3G vs 2G - G2 General

I've always thought 3G is more power consumer than 2G (as was the case in my previous device), but surprisingly the device specifications on gsmarena say otherwise.
Stand-by Up to 790 h (2G) / Up to 900 h (3G)
Talk time Up to 16 h 30 min (2G) / Up to 17 h 30 min (3G)
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Click to collapse
I wonder if keeping 3G always on is a good idea specially for someone who want to keep the battery life as long as possible.

With the G2 it's not really possible to put it into "3G" mode (at least from what I can tell). It's going to use either 2G for GSM operation or 4G (HSPA+ or LTE, either one is a 4G technology) WCDMA or LTE/CDMA or a combination of both and there's really no in-between anymore, unfortunately.
I would be quite happy with a solid 3G connection of 4-8Mbps for a decent price but, since no carrier gives a damn about it anymore (meaning 3G) they'll all pushing 4G technologies now like HSPA+ and LTE which are fine.
2G is the least battery consuming mode of cellular operation there is but it's being phased out as fast as possible by most carriers whenever possible. My T-Mobile $30/month plan falls back to 2G/EDGE speeds if I cross that 5GB threshold - so far I haven't actually done that in 2+ years of being on that plan but I've come close; had 4.85GB used one time. I do use Wi-Fi extensively whenever possible so it cuts down on the actual 5GB usage on my account, plus I use Google Hangouts with my Google Voice number for all my phone calls so I don't touch the 100 min allotment at all (but it's there if I need it). If I put my G2 into 2G/EDGE mode, battery life will increase but I'm stuck at roughly 130-180Kbps (T-Mobile has outstanding 2G/EDGE coverage here in the Las Vegas area, I get those speeds consistently wherever I've tested it and that's pretty much everywhere from mountain's edge to mountain's edge here since we're in a "bowl" valley).
I wouldn't put any serious faith in those numbers from GSMArena, could simply be a typo in some respects. I'm sure it's possible to have tuned the stock drivers to provide some great battery life in "3G" mode but, 2G just uses less, I doubt anybody would ever argue that point.
I could be wrong, of course, but I don't think I am on this one.

My Verizon model goes into 3G often when LTE is not available. When I don't have any 3G or 4G... I just have plain jane signal bars with no internet. There is not a way to "toggle" the 4G LTE radio like I have done on previous devices. It just seems to be all or none. I would be fine with standard 3G speeds too. I don't need a 70mbps data connection on my mobile device 24-7.

Related

HSPDA NETWORK NOT WORKING, ONLY GETTING 3G (getting hspda+ on vibrant)

