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[Q] Which radio? (FAQ)

I do understand that every (base) ROM comes with its very own radio firmware.
And none, AFAIK, is modding it as it's tightly tied to the GSM/CDMA/3G stuff.
But which one is good for a v2.2.1 based ROM working in Europe?
Or, even better, why not adding some lean documentation to each RADIO?

There isn't really a best 'one size fits all' you have to try them all and see which one is best for you.
I've been flipping from .44 to .48 over the past few weeks, other people say .47 is the best, it really depends on your phone, ROM, service provider and their coverage etc.
It only takes a couple of minutes to flash a different radio so go flashing...!

beanbean50 said:
There isn't really a best 'one size fits all' you have to try them all and see which one is best for you.
I've been flipping from .44 to .48 over the past few weeks, other people say .47 is the best, it really depends on your phone, ROM, service provider and their coverage etc.
It only takes a couple of minutes to flash a different radio so go flashing...!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think you are right.
I know that some radios come from other markets/areas and have never been pushed in Europe. And vice versa.
Moreover, testing that way takes much more time than the couple of minutes needed to flash them. You need to test handover among BTSs, roaming, Sim Toolkit stuff, incoming and outgoing SMSs and MMSs and so on. And in the meanwhile maybe you also need your phone.
For example, at the moment my radio (32.44.00.32U_5.09.05.30_2) is giving me troubles with my ROM (Froyo 2.2.1 - DeFrost 6.0a) in 3G, while works just fine in 2G.
Is there anyone with some good feedback for Europe/Italy with the various radios?

Uqbar said:
I don't think you are right.
I know that some radios come from other markets/areas and have never been pushed in Europe. And vice versa.
Moreover, testing that way takes much more time than the couple of minutes needed to flash them. You need to test handover among BTSs, roaming, Sim Toolkit stuff, incoming and outgoing SMSs and MMSs and so on. And in the meanwhile maybe you also need your phone.
For example, at the moment my radio (32.44.00.32U_5.09.05.30_2) is giving me troubles with my ROM (Froyo 2.2.1 - DeFrost 6.0a) in 3G, while works just fine in 2G.
Is there anyone with some good feedback for Europe/Italy with the various radios?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look, what beanbean50 said about radios is true - there really isn't a 'one-size-fits-all' radio. Some people, depending on their location (and network provider, signal strength and which wireless radios they use frequently), experience better battery life with different radios.
For example, I flashed the new 5.11.05.27 radio the yesterday, and my battery life dropped like a stone, but signal strength was amongst the best I have seen with different radios. To some people, signal strength is more important than battery life. To me, battery life is more important - so this new radio wouldn't do.
The radio you are using (32.44.00.32U_5.09.05.30_2) is the radio of choice for some, but if you are experiencing issues with it, i would recommend you try the 5.11.05.14, which is also recommended by many (including me) for its all round performance.
You were correct in suggesting that it takes longer than a couple of minutes to test a radio, but not everybody uses features such as SIM-Tooklit (me, for example). If SIM-Toolkit didn't work properly in a new radio, but everything else worked fine, it wouldn't matter to me - its all about preference.
The only way to find out the best radio for you is to try some different ones. What's the worst that could happen (assuming you follow the correct flashing procedures and minimize your chances of bricking)?
Josh.

Poor Signal Strength with Cyanogen 10 & 10.1

I live and work in an area that has poor signal for Verizon. I almost immediately flashed to CM 10 after I got the Verizon Galaxy S3 because I was running CM 10 on my previous Sprint Galaxy S3 without issue. I have been updating the radio and RPM with each leak (currently running K3) and things got a little better but I constantly dropped calls. I had to flash back to stock because I flashed to CM 10.1 and my radio got messed up. I ran the newest stock rom for the last week and noticed a huge difference. I still had low signal but my data dropped less frequently and I could actually make phone calls in areas I couldn't before.
I rooted, and flashed to CM 10.1 and noticed right away the signal is not where it should be. I can't make phone calls inside of buildings with low signal at all, where with stock I could without issue. I love CyanogenMod but I don't think I can deal with the poor signal.
Any ideas on what could be causing this problem and maybe a possible resolution?

