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3G drops to GSM when receiving calls and during calls

I searched all the threads and found nothing on this as far as I can see. I have been having this since day one with my G1. Every time I receive a call on my G1 or during the call it drops from 3G to GSM. I had stock T-Mo roms on my G1 (Pre/Post Cupcake) then JF 1.51 and now cyanogen 4.0.2 and this problem persists. I called T-Mo a few times on this and they exchanged my G1 3 times and gave me a new battery and charger free of charge. Does anyone else have this issue or know of a work around? This happens when I am at home and work. I travel for work to different locations and it still happens. When my phone rings it automatically drops 3G and goes to GSM (no icon next to the radio icon in the status bar). While making calls it stays on 3G for about a few seconds before it craps out and drops to GSM. It totally skips EDGE and GPRS. T-Mo said they sent out radio antenna tech's to the antennas near my home and they said all is fine and dandy. I live In Queens NY and work in the Bronx. When I travel to Brooklyn its the same as well as driving though Manhattan. I hope someone can help me with this.

PeterC18st said:
I searched all the threads and found nothing on this as far as I can see. I have been having this since day one with my G1. Every time I receive a call on my G1 or during the call it drops from 3G to GSM. I had stock T-Mo roms on my G1 (Pre/Post Cupcake) then JF 1.51 and now cyanogen 4.0.2 and this problem persists. I called T-Mo a few times on this and they exchanged my G1 3 times and gave me a new battery and charger free of charge. Does anyone else have this issue or know of a work around? This happens when I am at home and work. I travel for work to different locations and it still happens. When my phone rings it automatically drops 3G and goes to GSM (no icon next to the radio icon in the status bar). While making calls it stays on 3G for about a few seconds before it craps out and drops to GSM. It totally skips EDGE and GPRS. T-Mo said they sent out radio antenna tech's to the antennas near my home and they said all is fine and dandy. I live In Queens NY and work in the Bronx. When I travel to Brooklyn its the same as well as driving though Manhattan. I hope someone can help me with this.
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ive always had this as well .. just never considered it a bug lol ... but i could see why someone would wanna keep their 3g while on a call .. reminds me of how sidekicks would lose data connectivity due to a call

xidominicanoix said:
but i could see why someone would wanna keep their 3g while on a call .. reminds me of how sidekicks would lose data connectivity due to a call
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Could you elaborate?
If you've had 3 G1's and a tech says there's nothing wrong with the network then it's clearly an issues with cupcake, be it a feature or a bug...
I don't really see why you would want to keep data conectivity while in a call, (unless you're downloading something in the background..?) so it sounds like a way to save battery..

AdrianK said:
Could you elaborate?
If you've had 3 G1's and a tech says there's nothing wrong with the network then it's clearly an issues with cupcake, be it a feature or a bug...
I don't really see why you would want to keep data conectivity while in a call, (unless you're downloading something in the background..?) so it sounds like a way to save battery..
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Here's a perfect example where 3G would rule when working properly.
I'm talking to my wife on my BT headset while driving home from work. I have my G1 on my dash with google maps running with traffic patterns showing. While talking I am able to talk clearly on 3G and still see where traffic is building so I can avoid it. Being stuck in rush hour in NYC sux homeless man [email protected] Whenever I do this and my 3G connection drops my call quality drops and we both hear it while we're talking and then it cuts in and out and the call drops then I dont get updates. It's a feature I would really like to have. Even when Im working and talking and downloading a new update of an app. This happens when I am at a static location as well. I know driving from cell tower to cell tower can have bad effects but it does the same when I'm just at home or any of my work locations. When 3G works properly which is rare its amazing. Its helped me get un lost and find my way many of times.
Point being when T-Mo released the 3G statement they said all users with 3G phones will expierence higher call quality from the extra bandwidth. Why would they cap or or disable it when they are promoting it? I see the the point of saving battery life but it still shouldnt be happening. 3G is made for that feature to work voice + data being accessed together.

