Develop Bugs

LAUNCH DATE LA 3G coverage [COOKS/MODS/PROS PLEASE READ+HELP US FIGURE THIS OUT!]

i KNOW THIS IS LONG BUT IT IS INTERESTING! JUST GET THROUGH IT!
ON 6 July 2007 I posted:
[I was driving home from work on Vanowen St from North Hollywood, an area which has had 3G coverage for quite a while, while watching some free MobiTV in the LA traffic. My eyes widened with excitement when the phone (running BLACK MAGIC LE) showed full HSDPA reception as a crossed Lindley Ave, then Reseda, then Tampa, and all the way to my place on Winnetka where the HSDPA was still on but at 2-3 bars of reception. HOWEVER, to my great dismay, as soon as I ended the data call, the same ol' "E" was right back up there... forcing WCDMA + going back to where I was apparently getting full 3G reception failed to pick up UMTS... Now, given what little knowledge I have + some educated guessing, I suspect one of the following scenarios as being the culprit of this disgusting event:
A. There could have simply been a glitch in the phone, where it showed the H and 3G symbols instead of the E; HOWEVER, the streaming video on MobiTV was significantly better than anything i've seen on EDGE. Maybe some caching may be responsible for this?
B. Newly activated UMTS towers were able to register my phone when it attempted to continue an existing HSDPA data call, but have yet to be instructed to register idle phones looking for signals.]
Today, after repeating the same process while using speed tests to verify HSDPA speeds, I contacted AT&T and again, luckily, got to someone who knew his sht. He went ahead and listed some UMTS tower locations in my area and along my route home from work (Vanowen St) but stated that the towers were set for PUBLIC activation on 2 August 2007. So theres it is, the official launch date for 3G accross the whole SFV is 8/2/07. NOW, as for me being able to connect to these "unactivated towers": the tech agreed with my theory that while the towers fail to register my phone from a reset and kick it off upon data disconnection, they ARE OBVIOUSLY ACTIVE because I am able to connect to them, but only when entering their range while on an ACTIVE HSDPA connection. So here are my questions for the COOKS/MODS/PROS:
1. Are you aware of what method these towers may be using to screen phones for "testing purposes" (IMEI maybe?)?
2. Is there any way to trick the tower into registering my phone without having to drive to an "active" 3G zone and back?
ANY FEEDBACK WILL REALLY BE APPRECIATED!!!

all i have to say is LESS THAN A MONTH...HIP HIP HOOOORAY!

I really hope this goes all the way to agoura hills, that would make me a very happy man

3G for first time at my office today!!!!!

Hello all, just thought Id share some news. I have never received 3g at my office in Bellflower CA before today. Well it was actually a combo of H and 3G. I almost lost it, I think I told allot of people who didn't care but I was stoked.
All this shows me is that they are finally expanding what we've been waiting for.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention I just installed radio 1.48 (just havent updated my sig yet) The reason I mention this is my bosses 8525 has 1.47 and side by side mine was on H and his was on E.

I have gotten it a few times briefly at my home in Signal Hill also the last few months.

newself said:
I have gotten it a few times briefly at my home in Signal Hill also the last few months.
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Sorry to hear that..too bad..I have full bar 3G here in San Jose. Even last time I was in Modesto, CA...the whole Modesto area has 3G too..I think the LA area really need some new towers.

In Aus over 98% of the population has HSDPA.

PPCNUT said:
In Aus over 98% of the population has HSDPA.
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That other 2% is my house...ef'n 3!!!
Haha go to unwired & look at their coverage....everywhere has it except for my house....I know the people 4 houses away can get it...f'ers! blahhh

I get in At home In Long Beach, and at work finaly in Torrance. FYI only the people that have upgraded there roms can get HSPDA. Anyone running W5 cannot yet access it. Att is aware so thats why they are in such a rush to get the W6 version out. I love to use my phone as a modem to connect to the net. I get 10mbps my speed is real good. I get about 123kbps downloads.

I was just in the LA area for the last 4 Days and cannot believe the good 3G coverage I got. In Hotel rooms, along the coast and even in Imperial Beach. Very strong 3G signal. I live in the Phoenix area and loose 3G quite often.

Why is this thread in the WM6 section?