fowen said:
I live and work in an area that has poor signal for Verizon. I almost immediately flashed to CM 10 after I got the Verizon Galaxy S3 because I was running CM 10 on my previous Sprint Galaxy S3 without issue. I have been updating the radio and RPM with each leak (currently running K3) and things got a little better but I constantly dropped calls. I had to flash back to stock because I flashed to CM 10.1 and my radio got messed up. I ran the newest stock rom for the last week and noticed a huge difference. I still had low signal but my data dropped less frequently and I could actually make phone calls in areas I couldn't before.
I rooted, and flashed to CM 10.1 and noticed right away the signal is not where it should be. I can't make phone calls inside of buildings with low signal at all, where with stock I could without issue. I love CyanogenMod but I don't think I can deal with the poor signal.
Any ideas on what could be causing this problem and maybe a possible resolution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on where ya live, your mileage may vary. I get within 1-2 -dBm between the two.
Technically since we don't have the source code the reason CM10 has data is by a work around.
There really is nothing you can do. It is what it is. I've run devices with CM that have provided better signal, and usually were on sprint lol and then run them where they provide the same or slightly worse quality.
Happens.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

This does not ha e anything to do with cm 10. This this to do with the the phone radio. This is the reason why I switched to the DNA now I have Full bars everywhere I go. On my s3 I used to drop calls all the time.
Sent from my HTC DROID DNA.

Itzvik said:
This does not ha e anything to do with cm 10. This this to do with the the phone radio. This is the reason why I switched to the DNA now I have Full bars everywhere I go. On my s3 I used to drop calls all the time.
Sent from my HTC DROID DNA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your wrong...read OP post and you realize your wrong.
You have your DNA now leave and stop trolling.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Ok I really hope I'm not beating the dead horse here but I have a similar problem on my verizon Galaxy s3 and I was hoping there might be a fix

My understanding is that the CM developers dont have the GS3 source for something (the RIL?) so they have to use a different RIL? I'm probably totally butchering that, because I dont understand the words I'm using, but from what I've gathered the signal is what it is on CM, and will not improve beyond where it is.
It is certainly usable for me, but there are many times my wife has 4g and I have 3g, or she has a 3g signal and I have nothing at all (she has a stock vzw gs3).

Restola said:
My understanding is that the CM developers dont have the GS3 source for something (the RIL?) so they have to use a different RIL? I'm probably totally butchering that, because I dont understand the words I'm using, but from what I've gathered the signal is what it is on CM, and will not improve beyond where it is.
It is certainly usable for me, but there are many times my wife has 4g and I have 3g, or she has a 3g signal and I have nothing at all (she has a stock vzw gs3).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're correct on the RIL part.
I had the same issue on 10.1. I switched to an older radio, and though it is not perfect, it did give me better reception and the switch from 3g to 4g is faster. My radio is VRLHE

Why not try a rom like beans. It is a touch wiz rom that looks like aosp and had a lot of aosp features. That way the radios will work fine you will still have aosp stuff and all the goodness of being rooted.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

Let's not get confused here. Tw rom's like beans are themed to look slightly aosp, but are far from it. Aosp has so many customization options that tw cannot come close to. (I'm an aosp guy, if you can't tell). That being said, signal strength will always be an issue on aosp based roms due to the Samsung ril only being licensed to samsung, hence only working on tw rom's. The official ril code will almost never be released as its how qualcom makes its money. Currently aosp rom's use a work around home brewed ril that is very effective, but not quite what stock rom will offer. So if your signal is poor where you are, aosp may not be the best choice for you, but for most the signal is just as good as tw, and imo the only way to run android.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

I'm not confused, that's why I said looks like (aka themed like). Also I said some aosp features like MMS, camera/gallery, lock screen to name a few. Its no where near the same but if they are having issues which I read a few people do have with signal and losing data its a nice alternative and has SOME similar features.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