It might just be there 3g network, imo tmobile reception is horrible. Like at my house it is so f'ed up, I can sit in my chair and have 3 bars then walk 2 feet and lose service. It does this all through my house and at my work. They said it must be something in the buildings I am in, bull**** I say because ATT never does that nor did vzw when I used them.

same thing happens with me and 3g and calls..also about the house thing, hows this one for u ill be sitting in the same spot and have good 3g reception and all of a sudden it drops to edge. I know a way around this is to set phone to 3G only but then in areas where theres non im screwed

I don't get it. My wife who had the original iPhone and then 3g and now 3gs never had this issue. She would stay on Edge and 3g depending if she waned to save batery life. My old BB 8700g would always stay on Edge never drop to GSM in my apartment. My 3G doesnt even fall to Edge it goes right to GSM. This is really annoying.

every t-mobile phone I have does this
I'm pretty sure its normal

No one knows if this is a hardware, software, or network problem. Except maybe HTC/T-Mobile/Google.
If your phone stays connected to 3G, it's all good. If it drops down to EDGE, even if for half a second, it will NOT reconnect to 3G until you hang up.

c2tmdsn said:
every t-mobile phone I have does this
I'm pretty sure its normal
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My coworkers Samsung t819 doesn't. That's regular cell phone not a smart phone.
Gary13579 said:
No one knows if this is a hardware, software, or network problem. Except maybe HTC/T-Mobile/Google.
If your phone stays connected to 3G, it's all good. If it drops down to EDGE, even if for half a second, it will NOT reconnect to 3G until you hang up.
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If any of those 3 know they should fix it or at the very least advertise that the calls you make are dropped to the lower bandwidth of the GSM network.
T-Mo finally got 3G for the last year don't dumb it down guys. Fix this.
Yes it is true once your phone drops beneath 3G it will not go to 3G until you hang up the call.

try running 3g only or wdma only by creating phone info shortcut on anycut .. im going to try that out and see if it ever drops .. should be a temporary fix for you atleast with the whole maps thing and such but if you ever in an edge only are your screwed

turboyo said:
try running 3g only or wdma only by creating phone info shortcut on anycut .. im going to try that out and see if it ever drops .. should be a temporary fix for you atleast with the whole maps thing and such but if you ever in an edge only are your screwed
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I changed it to wcdma only in phone info. Hopefully this works. Everywhere I travel to throughout NYC has 3G. Hopefully this works. Also I have noticed that when downloading anything from 3G be it the market or browser it would drop from 3G to Edge as well.

PeterC18st said:
I changed it to wcdma only in phone info. Hopefully this works. Everywhere I travel to throughout NYC has 3G. Hopefully this works. Also I have noticed that when downloading anything from 3G be it the market or browser it would drop from 3G to Edge as well.
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*UPDATE*
While at home downloading apps from Android Market on 3G with wcdma only selected the radio dropped with no netowkr connection. Bust.

PeterC18st said:
I don't get it. My wife who had the original iPhone and then 3g and now 3gs never had this issue. She would stay on Edge and 3g depending if she waned to save batery life. My old BB 8700g would always stay on Edge never drop to GSM in my apartment. My 3G doesnt even fall to Edge it goes right to GSM. This is really annoying.
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Did she use att or tmobile with the iphone? Because att has a much stronger 3g network then tmobile which could be why. I am pretty sure it is something to do with tmobiles network and not your phone, perhaps your area has to many users for it to stay on 3G. I have read about how the cell towers work and they have only so many bands for each user to access at any given time so if tmobile doesn't have enough towers or those things mounted on the towers it may be set up so you only get 3G for data usage and not calls since they don't technically require it to work.

crpercodani said:
Did she use att or tmobile with the iphone? Because att has a much stronger 3g network then tmobile which could be why. I am pretty sure it is something to do with tmobiles network and not your phone, perhaps your area has to many users for it to stay on 3G. I have read about how the cell towers work and they have only so many bands for each user to access at any given time so if tmobile doesn't have enough towers or those things mounted on the towers it may be set up so you only get 3G for data usage and not calls since they don't technically require it to work.
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My wife is on ATT. Isn't lower frequency better at penetrating through walls and such? (T-Mo 1700 MHz and 2100 MHz compared to ATT 1800 MHz) They haven't booted their 850 MHz antennas yet so I hear.
If that is true then why not boot me down to Edge or gprs why all the way down to gsm? I been living in the same area for 26 years. I have been with T-Mo before they even had antennas in my area and walking outside was the only way to get a signal with my phone. Now I get full reception in and out of my apartment and 3G connectivity in my apartment with a signal strength of -93dBm through out my apartment on 3G and -79 dBm on Edge.
T-Mo stated that this should not be happening. Hence the 3 phones new battery and charger and techs to the antennas. I'm starting to think its a HTC Android problem and not a T-Mo problem. Hopefully a new radio update can fix it.