I apologize for this thread as it might not be in the correct area, but i figured most people log into the dev section so this might get answered quicker...
I have 2 questions so lets start with the first:
1) For some reason I'm not getting HSPDA network working on my phone. the best speed I've posted is about 3.2Mbs, which is not HSPDA speeds, or at least not as fast as it should be. It also says that i'm on 3G as opposed to H...is there a reason for this. Keep in mind I live in LA and they have one of the strongest networks for HSPDA (at least according to the rep I talked to).
2) Is it possible for us to get HSPDA+ speeds with a radio update. I don't know too much about the radio but it would seem to me like that is what it would take to get the HSPDA+ working as I'm assuming that it is the radio that determins your speed and not the hardware...though I could be wrong.
Just a thought, and a response would be awesome.
Thanks in advance guys and gals!
I would answer if this were posted in the correct forum.
acis said:
I would answer if this were posted in the correct forum.
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Click to collapse
where would you like me to post this then...not sure where to post...general q&a?
EDIT: Now posted in gernal Q&A....
settings > about phone > status
what does it say the mobile network type is? the status bar will still display '3G' if you're on HSDPA unless you're on froyo or a custom rom.
If you go to menu settings, about phone, status, it will tell you if you are connected to hsdpa... But it won't show up in the status bar...
The more ppl on the network the slower the speeds will be... I can connect to an hspa tower about 30 mins away but I don't get the speeds... my phone is actually slower now with the new tower...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
solarpanel said:
settings > about phone > status
what does it say the mobile network type is? the status bar will still display '3G' if you're on HSDPA unless you're on froyo or a custom rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it says HSDPA but it doesn't feel like that, i figgured it would just fly, but it's not as fast as I thought it should be. Also the speed test is only giving me like 3.2Mbs as opposed to my friend with with the behold II who is getting like 5...
Also, anyone got any info on the second question by chance?
i haven't done enough research on the vibrant's HSPA+ capabilities to answer
solarpanel said:
i haven't done enough research on the vibrant's HSPA+ capabilities to answer
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Click to collapse
it would seem to me that the radio would do it...i mean that is what the radio is, it tells your phone what signal to use...right...can any devs help us out?
zbt1985 said:
1) For some reason I'm not getting HSPDA network working on my phone. the best speed I've posted is about 3.2Mbs, which is not HSPDA speeds, or at least not as fast as it should be. It also says that i'm on 3G as opposed to H...is there a reason for this. Keep in mind I live in LA and they have one of the strongest networks for HSPDA (at least according to the rep I talked to).
2) Is it possible for us to get HSPDA+ speeds with a radio update. I don't know too much about the radio but it would seem to me like that is what it would take to get the HSPDA+ working as I'm assuming that it is the radio that determins your speed and not the hardware...though I could be wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1)That is HSDPA. Normal 3G is UMTS 384kbps, HSDPA 3.5G Theoretical Maximum of 7.2 (also available in 3.5, 7.2, 14.4, etc) getting down 3.2mbps is considered very quick, connection really tops out at a max of ~5mbps, but would require you to be near a tower with a fast backhaul, and not many other people on the network at the same time. Also keep in mind speedtests are not completely accurate as they have cached data they are sending to you.
2) There is no such thing as HSDPA+, there is HSDPA in a bunch of flavors, and HSPA+. and no, our radio does not support HSPA+ 20mbps. but in field tests it was only marginally faster than HSDPA 7.2mbps anyway. the radio is a piece of hardware, there is firmware they can tweak to try and get more potential out of it, but its just more of the potential of the hardware, not extra speed.
amigoingcrazzy said:
1)That is HSDPA. Normal 3G is UMTS 384kbps, HSDPA 3.5G Theoretical Maximum of 7.2 (also available in 3.5, 7.2, 14.4, etc) getting down 3.2mbps is considered very quick, connection really tops out at a max of ~5mbps, but would require you to be near a tower with a fast backhaul, and not many other people on the network at the same time. Also keep in mind speedtests are not completely accurate as they have cached data they are sending to you.
2) There is no such thing as HSDPA+, there is HSDPA in a bunch of flavors, and HSPA+. and no, our radio does not support HSPA+ 20mbps. but in field tests it was only marginally faster than HSDPA 7.2mbps anyway. the radio is a piece of hardware, there is firmware they can tweak to try and get more potential out of it, but its just more of the potential of the hardware, not extra speed.