[Q] Poor wifi T959v AOKP Milestone 6, build 5

I already try to flash CM7 and CM9 mtd(KG4,KG6,KD1) modems to see if that help and nothing , always weak wifi reception.. I need help with this...What can i do to improve signal reception ?
Wifi was fine with stock rom 2.3.6
AOKP Milestone 6, build 5 is a great and fast rom but only two problems weak wifi and a little battery drain

This has been discussed a bunch.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1807871&highlight=weak+wifi
If you search you'll find a lot of others as well.

No solutions ?
hechoen said:
This has been discussed a bunch.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1807871&highlight=weak+wifi
If you search you'll find a lot of others as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the quick reply
Why this happens ?
its something with the kernel ? or drivers why no use original ones ?

That's a question for "Google"

Actually if you read the threads taking about this specifically the one by jeffsf he has a theory that Samsung knew many of the devices had crappy WiFi hardware and that is why the device had tons of leaked builds. They kept releasing then in hope of fixing the reception and ultimately just faked a better signal.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

I dont know how erik did it but the ics stock imm76l rom has excellent wifi signal. Other then that its what the guy b4 me said
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda app-developers app

Rom imm76l Available for t959v
turtlepa said:
I dont know how erik did it but the ics stock imm76l rom has excellent wifi signal. Other then that its what the guy b4 me said
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply
I would like to know if i can flash the rom that you said to my T959v ?
I saw that the big impact with wifi is make by the kernel you install, cause switching modem always the wifi signal is the same but when you change the kernel you see some diferents.

There is no super duper trick to get better wifi. What Samsung did was modify the data file to reflect a higher level. It is a visual trick and one that tricks the OS into thinking the signal is higher also so it does not disconnect as much.
What erikmm did before is change the signal bars from a actual representation to a false reading that made people think they had a better signal. Turn off the bars and use dBm readings and you will see the real signal.
This phone has a really crappy radio reception and there is not much you can do outside of what samsung did and make the signal bars read I higher rating. I think it was jeffsf that said the best solution would be to hack the wifi module and make it read all signals at a increase of 5-10 dBm so it wouldnt drop the wifi so often.

eollie said:
There is no super duper trick to get better wifi. What Samsung did was modify the data file to reflect a higher level. It is a visual trick and one that tricks the OS into thinking the signal is higher also so it does not disconnect as much.
What erikmm did before is change the signal bars from a actual representation to a false reading that made people think they had a better signal. Turn off the bars and use dBm readings and you will see the real signal.
This phone has a really crappy radio reception and there is not much you can do outside of what samsung did and make the signal bars read I higher rating. I think it was jeffsf that said the best solution would be to hack the wifi module and make it read all signals at a increase of 5-10 dBm so it wouldnt drop the wifi so often.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What file do i have to edit to get a fake wifi signal read and avoid disconnecting ?

I actually didn't do what eollie said to trick people I did it because of information another dev told me then I gave it a shot I saw improvements for me and thought it might improved but again if it's not you don't have to flash it or complain. Source is out do instead of complain that something isn't working or a mod isn't 100%
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Beastmode said:
I actually didn't do what eollie said to trick people I did it because of information another dev told me then I gave it a shot I saw improvements for me and thought it might improved but again if it's not you don't have to flash it or complain. Source is out do instead of complain that something isn't working or a mod isn't 100%
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/sigh
Show me where I said you did it to purposely to deceive people.
Furthermore at the time you where posting those roms there was NO source code to edit.
If you are still doing that code modification then you are now purposely deceiving people.
To clarify if people think I was saying erikmm did it purposely then you are wrong. I dont know what his intentions was initially.

