I'm in a 3 Vibrant household. The other two phones stay connected to 3G all day. Both have stock ROMs. 1 is on stock Eclair (JI6) and the other has the stock Kies upgrade to Froyo. (Actually, during the first attempt to upgrade, Kies softbricked that phone, so I ODIN'ed it back to the JFD image I downloaded from XDA, and then successfully upgraded to stock KA6).
These other phones are my family's. My phone however, seems to be bumped down to EDGE as soon as I use it. In other words, if the phone is just sitting there charging, it indicates it is on the HSPDA network. If I pick it up and start using it, it bumps down to EDGE within a minute. I tried to hold it with my fingertips to avoid the "grip of death" but this does not help. (BTW, I can grip the other phones all day and they stay on 3G. So my fat hands do not seem to be the problem).
My phone has seen just a few ROMS: Bionix, Flagship and now running Trigger 2.5.
I have tried the following modems: JK6, JL5, KA6, KA7, and of course Trigger 2.5 comes with KB1.
I have also done the hardware contact fix (i.e. lift up the copper tabs).
After flashing in different modems and doing the hardware fix, I continue to experience the exact same phenomena.
I am at my wit's end. I DO NOT know what else to try to get the dang thing to stay on 3G or HSPDA. I know I should try going back to stock to see if that helps ... but I am pretty reluctant to go there.
Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.
Well, not sure if it is where you are at, In places in Hawaii and Very Northern California I only get edge.....But so the sake of argument we will assume the signal is not the issue
Here is a way to do some testing :
I use this when i want to get 850wcdma (ATT 3g) it does work for that
Dial: *#*#197328640#*#*
Click [1] debug screen
Click [8] phone control
Click [7] network control
Click [2] band selection
This is where you make a change, default setting is [1] automatic,
Which means it chooses automatically between gsm/cdma (Edge vs 3g).
So we are going to change this and set it to wcdma band which is 3g.
Click [2] wcdma band
Click [1] wcdma all []
Now it should display “select wcdma all bands [*]"
Now on the bottom of your phone, click the menu key, it’s the one next to the home key, now click back, menu again one more time, back one more time, this is just to confirm it set to number 2 wcdma band.
Now click menu key one last time, click end.. and you are done. Now to double verify that the phone is locked into 3g, dial in: *#*#4636#*#*
Then click phone information Then scroll down to “set preferred network type” It should now have listed “wcdma only.” PS, if you tried to do a shortcut, and just set wcdma this way first without doing the lock above, it would just go back to gsm/cdma auto once you exit the screen.
Your phone should now be locked into 3g.
That may help good luck..........
oka1,
Thank you very much for your detailed reply. This sounded very promising. I followed every step of your instructions. The result was that I ended up with no network. The four bars area was replaced with an empty space. Attempts to access the web resulted in message that no network was available.
No biggie. Just went back through the process and set the phone back to the default. And I am now back the EDGE.
Any I too am in Northern California.
Thanks again.
Yeah Northern Cal north of Ukiah nothing but Edge, but then ATT and verizon are the same
Actually, SF Bay Area ... South Bay to be exact.
My prob is that I can get HSPDA ... as long as I leave the phone on my desk connected to the power cord. If I pick it up or move around the house, I lose connection to the 3G network and get downgraded to EDGE. This does NOT happen to the other two Vibrants that we have. They always get 3G.
This may be related to the Grip of Death. But only for my phone.
Well I am in Alameda and I have a similar problem. for what ever reason, If I am in my house the wireless WIFI makes my phone go to edge, go in my backyard, and I have 3g. Now since i am on the second floor, to only thing I can think is my wifi signal messes up my 3g cause in the front on my porch I get edge (13 ft above the street.........so I use wifi at home, but it still really bugs me that in the house I have edge and in the backyard I have 3g....... go figure
Related
This has started to happen recently. I am with AT&T Wireless in Brooklyn, NY. The phone used to carry the signal around almost the whole day and never lose it, but these days if I leave it alone for a while and come back it may say "no service" or "searching..." . If I do a soft reset it may find the signal, or if I turn wireless off and then on (which doesn't always respond, by the way -- on my phone it's called "Turn on Flight Mode". Is that what it's supposed to be called?)