PPCNUT said:
In Aus over 98% of the population has HSDPA.
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I hate you! ATT in the US SUCKS for coverage!

wpbear said:
I hate you! ATT in the US SUCKS for coverage!
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Actually the whole US sucks in terms of technology when you compare them with other nations. Just take the DSL for example, ppl in Japan can have DSL for like 40Mbps, here..the max we could get is probably 8Mbps.

was on hold w/ att. apparently theyre spending 18 MIL a day putting up new towers.. - that would explain where my money has been going for the past ten years.. but at least i get awesome coverage.

i live in Wilmington, CA.. the Us of course.. this would never occur to me as a place to establish 3G, but last nite i was out and it was there.. wake up this morning.. still there awesome... no complaints here.. hopefully they aren't just testing it and then just take it off

Time to switch to Next G
LLTC said:
That other 2% is my house...ef'n 3!!!
Haha go to unwired & look at their coverage....everywhere has it except for my house....I know the people 4 houses away can get it...f'ers! blahhh
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Next G has coverage almost everywhere ive needed it.....Give 3 the flick.....they are crap in australia.......

trashcan said:
Actually the whole US sucks in terms of technology when you compare them with other nations. Just take the DSL for example, ppl in Japan can have DSL for like 40Mbps, here..the max we could get is probably 8Mbps.
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Yar dude.. Here in South Africa we only have 384k, 512k, 1mb and 4mb.. Thats it.. You guys must be lucky!! We are at the bottom of the DSL speed list!! And our cost is HIGH!!! Way HIGH!!!

nstefanelli said:
was on hold w/ att. apparently theyre spending 18 MIL a day putting up new towers.. - that would explain where my money has been going for the past ten years.. but at least i get awesome coverage.
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that smells like bull to me.
from what i understand carriers dont buy towers, they lease them. and 18 mil a day just sounds outrageous.

No, a lot of the big carriers have there own towers, the little ones lease. Not always the case, but for the most part.

Yup, here in East Texas, Cingular publicly dropped their leased towers, which in turn affected coverage. They claim to be building their own towers. Needless to say, a lot of people are pissed around here.

ndcart said:
Yup, here in East Texas, Cingular publicly dropped their leased towers, which in turn affected coverage. They claim to be building their own towers. Needless to say, a lot of people are pissed around here.
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i'm in central texas and 2 years ago i had a tri-band phone 900/1700/1800, used to work fine on cingular till all of a sudden could no longer accept calls, i could only make calls..
After calling them for like a week i finally got the scoop. They were in the process of replacing all their 900mhz towers which were shared and were putting up they're own 850mhz towers.
anyways i now get HSDPA reception in my toilet!!! All hail the throne!! (need to get some padded seats on that thing...)

Sending back my Tmobile TP2

not because i dont like the phone, but because i found tmobile's service to be vastly inferior compared to ATT. I have a way to get unlimited minutes via google voice, so i need fave 5, so i think i'll be switching to verizon.
Any eta on when the verizon TP2 comes out?

What exactly do you mean by vastly inferior? I think T-Mobiles serive is great and very cheap but it's all about the area you are in. You should always go with the carrier who has the best coverage in your area.

i'm in the MD/DC/VA area.
i'm driving through areas that tmobile reports Great coverage, but i'm still experiencing dropped calls, breaking up of reception, no 3g service (it drops to edge, or G). sometimes i can't transmit ANY data
when it works, it works great, but as i'm on the road quite a bit (realtor), i need something that i can talk on reliably. ATT isn't supposed to be that great, but i definitely value their service over what i got with tmobile. i'll have to wait for verizon
i thought tmobile would be a great option just because of their costs, but the service degradation isn't worth the savings to me.

Ever since one of my old jobs, something became quite obvious to me. No matter what service you have, if you are getting **** service, the price is of no relevance. **** is **** at any price.
I have no problems with it here in Southern California, but I do understand your needs. The one on Verizon won't be out till I think they were saying Oct or something like that.

kidvi said:
i'm in the MD/DC/VA area.
i'm driving through areas that tmobile reports Great coverage, but i'm still experiencing dropped calls, breaking up of reception, no 3g service (it drops to edge, or G). sometimes i can't transmit ANY data
when it works, it works great, but as i'm on the road quite a bit (realtor), i need something that i can talk on reliably. ATT isn't supposed to be that great, but i definitely value their service over what i got with tmobile. i'll have to wait for verizon
i thought tmobile would be a great option just because of their costs, but the service degradation isn't worth the savings to me.
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Should have filed a service request for more 3g towers in your area, Thats what I did

tarroyo said:
Should have filed a service request for more 3g towers in your area, Thats what I did
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Did it help? I don't know anyone that has had to do this, so no experience with it.

I am in the same situation, I am trying out the TMobile but here in Puerto Rico is not 3g yet but I really like the phone and Att doesnt look that are going to release it soon, if they actually are going to do it... ???

