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Sadly giving up on 4G for now...

I got the phone on day one. The first thing I noticed as I looked at the phone as I walked out the door to my car was the 4g icon. Yay, I am on 4g! Wait, where did the icon go? It's pretty much been that way since I have had it. I keep it on Wifi at home. To put it on 4g, pretty much kills having a MOBILE smartphone. Data is the lifeblood of a smartphone and if it is not there, what's the point.
I have tried every single fix read here (and other forums). Including:
Rev A fix
Hard Reset
Pulling Battery and Sim card and placing back in
I have tried everything but take the phone back and complaining (rooted it).
Per the Verizon coverage map, I am (my house) in a 4g area. On the map, they ask for your address and it say's "I am covered" for 4g. I will note there are a few pockets on the map near my home that is 4g extended. I had been thinking it's just my area. As I would drive around, it would seem to lock onto 4g. But lately, no matter where I go, 4g goes in and out.
When the 4g goes in and out, it is killing all data. It's not like it quickly finds the 3g and resumes data transfer, it just stops. Goes to 1x after a while mostley.
So where I am at right now is that I have forced 3g (using Phone Info app) and now can get reliable mobile data.
Should I be patience with the network and wait it out or should I take this back and ***** (possibly being the device itself)? When does one suppose a possible software fix will be put out for the Thunderbolt?

Hey Man,
I read your post and I am a little confused. In summary is your issue that you dont have great 4G coverage by your house and 3G isnt picking up when 4g drops off?
If thats the case I know you said you tried the Rev A fix but just to double check did you:
Use the ##778# menu (hit call after ##778#)-->password is 000000-->modem settings-->Rev A-->choose enable-->hit the menu button on the tbolt and commit changes
Also have you had verizon try to swap out your sim card and/or called them up and made sure your current sim card is provisioned correctly? If both of these are the case and you tried all the other standard stuff I would go get the phone swapped out for another new device before your time runs out. I had the same problem and the Rev A fix did it for me.
jvward

What city are you in?

psufan5 said:
What city are you in?
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Cincinnati area. Northern suburb. Close to towers and major highways.

Maybe return it and get a new TB?
I didn't have 4G in my home although Verizon's little "insert address" said I would. When I called, however, they said that I was on the border and it's a tough call for now.
When I started driving around to different areas, however, it picked up 4G signal just fine. When driving back into a 3G area it switched with no issue.

psufan5 said:
What city are you in?
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And thats the right question to ask.
My 4G, in Los Angeles, is amazing. But Verizon is just starting to get 4G up and running in many cities right now, cant expect to have great coverage for many more months.

jvward said:
Hey Man,
I read your post and I am a little confused. In summary is your issue that you dont have great 4G coverage by your house and 3G isnt picking up when 4g drops off?
jvward
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When the 4g drops, data stops. No icon. Sometimes 3g shows up. Mostly 1x. Lately, nothing. No icon, no data.

jawa5636 said:
Cincinnati area. Northern suburb. Close to towers and major highways.
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I'm in northern Cincinnati too. Contact me before you do anything.
Hey, I have had problems too. I work in the Tri-county area and have GREAT 4G coverage. If you look at the 4G map I am right on the cusp (Maineville) of coverage. In my house, it will rotate between 4g/3g/1x constantly. I downloaded the "LTE OnOFF" app from TeamAndIRC and will toggle 3G only when I'm at home. For some reason I STILL HAVE TO DO THIS even though I'm using wi-fi 100%. When I get to work I toggle to 4G. Doing this, my battery life is exceptional. Before I figured it out I was draining my battery overnight every night. I don't know why the wi-fi requires that 3G only be on but it works.

Almost, but hanging on by a thread....
I am new to Verizon and I picked this up the day after launch. My two weeks are up. I am not in the 4G area (home), but spend most of my waking moment in a 4G area (work). While the phone itself doesn't have a hard time switching between networks on the handheld (I've watched it go from 3 to 4G while driving, I can almost pinpoint the switching area), it does have a hard time when in WiFi Hotspot Mode.
Here's what I mean. I'll be on wireless tether in a 4G zone and then without notice, the phone reports (via Hotspot App) that there is no mobile network ready and there is no data connection icon on the top menu bar. My Xoom is much more reliable on maintaining a connection (3G of course).
This is my only complaint about the 4G network, but it's a small one. The handheld itself is wonderful. I'm keeping both for now.
Check out my speed test on WiFi tether.