I got this phone two months ago and I am extremely thrilled with it. It's a phone, pocket pc and (video!) camera in one. Sometimes it can achieve great clarity on conversations.
I wish someone can help me out though with some advice or information on upgrading the phone. I have the following questions:
1) What GSM frequencies does this phone use? Can I make it work with AT&T's 850 band? Is anyone familiar with making this phone work better with AT&T wireless?
2) What are some of the icons I see on the top, such as the G in a square? On my old phone that used to mean GPRS connection (i.e. internet/wap). I don't know how to control these things. To turn wireless off, I click a link that says "Turn on flight mode."
3) Finally, what can I do to stop losing the signal?? I tried putting manual selection of the AT&T Wireless network on, and it didn't improve things -- the phone still lost the connection. Once it had the connection thoguh, it didn't drop it -- I don't know why the connection gets lost.
Thanks a bunch for any advice and info,
Greg
Egreg,
I have similar problems. My provider uses GSM 1900 & 850.
1) It uses GSM 900/1800/1900. Unfortunately doesn't have an 850 radio; which is really bad, they should have made it a Quad Band for the price we pay for it. GSM 1900 is really terrible in buildings etc.
2) G Means the radio has negotiated GPRS availability.
3) I've gotten better results with signal locking on by following this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=7619&highlight=signal
Download the application and set it to "Search GPRS on start GPRS connection". That way it doesn't have to negotiate for GPRS unless you actually want to use it (helps to establish signal lock much better as there is less protocol overhead).
Also now, I'm using Radio Version 1.06 & 1.08 as they seem to reconnect much better than 1.14.
Hope this helps.. Mine is performing much better now, not perfect, but not as annoying.
Thanks. I'll download the GPRS tweak program. Will that alone help the situation a bit? All I need is the voice capability, I won't use GPRS, only the GSM voice -- for internet browsing I may get a WiFi SDIO card from SanDisk.
I thought that changing to some other Radio software would help, but I heard on this site that changing the OS is risky. Can you tell me what I could do to get some a better connection, perhaps guide me through installing a correct version of Radio?
I haven't had this phone for very long, so I'm unsure if I should attempt to upgrade/downgrade.
-Greg
Greg,
I think the tweak program will help things a bit.. As I mentioned I am able to get signal seemingly quicker when I have it set...
I was pretty paranoid about OS upgrades, but I've gone through about 4 versions so far. This week is the first time I ventured out to use a different radio version than what comes with the upgrade.
Try the tweak and see how things go for a while, and then make your decision to upgrade your ROM...
First let me state I've searched for answers for a week, tried things to no resolve. This is all because my T-Mobile phone wasn't getting at&t 3G.
I purchased an unlocked, rooted Samsung Vibrant. Specs below:
Firmware: 2.2
Kernel: 2.6.32.9
Build: Bionix-v 1.2.1 By Team Whiskey
I did the following:
1. Remove SIM card
2. After "SIM card recoverd." message, dial *#2263#
4. Select option 4 - Combi bands
5. Select option 8 - WCDMA 850
6. Select Menu, Back
Now when i start/restart my phone, it takes longer to get to home screen (i see the "Team Whiskey" refreshing 2 to 4 times before getting to the home screen).
And I'm still only getting EDGE (E), not 3G.
I've downloaded Speedtest.net and performed a test - results:
Download: .04Mbps
Upload: .02Mbps
So I'm looking for help/guidance on the acquiring 3G and on the start/restart issue. I live in Niagara Falls, NY.
mattband83 said:
First let me state I've searched for answers for a week, tried things to no resolve. This is all because my T-Mobile phone wasn't getting at&t 3G.
I purchased an unlocked, rooted Samsung Vibrant. Specs below:
Firmware: 2.2
Kernel: 2.6.32.9
Build: Bionix-v 1.2.1 By Team Whiskey
I did the following:
1. Remove SIM card
2. After "SIM card recoverd." message, dial *#2263#
4. Select option 4 - Combi bands
5. Select option 8 - WCDMA 850
6. Select Menu, Back
Now when i start/restart my phone, it takes longer to get to home screen (i see the "Team Whiskey" refreshing 2 to 4 times before getting to the home screen).
And I'm still only getting EDGE (E), not 3G.