They're only focusing on more densly populated areas at the moment.

TheMan42 said:
tmobile doesnt and will not currently honor requests for 3G service in specific areas, and if youre having your doubts about my infomration, i work for the company. They're only focusing on more densly populated areas at the moment.
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Thanks for the info. Do they consider Puerto Rico a populated area? Do you know when they are going to launch it here?

According to T-mo I should be getting 3 bars (NOT) in my house but if I even pick up the TP2 I have no signal. I have repeatedly called to complain and all my neighbors also called with T-Mo to complain so after 4 months of *****ing they claim they are buying space on a tower close to me in 120 days (we shall see)...Tj

petitioning for better service isnt an option for me as i am within my trial period, and by the time they would act on it (if at all) the tp2 will be out on all the other carriers

gehzumteufel said:
Did it help? I don't know anyone that has had to do this, so no experience with it.
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It did 3 more towers were installed in my area, went from having 1 bar to full bars!

kidvi said:
petitioning for better service isnt an option for me as i am within my trial period, and by the time they would act on it (if at all) the tp2 will be out on all the other carriers
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I disagree, it took three weeks at most not months

tarroyo said:
It did 3 more towers were installed in my area, went from having 1 bar to full bars!
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Wow that is quite awesome. I should do the same in my area by my home. Signal is usually 1-2 bars, with it hovering around 1 bar more often than not.

I played with the TP2 on the T-Mobile 14 day trial. It was terrible! T-Mobile not the TP2! The phone is AWESOME!
Dropped calls, garbled calls, and the data is so slow you can’t get a connection half the time (browser timing out) and with Google maps the page refresh/update was so slow you would drive right off the page onto a blank screen even at moderate speeds around town. I travel around the country and it was no better anywhere. Even with 3G showing!
I’m with Verizon (not had hardly any issues with service) and plan to wait until they offer it, PLEASE DON’T START THE Verizon Vis …. Thing. Just stating an asked for opinion.
Rich

gehzumteufel said:
Ever since one of my old jobs, something became quite obvious to me. No matter what service you have, if you are getting **** service, the price is of no relevance. **** is **** at any price.
I have no problems with it here in Southern California, but I do understand your needs. The one on Verizon won't be out till I think they were saying Oct or something like that.
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Sprint is going to release the tp2 on Sept 8th so I don't think Verizon is going to release it no later than Sept.

Guess your mileage will vary...
Here in s fl, tmo works great for me. Had att some years ago, also good here. Tmo price and cs seems better to me. Got the unlimited loyal customer plan for $49.99month. Hard to beat that.
No dropped calls, ever, and the ph seems to ring for ever if I don't answer.
Web pages open fast.
I seem to get 3-4 bars H3g service most of the time around here. Never seen 5 bars though.
Here is a screen shot at my office showing 4 bars H3g.

Same thing here. I live in Tampa and I always have full bars with 3g. but then again I think Tampa is the 11th largest city in US so it would make sense we all have pretty good service over here. Most people here, that I know or come across have t-mobile. The only thing verizon is good for around here is Fios. what;s sprint? ;p; and at&t are for rich preppy kids who think theyre cool with their iphones. At least...thats the trend over here
apache1 said:
Guess your mileage will vary...
Here in s fl, tmo works great for me. Had att some years ago, also good here. Tmo price and cs seems better to me. Got the unlimited loyal customer plan for $49.99month. Hard to beat that.
No dropped calls, ever, and the ph seems to ring for ever if I don't answer.
Web pages open fast.
I seem to get 3-4 bars H3g service most of the time around here. Never seen 5 bars though.
Here is a screen shot at my office showing 4 bars H3g.
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apache1 said:
No dropped calls, ever, and the ph seems to ring for ever if I don't answer.
Web pages open fast.
I seem to get 3-4 bars H3g service most of the time around here. Never seen 5 bars though.
Here is a screen shot at my office showing 4 bars H3g.
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Your 4 bars is max signal, there isnt' a 5th bar.
btw, what is that a pic of for your background?

Rich W said:
I played with the TP2 on the T-Mobile 14 day trial. It was terrible! T-Mobile not the TP2! The phone is AWESOME!
Dropped calls, garbled calls, and the data is so slow you can’t get a connection half the time (browser timing out) and with Google maps the page refresh/update was so slow you would drive right off the page onto a blank screen even at moderate speeds around town. I travel around the country and it was no better anywhere. Even with 3G showing!
I’m with Verizon (not had hardly any issues with service) and plan to wait until they offer it, PLEASE DON’T START THE Verizon Vis …. Thing. Just stating an asked for opinion.
Rich
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thanks for the confirmation rich! i feel really bad because the customer service at tmobile is GREAT! unfortunately, the actual phone service wasn't good enough for my needs. i hate having to go back to at&t, but i guess i'm enslaved to them. i'm waiting for either verizon to get it, or att now as i know i will NEVER use sprint. i really wanted to use tmobile and hoped they would meet my needs

T-Mobile 3g Petition - Sign here!

