After finding out that forcing LTE Mode on the SamChg (See here) always results in a Signal Disabled "circle-slash" display for the network signal strength - even when you have a solid 4G connection - I am suspecting that the signal strength bars in the notification bar only show CDMA signal strength, and never show 4G signal strength.
If so, the signal strength indicator lies to us (at least, when the 4G icon is on the notification bar).
Is there a widget / app / notification mod that will show both the 3G and 4G signal strength? A dB indication would be fine. That way, I can identify the real 4G signal vs. the real 3G signal vs. the signal bar display.
Cheers,
Yes, the signal strength meter lies and only indicates 1xRTT signal strength, not EVDO or LTE.
OpenSignal Maps will show the LTE signal strength but it's a mapping program.
Real Signal shows separate 1x and EV bars like how Verizon feature phones display it, however it doesn't yet support LTE. I've e-mailed the developer to find out if this was planned and/or if they'd like any help in implementing that feature and I've received no response thus far.
skuzz said:
Yes, the signal strength meter lies and only indicates 1xRTT signal strength, not EVDO or LTE.
OpenSignal Maps will show the LTE signal strength but it's a mapping program.
Real Signal shows separate 1x and EV bars like how Verizon feature phones display it, however it doesn't yet support LTE. I've e-mailed the developer to find out if this was planned and/or if they'd like any help in implementing that feature and I've received no response thus far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's no longer in the market. Do you have the APK by chance ?
Field test mode access seems to elude us on the Charge, but if we could find the code, there's got to be a signal strength indicator in there.
I'm going to query Samsung to see if they'll cough it up.
ram130 said:
It's no longer in the market. Do you have the APK by chance ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nvm..found it under another name. Also Samsung is not the only one with misleading bars, Motorola too. Just look at the thread I did on it here:
https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/302492
distortedloop said:
Field test mode access seems to elude us on the Charge, but if we could find the code, there's got to be a signal strength indicator in there.
I'm going to query Samsung to see if they'll cough it up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Meanwhile, googling around I found some info on enabling hidden menus on the phone (basically same steps as for Fascinate), but once there, none of the known dialer codes work for me, despite others saying they do.
HOWEVER, check out the app called SGSTools in the Market. Install it, run it, select Service Mode. A black screen comes up, hit the menu button, then back and voila, you're in LTE Monitor screen. You might be able to navigate around from there and get your signal information.
Hope this helps.
distortedloop said:
Meanwhile, googling around I found some info on enabling hidden menus on the phone (basically same steps as for Fascinate), but once there, none of the known dialer codes work for me, despite others saying they do.
HOWEVER, check out the app called SGSTools in the Market. Install it, run it, select Service Mode. A black screen comes up, hit the menu button, then back and voila, you're in LTE Monitor screen. You might be able to navigate around from there and get your signal information.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you should take a pic...I'm curious what that mode looks like. Don't have a charge to fool around with it.
Bumping this up because I just noticed that in Anandtech's review of the LG Revolution, there's a way at least for that phone to see the 4G signal strength: http://images.anandtech.com/doci/4450/DSC_0734.jpg
Given that the Revolution and Charge have different LTE chips, I'm not sure if this can be reproduced on the Charge.
Credit: Page 10 of the LG Revolution review by Anandtech
---------- Post added 10th November 2011 at 12:36 AM ---------- Previous post was 9th November 2011 at 11:55 PM ----------
I just looked around the LTE Monitor menu as distortedloop posted above (thanks!) and it does seem there are some values that may give a better idea of the LTE signal.
One interesting thing I noticed was some sort of MPSR timer that counts down; what it seemed like it was doing was counting down to the next time it would attempt to connect to the LTE network (I was on 1X at the time). Other values that I believe pertain more to the LTE signal strength include: RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and CINR (Carrier-to-Interference-and-Noise Ratio). I correlated faster LTE speeds with lower RSRP values (that is, LESS negative).
Related
EDIT: Seems when the data services setting is on the phone behaves differently. - Thanks for the input.
Hello all, I am new to this group. Ive learned a lot, and I'm able to get around pretty good as a result of what I've learned here so thanks to you all.
I use SRINT - I have an HTC touch pro2. I've never had a good signal in my home as it's in one of those area's where there is no coverage accoridng to their map. However, I usually have a good enough signal to do most everthing I need to do but still low end..
