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[Q] Locking Phone to WCDMA

I am having an issue locking the phone to WCDMA. I live an area where the EDGE signal is stronger and it constantly drops 3G. After rooting the phone, I locked it into WCDMA and it would stick all the time, even dropping all signal when I moved into an area with only GSM coverage. However, somewhere along the line, I've lost the abillity to lock it in. I have tried going into the Mobile Networks settings and selecting WCDMA Only and also doing the *#*#4636#*#* and neither one will lock it into WCDMA. Anyone else having this issue or know of a workaround for this?

If ur in a edge based area where 3g is minimal,then setting to wcdma is the worst way to go. Wcdma will lock u into 3g/4g signals ONLY! So if your in edge area only,wcdma will not give u data or signal due to the fact the phone is searching for 3g/4g signals only. And GSM or cdma is a different ball park. Set to wcdma preferred and let it pick up what it can. If a 3g or "4g" signal is avaliable,it will automatically detect it and connect.
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using XDA App

mattmiller said:
If ur in a edge based area where 3g is minimal,then setting to wcdma is the worst way to go. Wcdma will lock u into 3g/4g signals ONLY! So if your in edge area only,wcdma will not give u data or signal due to the fact the phone is searching for 3g/4g signals only. And GSM or cdma is a different ball park. Set to wcdma preferred and let it pick up what it can. If a 3g or "4g" signal is avaliable,it will automatically detect it and connect.
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using XDA App
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Its not that I don't have 3G in my area, its just that it only gives me 3 bars as opposed to EDGE which will give me full signal. When it's set on wcdma preferred, it will connect to 3G and after a few minutes switch over to EDGE. With my Captivate and the Inspire when I first got it and before I rooted it, I was able to lock it into only 3G. Somehow after flashing basically every rom in this forum, I can't get that setting to stick anymore.

Ok then flash the ruu of the rooted stock inspire. It is a pd98img.zip u can load and flash via bootloader. It will stay s-off and will flash updated radio and patches. Get your data fixed and GPS and then flash a rom afterwards. Attn1 has it posted in the development.
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using XDA App

Rob_Wing said:
Its not that I don't have 3G in my area, its just that it only gives me 3 bars as opposed to EDGE which will give me full signal. When it's set on wcdma preferred, it will connect to 3G and after a few minutes switch over to EDGE. With my Captivate and the Inspire when I first got it and before I rooted it, I was able to lock it into only 3G. Somehow after flashing basically every rom in this forum, I can't get that setting to stick anymore.
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Click to collapse
Same issue here, I called AT&T and they said it's because the cell tower closest to my office is old and supports Edge only so my phone keeps attaching to that tower even though there are other towers in range (that will give me 3 bars of 3G) which are newer.
With the stock rom, even going into the testing menu and setting "WCDMA only", it kept me on the Edge network. I rooted and flashed a custom ROM (Android Revolution) and at first it was great. At the office I could force "WCDMA only" at my desk, when I went into the middle of the building or whatever I would just have no signal (which I was ok with).
Now with the newer versions of the ROM I could no longer force "WCDMA only"... And the OP basically ignores my questions when I ask. Something that worked fine, I flashed a new version of the ROM and it stopped working...doesn't take a genius to figure out it's probably something he changed in his ROM... Not to sound unappreciative of the developers here...they do great work. Just frustrating... >_<

Force LTE to Edge/3G

Hey! I'm new to the forums and just got a Skyrocket this week.
I was just wondering if its possible to force the LTE signal to HSPA only or even Edge/3g?
Looks like the LTE radio is locked pretty tight. Anyone out there find a method to bypass this? I've tried the administrative menus in the Phone Information menu and even some of the Apps in the market LTE on/off and nothing seems to work.
Thanks!

Pretty sure you can change your APN settings to allow only hspa since lte seems to require the PTA setting. Look for the various settings and I'll update later if you have no luck.
Sent from my Samsung GSII Skyrocket (SGH-I727) using xda premium

I thought of that too for battery saving.
Here in Canada I tried changing the APN from the default LTE setting to the internet.com setting but it is still stuck on 4G. I didn't subscribe to LTE plan yet but Speedtest.net tests is still better on the LTE apn.