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/tmobile3g/#signForm
People from the T-Mob forum hacked off by this ongoing issue have setup a petition.
Please sign if you are affected or support having this problem fixed!

They're merging with Orange in a matter of months... why would they do something now?

brummiesteven said:
They're merging with Orange in a matter of months... why would they do something now?
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I was about to say that, in fact the reason I never moved over to a better T-Mobile deal was because of the crap 3g.
Speaking to orange when I upgraded to the Desire last week they reckon it will take 18 months to integrate the network so I cant see T-Mobile doing anything when plans are all ready in the pipe line

I think you should read your T's & C's, just because you have a phone, they have a network, there is no gurantee of service....
T-Mobile are currently merging their 3g network with 3UK's 3g network and that is on going and has been for 2 years.
The merger of Orange and T-Mobile will not bring about any overnight changes. In fact it may be a year or longer before any works are undertaken to merge the networks and once started it could take a year or two to complete.

I'm currently using my T-Mobile SIM in my Desire, and it's all working perfectly.. 3G is blazingly fast, MMS and SMS messages are good, calls are clear with zero drop outs.
Sounds to me like it's just a bunch of people who didn't check the coverage maps...

FloatingFatMan said:
I'm currently using my T-Mobile SIM in my Desire, and it's all working perfectly.. 3G is blazingly fast, MMS and SMS messages are good, calls are clear with zero drop outs.
Sounds to me like it's just a bunch of people who didn't check the coverage maps...
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untrue. I'm in central london, as are other users and the coverage map shows my home and office locations as 'excellent'

ninjakettle said:
untrue. I'm in central london, as are other users and the coverage map shows my home and office locations as 'excellent'
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Hi Ninja,
I work in mobile comms, mainly R&D for my companies mobile technologies for using data capture devices out on the roads. The main issues we have found with trying to transfer data in built up areas are because they are built up areas. We work in London and Birmingham and to say the least the 3G coverage we find is really sporadic, this is mainly due to the high rise buildings blocking and bouncing the signal all over the place, it has nothing to do with network coverage its just the way it is in.

Hmm, this is making me a little nervous.
I'm getting concerned about T-Mob coverage, as I've been trying to sign up as a new customer.
Hrm. Should I be cancelling ASAP?

langers1 said:
Hi Ninja,
I work in mobile comms, mainly R&D for my companies mobile technologies for using data capture devices out on the roads. The main issues we have found with trying to transfer data in built up areas are because they are built up areas. We work in London and Birmingham and to say the least the 3G coverage we find is really sporadic, this is mainly due to the high rise buildings blocking and bouncing the signal all over the place, it has nothing to do with network coverage its just the way it is in.
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I can accept that langers- but the issue myself and these folk are having is that while the HSDPA connection is fine (blisteringly fast at times), 3G is non-existent. If only it were sporadic.
I was in Bath for my easter break and had the same issue there. HSDPA was great. 3G was non-existent.

sobrique said:
Hmm, this is making me a little nervous.
I'm getting concerned about T-Mob coverage, as I've been trying to sign up as a new customer.
Hrm. Should I be cancelling ASAP?
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TBH Sobrique if you live in a city then all the providers will have the same problem, my company has used O2 and Orange and they both suffered from urban signal degradation. Being on Orange when I have been out and about I am pretty confidant I will get a signal where I am going, this includes sitting on top of a mountain in the lake district uploading my fb photos I have taken 30secs earlier. Best bet all ways check the coverage maps but bare in mind you will all ways have probs in the city (where u can usually pick up free wifi)

I've never had any such problems in Birmingham?

ninjakettle said:
untrue. I'm in central london, as are other users and the coverage map shows my home and office locations as 'excellent'
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You're either in a poor reception area, are suffering from the same kind of "canyoning" that messes up GPS, or something nearby is interfering with your signal.
T-Mobiles network is generally fine, and certainly isn't deserving of anything as silly as a petition.
Have you tried other network SIMs?

