[Q] HSPA vs HSPA+ - Atrix 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I'm a recent owner of the motorola atrix but am very familiar with different mobile telecom technologies. I'm curious if anyone using the motorola atrix is actually connecting to the HSPA+ network or if AT&T has limited these devices to HSPA only. I believe you can check this by going to settings > about phone > status. Look for Mobile network type and it should say either GSM, EDGE, UMTS, HSPA or HSPA+
I'm currently in the Dallas market (one of the most rapidly developed AT&T markets) and am only connecting to the HSPA network. Hopefully this is not the case for everyone...

HSPA is what i connecting to on 2.3.4 build but i was on + on 2.2.2 I Think it
has to due with how ur APNS are set up.

Yea, I guess that could be the case. I'd like to hear from other members hopefully...

Related

AT&T Titan Lies about 4G Service...

SO, I have a Samsung Focus and I have a HTC Titan (both AT&T Branded). I also have a AT&T 3g Microcell.
BTW, Has anyone seen an AT&T Titan show 3G at all or anything other than 4G?
Anyways... Here is where the AT&T Titan lies about 4G service.... the 3G Microcell only support a maximum of UMTS. It does not support HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA, HSPA+, or LTE. Only HSPA+ & LTE are official 4G technologies as classified by the ITU.
On my girlfriends and my phone (when attached to the microcell) it shows 4G (we both have Titans). And Yes, I am positive we are on the microcell since both our phones list AT&T Microcell as the carrier.
I think AT&T is starting to pull one over on people with the Titan. Wish I had a Focus S to verify what it says too....
It has been reported that ATT is branding some H devices as 4G, not even H+... but the Titan is indeed H+. I haven't been very far with my Titan yet, so I wouldn't know if it ever shows 3G.
I may be a bit confused with the network types; to my understanding there is
GSM
Edge
3G
H
H+ (aka '4G')
4G LTE
My HTC Titan has shown E for the Edge network as it has also displayed 4G for HSPA + as well.
link68759 said:
It has been reported that ATT is branding some H devices as 4G, not even H+... but the Titan is indeed H+. I haven't been very far with my Titan yet, so I wouldn't know if it ever shows 3G.
I may be a bit confused with the network types; to my understanding there is
GSM
Edge
3G
H
H+ (aka '4G')
4G LTE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the Titan does have the HSPA+ capability, that was not my gripe. My grip is that AT&T is listing a true 3G network as 4G which is a bold faced lie altogether and causes us to question if we truely are on 4G or not. Not the fact the device support it or not.
SO, all these throttling threads and stuff about 4G can not use the Titan as a testing source as the tester can not trust if they truely are on 4G or not. Thus skewing true testing results and perceived capabilities.
I live in Las Vegas and AT&T has had HSPA+ for a while and recently LTE. The issue I have, is I can't tell which network I am on wether it be 3G, HSPA+ or LTE since the Titan always will show 4G for all of them.
As added info for you about network types, your 3G disgnation is the same as the network types that I listed. 3G Network types include (In order of evolution):
UMTS - True Desgination for 3G
HSDPA - 3.x
HSUPA - 3.x
HSPA - 3.x
The 3.x is where I am not sure about the history of their release but I know one of them was refered to 3.5g before the true 4g designation came out for HSPA+ & LTE.
I don't think the titan has lte support, so you're definitely not on that.
The best way to go about this I guess is finding the diagnostic menu: where you dial some number and it gives you hidden info and options.
Sent from my PI39100 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
AT&T GoPhone Service here with X310e from Europe, it stay on H all the time, displayed as "3G" sometime.
maybe the way they display the icon on the Europe Phone is different.
Anyone confirm as H is HSPDA+?
BTW, i don't download torrent on my phone either.
Its not exactly a lie. Yes, 4G is now the old 3G. When the other carriers started calling their service 4G, it made AT&Ts service look slower (when reality is that ATT 3G was the fastest).
4G was supposed to be LTE, but the marketing departments screwed that one by trying to one-up each other.
So, the answer is that where you saw 3G previously, you will now see 4G.
