Database Info

4G Radio On/Off

On Verizon / LTE can you turn on/off the 4G radio? Or is it automatic?

can't say until the phone is released as any that are already out are pre-production phones and likely don't even have the LTE sim card.

Given the luck TB followers are having it's auto-sensing and not an on/off switch unless HTC put a widget in there for it, which would be nice. But its Verizon we are talking about.

I agree Raptor....but one a root has been established one would think devs could make their own widgets/tools for that on/off function.

No it doesn't have one, only way is to force it into 3G only mode in the ##DIAG screen.

It was confirmed the other day on Twitter than you can toggle 4g.

FSRBIKER said:
It was confirmed the other day on Twitter than you can toggle 4g.
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Excellent, I was kind of worried about that with the rumors of the excessive battery drain, especially when I'm working a few miles from the edge of the 4G range according to their maps (which are taken with a grain of salt)

switching from 4G to 3G to 2G?

I use to have a G1 and it gave me the ability to switch from 3G speeds down to 2G. and i would love to have a feature like that for this phone in order to save some battery life.
i've looked through the settings of the Sidekick 4G but i haven't found a way to do this. has anyone found a way? maybe through rooting or anything?

There isn't a way I'm aware of right now. We will when we get custom roms.
Sent from my Sidekick 4G using XDA app

datmiamikid said:
I use to have a G1 and it gave me the ability to switch from 3G speeds down to 2G. and i would love to have a feature like that for this phone in order to save some battery life.
i've looked through the settings of the Sidekick 4G but i haven't found a way to do this. has anyone found a way? maybe through rooting or anything?
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well if you want to use edge to save battery life you can. (it shows an E instead of 4G/3G) i believe this is 2G speeds. idk if we are able to get bands in-between.
anyways go to setting/wireless settings/mobile network settings
select "Network Mode" then Choose "GSM". i've done it it saves much much more battery oppose to using 4G. the "WCDMA" option is 4G.

ayoteddy said:
well if you want to use edge to save battery life you can. (it shows an E instead of 4G/3G) i believe this is 2G speeds. idk if we are able to get bands in-between.
anyways go to setting/wireless settings/mobile network settings
select "Network Mode" then Choose "GSM". i've done it it saves much much more battery oppose to using 4G. the "WCDMA" option is 4G.
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YES this does work thank you. much appreciated

So I have the sk4g its a bad ass device and the looks of the UI is awesome and has minimal bloatwear which is the first in the three android devices I have. Is it possible to get the UI on my dell streak 7?

like to know this too wanting a streak

The dell streak 7 is like the Motorola zoom minus 3in of display, 1080p for 720p, 16gb internal men instead of 32, and runs 2.2.2froyo instead of 3.0honeycombe. Same chip set though and capable of running honeycombe and expandable memory card slot. The only negative is the smaller and lower quality display, but you can put it in your back pocket and has gorilla glass. which is what got me on the portability/rugged factor.

the Free App "Quick Settings" lets you turn on/off 3g data and/or 2g data if you wish.

[Q] Data toggle 4g to 2g

Anyone know of a toggle widget that will put phone in 2g and back to 4g without having to go to the setting screen? I save so much battery not being on 4g. 5hrs and only used 25% battery on 2g vs 55% on 4g with the same usage..

ive been looking for the same, except to toggle to 3G

King Royalty said:
ive been looking for the same, except to toggle to 3G
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for the Sensation 3G & 4G are the same thing. whether you're on UTMS or HSPA really would be negligible when it comes to battery drain. It's when you start actually getting 4G like LTE where it'd be a noticeable difference.

This is why i was asking about 2g cause GSM does not drain my battery and the temp on the phone is at 89.5 not 105.5 as when im on 4g.

I use the 2g 3g widget from curve fish doing in the market...it's more of a shortcut, but takes me where I need to go quicker than through settings
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

I'm looking for the very same thing but it seems like not available at the moment....

cableline02 said:
Anyone know of a toggle widget that will put phone in 2g and back to 4g without having to go to the setting screen? I save so much battery not being on 4g. 5hrs and only used 25% battery on 2g vs 55% on 4g with the same usage..
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Settings - Wireless & networks - Mobile network settings.
Set network mode to GSM only (instead of GSM/WCDMA auto)
SwitchPro's widget will take you to Mobile network settings. That's the best I've found.

Widgetsoid is good, has dozens of functions and that's one of them. Plus, has aosp power widget appearance.
Sent from my HTC Sexiness.

neocx said:
Settings - Wireless & networks - Mobile network settings.
Set network mode to GSM only (instead of GSM/WCDMA auto)
SwitchPro's widget will take you to Mobile network settings. That's the best I've found.
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This is it.

