Connection order: LTE, then 4G, then 3G, then plain GSM? - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727

Is there an order to the way Skyrocket works:
If LTE is available it would connect to LTE
If LTE is not available it would try to find 4G and connect to it
If 4G is not available it would search for 3G and connect to it
If 3G is not available, it would connect to "normal GSM"
Skyrocket is a LTE/4G phone, so does it mean that whenever I make phone calls I should be connected to LTE or 4G?
I had 4G showing in the top bar for 3 days but I haven't seen 4G all day today.
And I do not see LTE or 3G there either (I am not sure if there is LTE in New York).
There is just WiFi and those signal strength bars.

If it says 4g and LTE under your are in a LTE area. If it says 4g you are in a hspa+ area. If it says E you are on edge.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using XDA App

Oh and when you make a call it will say 4g you can't make calls with lte only 4g.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App

The indicators in the info bar can be misleading. If you want to know which network you are connected to, go to "settings", "about phone", "status", and look under "mobile network type".
And for people that have data connection issues from time to time, I am willing to bet that if you look under "mobile network type" while you are having the data connection problems you will see the network type changing every few seconds or so. The phone is generally in an area where there are weak data connections in all areas and it can't decide which network to grab hold of, therefore, none of them work. I think this isn't a problem with the phone, but a problem with how AT&T's towers handle connections in weak areas.

justcalled said:
Is
I had 4G showing in the top bar for 3 days but I haven't seen 4G all day today.
And I do not see LTE or 3G there either (I am not sure if there is LTE in New York).
There is just WiFi and those signal strength bars.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's because you're connected to wifi. When using wifi, the network icon goes away. If you turn wifi off, you will see it again.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App

Scott1479,
So I still don't see 4G. However under "Mobile Network Type" it alternates between HSPA and UMTS - I understand these are 3G networks. Very interesting

There isn't voice over LTE on AT&T (or anywhere else as far as I know).

Related

does the g2x even have a 3g indicator icon?

ive noticed that i get a 4g and a 2g icon but wheres the 3g icon? has anyone seened it?
Travling through the middle of nowhere over the last 3 days I've seen, no signal, G, 2G, 3G, & 4G. It's there.
I also have not seen the 3G icon. I drive through the city and would think when I get out if 4G I would at least still be in a 3G area. Wonder if something may be wrong....
Sent from my T-Mobile G2X using XDA app.
Cyberdan3 said:
I also have not seen the 3G icon. I drive through the city and would think when I get out if 4G I would at least still be in a 3G area. Wonder if something may be wrong....
Sent from my T-Mobile G2X using XDA app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here but this is the first 4G device I have had and I know for a fact most of my city is covered by 4G. What is also weird is that in areas where I would have 1 or 2 bars with my Vibrant, it is telling me I have full bars worth of 4G with the G2X.
its there in the framwork i checked..
Im just wondering why it doesnt display 3G when its on UMTS... it sticks to 4G all the time...
very strange in the instruction manual it also shows 3g icon!
Rmoved
Sent from space
death1246 said:
its there in the framwork i checked..
Im just wondering why it doesnt display 3G when its on UMTS... it sticks to 4G all the time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lot of this has to do with the fact that T-Mobile's 3G towers == their 4G towers so if you're in an area where all of their towers have been upgraded to HSPA+ you will NEVER show 3G because you're always on a 4G tower. The only time you will show a 3G signal is if you're in an older area where they have pre-HSPA+ upgradeable towers. This is how T-mobile can say they have the biggest 4G network because almost all of their old HSPA/3G equipment has been turned into 4G equipment via software upgrades.
I have had my g2x for about 5 days and all I ever see is 4G or E never 3g. I have been checking in the settings/about phone/status and even when the phone is showing 3-4 bars of 4G it is still on umts. In the exact same location and within a minute or so when checking it with my Vibrant I will have 3 bars of H or 3G and in status it shows as hspda or hspda+. What is that about? I have checked this out at least 6 to 7 times a day and it is always the same only umts on the G2X and Hspda or Hspda+ on the Vibrant. I called CS and they wanted to send out another G2X I reluctantly said yes. I do really like this phone and will try to be patient but the device I have now has multiple issues. I am going to take the stance that this is an isolated case and the new one will be golden!!!
brentil said:
A lot of this has to do with the fact that T-Mobile's 3G towers == their 4G towers so if you're in an area where all of their towers have been upgraded to HSPA+ you will NEVER show 3G because you're always on a 4G tower. The only time you will show a 3G signal is if you're in an older area where they have pre-HSPA+ upgradeable towers. This is how T-mobile can say they have the biggest 4G network because almost all of their old HSPA/3G equipment has been turned into 4G equipment via software upgrades.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true. There's pretty much no need for a '3G' icon. Though, technically, it's debatable whether or not T-Mo's (or any other carriers) offerings right now are actually '4G' (according to the standards committees that define those things), but that's a different argument
tl;dr: T-Mo's 3G and 4G operate on pretty much the same technology, so if you're in an area where there was 3G, you'll probably have 4G. It doesn't need to switch back and forth or be toggled like the other solutions (looking at you Wi-Max)

New to T-Mo, data question?

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+

[Q] Disable 4g on samsung galaxy s2 i727r?