*#2263#* gives access to the RAT selection menu, which lets you choose to park on GSM/UMTS/LTE, and separately which bands (850,1900,1700,2100, etc.) to park on within each technology.
Unfortunately the menu is restricted on our current radio, in my experience with previous Samsung UMTS radios we will need to flash a radio that is not restricted (at least temporarily, to unlock the menu) to get access to this.

@cue_32 i believe its supposed to say LTE when you are on lte. if it says 4g its really just 3g (or 3g+).

It would be great if an LTE on/off switch was created. If the current radio restricts this from occurring would be a huge bummer. I'll have to dig around on the Development blog to see if anyone is starting to look into this or creating some kinda switch.

The TPC rom gives you the option to choose LTE or HSPA in the settings.

EvilEvo said:
The TPC rom gives you the option to choose LTE or HSPA in the settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What would be nice is if the ROM only connects to 3G when on idle, then go to 4G or LTE when data is being used. For better battery life
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App

cue_32 said:
What would be nice is if the ROM only connects to 3G when on idle, then go to 4G or LTE when data is being used. For better battery life
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Agreed, the original GSII does that with hspa and 3g

help
Hi, how can I bypass AT&T throttling through chaning the APN? I'm running 2.3.6 stock and am in NYC. Thank you!

N5 chooses hspa+ over LTE ??

This is my first time with LTE phone and it seems like at times I have to go into mobile networks and select 3g then select LTE again for the LTE symbol to pop up? I'm on straight talk and just didn't know if this was normal or if the phone will select hspa signal if its better than the LTE signal ?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

i think by default it will when idle fall back to the strongest network cause it saves battery.
but when you need data it will attempt to switch to the fastest available.
cant say for sure but this is what appears to happen on all my phones falls back to 3g and when data is needed it shifts to HSPA+

newtonfb said:
This is my first time with LTE phone and it seems like at times I have to go into mobile networks and select 3g then select LTE again for the LTE symbol to pop up? I'm on straight talk and just didn't know if this was normal or if the phone will select hspa signal if its better than the LTE signal ?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
I'm getting the same behavior on T-Mobile. My Nexus 4, which was never intended to have its LTE radio used, would stay on LTE, come hell or high water, while I'm in the city and fight to keep it as I left. The Nexus 5 seems picky about it's LTE and only uses it if it deems it good enough. If LTE gets 2 bars or lower, it goes back to HSPA. If you force "LTE only" under the secret dialer menu, it will use its LTE, but when you switch it back to LTE/GSM (PRL), it drops LTE and uses HSPA+. I'm like, "The hell is your problem, your highness?"
I had high hopes driving into work today. I was expecting it to get on LTE much sooner, but it didn't switch until I was deep within the city until I entered the parking structure (which my N4 would still have LTE). While I sit here at work, it refuses to switch to LTE while in the building where my N4, in the same spot, would be happily on LTE.
I just don't get it. I thought LTE would be much better on this device, instead it is worse. I feel like this is a bug of some sort. We are in an age where carriers will begin shutting down their legacy networks (of course, T-Mo is nowhere near as ready), and this phone treats LTE like Sprint WiMax!

Not sure about straight talk but I'm in lte with att if I'm in a lte area.
Sent from the jaws of my Hammerhead!

Just took mine right out the box and as it booted it went right into LTE.
On tmboile.
---------- Post added at 07:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 PM ----------
Just took mine right out the box and as it booted it went right into LTE.
On tmboile.

AndroidKills said:
Just took mine right out the box and as it booted it went right into LTE.
On tmboile.
---------- Post added at 07:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 PM ----------
Just took mine right out the box and as it booted it went right into LTE.
On tmboile.
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Click to collapse
I suppose I should re-flash my phone then. It's just silly how my phone keeps preferring HSPA+ over LTE. When I had LTE enabled on my Nexus 4, my battery life really didn't change. I suppose it had, but it wasn't perceptible to me.

