My phone does something weird. When the data mode, shown beside the battery icon, is shown as 3G, no data transfer can be made until it is changed to 'H'. This gets very annoying.
The problem is that it stays at 3G until I want to do some data transfer, then it changes to 'H' which takes some time.
Anybody gets this as well? Is there anyway to prevent this?
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
H means hsdpa,which is High Speed Downlink Packet Access. It is 3.5G. And it is faster than 3G.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
I think, its metwork config...
I had this very same issue in UK (Virgin pay as you go)
Sent from my HTC Desire S using Tapatalk
Same issue with o2 Pay Monthly, although it generally switches to H quite quickly when data access is required.
CatcherInRye said:
H means hsdpa,which is High Speed Downlink Packet Access. It is 3.5G. And it is faster than 3G.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct me if I'm wrong. H means HSPA, which is 3.5G, and 3G is 3G in itself, and G is 2G? I thought 2G didn't allow data transmission? So isn't 'G', 3G?
I understand HSPA is supposed to be faster than 3G, but the problem is that 3G doesn't allow any data transmission.
ffforce said:
Correct me if I'm wrong. H means HSPA, which is 3.5G, and 3G is 3G in itself, and G is 2G? I thought 2G didn't allow data transmission? So isn't 'G', 3G?
I understand HSPA is supposed to be faster than 3G, but the problem is that 3G doesn't allow any data transmission.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"WCDMA"
H = HSPA = 3.5G
3G = 3G
"GSM"
E = EDGE = 2.5G
G = GPRS = 2G
All of them allow data access, or should do anyway.
ffforce said:
Correct me if I'm wrong. H means HSPA, which is 3.5G, and 3G is 3G in itself, and G is 2G? I thought 2G didn't allow data transmission? So isn't 'G', 3G?
I understand HSPA is supposed to be faster than 3G, but the problem is that 3G doesn't allow any data transmission.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WCDMA
H = HSPA = 3.5G
3G = 3G
GSM
E = EDGE = 2.5G
G = GPRS = 2G
Both 2G and 3G allow data access.
No, "G" is not "3G". "G" means GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and is an old standart to transfer data via GSM. It is, in fact, the slowest ond one of the oldest.
There are two networks, "2G" which is "G" or "E" (EDGE which is is a litlle bit faster than "GPRS" - and "3G" (now even "4G" ) which is a high spead network. "H" should mean "HSDPA" or "HSPA"
Oooops, to slow.
In addition: Via 3G you can do data connection and phone calls at the same time, this you can not do in 2G
ffforce said:
My phone does something weird. When the data mode, shown beside the battery icon, is shown as 3G, no data transfer can be made until it is changed to 'H'. This gets very annoying.
The problem is that it stays at 3G until I want to do some data transfer, then it changes to 'H' which takes some time.
Anybody gets this as well? Is there anyway to prevent this?
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your phone will check to see what the best connection available is before downloading. The wait is down to your network provider's service and availability. And possibly your radio. It's not that it wont download on 3G. It will. It's just that 99 times out of 100 if 3G is available, so is HSDPA so it'll go for that one over 3G every time. Unless you are on my network provider. Then you'd get better consistent data transfer over a piece of wet string.
You could go into your phone setting and choose 'WCDMA only' if you generally have good coverage and want to cut the wait out?
Dial *#*#4636#*#*, from the resulting menu select 'Phone Information' then scroll to the bottom and change the drop-down menu to 'WCDMA only'.
Does that help?
Tip:
You can also do this without dialing a code:
Got to settings/wireless & network/Mobile network/Network mode
So you don't have to remember the code if you want to change settings
wnp_79 said:
Your phone will check to see what the best connection available is before downloading. The wait is down to your network provider's service and availability. And possibly your radio. It's not that it wont download on 3G. It will. It's just that 99 times out of 100 if 3G is available, so is HSDPA so it'll go for that one over 3G every time. Unless you are on my network provider. Then you'd get better consistent data transfer over a piece of wet string.
You could go into your phone setting and choose 'WCDMA only' if you generally have good coverage and want to cut the wait out?
Dial *#*#4636#*#*, from the resulting menu select 'Phone Information' then scroll to the bottom and change the drop-down menu to 'WCDMA only'.
