2G vs. 3G
2G Advantage:
• way better battery life
3G Advantage:
• faster data connection
This is a subjective question> Is it worth it at the expense of increased battery consumption?
I have an HTC Diamond with a small 900 mAh battery. So for me, I mostly put mine into 2G and switch to 3G when I use my data connection.
Question: is 2G = 3G when it comes to voice quality? (I can't tell the difference)
...and are there any other 3G advantages that I have missed?
Technically 3G is used for voice as well, but whether you're on GPRS/EDGE/3G I don't think there's a noticeable difference. As for if 3G is worth it? Without question. I'm a huuuuge fan of Android, and I'm dying to get a phone that works with AT&T 3G... Obviously I was greatly disappointed when the Agora Pro was delayed. The G1 seems like the perfect phone for me in every way (except maybe build quality), GPS, WiFi, capacitive screen... But I refuse to buy any phone that doesn't give me 3G, EDGE is painful when you're used to HSPA.
"• can make/receive a call/txt while connected to the Internet (never miss a call)"
thats not a 3g thing thats a cell-phone operator equipment thing
i never lost a call because of grps
thats the real reason that grps was invented to replace
old cell-phone data traffic where you had to call the isp to get
Internet
I don't think it's the right question to ask.
besides the fact that it's individual, 3G and 2G are completely different.
2G provides the regular services which you don't need anything more for.
3G provides services which 2G does not and you will use only if you need them.
so the question is "what do you need?"
I have a polaris on 2G ALL the time... unless I want to connect to the internet.
(just a for instance)
btw, 3G is WAY "less healthy"
for instance, in israel, 2G broadcasts make your phone cast 0.042mW/kb
3G makes it cast 0.43mW/kb. it's like swimming in an ocean of endless EM waves.
that's of course, for an average phone, for full signal
nir36 said:
I don't think it's the right question to ask.
besides the fact that it's individual, 3G and 2G are completely different.
2G provides the regular services which you don't need anything more for.
3G provides services which 2G does not and you will use only if you need them.
so the question is "what do you need?"
I have a polaris on 2G ALL the time... unless you want to connect to the internet.
(just a for instance)
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Yeah well, 3G is a data transfer speed. If you're not using data, there's no reason to have 3G.
Ok, then should the question be.........
E vs. 3G.....regarding call quality & battery consumption
Is there a difference?
or
What radio mode will consume the least amount of battery, Edge or 3G?
Edge consumes a lot less battery than 3G.
Call quality is the same....
Ok, so I will stick with Edge as my basis and switch when I need to use my data connection.
you don't need Edge either for calls. call quality doesn't change from 2G to Edge to 3G to 10G. voice is sampled in 44kHz at best. let's say 22kHz. 22kHz is nothing compared to what 2G can transfer. even if you use Shannon's formula you still get a very high value for 2G data transfer. Edge isn't better than 2G unless you want faster data transfer rate... edge can transfer up to 237kbps per 4 time slots. you need no more than 48kbps.
btw.. just as a general remark. human speech moves between... 20hz to about 3khz. 22khz/48khz is required to transfer music through your phone.
nir36 said:
voice is sampled in 44kHz at best.
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Both 2(.5/.75)G and 3G uses GSM encoding (with a very low sampling frequency); that is, the audio quality is exactly the same with the two.
galaxys said:
Edge consumes a lot less battery than 3G.
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This is particularly true when actively transferring data, and (to a much lesser degree) when just using the phone. I've measured huge (~50%) differences on contemporary handsets - see my dedicated articles if interested.
nir36 said:
3G is WAY "less healthy"
for instance, in israel, 2G broadcasts make your phone cast 0.042mW/kb
3G makes it cast 0.43mW/kb. it's like swimming in an ocean of endless EM waves.
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Click to collapse
Do you have any links on this? This is quite big a difference and I'd say, at least under "normal" circumstances, the difference shouldn't be that big.
As CDMA is somewhat more battery-friendly than TDMA (it can transfer the same info using less power), the difference is mostly because of the difference between the carrier (850/900 MHz vs. 1700+ MHz; the higher the freuency, the more power you require to traverse the same distance with the same SNR). That is, with a GSM operator operating at much higher frequencies than 900 MHz, there shouldn't be much difference.
(And, of course, a lot of other factors should also be considered: does the operator use the same radio turn to put all their aerials on etc. If, for some reason, you have a far better 3G SNR than GSM SNR, then, your handheld should use much lower transfer power.)
