I do get good 4G coverage from VZW most of the places I go. But the fact that the coverage is not 100% makes it useless for real-time application. This morning I was on a conference call using Skype dialing a regular phone number. In 30 minutes the call dropped twice, both due to I drove through a spot with no 4G coverage. As the phone switched from 4G to 3G the Skype connection was cut momentarily and the call dropped. On my OG Droid X on 3G this rarely happens.
I wish the phone handles switching from 4G to 3G more gracefully. Now I'll have to remember to turn off 4G when I start a Skype call. Quite annoying.
Any idea how to fix/workaround this?
This and failed text messages are the reason I left Verizon. ATT's 4G LTE is much boarder in cities and when you leave LTE areas then you fall back to HSPA+.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
to each his own...
I have phones on AT&T and Verizon Wireless networks (one for work and one for play). I've consistently had better phone experience in the DFW areas as well as places I've traveled to on both coasts.
Consumer Reports article about AT&T being lowest in customer satisfaction.
Well sprints is great.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
saccityp said:
Well sprints is great.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except for almost the whole US except for a couple states has 3G.
I have a Blackberry on AT&T for work and the S3 and a Razr Maxx on Verizon.
In Dallas, there is no comparison that Verizon is better- never a dropped call, and data reliability is outstanding compared to AT&T.
I've had AT&T since before they existed as AT&T and their analog, GSM, Edge, 3G have never held up well in either voice or data in my 10-11 year's of experience with them in the DFW market.
luckily I live in an area were I always have 4g
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
saccityp said:
Well sprints is great.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint's WiMax also unfortunately had this issue. The reason was because when your phone switches from 4G to 3G, your IP address changes thus ending any active connections. This was especially bad for WiMax since it was on 2.4Ghz making it have very spotty coverage.
I'm not sure if it's possible to retain the IP from a switch or if Sprint does this with their LTE network.
In my area, VZW is only LTE and has better signal than any others... guess I don't have any choice...
I love Verizon's Service. LTE is on point here in Orange County CA and I get consistently better service than anyone without it. My only concern is with the phone itself. It keeps freezing on the data side once to twice a day. I just have to turn off and then turn on mobile data to get it to work.
Thanks for all the info about coverage of different carriers. The point of my post/question though, is that when there's not a 100% 4G coverage, the data connection is disrupted when you switch from 4G to 3G, causing trouble in any application that requires a stable data connection.
Seems even if the 4G coverage is not 100%, there should be a better way of handling switching to 3G such that it doesn't drop data completely.
simollie said:
Thanks for all the info about coverage of different carriers. The point of my post/question though, is that when there's not a 100% 4G coverage, the data connection is disrupted when you switch from 4G to 3G, causing trouble in any application that requires a stable data connection.
Seems even if the 4G coverage is not 100%, there should be a better way of handling switching to 3G such that it doesn't drop data completely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's nothing you can do about it but the carriers can fix it.
The solution would be to keep the same IP address when switching from 3G to 4G. The reason video calls in skype, browser downloads, and other things stop is because the IP address changes when switching. If the same IP address was kept from the switch, that wouldn't happen.
One thing that carriers could do when connecting to 4G is: Have your phone connect to both 3G and 4G at the same time and then request the same IP for 4G that you had on 3G. Then it can switch to 4G and switch off the 3G connection thus retaining the same IP and leading to no interruptions. All of this would happen in probably less than a second. The same thing can be done for switching from 4G to 3G.
I don't see why carriers can't/don't do this. Either they haven't thought to implement it, or there is some other reason that would make this impractical.
Related
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111455/4g-is-a-myth-and-confusing
Plus the fact it's not even close to my area of living
yeah cell providers called it that cause it sounded good, and for them was technincally the 4th generation of mobile internet - but it is not what 4G officially stands for.... there IS NO real 4g networks anywhere, as the standards are in their infancy.