Does that help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this. For now it seems that it is stuck at HSPA now! Thanks! Am I right to assume that under WCDMA only mode, I either get HSPA data or no data at all? The phone will not go to 3G or 2G right? (there's no 2.5G here)
Thanks to the others who clarified the 2G,3G,3.5G terms. I understand it more clearly now!
ffforce said:
Am I right to assume that under WCDMA only mode, I either get HSPA data or no data at all? The phone will not go to 3G or 2G right? (there's no 2.5G here)
Thanks to the others who clarified the 2G,3G,3.5G terms. I understand it more clearly now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WCDMA only means you will only have HSPA and 3G connections. You will not have, as you wrote, 2G. 2.5G means EDGE which is still a 2G connection but a little bit faster than GPRS, and right, you will not have that.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
HSPA includes HSDPA and HSUPA. I really don't know the difference between them.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
HSPA is faster than HSDPA, and HSUPA is the standart for uploads. You should visit Wikipedia for detailed information.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
Related
Is it normal for the phone to go straight from "4G" to "2G"? Should the phone ever show "3G" or anything of the like? I was in an area on the coverage map that said "3G" but the phone was hunting between "4G" and "2G" where "2G" will absolutely access NO DATA... Is it also normal for "2G" to be useless..
Dial *#*#4636#*#*
Then "phone settings"
Then change "wcdma preferred" to "wcdma only"
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
Just did that, seemed to show 0-1 bars of 4G and it was still enough to get data to load, so I guess that works.
Is there just no 3G that will ever display on this phone? I know there is a mix of HSDPA and HSPA+ in my area, but it's only ever said 4G.
chrisizzle492 said:
Dial #*#*4636*#*#
Then "phone settings"
Then change "wcdma preferred" to "wcdma only"
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-Go into the dialer and dial *#*#4636#*#*
Wait what? Doing that is going to make it so that you will only ever be able to use data if you are in a 4G/3G data area.
T-Mobile does not have a very big 3G coverage map, so doing this essentially makes it so that you have to stay within a known 3G area. 2G, IE EDGE will get you around 150kBps on T-Mobile which isn't really all that bad all things considered.
I would definately switch back to the Auto setting.
The problem is, even with 4 bars of 2g, the phone literally cannot browse the internet at all... almost as if I were connected to GPRS.
mbaran said:
Is it normal for the phone to go straight from "4G" to "2G"? Should the phone ever show "3G" or anything of the like? I was in an area on the coverage map that said "3G" but the phone was hunting between "4G" and "2G" where "2G" will absolutely access NO DATA... Is it also normal for "2G" to be useless..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. 4G (HSPA) doesn't really require better signal strength than 3G (UMTS) - so an area is either 3G or 4G capable depending on if T-Mobile has upgraded the tower or not.
2G (EDGE) can work on a much weaker signal so your phone will drop back to it from 4G.
Please correct me if I'm wrong
this is what i put in a similar thread:
I'm guessing the reason you won't see 3G is because Tmobile has upgraded most of their 3G network to HSPA+ so it'll show the 4G unless you actually go to a place that still has just 3G versus the HSPA+
It's been good to me but does it work for you?
I remember doing this for a few other phones with good results.
Now I'm doing it with my Sensation and it looks like its working... but I want more people to test it. Test battery drain and data speeds.
Anyways,
Type *#*#4636#*#* in dialer > Phone info > Change WCDMA to GSM auto (PRL) and that is it. You should see the battery drain less on stand by.
post results here... and a thanks would also be good.
if you only use 2g,you can set like that
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA App
Yes, it does save battery. Same as going into Mobile Network settings.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App
GSM Auto (PRL): gives me 4G speeds
GSM only:gives me edge speeds
GSM Auto (PRL) isn't in the mobile network settings.
gsm auto prl will save the user a bit more power because it wont force the phone to continuasly hunt for a stronger signal
And just in case you guys want to play with some settings:
WCDMA preferred - The GSM phone is capable of using both 2G and 3G data communication and when signal strength is low 3G is favored more.
GSM only - The GSM phone is capable of using only 2G data communication. When the 2G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
WCDMA only - The GSM phone is capable of using only 3G data communication. When the 3G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
GSM auto (PRL) - The GSM phone is capable of using both 2G and 3G data communication and when signal strength is low 2G is favored more. This one is a bit confusing to me since PRL is associated mostly with CDMA technology and not GSM technology.
CDMA auto (PRL) - The CDMA phone is capable of using both 2G and 3G data communication and when signal strength is low 2G is favored more.