This is a matter of choices
Each one of us will pick a phone (and a band and a carrier) based on our own needs
In my personal usage, I need FAST INTERNET, so I chose 3G (HSDPA)
I also chose the Xperia X1 because it has a BIG battery
Now I have 3G SPEED and 1.5 days battery life with heavy usage
Menneisyys said:
Both 2(.5/.75)G and 3G uses GSM encoding (with a very low sampling frequency); that is, the audio quality is exactly the same with the two.
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That's great to hear. Well to conserve power, my choice will be to disable 3G using Communication Manager. When I do this, the 3G icon in the task bar switches to E.
Will switch to 3G only when I need to use the internet.
Perfect ! Thanks for helping me with this everyone
Menneisyys said:
Do you have any links on this? This is quite big a difference and I'd say, at least under "normal" circumstances, the difference shouldn't be that big.
As CDMA is somewhat more battery-friendly than TDMA (it can transfer the same info using less power), the difference is mostly because of the difference between the carrier (850/900 MHz vs. 1700+ MHz; the higher the freuency, the more power you require to traverse the same distance with the same SNR). That is, with a GSM operator operating at much higher frequencies than 900 MHz, there shouldn't be much difference.
(And, of course, a lot of other factors should also be considered: does the operator use the same radio turn to put all their aerials on etc. If, for some reason, you have a far better 3G SNR than GSM SNR, then, your handheld should use much lower transfer power.)
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first of all, let me correct my mistake. it's not 0.43 for 3G it's 0.23mW/kb. but that's still VERY high.
I'll try to look it up as i got this info from a friend who worked in orange. but this obviously depends on many factors other than your device. the more relays you have spread around your area, the less power your phone needs to retrieve a normal signal. they're not ALL arranged according to the hexagon method... or the Threeway method.
I'm talking about average power. the closer you are to the relay, the less power you need, but your brain is fried from the relay itself so you can't really run away from it.
FORTUNATELY, power dissipates by 1/r^2 so if you're about 60-70cm away from your phone the effect will be extremely minimal.
"Yeah well, 3G is a data transfer speed. If you're not using data, there's no reason to have 3G."
here we can also use it for video calls directly to another phone number as in not real internet
but nobody use it i think
maybe the problem is that females will spend ½hour freshning up before answering their phones jk
video calls are only different by requiring faster data transfer and much higher signal to noise ratio.. which 3G provides. again, it's not a consideratoin whether to use 3G or not. only if you need to use a video call should you switch to 3G
2G vs 3G......What about (Edge vs 3G)
Wow, some good feedback has been generated here.
Phone use:
• 3G.......is NOT worth it here unless you are video calling
Data Connection:
• 3G.......is worth it here (way faster) even though battery consumption increases nicely
Before concluding with the above, would like to clear up what Edge is:
EDGE can be considered a 3G radio technology and is part of ITU's 3G definition,[1] but is most frequently referred to as 2.75G
Based on the definition here, does anyone believe that using Edge is best when using the phone for the sake of decreasing battery consumption? I believe it should be. Any thoughts?
Actually, EDGE can't be considered as 3G techwise.. and it doesn't have the same data transfer rate as 3G provided by an HSDPA connection.
this is from wikipedia
High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is a 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity. Current HSDPA deployments support down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.4 Mbit/s. Further speed increases are available with HSPA+, which provides speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s downlink.[1]
EDGE only gets to 430kbps AT BEST. the AT BEST part NEVER comes
it's true that EDGE consumes less battery
and it's true that 3G is much faster
but it's also true that this all depends on your needs.
Orange Israel doesn't support EDGE. if they did i would be using it all the time instead of 3G when i need an internet connection.. since i don't need 1.8Mbps..
eventually, i believe there's no debate about what to use.
2G is the best way to go when you do everything but using the internet and video calls.
and then choosing between EDGE and 3G(HSDPA, UMTS.. or whatever you wanna call it) depends on how fast you want your internet connection to be while considering that EDGE consumes MUCH MUCH less battery power.
btw, if you asked me, i woldn't think twice whether you should have a 3G phone or not. having 3G support on your phone nowadays costs nothing more than having a reulgar 2G phone.. so having the option whether to use 3G or not is obviously better than not having it.
band27 said:
EDGE can be considered a 3G radio technology and is part of ITU's 3G definition,[1] but is most frequently referred to as 2.75G
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tehcnically, EDGE (which is a plain TDMA technology, as is GSM) in no way can be compared to 3G technologies, which are all CDMA.