First off, I want to be clear, I don't know what was/is different in Erikmm/Beastmode's ROM. At the time it was released, source was not available to examine, and I haven't dug into what has since been posted. I also hypothesize that Samsung was, among other things that T-Mobile probably wanted them to change, tweaking the "calibration" of the WiFi in the various leaked releases and that the "nice" version wasn't in the final release. Considering that the "official" release modem has problems with long SMSs, it wouldn't surprise me that the low RSSI numbers reported weren't caught either. I don't work at Samsung or T-Mobile, so this is my personal speculation and opinion of a likely scenario.
I have tested WiFi pretty extensively and it is my personal belief that the RF portion of this phone just sucks; WiFi, GPS, and quite possibly Bluetooth, but nobody has complained about the last one. Unfortunately, the leaks were hosted on sites later shut down by the FBI so that getting those versions to examine as well was not possible.
If you want to "fudge" the signal levels, the details of one way to do it are in the linked thread. It will require you to create a build environment, populate it with the source of your choosing, edit WifiManager.java, and compile at least the framework. It could also be done within the kernel driver. Since I find that levels below where the current crop of ICS ROMs believe are "no bars" I don't get more than around 1 Mbps over WiFi and I do generally have decent T-Mobile signal, I just use my carrier for data when the WiFi level is low.

[Q] Signal Strength MD3 Updated - Possible Fix

Possible fix. jmxc23 got me thinking. Why does Moar 4 have a good signal and Moar 5 does not? So I compared the two roms, Moar 5 is MD3 and 4 is MB1. Actually all of the MD3 roms gave me a Bad Signal. I did some comparison and found the following files in the rom that were not part of MB1. I deleted them and zipped up and reinstalled and got my signal back, but only better than before. Anyone willing to give it shot to confirm or debunk. There are also two different files in Framework, but won't boot without them, so they are not included in this zip. I also deleted two lines in the build property that says required by Verizon. If they say it is required, I question it, probably a control thing. Unzip the attached and remove the files found in this zip from Moar 5, except build.prop, you can replace it with the one in the zip or edit it yourself. I now have 3-4 bars instead of 1-2. Now Moar 5 works for me.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/a...iles_from_MOAR_v5.0_and_change_built.prop.zip
I wish somebody could figure out what verizon changed with the md3 update that killed the signal strength for me. I have pretty much tried all the different roms that use md3 as the base, different kernels, modems and nothing seems to help. I lose approximately 10 - 15 deb on md3 meaning it goes from the high 80's sometimes higher but up to 111 or more dbm on md3. Something in the rom has got to be blocking the signal, maybe the build properties? I live in an extended network coverage area, so those of you that live in a strong signal area, may not see the difference.
On md3, lose signal, garbled voice, so it's not just the signal strength meter.

We don't know as Verizon pulled the update so that they can fix the problem.

jmxc23 said:
We don't know as Verizon pulled the update so that they can fix the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is why I asked the question, I knew that, but all the developers seem to want to jump to it anyway, runs fast, but signal not so good in weak signal areas.

golfslicer said:
That is why I asked the question, I knew that, but all the developers seem to want to jump to it anyway, runs fast, but signal not so good in weak signal areas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that was the case then why only 3-4 ROMS are based on MD3? If developers were that eager like you said then more MD3 based ROMS would released by now. It seems to me that the developers are looking for a temporary solution or waiting for Verizon to fix the problem. Also those that already have a MD3 based ROM basically using the previous modem. They might also be working on a temporary fix.

I've tried previous modems, kernels,still bad. It is almost like verizon added something in to gain more control and by doing so crippled the signal. I have noticed additional contols in the build property like wait times. The same code could be hidden elsewhere in the rom too. I don't have this problem on the ported md4 version from sprint. That rom has moved on to md3 and same signal problem. I feel that the develipers here are likely to find the problem before verizon does.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

I am using MOAR ROM so I haven't gotten those problems.