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Click to collapse
thanks for the info, glad to know that I am at normal speeds.
Also thanks for answering on if we were able to get HSPA+ on our phones!
I believe the vibrant can get speeds up to 7.2 down. Personally, I get ~5-6mbps at my house (Seattle, WA) and the most I've hit is ~6.5.
If you flashed the Update, your not going to get a Speed increase.
After Testing & Testing me & barak both don't get over 3.5MB & with the Old Modem.bin we both get over 6MB downloads..
Another thing we noticed with the new Modem.bin is it never switches to the H network, just stays on 3G / E..
With the old Modem.bin H / 3G /E Connects
eugene373 said:
If you flashed the Update, your not going to get a Speed increase.
After Testing & Testing me & barak both don't get over 3.5MB & with the Old Modem.bin we both get over 6MB downloads..
Another thing we noticed with the new Modem.bin is it never switches to the H network, just stays on 3G / E..
With the old Modem.bin H / 3G /E Connects
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so the leaked update actually downgraded the phone's ability for better speeds? wtf
eugene373 said:
If you flashed the Update, your not going to get a Speed increase.
After Testing & Testing me & barak both don't get over 3.5MB & with the Old Modem.bin we both get over 6MB downloads..
Another thing we noticed with the new Modem.bin is it never switches to the H network, just stays on 3G / E..
With the old Modem.bin H / 3G /E Connects
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3.5 mbps is on the H network. the normal 3g network would be 0.3mbps....
However I'm not disputing that the H network could have been crippled/slower after a modem update. You are still on HDSPA, just something has been messed up about it and its only half as fast as normal for you.
I'm on hsdpa and I'm only getting .3mbps
amigoingcrazzy said:
1)That is HSDPA. Normal 3G is UMTS 384kbps, HSDPA 3.5G Theoretical Maximum of 7.2 (also available in 3.5, 7.2, 14.4, etc) getting down 3.2mbps is considered very quick, connection really tops out at a max of ~5mbps, but would require you to be near a tower with a fast backhaul, and not many other people on the network at the same time. Also keep in mind speedtests are not completely accurate as they have cached data they are sending to you.
2) There is no such thing as HSDPA+, there is HSDPA in a bunch of flavors, and HSPA+. and no, our radio does not support HSPA+ 20mbps. but in field tests it was only marginally faster than HSDPA 7.2mbps anyway. the radio is a piece of hardware, there is firmware they can tweak to try and get more potential out of it, but its just more of the potential of the hardware, not extra speed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone shows that I'm on UMTS and I'm getting 5mbps dl speeds. Occasionally I'll be on HSDPA but the speeds stay about the same.
UMTS is 3G, HSDPA is an improvement to the UMTS protocol.
So yes, all HSDPA/HSPA is UMTS, not all UMTS is of the HSDPA/HSPA.
UMTS (vanilla) 384 kbps
UMTS (HSDPA 1.8/3.5/7.2/14.4) 1.8/3.5/7.2/14.4mbps
UMTS (HSUPA) up to 5.76mbps Enhanced uplink portions of the data connection
UMTS (HSPA+) up to 56 Mbit/s on the downlink and 22 Mbit/s on the uplink
rizzxx7 said:
I'm on hsdpa and I'm only getting .3mbps
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Click to collapse
Theoretical Maximums, you can get UP TO that number, anywhere between 0 and that number is what reality is.
eugene373 said:
If you flashed the Update, your not going to get a Speed increase.
After Testing & Testing me & barak both don't get over 3.5MB & with the Old Modem.bin we both get over 6MB downloads..
Another thing we noticed with the new Modem.bin is it never switches to the H network, just stays on 3G / E..
With the old Modem.bin H / 3G /E Connects
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like an obvious problem, but not sure what that could be. Also, 3.5MB is not the same as 3.5Mb. 3.5MB/s = 28megabits. 3.5Mb/s = .43MB/s.
amigoingcrazzy said:
2) There is no such thing as HSDPA+, there is HSDPA in a bunch of flavors, and HSPA+. and no, our radio does not support HSPA+ 20mbps. but in field tests it was only marginally faster than HSDPA 7.2mbps anyway. the radio is a piece of hardware, there is firmware they can tweak to try and get more potential out of it, but its just more of the potential of the hardware, not extra speed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I am mostly a fan of your answer (it is pretty much spot on), I do have to make you aware of the acronyms and their meanings.
HSDPA = High Speed Downlink Packet Access
HSUPA = High Speed Uplink Packet Access
HSPA = High Speed Packet Access (this implies that the network uses BOTH HSUPA and HSDPA)
HSDPA+, HSPA+ = Evolved HS(D)PA
Just FYI.
richan90 said:
My phone shows that I'm on UMTS and I'm getting 5mbps dl speeds. Occasionally I'll be on HSDPA but the speeds stay about the same.
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Click to collapse
Exactly what I get...