Yesteray I noticed my 'EV" icon for the first time. Then it went into roaming mode w/ 1xrtt. Never saw this icon either. Today, same thing - except I'm not going into roam mode to often. I don't see any new sattelites up in my area. I have no "signal" icon so there aren't any bars. I'm recieving calls and the reception is incredibly good. However since all I have is the EV, I can't tell what my signal strength is. Can anyone explain this behavior?. I thought I might of hit some buttons accidently and changed some setting unkowingly. thanks
What does satellite have anything to do with cellular coverage. Why don't you have a signal icon? Did you install some weird taskbar? Sounds to me you re just on the edge of 3g so you see ev or 1x. Also 1x isn't roaming it just not 3g data speeds
I don't know. that's why I was asking. I haven't installed anything but Bing and Google maps. When I go into settings->turn on data services, the signal goes out and EV lights up with data transfer showing. Shut off data services, I get my icon back with one bar, EV icon on no data transfer showing. Have no clue what it's doing yet, exc;ept I see no difference in e,ail, internet , messaging, regardless if "data services" are on or off. If I go into "roam" i.e. the roam ICON lights up, then 1x icon is on instead of EV. NOW.. I turned data services off, I got my signal icon. I update the local weather, and the signal icon goes out EV lights up showing data exchange, I look at my seetings and data services is on. Probabaly turned on when I forced the weather to update.
This is so confusing but it sounds like everything is working fine to me. Screen captures of these changes would help because your descriptions are confusing to me.
I'm in Australia with a HTC Legend, currently running CM7, previously had Sense of course.. however I don't thin this problem is specific to Legend at all.
When I have 'Mobile Data' enabled and I'm in a good reception area, it will say '3G' or 'H' in the notification bar.
I'm not really sure what the difference is, I've heard maybe 3G is slower than H or used to save power etc. But they both occur with the same amount of reception.. either I get 3G/H or G/E if I'm at a place with really bad reception.
However the problem is, when it has '3G' showing at the top, the data speed isn't slower, but NO DATA AT ALL is transferred. Then it switches to 'H' and internet works.
The annoying thing is, it seems the switching between '3G' and 'H' is COMPLETELY RANDOM. I could be looking through market, browsing web, using maps, downloading, streaming youtube and it will continuously randomly switch between the two, turning internet off and on as it does. It's incredibly frustrating because even if I'm in an area with great reception and I know it's capable of fast transfer speeds, while it's stuck on '3G' mode I get no internet at all.
Does anyone know exactly why it does this, what it means or how I can make it to stop switching to '3G' and stay on 'H'? If it's the radio switching to 3G to save battery when it thinks internet isn't being used, I'd like to disable this because it does switch to 3G when I DO want to use the internet, or right in the middle of data being transferred.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Can anyone provide any info? I'd really like to sort it out!
i think its depend on your provider, u cant always connect at H if your provider dont give u that signal
Snowtoad23 said:
I'm in Australia with a HTC Legend, currently running CM7, previously had Sense of course.. however I don't thin this problem is specific to Legend at all.
When I have 'Mobile Data' enabled and I'm in a good reception area, it will say '3G' or 'H' in the notification bar.
I'm not really sure what the difference is, I've heard maybe 3G is slower than H or used to save power etc. But they both occur with the same amount of reception.. either I get 3G/H or G/E if I'm at a place with really bad reception.
However the problem is, when it has '3G' showing at the top, the data speed isn't slower, but NO DATA AT ALL is transferred. Then it switches to 'H' and internet works.
The annoying thing is, it seems the switching between '3G' and 'H' is COMPLETELY RANDOM. I could be looking through market, browsing web, using maps, downloading, streaming youtube and it will continuously randomly switch between the two, turning internet off and on as it does. It's incredibly frustrating because even if I'm in an area with great reception and I know it's capable of fast transfer speeds, while it's stuck on '3G' mode I get no internet at all.
Does anyone know exactly why it does this, what it means or how I can make it to stop switching to '3G' and stay on 'H'? If it's the radio switching to 3G to save battery when it thinks internet isn't being used, I'd like to disable this because it does switch to 3G when I DO want to use the internet, or right in the middle of data being transferred.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its HSPA, what you get depends on your carrier's coverage area. A few cities in the US have them, such as Baltimore. When I flew to Minnesota I got 3G. As far as you not having a data connection on 3G, I believe if you're in an HSPA area you won't get data on 3G. I know I don't (I have a Galaxy S 4G). When you're in a 3G only area you should get data.
Sent from my Galaxy Tab running CM7
the question is, why i see both 3g and wifi icons on the status bar at the same time? i mean, wich one is the one i using it when both are on the status bar? do i lost my MB from my data network while i'm using the wifi?
You see both because they're both available. However, the phone will prefer to use WiFi whenever it's connected. If you had a long-running connection over 3G, it might stay on the 3G, and I think some types of data always go over 3G (MMS? But that shouldn't use data plan limit anyhow). Also, just because the WiFi icon shows doesn't mean it's usable; if the WiFi connection is unable to reach the Internet for some reason, the phone will fall back to using 3G.
Sometimes it's possible that the phone uses 3G even though it is connected to a Wifi network. I recognize this, when the 3G Icon turns to 3G+.
I've noticed my Focus Flash tends to use 3G always for push email whereas the browser and market place tends to use WiFi if both are available. Don't know what the situation is for other apps.
@Der Moloch: That's not what "3G+" means at all. It means your phone is connected to a "faster than 3G" technology, probably HSPA+. Although some carriers (and phones) refer to this as "4G", and some phones will just put "H" or "H+" there instead, it all means the same thing. If you go dig into the registry, you can see the list of text that the phone displays for different wireless data technology connections.