Old news. ITU said this a while back. It's funny, I talked to Verizon at their Chicago LTE launch event and they laughed and said, it's all marketing anyway, so who cares.
ITU has no teeth, so no one really cares.
WiMax and LTE are 4G networks that aren't being used as that yet. All that's needed is a firmware upgrade to make it true 4G.
Tmobile on the other hand will never have 4G with their current network.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
xHausx said:
WiMax and LTE are 4G networks that aren't being used as that yet. All that's needed is a firmware upgrade to make it true 4G.
Tmobile on the other hand will never have 4G with their current network.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mmm... No. If you want to equate it to something, LTE and 802.16e WiMax that Sprint and Verizon are pushing out is like 802.11b Wi-Fi. Real 4G (LTE-Advanced and 802.16m WiMax) would be more like 802.11n.
Basically, just ask yourself these questions to tell if it's 4G:
1) Do I see speeds of around 100mbps average?
2) Is all traffic being done via IPv6?
3) Are calls being made as VoIP?
Pretty sure that article is way off. I agree that it's not true 4g, but tmobile's hspa+ doesn't even get close to 12mb. Most of the time it barely reaches 4-5mbs.
yeah verizon and sprints networks are more like 3.5 g or 3.25 g. t mobiles is still 3g but since everyone else is slapping 4g stickers on their network they thought they would too, especially since the average consumer doesnt know what the f 4g is anyway. and meanwhile at&t is still trying to get 3g working lol.
Cal3b said:
yeah verizon and sprints networks are more like 3.5 g or 3.25 g. t mobiles is still 3g but since everyone else is slapping 4g stickers on their network they thought they would too, especially since the average consumer doesnt know what the f 4g is anyway. and meanwhile at&t is still trying to get 3g working lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You got me laughing with the AT&T still getting 3g to work well lol and there drop calls lol.
I don't know about the rest of you all, but I live in the central valley, CA and 4G is widely available throughout the region. I average from 6-10mbs down when I do a speedtest. But I only enable 4G when I really need it, otherwise my battery dies rather quickly.
drmacinyasha said:
Mmm... No. If you want to equate it to something, LTE and 802.16e WiMax that Sprint and Verizon are pushing out is like 802.11b Wi-Fi. Real 4G (LTE-Advanced and 802.16m WiMax) would be more like 802.11n.
Basically, just ask yourself these questions to tell if it's 4G:
1) Do I see speeds of around 100mbps average?
2) Is all traffic being done via IPv6?
3) Are calls being made as VoIP?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Technically LTE and 801.16 in their current implications are called Pre-4G, however, the networks are being built as 4G networks. They are just not being utilized as such and the standards for both types of 4G aren't even finalized yet. They are fully packet switched networks with support for IPv6. The only place where the networks fall short is bandwidth, true 4G requires 100MB nominal speeds with at least 1GB peak. That can't happen until the standards are finalized.
T-Mo's HSPA+ is 3.5G and will never be 4G. There was a wired (I think) article just today saying they were thinking about chipping in on WiMAXs spectrum for their next generation network, aka 4G.
Edit: From the article:
One network representative, who asked not to be identified, claimed that ITU's 4G line-in-the-sand is being misconstrued. The organization previously approved the use of the term "4G" for Sprint's WiMAX and Verizon's LTE networks, he said -- though not for T-Mobile's HSPA+ network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
anyone know if tmobiles hspa is better than sprints wimax
By actual performance yes, but by technicality and service, that's not necessarily true.
What was nice about t-mobile hspa+ upgrade was they even sped up 3g service for regular 3g users. But their network is spotty unless you're in texas pretty much.
