Database Info

GSM/EDGE vs 3G Band Settings Call Drops Experience

I want to know why this happens. I already have a solution but I am more interested in the specifics of what is causing this. Keep in mind that this does not happen everywhere, but only at my home/vicinity (general square area/radius of about 1 mile)
This is the problem:
When my phone is set to AUTO in terms of band settings for data/voice, I experience a massive amount of dropped calls. I can barely hold a conversation because my call will drop every 2-7 minutes and it is very embarrassing when trying to conduct business.
Solution:
The solution I have found is to manually set the phone to force either GSM/EDGE or 3G, but not both. When I do this, my problem is solved 100%
SPECS:
Network: AT&T
Phones Tested: AT&T Tilt and AT&T Treo 750

I have this problem in areas where they haven't completed the upgrade to 3G yet. I suspect it drops because the compatability between 3G and Edge is none, the phone has to switch to different bandwidths that cause a quick but temporary loss of service, effectively dropping your calls.
I have seen an app that forces data connections to stay off, using this app in areas where it swtches between services might improve your issue.

Problems with AT&T's 3G Network

I have been having problems recently remaining connected to AT&T's network if I am in an area with marginal 3G coverage. In these areas, one would have expected that data services would suffer or default to GPRS. However, this is not happening. It appears that the network is "losing" the phone and what apparently happens is that the phone is "stuck" in relation to the network and there is not an appropriate hand-off off to 2.5 or 2G as it should be happening. Thus, the phone is losing all service (it cannot make or even receive calls or drops calls erratically) and cannot be "revived" unless the phone is powered down (by removing the battery) for a minute or so. The phone can also "revive" if it gets into an area of strong signal.
Personally, I have an AT&T Tilt (8925) with WinMo 6.1 but I have tracked messages regarding this problem with a variety of 3G smartphones such as the AT&T 8525, the AT&T Fuze, a number of Blackberry models etc, etc.
AT&T's suggestion for correcting this problem is to incapacitate the 3G capability of the phone and to have only the 2G capability ongoing to prevent the network hand-off problems. Or to suggest the user to buy a new device without establishing in any case that the existing device has a problem. At no time, however, is AT&T suggesting a substantial refund for data services for users in a spotty 3G service area.
I think that it is time that there is some action on this issue. It is affecting a number of phones and it remains also an issue with Apple's iPhone 3G. I would be glad to entertain any ideas the members of forum may have.

Network issue

Hi everyone
I have an issue, when I'm on my office the network signal isn't strong so when my One S go to "NO NETWORK" after it don't go back to network.
When the situation is this I can't go to airplane mode, change operator (from settings), the only thing that work is shut down and restart (no fastboot).
Anyone else have this problem?
Maybe is a software bug?
I have the Paul recovery and su
EDIT: More info
That don't happen every time that the phone go to "no network".
I think that happen when it a weak signals and are under 2G network.

there are users with similar issues, I only use 2G networks. If i want to do a bit of browsing i will manually change to auto mode, but other than that i always leave it at 2G..
hopefully there will be a radio upgrade soon that should fix this problem...

I'm suffering from the same behavior!
I'm still with the original ROM with no ROOT so I contacted HTC about it yesterday.
I got today their reply today:
"On your phone, kindly go to settings > mobile network > Network mode, kindly change the network mode and check how the signal will respond to each of them.
-Kindly try a different SIM card, to check whether the issue is with the SIM card or the phone itself.
- Soft reset for the device by pressing the power button for 10 seconds.( Note that soft reset erases any unsaved data.)
- Safe mode(which disables any 3rd party application which might be causing conflicts for your device.) for the device by Switching power on , then press and hold volume down when the quietly brilliant logo appears on your screen, you should see 'safe mode' text written on the bottom left of your home screen.
- Factory data reset, kindly backup your data before proceeding with this step please as you will
lose every data on the phone's memory.
Please go to Settings > storage > Factory data reset > Reset phone."
I haven't done anything yet and I didn't notice the 2G issue you mentioned.
I also haven't got this issue for the last 48 hours but did encountered it twice (!!!) on Sunday while driving across the country.
I'll try having the Network on 3G only and see if that matters although the area I leave in is not with good 3G reception.