Verizon confirmed on the phone with me that there is in fact a bug in HTCs software switching from 4G to 3G when coverage drops. It should be fixed... In the mean time make sure you are using an app from the market to switch to 3G only unless you need 4G.
Other than that, just return it and wait for something else.

ridobe said:
I'm in northern Cincinnati too. Contact me before you do anything.
Hey, I have had problems too. I work in the Tri-county area and have GREAT 4G coverage. If you look at the 4G map I am right on the cusp (Maineville) of coverage. In my house, it will rotate between 4g/3g/1x constantly. I downloaded the "LTE OnOFF" app from TeamAndIRC and will toggle 3G only when I'm at home. For some reason I STILL HAVE TO DO THIS even though I'm using wi-fi 100%. When I get to work I toggle to 4G. Doing this, my battery life is exceptional. Before I figured it out I was draining my battery overnight every night. I don't know why the wi-fi requires that 3G only be on but it works.
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LOL. I live straight down 747 in Liberty Twp. (few miles up from Beckett Ridge). Driving around would get me a better connection (4g) at first but lately, as I drive around, it's all over the board. Most the time there is no data icon. I have another app (Phone Info) that has a toggle.
It gets frustrating in that I don't know if the issue is the phone, network or both. Hard to troubleshoot. I suppose I should mosey on down to the mall for anything and see what kind of 4g I get.

I am in almost the same situation as the OP, I have 4G everywhere but my home which I have confirmed with VZW is in a 4G coverage area, not an extended coverage area either. I have narrowed it down to my street exactly. Right after I turn down imy street I lose 4G.
I then once I am home and no I don't mean indoors just at my house I frequently go between nothing, 1x, and 3G(Very Weak) with sporadic data. Will not get 4G back unless I drive around. This is my second device, and second trouble ticket with VZW this time giving more detailed information.
I have also tried every possible solution but unfortunately switching to Rev. A is not a "solution" for me as I am in a 4G area and if I wanted 3G I probably would have just kept my Droid X.
I sure hope this bug if it is one in the software will be fixed with an update or VZW can sort it out if it is my network.

ridobe said:
I'm in northern Cincinnati too. Contact me before you do anything.
Hey, I have had problems too. I work in the Tri-county area and have GREAT 4G coverage. If you look at the 4G map I am right on the cusp (Maineville) of coverage. In my house, it will rotate between 4g/3g/1x constantly. I downloaded the "LTE OnOFF" app from TeamAndIRC and will toggle 3G only when I'm at home. For some reason I STILL HAVE TO DO THIS even though I'm using wi-fi 100%. When I get to work I toggle to 4G. Doing this, my battery life is exceptional. Before I figured it out I was draining my battery overnight every night. I don't know why the wi-fi requires that 3G only be on but it works.
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Update:
Per my experience yesterday, if you are within the 275 loop, you are golden. Once I hit West Chester/Beckett Ridge, LTE started dropping. At my house, it is almost non-existent.

Anyone having issues with signal constantly dropping to 2G?

My wife just upgraded from the MyTouch Slide 3G to the Slide 4G. The 4G is constantly dropping to 2G so obviously the data speeds are terrible. Her Slide 3G usually always stayed in 3G in the same areas the 4G is now dropping. Anyone else experiencing this?

Did experience something like this at a friend's house.

Sounds like the problem that the one of the reviewers of the Sidekick 4G was having (ping-ponging between 4G and 2G). Not everyone was having that problem in the wild, though. Could be a coincidence that two recent physical keyboard-based 4G phones are having trouble holding their T-Mobile HSPA+ connections and skipping the 3G alternative, though it could be a bug with T-Mobile's HSPA+ at the tower or phone level. I don't know know the protocol rules on the handoff between 3G and HSPA+. Some reviewers have reported lower data rates than expected with the Slide. The Sensation supposedly has a death grip issue, so maybe there's a variation of that with the Slide (due to a different landscape hand position using the physical keyboard) resulting in 2G connections. Could be temporary capacity issues with your wife's local 3G/4G towers. Is this a constant problem or worse at different times of the day? I remember a few years back reading a report on 3G mobile streaming usage experiments in Europe that it only took like 8 people streaming on the same tower to saturate the tower's 3G capacity. Of course, the number should be higher with HSPA+, but just wanted to point out it is possible for a tower to get overloaded. Keep us posted. This is the kind of stuff that will determine whether I get the Slide and stay with T-Mobile.