I am also running moar 4.02 not version 5. Version 5, I tried and same issue. I think it is more noticed in weak signal areas only. Where I normally get 2-3 bars, I get 1 and dbm is a lot higher. I am also on a new phone.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

golfslicer said:
I am also running moar 4.02 not version 5. Version 5, I tried and same issue. I think it is more noticed in weak signal areas only. Where I normally get 2-3 bars, I get 1 and dbm is a lot higher. I am also on a new phone.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is always like that with weak signal areas regardless of ROM. Switching modems will either work or it won't. A network extender helps so does improving cell coverage in weak areas those are your only two options at this point.

Good hear you found a possible solution. To remind others try this only in weak signal areas.

No worries moar is going back to mb1 for better signal and thank you op for helping to make moar all it can be
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

Galaxy S 4G- How Can I Upgrade From 2.3.6?

Upgrading firmware question
I have a samsung GalaxyS4G from T-Mobile,
Model # SGH-T959V
Firmware 2..3.6
Baseband Ver. T959VUVKJ6
Kernal 2.6.35.7-T959VUVKJ6-CL694130
Build# Gingerbread.VUVKJ6
3 days ago I was finally able to upgrade to this 2.3.6, prior to that I had only 2.2.1.
I was able to upgrade with Kies Mini thanks to Samsung support.
I contacted Samsung Support Friday asking if I could now upgrade again, I was given the standard answer that I always got when asking about upgrading from 2.2.1, "There is no upgrade for that phone" Just lucky I finally reached a agent at Samsung that had the knowledge or at least the willingness to help or I would still be stuck with Froyo 2.2.1.
I have rooted the phone with Kingo Root and it now shows the phone is rooted.
I am not looking for the sky but would like to at least up grade to Jellybean if not more.
System Storage Used 296 MB, 219 MB free. SD CARD has 130MB used ,839 MB free
Any suggestions?

I realize this phone is OLD and most people have moved on but I have only this phone given to me by my
Son I could not afford a new phone these days.
I am just trying to make this phone as close to today's newer phones as possible.
I was also told that with FROYO 2.2.1 I would get no better then 2G wifi, and that I needed to upgrade the phone to get better wifi service, I thought Gingerbread 2.3.6 was the answer but I only get on occasion 3G and have yet to get 4G LTE although I have a tower less then 2 miles from my house.
If anyone has some suggestions as to what is the best firmware this phone can handle it would be appreciated if you reply.

Hey man.
The only recent official firmware for this phone is 2.3.6. If you want to have Jelly Bean, then you will have to get a custom recovery and flash a custom Jelly Bean ROM.

Wish39 said:
Hey man.
The only recent official firmware for this phone is 2.3.6. If you want to have Jelly Bean, then you will have to get a custom recovery and flash a custom Jelly Bean ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES I understand that is the official update, I am trying to get some input as to what version of Jellybean or ? would be good for this phone without killing speed.
Any suggestions Please
My biggest reason for upgrading is I only have 2G service with FROYO and most always with Gingerbread as well, I was told by T-Mobile I would not get any better then 2G with FROYO but I should get 4G LTE with Gingerbread 2.3.6 but I have not gotten even close to that and still drop signal a lot.

Well then you can search up the Jelly Bean ROMS that are floating around. I don't know which one is the best, since I haven't flashed those yet.

I have been searching for a rom but seems that this phone has very little support, yes it is 4 years old and only sole thru T-Mobile(as far as I know) but I was hoping some one with a lot more experience then me would have some suggestions on a Jellybean Rom or higher that would be appropriate for this phone.
Please if there is anyone here that may have some suggestions as to a better rom then Gingerbread, although Gingerbread is a vast improvement over FROYO2.2.1.
My main concern as I said before is getting better data service then 2G, I was told that Gingerbread would give me 4Glte but that has not happened even though I am only 2 miles from a T-Mobile tower, T-Mobile has said that this tower does serve 4Glte.
Is there an app that will improve my ability to get a better signal, I read somewhere about having to upgrade the phone's wifi ? to receive 4Glte ?