I've downloaded Speedtest.net and performed a test - results:
Download: .04Mbps
Upload: .02Mbps
So I'm looking for help/guidance on the acquiring 3G and on the start/restart issue. I live in Niagara Falls, NY.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, apparently even though it says WCDMA the 850 band is only EDGE. 1900 is the 3G band on the Vibrant for AT&T. So if you're in an area with only 850, or if 1900 gets full and you get bumped down then you won't get 3G. That's the downside of this phone versus the Captivate.
Thanks, and thoughts on the start up issue? It wasn't like that until i did the steps as noted above.
mattband83 said:
Thanks, and thoughts on the start up issue? It wasn't like that until i did the steps as noted above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try restarting it again. See if the reboot is back to normal. I think it should.
still refreshed 3 or 4 times but it seems to be faster.
so the only fix for the 3g is to get a captivate? It's with my area? Cause i have seen sites that state the vibrant should be able to get att 3g.
thanks for the help.
So i'm noticing sometimes when i restart my phone, i see the H for 3g but then it turns into E for edge. Thoughts?
Also, when i do the speedtest while on EDGE - shouldn't it be faster than what i've been getting, which is usually 60kbps down and 80kbps up.
The best way probably to test is your sim card in another vibrant. maybe yours is bad. I don't know. An at&t phone would be a better way to ensure you get the right bands. If we didn't have such great devs and I wasn't in a good area for 1900 then I'd switch. I am also to lazy to switch.
Sent from my Vibrant using Tapatalk Pro.
Dude leave your SIM in.
I did all those with my friends SIM in and it worked.
Master&Slave™ said:
Dude leave your SIM in.
I did all those with my friends SIM in and it worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry - what worked?
Checked out a few videos and so far everyone is saying they have not found a way to turn off LTE.
Anyone working on something yet? I travel into area's that are still 3G and I honestly would not like having it searching when there isn't a strong signal
As of now now, no "quick switch" for turning off 4G/LTE. Although it is still possible.
On your phone dial pad type *#*#4636#*#* Phone information > Change radio from CDMA/EVDO/LTE to CDMA auto. Then select turn off radio. Then turn radio back on.
As soon as root is achieved I am sure there will be a quicker way.
Mudavo said:
As of now now, no "quick switch" for turning off 4G/LTE. Although it is still possible.
On your phone dial pad type *#*#4636#*#* Phone information > Change radio from CDMA/EVDO/LTE to CDMA auto. Then select turn off radio. Then turn radio back on.
As soon as root is achieved I am sure there will be a quicker way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does this reset every time the phone does? I'm guessing that it switches to 3g when in 3g coverage? My phone arrives tomorrow but this is very important to me as I commute 2 hours into nyc for my job so half my trip is going to be in 4g while half the trip and me at home will be in 3g.
It should stay upon reset. I don't have my TBolt yet so not positive.
This was one of the first things i looked for when i picked mine up as my battery was screaming down
Hello,
I am coming from an Inspire 4g phone have been using the Not since its release date. I am having a similar issue with my Note that the Inspire had, but I am unable to work-around the issue the way the Inspire did.
My issue is that while my phone has great cell tower signal, my phone drops into Edge connectivity constantly. Prior to my Note upgrade, my Inspire would do the same thing, but I had a couple of work arounds I could do to lock back into 4G (HSPA+).
A) I could reboot the phone and the overwhelming majority of times it would go back to H+.
B) I could turn the mobile data radio off and then back on and again, the majority of the times, it would go back to H+.
C) The fix I used most often was to go into the phone dialer and dial *#*#4636#*#*. This brings up a back door to the testing screens and I could access the phone information section. In phone information, I could change the preferred network type and I would change from the default WCDMA preferred to either GSM ONLY or WCDMA ONLY depending on the area I was in. This not only work with near 100% success, it also locked the signal into H+ for longer periods of time.
Now that I have my Note, I have the same issue with the phone dropping to Edge service. However, when I try each of the 3 methods above, including *#*#4636#*#*, my phone stays locked into Edge. I can not get it to change.
I called AT&T about the issue and they explained to me that the phone will lock into the stronger signal, so if Edge is stronger, that is what I will get. I told them about my workaround with my Inspire and they could not give an explanation why it worked with that phone. I did talk them into re-sending the network information to my phone while on the call. They sent the information and while I was sitting still with full bars of signal strength, the phone miraculously popped into 4G service. I asked why it would change from Edge to H+ when they sent the network information since I didn't move to affect the signal and they could give me no explanation.