GSM is 2G
WCDMA is 3G
i use GSM only unless im using the net

I'm aware to the 2G-3G difference
I'm on WCDMA preferred so my phone tries to be on 3G.
My phone also suffers from the 3G<->H data connection jumps while the desire wasn't having any with the same provider (different SIM of course).

sorry, My bad !!
i understand what your saying now
I cant confirm much as my provider doesnt have 3g signals in my area
If i try to use 3g at my home, I have 0 bars thats why i always use 2g

I switched to 3G only (since I have most of the time 3G and surly wants it for the data rate).
I know I have on my way to work and back places with 2G only but I'll give it a try for the coming days and reply.
BTW, just few minutes ago, while having 3G active for sure (before the 3G only switch when it was still on 3G preferred) I couldn't make any phone call although I had 4-5 bars and data connection was running.

Two days ago I tried to change my sim.
Before I had a cutted microsim, now an original microsim and the issue is still present.
Yesterday I had this problem only in afternoon, not in morning and only where the switch from no network -> 2G -> 3G is very very frequent.
In all other times out from office I never had this issue.

I also changed SIM with no help, stayed in 3G network only with no help and observed that when such a network crash happened, GPS reception is also disconnected!
I had no coverage situations with the 3G only mode which recovered, but what we are facing is a network "crash".
Our situation was escalated to technical support of HTC after I wrote them all the data and they tried to solve it over the emails w/o success.

Same problem for me. I tried only 2G, 2G/3G, only 3G, but no way..same problem..i hope an update can solve this..

I just bought my new One S from T-Mobile yesterday and everything appeared to be okay but now I can barely get it to hold a signal. Forget throwing it on GSM only because it will have signal for a whole few seconds before dropping it. I also am having Wi-Fi issues as well. It just intermittently drops the connection there as well... Not a great start!

whether im imagining this or not im not sure, But for me it seems like, When the Network signal increases, the WiFi signal drops, And when the WiFi signal Increases, the Network signal drops...
ive been noticing this for over a week now, So it cant just be coincidence..
I dont think my (or our) handset is faulty, I just think theres a pretty big bug in the ROM, and no matter if you switch ROMs they all use the same base at the moment..
This phone has great potential. But HTC need to be listening to us and release some updates. !!

azzledazzle said:
whether im imagining this or not im not sure, But for me it seems like, When the Network signal increases, the WiFi signal drops, And when the WiFi signal Increases, the Network signal drops...
ive been noticing this for over a week now, So it cant just be coincidence..
I dont think my (or our) handset is faulty, I just think theres a pretty big bug in the ROM, and no matter if you switch ROMs they all use the same base at the moment..
This phone has great potential. But HTC need to be listening to us and release some updates. !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed the same exact issue last night. My phone will go to full signal before dropping whichever connection. I'm just glad this phone can handle staying on 4G without draining the battery like crazy although I can only imagine how much further it'd go with 2G.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium

worms said:
I have an issue, when I'm on my office the network signal isn't strong so when my One S go to "NO NETWORK" after it don't go back to network.
(...) the only thing that work is shut down and restart (no fastboot).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly the same here. But I had a different WIFI issue - WIFI won't drop but stay connected - even if I am far away off the AP.

killerm said:
Exactly the same here. But I had a different WIFI issue - WIFI won't drop but stay connected - even if I am far away off the AP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that one is also a known bug.
On top of that, WiFi will sometimes stuck at "error" status with no ability to turn it on...
All probably related to the same network chip driver or "Radio"...

I have same network reception problem. When I am in a poor reception area it loose reception all of a sudden and takes a while before getting the signal back. I often toggle flight mode to force network detection. I also think the reception bars don't reflect reality; sometimes it seems I have good 3G reception but cannot surf the web. I fear it is a critical bug. The phone seems unable to handle correctly signal fluctuations and protocol changes (GSM, 3G, HSDPA).