I'm in MD and I'm constantly having this issue in my apartment. One minute I have 4g and the next I have 2g and it wont switch back until I restart the phone. I wont even be holding it and i see the issue. Dunno, at least I have 14 days to bring it back.

Had same issue with my sensation. Try going into settings and switching to just wcdma as opposed to it picking between gsm/wcdma. It is under wireless and mobile settings. That is assuming you are in a good 4g area. It will not show 3g
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

Well i saw this happening on the 1st floor of my house. But it was in a hallway away from the windows. but when i moved it came back to 4g and stays there. I think it has do more with the tower and whats available in your area.

Should I ever see 3G on the phone? Currently it is only ever in 4G or 2G. I notice the manual mentions 3G also though. I was assuming it always said 4G even if it was really 3G, but now I'm not sure. Has anyone seen 3G at all for their signal? I'm wondering if there is a setting wrong on the phone.

For those of you that don't have the network settings, go to the market and download an app called Network, it's free. Scroll down to set preferred network type and chose WCDMA only.

Randomocity812 said:
I'm in MD and I'm constantly having this issue in my apartment. One minute I have 4g and the next I have 2g and it wont switch back until I restart the phone. I wont even be holding it and i see the issue. Dunno, at least I have 14 days to bring it back.
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This issue is the phone itself. This is a verry buggy phone. Coming from a family g1 plan and were very excited but these phones have issues. Cant wait for root. Neways i know the 2g issue is that it gets stuck and u have to reboot. For ex. I tested in cordelane ID in near costco. Full 4g bars. Had 2 mt4gs's. One phone was in 4g and the other was stuck. I tried the old g1 trick they had in the beginning switching in and out of airplane mode. Did not work. Rebooted and it worked fine. Many other issues like all the time on both phones the widgets get stuck. U must slide to next screen than go back and widget works. Like i said i have 2 phones so i can troubleshoot and feel confident its not a glitch with a particular phone, etc. These phones suck.

LTE/HSPA+ handoff issues?

Recently there have been more and more occasions where my phone has gone from 4G LTE to "4G", but when I try to use the data, I am told I have no network connection. I would then turn airport mode on then off (or restart), and the data would start working again on "4G".
This especially happens if I have only one or two bars on "4G". I'm suspecting there is a problem handing off from LTE to HSPA+. Either that, or the phone is not reading how strong my reception really is.
Anyone else seeing this problem? I'm in one of the unofficial LTE markets, LA.

I'm not in LA, but i haven't had any of the problems you mentioned. I would imagine the hand-off issue is why AT&T has not officially announced LTE in LA.

Having similar issues. Problem sending sms, mms, and no data connection. Have to keep hitting retry in android market...

s0cal said:
Having similar issues. Problem sending sms, mms, and no data connection. Have to keep hitting retry in android market...
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Same issue here, seems like it is a problem specific to LTE. my phone AND my elevate 4g hotspot device are both having the same connectivity issue when in a LTE market so i dont think it is the device, but more of an LTE issue.
When i traveled to a HSPA+ only area the connectivity issues we gone on both devices.

I have not had the issue since having att change my plan to lte
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App

Yep, the issue is well known, but AT&T has yet to admit to it or fix it. I think it mostly happens in areas that are right in the area between a weak LTE signal and a weak 4G signal (as you mentioned). Apparently, AT&T's towers don't do a very good job at handling the switch very well. Possibly a registeration problem? It's as if the towers keep kicking the phone back and forth and the end end result is no data connection until you move a little closer to one of the towers.

scott14719 said:
Yep, the issue is well known, but AT&T has yet to admit to it or fix it. I think it mostly happens in areas that are right in the area between a weak LTE signal and a weak 4G signal (as you mentioned). Apparently, AT&T's towers don't do a very good job at handling the switch very well. Possibly a registeration problem? It's as if the towers keep kicking the phone back and forth and the end end result is no data connection until you move a little closer to one of the towers.
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I think this is the case, too. I didn't have this problem before they switched on LTE. It didn't have much trouble going between Edge and HSPA+.

