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Does Anyone Use 4g only/ LTE Mode?

I do a lot to save battery but keep the phone flying, but one thing i havent tried is using LTE only. I live outside of philly, so im thinking since im blanketed in all those 4g emvs and dont travel far i can pull this off all day without switching to 3g and back and forth. Anyone in cities centers doing this?

If you set it to LTE only and lose 4G service, you'll drop to 1X.

How do you set it to 4g only?

I use LTE Only mode, I live in L.A. and the entire city/county is pretty much blanketed in 4G, I've never seen my phone drop to anything else besides 4G but I'm sure it would if I went somewhere with bad service. Battery life is great for me on LTE only.

Yup I use LTE only in NYC. Not a single issue.

Use 4g only here in san Diego.. no issues

4G only here in Jersey City, no problems.

LTE only here in DC and all is well until I go too far from the city. Then I just switched it to 3G only. TeamAndIRC ftw.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

Cleveland with 4g only in LTE mode checking in. Good battery saver.

Good battery life with LTE? LOL yeah, if you don't use data. Try using it hard for a couple hours and see where your battery is.

Yep in Houston. Very rare does it drop service (usually only if I'm in the rear of a store) and it drops to 3G. *using *#*#4636#*#* method

I use it all the time.
I have a few spots on my commute that 4g drops for a sec and if I don't have it on lte only my tethering will stay on 3G until I turn off data and turn it back on.
So when I leave it on lte only it might cut out for a sec but comes back on.

I only use LTE in Nashville as well. No issues.

I haven't lost service since I went LTE only a few hours ago n I've been playing on it ever since. Pretty good. Maybe the device takes on 3g if that signal is stronger? Every other time I use it In my house I notice it flipping between them. ill have to really take a few days n see if it makes a difference w battery

how are you guys turning on 4g in the settings? i dont see a setting for 4g anywhere

wardo5757 said:
how are you guys turning on 4g in the settings? i dont see a setting for 4g anywhere
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
phone/dialer, *#*#4636#*#*
tap phone info, scroll down, choose LTE only from drop down menu, wait or optionally tap radio off and then radio on
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

LTE mode on in Denver - spotty as your head towards the mountains

LTE only in Seattle area, no problems.
I use an app called Network by mangelow to manage the radio.

jmz768 said:
If you set it to LTE only and lose 4G service, you'll drop to 1X.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've experienced the same problem, it hardly ever drops to 3g, always straight to 1x. I also live in a extended service zone and usually only get 1 or 2 bars of 4g at home. One thing I noticed is that if I have my whole hand gripped tightly on the phone, I will lose 4g. Kind of annoying at times. Hope it is just an automatic switching software problem and they can update it to seamless 4g/3g switching with no 1x!

I am going to try lte only in Pittsburgh... will post status update tomorrow

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
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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] Nexus 5 LTE & HSPA

Hello everyone,
Just got my Nexus 5 with carrier AT&T and got my LTE activated using the IMEI that came with the N5 and everything works great. Just a quick question regarding the icons that are shown depending on which network you are on. When on LTE it will show LTE above the signal bar. When not on an LTE band it will switch over to H. My understanding is that the H stands for HSPA+. Would this be the equivalent of 4G? I was under the assumption that the H was basically 3G. I also thought then when using LTE it is considered LTE/4G, so wouldn't the LTE switch to a 4G symbol, or does the Nexus 5 not have this and that would be what the H is referencing.
Thank you.

H is hspa+ which is faster than 3g but not as fast as lte. I am usually on H+ or lte. I rarely get the 3g symbol on AT&T. I also found that H+ is almost as fast as Verizon LTE. I think it is due to do many devices on their network.

eevingsa the
jm700wx said:
H is hspa+ which is faster than 3g but not as fast as lte. I am usually on H+ or lte. I rarely get the 3g symbol on AT&T. I also found that H+ is almost as fast as Verizon LTE. I think it is due to do many devices on their network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, so basically you won't get the 4G symbol on the Nexus 5 using AT&T? Mainly what happens is i'm on LTE, then when I make a phone call it switches to H (HSPA+). I thought AT&T is able to do voice calls over a 4G network. I may be wrong.

celphtitle said:
Thanks, so basically you won't get the 4G symbol on the Nexus 5 using AT&T? Mainly what happens is i'm on LTE, then when I make a phone call it switches to H (HSPA+). I thought AT&T is able to do voice calls over a 4G network. I may be wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may have to manually add in AT&T's LTE apn (which you can find with a quick google search) if your phone doesn't automatically pick it up. Also make sure your SIM card has been provisioned to work with the LTE bands (use with another 4G phone ex. S3, HTC One)

k3anan said:
You may have to manually add in AT&T's LTE apn (which you can find with a quick google search) if your phone doesn't automatically pick it up. Also make sure your SIM card has been provisioned to work with the LTE bands (use with another 4G phone ex. S3, HTC One)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I get LTE, I just don't get 4G. I figured the phone doesn't show a 4G icon, but if it does, then I'll check my sim in another device.