I'm colletting more data about this problem.
First of all I don't have any wifi issue, or maybe I don't see this.
I have a modem with N standard and one with G standard and nothing of this have issue.
About the network issue in this days I never have, only when I'm in office and the signal suck a lot.
Q: Anyone that have Tmobile/mod rom with 1.70 RUU have this issue?

worms said:
I'm colletting more data about this problem.
First of all I don't have any wifi issue, or maybe I don't see this.
I have a modem with N standard and one with G standard and nothing of this have issue.
About the network issue in this days I never have, only when I'm in office and the signal suck a lot.
Q: Anyone that have Tmobile/mod rom with 1.70 RUU have this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have wifi issue at work with a powerful 802.11n network AP but experienced occasional fake/unstable/disconnect wifi at home with a poor AP which operates on no-one-knows-but-definitely-not-N network. I don't really bother too much cos I can always turn wifi off and on to reconnect.
In terms of 3G/H signal switching problem, yes, a bit annoy especially when playing online game on 3G but accessing internet is fine just need to sometimes wait a bit longer.
I am on international unbranded version in UK.

I've the same problem in France about 3G/2G and wifi on international unbranded version.

No GSM signal, 3G/LTE works

Hello guys and girls,
after experiencing some GPS problems (loss of signal on the road and/or late fix) I did the fix found on youtube (Where you place a bit of paper/tape under the GPS antenna contacts). It worked just fine, my GPS fix is now happening faster and I did not lose the signal ever since. But I am now facing some (weird?) problem: My GSM connection (GRPS, EDGE) is really really bad. In my room I don't get any signal at all, outside I get like 1 out of 4 bars of signal strength, but I lose it after a few seconds. I normally have 4 out of 4 bars in my room. BUT: My 3G connection works fine, 3G, LTE, same connectivity as before.
My friends phone (same carrier) does get the full GRPS/EDGE connection in my room, so it's not the carrier having problems. I didn't do any updates or anything in the last weeks. It would be a huge coincidence, if a software bug happened while I fixed the GPS problem, so I assume it's a hardware related thing?
How might I fix that, what possible solutions are there?
Tried the following so far:
Restarting multiple times, with our without airplane mode
Re-inserting the sim-car
Switching between LTE only, GSM/LTE, GSM only
Flashing new/other modem
Replacing the speaker/antenna-module
-> nothing changed

out of sheer curiousity, and after reading your post, im stuck wondering.. why do you want or need your gprs and edge connection when your 3G/LTE is fine? data speeds are very slow, and drain lots of battery using anything internet or download related..

Yeah, sure, 3G/LTE is better and coverage is really good where I live, that's why it's not an emergency for me, but it's very important to get it back to work properly.
I know at least 2 situations where I really need GSM (GPRS,EDGE):
1) At work (huge metal building, no 3G/LTE, only GSM) -> I can't call, text or do anything with my phone (don't worry, I am allowed to do so and no, there is no WiFi)
2) On the road, especially the german autobahn has large areas where there is no 3G/LTE coverage, so I can't use my navigation-software properly and can't respond to calls or whatsoever
So all in all: GSM in really important for me. Please help me. :crying:

ahh.. I see.
and your GPRS/edge was fine before the GPS "fix"? maybe something got loosened?

Before I did the fix it worked perfectly fine. Directly after I did it, the gsm was gone so I figured that I somehow damaged the antenna. But since I replaced it and nothing changed I am not sure what to do now. Are there other antennas, are there other modules that influence gsm, that I might have damaged or loosened?

That's what can happen when you tinker with guts of your phone. You risk damaging or messing it up. Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a jerk.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Yes, dave2metz, I know. I was fully aware of that when I opened my phone for the first time to fix the GPS thing. But I am not here for moral advice.
Any ideas how I could fix my problem are highly appreciated!
Edit:
Just checked: The sim-card is not the cause of the problem either. I would really appreciate some good ideas guys..

