They title of the topic seems a bit elusive but, this is a solution for a problem myself and several people I know have been having with phone carriers. Essentially, most of the people I know use prepaid phones. On top of having to already having to deal with credits that expire, we have a new problem now that 4G networks are in place. What all carriers do is charge your credits when the phone switches to 4g even if you have mobile data turned off. The receiving and transmission of information when this switching happens is not actual data (to the point the carrier app will gladly display that you consumed 0 MB of data that day), but it's charged from your credits like it is. This "feature" has the ability to make credits that should last at least a month vanish in less than a week sometimes.
I tried many times to discuss and mention that to both the carrier and the regulatory agency where I live, but the overall consensus seems to be that I should expect that to happen with 4g phones, since "that's how they work". Sure, they will reimburse me if I complain but I have better things to do than invest my time gathering evidence, filling a complaint, them receiving calls, only for the exact same thing to happen the next time I put credits.
After some research, learned that it you switch your mobile data to 3g or 2g, that credit stealing doesn't happen. The issue is...getting to to screen where you actuality configure that takes too much time and it's well "hidden", since it's not a setting most people would touch all the time. Plus, trying to explain that to simmering that's not tech savvy when they ask why their credits vanish is a royal pain.
I've been looking for a more automated solution to deal with this without much success. Something that would detect when WiFi is on and immediately switch the mobile data to 3g or 2g. The switching to 4g would only happen when WiFi is off or something like that. Ideally, I'm looking for something that doesn't require root as well, so regular people can have access to said functionality.
Does this exist in some form?
Related
I am trying to find out if there is a limit on how many phones can establish a data connection to the same cell tower at the same time.
Here is why: 4 users in the same room on Cingular's network. Two can connect to Edge network and get service and two can't. Sometimes all have Edge and sometimes only one. It seems random. The office complex where this happens is full of other people also having cell phones, not all the same provider but probably many also use Cingular... we don't necessarily have that much choice ;-)... The office also happens to be near a very busy shopping mall.
I've been doing some reading about the channels (on HowStuffWorks) and it talks about a certain amount of channels being available. So I figure the reason why sometimes some of us lose connectivity is due to the tower being overloaded - too many people accessing the tower at the same time.
Does anyone have some data on how this all works, or where I can go to find out about it? Does someone work with this stuff, like putting up towers for one of these cell phone companies, who has experience with this? I think it would be of interest to others, too.
Sadly Cingular isn't much help... "Maybe you sweat too much and got your phone wet and that's why..." can you believe he actually suggested that? We even had Cingular replace one phone which was particularly prone to this phenomena, only to find that it didn't change.
Food for thought....
This forum has got me very interested in buying a WinMo device but I hear they can be a little unstable. My work requires me to travel abroad frequently and considering how insanely high roaming fees can be(specially data!), I would hate for my phone to randomly make phone calls and connect to GPRS/EDGE/3G.
Any risk of this happening? (beside the obvious accidental key press on the device while it's in my pockets and unlocked).
Pat
New user here.
I haven't heard of random calls or data connections, if you just make sure which apps you run yourself.
The other way though is possible: random disconnects.
The caller app in WinMo used to crash on itself periodically. I'm not sure to what extent this is fixed in the upcoming 6.5 release.
Maybe more experienced users can shed more light based on their experiences. I'm interested in hearing them too.
Pat007 said:
This forum has got me very interested in buying a WinMo device but I hear they can be a little unstable. My work requires me to travel abroad frequently and considering how insanely high roaming fees can be(specially data!), I would hate for my phone to randomly make phone calls and connect to GPRS/EDGE/3G.
Any risk of this happening? (beside the obvious accidental key press on the device while it's in my pockets and unlocked).
Pat
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Click to collapse
Hi, have been using Windows Mobile 5,6,6.1,6.5.
WM devices can be slow and laggy at some times, while sometimes it can be fast and snappy. I don't experience the Phone app crashing on me...
You can disable the connection to the Internet from the phone's Control Panel. There should not be any random connects UNLESS you have Exchange/eMail/Weather updates configured, and then in this case you have an option to disable them. When you launch any app that requires Internet connectivity and you are not connected to any network, then it will auto-connect. But, as I mentioned above, you can set this.
4 years (WM5, WM6, WM6.1 Official and Cooked ROM): No problem but this device need some care to work perfectly
D'rath
Pat007 said:
This forum has got me very interested in buying a WinMo device but I hear they can be a little unstable. My work requires me to travel abroad frequently and considering how insanely high roaming fees can be(specially data!), I would hate for my phone to randomly make phone calls and connect to GPRS/EDGE/3G.
Any risk of this happening? (beside the obvious accidental key press on the device while it's in my pockets and unlocked).