I've had really good luck with it connecting to an LTE network when inside of a LTE area.
However this morning I was streaming from soundcloud while driving and I was 10 minutes into the city with LTE coverage and it would switch. As soon as I ran speedtest it switched. So I believe what was said up above to be true. It needs a good reason probably too switch if your current network mode is doing fine for your current data needs/battery.
I did read this phone is using Qualcomm s news LTE chip which saves power. That could probably play a role.
Either way I'm totally fine with it because it responded to my need of a lot of data instantly by switching to LTE when I ran speed test.
So hey if it saves me battery and h+ is enough for streaming from soundcloud I'm not going to argue with it.
Hold this helps.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

Couple of things to keep in mind.
One, your phone will say 3g when not using LTE or HSPA+. This is to save battery, it only shows LTE or H when you are downloading something, or loading a webpage.
Secondly, I have noticed my phone will choose a strong HSPA+ signal over a weak LTE signal. At home, I have a solid LTE connection, so it always says LTE, but at work it switches back and forth from 1 bar of LTE to full bars of HSPA+. Speed wise, they are still comparable, at around 5-6mb/s. At home though, my LTE is around 40mb/s.
Hope this helps.

ArkAngel06 said:
Couple of things to keep in mind.
One, your phone will say 3g when not using LTE or HSPA+. This is to save battery, it only shows LTE or H when you are downloading something, or loading a webpage.
Secondly, I have noticed my phone will choose a strong HSPA+ signal over a weak LTE signal. At home, I have a solid LTE connection, so it always says LTE, but at work it switches back and forth from 1 bar of LTE to full bars of HSPA+. Speed wise, they are still comparable, at around 5-6mb/s. At home though, my LTE is around 40mb/s.
Hope this helps.
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Click to collapse
So, my Nexus 4 keeping its LTE active all the time except for when making/receiving calls was a "bug" of the hacked radio then? I'm not being sarcastic, I just never owned a true LTE phone before, but my friend who has a Nexus 5 says his LTE has been staying on. It really doesn't make sense for LTE to behave this way as it will replace the legacy networks at some point in the future in which you won't have anything else to fall back to.

Oddly, I haven't noticed this at all. I'm on t-mobile, and my nexus 5 defaults to LTE when I have LTE selected as preferred connection. It doesn't switch to 3g during dormancy as far as I can tell (when I turn the screen back on, its already on LTE).

dijit4l said:
I'm getting the same behavior on T-Mobile. My Nexus 4, which was never intended to have its LTE radio used, would stay on LTE, come hell or high water, while I'm in the city and fight to keep it as I left. The Nexus 5 seems picky about it's LTE and only uses it if it deems it good enough. If LTE gets 2 bars or lower, it goes back to HSPA. If you force "LTE only" under the secret dialer menu, it will use its LTE, but when you switch it back to LTE/GSM (PRL), it drops LTE and uses HSPA+. I'm like, "The hell is your problem, your highness?"
I had high hopes driving into work today. I was expecting it to get on LTE much sooner, but it didn't switch until I was deep within the city until I entered the parking structure (which my N4 would still have LTE). While I sit here at work, it refuses to switch to LTE while in the building where my N4, in the same spot, would be happily on LTE.
I just don't get it. I thought LTE would be much better on this device, instead it is worse. I feel like this is a bug of some sort. We are in an age where carriers will begin shutting down their legacy networks (of course, T-Mo is nowhere near as ready), and this phone treats LTE like Sprint WiMax!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't mind, would you share how to force LTE only under the secret dialer menu?
Thanks.
[EDIT]
I think I found it with the code *#*#4636*#*# -> phone information -> set preferred network type: LTE only
When I do this and reboot, my bars just disappear, and my APN in my mobile network settings disappears too. I'm using net10.
Anybody know a fix to this?

Megiddo2000 said:
If you don't mind, would you share how to force LTE only under the secret dialer menu?
Thanks.
[EDIT]
I think I found it with the code *#*#4636*#*# -> phone information -> set preferred network type: LTE only
When I do this and reboot, my bars just disappear, and my APN in my mobile network settings disappears too. I'm using net10.
Anybody know a fix to this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have to reboot, myself. When I force LTE only, the phone drops HSPA and goes to LTE.
I'd say put it back to GSM/LTE Only (PRL) and then reset your APN settings.

dijit4l said:
I don't have to reboot, myself. When I force LTE only, the phone drops HSPA and goes to LTE.
I'd say put it back to GSM/LTE Only (PRL) and then reset your APN settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when i try dialing that number it says "Connection problem or invalid MMI code."
What's wrong?