No idea what I might try?
My best guess is that this is a hardware related problem. But how does one fix it? I replaced the antenna (the bottom thing), nothing changed. So that specific antenna was not the cause of the problem.
Are there other antennas?
Are there antenna-connections that I could check?
Any other hardware things that I might check?
Anything that might have lost the physcical contact inside the phone because of that GPS fix?
Could it, against all odds, be a software problem?
Please, I am really in need of a working phone. If I can't fix it I need to replace it sooner or later because GSM is essential.
If anyone can provide me with an idea or something that leads me to a fix, I will reward you (amazon gift-card or whatsoever).
Cheers,
.yasu

Did you figure it out?
.yasu said:
No idea what I might try?
My best guess is that this is a hardware related problem. But how does one fix it? I replaced the antenna (the bottom thing), nothing changed. So that specific antenna was not the cause of the problem.
Are there other antennas?
Are there antenna-connections that I could check?
Any other hardware things that I might check?
Anything that might have lost the physcical contact inside the phone because of that GPS fix?
Could it, against all odds, be a software problem?
Please, I am really in need of a working phone. If I can't fix it I need to replace it sooner or later because GSM is essential.
If anyone can provide me with an idea or something that leads me to a fix, I will reward you (amazon gift-card or whatsoever).
Cheers,
.yasu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you end up figuring anything out for this? I have something along the same lines. I dropped my phone and smashed the screen. I was able to get a guy to replace the screen portion of the unit, but immediately after I got it back it had no cell reception. Rebooted came, back thought everything was cool.
After a couple weeks I notice my phone has lost reception occasionally. It's now gotten worse, I used to be able to reboot it about 5 or 6 times and then it would randomly come back. I've even had it come back without performing a reboot on its own.
I ended up taking the whole thing apart, reseating everything after having a day and half span where I have been unable to get it back and boom reception came back. Thought it was his repair job at that point, but it has since dropped the signal again and I can't get it back. Yesterday even I was showing LTE signal changing from low to strong etc, but my network was still down as I couldn't perform a search, maps, or anything.
I have my phone apart again. I've checked all the connections over and over and wondering what else to look for or try to replace. True my impact could have damaged a component on the mainboard, but my phone works fine in all other areas. I could replace the antenna wires and the antenna/speaker module, but I'm not sure it just a reception problem.
My phone also boots into airplane mode when it has no signal, but turning it off does not restore the connection or anything. Rebooting it puts it back into airplane mode. *#*#4636#*# shows my radio is off. Thinking it's a short or something somewhere, but I doubt I'll be able to fix it in that case - at least without a mainboard?
That's my other question, what part need to be replaced for experiencing no network and its not the antenna or antenna wires? Is the mainboard? Sister board? Currently researching teardown as this phone is modular and I'm sure I could source the part off ebay or something.

Hi,
There's one antenna for 2G/3G/4G so I think if this problem was caused by hardware, it would affect overall connection to mobile network.
I think that this might me software-related problem but actually can't figure out which. Only thing I'm currently thinking of it that your phone has problems with connecting to certain GSM band. For example in Europe are 900 MHz and 1800 MHz standard for GSM.
Lower frequencies bring you better coverage. Your phone might have trouble with connecting to them and automatically selects 1800 MHz layer.
If you are able to get another phone with SIM of the same network provider, I recommend you to download any networking app and compare data about cells. Mainly CID number. It's unique identifier of each cell in an area.
If both phones are connected to same cell (CIDs are equal), you have to compare RSSI values. Lower means better signal. RSSI is defined as a negative number in an interval of <-51; -113>. So -75 dBm is better than -89 dBm. In one place should be difference about +/- 5 dBm.
Reaching slightly different RSSI numbers while connected to same cell in same place might mean that your phone really have problems with radio.

hey mate,
My wife phon is having the same issue 4G works, 3G sort of works, 2G nothing.
[Did the GPS fix on my wife's Nexus 5 (and mine) also]
swapped sim, used another telco same issue.
when into service menu did *#*#4635#*#* , click the 3 dots, select radio band - only see USA band.
While my phone had automatic, usa bad , usa band, japan band.
she is running stock rom with unlocked boot loader, I am on CM11 but doubt that should make any difference.
if I work out what is going on will report back.

nexus 5 3g 4g damaged
hello guys?.. my htc nexus 5 got wet and i notice the signal strength got lost. when i open it up i notice the lines on the antenna got damage. how do i repair it? or should i replace it with new one? Pls help !! 

Is issue still remaining?

Hi. I am having the same problem. Could anyone find a fix for this?
My GPS was and is fine. I didn't do the gps fix, but I have replaced my battery and I think it happened after the replace...