Pat
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I travel a lot also because my work and have been using WM since 2004 and never had any undesired connection. So feel confident that it will never happen, unless of course you have an app configured to do that
vasra said:
New user here.
I haven't heard of random calls or data connections, if you just make sure which apps you run yourself.
The other way though is possible: random disconnects.
The caller app in WinMo used to crash on itself periodically. I'm not sure to what extent this is fixed in the upcoming 6.5 release.
Maybe more experienced users can shed more light based on their experiences. I'm interested in hearing them too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to the forum
Read a lot, use serach and enjoy!
All these points are valid, but another thing you should consider is if you have a GSM phone, to not roam internationally, but to get a SIM for local service where you travel to. You can get a European T-Mobile SIM paid up for a month short-term, and providers in other parts of the world will do it as well. Local service will end up being a lot cheaper than international roaming, especially on the data side.
We all know how all of us want to spend as little money as possible, and have the best speeds and coverage. This is where my idea comes in. I recently switched from Verizon, to TMO. It hasn't been easy. TMO is in the middle, while Verizon is top dog in nationwide coverage (ahead of AT&T and so on) I went onto every carrier website and acted as if I were to build my own plan. I noticed that if you specify that you WANT or HAVE a smartphone, your plan went up regardless of how much data you chose, or minutes and texts. (Doesn't apply as much since talk and text are unlimited)
Here is where my idea comes in.
1. Choose up to as many lines as you need.
2. Choose all basic phones.
3. Get the max amount of data for the carrier you're going to switch to or are on.
4. Change the amount of data you want later on, and so on.
Then, this is where it gets a little confusing. So, bare with me guys!
You would get today's "basic sim". They have changed, but I am taking about a SIM for a flip phone of some sort. I am aware that some phones are sim free, but I know that some that do require some sort of sim card. You somehow ask to get 1,2,3,4,5,6 GB's of data on THAT basic sim. Now, I don't know how you would enable 4G/LTE on there, because it looks like they are incompatible. Somehow, someone could enable 4G on those basic sims, SOMEHOW. Then, cut it depending on what smartphone you want and bam. Save $10-20$ per phone. The fact that the carrier "knows" you're going to want a plan that involves one or more smartphones, bumps up your bill. I honestly don't think basic sims even support 3g, but with this day and technology, anything is possible. Anyone have any kind of idea of what I am saying? :fingers-crossed:
really its a great idea i like it . i appreciate it..................................
So I've been waiting to get internet at my apartment, and have been using my one m8 tethered as home internet (thanks to the help on this forum getting a ROM running on it that lets me use the mobile hotspot).
Its working great. However, i'm at 120GB with 5 days to go. Being that this would be, under most carrier plans, an insane amount of data... I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this. I definitely haven't seen any throttling or slowdown. Runs PS4 games, streaming, whatever. I was actually at 60GB 5 days into the month and have made a concereted effort to slow down lol, otherwise I might be in the 300-400GB range. That said, it really isn't too bad.
I actually just ordered time warner cable for $40/mo, so I guess I'm moving on anyway. But I'm curious if anyone has been doing this for an extended period and if Verizon ever made a stink.
Someone I know does. He canceled all wired tv, phone, & internet service to his home and has been using his verizon S4 for it all for over a year now. He's on the old unlimited data plan. It is apparently working well for him but he had to get a special wifi card for his PC to use the hotspot from the phone. He uses a wifi capable "smart" bluray player to get all his TV programming from youtube, netflix, and amazon prime. He said it was a learning curve to find all the tv programming he used to watch on cable but he has been able to get it all, albeit, at a later release date then the mainstream networks' prime time debuts.
I do it, but with T-Mobile.
Just one thing though....constant wifi tethering will destroy your phone. Specifically the battery, but all that heat and energy use can't be good for the rest of it either. I ruined 2 batteries on my Galaxy Light in less than a year. Ruined 2 Motorola Razr Maxxes this way too. You don't want to be doing this with a phone like the M8 that is practically impossible to repair.
If you choose to go this route, pick up a cheap (rootable, obviously) phone with a removable battery, like a Galaxy S3 to use as your "home" phone.
The S4 is better then the S3 in that regard because it supports that newer faster LTE (aws?), the wifi hardware is quite a bit more advanced (faster), and the repairs (if ever necessary) are easier. Wifi tether does use a lot of power but you'll be plugged in for that most of the time, especially at home. The circuitry holds up just fine in the S4 as long as you're not aggravating the situation with over-volting / over-clocking.
I had been using my old Droid 4 as a home gateway/router before I got the One working. Perhaps I could just use that as my home router.. it worked well enough but would cut out occasionally (annoying during games... the One doesn't do that). If anything the Droid 4 seemed to have a stronger wifi signal when it worked though... better range, just as fast as the M8.
Do you know how much data your friend goes through?