I didn't even know GSM was still used in that way, I thought GPRS would be the bare minimum. How can you tell the difference? I use to only get a G icon and I looked it up and for the g1 it said that meant GPRS, what does it show for GSM? Not like any of this matters though.
I really have no idea why all this is happening to your G1 but I hope it gets resolved, good luck.
edit: on the tmobile coverage map it says edge/gprs and 3g, no gsm. does that make any difference? I checked for NYC overall not any specific boroughs.

crpercodani said:
I didn't even know GSM was still used in that way, I thought GPRS would be the bare minimum. How can you tell the difference? I use to only get a G icon and I looked it up and for the g1 it said that meant GPRS, what does it show for GSM? Not like any of this matters though.
I really have no idea why all this is happening to your G1 but I hope it gets resolved, good luck.
edit: on the tmobile coverage map it says edge/gprs and 3g, no gsm. does that make any difference? I checked for NYC overall not any specific boroughs.
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GSM is what Edge Gprs and 3G run off of. Think of it as a progression. GSM>GPRS>EDGE>3G.
The way I know it is on GSM is to the left of the Radio icon on the home screen there is another icon that shows the network your on. 3G=3G E=EDGE G=GPRS and no icon means GSM. GSM is still being used. Most SMS and MMS messages get sent to your from through GSM while you are on a call.

tmous htc hd2 data signal radio 2.11

i am on the stock radio 2.10 stock rom with alot of tweaks i have done my self ok the problem is it seems my tmobo conection is harribal indoors 1 or 2 bars edge and alway s changeing if i step outside the bars shoot all the way to full 3g will flashing the 2.11 radio help this at all or is this just what i have to deal with on tmobo network any tips or tweaks on geting better service indoors would help this seems to be any building or house not just one location PLEAS HELP!!!!

sev15 said:
i am on the stock radio 2.10 stock rom with alot of tweaks i have done my self ok the problem is it seems my tmobo conection is harribal indoors 1 or 2 bars edge and alway s changeing if i step outside the bars shoot all the way to full 3g will flashing the 2.11 radio help this at all or is this just what i have to deal with on tmobo network any tips or tweaks on geting better service indoors would help this seems to be any building or house not just one location PLEAS HELP!!!!
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A lot of us have the same issue. I think it could be that the signal strength in certain areas is not strong enough when inside buildings.

sev15 said:
i am on the stock radio 2.10 stock rom with alot of tweaks i have done my self ok the problem is it seems my tmobo conection is harribal indoors 1 or 2 bars edge and alway s changeing if i step outside the bars shoot all the way to full 3g will flashing the 2.11 radio help this at all or is this just what i have to deal with on tmobo network any tips or tweaks on geting better service indoors would help this seems to be any building or house not just one location PLEAS HELP!!!!
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T-Mobiles 1700mhz 3g band doesn't penetrate walls or objects as well as a lower mhz signal would like at&t's 850 band. It travels farther, though, so t-mobile doesn't need as many towers to cover an area, but that also means there is going to be more areas that have weak signals in a covered area. So, unless you're close to one of there towers, you won't get good 3g signals inside buildings.

zarathustrax said:
T-Mobiles 1700mhz 3g band doesn't penetrate walls or objects as well as a lower mhz signal would like at&t's 850 band. It travels farther, though, so t-mobile doesn't need as many towers to cover an area, but that also means there is going to be more areas that have weak signals in a covered area. So, unless you're close to one of there towers, you won't get good 3g signals inside buildings.
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The radio has to have something to do with it though because the 1700mhz band penetrates just fine for other HTC phones.
I have my HD2, MT3G and the G1...here at my desk at work, I can have all three side by side and the G1 has 2 bars 3G...the MT3G has 3 bars 3G...and my HD2 bounces all over the place between 3G and Edge... so you cannot tell me that they are receiving different signals.
...outside, or in 99% of other places I go I have no 3G problems with my HD2...unfortunately though, I spend a lot of time at work and would really love to have at least a steady 3G connection without having to put my SIM in a different phone.