I'm in LA, and this has happened to me more than a few times. Data doesn't work, so I turn on airplane mode, and turn it back on, and it starts working again.
Yesterday was an overall terrible day for general connectivity issues. Not sure if the network was having problems but I missed 2 of my calls for a few hours, couldn't send text. When I finally made a call out, the voicemails came in. After I was successfully making calls, I couldn't dial out at one time, so I had to restart my phone.

I actually have a customer having this issue...but ot is affecting his voice calls. he lives right between two towers and his phome will not commit to one over the other.
scott14719 said:
Yep, the issue is well known, but AT&T has yet to admit to it or fix it. I think it mostly happens in areas that are right in the area between a weak LTE signal and a weak 4G signal (as you mentioned). Apparently, AT&T's towers don't do a very good job at handling the switch very well. Possibly a registeration problem? It's as if the towers keep kicking the phone back and forth and the end end result is no data connection until you move a little closer to one of the towers.
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Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App

Same problem in Atlanta, an official LTE market. When it works, the speeds I get blow away cable - 25 Mbs down/ 15 Mbs up, BUT, any attempt to text a message with an attachment always fails. In addition, many of the notifications for network events never occur, or if they do, they occur hours, if not days later. Finally, an age old problem that ATT has never cared to resolve. Voice mail sits on their server for days without notifying me its there, then i get this deluge of several days of old voicemail. Know lots of people in ATL have had this experience. It's the inability to rely on notification of key messaging events (incoming call missed, missed while on phone, missed whil away, etc and same with textx and email that concerm me most.

Same here in DC...of course when I use the HSPA only APN i have no problems....but no LTE though.

Serious wifi calling problems, all kernels share the same problem

So I moved to a new house which has basically no LTE and lower cellular coverage. My old house was a highrise with a literal t-mobile tower on the top, so I never even considered using wifi calling as my LTE coverage was perfect.
So here I am, with my Note 5, thinking I can rely on wifi calling in my new house. The house has excellent wifi coverage that can still achieve decent speeds even on the exterior. I use an Asus AC router that I've completely opened up to the world while troubleshooting the problem. Sitting in my living room (where my most recent call was dropped), I'm pulling down 74mbps and uploading 13mbps according to the speedtest app on the note 5.
My phone shows that it's connected to wifi and that Wifi calling is enabled. I've also changed it to "Wifi calling preferred" so it doesn't even attempt to use the limited cellular network that I can get in some rooms occasionally (depending on air density).
However, I basically miss all inbound calls, outbound calls only occasionally connect, and when I do have a successful call, it drops in and out as though I'm on an actual spotty cellular network.
I've tried Arter, SkyHigh and stock rooted kernels, all with the same results. I'm basically at my wit's end and getting ready to abandoned t-mobile. I read that exynos does not handle these handoffs and transitions as well as qualcom SOCs, but I'm reluctant to give up my great note 5 for a ****ty LG just to test this theory.
Can anyone provide some guidance or advice on how I can deal with this? I'm on the original jump plan + unlimited data and I really don't want to abandon t-mobile, but working voice is essential.

apols said:
So I moved to a new house which has basically no LTE and lower cellular coverage. My old house was a highrise with a literal t-mobile tower on the top, so I never even considered using wifi calling as my LTE coverage was perfect.
So here I am, with my Note 5, thinking I can rely on wifi calling in my new house. The house has excellent wifi coverage that can still achieve decent speeds even on the exterior. I use an Asus AC router that I've completely opened up to the world while troubleshooting the problem. Sitting in my living room (where my most recent call was dropped), I'm pulling down 74mbps and uploading 13mbps according to the speedtest app on the note 5.
My phone shows that it's connected to wifi and that Wifi calling is enabled. I've also changed it to "Wifi calling preferred" so it doesn't even attempt to use the limited cellular network that I can get in some rooms occasionally (depending on air density).
However, I basically miss all inbound calls, outbound calls only occasionally connect, and when I do have a successful call, it drops in and out as though I'm on an actual spotty cellular network.
I've tried Arter, SkyHigh and stock rooted kernels, all with the same results. I'm basically at my wit's end and getting ready to abandoned t-mobile. I read that exynos does not handle these handoffs and transitions as well as qualcom SOCs, but I'm reluctant to give up my great note 5 for a ****ty LG just to test this theory.
Can anyone provide some guidance or advice on how I can deal with this? I'm on the original jump plan + unlimited data and I really don't want to abandon t-mobile, but working voice is essential.
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Not sure of a solution but I can tell you that I use Wifi calling all the time on the Note 5 and do not experience any of these issues.
We would need to know more details to help further.
Are you stock? If not, which rom?
When was the last time you wiped your phone?
Anyone else have Tmob in the home?
I understand your frustration but I dont think its Tmobile. Chances are its something with your internet connection or a software issue of the phone.