[Q] Phone prefers 3G to 4G??

I have noticed that my phone seems to prefer 3G data to 4G where I live. (I'm in the Stow, OH area for those curious)
At first I thought I simply didn't pick 4G up at my house because I've never had the strongest 3G signal here either. But if I go into the Phone Info and switch the radio to "LTE mode", it switches to 4G no problem.
For some confirmation that the software wasn't being glitchy, I did a speed test and got ~5mbit down (like I said, I may not have the best 4G coverage... I get upwards of 18mbit when I'm in the Akron area). And for additional confirmation, I placed a call and was also able to simultaneously surf and do another 5mbit speed test. So it is definitely connected to 4G.
For more experimentation, I switched it back to the usual "CDMA + LTE/EvDo auto". The icon switched to the 3G symbol. I then tried placing a call, and I was able to simultaneously use data, but it was clearly 3G speed. So it seems it used the 4G radio for the call, but the 3G radio for the data (weird).
So, I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed it this kind of behavior? Perhaps in the fringe coverage areas this will be most noticeable.
My phone dose this too. I think its poor 4g service and stuff. Im sure it will inrpove eventually
Interesting...
Now I put it on the "CDMA Auto (PRL)" option. speed test indicates 3G speeds. But then I place a call, and the call AND data are both working-- at 3G speeds. So maybe this was what was happening on the CDMA + LTE mode I selected before.
It appears Verizon has some sort of simultaneous 3G technology now?? I wasn't aware of this-- certainly about time, though.
But my initial conclusion does seem to be true-- it's preferring the 3G coverage to the 4G coverage. Perhaps this is a battery life decision. Or something else completely weird is going on.
Either way, I'm plenty happy with the phone.

[Q] Disable HSPA? Leaving HSDPA only?