Try changing the access point
if you go into the connections setting for the tmob data connection access point address. tmob default is epc.tmobile.com. try usin wap.voicestream.com or internet2.voicestream.com

well i guess we cant look foward for better service tell more towers go up i did have a sidekick lx that was not bad indoors could this be due to the danger server if so is there anyway to use that server instead
it kinda sux when friends from work sit next to me and can use att and verizon tv and streaming and i can not with my supper phone with bad indoor connection wish i could do something about it or some of the supper guys here at xda

Radios are ****, plain and simple. I have a g1 full bars 3g always on and my hd2 1-2 bars, 3g comes in and out. I called t-mo support and they tried the singal in your area bs. I said listen I have a G1 right next to the hd2 and that old clunker has full signal so stop there. Then they said, we are aware of the problem and are working on it.

same here
i have my g1 and HD2 side by side and the g1 has 3 bars 3g and the HD2 has only 1 bar edge and won't respond!

No complaints about the HD2's reception here. Having come from a Nexus One, I had them at the same time for about 2 weeks.
The Nexus One dropped calls constantly while inside at work, forget about keeping a reliable 3G signal, in fact I was lucky to keep EDGE indoors. If you moved the wrong way (literally!) it would bounce around in signal strength and would lose data connection constantly.
Looking at the HD2, I have 3G connection pretty much constantly, jumping into H on a regular basis. No dropped calls, sound quality from the ear speaker is phenomenal , and never a lost data connection.
Outdoors is even better.
Again, no complaints here about TMoUS's signal here!

anyone know if the 2.11 will help at all

I HATE that the HD2 will sometimes show full (phone) bars, not 3g or E, but yet not let you call. I had this happen to me for 2 minutes today. I had to go into settings and turn the phone option off/on and wait a minute for it to get a signal again. I'm in NYC, there's usually full 3G bars when outside.
This phone doesn't handle weak signals or situations when you enter and leave areas with no reception.

hmmmmmmm
i just found something iv been testing it for 30 min now if i lay my hd2 down flat on table or anything flat i can keep 3 bars 3g indoors i pick it up and hold in hand and boom 1 bar edge this is wierd wonder if this means anything im going to tryit at work tomorow see if it dose the same thing tryit see if your phone dose the same guys let me know i can stream video on mobi tv as long as its laying flat 3g i pick it up and the video stops and phone goes to edge

sev15 said:
i just found something iv been testing it for 30 min now if i lay my hd2 down flat on table or anything flat i can keep 3 bars 3g indoors i pick it up and hold in hand and boom 1 bar edge this is wierd wonder if this means anything im going to tryit at work tomorow see if it dose the same thing tryit see if your phone dose the same guys let me know i can stream video on mobi tv as long as its laying flat 3g i pick it up and the video stops and phone goes to edge
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Yes, that's one of the crazy things with this phone. It can sit on a table all day and the 3G icon will be full bars. As soon as you touch the damn thing, you see the bars drop to 1 then it goes to Edge full bars then it drops to G...and will not go back to 3G until you put the phone down.
This needs to update fast. Thing I'm gonna go back to my TP2 until then.

I am a little confused here. some posts seem as if it might be a device issue and others seem to be leaning towards t-mobile. i had some really bad issues with my reception until i changed Radios. i am currently using 2.10.50.19._2 and my 3g signal seems to cut out less. but its is not as strong as my Tp2 which had excellent 3g signal, but i did call t-mobile and they said there have been issues reported in my area and they are working on it but if that is the case then my tp2 would also have the same issues which it does not! so i don't know what to make of it??

piztol44pete said:
I am a little confused here. some posts seem as if it might be a device issue and others seem to be leaning towards t-mobile. i had some really bad issues with my reception until i changed Radios. i am currently using 2.10.50.19._2 and my 3g signal seems to cut out less. but its is not as strong as my Tp2 which had excellent 3g signal, but i did call t-mobile and they said there have been issues reported in my area and they are working on it but if that is the case then my tp2 would also have the same issues which it does not! so i don't know what to make of it??
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I think its the phone. I've never had issues with my G1. I went to the Cliq and it had bad reception. I could set it next to my friends G1 and Mytouch and they both had 2 - 3 bas of 3G and I would be on Edge. The HD2 is a little better but not as good as the G1 and MyTouch. The N1 has the exact same issues and they are both HTC. Hopefully a radio or software update will fix the issue. Its a know issue with Tmobile so they are aware of the issue.