Google just changed the "4G" icon to "LTE". On jelly bean, LTE would show "4G" if you had the hybrid N4 radio flashed. hspa+ has always shown "H" on the stock ROM. Some custom ROMs have you the "H+" symbol though.
As for voice calls on at&t, they go over their hspa+ network, at&t uses their LTE for data only at this time. BTW, at&t considers their hspa+ to be "4G".
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

gotzaDroid said:
Google just changed the "4G" icon to "LTE". On jelly bean, LTE would show "4G" if you had the hybrid N4 radio flashed. hspa+ has always shown "H" on the stock ROM. Some custom ROMs have you the "H+" symbol though.
As for voice calls on at&t, they go over their hspa+ network, at&t uses their LTE for data only at this time. BTW, at&t considers their hspa+ to be "4G".
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, exactly the answer I was looking for. So I am good to go then, I see the LTE icon, and H when making voice calls.
Thank you very much.

celphtitle said:
Well I get LTE, I just don't get 4G. I figured the phone doesn't show a 4G icon, but if it does, then I'll check my sim in another device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4G and LTE are the same thing. LTE is a denotation of the network standard just like 3G is EDGE. If you're getting LTE above the signal indicator you are on the 4G network.
EDIT: gotzaDroid explained it much better than I did.

k3anan said:
4G and LTE are the same thing. LTE is a denotation of the network standard just like 3G is EDGE. If you're getting LTE above the signal indicator you are on the 4G network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea my concern was that when I would make a phone call, the LTE would switch to H. I didn't know that H was basically AT&T's "4G".

celphtitle said:
yea my concern was that when I would make a phone call, the LTE would switch to H. I didn't know that H was basically AT&T's "4G".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it is the same on T-Mobile. When they refer to 4G, they are referring to HSPA+ (or H). I like to call AT&T and T-Mobile's 4G, fauxG since it is really just an improvement upon 3G. I don't know who shot first, but I wish the marketing teams would have called it 3G+ or something instead of lying to everyone or at least referred to LTE as 5G. So now everyone has 4G and 4G LTE and really LTE deserves more as it isn't a hack job to get more speed. It will replace all the legacy networks and even eventually be used for voice transmission.

Yes it switches because they're currently you cannot surf the web while being on a phone call with LTE, so it auto switches to hspa+ so you can surf the web while talking
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda premium

dijit4l said:
Yeah, it is the same on T-Mobile. When they refer to 4G, they are referring to HSPA+ (or H). I like to call AT&T and T-Mobile's 4G, fauxG since it is really just an improvement upon 3G. I don't know who shot first, but I wish the marketing teams would have called it 3G+ or something instead of lying to everyone or at least referred to LTE as 5G. So now everyone has 4G and 4G LTE and really LTE deserves more as it isn't a hack job to get more speed. It will replace all the legacy networks and even eventually be used for voice transmission.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's no big deal. I considered HSPA+ more or less 3G+ anyway. All is well, you guys are great help. Got my phone unlocked the bootloader and set everything up, got my LTE (which I did not get with the nexus 4). Time to play around with the phone some more now.

I have had my Nexus 5 for a few days now and I have noticed quite a difference in reception between lte and hspa on T-Mobile. I will have lte marked and have one maybe two bars. Then I switched to hspa and then my bars went all the way up. Why is this?

dijit4l said:
Yeah, it is the same on T-Mobile. When they refer to 4G, they are referring to HSPA+ (or H). I like to call AT&T and T-Mobile's 4G, fauxG since it is really just an improvement upon 3G. I don't know who shot first, but I wish the marketing teams would have called it 3G+ or something instead of lying to everyone or at least referred to LTE as 5G. So now everyone has 4G and 4G LTE and really LTE deserves more as it isn't a hack job to get more speed. It will replace all the legacy networks and even eventually be used for voice transmission.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You realize LTE is also not REALLY 4G...
4G is a communications standard, that currently no one meets. In fact, many people report that T-Mobile HSPA+ is faster than Verizon LTE in their areas. Of course, now AT&T and T-Mobile both offer LTE and HSPA+. Which puts them above Verizon in my eyes, because when LTE goes out, you have HSPA to fall back on.