1: go to settings and choose LTE, if not possible, no 4g
2: if your phone can'tuse 4g (hardware) then the OS changes Nothing
Sent from my LG-D722 using XDA Free mobile app while walking

As a former developer/tester and long time user of this phone (I still have one to play with) it is not capable of LTE. The best you will get is 4G. I got 4G even with official 2.3.6. So if your not you may need to have your SIM upgraded at the store. The best Rom I've used is slim which is 4.0.4. I didn't like the stock launcher so I flashed Xperia launcher 2.06b and it was great. If you're stuck on having JB which is still buggy...Mirage was the most reliable. Daothanduy was the developer. Good luck searching and how this helped
Sent from my SM-G900T

I found the phone too slow to work with KitKat, but there were several solid Jellybean ROMs out there.
Read very carefully the upgrade threads and instructions as there are several low-level changes to the phone's firmware/software that are required to get off of "stock" and onto one of the KitKat ROMs. They're not "difficult" -- You just need to follow all the steps in the right order. Once you've got the right boot loader and are on an "MTD" ROM, changing between ROMs is reasonably straightforward.
Pick up a (paid) copy of TitaniumBackup Pro if you don't have one already. You'll be happy you did, even if it only provides piece of mind.
If the phone isn't rooted already, you may need "ODIN" (Windows only) or, my preference, "heimdal" to flash parts of the phone.
Anything you read about "WiFi performance sucks..." is likely only based on the visual indication of WiFi signal strength (RSSI) changing from the early releases to the custom ROMs. From what I could tell through actual throughput testing, there is no difference except for the RSSI.
It's a solid phone, though don't expect the GPS to lock reliably. There isn't a software fix for it, no matter what some claim. As far as I could tell, it was an RF-design or -execution problem. I have seen some threads suggesting some mechanical fixes for the antennas. I never pursued them so I can't comment further.
You're correct, it was only sold through T-Mobile. Official support for it was dropped like a rock when Apple won its infringement suit over Samsung. This was the phone that had all the infringement-claim boxes checked. Yep, you own a piece of patent-law history!
Samsung's source-code drops were horrendous and many of us worked to get subsequent versions of the kernel to run on the phone. As alluded to above, there were no upgrades to the proprietary binaries after the Gingerbread ROM.
I've still got one in the drawer, but it would take over three minutes to boot KitKat, so it wasn't terribly functional as a day-to-day phone.
The AMOLED screens do yellow with time. It's not your eyes

My main concern is getting better then the 2G I am presently getting, I have checked and I am getting 9 signals of different strengths I on occasion get3G bu it shows no bars during 3G and does not appear to connect during 3G.
I have up to 4G available in my area but this phone only wants to use 2G.
I did upgrade from FROYO2.2.1 to Gingerbread 2.3.6but I am thinking the modem in the phone is still the original that used FROYO.
At this point I am trying to find a upgrade or new modem software for this phone.
Any ideas?
jeffsf said:
I found the phone too slow to work with KitKat, but there were several solid Jellybean ROMs out there.
Read very carefully the upgrade threads and instructions as there are several low-level changes to the phone's firmware/software that are required to get off of "stock" and onto one of the KitKat ROMs. They're not "difficult" -- You just need to follow all the steps in the right order. Once you've got the right boot loader and are on an "MTD" ROM, changing between ROMs is reasonably straightforward.
Pick up a (paid) copy of TitaniumBackup Pro if you don't have one already. You'll be happy you did, even if it only provides piece of mind.
If the phone isn't rooted already, you may need "ODIN" (Windows only) or, my preference, "heimdal" to flash parts of the phone.
Anything you read about "WiFi performance sucks..." is likely only based on the visual indication of WiFi signal strength (RSSI) changing from the early releases to the custom ROMs. From what I could tell through actual throughput testing, there is no difference except for the RSSI.
It's a solid phone, though don't expect the GPS to lock reliably. There isn't a software fix for it, no matter what some claim. As far as I could tell, it was an RF-design or -execution problem. I have seen some threads suggesting some mechanical fixes for the antennas. I never pursued them so I can't comment further.
You're correct, it was only sold through T-Mobile. Official support for it was dropped like a rock when Apple won its infringement suit over Samsung. This was the phone that had all the infringement-claim boxes checked. Yep, you own a piece of patent-law history!
Samsung's source-code drops were horrendous and many of us worked to get subsequent versions of the kernel to run on the phone. As alluded to above, there were no upgrades to the proprietary binaries after the Gingerbread ROM.
I've still got one in the drawer, but it would take over three minutes to boot KitKat, so it wasn't terribly functional as a day-to-day phone.
The AMOLED screens do yellow with time. It's not your eyes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