I have two microcells and they both show 4G on my Titan as well.
Blame the marketing departments (at all the carriers) for using the 4G moniker where it did not belong.
LTE will hopefully be LTE.
I've seen E, H & 4G on my at&t Titan
You see H? That's a good sign, at least; we can differentiate from E, H and H+. My town is fairly rural and is also a historical district, so I find it extremely suspect that there is 4G wherever I've gone, but I guess we've somehow become modern.
I have also never seen "H", only E and 4G, but I've only been in 3 small towns since I've had my Titan. My "4G" speeds are very 3G-like too... (between 1-2Mbps down and .75Mbps up)
Is there any way to see more detailed radio information in the OS? I dont really trust the indicator at the top of the screen.
As someone quoted the ITU designations. In their final decission it was declared that only technologies being theoretically able to reach speeds of up to 100 Mbps are actually 4G.
This means that WiMax, LTE and HSPA+ don't qualify as 4G. Currently LTE Advanced and WiMax 2 would be the only ones.
The idea of calling HSPA+ 4G as far as I know originates from T-Mobile USA as they are not about to deploy LTE/Wimax anytime soon.
That's even beyond the point. Didn't ATT say HSPA+ users should see actual speeds of around 6Mbps? Many aren't even getting the upper range of "3G" speeds.
I just got off the phone with ATT CS and he did tell me I am NOT in a 4G area, even though my phone is saying so. He told me the nearest 4G area was about 20 minutes south, which is exactly what their data map shows. From that I take that ATT is just calling their 3G network 4G, at least on this phone.
StevieBallz said:
As someone quoted the ITU designations. In their final decission it was declared that only technologies being theoretically able to reach speeds of up to 100 Mbps are actually 4G.
This means that WiMax, LTE and HSPA+ don't qualify as 4G. Currently LTE Advanced and WiMax 2 would be the only ones.
The idea of calling HSPA+ 4G as far as I know originates from T-Mobile USA as they are not about to deploy LTE/Wimax anytime soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is false, the ITU adjusted this decision and enveloped HSPA+, Wimax and LTE into the 4G fold.
"As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wireless mobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as '4G,' although it is recognized that this term, while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed,"
http://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_releases/2010/48.aspx
In relation to this post, I have used my Interop Unlocked Focus all around this area and home. On my Focus I enabled the ability for it to show 3G+ areas and I was able to map out areas that were E, G, 3G and 3G+
However, when I trek those same areas with my Titan, I see a somewhat magical "4G" over all 3G and 3G+ areas.
Whether these areas were all H+ capable the whole time is unsure, but somehow I tend to doubt it.
As of yet, I have never seen 3G but I have seen E and G on my Titan.
link68759 said:
I don't think the titan has lte support, so you're definitely not on that.
The best way to go about this I guess is finding the diagnostic menu: where you dial some number and it gives you hidden info and options.
Sent from my PI39100 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried that on my Titan by dialing ##3282#, and all the diagnostics are for 3G, HSDPA, no item for HSPDA+, still on screen my phone shows 4G.
arg... is there any way to infiltrate ATT's customer support and actually talk to an engineer, no tricks or PR crap?
I just thought that I'd chime in and say that my HTC Titan shows "3G" when I am at my place of work in Franklin Lakes, NJ.... so it must say 3G for some networks at least.
Do you have an unlocked international phone or an ATT phone?
Is there a Registry Editor for the Titan yet? If so, I wonder if you can change the 4G to what you want it to be like you can on the Samsung Focus? On the Focus, you have the option to change each individual network to show whatever you want it to show.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Connectivity \CellularUx\DataConnectionIcon
6G Speeds on Samsung Focus
Using ATT's methods, I've modified my Samsung Focus to receive 6G Speeds. Yes, this is the SAME method ATT uses to get 4G speeds...
They just edit the Registry like I did.