gotzaDroid said:
Google just changed the "4G" icon to "LTE". On jelly bean, LTE would show "4G" if you had the hybrid N4 radio flashed. hspa+ has always shown "H" on the stock ROM. Some custom ROMs have you the "H+" symbol though.
As for voice calls on at&t, they go over their hspa+ network, at&t uses their LTE for data only at this time. BTW, at&t considers their hspa+ to be "4G".
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with Australian network provider Telstra, and my phone shows 4G all the time(regardless whether it is transmitting data or not) when I'm in 4G coverage, 3G when I'm not in coverage and not having data acativity and H when it is transmitting data. Do you think it is the different device model and/or the network provider contributed to the difference between mine and what you guys have in the State?

maolin95 said:
I'm with Australian network provider Telstra, and my phone shows 4G all the time(regardless whether it is transmitting data or not) when I'm in 4G coverage, 3G when I'm not in coverage and not having data acativity and H when it is transmitting data. Do you think it is the different device model and/or the network provider contributed to the difference between mine and what you guys have in the State?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wouldn't surprise me that the North American 820 model had the "LTE"symbol cooked in at the request of service providers here.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Simer03 said:
Yes it switches because they're currently you cannot surf the web while being on a phone call with LTE, so it auto switches to hspa+ so you can surf the web while talking
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This confuses me. Can't the nexus 5 use both at the same time? You're getting text messages over HSPA(+) with LTE on.
I'm still puzzled why when I make a call why LTE goes away and HSPA+ shows up. This is on T-Mobile.

phoneman09 said:
I have had my Nexus 5 for a few days now and I have noticed quite a difference in reception between lte and hspa on T-Mobile. I will have lte marked and have one maybe two bars. Then I switched to hspa and then my bars went all the way up. Why is this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I have some good news to report. I was having the same issue as you and really getting down about it. I went to my nearest T-Mobile store and told them of my situation. The rep called tech support and he did some sort of reset to my account, I am not sure what exactly. I also asked if I could get a new SIM. I was given that new ISIS SIM and as soon as my phone fired up, it started using LTE. After I left the store, from being in my pocket, it was on HSPA for a few moments and then it finally chose LTE and stuck with LTE the entire time I was within its coverage. I am really happy with my phone now, it now behaves like my hacked Nexus 4 on LTE did.

jm700wx said:
H is hspa+ which is faster than 3g but not as fast as lte. I am usually on H+ or lte. I rarely get the 3g symbol on AT&T. I also found that H+ is almost as fast as Verizon LTE. I think it is due to do many devices on their network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This isn't *entirely* true.
You'll see the LTE symbol when you're on LTE, that's easy.
You'll see the H when you're on HSPA or HSPA+, which means you'll see it when you're on the network that old phones used to just call 3G.
The other symbols are specifically for Edge. I know it doesn't seem like it, since one is a 3G symbol, but do a speedtest and you'll see it. Modern phones display things poorly for connections because of the differentiation of HSPA and HSPA+. It's obnoxious.
---------- Post added at 12:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 PM ----------
Zandeer said:
You realize LTE is also not REALLY 4G...
4G is a communications standard, that currently no one meets. In fact, many people report that T-Mobile HSPA+ is faster than Verizon LTE in their areas. Of course, now AT&T and T-Mobile both offer LTE and HSPA+. Which puts them above Verizon in my eyes, because when LTE goes out, you have HSPA to fall back on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, that's not correct.
ITU-R said:
On December 6, 2010, ITU-R recognized that these two technologies, as well as other beyond-3G technologies that do not fulfill the IMT-Advanced requirements, could nevertheless be considered "4G", provided they represent forerunners to IMT-Advanced compliant versions and "a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LTE, and even HSPA+, are considered 4G.
As for the 'Why does it switch from LTE to HSPA+ when I make a call?' question, LTE does not support standard switch-based telephony, meaning you cannot make voice calls using the network. Some carriers (I think Verizon is ahead, but I don't remember) are going to be supporting VoIP soon (voice over IP), which allows calls to be made using the LTE network, but they're all data-based (think Skype). As such, current phones will switch to HSPA+ or CDMA to make the phone call and then switch back once it's done.