I searched for a program like this before and everyone kept giving answers like widgets that take me to the setting page. Im pretty sure the type we want doesnt exist, and you would have to put a custom mod on for that to work

c19932 said:
I searched for a program like this before and everyone kept giving answers like widgets that take me to the setting page. Im pretty sure the type we want doesnt exist, and you would have to put a custom mod on for that to work
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Android does not allow direct switching like that thats why allmost all widgets take you to the settings

Try this
https://market.android.com/details?id=de.mangelow.network&feature=search_result
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

AT&T did it again, no way to turn off 4G LTE?

Looks like ATampT is becoming notorious for not including any 3G or 4G toggles. Not only can customers not turn off 3G in spotty 3G areas but now they can't turn off 4G LTE????!!!! Does AT&T not realize that someone who is in a spotty 4G LTE area will have their phone die twice as quick? I don't understand for the life in me why they don't give the customer the option to choose which network they want to be on?
I know I have the option to turn off cellular data but then I have no data whatsoever. If my phone sits in the drawer at work most of the day why can't it be forced to EDGE??? I know for a fact AT&T has an EDGE network to fall back on out here.
They allow iPhone 3GS and 4 owners to toggle 3G but not the 4S which is HSPA+. Now they don't allow you to turn off 4G LTE unless you root. WOW!!!

Honestly, they could care less about the battery life, but they do want you to use more data so they make more money. The faster the connection, the easier it would be to exceed your limit without realizing until its too late, or you may upgrade your data package because its faster. Either way is a win win for AT&T which means more money.

americasteam said:
Honestly, they could care less about the battery life, but they do want you to use more data so they make more money. The faster the connection, the easier it would be to exceed your limit without realizing until its too late, or you may upgrade your data package because its faster. Either way is a win win for AT&T which means more money.
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Wow I never thought of that. I have unlimited but I guess the faster the connection the faster I can be throttled. Boy do I wish there was a good cell phone company in America that actually gave a sh*t about their customers.

Hopefully I will be able to add the toggles in on my rom.
another idea, make another APN without the info for LTE.

designgears said:
Hopefully I will be able to add the toggles in on my rom.
another idea, make another APN without the info for LTE.
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was just coming in here to ask if installing a custom rom would allow AT&T users to toggle edge/3g/hspa/lte . that would be REALLY nice!

Genetic517 said:
was just coming in here to ask if installing a custom rom would allow AT&T users to toggle edge/3g/hspa/lte . that would be REALLY nice!
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Yes, there are many roms for the Samsung SkyRocket that allow such toggles. Its a setting with the modem radio.

MattMJB0188 said:
Yes, there are many roms for the Samsung SkyRocket that allow such toggles. Its a setting with the modem radio.
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would there be any way of using these toggles without using another rom?

Genetic517 said:
would there be any way of using these toggles without using another rom?
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Click to collapse
No, hence my frustration. Yea I like rooting but I'm pretty new to it and we shouldn't have to do it to gain this functionality.

Genetic517 said:
would there be any way of using these toggles without using another rom?
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Click to collapse
yes, but may need a modded kernel, root for sure. there are apps that shut off lte and 3g but require root. like DD said, try changing the apn.

It's also because they want to alleviate their load on the towers. All the people on 4g LTE are not on 3g, they don't care if it kills your battery because the signal is spotty.

does this mean even after sim unlock. i wouldnt be able to use this phone overseas and have 3g working?

Can you not change it under *#*#4636#*#* under phone info and scroll to preferred network type.

someone posted the answer to this question in another thread.
The LTE is integrated. So it just looks for the best available network. If you dont have lte, then it will connect you to 3g or hspa+.

MattMJB0188 said:
Looks like ATampT is becoming notorious for not including any 3G or 4G toggles. Not only can customers not turn off 3G in spotty 3G areas but now they can't turn off 4G LTE????!!!! Does AT&T not realize that someone who is in a spotty 4G LTE area will have their phone die twice as quick? I don't understand for the life in me why they don't give the customer the option to choose which network they want to be on?
I know I have the option to turn off cellular data but then I have no data whatsoever. If my phone sits in the drawer at work most of the day why can't it be forced to EDGE??? I know for a fact AT&T has an EDGE network to fall back on out here.
They allow iPhone 3GS and 4 owners to toggle 3G but not the 4S which is HSPA+. Now they don't allow you to turn off 4G LTE unless you root. WOW!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't get it; if you don;t want LTE why not just buy the international One X and have 32gig as well?