@GoodDayToDie
My 3G symbol only changes to 3G+, when there is an actual data transfer.
That's... REALLY weird. I haven't heard of anybody reporting that experience before. The registry values I mentioned are in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Connectivity\CellularUX\DataConnectionIcon. None of the options on my phone are "3G+" but then, my phone doesn't support a "3.5G" network technology like HSPA+ either...
My device also shows 3G+ sometimes when it is available.If not just 3G.
---------- Post added at 09:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:38 PM ----------
What do you mean by data transfer?
@Ttblondey
When I say data transfer, I mean that the phone is actually submitting something through the data connection.
For example, I have my mail sync set to manual. I open up the e-mail interface of my Windows phone. On the top right there is the digital clock. If I put my finger on it, the battery icon and the 3G icon (with the reception bars next to it) show up. Then I press sync and the 3G icon changes to 3G+. Once the sync is done, it changes back to 3G.
Maybe I'll upload a video about that, once I am back at my place and have access to a webcam.
You're seeing the phone switch to HSPA+ when it needs to, and back off to HSPA when there's no data being transferred.
It's a power saving thing.
Exactly and this confirms my post above regarding the wireless situation.
I have an interesting problem : On my XT925 ( XenonHD rom), I have no signal bar at all while connected to a 4G network(0 db). I can still make call and the signal bar actually appears when I call, but as soon as I hang up the bars go back to 0. While I switch to a 3G or H+ network, I can see my signal bar.
I have no 4G connection problem, data works fine.
I guess its no really a problem... I just wish I could see my signal strength in 4G.
Anyone as ever came across something like that ?
atessier said:
I have an interesting problem : On my XT925 ( XenonHD rom), I have no signal bar at all while connected to a 4G network(0 db). I can still make call and the signal bar actually appears when I call, but as soon as I hang up the bars go back to 0. While I switch to a 3G or H+ network, I can see my signal bar.
I have no 4G connection problem, data works fine.
I guess its no really a problem... I just wish I could see my signal strength in 4G.
Anyone as ever came across something like that ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read that in the change logs of a few ROMs that the 4G signal strength display is a little wonky. If you needed to see the actual signal strength you could you into Settings -> About Phone -> Status. Alternatively, you could change the status bar setting to show numerical signal strength at all times instead of bars.
no luck...
bananapeapod said:
I read that in the change logs of a few ROMs that the 4G signal strength display is a little wonky. If you needed to see the actual signal strength you could you into Settings -> About Phone -> Status. Alternatively, you could change the status bar setting to show numerical signal strength at all times instead of bars.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not working....when I switch to numerical display for the signal strength I get 0 dBm. As soon as I call out or receive a call it goes to -90dBm, stays up for 30 sec. and then goes back to 0.....
On a different note, the satus says that Im connected to LTE while the bar indicator read 4G.
atessier said:
Not working....when I switch to numerical display for the signal strength I get 0 dBm. As soon as I call out or receive a call it goes to -90dBm, stays up for 30 sec. and then goes back to 0.....
On a different note, the satus says that Im connected to LTE while the bar indicator read 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having the same issue with 4.2/4.3 roms. Thought it might have to do with network. Tried a few different settings, but no fix yet, and I'm not sure all calls come through. Data connection is no problem though. 4G /LTE are inter-changeable. Hopefully there's a fix it somewhere.
Like many others, I had a very inconsistent signal on Tmobile with my PH1. Issues included bouncing between LTE and LTE+ (especially after disconnecting from WiFi), and random drops to no signal (ie, LTE then nothing). After reading through many posts on XDA and Reddit, I believe I found a combination of settings that stabilizes the phone's handling of signal. Since implementing these changes, my signal has remained mostly on LTE+, and occasionally LTE - results were consistent with my OnePlus 3T.
*Note* These changes stabilized my signal. They have NOT improved my reception. Signal strength is still weaker than my 3T by approximately 5-10dBm. Download speeds on LTE and LTE+ are consistently slower than the 3T. However, I have not dropped any calls, buffered streaming audio or video, or been unable to browse/use data within apps.
Here is what I did:
1. Dial *#*#4636#*#* This will bring up the Testing menu. Select Phone Information and under Set Preferred Network Type select LTE only from the dropdown.
2. Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Mobile Network > Advanced. Toggle Enhanced 4G LTE Mode off then on. Set Preferred network type to LTE.
3. While still in the Mobile Network menu, Select Access Point Names at the bottom of the menu and create a new APN using the Android APN settings from here: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-2090
That's it. I don't know if any one of these changes made the difference, or if it's the combination of all three, but my signal stability and usability have improved dramatically. I believe this is the best this phone is going to get - I doubt any software patches will fix what is probably an issue with the antenna. Hope this helps everyone on TMo with the PH1.
You're pretty much disabling LTE+ so you stop the device from bouncing between the 2 LTE types which then stabilizes the signal. This would also explain the slower speeds.