Hi, I looked for this in all motorola forums but I couldn't find any real solution.
It seems the latest update to my home network (HSDPA to HSPA) is not well received by my phone. My battery is draining really fast since this upgrade.
Is there a way to enable ONLY HSDPA? I mean, HSPA is great for downloading and uploading, but battery life is really poor. I had very good battery life with HSDPA and I'd like to set my phone to this type of data connection.
Somebody told me to look for some entries in build.prop but I didn't find anything. Does someone know how to do it? Thanks
Menu key -> Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Mobile networks -> Select network ?
Check this out for battery improvement: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1198333
ofek said:
Menu key -> Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Mobile networks -> Select network ?
Check this out for battery improvement: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1198333
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for your help. Well, I'm not suffering battery draining for any other reason. I don't want to use 2G networks only. Just want to change HSPA to HSDPA. That way, I'll go back to having the usual battery consumption.
Any other suggestion?
HSPA is a term that encompasses High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) - if your network was using HSDPA, it was an HSPA network.
Enhanced HSPA (HSPA+) is an enhancement to HSPA that enables download speeds of up to 21Mbps and beyond, up from the typical 7.2Mbps. The Atrix is a 14.4Mbps compatible HSPA+ device.
So you saying you don't want HSPA, but want HSDPA doesn't make any sense. Do you want to disable the increased upload speeds? (HSUPA) or the HSPA+ speed enhancements? (up to 14.4Mbps) I know Samsung have an option to disable certain parts of the network through a hidden network, no idea about the Atrix though.
opethfan3 said:
HSPA is a term that encompasses High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) - if your network was using HSDPA, it was an HSPA network.
Enhanced HSPA (HSPA+) is an enhancement to HSPA that enables download speeds of up to 21Mbps and beyond, up from the typical 7.2Mbps. The Atrix is a 14.4Mbps compatible HSPA+ device.
So you saying you don't want HSPA, but want HSDPA doesn't make any sense. Do you want to disable the increased upload speeds? (HSUPA) or the HSPA+ speed enhancements? (up to 14.4Mbps) I know Samsung have an option to disable certain parts of the network through a hidden network, no idea about the Atrix though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I want to disable HSUPA (what makes it HSPA) since it's killing my battery. I found a lot of info on Samsung phones but I don't know how to do it in a Motorola mobile
Sorry to bother again. Any solution yet to prevent phone from going on HSPA and stay in HSDPA? Thanks in advance
Just for your information, I found some build.prop tweaks to set HSDPA only, but none of them worked. Any ideas? Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks
joyo22 said:
Hi, I looked for this in all motorola forums but I couldn't find any real solution.
It seems the latest update to my home network (HSDPA to HSPA) is not well received by my phone. My battery is draining really fast since this upgrade.
Is there a way to enable ONLY HSDPA? I mean, HSPA is great for downloading and uploading, but battery life is really poor. I had very good battery life with HSDPA and I'd like to set my phone to this type of data connection.
Somebody told me to look for some entries in build.prop but I didn't find anything. Does someone know how to do it? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BUMP... Still trying to set phone to HSDPA only... Any thoughts?
it can be done, it took me three weeks to figure this out. we had a flood come through here about three weeks ago and it did something to just one antenna on the tower, i dont know what it did but it prevented anybody using a phone on hsupa from using their internet on their phone, i called att multiple times on the issue with no fixing of the tower that was transmitting a bad hsupa signal, the same antenna was transmitting a good "3g" signal or "hsdpa" both of my 4g phones would work anywhere else in the world except for at my house where the bad hsupa signal was. so i knew i had to find a way to downgrade to hsdpa to get my phones operational again, no help from att as to when or even if they would fix the towers. att thought i was crazy because i was the only one complaining about it because everyone on 3g was unaffected, probably only a handful of houses on this one antenna, att locks you out of your phone from being able to go to 3g or 2g, all automatic. 3 weeks of this crap then one day i remembered when the atrix first came out hsupa was locked out, remember all the scoff att got for that one, so here's what i did to shut off hsupa and get my phone back running again:
1. make sure your bootloader is unlocked - not sure if this will brick your phone if it isn't
2. download these radio packages http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V0LDOGFJ
3. flash the one radio that says att shipping radio or something like that through rsd lite (this is the original radio that shipped with the atrix) and don't worry its safe to flash if you are on gingerbread..
4. reboot your phone and you will be locked into 3g or hsdpa thus locking out hsupa
5. if you want to turn hsupa back on just flash the other file
this method worked great for me and got my phone working great again and no hsupa for me anymore until att gets the tower fixed which may be never since i'm probably the only one on this particular antenna with a hsupa phone.
all we need now is a nifty dev that can hack one of these radios to shut off automatic network selection for those of us that are stuck on it.
voltmeter101 said:
it can be done, it took me three weeks to figure this out. we had a flood come through here about three weeks ago and it did something to just one antenna on the tower, i dont know what it did but it prevented anybody using a phone on hsupa from using their internet on their phone, i called att multiple times on the issue with no fixing of the tower that was transmitting a bad hsupa signal, the same antenna was transmitting a good "3g" signal or "hsdpa" both of my 4g phones would work anywhere else in the world except for at my house where the bad hsupa signal was. so i knew i had to find a way to downgrade to hsdpa to get my phones operational again, no help from att as to when or even if they would fix the towers. att thought i was crazy because i was the only one complaining about it because everyone on 3g was unaffected, probably only a handful of houses on this one antenna, att locks you out of your phone from being able to go to 3g or 2g, all automatic. 3 weeks of this crap then one day i remembered when the atrix first came out hsupa was locked out, remember all the scoff att got for that one, so here's what i did to shut off hsupa and get my phone back running again:
1. make sure your bootloader is unlocked - not sure if this will brick your phone if it isn't
2. download these radio packages http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V0LDOGFJ
3. flash the one radio that says att shipping radio or something like that through rsd lite (this is the original radio that shipped with the atrix) and don't worry its safe to flash if you are on gingerbread..
4. reboot your phone and you will be locked into 3g or hsdpa thus locking out hsupa
5. if you want to turn hsupa back on just flash the other file
this method worked great for me and got my phone working great again and no hsupa for me anymore until att gets the tower fixed which may be never since i'm probably the only one on this particular antenna with a hsupa phone.
all we need now is a nifty dev that can hack one of these radios to shut off automatic network selection for those of us that are stuck on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, thanks a lot. I was able to set phone to HSDPA only by flashing the radio you provided. I can't test if it really decreases battery drain but I'm going to try tomorrow with regular use. Thanks a lot!
opethfan3 said:
HSPA is a term that encompasses High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) - if your network was using HSDPA, it was an HSPA network.
Enhanced HSPA (HSPA+) is an enhancement to HSPA that enables download speeds of up to 21Mbps and beyond, up from the typical 7.2Mbps. The Atrix is a 14.4Mbps compatible HSPA+ device.
So you saying you don't want HSPA, but want HSDPA doesn't make any sense. Do you want to disable the increased upload speeds? (HSUPA) or the HSPA+ speed enhancements? (up to 14.4Mbps) I know Samsung have an option to disable certain parts of the network through a hidden network, no idea about the Atrix though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^This guy gets it.^^
WiredPirate said:
^^This guy gets it.^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can see why he called it hspa since this is the information displayed by the phone vs when the phone is on hsdpa. or what I call 3.5 g
voltmeter101 said:
I can see why he called it hspa since this is the information displayed by the phone vs when the phone is on hsdpa. or what I call 3.5 g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey pal, your method worked! After flashing the old radio, the phone is on HSDPA only and battery life is way better, back to Froyo times. I don't really care about the enhanced upload. Download speeds are as good as they were on HSPA.
Thanks a lot.
Can you please upload those radio again? I'm suffering the same thing with my atrix. Thank you.

[Q] How much faster does turning on LTE drain your battery life?

Anyone who has LTE care to compare?
Some say that the integrated LTE modem means that LTE won't drain your battery any more than 3G will. I highly, highly doubt it (just my guess).
Thanks
im not sure how clearly i can explain this so bare with me here and tell me if you have no idea what im talking about.
the 3g (cdma) and 4g (lte) radios are both built into the processor so right off the bat they use less power than usual but since there is no lte anywhere yet, no one can accurately say just how much it will use but from what i have been reading, people have been ball parking it and saying that it shouldn't use any more battery than the 3g. their reasoning behind this is the fact that the setting for 3g is tied to the lte so if you turn on the 3g radio your essentially turning on both at the same time and lte will connect and take over the 3g and switch to the lte network whenever possible. now you can set it to only use 3g when you turn on the 3g radio but then there is no other way to toggle lte. since i got my phone i have had it so that it turns them both on at the same time and since i have seen no severe drain i would have to say that if it was infact using the lte network that it wouldn't use anymore than the 3g would at any other time (if i had to guess)
to help explain what i am talking about with the settings, here is a few pics that should make it clearer.
https://www.box.com/s/4d3ae71dea2265ce859a
https://www.box.com/s/a2733587f93ceb8958d1
edit: so in short, no, it won't drain any more battery
That would be awesome. My Samsung Epic sucked the battery dry when 4G was turned on, so I never used it.
The goal with Sprint is to REPLACE 3G with 4G, and not just have it as a secondary like Wimax, or Verizon LTE is now. They are tuning is so much in battery efficiency so that it drains no more, if not less than 3G, since LTE can burst a dl quickly then go back into idle mode much more than 3G, when in use it should take less battery in theory.
Afteraffekt said:
The goal with Sprint is to REPLACE 3G with 4G, and not just have it as a secondary like Wimax, or Verizon LTE is now. They are tuning is so much in battery efficiency so that it drains no more, if not less than 3G, since LTE can burst a dl quickly then go back into idle mode much more than 3G, when in use it should take less battery in theory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand the theory better now, but in practice, it seems that the AT&T version of the One X does drain more battery? Although you can not turn off LTE so I'm not sure how people are comparing it to HSPA+.
PhxkinMassacre said:
im not sure how clearly i can explain this so bare with me here and tell me if you have no idea what im talking about.
the 3g (cdma) and 4g (lte) radios are both built into the processor so right off the bat they use less power than usual but since there is no lte anywhere yet, no one can accurately say just how much it will use but from what i have been reading, people have been ball parking it and saying that it shouldn't use any more battery than the 3g. their reasoning behind this is the fact that the setting for 3g is tied to the lte so if you turn on the 3g radio your essentially turning on both at the same time and lte will connect and take over the 3g and switch to the lte network whenever possible. now you can set it to only use 3g when you turn on the 3g radio but then there is no other way to toggle lte. since i got my phone i have had it so that it turns them both on at the same time and since i have seen no severe drain i would have to say that if it was infact using the lte network that it wouldn't use anymore than the 3g would at any other time (if i had to guess)
to help explain what i am talking about with the settings, here is a few pics that should make it clearer.
https://www.box.com/s/4d3ae71dea2265ce859a
https://www.box.com/s/a2733587f93ceb8958d1
edit: so in short, no, it won't drain any more battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm thinking the same way you are,no LTE here yet of course,but I do have it set to 3g,LTE mode not 3g only and have been getting excellent battery life.I'm assuming it must at least occasionally check for LTE coverage.
Of course, no actual LTE yet. But I have run full days with LTE on and off and have noticed little or no difference in battery life. Maybe a little better data speed even on 3g, but not enough in my area to prove it with speedtest.
I believe what it is is the Radio no matter what looks for a signal from CDMA or LTE either way BUT I believe the options only opts as to what type of signal is allowed to be USED by the radio as the primary signal technology. So basically either way it searches for both since they are both integrated into one on the processor but accepts the best one available according to the settings in OS(Best As In LTE if available and CDMA if not, not Best as in terms of signal strength).
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I have my radio set to CDMA only and I defiantly see a difference
StarrLimit said:
I have my radio set to CDMA only and I defiantly see a difference
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In what? Battery or speed? Good or bad? Numbers to back it up?
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
StarrLimit said:
I have my radio set to CDMA only and I defiantly see a difference
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Click to collapse
Your defiance astounds and impresses me.
Believe that both 3G and LTE run on the 1900 radio, where the WIMAX used a 2500 separate radio that killed the WIMAX battery life. Plus the LTE phone battery life with the larger battery and ICS (and less HTC crapware polling the network all the time) has lasted all day with moderate use and power left to spare.
Was disappointed that there wasn't an easy switch to turn off the LTE like in WIMAX phones but then if both 3g and LTE are truly tied together that it would be impossible to turn off.