DeeXii said:
Not sure of a solution but I can tell you that I use Wifi calling all the time on the Note 5 and do not experience any of these issues.
We would need to know more details to help further.
Are you stock? If not, which rom?
When was the last time you wiped your phone?
Anyone else have Tmob in the home?
I understand your frustration but I dont think its Tmobile. Chances are its something with your internet connection or a software issue of the phone.
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Thanks for the reply! Not stock, using Darthstalker V11 rom. Only person living here, but I do have a verizon iphone for work. I just moved here, and prior to moving, I had an enterprise level firewall in place, which meant I had to open up the right ports to allow for wifi calling. Since I've moved, I haven't even put it in place, so I'm just using an Asus router as a router & AP with no firewall functionality.
Phone was last wiped a couple of months ago when installing the latest version of Darthstalker. With each kernel I've tried, I've wiped the cache multiple times post-install.

apols said:
Thanks for the reply! Not stock, using Darthstalker V11 rom. Only person living here, but I do have a verizon iphone for work. I just moved here, and prior to moving, I had an enterprise level firewall in place, which meant I had to open up the right ports to allow for wifi calling. Since I've moved, I haven't even put it in place, so I'm just using an Asus router as a router & AP with no firewall functionality.
Phone was last wiped a couple of months ago when installing the latest version of Darthstalker. With each kernel I've tried, I've wiped the cache multiple times post-install.
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Was the Wifi calling working before you moved?

DeeXii said:
Was the Wifi calling working before you moved?
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I never had to actually rely on it, so I'm not sure. I used it here and there when visiting low-coverage areas, but now it's basically my only option. For reference, I moved from the DC area to a smaller town in Central VA that only recently received t-mobile LTE. That being said... in certain areas of my house I get enough t-mobile LTE to pull down 30Mbps, but the upload portion is incredibly asymmetric and only pushes about .1 mbps up... Given that I get decent LTE in some places in the house, but it drops off as soon as I turn the corner, I've configured wifi calling to prefer wifi over cellular, which leads to another odd thing....the phone basically needs to be rebooted once leaving a wifi calling network, as it'll never switch the LTE radio back unless I reboot. It'll just stay on 3g/edge otherwise.
As for my wifi coverage, I get great speeds when testing basically anywhere in the house, both upload and download. However, when I'm on a call that is clearly being routed through wifi, it'll start pinging me and warning that the call may be dropped in place where I'm still getting excellent wifi coverage.

Can I get better signal through signal adjusting?

Hey everyone,
Small annoyance however I, as many of you may also experience, have crap signal at work. I've found an app called 4G Switcher however I don't know if I should use this or if there is a better/more efficient way to go about this.
Do any of you guys have this problem and can recommend an app, or otherwise? I'm on 7.1.1 with root and TWRP.
(Also I am on AT&T - I think Verizon has way better service on my area, is there a way to "tap into" and use that signal? Pardon if that sounds dumb haha)

Not that I know of. I use an app called LTE switcher which toggles my data on/off and that helps sometimes. You can also try updating your profile and prl to see if that helps. But no, you cannot tap into Verizon from AT&T, they use different technology (GSM vs CDMA).

You can't update your PRL manually like in the 3G days, it's done automatically over LTE, also that's just for the roaming list. Verizon and AT&T both use LTE and the phone supports both AT&T and LTE networks, the reason you can't "tap into" it is because your carrier (AT&T) doesn't want to pay to allow you to roam on another network unless they specifically allow it because they don't have native coverage in that area.
As far as apps go, no app is going to improve your signal strength. The best it can do is refresh your connection, which is basically like toggling airplane mode.