to have a very weak LTE signal. I disabled all bands except for band 25 because the phone was trying to signal hop killing the battery. My girlfriend has the Note 3 which can only pick up band 25. When my phone is right next to hers, she can have a very strong LTE signal and my GS5 will either have a very weak signal or drop down to 3G. The only LTE band in my area that's currently pretty strong is the 1900mhz band. I can barely connect to that. Anyone else having weak signal or connection issues?
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've noticed the same thing.... my girlfriend has the Galaxy S3 and has better signal then me all the time... WTF?!?!?!?!?!

I'm tempted to go to the Note 3. I can deal with alot of things, but signal issues isn't 1 of them.
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app

s13silviaguy said:
I've noticed the same thing.... my girlfriend has the Galaxy S3 and has better signal then me all the time... WTF?!?!?!?!?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your phone is showing data signal hers is showing cdma 1x voice. .. please download signal check app and you will see true db of 1x 3g lte signal. .. so you can compare
Sent from my SM-G900P using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

Eckono said:
My GS5 seems to have a very weak LTE signal. I disabled all bands except for band 25 because the phone was trying to signal hop killing the battery. My girlfriend has the Note 3 which can only pick up band 25. When my phone is right next to hers, she can have a very strong LTE signal and my GS5 will either have a very weak signal or drop down to 3G. The only LTE band in my area that's currently pretty strong is the 1900mhz band. I can barely connect to that. Anyone else having weak signal or connection issues?
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Signal bars lie. Do this on both of your samsung phones:
Go in to your phone app, and dial ##DEBUG#
Enter 777468 for your lock code
Select LTE Engineering
Go down to RSRP. The number next to RSRP shown in dBm is your LTE signal strength.
Compare numbers.
I did this vs my wife's iPhone 5 and found that although her signal indicator was showing 3-4 more bars than my s5 we both actually had the same signal strength.

Thanks I'll do that asap. The only reason I'm thinking something is wrong is because in areas I had 4G all the time on my Note 3 and S4 I'm barely get 4G or I'll drop to 3G. Then when I'm watching YouTube, if I stop a video , fast forward, or rewind, if I'm on cellular I can never get the video to play back. I get the error tap to retry. But when on WiFi I can I can.
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app

Eckono said:
Thanks I'll do that asap. The only reason I'm thinking something is wrong is because in areas I had 4G all the time on my Note 3 and S4 I'm barely get 4G or I'll drop to 3G. Then when I'm watching YouTube, if I stop a video , fast forward, or rewind, if I'm on cellular I can never get the video to play back. I get the error tap to retry. But when on WiFi I can I can.
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You also have to read about cfbs and triband phones ... which can cause the data issues
Sent from my SM-N900P using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

well if i dont remember note 3 and s3 dont use the spark network and the s5 does soo,.,.its prob a bad spark connection they are still upgrading the towers ..

The s5 signal bar shows data strength instead of voice strength
When you make a phone call, it switches to the voice signal strength, which is why it seems to get higher all of a sudden
-Sent from Tapatalk

Eckono said:
My GS5 seems to have a very weak LTE signal. I disabled all bands except for band 25 because the phone was trying to signal hop killing the battery. My girlfriend has the Note 3 which can only pick up band 25. When my phone is right next to hers, she can have a very strong LTE signal and my GS5 will either have a very weak signal or drop down to 3G. The only LTE band in my area that's currently pretty strong is the 1900mhz band. I can barely connect to that. Anyone else having weak signal or connection issues?
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you disable certain bands? I want to try it as well as something seems to be killing my battery. Thanks

Yea, in the last year I have had an iphone 5, Note2, and Note3. New Orleans is newly upgraded to LTE (not yet Spark), and coverage was great on those three phones. This S5, however, constantly switches from LTE to 3G in areas where the other three phones stayed on LTE. It also drops to no data at all way too often in areas where data is fine. (I play Ingress, so I am VERY familiar with the signal capabilities all over town)
Is there any hope of this phone's signal strength being improved with software updates? Will Spark make a difference when it hits New Orleans?
This piece of garbage is pretty pathetic signal-wise compared to my other devices I've recently used. I've got Sprint to agree to a phone swap, but if that's not going to make a difference, perhaps I should just go back to my Note3.