slo_hand2 said:
My main concern is getting better then the 2G I am presently getting, I have checked and I am getting 9 signals of different strengths I on occasion get3G bu it shows no bars during 3G and does not appear to connect during 3G.
I have up to 4G available in my area but this phone only wants to use 2G.
I did upgrade from FROYO2.2.1 to Gingerbread 2.3.6but I am thinking the modem in the phone is still the original that used FROYO.
At this point I am trying to find a upgrade or new modem software for this phone.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This info might be old, but check out: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1192436

Thanks to @DickyG for providing that link to the available modems. There haven't been any new modems in many years.
My recommendation would be to upgrade to one of the JellyBean or potentially KitKat ROMs and use TWRP (my preference) or CW recovery to make it "safer" to flash modems. The "best" modem depends somewhat on carrier and location. I personally found the KG4 modem to have the best performance for me of the modems that supported splitting long SMS messages.
The SGS 4G supports HSPA+ (and not LTE) as it's "best" connection. There is nothing software can do to get LTE.
HSPA+ isn't bad at all. I typically got 3-10 Mbps on T-Mobile in the San Francisco Bay area. Once you have decent bandwidth, the most important thing for "responsiveness" is latency. See, for example http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest and http://www.bufferbloat.net/ A higher-bandwidth connection doesn't help that and, in some cases, the higher-bandwidth connections seem slower as they have more latency (often due to the carrier's buffering).
While some "stock" ROMs (and a few custom ones) have been "tweaked" to show "4G" in the UI, it is just cosmetic.

I am trying to get a better signal then 2G, I ran some test and have 9 signals available, but when I change off automatic to get 3G I get 3G but no bars. there are towers within 2 miles of me and I know for a fact that at least one maybe more are T-Mobile towers.
his has been a very long confusing journey it took me several months of contacting a agent at T-Mobile support before one took the time to give me the Kies mini to upgrade to Gingerbread, others would say there are "NO UPGRADES AVAILABLE FOR FROYO 2.2.1, most were to lazy or not knowledgeable enough to find the answer for me., I have tried but ever since that one agent I have not had any success with support other then here.
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T-Mobile isn't going to help you any here as all they have are the "official" releases which stopped with Gingerbread several years ago.
You'll have to read how to flash a phone with a custom ROM if you want anything more than what they provided years ago.
I much prefer Heimdal to Odin for reliable flashing of phones. Some swear by Odin, I swear at it, especially as it is Windows only.
I'd suggest backing up all your data with TitaniumBackup Pro, as well as a "nandroid" (TWRP or CW recovery) backup. The read all the instructions twice or three times until you understand them and flash a custom ROM, including a matching kernel. I'd suggest a JellyBean ROM to start with. I'd also suggest moving to an "MTD" ROM and kernel to start as you'll end up there anyways (most of the more recent ROMs and kernels built for the SGS 4G were MTD).
You can then very, very carefully and selectively restore your TitaniumBackup data, making sure to set "Migrate system data." Restoring across major OS versions is possible, but you have to be careful how you do it. I'd make sure I understood how TitaniumBackup Pro works and the suggestions from them and others on how to restore data.
In your opinion does jellybean or Kitkat have a better modem?
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All the modems for the SGS 4G are from the "official" ROMs from Samsung/T-Mobile/Wind for Froyo or Gingerbread.
There is no such thing as a "JellyBean modem" or "KitKat modem."