hotleadsingerguy said:
As for the 'Why does it switch from LTE to HSPA+ when I make a call?' question, LTE does not support standard switch-based telephony, meaning you cannot make voice calls using the network. Some carriers (I think Verizon is ahead, but I don't remember) are going to be supporting VoIP soon (voice over IP), which allows calls to be made using the LTE network, but they're all data-based (think Skype). As such, current phones will switch to HSPA+ or CDMA to make the phone call and then switch back once it's done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not really accurate. Verizon's newer phones (Galaxy S3 for example) will let you call while on LTE. That's why I'm having such a hard time understanding why the N5 won't let LTE stay on while making a call. Doesn't it have a radio for data (LTE) and and radio for voice? Seems like both should be working in parallel like on VZ.

Weak LTE pickup

My N5 is not great at picking up LTE service. My AT&T signal is weak at my house and I don't get LTE, although my Galaxy S2 used to connect that way. Not sure if the phone really doesn't see it or if it thinks it's too weak and HSPA would work better.
(Sending from a moving bus so please bear with me)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

rochrunner said:
My N5 is not great at picking up LTE service. My AT&T signal is weak at my house and I don't get LTE, although my Galaxy S2 used to connect that way. Not sure if the phone really doesn't see it or if it thinks it's too weak and HSPA would work better.
(Sending from a moving bus so please bear with me)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same issue on T-Mobile. My phone sucks about picking up and using LTE whereas my Nexus 4, a phone that required hacking to get LTE enabled, was a champ. My N4 would remain on LTE all day while in the city regardless of signal strength with no real observable detriment to my battery.
With the Nexus 5, I'm lucky to have it switch to LTE in high signal areas. My Nexus 5 will stay on LTE if I force it to connect using LTE Only (you lose voice with this setting) under the secret dialer menu (*#*#4636#*#*), but if I let the phone decide, it sticks with 3G/HSPA+.
I'm paying for LTE and I want to use it, damn it! LTE at half signal strength is still faster than HSPA+ at full strength for me on T-Mobile.

Actually as I travel along the Ohio Turnpike it is not doing too badly, picking up LTE as we pass near metro areas (Toledo, Cleveland). It is also working great tethering my tablet with Wi-Fi as well.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I'm having the exact same issue here I'm in the Los Angeles area and I have experienced good speeds on LTE up to 23 down and 12 up but one thing I have noticed is my LTE drops a lot in to H. I'm coming from Verizon which always stayed on LTE locked in so I guess I was spoiled. I left verizon because I got sick of them hating on Nexus Phones but man right now I'm hating these LTE drops on AT&T. But I know for a fact that it's a phone problem because when the phones goes from LTE to H I can manually restore the LTE but I can't get it to stay locked. I called them and they're response was it's just the phone switching from tower to tower.

T-mobile LTE N4 vs N5

I just helped my son install the hybrid modem for his Nexus 4 and set up the T-mobile APN for it. I was about to tell him that he would have to go somewhere else to test it since I never get LTE at home, and then boom, the 4G icon shows up on his phone! I checked Network Signal Info and sure enough, it's got an LTE connection with about 6Mbps transfer rate. Sitting right next to him my N5 has only 3G with occasional switches up to HSPA and back, and a very low transfer rate. What gives? I am able to get LTE on the N5 in other areas of town and it works wonderfully, but around my home it is very weak and almost never runs in LTE mode.
Could it be that the N4 is connecting on a different LTE band? If so, why is the N5 not using that band as well? Is there something that can be done for the N5 to tweak it to improve its LTE reception or how it chooses how to connect to available LTE signals?

Both N4 and N5 have 1700 band so it should get perfect HSDPA.
It might be the towers in your area are busy or the signal is weak.
I use straight talk t-mobil and I get HSDPA around 15Mbps and my friend get a little more on LTE here in chicagoland.
Also for people on Straight talk if you want to get LTE att version you need to get a new simcard and change APN and for t-mobil
just get a new simcard and boom you get LTE.