I have this phone it does drop lte alot plus I have spark. But I have an offer to trade for a note 3 idk if I want ..I like yhe fingerprint scanner but this signal is boo boo ....

gregg37 said:
Yea, in the last year I have had an iphone 5, Note2, and Note3. New Orleans is newly upgraded to LTE (not yet Spark), and coverage was great on those three phones. This S5, however, constantly switches from LTE to 3G in areas where the other three phones stayed on LTE. It also drops to no data at all way too often in areas where data is fine. (I play Ingress, so I am VERY familiar with the signal capabilities all over town)
Is there any hope of this phone's signal strength being improved with software updates? Will Spark make a difference when it hits New Orleans?
This piece of garbage is pretty pathetic signal-wise compared to my other devices I've recently used. I've got Sprint to agree to a phone swap, but if that's not going to make a difference, perhaps I should just go back to my Note3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldnt worry about the phone swap. I skeptically did it to see if it would work and ended up wasting an hour in ths store. between my friends and family we have 4 GS5s that all have the same issues.
None of your previous phones were triband. They only could connect to 1900mhz LTE. The GS5 is a triband phone, aka spark, that can connect to 800/1900/2600mhz LTE. Unfortunately there are issues with the software on the towers (search eCSFB) that changes you between bands. I have turned off band 41 and it has helped a lot even tho my area is a "spark" area. I turn it back on once in a while to see if things are fixed.
There have been complaints that the GS5 has worse connectivity because of the water resistant design compared to phones such as the GS4. its really only a couple dbm from what i have seen when looking at actual signal values from engineering screens and when comparing the same band of LTE.
As far as shutting off bands, you will need your MSL code. you can either get it from a sprint rep (all i did was ask) or you can use the MSL reader here
tools.flashingtools.com
use dialer code ##3282# and go to edit. enter your MSL code and go to LTE. turn off B41 and restart your phone.

Shiftlock said:
As far as shutting off bands, you will need your MSL code. you can either get it from a sprint rep (all i did was ask) or you can use the MSL reader here
tools.flashingtools.com
use dialer code ##3282# and go to edit. enter your MSL code and go to LTE. turn off B41 and restart your phone.
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Click to collapse
Thank you, Shiftlock! This is the kind of help I was hoping for. I'll give that a try!
:good:

Shiftlock said:
use dialer code ##3282# and go to edit. enter your MSL code and go to LTE. turn off B41 and restart your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok I've got this turned off. Will it persist through resets and restarts? Or will I have to keep turning it off?
(have to remember to bookmark this so I remember how to turn it back on when Spark hits New Orleans, which I think is somewhat soon)

gregg37 said:
Ok I've got this turned off. Will it persist through resets and restarts? Or will I have to keep turning it off?
(have to remember to bookmark this so I remember how to turn it back on when Spark hits New Orleans, which I think is somewhat soon)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this will stay until you either change it back or do a system update. I noticed that nd2 changed it back. You may want to check it after clearing data/cache if you flash any mods or roms. Luckily the msl won't change so it's easy enough to fix if needed

I'm getting LTE coverage in places I wouldn't with my s4. The data is definitely better
-Sent from Tapatalk

eyecon82 said:
I'm getting LTE coverage in places I wouldn't with my s4. The data is definitely better
-Sent from Tapatalk
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Better because of turning off band 41 or just comparing the S5 to the S4?

CCallahan said:
Better because of turning off band 41 or just comparing the S5 to the S4?
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Click to collapse
Guess we'll never know....
(mine still sucks after trying that, btw)