_untitled_ said:
when i try dialing that number it says "Connection problem or invalid MMI code."
What's wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
woops, my bad. the code is:
*#*#4636#*#*
(forgot to flip the hashtag asterik in the back)

[Q] OnePlus One LTE BAND selection?

Is there a way to see and change the LTE BAND that my phone is on? Rogers support aws, 2600, 700. So I was wondering if I could manually change between them. The S5 has that option in the hidden menu, so I'm hoping I could do the same on this one.
Thanks.

The phone choose the band himself, if he don't find bands authorized by your phone company, he can't use them.

tonymtl said:
Is there a way to see and change the LTE BAND that my phone is on? Rogers support aws, 2600, 700. So I was wondering if I could manually change between them. The S5 has that option in the hidden menu, so I'm hoping I could do the same on this one.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*#*#46363#*#* > Phone information > Set Preferred Network Type > 'LTE/GSM auto (PRL)'
That's as far as you can get in telling it what network to operate on. It won't let you select specific bands (at least not stock). Mine was set to 'TD-SCDMA, GSM and LTE' out of the box (international version) and since I don't plan to use my phone in China anytime soon, it didn't make sense for the phone to waste resources searching for a TD-SCDMA (China's homebrew 4G) signal. Haven't noticed much improvement to my LTE signal though, still the weakest radio I've seen in a 'flagship' in a while.

Thanks.
I am also on Rogers.
Does that mean when I am on the phone, it will revert to EDGE instead of 3g by using the LTE-edge setting?

I have major issues with reception on this phone.
LTE Works Fine but the 3G/H+ signal is awful, absolute disaster on this phone. It is extremely, extremely weak. And I lose coverage often and over 50% of the times my calls go straight to voicemail because Rogers uses 2g/3g for calling. The phone can't drop back to 2G or 3G in time to receive calls when on LTE
Rly frustrating. Have tried playing with all the settings.

Same issue
hashim71 said:
I have major issues with reception on this phone.
LTE Works Fine but the 3G/H+ signal is awful, absolute disaster on this phone. It is extremely, extremely weak. And I lose coverage often and over 50% of the times my calls go straight to voicemail because Rogers uses 2g/3g for calling. The phone can't drop back to 2G or 3G in time to receive calls when on LTE
Rly frustrating. Have tried playing with all the settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having issues with 3G H+ too. Dont know its CM issue or not coz I had nice H+ signals on Color OS...
Can't even use internet data. most of the time network drops after using internet for a bit.. Network just suddenly gone and after that it comes back with no internet. Internet comes back online after a while...
Really worried.. and annoyed coz can't seem to find any solve for this. Even Mahdi rom had this issue..

Phone prefers 3g over 4g

Hello, my problem is the phone prefers 3g over 4g even if there is excellent 4g coverage. Looks like the phone gets stuck on 3g after leaving 4g area and never tries to change network unless I put it in airplane mode for a sec. I have 4g set as preferred in network settings but this doesn't work at all, only solution is to set lte only in hidden menu, but that obviously causes other issues. Is there a fix?

theleet said:
Hello, my problem is the phone prefers 3g over 4g even if there is excellent 4g coverage. Looks like the phone gets stuck on 3g after leaving 4g area and never tries to change network unless I put it in airplane mode for a sec. I have 4g set as preferred in network settings but this doesn't work at all, only solution is to set lte only in hidden menu, but that obviously causes other issues. Is there a fix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like a problem with your provider. What is it?

nabbed said:
It sounds like a problem with your provider. What is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_(telecommunications)
Not sure about it being a problem with the provider though, all my previous phones were fine (htc one, 6p, S8) and I haven't replaced my sim card since then.

Open phone app, dial *#*#4636#*#*, go to phone information, in preferred network type, select LTE only.

utkarsh102 said:
Open phone app, dial *#*#4636#*#*, go to phone information, in preferred network type, select LTE only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I did which is in the first post, but then if there's no lte I'm kinda screwed..

Same here (Play). I think it's the operator's fault.