[Q] LTE radio on XT910 EU retail version

hello all,
I was wondering whether it is possible to unlock the LTE radio on the Eu retail version. I think the chipset is the same and hence it does have the capability.
Thanks in advance,
Santanu Dey
Are you saying that your razr never gets 4G / HSDPA signal?
Don't you ever get the little 'H' on your connection indicator?
CheesySeb said:
Are you saying that your razr never gets 4G / HSDPA signal?
Don't you ever get the little 'H' on your connection indicator?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not even LTE is 4G. It is called such for pure marketing speculation since LTE is still part of UMTS... it is its 8th revision, actually.
Cheesy, you should first ask your provider if they reach ~325Mbps. Vodafone, the european carrier with the best network, sells 48Mbps (HSPA++) as LTE, which isn't really.
LTE isn't yet fully ratified, actually.
Anyway, it works
For general information:
LTE is Long Term Evolution.
HSPA or High speed packet access and its derivatives are not LTE...
The modulation scheme is different as well as the coding and spectrum and Bandwidth. LTE works in 2 variations TDD and FDD, whereas HSPA/UMTS is purely FDD. Secondly, LTE works in 1.4Mhz, 5 MHz, 10Mhz , 20Mhz Bandwidth whereas HSPA/UMTS is only 5 Mhz.
Basically HSPA is a evolution of data access on UMTS network, as EDGE was in GSM network.
So , returning back to the same question..... Can we unlock LTE radio on the Razr? My operator Telia is already having commercial LTE network (300/100 Mbps DL)..
Beg my pardon I was not aware ( haven't done quite as much research as you guys it would seem ;D )
Can I just ask briefly, is LTE a cdma standard as opposed to gsm or is it something viable on both platforms?
LTE is basically a convergent network between the CDMA and the GSM domains. The radio standard has been designed in such a way that it shares the backward compatibility towards CDMA and GSM domains..."BUT".. LTE is much more bent toward the GSM/WCDMA domain than CDMA/EVDO domains,since it shares the same spectral characteristics of the UMTS networks.
WIMAX on the other hand is more bent towards CDMA/EVDO domains...

How to tell if the Note is using LTE?

Got my AT&T Galaxy Note a few days back and I live in Mission Viejo, CA. I have noticed that most of the time it just displays the 4G icon and other times it has a small LTE under the 4G icon. So... is there such a thing as 4G and 4G LTE?
New to the whole 4G phones... as I came from an iPhone.
When it says 4g your are on on At&ts hspa+ network. If it say 4g and has under it Lte you're in a Lte area.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA App
Yes, LTE is LTE, otherwise it's HSPA+ (also considered "4G"). When mine shows LTE (which is only when I assume the Fox viewing position) I drop by a couple of bars. Sounds like you are either in a fringe area like me, or you're in a building that is causing LTE signal degradation.
What's a Bieber?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS9sUm5Y0sg
In addition, if you go Settings > About Phone > Status > "Mobile Network Type" you can also tell what network you are on.
Think I got it. So HSPA is 3G, HSPA+ is 4G and LTE is a better 4G?
technically hspa is 3g hspa+ is 3.5g lte is 4g.
HSPA+ is pseudo 4g- it's really 3.5G with some backend modifications by att(something called enhanced backhaul) to enhance 3G for faster speeds. LTE is tru 4G.
Here is a link to explain the differences in 3G,4G,and LTE.
http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB115951&cv=820#fbid=U9S_RXqCY_R
Is there HSPA+ throughout all of AT&T's network then, just not LTE yet?
Then I am guessing my iPhone 4 was only HSPA (3G) only and not capable of getting HSPA+?
ElelvlentaL said:
In addition, if you go Settings > About Phone > Status > "Mobile Network Type" you can also tell what network you are on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hell mine keeps alternating between UMTS and HSPA, no + after it either.
No wonder I get choppy pixelated HD videos on youtube.

[Q] Radio?

I know the Jetstream was designed to be run on AT&T and Rogers, but I am curious if it is possible to flash a radio to enable usage of T-Mobile's HSPA network, much like the Samsung Galaxy Note has been enabled to, as seen here.
Can any of the amazing Devs out there shed some light on this?
jdavis08 said:
I know the Jetstream was designed to be run on AT&T and Rogers, but I am curious if it is possible to flash a radio to enable usage of T-Mobile's HSPA network, much like the Samsung Galaxy Note has been enabled to, as seen here.
Can any of the amazing Devs out there shed some light on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jdavis08, Simple answer is yes. It is a standard 2G / 3G / LTE (AT&T / AWS band) phone. So you can use it on ANY 2G / 3G / LTE network with a SIM. But you may need to break the SIM Lock on any handset.
Just wanted to clarify. The Jetstream is 2G/3G/LTE /capable, 2G (GSM): 850/900/1800/1900MHz, 3G (UMTS/HSPA): 850/1900/2100, and LTE: 700mhz & AWS-1700/2100.
Currently, T-Mobile only uses the AWS for their HSPA+ network, not LTE (from what I understand, AWS will be transitioned for LTE and 1900mhz refarmed for 3G/4G early 2013) - and if I'm not mistaken, the HSPA+ is only supported by the "3G" band of this device, not the "LTE"
So - to make a long story short. I am a T-Mobile subscriber with various "4G" phones from T-Mobile. Their 4G only works if the phone has a radio with AWS for HSPA as T-Mobile (unlike AT&T) does not use the 1900mhz for their HSPA (yet). I own this tablet.. It has been SIM unlocked and it simply does not get anything above EDGE... and I live near and visit major cities in Washington State, Seattle/Bellevue/Tacoma, which definitely have TMo's 4G coverage.
I know I should just cool my jets until TMo rolls out the network upgrades, as I have no interest in joining AT&T. I was just curious if there was some way to "trick" the phone to use the AWS frequencies for HSPA, like the Galaxy Note has been made to do as the radio specs are identical.
I know that the Note was enabled to do this by flashing another radio. Support is minimal for the Jetstream these days... so I was just reaching out.
Thanks guys