You can try to go to settings, personal, phone, band, and change the select yout network type option to wcdma. Leave the slect your gsm/umts band option to auto. This tells it to only connect to 3g. I had to do it with my at&t windows mobile phone when I was at my job to keep it on 3g. Also with my t-mobile hd2, in certain places i have to do it otherwise it switches between 3g and edge. Downside is, if there is no 3G signal available your phone will have no signal. It should work since the phone is detecting 3g signal.

Its great to know that I am not the only person experiencing these issues with the HD2. I lay it down on my desk and it will read 3 bars 3G. Pick it up, and it drops to Edge. Never had these problems with my Xperia X1i. Something I have noticed is the battery life on my HD2 is much better than my Xperia X1i. Although it has a larger screen and smaller battery. I think the Engineers at HTC reduced the power to the Radio to help improve battery life. Anyone have any theories on how to increase the power to the radio antenna?

Just saw this thread when I was looking for a solution to this exact problem. I just recently moved to Houston and can not seem to get a T-Mobile signal inside my house with my HD2. It got signal just fine in Alabama, but nothing here.
I have a Dash 3G right next to the HD2 with 3 bars of 3G, hd2 has nothing. I even put my sim card in an old hacked iPhone and it even gets signal inside. I can't figure this out but its making me consider having to get rid of the phone. What good is it when the phone doesn't get signal?
I also just saw the new 2.11.50.20 radio on the forums, so after I charge my hd2 i'm gonna try that out and see if it helps.

I am from Houston too. ( Pearland Actually )
Same story here, inside my house NO 3G! However if I am driving around town I usually have 3 or 4 bars 3G. Let us know if that new radio ROM helps at all.
sullitf said:
Just saw this thread when I was looking for a solution to this exact problem. I just recently moved to Houston and can not seem to get a T-Mobile signal inside my house with my HD2. It got signal just fine in Alabama, but nothing here.
I have a Dash 3G right next to the HD2 with 3 bars of 3G, hd2 has nothing. I even put my sim card in an old hacked iPhone and it even gets signal inside. I can't figure this out but its making me consider having to get rid of the phone. What good is it when the phone doesn't get signal?
I also just saw the new 2.11.50.20 radio on the forums, so after I charge my hd2 i'm gonna try that out and see if it helps.
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WhiteSites said:
I am from Houston too. ( Pearland Actually )
Same story here, inside my house NO 3G! However if I am driving around town I usually have 3 or 4 bars 3G. Let us know if that new radio ROM helps at all.
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No help. 2.11.50.20 isn't doing anything, still getting 0 bars inside and 2 bars of when I go onto my front porch. Down the road I get full 3G, so I don't understand whats going on at all

quantum reception??

hello everybody...just received my quantum 2 days ago (i live in italy)...it was locked to at&t so i unlocked it with a code...but the reception is very bad, so i wonder...if i debrand the phone from at&t perhaps it will get better reception...what u think? because the signal only shows g/3g and no 3g+ or H....i'm a bit worried about that...help please! =)

Beggy90 said:
hello everybody...just received my quantum 2 days ago (i live in italy)...it was locked to at&t so i unlocked it with a code...but the reception is very bad, so i wonder...if i debrand the phone from at&t perhaps it will get better reception...what u think? because the signal only shows g/3g and no 3g+ or H....i'm a bit worried about that...help please! =)
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If the phone is showing 3G at any time, then you are set up for the appropriate bands to get high(er) speed data transfer and 3G voice. If you only see E, then your carrier is using the other bands and unfortunately, there is no way to reconfigure the phone via firmware.
As far as general reception capabilities of the Quantum, I find it to be superior to the S-E X10 I used to use (I still have it), so I don't think there is anything wrong with the design. What phone were you using before?