CDMA only - The CDMA phone is capable of using only 2G data communication. When the 2G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
EvDo only - The CDMA phone is capable of using only 3G data communication. When the 3G signal is too low you get nothing at all.
GSM/CDMA auto (PRL) - Some phones are equipped with both GSM and CDMA capabilities. This setting appears to just have the phone attempt to stay connected to the data communication type that works the best. (Maybe the Samsung Galaxy S will take advantage of this???)
Unknown - If none of the above fit or the phone is acting weird as far as connecting to the carrier, you will see your preferred network type is set to this
leyvatron said:
GSM Auto (PRL): gives me 4G speeds
GSM only:gives me edge speeds
GSM Auto (PRL) isn't in the mobile network settings.
gsm auto prl will save the user a bit more power because it wont force the phone to continuasly hunt for a stronger signal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what's the downside? Edge speed more often? If there was no downside why wouldn't it be the default?
I find gsm auto gives slightly slower speeds in a speedtest than wcdma only... (only two settings I use) and that's it.
Sent from one of my phones..... If only I could remember which one....
Herro! first time poster, long time lurker! i searched around, and couldn't really find a similar problem.
I got an HTC one S from Fido, unlocked it, and i've been trying to use it on Bell. I tried several different APN's until one finally worked...but only EDGE speeds! It's also draining my battery extremely quickly. also, when i put my bell sim card inside, preferred network mode changes to WCDMA instead of HSPA (like on the fido sim).
why is this happening? i was told a fido phone would work on bell with no problem. why no 4g speeds?
thank you and i appreciate the responses in advance
HSPA uses WCDMA, so that makes no sense... Under preferred network you should have WCDMA only, 2G only, or WCDMA preferred if I recall correctly as I'm not on stock HTC rom atm so can't check. Are you getting an "E" signal indicator or are you just getting a slow connection? What does it say under About phone>Status>Mobile Network Type?
Set it to Auto mode in the network settings.
frdd said:
HSPA uses WCDMA, so that makes no sense... Under preferred network you should have WCDMA only, 2G only, or WCDMA preferred if I recall correctly as I'm not on stock HTC rom atm so can't check. Are you getting an "E" signal indicator or are you just getting a slow connection? What does it say under About phone>Status>Mobile Network Type?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, all the tech support i've talked to said it makes no sense either . i get the same outcome whether i put it on WCDMA only or GSM/WCDMA auto. when i do the speed test, it always comes out under 1 mb/s. it actually has the 4G symbol up, but the speed isn't there.
mhmm, it switches between UMTS and HSDPA.
If you have UMTS and HSPDA under status its working, and those are also what connection you're really on. If you always have a 4g icon on status bar it seems like your carrier has modded the software like T-Mobile USA does so it always shows 4g no matter what's up in the real world.
Maybe you're not in a good location and that's why you get slow data. Also I have no idea how Canadian carriers work but I'd guess if you're connected to a 850 MHz cell you'll get worse speeds than on a 1700/1900 one. Don't you guys have insane data caps everywhere, perhaps you hit yours when speedtesting?
did you try a new sim from bell
ITS at work told me today that Telstra are switching off the 2100 network tomorrow (31 Aug) and that my phone might not get data connection afterwards - has anyone else heard about this and know if it is true or not?
I find all the frequencies plus 2g, 3g hsdpa, edge nextg stuff confusing...
I've not heard this before. I, too, am fairly ignorant when it comes to mobile networks.
90% plus of my data usage is over Wi-Fi, but I'd be very miffed if I had no data connection at work done I rely on my Exchange account staying synched.
Of course, all we have to do is wait and see what happens tomorrow.
Sent from my Desire S
BillGoss said:
I've not heard this before. I, too, am fairly ignorant when it comes to mobile networks.
90% plus of my data usage is over Wi-Fi, but I'd be very miffed if I had no data connection at work done I rely on my Exchange account staying synched.
Of course, all we have to do is wait and see what happens tomorrow.
Sent from my Desire S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, cross fingers and let's see. Reading a bit about it on whirlpool and it may be that we drop from HSDPA on 21,000 to the slower Edge on 850, hope not!
EDIT - the little signal indicator in the notification bar has changed from 'H' to 'E' for me over lunchtime... wonder if thats it. Browsing does seem a fair bit slower
E stands for Edge (2 /2.5 G) ...
Whereas., H stands for HSPDA (3/3.5G).