My friend with a t-mo TP2 never gets reliable speeds. Its always fluctuating. Idk about the G2 though with its hspa+
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I was under the impression that hspa+ requires certain hardware like wimax so the only phones that actually utalize the service are the g2 and mytouch 4g. Technically neither wimax nor hspa+ is really "4g" by the official definition, however, from what I've read, wimax is probably the closest we have right now. Hspa+ is an upgraded 3g network, like 3.5g. Both will run faster than 3g though so its more about what area you live in and the kind of coverage you get than which is faster. I know sprint doesn't have coverage in a lot of areas, but I'm not sure about tmobiles network.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Yes and no..the reason why wimax right now is that speed is because sprint is only running it in 10mhz of spectrum..if they run it in larger mhz it will be faster...
overall though while HSPA+ on t-mobile you might get faster speeds it will diminish greatly..HSPA+ is not as efficient as wimax, thus cannot support as many simultaneous users as wimax can.
And yes HSPA+ upgrade should offer some benefit to HSPDA devices as well even if they cannot utilize the HSPA+ speeds..
Wimax is also suppose to offer lower latencies...but I don't know if that can be seen or not..I do get around 100ms when I test which isn't too bad...but some got a lot higher...
The great thing about hspa+ and hsdpa is that the switch is made without affecting the user. There's no need to turn anything on or off and there's no message popping up in your taskbar. You can go from GPRS to EDGE to UMTS to HSDPA to HSPA+ or any combination of the 5 without doing anything. Your internet just gets faster or slower depending on where you are. Tmo has good building penetration and MUCH faster speeds than any other network today.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Herd sprint is leasing the 4g curently for verizon and tmoible(gsm cdma) I don't care its what I was told. As far as speed? Id like to see 4g at all.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
i have the g2, on my epic in my area i would get 2.2-2.4 Mbps on tmo in same area i get a much larger coverage of the hsdpa speeds and i get about 3.5-5.0Mbps down. i have yet to see hspa+ in my about phone but i do get faster speeds with tmo.
the thing i like is its using the same radio so i get the increased speeds without loss of battery unlike wimax
Shadomastr said:
I was under the impression that hspa+ requires certain hardware like wimax so the only phones that actually utalize the service are the g2 and mytouch 4g. Technically neither wimax nor hspa+ is really "4g" by the official definition, however, from what I've read, wimax is probably the closest we have right now. Hspa+ is an upgraded 3g network, like 3.5g. Both will run faster than 3g though so its more about what area you live in and the kind of coverage you get than which is faster. I know sprint doesn't have coverage in a lot of areas, but I'm not sure about tmobiles network.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 for mentioning the truth of 4g!
I loved my G1 with its internet speeds and voice reception when I lived in New England and its speed kicked the **** out of Spring 4g service but when I moved out to the midwest I couldn't get 3g barely anywhere yet alone HSPA+ and Sprint is much better overall out here. So pretty much its better as long as you live in a highly populated area that they deem is worthy for their service.
I had the G2 but due to my house being in a t-mobile black hole I decided to switch to sprint.
I live/work in an area that has both HSPA+ and Wimax and in the areas that I had a strong signal, HSPA+ would d/l at 2-6Mbps and with Wimax I average 4-5Mbps.
For me, T-mobiles coverage was spotty. Sprints has been much better.
As for the ease of switching between networks, I had a really hard time with t-mobile staying on HSPA+ even when there was a decent signal. It was much more prone to staying on the slower 3G network unless I manually forced it to stay on HSPA+
IMO, Long term, since Wimax and LTE will be the prevailing technologies, T-mobile will most likely be changing their network over at some point. HSPA+ is just helping them to buy some time so they don't fall to far behind in the carrier data race.