The Droid 4 does/did get really hot while tethering. To the point I'd usually rest it on a cold can of soda or something while using it, lol. The One doesn't get nearly as hot.
Keep in mind that the power consumption and heat generation of the screen still dwarfs that of the wifi module. While using the phone as a home internet gateway the screen will likely be off most of the time.
I don't know about his data useage quantity but he's almost always got something streaming video of some kind. Its probably not ideal for serious gaming because the signal does drop out from time to time. Toggling airplane mode on and off again reestablishes a full-speed connection pretty quick but it would be disruptive in a game.
well. my signal on the One hasn't dropped and I've been logging a lot of Destiny this month. Sometimes you'll get a little lag but it isn't bad.
Just saw that VZW is hiking unlimited prices $20/mo... wonder if that'll get challenged by the FCC (like throttling etc): http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/08/tec...ted-plan-increase/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom
I have old UDP and use my phone hotspot to devices it in my motorhome. All was good until 2 months ago when I used 50-60gb and they throttled me since. No 4g at all from home tower. get 4g elsewhere .
How do I approach customer service to get un-throttled? New reports say they are not throttling anymore.
Thanks.
Try cycling airplane mode on/off to reestablish a 4G data connection.
0reo said:
Try cycling airplane mode on/off to reestablish a 4G data connection.
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Click to collapse
Tried that 50 million times. She a no work! Others get 4g at my place not me.
This is my SOLUTION
Verizon 4G LTE Broadband Router With Voice
Works like a charm.
Born<ICs said:
I have old UDP and use my phone hotspot to devices it in my motorhome. All was good until 2 months ago when I used 50-60gb and they throttled me since. No 4g at all from home tower. get 4g elsewhere .
How do I approach customer service to get un-throttled? New reports say they are not throttling anymore.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i would just call them and explain your problem as you have here, and leave out the throttle part.
back up your data firs, they will likely have you factory reset at some point.
it could be a problem with your phone, or a problem with the towers in your area. they will determine which.
its very unlikely they are throttling. they wouldnt reduce the 4g signal output on an entire tower to do it, and they are actually prohibited from doing it by the fcc.
bweN diorD said:
i would just call them and explain your problem as you have here, and leave out the throttle part.
back up your data firs, they will likely have you factory reset at some point.
it could be a problem with your phone, or a problem with the towers in your area. they will determine which.
its very unlikely they are throttling. they wouldnt reduce the 4g signal output on an entire tower to do it, and they are actually prohibited from doing it by the fcc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.
Thank you. Ended up swapping Sim then got consistent signal a few days later. No idea what they did on their end. Swapped Sim to 6P and all is good now.
I did this when I was doing my internship. I mainly just streamed Netflix and only hit 256GB that month. There was a time Verizon was throttling my data even though they wouldn't admit it until I eventually got transferred to an engineer . None of their support tiers could answer my questions and kept telling me they didn't have the capability to throttle so the problem is my fault. I somehow eventually talked to an engineer at Verizon and the engineer didn't directly admit it but rather, he implied that they do have that capability and the support techs were lying. One tech blamed "tower service in the area" and another tech blamed the unlocked bootloader on my 2013 Moto X DEV for causing the connectivity issues even though I was running the stock ROM and even restored everything back to stock prior to calling. Hahaha.. The funny thing is that the connection went back to normal directly after that call ended. Weird how that works....
Hi everyone. Please forgive me for oversimplifying things and bear with me a moment. It's been 8 years since I made my own Android ROMs, but I've been thinking on this a lot lately.
I bought my Essential PH-1 about a month ago. Signal problems on Verizon (through MVNO Straight Talk) have plagued me ever since. At the root of the problem, it seems like whenever signal strength for LTE dips below a certain point, it shunts everything over to CDMA. I try to force my phone into LTE only mode, but it still seems to hit a certain threshold where suddenly I have NO service at all, rather than just weak service. Sometimes I end up with NO data even when the phone is in LTE/CDMA mode because, for whatever reason, it doesn't want to switch. And, yes, I've read all the threads, tweaked all the settings, tried just about everything, but I either live with my phone in CDMA ONLY or LTE ONLY mode, depending on where I'm at (and when I'm in LTE only mode, I can't get VoLTE phone calls because Straight Talk doesn't seem to know how to update my account on their end to support "Enhanced 4G LTE Mode" as this phone calls it).
Now, here's my theory. Since it's so close to stock Android, would it be possible to take something, say like AOSP or even LineageOS, create a fork for the Essential Phone, and go in and tweak that setting? In my mind, it's got to be something akin to an "if/then" statement. Again, I'm over simplifying, I know, but there's got to somewhere in there that you can specify signal strength thresholds and then build your own ROM with a higher tolerance for crappy signals. It's at least worth a shot, isn't it?
Discussions? Input from ROM builders?