Does anyone have an idea how to make the Note ignore Edge service if H+ is available? If I can't figure this out, the Note is going back and I will stay with my Inspire 4G for now.
Thanks,
Roger
Flash the Rogers modem(I think)..its got RAT access or whatever its called.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
(I don't have a Note yet but...) Settings- Wireless and Network- Mobile Network- Network Preferences. Maybe you can force it there. Keep in mind this is an LTE phone, and SIM, so a little different than our Inspires.
kimtyson said:
Settings- Wireless and Network- Mobile Network- Network Preferences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unavailable on the stock rom.
kimtyson said:
(I don't have a Note yet but...) Settings- Wireless and Network- Mobile Network- Network Preferences. Maybe you can force it there. Keep in mind this is an LTE phone, and SIM, so a little different than our Inspires.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As stated, this is not available in stock rom nor TPC Note 2, which I am currently running. However, based on what I remember seeing on other Samsung phones, the *#*#4636#*#* feature I reference is supposed to do the same thing.
Thanks for the replies. Looks like the RAT feature is locked. Using the Rogers Radio seems to fix the problem, but breaks video playback at this time.
I found it an other thread, so I don't take any credit for it as someone else posted it, but I have confirmed it works on my Galaxy Note
*#*#197328640#*#* > debug screen > phone control > network control > band selection
You need to do this after each reboot though as it does not stick.
To work around this I have made a contact and only left out the last * in it, so all you do is use that as a speed dial and you are good to go
I was out of town this past weekend. Wisconsin Dells if anyone is interested. While I was there I was experiencing some bad signal, so I read multiple times that you could force a PRL update for your phone to allow it to possibly roam on newer towers. I dialed the *228, then pressed 2. After the update my phone will now only connect to 3g. Even back home now, which I know for sure is a 4g area, I am still stuck on 3g. I spent quite a while messing with settings. The one that controls what network to use. I tried them all really. But its set to LTE/CDMA only right now.
I was running CM10.1 from 8/3. So I formatted system/data/cache/dalvik, everything basically, reflashed the latest build of CM 10.1, and it is still doing it.
Any other ideas before I reflash back to stock and call Verizon?
So I flashed back to stock. Still stuck in 3g. But in the touchwiz interface now it's a bit odd. In Mobile Networks, the list item says Preferred network mode: CDMA/LTE/EVDO. When I touch it, it presents 3 options, Global, LTE / CDMA, and GSM / UMTS. The LTE / CDMA item is selected. The odd part is that even though LTE is listed first on the option when it is selected from the pop up menu, it still says CDMA is first in the preferred network mode, the gray text. That is even more odd is that if I select the GSM one, it doesn't connect to anything, which is expected. But then if I go back into the option and select LTE / CDMA, the status bar icon will say 4g for a half second and then say 3g.
Any ideas?
I found this. Is my sim card really toasted?
https://community.verizonwireless.com/thread/786562
"I was recently browsing a different message board to see what was being said about the GS3's poor reception and data, and I came across a discussion on "updating towers" using *228. From what I read, it seems that dialing this number from a 4G phone not only does nothing to update your towers, but it also destroys your SIM card, and prevents you from accessing 4g. Consequently, you will need to get a replacement SIM card. I find it hard to believe that Verizon would allow something like this to happen. It seems that they would notify their customers when upgrading.
Has this happened to anyone???"
Update: I called Verizon. They confirmed the sim can get toasted if you dial *228 on a 4g phone. So I'll have to go into the store tomorrow morning to get a new sim. The support guy was cool about it. It said he did this exact same thing himself before he started working for Verizon.
Yeah I have heard that dialing *228 from a 4G phone is a big no-no but I didnt know that it actually fries your sim. At least you can get another one for free.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4
This could be a handy sticky. Just in case more people try/do this.
Send from my Nexus 4
I wish I had seen this thread sooner and I have been spending days trying to figure out why my phone would no longer connect to the LTE network after traveling to a 3G only area. Whoops!
I definitely think this should be a sticky - or at least warning not to use *228.