It all depends on what market you are in. I live in the midwest and TMobile coverage sucks all around. ATT isn't much better. ATT still doesn't even have 3G in the city I live in, which is only 10 miles north of the biggest metro area in the state. (I laugh at my one buddy who has an iPhone) It's basically Sprint, Verizon or US Cellular if you want quality coverage here.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
shabbypenguin said:
i have the g2, on my epic in my area i would get 2.2-2.4 Mbps on tmo in same area i get a much larger coverage of the hsdpa speeds and i get about 3.5-5.0Mbps down. i have yet to see hspa+ in my about phone but i do get faster speeds with tmo.
the thing i like is its using the same radio so i get the increased speeds without loss of battery unlike wimax
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure what your 4g signal is where you live, but even in Denver, where 4g isn't official yet, i get anywhere from 4-9 Mbps. Then again, it isn't Live yet, so it could go down as more people start using the 4g service.
bighuta said:
I'm not sure what your 4g signal is where you live, but even in Denver, where 4g isn't official yet, i get anywhere from 4-9 Mbps. Then again, it isn't Live yet, so it could go down as more people start using the 4g service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats about what I get here in Baltimore and we had WiMax first. I average about 6-7 Mbps inside my house
Funny, I live in philadephia, pa area. I have epic, 2 of my friends have tmobile {hd2 and tmobile gs phone}.
I get 2-4 mbps, they get 3-4, shockingly their upload is better as well. Seems their faster coverage is better on the outer areas of my 4g coverage and get it where I can not sometimes[suburbs and south nj]
Sent from my Epic 4g powered by EE Froyo, Emotionless Beast themed!
Sprint wimax seems pretty useless here in san francisco. It gets pretty good data rates when it works but you pretty much have to be outdoors in the open. The main problem though is that it's very spotty and every time it falls back to 3g or switches back up to 4g there's no connectivity AT ALL for at least 30 seconds or so, which makes it more or less unusable. I just leave it turned off. Also the battery doesn't even last half a day with it enabled.
One problem I've noticed w/Sprint 4G in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale -- your connection drops & IP address changes whenever you 1)get ip lease from a tower, then 2)move somewhere more than 1 tower-hop away into a new tower's area with 3 bars of signal strength.
The moment you hit 3 bars, the connection drops to release your ip address back to the first tower... but the phone will have no connectivity at all for a few seconds, and won't try to reconnect to 4g for a few minutes unless you manually toggle 4g off & on to force an immediate reconnect.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
From day one, I have had isues with signal strength. It will be 6 bars one second and then no bars the next while in the same spot. Is there yet a solution?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Same here. I get the infinite sms and send failed all the time. Messed up thing is the only rom this doesn't happen to me in is stock. Go figure.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Mine has always been stock no mods running froyo
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I have the same problem. Mine will go from perfect signal to the damn 1x icon with no bars and be so slow. Even though on in the same spot when I had full signal. It pisses me off.
Sent From My Evo Killer!!
Same here
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
I have the same problem too.It's even worse when i'm 4G.it sucks
If you install roam control from the market, it will force your phone to roam and in the process turn your phone into a verizon phone since you will be using there towers It solved all my reception issues, just be sure to check allow data roaming and you most likely will not have another problem with reception. Oh also you must be rooted for it to work
Yeah but when using roam control the internet speed isn't 3g
Sent From My Evo Killer!!
The 3g icon is displayed on my phone and actively in use since i enabled data roaming, so i dont see your point? Data is fast and reception is good, dont be a debbie downer
jspsuperman said:
The 3g icon is displayed on my phone and actively in use since i enabled data roaming, so i dont see your point? Data is fast and reception is good, dont be a debbie downer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try testing your speed. just because the 3g icon is displayed doesn't mean you're getting it. and the contract between sprint and verizon stipulates that sprint customers roaming on verizons network are restricted to 1x speeds.
seanwn86 said:
try testing your speed. just because the 3g icon is displayed doesn't mean you're getting it. and the contract between sprint and verizon stipulates that sprint customers roaming on verizons network are restricted to 1x speeds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. That is my point. Your not on 3g
Sent From My Evo Killer!
Im on wifi most of the time anyways, and when Im not (If I remember) I turn on 4g, so thats probably why I never noticed 3g being any different As far as signal strength, roam control does make you have excellent service for making calls, there is no denying that.
when I am at work or around outside at my work I cannot connect to the 4G network. No wireless is around, so 4G is on. I try to browse a site like this one, nothing happens. it just loads and never gets to the next page.
yet I pick up my phone right now and it instantly works using browser.