Idk if I'd worry about it. In most places the HSDPA speeds for T-Mobile are the same or better than the LTE speeds you would get. I'm in the far north chicago suburbs and I get LTE and HSDPA downloads at 25mbps. The LTE coverage is still a bit spotty. Its probably only worth it if I you're in a developed urban area. However it is a bit strange that you guys have the same hardware, service and location but different connections. The only thing I can think of is that I've seen some people instruct to setup the apn as fast.tmobile.com. however mine only worked with fast.T-Mobile.com (with the dash). I would also check to confirm that your phone is set to lte preferred (LTE/gsm) and not gsm priority. Those are the only things I can think that I can think of. Hope it helps.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

gorilla p said:
Idk if I'd worry about it. In most places the HSDPA speeds for T-Mobile are the same or better than the LTE speeds you would get. I'm in the far north chicago suburbs and I get LTE and HSDPA downloads at 25mbps. The LTE coverage is still a bit spotty. Its probably only worth it if I you're in a developed urban area. However it is a bit strange that you guys have the same hardware, service and location but different connections. The only thing I can think of is that I've seen some people instruct to setup the apn as fast.tmobile.com. however mine only worked with fast.T-Mobile.com (with the dash). I would also check to confirm that your phone is set to lte preferred (LTE/gsm) and not gsm priority. Those are the only things I can think that I can think of. Hope it helps.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
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T-Mobile 4G LTE will properly works on fast.t-mobile.com, fast.tmobile.com is not the proper APN (the - matters)
There are just way too many variables. Maybe his modem has better reception, newer sim card, etc.

RobinD42 said:
I just helped my son install the hybrid modem for his Nexus 4 and set up the T-mobile APN for it. I was about to tell him that he would have to go somewhere else to test it since I never get LTE at home, and then boom, the 4G icon shows up on his phone! I checked Network Signal Info and sure enough, it's got an LTE connection with about 6Mbps transfer rate. Sitting right next to him my N5 has only 3G with occasional switches up to HSPA and back, and a very low transfer rate. What gives? I am able to get LTE on the N5 in other areas of town and it works wonderfully, but around my home it is very weak and almost never runs in LTE mode.
Could it be that the N4 is connecting on a different LTE band? If so, why is the N5 not using that band as well? Is there something that can be done for the N5 to tweak it to improve its LTE reception or how it chooses how to connect to available LTE signals?
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Fwiw there are other threads where people have reported that the N4 picks up LTE in the same place that an N5 does not. So you are not alone. N4 may have a stronger radio. That would be unfortunate... Never good to see a step backwards on something as important as that.
Sent from my Nexus 5

Good news everyone! I too has having this problem. My Nexus 4 was an LTE champ and then it was a huge let down that my Nexus 5 was treating LTE like it had cooties, but now my Nexus 5 works the way it should. What I did was go to my nearest T-Mobile store and told the representative what was happening. He called tech support and they ended up doing some sort of reset to my account. I also had questions about my SIM card and felt that it could have been at fault. He offered to switch it out to the new ISIS SIM and as soon as my phone booted up, it was on LTE. Since then, it has behaved like my Nexus 4. I am even in my office where the Nexus 5 wasn't picking up LTE, but my Nexus 4 was, and it is on LTE at the moment.
I am not sure if the reset that tech support did solved the problem or the new SIM, but I would definately give that a try--it didn't cost me anything and now I am happy with my Nexus 5. Good luck!

In my experience my N4 has slightly better signal pickup than my N5.
The real reason is probably differences in the radios' priority algorithms. Set your N5 to LTE-only and see what happens, I imagine you'll get LTE.

dijit4l said:
I am not sure if the reset that tech support did solved the problem or the new SIM, but I would definately give that a try--it didn't cost me anything and now I am happy with my Nexus 5. Good luck!
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Did you not get LTE at all, or really poor LTE signal/speed?

tcristy said:
Did you not get LTE at all, or really poor LTE signal/speed?
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I would get LTE eventually only to lose it when it reached 2 bars or lower. It was really weird. I would be in areas where one would get 5 bars of LTE and the phone would sit on HSPA until I would show the phone it was on LTE by switching to LTE Only under the secret dialer menu and then back to GSM/LTE (if you use LTE only, you will lose voice). Then it would hold LTE until it reached 1-2 bars and then go back to HSPA.
I hope this helps.

I am seeing strange readings of signal strength. I see a 10+ db difference between what is reported in the phone status and an app like rootmetrics.
I don't know which one is misrepresenting the signal strength but it seems the roometrics is more accurate because my nexus 4 the signal strength is roughly the same on lte.
Can anyone else confirm?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk