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How is your 3G reception on the Vibrant? I just purchased a Vibrant as a replacement for my aging and bluetooth handicapped G1 and I am disappointed with the 3G reception.
T-Mobile's coverage in my area is moderate, and the G1 has been able to hold on to a 3G signal in most locations. Typically, at home the G1 will hold on to 2-3 bars of 3G, and at work I am lucky to get 1 -- usually camps out on 2G with 4 or 5 bars.
The Vibrant pretty much always shows 0 bars of 3G while indoors, and may even flop back to 2G. It is fairly consistently on 2G in my home at 2 bars and at work I can only get 1 bar of 2G with this phone and spend the majority of the time with no signal at all.
I sat down and did some comparison between the Vibrant and the G1 and have found the following:
1. *#*#4636#*#* menu shows significantly worse signal levels on the Vibrant than on the G1, often times showing 0db and 0asu in the same location I am seeing -89db to -101db 3G on the G1.
2. The service menu on the Vibrant indicates a signal level which on 3G is fairly consistently 8db better than the one shown on the info menu. Interestingly, 2G signal levels as shown on the service menu seem fairly spot on with those shown from the info menu in Android.
3. The service menu 3G signal levels on the Vibrant seem consistent with those that I see on the G1 with a variation of perhaps only a couple of decibels.
That said, it seems interesting that battery usage on the Vibrant seems to indicate nearly 60% of its time with no service under cell standby when I get 0% in the same location with the G1. I am wondering if the time being recorded here is in fact the time spent with 0 bars being displayed even if the phone does, in fact, have a signal.
It is apparent that there is at least a software issue with the display here, as has been concluded in prior threads. However, ignoring the bar display I am wondering what others feel of the signal coverage with their Vibrant versus their old phone?
Does anyone have any experience with any of Samsung's other phone offerings? Do you think Samsung will post a radio update for this phone or possibly release one along with the GPS Fix/Froyo update in September?
I work in a position which requires me to be on-call a certain times during the year, and I can't really afford to have a phone that camps out at 60% no signal. I am really looking for reasons to keep this phone, as I like it otherwise, but practically, I need a phone that is going to receive phone calls. Any objective indications anyone can give that Samsung will continue to support this device may help sway my decision to keep it. My 14 days will be up on Thursday, so I need to make a final decision about keeping this phone before then.
Also, do any developers think that modifying the handling of the signal display in Android will cause a change in the amount of time the phone spends acquiring signal between 3G and 2G, or is this something that is purely handled within the radio firmware? If this is changeable, is this something that can be included in a future custom rom?
No coverage issues with mine.matches my mt3g in pretty much every location.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I made a call in the BOONDOCKS of NC, in an old river mill with 22 inch brick walls... NOBODY else was able to place a call other than me (all the big networks and nice phones).
I have pretty crappy 3g service here in new rochelle when at home the phone keeps fluctuating between 0-4 bars for 3G and the data speeds very inconsistent. Sometimes it even falls back to EDGE! This is pretty lame, i called t-mobile about it and they said there nothing they can do! If i am unhappy i should return the phone.
I live in NYC...
That is really all I have to say.
3-5 up speeds
constant 3g connection
The bars on the phone are funky though they look like there are none but you can still make calls. Its just the software is off just like the battery percentage.
Rishikesh said:
I have pretty crappy 3g service here in new rochelle when at home the phone keeps fluctuating between 0-4 bars for 3G and the data speeds very inconsistent. Sometimes it even falls back to EDGE! This is pretty lame, i called t-mobile about it and they said there nothing they can do! If i am unhappy i should return the phone.
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If you're at home why aren't you on WiFi?
Seriously it's the most puzzling thing ever. 3G or not, I wouldn't be using it at home. Are you trying to replace your ISP with your phone or something?
You should do a search. Are you aware of the fact that -0dBm is impossible? The bars are off on this phone and the G1 is mediocre overall. It can hold on to a 3G signal for longer because your hand isn't blocking the antenna but the antenna itself is truly mediocre in fringe areas. Move your hand away from the bottom hump on the Vibrant. A lot of questions you're asking.. you're answering yourself.
I am not all too impressed with 3G coverage here at my home, but I mostly blame the network at my location and not necessarily the phone. TMO has spotty coverage near my house....period, and I live less than a mile from the tower. I have a Blackberry 9700 and it has similar issues with 3G. I've called and complained and they give me the usual "you're green on the map...return the phone....blah blah". I was closer to downtown Dallas yesterday and the phone had full bars and never got higher than -80dbm. Speedtest app showed about 3mbps downloads on average. I wouldn't say it was stellar but it's nothing like at home either. Only thing is my phone never automatically drops from 3G to E unless I am making calls. Once again the Blackberry 9700 does the same thing.
However, I am not completely convinced the phone isn't to blame either. I had a week with the new Motorola XT720, aka AWS Motoroi/Milestone that Magenta is/was rumored (who knows?) to get, and if Moto hadn't skimped on the CPU/RAM/screen/app memory of that phone I would have kept it instead of this Vibrant. That phone seemed to get much better 3G signal and HSPA was excellent compared to the Vibrant. I'm lucky if the Vibrant gets HSPA here at all. Overall network performance just seemed faster. It was quite obvious when I powered up the Vibrant the first time that 3G coverage is going to be an issue at my home with this phone.
FWIW my wife has an iPhone 3G which gets great 3G coverage here at the house on ATT. So I borrowed her SIM to test after I unlocked the Vibrant and it didn't make much difference. It did get 3G which I didn't think was technically possible until I saw that this phone has 1900 3G support as well as AWS. I do think the bars and definitely the battery indicators are not accurate whatsoever. I use Battery Indicator Pro and it's definitely obvious Samsung needs a software re-work.
Just because you live within 1 mile of a tower doesn't mean it's 3G or that there isn't something in the way of it's signal and your house.. I live within 1 mile of a tower and it's not 3G. It's supposed to get 3G soon.
heygrl said:
If you're at home why aren't you on WiFi?
Seriously it's the most puzzling thing ever. 3G or not, I wouldn't be using it at home. Are you trying to replace your ISP with your phone or something?
You should do a search. Are you aware of the fact that -0dBm is impossible? The bars are off on this phone and the G1 is mediocre overall. It can hold on to a 3G signal for longer because your hand isn't blocking the antenna but the antenna itself is truly mediocre in fringe areas. Move your hand away from the bottom hump on the Vibrant. A lot of questions you're asking.. you're answering yourself.
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Maybe I don't have WiFi in my house?
Maybe I would love to reduce my monthly expenditures by the $60 I throw away to Comcast?
I am well aware of the fact that -0dbm is impossible. This is simply what the phone is displaying. I also agree that the G1's reception is mediocre, but this phone seems worse than the G1. Blocking the antenna with my hand doesn't seem to make much difference on either the Vibrant or the G1.
I asked for objective answers to my questions which basically boil down to the following:
1. Do you think Samsung will provide support for the software on this phone (including the radio) over the long term ie. do you think there will be upgrades in this department?
2. Do you think this is something custom rom developers can address purely via modifying the OS?
Thanks for your snarky comments, but if you haven't got any objective input into the situation maybe this thread is not for you.
equid0x said:
Maybe I don't have WiFi in my house?
Maybe I would love to reduce my monthly expenditures by the $60 I throw away to Comcast?
I am well aware of the fact that -0dbm is impossible. This is simply what the phone is displaying. I also agree that the G1's reception is mediocre, but this phone seems worse than the G1. Blocking the antenna with my hand doesn't seem to make much difference on either the Vibrant or the G1.
I asked for objective answers to my questions which basically boil down to the following:
1. Do you think Samsung will provide support for the software on this phone (including the radio) over the long term ie. do you think there will be upgrades in this department?
2. Do you think this is something custom rom developers can address purely via modifying the OS?
Thanks for your snarky comments, but if you haven't got any objective input into the situation maybe this thread is not for you.
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You're asking questions that we can't answer. Do we work at Samsung? No. Would stock Android fix this? Maybe.
It seems worse than the G1 because based on your comments the bars are having an affect on what you deem to be "worse". I've had tons of T-Mobile phones including the G1 and the Vibrant is not considerably worse than any. INFACT it will hold on to a 3G signal for longer than most. My CLIQ displayed 3 bars as -105dBm. Accurate? NO.
has been able to hold on to a 3G signal in most locations. Typically, at home the G1 will hold on to 2-3 bars of 3G, and at work I am lucky to get 1 -- usually camps out on 2G with 4 or 5 bars.
The Vibrant pretty much always shows 0 bars of 3G while indoors,
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Where is the antenna on the G1? If you're telling me you're putting your hand over it and not having any disconcernable change you're not doing it right
If you don't have WiFi at your house you need to get some.
heygrl said:
You're asking questions that we can't answer. Do we work at Samsung? No.
It seems worse than the G1 because based on your comments the bars are having an affect on what you deem to be "worse". I've had tons of T-Mobile phones including the G1 and the Vibrant is not considerably worse than any. INFACT it will hold on to a 3G signal for longer than most. My CLIQ displayed 3 bars as -105dBm. Accurate? NO.
Where is the antenna on the G1? If you're telling me you're putting your hand over it and not having much of a change at all you're lying or not doing it right.
If you don't have WiFi at your house you need to get some.
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I know that nobody here is working for Samsung but there are plenty of people here who have developed for Android, and the question I am posing is if this is something that can be addressed in a custom rom.
I think my original post makes it clear that there is obviously a software issue with bar display, but I am wondering if this software issue is also causing the Android OS to force a switch to 2G in an instance where the G1 with a properly functioning display would keep 3G. ie, the phone is switching to 2G early because it thinks it only has -111dbm when it in fact still has -103dbm. I am not clear on whether this functionality is performed within the OS itself or purely within the radio firmware.
My hands are rather large, so holding the G1 basically covers the entire rear of the phone. The antenna is near the top of the phone whereas the antenna on the Vibrant seems to be on the bottom. Though holding both phones in various positions seems to have little effect on the received signal strength so far as I can tell.
The time spent without signal in cell standby I believe to be erroneous. I think it is tallying up that time any time there are zero bars, even if the phone still has a signal. This makes it very difficult to objectively compare the 2 phones. If the OS is in fact driving the switch from 3G to 2G this may explain my poor access in fringe areas as the phone will be constantly flapping between the two. If the functions that drive this behavior are within the AOSP source this could easily be something we can fix in a custom rom even without Samsung's help, even if a radio update would be ideal.
heygrl said:
Where is the antenna on the G1? If you're telling me you're putting your hand over it and not having any disconcernable change you're not doing it right
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I can wrap my hand around the phone (Vibrant), either top, center or bottom and I do not see any change in either reception, call quality, network throughput or number of bars.
heygrl said:
If you don't have WiFi at your house you need to get some.
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It is perfectly understandable that if he has good reception with a G1, an older phone, he expects at least a similar level or reception with a newer, higher end phone. WiFi would be considered a workaround.
I just received my Vibrant on Monday and it's sadly replacing my amazing Nexus One. I've noticed that the Vibrant antenna is AWFUL. Where I received 4-5 bars on the N1, I'm getting 1-3 bars now and it even goes down to Edge once every few hours.
Like the OP, I've been monitoring the db levels and they're frequently around -95 through -107. While my calls don't actually drop, the quality does get worse. I'm also getting many 3G connection errors when trying to browser or download apps from the Market. It's quite disappointing. The phone is made of plastic as well, so I'd imagine that the antenna reception should be better.
Being that there are only 2 pages on this particular thread, does this mean it's a fluke and others' phones are ok?
allen099 said:
I just received my Vibrant on Monday and it's sadly replacing my amazing Nexus One. I've noticed that the Vibrant antenna is AWFUL. Where I received 4-5 bars on the N1, I'm getting 1-3 bars now and it even goes down to Edge once every few hours.
Like the OP, I've been monitoring the db levels and they're frequently around -95 through -107. While my calls don't actually drop, the quality does get worse. I'm also getting many 3G connection errors when trying to browser or download apps from the Market. It's quite disappointing. The phone is made of plastic as well, so I'd imagine that the antenna reception should be better.
Being that there are only 2 pages on this particular thread, does this mean it's a fluke and others' phones are ok?
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4-5 bars on a phone with a 4 bar scale?
Stop looking at -dBm on the Vibrant, it's not accurate.
If you don't want the phone to switch to EDGE lock it on 3G.
heygrl said:
4-5 bars on a phone with a 4 bar scale?
Stop looking at -dBm on the Vibrant, it's not accurate.
If you don't want the phone to switch to EDGE lock it on 3G.
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How do you lock it on 3G?
javacody said:
How do you lock it on 3G?
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This worked for me (copy/paste and remove spaces in http):
h t t p://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7438987&postcount=7
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7438987&postcount=7
Thanks. 3G is spotty at best in the Des Moines Area, so I'll leave well enough alone.
So, in follow up to this, I had downloaded and installed RF signal tracker from the market and went driving around until I found a tower. It seems that via Android OS the best signal strength received was -81dbm and that was sitting right next to the tower. The phone stayed locked at -81dbm for a few miles down the road so I suspect this is peak signal on this phone which should really be something like -65dbm. I think this pretty much confirms that there is indeed a software issue with the signal display.
I also took some time looking at Android code and found that the bars are driven on GSM/UMTS by asu as follows:
if (asu <= 2 || asu == 99) iconLevel = 0;
else if (asu >= 12) iconLevel = 4;
else if (asu >= 8) iconLevel = 3;
else if (asu >= 5) iconLevel = 2;
else iconLevel = 1;
So figuring up the dbm values from these, I went ahead and created a new asu scale which is adjusted -8dbm from "normal" since this seems to be the worst case of the mismatch between the phone firmware and what Android is reporting and applied that within the market app Real Signal to try and get an apples to apples comparison of signal bars between this phone and the old G1. Unfortunately, the degree if miscalibration means we can't set a negative ASU so we don't get any meaningful display on Real Signal until we hit the 3rd bar. In doing this if I go to a moderate overage area I am seeing the bars I would expect.
After my little drive with RF Signal Tracker its actually pretty clear that discrepancy is really more like -15dbm, which adjusting the figures should mean that this phone in reality gets slightly better reception than the old G1.
It seems we should be able to workaround this in a custom ROM by doing one of the following:
1. Modify getGsmSignalStrength() to add the -15dbm to the returned signal strength value(hackish).
2. Modify the vendor RIL to compensate for the -15dbm offset when on UMTS. (Probably the proper solution).
I'm not clear on whether the vendor RIL code gets posted to AOSP...
equid0x said:
How is your 3G reception on the Vibrant? I just purchased a Vibrant as a replacement for my aging and bluetooth handicapped G1 and I am disappointed with the 3G reception.
T-Mobile's coverage in my area is moderate, and the G1 has been able to hold on to a 3G signal in most locations. Typically, at home the G1 will hold on to 2-3 bars of 3G, and at work I am lucky to get 1 -- usually camps out on 2G with 4 or 5 bars.
The Vibrant pretty much always shows 0 bars of 3G while indoors, and may even flop back to 2G. It is fairly consistently on 2G in my home at 2 bars and at work I can only get 1 bar of 2G with this phone and spend the majority of the time with no signal at all.
I sat down and did some comparison between the Vibrant and the G1 and have found the following:
1. *#*#4636#*#* menu shows significantly worse signal levels on the Vibrant than on the G1, often times showing 0db and 0asu in the same location I am seeing -89db to -101db 3G on the G1.
2. The service menu on the Vibrant indicates a signal level which on 3G is fairly consistently 8db better than the one shown on the info menu. Interestingly, 2G signal levels as shown on the service menu seem fairly spot on with those shown from the info menu in Android.
3. The service menu 3G signal levels on the Vibrant seem consistent with those that I see on the G1 with a variation of perhaps only a couple of decibels.
That said, it seems interesting that battery usage on the Vibrant seems to indicate nearly 60% of its time with no service under cell standby when I get 0% in the same location with the G1. I am wondering if the time being recorded here is in fact the time spent with 0 bars being displayed even if the phone does, in fact, have a signal.
It is apparent that there is at least a software issue with the display here, as has been concluded in prior threads. However, ignoring the bar display I am wondering what others feel of the signal coverage with their Vibrant versus their old phone?
Does anyone have any experience with any of Samsung's other phone offerings? Do you think Samsung will post a radio update for this phone or possibly release one along with the GPS Fix/Froyo update in September?
I work in a position which requires me to be on-call a certain times during the year, and I can't really afford to have a phone that camps out at 60% no signal. I am really looking for reasons to keep this phone, as I like it otherwise, but practically, I need a phone that is going to receive phone calls. Any objective indications anyone can give that Samsung will continue to support this device may help sway my decision to keep it. My 14 days will be up on Thursday, so I need to make a final decision about keeping this phone before then.
Also, do any developers think that modifying the handling of the signal display in Android will cause a change in the amount of time the phone spends acquiring signal between 3G and 2G, or is this something that is purely handled within the radio firmware? If this is changeable, is this something that can be included in a future custom rom?
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Click to collapse
I haven't done any detailed tests but I can state that in real world use, I am not happy with my Vibrant's reception. My G1 was very noticeably better at getting and holding 3G and Edge connections in the same locations where my new Vibrant won't.
Next to a tower on GSM(GSM/GPRS/EDGE) you should see -51dBm at the most with Android. W-CDMA is different because they really don't use -dBm to determine signal quality. They use power/noise.
This is a typical speedtest where i work with S4 vs my One.
As we know from my other thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2451516 the S4 is a complete and total joke when it comes to voice recognition so I swapped it out for the One. The only problem I have with the One as the voice recognition is second to none, is the data speed. Some days it decides it's not going to pick up an LTE signal under any circumstances and some days it does but it seems that the download speed appears to bleed off to almost nothing as seen in this pic. No programs are running at the time I did the speedtest here and both phones ran their speed test separately.
Something is not right.
I'm not having that trouble with my One. I'd take it back and get another. My LTE is usually around 20Mbps and I've had it as high as 37Mbps.
Something is wrong with your phone. While I wish T-mobile had better coverage, when I am in a good area I am getting fantastic speeds on my One.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4
While I don't have two tmo LTE phones, I did switch from straight talk and my tmo LTE is horribly inconsistent while the ATT LTE signal on the same phone is solid wherever I had reception. It also has a weird issue with speed test in particular where it keeps routing me to a server in Denver or Albuquerque even though the location services work fine.
Tmo hspa isn't great in my area but still more consistent by far. I may just switch back to straight talk even with the cap as I have zero issues on ATTs LTE network and don't stream anything other than music. The phone is by far my favorite, even compared to my friend's N4 (the camera and screen spoil you, and I can't see feeling the need to upgrade for a few years now that I have a camera I'm satisfied with)
edit: t-mo LTE is -103 inside or out, ATT LTE is -88 with excellent and consistent speed (ping is a bit higher at 240 as prepaid often is, but that's fine for everything I do). And it's certainly not an issue of grip, as I actually get better ATT LTE while holding it than setting the phone down
I've somewhat recently obtained the LG G2 Mini (D620R) due to my stupid self bricking my Samsung S3. In every single way it utterly destroys the S3, despite the S3's specs being slightly better. I've recently switched to T-Mobile, since I was under the impression that T-Mobile is a GSM carrier, and my phone is GSM as far as I know and Straighttalk was no longer a viable option.
I was told I would get spotty data coverage where I live, and that is completely understandable and I knew that going in. However, I have been getting little to no voice and text service where I live, and fair service in town. Even a free cell booster did not seem to help despite getting fair signal at the window unit. I did a bit of troubleshooting and for some reason, the phone is connected to T-Mobile (WCDMA). This makes no sense as A)It's a GSM phone (afaik). B) T-Mobile is a GSM carrier. The only other options when scanning the networks in the area are AT&T (WCDMA) and AT&T (GSM). In town, there is a T-Mobile (GSM) network, but selecting it results in EDGE instead of 3G/H. The cell booster did work some at first, but it seems to have stopped helping at all. Since it is not a T-Mobile phone I can't use Wi-Fi calling/texting. Is there something I'm missing? Did I find wrong information/get lied to about T-Mobile? Did I get scammed on the phone? I'm hoping I can get some help or figure this out, I can't really afford another phone and getting a phone through T-Mobile would push my bill up way too high (and honestly, I'm considering dropping to the non-unlimited plan because of how insanely expensive it is).
A less important question, how do I bypass the tethering restrictions? Do I need to root the phone or is there a simpler method? Last time I rooted a phone...it resulted in me having to buy this one in the first place...
Also, is the S3 really that badly crippled by Touchwiz a weaker phone can utterly humiliate it?
Ok, first of all google a bit about mobile network standards, there's everything explained. I'll just introduce you with a few things:
1. WCDMA is not equal to CDMA, it actually represents 3G standard for regular (not CDMA) phones.
2. GSM equals 2G standard, and it gives EDGE data communication, while WCDMA equals 3G/3G+ standard and it gives HSPA/HSPA+ data communication.
As I said just google it, at your location you probably have stronger 2G than 3G signal, and when you go to some bigger town or city you get 3G better.
For start read the information given at this link.
Problem is, I get absolutely no EDGE at all where I live, only 3G/H and I consistently lose all service and cannot make calls. I am well within the coverage area for at least voice. I also have been having more and more troubles with data even in town. It's progressively gotten to the point where I have to constantly toggle data just to get some mobile data for a few minutes or so.
Try to select 2g only network and you should get EDGE.
If I select 2G Only, I get no service at all, it doesn't even attempt to search for a signal where I live (Red 'X' instead of spinny icon). However in town if I do this, I do immediately get switched to EDGE/2G and it's signal is slightly better.
Than it means you don't have network coverage at your place, that's all.
My booster however shows it gets 3 bars, and I was made aware at the time I would get at the very least get voice service. I did some checking and I'm about 5 miles from the nearest cell tower. My only other option at this point is AT&T, but I have a general distaste for them, can't afford a phone if they don't have a BYOP program, and they do shady things to rooted phones from what I've heard.
I do expect poor or no data service where I live, I can make do with that. What I don't expect is no voice service at all, sometimes even to the point of no E911 either.
As some of you have probably read.
I gave up on the M9, mostly prompted by dropped calls, or calls going straight to voice mail.
I had the M9 replaced and gave it to my wife. It's been near perfect for her, she even dunked it and it's still running great.
My G4 is now doing the SAME thing. Although it has not dropped many calls, tons of calls go straight to voice mail.
Had a very important call this morning and even shutoff LTE, WIFI and Bluetooth and only had 3G on. And it went to voice mail.
The signal is not great, but should be fine for CDMA. Previous generation phones were fine (M8,M7, etc.)
I do see the signal bounce. Where it will be 3-4 bars one minute and none the next. The bouncing can be common in weak LTE (which is definitely weak).
But it's even bouncing with LTE off.
Even at home with two phones in the same location.
My wifes M9 will work, but my G4 will go to voice mail.
Where a couple months ago at home
My wifes M8 will work, but my M9 will go to voice mail.
Could their be something on the account that limits my phones? Like wrong bands or something. Not enabled for Spark but on a Spark Network.
As soon as Verizon gets the LG V10, I'm 99% sure I'm gonna switch. Don't know what else to do.
I don't really care for how locked down Verizon is, but I need a working phone.
This problem happens at multiple locations.
Any ideas appreciated.
I know this isn't specifically an M9 issue, but I know their are more experienced folks around here that might know something.
It is related to M9 TYPE phones though (Spark Generation 2-ish phones). It started when I switched from M8 to M9.
Upgrading my wife from M7 to M8 went fine and from M8 to M9 went fine.
Upgrading me from M8 to M9 went south and from M9 to G4 went south.
All SIM cards cam with respective phones.
All bought new.
All S-Off and/or rooted.
I may have found the answer. Read this !! It has to do with having WIFI on and phone going to sleep. Which is exactly what happens on G4 and M9.
https://community.koodomobile.com/k...ot-receiving-calls-on-android-5-1-1-with-wifi
mswlogo said:
I may have found the answer. Read this !! It has to do with having WIFI on and phone going to sleep. Which is exactly what happens on G4 and M9.
https://community.koodomobile.com/k...ot-receiving-calls-on-android-5-1-1-with-wifi
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I disagree...I'm using the opposite settings that he is saying to use & I've never had this issue (that I know of). I don't make alot of outgoing calls...most are incoming...I also have my work cell fwd'd to my M9 so I don't have to carry 2 devices...I'm on Wifi a majority of the time, I get calls & texts all the time w/ no issues...the only thing I have checked in Advanced WiFi is Wifi Optimization, Keep Wifi on during sleep set to always
Fix
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The fix is to not have Wifi on when the phone is idle/sleep. change your Wifi settings below to the screenshot below.
Settings -- > Wifi -- > MORE -- > Advanced -- > "Keep Wi-Fi on during Sleep = Never"
I also have "Network notification" and "Always allow scanning" enabled.
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Sprint did (in my opinion) a very poor job with how it handles calls. One of my favorite phones was the evo LTE which not only could do LTE and a call at the same time but if you weren't in 4G it could do SV-DO and work on 3G which it actually worked very well. Especially at the time when I had that phone, I hardly had 4G anywhere so being able to use data at the same time on 3G was great.
That said, that feature didn't stick around long. The m7 had a separate radio for LTE & 1X meaning you could surf at the same time because it had separate radios. This couldn't do 3G which was a step backwards however 4G was becoming more mature.
Fast forward to today and with your modern tri-band device while it supports multiple bands that the previous phones didn't, most people have no idea what that means they usually assuming if it's a 4G phone well then it's just that how is any different.
I have had plenty of people complain to me about calls going straight to voicemail or signal issues. Rather than having separate radios, Sprint just uses CSFB Circuit Switched fallback so when a call comes in, it lets the phone know via LTE and immediately switches back to 1X to grab the call. That said it's by no means perfect especially in a bad signal LTE area can cause issues. When I'm at home or work I usually set my phone to CDMA only since I have wi-fi there is no advantage to be on LTE, causes issues with calls coming through and wastes battery. Most users have no idea about what is actually going on so it's hard to explain to a friend why when a caller calls them, the caller might here 5-6 rings before the phone even goes off. Sprint's LTE signal frankly sucks in most places I go, even right next to the tower sometimes you won't get full signal.
Anyway if your wifes phone works fine in the same spot as your G and you are doing all your testing off of LTE and still having issues that tells me either you have a bad radio again or something is provisioned wrong. I would put the phone back to stock, reset the radio and reactive the phone then do some testing with calls off LTE again. If you still have issues at the point, I would swap the phone. My M9 is pretty good with CSFB, I haven't had too many issues with it but really I think it's a very poor solution how it works especially when your in a fridge LTE area with the phone bouncing in and out of LTE.
Once the network goes all LTE (god knows how long that will take) I think this will be a thing of the past but for now CSFB now it's here to stay. I don't see Sprint ever going back to separate radios like the previous gen phones as they would more likely be focused on voice over LTE instead.
OMJ said:
I disagree...I'm using the opposite settings that he is saying to use & I've never had this issue (that I know of). I don't make alot of outgoing calls...most are incoming...I also have my work cell fwd'd to my M9 so I don't have to carry 2 devices...I'm on Wifi a majority of the time, I get calls & texts all the time w/ no issues...the only thing I have checked in Advanced WiFi is Wifi Optimization, Keep Wifi on during sleep set to always
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has not failed in 5 days since I flipped it.
It may depend on the WIFI it's on, IPV6 etc. I don't know.
I think this may have started the same time MMS started failing for SOME folks if WIFI was enabled. Disabling IPV6 on WIFI was a work around (which is disabled on your ROM).
But not everyone had this issue and depended on their router.
So their is weird sh$t happening due to Android changes.
I think this issue is related and not everyone runs into it.
I have had WIFI Calling setup, but disabled it on both M9 and G4 (because it's extremely unstable on every phone I've tried).
Not sure if that is part of it. Like my account knows it's WIFI Calling capable. But my wifes never had WIFI Calling setup, she also does not run WIFI at work. She's never had the problem (even with the same phone I had problems with).
Again I don't know the exact details, and this is not a fix. But disabling WIFI when asleep seems to have stopped it problem. But I need to go a bit longer to be 100% sure.
I've seen similar threads on many phones and carriers and many start off saying "Problem started with 5.x.x OTA update".
I think I was close when I thought it was the optimizer. And before I found that thread, I was testing with WIFI completely off (which also worked).
Something is a miss and there may be more "options" to cause the issue.
Sim-X said:
Sprint did (in my opinion) a very poor job with how it handles calls. One of my favorite phones was the evo LTE which not only could do LTE and a call at the same time but if you weren't in 4G it could do SV-DO and work on 3G which it actually worked very well. Especially at the time when I had that phone, I hardly had 4G anywhere so being able to use data at the same time on 3G was great.
That said, that feature didn't stick around long. The m7 had a separate radio for LTE & 1X meaning you could surf at the same time because it had separate radios. This couldn't do 3G which was a step backwards however 4G was becoming more mature.
Fast forward to today and with your modern tri-band device while it supports multiple bands that the previous phones didn't, most people have no idea what that means they usually assuming if it's a 4G phone well then it's just that how is any different.
I have had plenty of people complain to me about calls going straight to voicemail or signal issues. Rather than having separate radios, Sprint just uses CSFB Circuit Switched fallback so when a call comes in, it lets the phone know via LTE and immediately switches back to 1X to grab the call. That said it's by no means perfect especially in a bad signal LTE area can cause issues. When I'm at home or work I usually set my phone to CDMA only since I have wi-fi there is no advantage to be on LTE, causes issues with calls coming through and wastes battery. Most users have no idea about what is actually going on so it's hard to explain to a friend why when a caller calls them, the caller might here 5-6 rings before the phone even goes off. Sprint's LTE signal frankly sucks in most places I go, even right next to the tower sometimes you won't get full signal.
Anyway if your wifes phone works fine in the same spot as your G and you are doing all your testing off of LTE and still having issues that tells me either you have a bad radio again or something is provisioned wrong. I would put the phone back to stock, reset the radio and reactive the phone then do some testing with calls off LTE again. If you still have issues at the point, I would swap the phone. My M9 is pretty good with CSFB, I haven't had too many issues with it but really I think it's a very poor solution how it works especially when your in a fridge LTE area with the phone bouncing in and out of LTE.
Once the network goes all LTE (god knows how long that will take) I think this will be a thing of the past but for now CSFB now it's here to stay. I don't see Sprint ever going back to separate radios like the previous gen phones as they would more likely be focused on voice over LTE instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thx for the info!
mswlogo said:
It has not failed in 5 days since I flipped it.
It may depend on the WIFI it's on, IPV6 etc. I don't know.
I think this may have started the same time MMS started failing for SOME folks if WIFI was enabled. Disabling IPV6 on WIFI was a work around (which is disabled on your ROM).
But not everyone had this issue and depended on their router.
So their is weird sh$t happening due to Android changes.
I think this issue is related and not everyone runs into it.
I have had WIFI Calling setup, but disabled it on both M9 and G4 (because it's extremely unstable on every phone I've tried).
Not sure if that is part of it. Like my account knows it's WIFI Calling capable. But my wifes never had WIFI Calling setup, she also does not run WIFI at work. She's never had the problem (even with the same phone I had problems with).
Again I don't know the exact details, and this is not a fix. But disabling WIFI when asleep seems to have stopped it problem. But I need to go a bit longer to be 100% sure.
I've seen similar threads on many phones and carriers and many start off saying "Problem started with 5.x.x OTA update".
I think I was close when I thought it was the optimizer. And before I found that thread, I was testing with WIFI completely off (which also worked).
Something is a miss and there may be more "options" to cause the issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd blame gremlins yes, weird sh*t...and yeah, we still have ipv6 disabled in ROM for wifi
Sim-X said:
Sprint did (in my opinion) a very poor job with how it handles calls. One of my favorite phones was the evo LTE which not only could do LTE and a call at the same time but if you weren't in 4G it could do SV-DO and work on 3G which it actually worked very well. Especially at the time when I had that phone, I hardly had 4G anywhere so being able to use data at the same time on 3G was great.
That said, that feature didn't stick around long. The m7 had a separate radio for LTE & 1X meaning you could surf at the same time because it had separate radios. This couldn't do 3G which was a step backwards however 4G was becoming more mature.
Fast forward to today and with your modern tri-band device while it supports multiple bands that the previous phones didn't, most people have no idea what that means they usually assuming if it's a 4G phone well then it's just that how is any different.
I have had plenty of people complain to me about calls going straight to voicemail or signal issues. Rather than having separate radios, Sprint just uses CSFB Circuit Switched fallback so when a call comes in, it lets the phone know via LTE and immediately switches back to 1X to grab the call. That said it's by no means perfect especially in a bad signal LTE area can cause issues. When I'm at home or work I usually set my phone to CDMA only since I have wi-fi there is no advantage to be on LTE, causes issues with calls coming through and wastes battery. Most users have no idea about what is actually going on so it's hard to explain to a friend why when a caller calls them, the caller might here 5-6 rings before the phone even goes off. Sprint's LTE signal frankly sucks in most places I go, even right next to the tower sometimes you won't get full signal.
Anyway if your wifes phone works fine in the same spot as your G and you are doing all your testing off of LTE and still having issues that tells me either you have a bad radio again or something is provisioned wrong. I would put the phone back to stock, reset the radio and reactive the phone then do some testing with calls off LTE again. If you still have issues at the point, I would swap the phone. My M9 is pretty good with CSFB, I haven't had too many issues with it but really I think it's a very poor solution how it works especially when your in a fridge LTE area with the phone bouncing in and out of LTE.
Once the network goes all LTE (god knows how long that will take) I think this will be a thing of the past but for now CSFB now it's here to stay. I don't see Sprint ever going back to separate radios like the previous gen phones as they would more likely be focused on voice over LTE instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know about the call switching for LTE and it sucks. But that was not it. I tried CDMA only and it did not fix it.
Disabling WIFI while sleeping is still working. Not one call has gone to voice mail at work in over a week. It used to happen 2-3 times a day.
I HATE disabling wifi while asleep though. I'd like to still get to the bottom of it.
I think some how it is doing something over WIFI when a call comes in, if WIFI is available. But when the WIFI is in power save mode something gets messed up.
The problem started on OMJ's ROM with IPV6 disabled. So it's not that.
The only thing common is Lollipop, Sprint and my WIFI locations (and a modern single radio triband phone).
I'd like to try getting "WIFI Calling" capability off my account. I think once you set it up once, it's enabled automatically on my account.
I will also say, if I do enable WIFI Calling, it's terribly unreliable. Maybe that's a hint.
The WIFI signal is solid and no issues using WIFI itself.
mswlogo said:
I know about the call switching for LTE and it sucks. But that was not it. I tried CDMA only and it did not fix it.
Disabling WIFI while sleeping is still working. Not one call has gone to voice mail at work in over a week. It used to happen 2-3 times a day.
I HATE disabling wifi while asleep though. I'd like to still get to the bottom of it.
I think some how it is doing something over WIFI when a call comes in, if WIFI is available. But when the WIFI is in power save mode something gets messed up.
The problem started on OMJ's ROM with IPV6 disabled. So it's not that.
The only thing common is Lollipop, Sprint and my WIFI locations (and a modern single radio triband phone).
I'd like to try getting "WIFI Calling" capability off my account. I think once you set it up once, it's enabled automatically on my account.
I will also say, if I do enable WIFI Calling, it's terribly unreliable. Maybe that's a hint.
The WIFI signal is solid and no issues using WIFI itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having Wi-Fi calling provisioned on your account is just that, it just means if you enable wi-fi calling that your phone has the green light to connect and move forward with the server. That said if you keep wi-fi calling off the fact that it is still provisioned on the account doesn't affect anything at all if the service is not active.
If you only solution is disabling wi-fi while sleeping something in the rom is borked. Return the phone to 100% stock, hard reset it (including the radio) then try using it again. While again CSFB isn't perfect, if the phone is CDMA only you just shouldn't be having this kind of issue. If your not having issues with other phones in the same area with calls going to vm, you know it's not the network and something with the phone. If it does this on 100% stock after a re provision then you have a borked radio and the phone should be swapped. Which I have seen borked radios before, the wi-fi radio in the phone is totally separate from the CDMA/LTE radio.
Sim-X said:
Having Wi-Fi calling provisioned on your account is just that, it just means if you enable wi-fi calling that your phone has the green light to connect and move forward with the server. That said if you keep wi-fi calling off the fact that it is still provisioned on the account doesn't affect anything at all if the service is not active.
If you only solution is disabling wi-fi while sleeping something in the rom is borked. Return the phone to 100% stock, hard reset it (including the radio) then try using it again. While again CSFB isn't perfect, if the phone is CDMA only you just shouldn't be having this kind of issue. If your not having issues with other phones in the same area with calls going to vm, you know it's not the network and something with the phone. If it does this on 100% stock after a re provision then you have a borked radio and the phone should be swapped. Which I have seen borked radios before, the wi-fi radio in the phone is totally separate from the CDMA/LTE radio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did that, returned to stock, same issue. Got Another M9, same issue, got a LG G4 same issue. Just signed up for T-Mobile (have not canceled Sprint yet). Two LG V10's. T-Mobile just announced a huge expansion on their network to cover areas that I needed with LTE (Sprint roams 1x Lakes Region and North in NH).
mswlogo said:
Did that, returned to stock, same issue. Got Another M9, same issue, got a LG G4 same issue. Just signed up for T-Mobile (have not canceled Sprint yet). Two LG V10's. T-Mobile just announced a huge expansion on their network to cover areas that I needed with LTE (Sprint roams 1x Lakes Region and North in NH).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a bad play, Sprint's Network has come along way in the past few years but with CSFB and a crappy LTE signal is most places they still have a lot of work to do. One of the reasons I stay is my plan and they are pretty friendly towards rooting/unlocking for the most part.
Sim-X said:
Not a bad play, Sprint's Network has come along way in the past few years but with CSFB and a crappy LTE signal is most places they still have a lot of work to do. One of the reasons I stay is my plan and they are pretty friendly towards rooting/unlocking for the most part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The V10 was awesome. T-Mobile was extremely good at My work, My wifes work, Home and all places between. Speeds were 4-8x faster (seriously) than Sprint. Simultaneous Voice and Data VoLTE.
But what the map showed up in NH, didn't match reality at all. Sprint is pretty dismal too, but they at least Roam and you can get 1x or 3G from either US Cellar or Verizon.
But T-Mobile had nothing in the areas Sprints Roams. So I'm sticking with Sprint for now.
I've concluded it's a combination of weak locations, the requirement to switch from LTE to CDMA for calls, and something around that is complicated by WIFI while asleep. Shutting off WIFI or shutting it off while asleep definitely improved things but didn't eliminate it completely. Both phones (M9 and G4) are Qualcomm chips and probably have similar Radio Firmware. But it's overly complicated due to Sprint being a bit behind the ball with VoLTE.
I agree Sprint is not quite so tight on locking things down. T-Mobile is the least locked down, then Sprint, then AT&T then Verizon. I know Verizon would perform flawlessly. But the combination of expense and being so locked down keeps me away. T-Mobile price was really good 2 lines 10GB each, with Carry Over and free Music/Video streaming. And the V10 already had TWRP on day one. The G4 on Sprint does not have TWRP and probably never will. It is rootable, barely.
I convinced my Sister to switch to T-Mobile because she wanted an iPhone and I recommended she not Jail Break it. But she wanted Tether (I was rooting Androids on Sprint for her). She is very happy with T-Mobile. And she generally stays in Eastern MA.
We'll see what HTC does this next time around. But they really need to step up their game. The reception issue really isn't an "HTC" issue. It's a Qualcomm/Sprint issue in my opinion. It's a kludge and I think Sprint is the only one with this kludge.
THE TL;DR
Verizon data in a specific area used to be solid, but now is practically nonexistent. I know it’s not gone entirely though, because I can maintain an LTE signal lock and use it if I exit the affected area, get an LTE signal lock, start the utorrent and begin downloading a [legal] torrent, and then re-enter the affected area. I’ve tested with friends, family and strangers over a series of devices - it’s not just me. Verizon says it’s heavy network usage which seems like BS. Please help.
THE FULL VERSION
THE PROBLEM
About a month ago the Verizon data service in the area that I live/work went from solid to almost nonexistent. The affected area is maybe a 2 to 3 mile circle it seems. I’ve had friends, family, and even strangers verify that it isn’t just me - they’re experiencing the same thing (wide range of devices.) Essentially, I can no longer get LTE in this area, and the 3G and 1x are even spotty (and horribly slow.) Veeery occasionally I will be able to get LTE to lock, but it drops almost immediately. Calling and SMS do not seem to be affected. Outside of this affected area, LTE service in the area seems to be unchanged. I’ve opened multiple tickets with Verizon -- they essentially told me that the network in my particular area is overloaded and this can’t be resolved until they build a new tower that covers the area (obviously that’s not going to happen anytime soon.) Although this might seem plausible, I’ve lived and worked in this exact location for the past 3 years, and only once has something similar happened previously (and I’d know because I’m a power user who doesn’t use a computer, and who uses LTE for internet exclusively.) The previous occurrence was in February this year, and the issue disappeared after about a week.
I do happen to live in a college town, so the network could be under some additional strain with the kids coming back, but I don’t believe admission is up appreciably from previous years, and I don’t know of any new living spaces that were built in the area that’s affected, so it seems that the network shouldn’t any more strained than it has been in previous years.
THE UTORRENT TRICK
If I move outside of the affected area and get an LTE signal lock, open utorrent, start downloading a torrent [legal only,] and then re-enter the affected area, the LTE lock will hold an I’ll be able to get the full LTE speeds almost as if the problem has been resolved. However, if I shut off utorrent, or if I toggle airplane mode while I’m in the affected area, the LTE signal lock is lost, and issue will persist (ie. I’ll only get 3G, 1x, or nothing at all.)
QUESTIONS
Can anyone explain what might be happening and why? Is it really that the network is under heavy load?
Why won’t my phone even find LTE while I’m in the affected area? It’s clearly still available if I can keep an LTE lock using the utorrent trick.
What causes the utorrent trick to work? It almost seems like the trick bypasses the network’s attempts to hide LTE from me in this particular area.
I’m rooted. Is there any way that I can force my phone to find and lock the LTE in the affected area? The 3G and 1x are essential unusable.
If I can’t force my phone to lock the LTE and stay on it, is there some other way to make my phone hold the signal once it has it *besides* using the utorrent trick?
Any insight would be much appreciated.