Most likely the room operator try another sim card and operator
Wixej said:
Most likely the room operator try another sim card and operator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what does that mean?
I was able to get 4G at work fine today, watched youtube.
is my phone defect? why would internet get stuck loading?
4G is still a new system. It's buggy and the signal is awkward. You're fine in one spot but move two steps to the left and you won't have it anymore. Just gotta hope that where you're standing has reception.
I don't actually understand how you get internet at all if it's not wireless. I suppose I could wikipedia that.
anyway, can I go down to 3G or 2G if I am not getting internet on 4G?
Yea, just turn off the 4g option. You'll go to 3g.
I bet it's verzion the most, "Verizon Wireless has the nation’s fastest, most reliable 4G network". It's starting too make me a bit mad, but any way I hope turning the 4g off works for you.
I have been geting the same crap so yea.
not Verizon it's Rogers. I live in Canada currently.
Hi
Is it clear
Rogers will not work everywhere in canada. It has verrrry low coverage.
Sorry
Verizon customer with 4G issues
I am almost always in 4G areas with Verizon, Fayetteville and Charlotte, NC, and Charleston, SC. The speeds are generally pretty good (varies between 14 Mbps to 6, starting to trend lower more consistently with more customers hopping on). I will generally lose signal on the lower floor of any multi-story building. But there seem to be noticeable outages, both from my phone (Samsung Droid Charge) and from the network.
I can generally tell which one it is by restarting my phone, so that may be a good way to diagnose whether the outages you're experiencing are hardware or network based. I can vouch for the fact that 4G coverage in Fayetteville has almost daily down times that vary from about 5-10 minutes.
Wow I thought 4G freezing was just a SideKick 4G problem.
My fix is to just turn mobile data off then back on.
Sent from the phone everyone has forgotten about!
I go to theme parks frequently, like Disneyland. I know they're a haven for busy cell towers, but it seems the 4G LTE on Sprint is just plain DEAD there, which seems counter intuitive.
They haven't officially launched, but my phone connects to 4G quite often now there.
In other areas, the 4G is fine and fast. But around busy places like that, it's 100% dead. Not even slow. No ping. No DNS. No nothing. I switch to 3G and it's a little slow, but steady and reliable.
Is it because Anaheim hasn't launched 4G officially yet and they're just trolling people? Is something wrong with my phone in handling busy towers? Or is that how an overloaded 4G LTE tower behaves, in that it just has NO response?
It seems bizarre that 3G is working better since I expect 3G towers to be much more saturated than the VERY new 4G LTE....
M3wThr33 said:
I go to theme parks frequently, like Disneyland. I know they're a haven for busy cell towers, but it seems the 4G LTE on Sprint is just plain DEAD there, which seems counter intuitive.
They haven't officially launched, but my phone connects to 4G quite often now there.
In other areas, the 4G is fine and fast. But around busy places like that, it's 100% dead. Not even slow. No ping. No DNS. No nothing. I switch to 3G and it's a little slow, but steady and reliable.
Is it because Anaheim hasn't launched 4G officially yet and they're just trolling people? Is something wrong with my phone in handling busy towers? Or is that how an overloaded 4G LTE tower behaves, in that it just has NO response?
It seems bizarre that 3G is working better since I expect 3G towers to be much more saturated than the VERY new 4G LTE....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into networks and switch to CDMA only.
leaderbuilder said:
Go into networks and switch to CDMA only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do that, and it works. I'm asking less about how to get a signal and more about why the 4G LTE just completely dies, but stays connected, in busy environments, while the 3G just goes slower.