Data Connection Issues

Have anyone experienced data connection issues on the AT&T variant, some of my apps like Craigslist won't open, but it will on other devices?

same
alhadee12 said:
Have anyone experienced data connection issues on the AT&T variant, some of my apps like Craigslist won't open, but it will on other devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I am having issues on my Sprint Note EDGE. The signal goes up and down and the data is very spotty only giving me any data about 20% of the time. I am waiting on my replacement but I doubt the phone is faulty.

Sortilege said:
Yes. I am having issues on my Sprint Note EDGE. The signal goes up and down and the data is very spotty only giving me any data about 20% of the time. I am waiting on my replacement but I doubt the phone is faulty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My issue is now turning out to be one app, which is Craigslist. I can't connect via AT&T data, but I was able to use a Verizon Hotspot to connect.

I have noticed data & wifi connection dropping frequently. I have been blaming my mobile operator and internet service provider until I saw this thread.

On my T-mobile Edge i was getting Wifi drop outs every minute or so.
I am getting a replacement tomorrow and I will report back.
here is what my battery stats looked like
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28335306/tempFileForShare_2014-11-21-08-19-24.jpg

Firmware.....
Its a Firmware issue
Guys I am almost positive this issue is due to a glitch in Samsungs firmware. I tested the data and was able to download over 1 megabyte per second with only one bar on 4g Spark LTE.
According to the tech support person I talked to that would not be possible on only 1 bar. (btw I stopped the test after hitting 1 Megabyte per second for those that need help converting that equals 8mbps). I was in a saturated 4g Spark network with 5 towers within spitting distance from my location and it still only showed 1 bar. I'm thinking either how the tower reads the signal strength or a bad code line shows no more then 1 bar no matter what.
Now for those having dropped data. Check the Sprint {if you are on Sprint or your providers site for a similar coverage map) site to see the saturation for 4g Spark service, the phones are now setup to LOCK on and HOLD onto the FASTEST tower, which according to the tech who also filled me in on the way the new antennas work, can lead to what seems to be dropped service. She would recommend for individuals having this issue if Spark service is not fully activated in your area to switch over to CDMA only under settings to fix the LTE data dropping issue. BTW the Spark LTE service is apparently different then the old LTE service so those versions do not appear to work interchangeably (according to the Sprint service map). I'm assuming this new triband lte is new for all the carriers but maybe not...
I also noticed someone else got the new version of the firmware, which I also have and that did NOT fix anything for me. If anyone is struggling with this issue I would wait until the firmware is updated again. WHICH I hope by that point we can get flashable firmware for those of us that are rooted...???
Now for a VERY Important Fact: there will now be no way to use data while on a phone call. These phones are a single antenna model. You can either be on the phone or data... UNLESS you are making a WiFi call. That is why this is now a option. It will keep the antenna set to the data side of things and make it possible to use data for the internet at the same time.
I hope this helps.
Adan

alhadee12 said:
Have anyone experienced data connection issues on the AT&T variant, some of my apps like Craigslist won't open, but it will on other devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://blog.craigslist.org/2014/11/24/craigslist-dns-outage/

Thank you for the info. I agree it has to be a firmware issue. I am getting a replacement handset tomorrow to verify that but I can see all these hansets being bad. I am in areas all day long with strong lte/spark/and 3g but my data connection constantly drops. I do also see the cellular signal shooting up and down but have no issues with my call quality at least. Have to reboot...toggle airplane mode....or shut data off and on just to get a little bit of 3g service for a second or two. I really hope the firmware update comes soon. I also went under networks in setting and set it to CDMA only and it as at least seeming to give me a steady 3g connection for now...will reply if that changes

signal
I had the note 4 for 3 weeks before giving it to my wife and getting the edge....the note 4 in all my normal travel was perfect....now with the edge i have horrible data so its something i hope they update quickly

I don't rely on the stock signal bars, they are not really reliable in my opinion. Instead if you install SignalCheck Lte or SignalCheck Pro (for those that are rooted) from the play store. It accurately shows the true signal strength of your connection.
I like the Pro version since it allows to reset the connection quickly if need be.
TS