drtolson said:
If the phone is showing 3G at any time, then you are set up for the appropriate bands to get high(er) speed data transfer and 3G voice. If you only see E, then your carrier is using the other bands and unfortunately, there is no way to reconfigure the phone via firmware.
As far as general reception capabilities of the Quantum, I find it to be superior to the S-E X10 I used to use (I still have it), so I don't think there is anything wrong with the design. What phone were you using before?
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i had an omnia 7...but it's the first time i use a phone that comes from the US...dunno, it's weird, because when the omnia was under hspa, tha phone showed me always 3g+...and with tha quantum it shows me always 3g, and very poor reception (only 1 bar)....but the most of time the signal is under gprs only....it's pissing me off =(

You are correct. This phone has really bad wifi and wireless reception. I had flip phone before this and in places where I had 1 or 2 bars before with LG I have nothing, no signal. Yesterday I had to leave Ikea building and turn phone off/on just to get reception because if after spending 2 minutes outside he couldn't lock the signal.
Regarding wifi, at home I have hi-gain antenna on my router. I can take my laptop outside on the parking lot, sit in my car and still browser on the internet. This is around 30m distance through 1 thick concrete wall. This phone is struggling to get signal on the opposite side of the home, behind 2-3 drywall walls.
I constantly have signal changing between 3G and H. Were unhappy with reception.

AT&T phones don't show H+ (3G+), it just reports it as 3G. Signal wise I live out in the middle of nowhere and I got pretty decent signal with it. You can change your primary band settings under the MFG app though (because its AT&T if 2100 is available it automatically swaps to it, although where youre at 2100 may not be a primary band).

Network extender doesnt work with Turbo

I bought a business class Verizon extender for $400 because the Turbo has less reception than my LG G2 did, but there seems to be a serious flaw in the Turbos programming (or maybe it's the antenna). I can be right next to the extender with only a couple bars, if I go to make a phone call it suddenly jumps to full bars. The issue could be battery saving? Because if I walk 30 feet from the extender I will lose the extender connection all together. I can then walk back to the extender and have no connection even when right next to it. Basically the extender is useless at 30ft because it will always lose connection.
Before anyone says, it's a defective extender. It's not, this is the replacement extender for the first one that had the same issue (and a burnt out power LED).

Can you post a picture of the extender? The first two photos show its connected to the extender. The third is 3g and it won't connect to it on 3g.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Free mobile app

extender in background
mobrules777 said:
Can you post a picture of the extender? The first two photos show its connected to the extender. The third is 3g and it won't connect to it on 3g.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Free mobile app
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The extender is the 4 blue lights in the background. It is the new business class one made by Samsung. It's supposed to have a range of 60ft.

The icon above your signal strength in the pictures shows that you are connected to the extender. It looks like a little house. Barely noticeable but its there. I have three to four bars at one end of my house but the other end only one. The one I have is the residential one but I have very bad 4g reception at my house. I dont really know anything about the business class one. The one I have has a range of about 100 ft. I can walk about half way into the back property without losing connection. I wonder If the materials of the building is causing an issue. I know a local government that bought these for several of its buildings. They didnt work for them because the buildings were concrete and brick. A phone could be 10 ft away from the extender but a wall between them and there was no connection at all.
Im sure this is stuff you already know but I would talk to verizon tier one support about it. They seeem to be a little more knowledgeable.

1 bar and I'm 1ft from extender.
It is showing 1 bar and I'm 1ft from the extender. So I walk 30ft and I got nothing.

The turbo can't do simultaneous voice and data because it has one radio, so whenever I make a call it shows 1x with no bars. I guess when you're on the extender and make a call, it switches to full bars like you said. I don't know anything about these extenders though.

If you place a call, you should see it go up to full strength.
You're seeing the 4G indicator, which is the 4G signal coming in from the network. The Network Extenders are 1X/EV-DO only.