alwayslearning said:
I don't get it; if you don;t want LTE why not just buy the international One X and have 32gig as well?
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I don't want to pay $600+ for a phone. I'm going to be on AT&T for at least 2 years so I might as well get a subsidized phone.
zivan56 said:
Can you not change it under *#*#4636#*#* under phone info and scroll to preferred network type.
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Click to collapse
Nope. Selecting any option that is not LTE it just bounces back to the "GSM/WCDMA/LTE Auto" option. Heck, even selecting "LTE only" bounces back to the default.
expertzero1 said:
someone posted the answer to this question in another thread.
The LTE is integrated. So it just looks for the best available network. If you dont have lte, then it will connect you to 3g or hspa+.
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This was speculation on the part of that poster. See my response in that thread.

I remember this was also an issue on the Vivid. Toggle widgets don't work, the *#*#4636#*#* code doesn't work.
Try changing the APN to turn off LTE:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=19170113
Not a convenient toggle. But once you have the second APN setup, it wouldn't be too much of a pain to switch back and forth APNs (if it does work).

Also for the majority of the US, it doesn't even matter because AT&T LTE coverage is pretty minimal in its current form.

It even shocks me because ...
I'm quite surprised that AT&T does not allow you to turn off LTE.
My Rogers unit specifically allows this, so it's very strange to me.
Peter

I mentioned earlier it killing your battery, but considering the LTE is built in, there's no reason to really worry.

therulebookman said:
This was speculation on the part of that poster. See my response in that thread.
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speculation sounds about right
you posted that you got 13 hours with your phone. Sounds about right. 1.5 hours of talk time with mild usuage. Not sure if you had data on or off during those times. So.....
DING DING DING we have a winner

4g toggle and other questions

Ok, i finally got this thing rooted. I have a few questions about this, and these may be more ICS questions than Photon questions.
Do I have to do anything to turn on 4g? I cant find anywhere to do this. I liked the toggle buttons that showed at the top of older version of android, anyway to get those back? I ask because i was in an area yesterday where 4g service is available, but i never saw the phone automatically change to 4g.
Also, a program that i have used alot in the past is Roam Control. This is so that when i was at my hunting land, i could set my phone to roam only. I noticed more options in Preferred Network Mode. Is this how to set my phone to roam only? Because i installed Roam Control, and it doesnt work for this phone.

Check in development for the toggles. Still no 4G toggle. But rangerbry did an awesome job porting the others over.
Sent from my XT897 using xda premium

In the mobile networks section of the phone there are options, in your case, "CDMA" or "CDMA/LTE". I would think if you leave CDMA/ LTE selected the phone will connect to LTE when it or IF it is available. If not it will simply stay on 3G/CDMA.
How did you know the area you wer ein actually had LTE? Sprint seems to be launching a market when there is like 20% coverage, so good chunks of an area will not see it light up yet on the phones.

not lte but 4g. i know because my other phone got 4g service there. It seems like if u leave this phone on automatic, its not actually automatic cause it wont pickup 4g. which option do i use for roam only?

whitelightnin3006 said:
not lte but 4g. i know because my other phone got 4g service there. It seems like if u leave this phone on automatic, its not actually automatic cause it wont pickup 4g. which option do i use for roam only?
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Which other phone? Was it WiMax capable? This phone will only do LTE, not Sprints WiMax. Both are different forms of 4G for Sprint.

tetrabyt said:
Check in development for the toggles. Still no 4G toggle. But rangerbry did an awesome job porting the others over.
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Click to collapse
Would be really nice to have some way to toggle 4g on/off... I know my buddy's Evo3D (yes, wimax...) can easily toggle it on/off. He said his battery life is WAY better when he leaves his wimax radio off, and I would imagine leaving the LTE radio off would be beneficial.
As there isn't a whole lot of Sprint rollout for LTE right now, turning it off permanently isn't a bad thing... But if I'm traveling or just curious - it would be nice to have this toggle!
swintec said:
In the mobile networks section of the phone there are options, in your case, "CDMA" or "CDMA/LTE". I would think if you leave CDMA/ LTE selected the phone will connect to LTE when it or IF it is available. If not it will simply stay on 3G/CDMA.
How did you know the area you wer ein actually had LTE? Sprint seems to be launching a market when there is like 20% coverage, so good chunks of an area will not see it light up yet on the phones.
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Click to collapse
Yea, it seems like this is the only method right now. Just set the network to "CDMA" and it will only be able to connect to 3g. I don't see any change in the 4g status, any way to verify this?
I was actually surprised at how granular my buddy's 3vo was with 4g - it was almost like wifi, had everything separate (and this is stock...) So I'm really hoping we can sort out something similar - because I don't see how wimax and LTE are different in these respects - no?