[Q] Would you like a 3G only setting for the G3?

Would you use a 3G only option if it was available on the G3?
I spoke to a Verizon Regional Exec today about the G3 and other Verizon phones that no longer have the option to run on CDMA only. The rep has an iPhone and regularly sets it to 3G only, especially when he let's his kids use the phone. He could not give me a reason why the G3 and other phones no longer has the ability to go to 3G only. He said he would look into this and see if it could be delivered in a future update.
Honestly I rather not have data at all then be stuck on 3G, just my opinion
I would like that option. There are areas where I play Ingress, for example, where the 3g Verizon signal is strong and uncluttered so its a much better option than LTE, which is either weak and eats battery trying over and over to reconnect, or is good but WAY oversold so there is no way to get good speeds on my unlimited data plan, much of the time.
One of the tricks we used to use on the VGNexus phones was select 3g only and save much battery life. 3g can sometimes be faster than 4g and it saves power by not running the rg radio.
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
I can do this using com.lge.hiddenmenu. it has an intent that if launched will allow you to pick your desired frequency/bandmode. it includes lte only, cdma only, evdo only, cdma/evdo, and lte/cdmA/evdo as well as global.
i often have poor band 13 lte coverage and so it saves a lot of battery. sometimes it is nice to block 1x to improve speeds and force 3g if the signal is producing more speed then 1x. just my 2 cents,,,and if you get creative you can create a shell script to "su" then run the intent and then exit. place a shortcut on the homescreen and profit.
im reflashing my softbrick now or i would put the exact intent needed, maybe tomorrow if i remember but its network selection, network mode, something like that and way towards the bottom (last third) of the intents i viewed within hiddenmenu,apk
Please conform that the coma,option is available on works on the vs985
I've never seen 3g perform faster then 4g in my area
trent999 said:
I would like that option. There are areas where I play Ingress, for example, where the 3g Verizon signal is strong and uncluttered so its a much better option than LTE, which is either weak and eats battery trying over and over to reconnect, or is good but WAY oversold so there is no way to get good speeds on my unlimited data plan, much of the time.
One of the tricks we used to use on the VGNexus phones was select 3g only and save much battery life. 3g can sometimes be faster than 4g and it saves power by not running the rg radio.
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The GNex was one of the last phones to be affected by that. Since Qualcomm took over Android, their integrated LTE radios use no more power than 3G radios.
timjp692 said:
I've never seen 3g perform faster then 4g in my area
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Completely agree, even a very weak LTE always works better for me, even over a full 3G signal at times.
geoff5093 said:
Completely agree, even a very weak LTE always works better for me, even over a full 3G signal at times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically. I think a full 3G signal is a little faster a very weak LTE signal, but at this point anywhere there's full 3G there's LTE.
Just download a massive amount of data and the carriers will throttle you down to 3G or lower, with occasional 4G use. As for some people saying that 3G is never faster, it depends on the carrier. Verizon throttles all 3G usage in an effort to convince 3G users to upgrade to 4G.

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