Look at Settings-> About Phone-> Status-> Network Type and Strength and see what it says for 1x (or maybe 3g) strength.
I think digitaloutsider is right- when you're not on a call, and you're in 4G coverage, you'll see your 4G strength on the signal meter (or, at least, the low bar between the two). You can verify that you're going through the network extender by either dialing #48 or listening for a double beep immediately after you dial a number.
I don't have a business extender, but my consumer device doesn't have a great range. When I'm 30 feet away in my house (depending on exactly where I am), I'll see a noticeable drop in signal strength from the extender. It certainly still works anywhere in my house, though.

tested
reggie14 said:
Look at Settings-> About Phone-> Status-> Network Type and Strength and see what it says for 1x (or maybe 3g) strength.
I think digitaloutsider is right- when you're not on a call, and you're in 4G coverage, you'll see your 4G strength on the signal meter (or, at least, the low bar between the two). You can verify that you're going through the network extender by either dialing #48 or listening for a double beep immediately after you dial a number.
I don't have a business extender, but my consumer device doesn't have a great range. When I'm 30 feet away in my house (depending on exactly where I am), I'll see a noticeable drop in signal strength from the extender. It certainly still works anywhere in my house, though.
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I believe you guys are correct. It is showing the tower signal, even when the little house extender icon is on. I took several screen shots and they seem to verify the bars are the tower signal. The one issue seems to be that I still am completely losing connection to the extender when I am not far away (45ft), as seen in one of the screens. Certainly not the 60ft range that Verizon claims the business extender can reach.

lukester01 said:
I believe you guys are correct. It is showing the tower signal, even when the little house extender icon is on. I took several screen shots and they seem to verify the bars are the tower signal. The one issue seems to be that I still am completely losing connection to the extender when I am not far away (45ft), as seen in one of the screens. Certainly not the 60ft range that Verizon claims the business extender can reach.
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It looks like your phone is getting a stronger signal from a Verizon tower than your network extender in one of the pictures. Are you getting closer to a window in that case?

file name tells location
reggie14 said:
It looks like your phone is getting a stronger signal from a Verizon tower than your network extender in one of the pictures. Are you getting closer to a window in that case?
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If you hover over the picture, it will show the file name for the location in relation to the extender. The extender is in an area of better cell tower coverage. I have a serious problem with intermittent cell coverage at this location. One second I'll have an amazing 4G signal, then 10 sec later it will be 1 bar 3G, then seconds after that nothing, then 5 min later great 4G coverage again. I am on the water in Seattle and I have noticed that when it switches to the 3G signal I am actually on a tower 3 miles away across the water. For some reason the signal goes up and down, then switches towers, it's a mess. So I was hoping the extender would give me constant coverage.
The one you are talking about I think is me on the phone, 45ft from the extender (is the phone icon at the top?). But if I get off the phone at that location the signal instantly drops as you can see in another photo labeled 45ft from extender. I honestly think the phone boosts it's reception when on the phone, then lets it drop when not. This would be fine if I only used the phone for phone calls (I use my wifi for data), except that I cannot then get texts when it does this.

lukester01 said:
If you hover over the picture, it will show the file name for the location in relation to the extender. The extender is in an area of better cell tower coverage. I have a serious problem with intermittent cell coverage at this location. One second I'll have an amazing 4G signal, then 10 sec later it will be 1 bar 3G, then seconds after that nothing, then 5 min later great 4G coverage again. I am on the water in Seattle and I have noticed that when it switches to the 3G signal I am actually on a tower 3 miles away across the water. For some reason the signal goes up and down, then switches towers, it's a mess. So I was hoping the extender would give me constant coverage.
The one you are talking about I think is me on the phone, 45ft from the extender (is the phone icon at the top?). But if I get off the phone at that location the signal instantly drops as you can see in another photo labeled 45ft from extender. I honestly think the phone boosts it's reception when on the phone, then lets it drop when not. This would be fine if I only used the phone for phone calls (I use my wifi for data), except that I cannot then get texts when it does this.
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Use Verizon Messages, you can send+receive SMS over Wi-Fi and you can open your messages in a web portal from your laptop or another device. Verizon apps don't always suck haha

I am gasping at the remark the turbo has worse reception than the g2. My droid maxx definitely has better reception and hand off than my g3 but both work well.
Sent from my Verizon LG G3 using Tapatalk

I really think it depends on your area as far as reception. The Turbo is the first phone I have used that gets cell reception in my neighborhood. That would be better reception than the OG droid, Bionic, Original Nexus, S3, HTC One, Iphone 4, iphone 5 and Verizon Ellipsis.
That said, due to all the reception issues of the past, I also have the business class extender. I have 2 bars of 4g and when I make a call, it goes over to 1x at full strength. As I move away, the bars drop. I live on half an acre and this thing still works out in the yard. You always know when you are using the extender because of the little bo doop sound it makes when you answer or make a call.