DSLReports.com has a new article: AT&T HSPA+ Quietly Pops Up In Several Cities At Least According To A New, More Honest Coverage Map (LINK). Going to the AT&T map and zooming on Boston, shows I should have HSPA+ in the area I'm in, but I don't . Any one in Boston getting AT&T's approximately 6 Mbps speeds? If so, what radio are you using? I am using 12.39.60.19U_26.06.04.06_M with Android Revolution 4G 2.1.
6? That's funny. Granted I'm in Burlington-MA and not downtown proper, but I'm lucky to see 0.6 during the day. At 6:00am I can sometimes see 2mb, but it chokes down pretty quick when people start their workday.
car_nut said:
6? That's funny. Granted I'm in Burlington-MA and not downtown proper, but I'm lucky to see 0.6 during the day. At 6:00am I can sometimes see 2mb, but it chokes down pretty quick when people start their workday.
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I'm in the same area, speeds are a joke. Without WiFi, it would almost be a paper weight.
Up to 6 is all HSPA+ is supposed to give us? I've already seen over 5 in Atlanta where HSPA+ isn't even turned on yet. Usually I get around 3 though.
I've seen almost 5 here in STL and thats no HSPA+.... also i get about 2 up
directorfer said:
DSLReports.com has a new article: AT&T HSPA+ Quietly Pops Up In Several Cities At Least According To A New, More Honest Coverage Map (LINK). Going to the AT&T map and zooming on Boston, shows I should have HSPA+ in the area I'm in, but I don't . Any one in Boston getting AT&T's approximately 6 Mbps speeds? If so, what radio are you using? I am using 12.39.60.19U_26.06.04.06_M with Android Revolution 4G 2.1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hahah i got mine today and i've been around the boston/brighton/alston area all day. only got above 1 Mbps once and everything else was pretty low...
I work in Braintree and average over 3mbps down, but that's what my other phones generally saw between 2-3.
Northborough 3.3 down 1.3 up
In S. Boston I get: .4 Down and .15 up
At home in Salem: 2.5 Down .8 up
Extremely pathetic... if this doesn't change I will be getting the thunderbolt on VZW. Standing in Boston and not even getting Edge speeds... AT&T Sucks!
So I looked at the map and my office is supposedly in the "4g" area(Burlington, ma). I'm showing the "H+" and running the rooted stock ROM. 0.43 down and 0.65 up at 1:45pm. I know the phone is capable of more since I've seen up to 3mb down during off hours. The ~0.5 down is pretty typical during normal working hours though. I'm also thinking about jumping ship before my 30 days is up.
i feel bad for some of you guys, i dont understand it. (i do understand the upload speed is disabled on the stock ROM).
but on ATT, my nexus one gets 3Mbps down, 1.6Mbps up, for the last year straight. even during daytime and peak hours, those speeds are relatively consistent.
ping is consistently 180 ms. cant complain about that. but certainly that's not HSPA+ yet. leave it to ATT to be slow at expanding network...
In Salt Lake City, I average .6 down and .16 up. With my Samsung Captivate, I got faster speeds on 3G. I happen to also own a T-Mobile MyTouch 4G which has average speeds that are almost 2.5 times faster. I test both the Inspire and MyTouch several times daily.
What this tells me that the download speeds as well as the upload speeds are being artificially slowed down.
Also, HTC or AT&T also brilliantly decided to leave out the 2100 Mhz radio so no 3 or 4G in Europe and many other counties. This and the fact there is no front facing camera, make this phone much less desirable.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
For my local and ROM, the throttling isn't artificial but a lack of bandwidth. During off hours I get respectable speeds but the network becomes bogged down once everyone gets to work.
The lack of front facing camera I'm guessing was intentional. Their network is obviously greatly lacking in capacity in many areas. Giving people hardware to allow video calling isn't going to work well with that.
I am also in the Boston area. I got 2M up 2M down yesterday by leaning out my window at home (I only get 1 bar inside my house when I am lucky). I will say this though, I was talking to an ATT rep in a local store and he said that the towers had been updated but much of the backhaul was still in progress around Boston. He was talking about the Worburn towner specifically being a 4G tower but that the backhaul still meant he only got about .6M.
I got my Infuse a few weeks ago and while I'm happy with the speeds over the Captivate (which never seemed higher than 2mbps) I don't think I am getting HSPDA speeds.
With 2-5 bars I am averaging around 1.5-3.5mbps in and around Boston which is all covered by AT&T's "4G" service (Im only talking HSPA+ here not LTE). My highest was 6.7mbps and 7.4 mbps once a week or so ago.