Tmobile 4g

I recently bought an unlocked Atrix 4g off ebay to use on my tmobile plan. Everything went smooth except that I'm having issues with slow internet. I've looked all over for a solution(youtube, google, xda forums, etc.) All I've been able to come up with was that until late 2012 this phone wasn't even able to connect to tmobile except on 2g, and a bunch of useless(to me) instructions on how to change my APN.
At this point the phone tells me I'm on 3g, and I consistently have 3-5 bars. My old sidekick had 4g in 90% of the area and 3g everywhere else, so I know for a fact that there is coverage. However when I do a speed test I get an average of 25-50Kbps download and upload, occasionally I get 170Kbps. I've called tmobile and verified that there is EDGE network support in my area(apparently also HSPDA but no HSPA+). I just installed GSM Singal Monitoring app from the play store which is also telling me I'm on EDGE network type.
I've tried every combination of APN settings I can find on the internet including cingular settings and have come up with nothing. This data transfer rates don't drop, and don't get better. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm sure it's not the phone, I can get 18Mbps at work on the wifi(running tests, downloads I've seen up to 4MB/s or 32Mbps). Also if there's anything I need to do on the phone to get internet speeds which requires root, I've already rooted the phone. The only thing I've installed since the root is CWM.
I have used both the Atrix 4G and Atrix HD on T-Mobile. The 4G does not have the radio frequencies needed for 4G / LTE data service from T-Mobile, but the HD does. In fact the HD is a perfect match for T-Mobile frequencies. You can check out the detailed specs for these phones on GSMARENA.
Sent from my MB886 using xda app-developers app
I also am on TMOUS, the best I've gotten is 5.3 Download 2.7upload on edge.
Im not sure why but I cannot use 3g.Not for a lack of trying though.(tried many apn settings,and even playing with the Dev radio settings)
I want to set the facts straight. The only T-Mobile frequencies that are compatible with the bands on our 'specific' devices are for 2G, Recently T-Mobile has refarmed their towers to support unlocked AT&T devices like ours, specifically they refarmed the towers in 'certain' areas to broadcast and receive 1900 mhz waves that our device's can use for 3G and so called "4G" If you only get 2G that's because there are no nearby towers functioning on the 1900 mhz frequencies.
jeffreygtab said:
I want to set the facts straight. The only T-Mobile frequencies that are compatible with the bands on our 'specific' devices are for 2G, Recently T-Mobile has refarmed their towers to support unlocked AT&T devices like ours, specifically they refarmed the towers in 'certain' areas to broadcast and receive 1900 mhz waves that our device's can use for 3G and so called "4G" If you only get 3G that's because there are no nearby towers functioning on the 1900 mhz frequencies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would like to add that I own an Atrix 4G on T-Mobile (in Chicago), and I get Edge, 3G AND HSPA+ signals. OP was correct in that the phone wasn't able to connect to the other bands except on 2G until about december 2012 (they expanded in order to entice iPhone users to switch providers).
But currently the MB860 (Atrix 4G) *does* work on HSPA+ (which is often called 4G, even though it is not true 4G LTE), which is still much faster than 3G.
post or send be a copy of your apn settings.I'm in Houston and they've reformed their towers here.
Sent from my MB860 using xda app-developers app
I would love it to already get fast 3g for anything else I also have an ahd
Sent from my MB886 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

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