Project Fi at home where Tmobile and sprint signals are weak.

i am considering project Fi.
But where i live there is not tmobile signal, my friends come here with tmobile homes and they dont get signal(they live half a mile away).
Sprint coverage map says that there is "fair" signal.
so i was wondering if with project FI i dont have signal at home, the nexus 6p will switch to my wifi network and i will be able to receive and make calls?

buton2 said:
i am considering project Fi.
But where i live there is not tmobile signal, my friends come here with tmobile homes and they dont get signal(they live half a mile away).
Sprint coverage map says that there is "fair" signal.
so i was wondering if with project FI i dont have signal at home, the nexus 6p will switch to my wifi network and i will be able to receive and make calls?
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I activated my Project Fi sim earlier in the week. T-Mobile is not strong around my house (I had to switch to an AT&T sim when I was with StraightTalk) and I'm not sure about Sprint. So far, while I'm at home, the majority of my calls are using my home wifi. I haven't had the chance to test a continuous call as I'm driving home to see if it switches to wifi, as Google indicates it will.

jrstaples1 said:
I activated my Project Fi sim earlier in the week. T-Mobile is not strong around my house (I had to switch to an AT&T sim when I was with StraightTalk) and I'm not sure about Sprint. So far, while I'm at home, the majority of my calls are using my home wifi. I haven't had the chance to test a continuous call as I'm driving home to see if it switches to wifi, as Google indicates it will.
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We are on the same boat...I work on the city and signal is strong there...
Verizon and att serve my home..but I want to get away from them...
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Free mobile app

Yes, Project Fi uses WiFi for calls and texts when you are on WiFi.

Honestly tmobile wifi calling isn't even that great also. I am only able to get edge in my house with them and wifi calling enabled. I tried calling my phone 15 times and 2-3 times it didn't go through (it actually RINGS but my phone doesn't ring or indicate someone called, and the phone I'm using it rings and goes to voicemail) Wifi calling is at it's infancy I feel like.
I had a tmobile lte booster installed in my room for a year and it BARELY made a difference, still got 0.3-0.5 mbps speeds on their "lte"
Fast forward to last month they finally came out with a lte booster that ACTUALLY works, the previous one came was trash.
If I were you, I'd get tmobile and get the NEW lte booster, because the old one gave me 0.5 to 1mbps at it's best and the new one gives me around 7-10mbps on speedtest. Sprint has horrible signal, I would think their "Fair" signal means horrible reception.
Or just go AT&T and verizon, you get what you pay for..... they are much MUCH reliable than tmobile and sprint.

btort1 said:
Honestly tmobile wifi calling isn't even that great
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Note that T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling has nothing in common with Project Fi Wi-Fi calling, which works perfectly.

I seem to only have had one wifi call at my house with Project Fi that I've actually noticed / remembered. I have no idea why all of them don't come in / go out that way. I have a good cell signal too. But, my wifi is strong on 5 Ghz and my bandwidth is about 88 mbps down / 12 up. I only noticed that one time I got an incoming call that said something to the effect of "using wifi network name." I've confirmed the settings in the phone app are set to use wifi calling too.

WiFi calling works perfect at the house. Have very limited cell signal with every provider, so I put on Airplane mode + WiFi and zero issues?

Solutions Etcetera said:
Note that T-Mobile Wi-Fi calling has nothing in common with Project Fi Wi-Fi calling, which works perfectly.
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Yeah I was just mentioning how bad tmobile is in some areas. But if you have their new lte booster, it works great. The older version barely made a difference. Came from 0.5mbps to 7-10mbps consistently
I mentioned it also cause they told me to try their wifi calling last year and it was jist decent, I still missed calls without knowing people actually called