Hi there,
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE (signed with Rogers) and I'm trying to figure out how to disable 4G on my phone and only use 3G. I've looked through some threads talking about changing the "Network mode" in the "Mobile network settings," but I haven't had any luck with that.
GSM/HSPA/LTE (Auto Mode)
GSM/HSPA (Auto Mode)
GSM Only
HSPA Only
Right now, I'm using GSM/HSPA (Auto Mode) but it still says I'm connected to 4G in the status bar. In GSM Only, it connects to the edge network (E) and in HSPA only, it will connect to 4G network. Anyone have any ideas of how to connect using 3G?
Also, I've noticed in my APN settings, I'm using the "ltemobile.apn" (the only APN setting I have listed). I don't have a LTE plan, so should this be the APN that I should be using? Since I'm not on a LTE plan, would I be charged more for using the "ltemobile.apn" APN?
Thanks
4g is 3g/HSPA. If you were able to get LTE, the 4g icon would change (as long as you aren't on a ROM that doesn't have LTE icons)
Is there any way to turn off 4G/LTE completely and just use 3G to conserve battery life? I don't own a Skyrocket but my friend does and has horrible batt life.
On home screen press menu button and go to phone settings
Wireless and Network > Mobile Networks > Network Mode
Here you can tell it to use edge/3g/lte or edge/3g or just edge or just 3g
Hopfully that is not my ROM that allows me to choose that. Using Sky Ice Cream Sandwich rom
It depends on the ROM. Stock won't do it and a number of custom roms I've used don't do it either, but I have seen some that appear to allow for that functionality. Do some research and find one you like.
"4G" is 3g (well hspa+) which is twice as fast as what 3g speeds were originally at (see 4, iphone) its more of a marketing thing. There won't be a 3g icon showing up with these roms. best bet is to choose gsm/hspa then it won't be looking for LTE.
bluecrush69 said:
Hi there,
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE (signed with Rogers) and I'm trying to figure out how to disable 4G on my phone and only use 3G. I've looked through some threads talking about changing the "Network mode" in the "Mobile network settings," but I haven't had any luck with that.
GSM/HSPA/LTE (Auto Mode)
GSM/HSPA (Auto Mode)
GSM Only
HSPA Only
Right now, I'm using GSM/HSPA (Auto Mode) but it still says I'm connected to 4G in the status bar. In GSM Only, it connects to the edge network (E) and in HSPA only, it will connect to 4G network. Anyone have any ideas of how to connect using 3G?
Also, I've noticed in my APN settings, I'm using the "ltemobile.apn" (the only APN setting I have listed). I don't have a LTE plan, so should this be the APN that I should be using? Since I'm not on a LTE plan, would I be charged more for using the "ltemobile.apn" APN?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HSPA is actually 3G. AT&T and Tmobile were calling it 4G because they had to come up with some marketing scheme to compete with WiMaxx and LTE. SO in short, AUTO HSPA... is effectively disabling your 4G.

[Q] Nexus 5 Simple Mobile 4G + Mobile Network Indicator

So I broke my N4 and got myself a N5. I thought to myself, "now I can finally take advantage of those 4G LTE speeds that I've been paying for!"
However, I only see the "H" indicator over my mobile networks though Simple mobile insists that they support 4G in my area. Am I missing something? Should I switch to another carrier? I'm I wrong for expecting to see a "4G" or "LTE" indicator in my mobile network strength indicator?
:-/
MkJackson said:
So I broke my N4 and got myself a N5. I thought to myself, "now I can finally take advantage of those 4G LTE speeds that I've been paying for!"
However, I only see the "H" indicator over my mobile networks though Simple mobile insists that they support 4G in my area. Am I missing something? Should I switch to another carrier? I'm I wrong for expecting to see a "4G" or "LTE" indicator in my mobile network strength indicator?
:-/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check your setting to make sure that LTE is the preferred network type.
Go Settings>Wireless & networks>Mobile networks>Preferred network type and make sure it says 'LTE (recommended)'.
If it does, then if you have no LTE, I'd blame the carrier.
Either they have LTE coverage but it's weak where you're at and you're falling back to HSPA+, or they don't and are calling HSPA+ (the H icon) '4G'
Did they say 4G or 4G LTE?
Simple Mobile uses T-Mobile's network and T-Mob defines HSPA+ as '4G'
If they didn't specify LTE, they only have HSPA+ in your area, hence the H icon.
If they insist LTE is available, try another carrier.

How do I know if I'm getting 4g signal?

I just changed the old seem I've had for a few years to a new "4g compatible" sim card since my new moto g has 4g. The thing is there has been no change in the icon I get on my status bar when I'm not connected to any WiFi. It's still a letter H and the signal triangle. Is the icon supposed to be different when I get 4g?
It is suppoded to say 4G or LTE, depenidng on the rom. I get LTE on custom roms and 4G n stock. Also check on the mobile networks settings the prefered type is 4G
It varies by model, carrier, and country. Symbols you will see for 4G are: 4G, LTE, H, H+. Like the previous post said make sure you have 4G/LTE select as preferred in your network settings. You can test your speed to see if it's 4G with apps like Speedtest from the Play Store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.zwanoo.android.speedtest&hl=en
bobbyphoenix said:
It varies by model, carrier, and country. Symbols you will see for 4G are: 4G, LTE, H, H+. Like the previous post said make sure you have 4G/LTE select as preferred in your network settings. You can test your speed to see if it's 4G with apps like Speedtest from the Play Store.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.zwanoo.android.speedtest&hl=en
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speedtest isn't really a reliable way of determining connection type, I have seen areas where 3G/HSPA is much faster than LTE and other places where LTE is 100 times faster than 3G. The best way is by the symbol next to your mobile connection when WiFi is off, or use an app like Network Signal Info which will give you very detailed information about both your mobile and wifi connections.

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