Sprint is ABSOLUTE CRAP at sporting events and theme parks throughout Southern California. I frequent Dodger Stadium, Angel Stadium, Staples Center, Rose Bowl, Honda Center, Hollywood Bowl, Disneyland, etc. A Sprint customer, including myself, can expect nothing NADA ZILCH from this crap network. I've used Samsung Galaxy S3, Note 2, Galaxy S4, EVO 4G LTE. It doesn't matter which phone I have used; usually the phone CANNOT send texts, receive marginal reception when it can connect to make a call, and good luck loading an app or webpage which requires data. I've contacted Sprint reps numerous times about their poor service at all these locations. The typical response from Sprint is that they say ALL NETWORKS experience poor service at these densely populated areas due to local towers reaching capacity. When I counter that comment (e.g. LIE) by telling them other friends/family who have phones on "other networks" (Verizon, ATT) do not experience these problems. Their phones can send/receive texts, make calls, surf the net with no problems. I do give Sprint credit. Their reps are trained well. They do not acknowledge their FALSE STATEMENT and quickly deflect the issue to the network being upgraded.
One time I spoke with a Sprint retention rep who said a line of service must receive below 92% connectivity success before they consider allowing a customer to be released from their contract (i.e. no ETF). Of course calls that DO NOT CONNECT are not considered unsuccessful since Sprint cannot collect this data. (Or so said the Sprint rep)
Four more months with SLOW CRAWL (i.e. Sprint) Network. Then, I'm free from this contract. What's the benefit of UNLIMITED DATA when the crappy network won't allow a phone to consume data.
M3wThr33 said:
I go to theme parks frequently, like Disneyland. I know they're a haven for busy cell towers, but it seems the 4G LTE on Sprint is just plain DEAD there, which seems counter intuitive.
They haven't officially launched, but my phone connects to 4G quite often now there.
In other areas, the 4G is fine and fast. But around busy places like that, it's 100% dead. Not even slow. No ping. No DNS. No nothing. I switch to 3G and it's a little slow, but steady and reliable.
Is it because Anaheim hasn't launched 4G officially yet and they're just trolling people? Is something wrong with my phone in handling busy towers? Or is that how an overloaded 4G LTE tower behaves, in that it just has NO response?
It seems bizarre that 3G is working better since I expect 3G towers to be much more saturated than the VERY new 4G LTE....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------- Post added at 10:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:21 PM ----------
M3wThr33 said:
I do that, and it works. I'm asking less about how to get a signal and more about why the 4G LTE just completely dies, but stays connected, in busy environments, while the 3G just goes slower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You cannot do anything. Believe me. The network is crap, especially at Disneyland.
Actually, there is one thing. I have a friend who works in Anaheim and his job requires him to be at Disneyland Park. He actually went back to his Samsung Galaxy S2 (Epic 4G Touch) which uses WIMAX. He can actually connect on WIMAX in the area most times. He's sent me speed tests where the phone receives 2mb down, 1mb up. That's much better than NO LTE.
So just as the Sprint Network has regressed in providing cell service to its customers, he regressed to an older phone using Sprint's antiquated network and it actually works.
In summary, regression is progress (to Sprint and its customers).
Angry much?
I should say, yes, my previous device was an HTC Evo 3D, which was on WiMax, and 4G Wimax data worked, even in a crowded area. So this is definitely limited to 4G LTE.
Previously, at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Bundy Dr, there was a dead 4G LTE tower, too. I reported it and it is working now.
I'm not too upset knowing it's the network and not my device. It's much easier knowing the towers will improve, and I don't need to replace the device. (My first Evo 3D didn't connect to 4G at all. Had to replace it)
Please read forum rules before posting
Questions and Help issues go in Q&A and Help section
Thread moved
Thank you for your cooperation
Friendly Neighborhood Moderator
Or discuss in the dedicated LTE thread
In Chicago at the cubs game and bears game my phone never have issues with lte. I get pretty much lte the entire town and it's quick. I think it's a area to area basis
Sent from my SPH-L720 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app