arrrghhh said:
... because I don't see how WiMax and LTE are different in these respects - no?
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Nah, as I suspect that unlike WiMax (which was a separate chipset) the LTE radio is combined with the CDMA radio on the chipset (and maybe even the GSM radio, if the chipset's advanced enough- I know there's combined CDMA/GSM radios).

kcrudup said:
Nah, as I suspect that unlike WiMax (which was a separate chipset) the LTE radio is combined with the CDMA radio on the chipset (and maybe even the GSM radio, if the chipset's advanced enough- I know there's combined CDMA/GSM radios).
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That would suck. So far my battery life on this device is really awful... I've only been awake for 2 hours and I'm down 20%. Granted I have been playing with it more than I usually would (under "normal" usage patterns... new phone and all ), but damn! I wonder how long this thing will be able to stream music...

arrrghhh said:
That would suck. So far my battery life on this device is really awful... I've only been awake for 2 hours and I'm down 20%. Granted I have been playing with it more than I usually would (under "normal" usage patterns... new phone and all ), but damn! I wonder how long this thing will be able to stream music...
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Streams music for the better part of 8hrs for me while at work. And if it isn't music or videos, I'm talking on the phone. I have you tried smart actions yet?
Sent from my XT897 using xda premium

tetrabyt said:
Streams music for the better part of 8hrs for me while at work. And if it isn't music or videos, I'm talking on the phone. I have you tried smart actions yet?
Sent from my XT897 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
I need to play more with the Smart Actions. The only one I have setup now is an overnight one if I forget to plug it in.

arrrghhh said:
I need to play more with the Smart Actions. The only one I have setup now is an overnight one if I forget to plug it in.
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They are sweet...
Sent from my XT897 using xda premium

I don't know if you "got" your answer, but I was talking with a Sprint Rep and she told me that the LTE just "turns" on. It's kinda like Tmo's HSPA. It's part of the Network. It just switches over if it sees it.
In your settings, you can say CDMA or CDMA/LTE. That's asking 3G or 3G/4G LTE. As far as a toggle, someone needs to come up with it. LoL!!
Your best bet, until a developer comes up with the answer, is to make a shortcut to that. I want this phone. =.P

No_Nickname90 said:
[I was told] the LTE just "turns" on. It's kinda like Tmo's HSPA. It's part of the Network. It just switches over if it sees it.
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Click to collapse
The issue, of course, is that having the LTE radio (which appears to be a separate entity, unlike GSM where it's merely another modulation scheme that the chipset understands) be on all the time drains power that's essentially being wasted since Sprint's LTE Network is largely nonexistent.
The reason for wanting a Toggle is for those folks who spend their time in non-LTE (or marginal LTE signal) areas, who'd like a quick way to either test for an upcoming rollout, or to use LTE only when in a known LTE-enabled area.

kcrudup said:
The issue, of course, is that having the LTE radio (which appears to be a separate entity, unlike GSM where it's merely another modulation scheme that the chipset understands) be on all the time drains power that's essentially being wasted since Sprint's LTE Network is largely nonexistent.
The reason for wanting a Toggle is for those folks who spend their time in non-LTE (or marginal LTE signal) areas, who'd like a quick way to either test for an upcoming rollout, or to use LTE only when in a known LTE-enabled area.
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Click to collapse
Yea. I completely understand that. That's why I also stated that OP should just have a shortcut to their setting where they can change from CDMA to CDMA/LTE. That way OP can turn off LTE when not using it. A toggle, of course, would make this process a whole lot easier. I don't see why there isn't a toggle. There's a toggle for 4G WiMax. It does the same thing. When it's not connected, it just idles and scans again. It uses more battery looking for 4G to connect to than actually using it. LoL!! I've noticed that 4G WiMax "sleeps" quickly once it connects. I hope LTE would do the same.
Let me stop before I start ranting on. LoL!!

tetrabyt said:
They are sweet...
Sent from my XT897 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
I looked at them briefly....am I missing something or does the battery saving one not give you the ability to give parameters like syncing every 30 minutes/1 hour or the like? If the ability is there, I couldn't figure out how to edit that one properly. I only saw 3 options and the one that'd be closest to what I'd want basically read like it will only sync when you're actively using the phone. I want that, but additionally would like it to connect and sync periodically and shut data back off. I'd used Green Power Premium on my Epic for that but thought maybe Smart Actions would give me the ability to do away with using it.