Try selecting WDCMA only in your Settings > Mobile Network Settings >Mobile Network mode.
This should give you only a 3G signal., if available. . Or else no network at all!
You can try switching back to GSM /WDCMA auto and be able to see the network back again.. In this mode it will select the best available option.
Sent from my HTC Desire S
Thanks for the tip. If I set my phone to WCDMA Only, I get no connection., So I've left out I WCDMA Preferred.
By the way, I don't have those setting options, but I can get there by entering *#*#4636#*#* in the phone disaster and selecting Phone Information.
Sent from my Nexus 7
Weird, I use the same shortcut to get to that menu and tried wcdma only, my data signal indicator is now 3g (sometimes H).
No idea what frequency it is using but I'm getting data and presumably it must be better than E, edge. I'm in metro Melbourne btw
Sent from my Desire S using xda premium
BillGoss said:
Thanks for the tip. If I set my phone to WCDMA Only, I get no connection., So I've left out I WCDMA Preferred.
By the way, I don't have those setting options, but I can get there by entering *#*#4636#*#* in the phone disaster and selecting Phone Information.
Sent from my Nexus 7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On CM10 (and I know you are running that ) you have a toggle called 2g/3g and in the settings you can change the network modes.
I have set them to 2g/3g only, because normally I'm in a WI-FI area and there 3g is useless.
Sent from my Desire S using xda app-developers app
Edit the screenshot wasn't working
I guess, the 2G/3G toggle option is the same as GSM only or WCDMA only option.
Edit : Ok, the pic in the above post just loaded... It's the same way of doing things, a bit differently though !
---------- Post added at 01:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 AM ----------
sadsac said:
Weird, I use the same shortcut to get to that menu and tried wcdma only, my data signal indicator is now 3g (sometimes H).
No idea what frequency it is using but I'm getting data and presumably it must be better than E, edge. I'm in metro Melbourne btw
Sent from my Desire S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, H is a lot better than E...
In fact, H is (just) better than 3G as well.
And as far as you are getting H/3G, leave the frequency to the network Radio Engineers to handle
Sent from my Desire S.
Hello, this sounds interesting to me. In fact, I do not have an active 3G data plan or 4G and I am currently using 2G. However, when I set the airplane mode off and the phone starts to pick up 2G signal from cell towers, it also pick up the 3G signal too. In fact, I can see on the signal strength bar a 3G or H+ icon that are constantly changing with some up and down arrow signs that indicate that my phone might be downloading and uploading data. Can anyone explains this phenomenon? For sure, I can not access to the Internet without Wifi.
Dan Law 001 said:
Hello, this sounds interesting to me. In fact, I do not have an active 3G data plan or 4G and I am currently using 2G. However, when I set the airplane mode off and the phone starts to pick up 2G signal from cell towers, it also pick up the 3G signal too. In fact, I can see on the signal strength bar a 3G or H+ icon that are constantly changing with some up and down arrow signs that indicate that my phone might be downloading and uploading data. Can anyone explains this phenomenon? For sure, I can not access to the Internet without Wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to settings-mobile networks and there will be option for mode
if the mode selected if gsm/wcdma - then ur phone will pick up 3g signal if it's available in the area irrespective of ur plan..this means ur carrier has activated 3g services..u can deactivate by selecting mode: gsm only!(2g mode)
wcdma mode is 3g only!
hope this is helped!
If you truly can't have 3g on your plan, phones will communicate with towers due to the requirements to have a phone be able to call 911 even if it is not activated at all.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
this has happened to me before as well
Maybe it's just scanning the available networks or something? Do you have data connection disabled at your device?
What is this thing about a 3G data plan?
A data plan is a data plan. Your speed depends on your phone hardware and what your provider had installed in your area...
At least that's how it works here in Norway, they can and do limit our download speeds after a certain amount of data is transferred as I assume they do elsewhere, but even when I pass that threshold my phone reports using 3G...
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium
Hr Kristian said:
What is this thing about a 3G data plan?
A data plan is a data plan. Your speed depends on your phone hardware and what your provider had installed in your area...
At least that's how it works here in Norway, they can and do limit our download speeds after a certain amount of data is transferred as I assume they do elsewhere, but even when I pass that threshold my phone reports using 3G...
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the situation is not same everywhere...
like in India and more countries, 2g and 3g services have different rates and are users can opt whether they want a 3g plan or 2g plan....although speed is more in 3g!