In looking at my "Mobile Network Type". I think that I am very infrequently if ever seeing it say HSPDA. It generally says UMTS.
Am I correct in saying the UMTS is the 3G service that basically the IPHONE gets?
Is anyone else out there seeing faster speed and their "Mobile Network Type" say HSPDA regularly?
UMTS is ATT's basic 3G service...and is generally a very slow network but has a big coverage base....
HSPA is the newer 3G service which gets even better speeds but it still limited in some areas.....An iPhone as you mentioned will connect to UMTS or HSPA depending on cell tower location......HSPA+ which is what the INFUSE connects to is nothing more then HSPA with better backhaul for higher speeds but has the same coverage and range of regular HSPA.
HOWEVER, the way it works is that it connects to the STRONGEST signal at the time, if UMTS is outputting a stronger signal from a cell tower you will latch onto that one more often then HSPA....
At work and traveling to and from, i am usually on HSPA, but at home that signal is weak (location of cell tower with HSPA amplified) so i am usually on UMTS...
actually hspa runs on top of umts and only switches when you start downloading. if you idle, it should say umts.
The Jack of Clubs said:
actually hspa runs on top of umts and only switches when you start downloading. if you idle, it should say umts.
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That's not always true, it depends on the cell site architecture the device is pinging - my device and many previous device idle on HSPA frequently and in other spots, UMTS.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
A useful post to tweak your 4G settings: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1127980&highlight=HSPA+cat+control&page=2
I work in a downtown Dallas office building and am running radio 12.39a.60.19u_26.06.06.30_M on AOSPX ICS rom. My signal strength is at -89 dBm 12 asu, yet I have a difficult time getting a consistent transfer rate from my phone while at my desk. The data package also switches between "3G" and "H" occasionally. My battery life is okay, but Speedtest.net is reporting a download speed of anywhere between 512 and 781 kbps and upload speed of 739 and 1038 kbps. It's very inconsistent and sporadic.
echodun said:
I work in a downtown Dallas office building and am running radio 12.39a.60.19u_26.06.06.30_M on AOSPX ICS rom. My signal strength is at -89 dBm 12 asu, yet I have a difficult time getting a consistent transfer rate from my phone while at my desk. The data package also switches between "3G" and "H" occasionally. My battery life is okay, but Speedtest.net is reporting a download speed of anywhere between 512 and 781 kbps and upload speed of 739 and 1038 kbps. It's very inconsistent and sporadic.
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Bad signal, interference, los to tower issues, a lot of people on same tower during peak usage. Pick your poison.
How does it perform outside the building? If it performs properly then it's just any or all of the mentioned causes. If it's still bad, then we can work on that. I personally get no signal for the 9hrs im inside my building at work, walk outside, 3g with full bars lol.
There are little tweaks you can do, keep phone in upright position (creates antenna alignment'ish to the tower), you can remove the case as well, (each layer the signal has to go through reduces it's strength)
I figured as much
And it does seem to work fine outside of the bldg. The only problem is that most of my coworkers' devices work fine in the bldg. They are on different networks. I'm on AT&T.
echodun said:
And it does seem to work fine outside of the bldg. The only problem is that most of my coworkers' devices work fine in the bldg. They are on different networks. I'm on AT&T.
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You are comparing apples and oranges. My company has a repeater installed in it for verizon, so all the verizon people get perfect signal. Something similar may be at your place. either way, i dont see a problem that can be fixed on your end, other than switching networks :/
I was just curious about this process. 99% of my usage is at home/work. Both of which are within 1 mile of each other. I have a OnePlus 8T Android 11 on T-Mobile. Sometimes I'm on LTE and sometimes I'm on 5G. When I run a speed test on 5G I get 20-25ms ping and 500-550 Mbps down speeds. Obviously LTE isn't that fast but why does my phone even switch to LTE than. I'm not having issues I just wanted to know more about the data management of Android.
It depends on the 5G vs. 4G network coverage in the areas you are moving around. A smartphone by default will try to connect to 5G ( best quality network ). If for some reason 5G is not available or its quality in the area you are moving is low/bad it will switch ( so-called fall-back ) to 4G.
Does this fallback method use more battery compared to just sticking/forcing 4G?
I believe it does, I'm in the UK, and my area is still only 4g, if I have it on the 5g/4g/3g/2g auto switching option it seems to go off 4g piste and hunt for a non existing 5g signal. So I drop to 4g/3g/2g which seems to keep it on 4g and less battery drain from 5g hunting.
Hope this helps....
KC