phone is locked. so i can't try other sims. Look, if you visit the tmobile thread, their tech staff have posted and said there is an issue. They know there's an issue and they're investigating. It's no ones imagination or location. As i've said, i've moved around london and the uk quite a bit. I find the problem everywhere.
So it's either our particular handsets or something more. I'm happy you have no issues, but don't dismiss those that have. I'm not endorsing the petition, i can just identify with the problem. I'd like T-mobile to address it.

ninjakettle said:
I can accept that langers- but the issue myself and these folk are having is that while the HSDPA connection is fine (blisteringly fast at times), 3G is non-existent. If only it were sporadic.
I was in Bath for my easter break and had the same issue there. HSDPA was great. 3G was non-existent.
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You HAVE to have 3g service to get HSDPA, it is a function of a 3g network. If it wasn't then you've found 2.75g as you got HSDPA in a 2g area if there was no 3g

beaker656 said:
You HAVE to have 3g service to get HSDPA, it is a function of a 3g network.
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Someone more technical than myself would have to confirm that. All i know is that the phone connects under these different states and displays one of the following...
G - GPRS
E - Edge
3G - 3G
H - HSDPA (or 3.5g as it's sometimes known)
Yes, the last two are under the 3g family, but they must operate under a different..."band"?
I'm saying that when "3G" shows on the screen - nothing. When "H" does, all is well.

I use T-Mobile in London , used it on my G2 and now the Desire. Never had any major issues with it. I often watch you tube on the train home and its generally pretty good until I go in a tunnel.
You dont tend to hang around in tunnels do you?

My phone worked perfectly in Vienna including in the Underground stations and trains. Come back to London / SE same old problems no 3G connection.
Are people actually aware of the issue who are saying it works all ok?

paulruk said:
I use T-Mobile in London , used it on my G2 and now the Desire. Never had any major issues with it. I often watch you tube on the train home and its generally pretty good until I go in a tunnel.
You dont tend to hang around in tunnels do you?
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Heh, no
Thanks for posting though, it's just as interesting to hear people on Desire's and G2's that don't have the issue.
The thing is that i have excellent data connection when on 'H', video's browsing, etc. It's when it dips to 3G that the problem happens. This dip happens more in my office location. I'm listening to the guys who say this could be "canyoning" etc. But it's a puzzler that 'H' from the same spot is perfect, whilst '3g' is dead.
It doesn't affect me hugely as it will always eventually flick over to H, but there's a lot of time wasted, waiting for it to do just that.

langers1 said:
TBH Sobrique if you live in a city then all the providers will have the same problem, my company has used O2 and Orange and they both suffered from urban signal degradation. Being on Orange when I have been out and about I am pretty confidant I will get a signal where I am going, this includes sitting on top of a mountain in the lake district uploading my fb photos I have taken 30secs earlier. Best bet all ways check the coverage maps but bare in mind you will all ways have probs in the city (where u can usually pick up free wifi)
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I've been Vodafone with a Touch Pro, and it's worked ok. I've checked coverage, it looks good. Seen some complaints re Vodafone, and some re T-Mobile, but am slightly concerned about there being a 'tech problems on T-Mob' petition.

ninjakettle said:
Someone more technical than myself would have to confirm that. All i know is that the phone connects under these different states and displays one of the following...
G - GPRS
E - Edge
3G - 3G
H - HSDPA (or 3.5g as it's sometimes known)
Yes, the last two are under the 3g family, but they must operate under a different..."band"?
I'm saying that when "3G" shows on the screen - nothing. When "H" does, all is well.
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In Vienna I actually got Edge once come up and the rest of the time it was HSDPA and on the odd go 3G (working)

Sprint LTE connection issues...article...

I am going to put this here. Any comments from developers that can help us?
http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-312-sprint-lte-launch-market-connection-issues/
This has been confirmed by myself and others on that site. My nick is troyd96 on there.
Can a developer figure out how to manually adjust the signal thresholds so that the phone knows weak LTE signals are preferable to stronger 3G signals. An OTA might fix this, but I am not holding my breath of it coming.
There is no hidden menus where you can adjust this threshold.

I've been looking for setting to change threshold like I did for Wi-Max
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

Just trying to read the LTE signal strength can be challenging because the Android standard doesn't cover it yet. So even discovering what OEM voodoo is being done to read that on this phone would be interesting. See my post at S4GRU here.

boomerbubba said:
Just trying to read the LTE signal strength can be challenging because the Android standard doesn't cover it yet. So even discovering what OEM voodoo is being done to read that on this phone would be interesting. See my post at S4GRU here.
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It may be voodoo, but it is obvious that places that should be getting LTE with live towers, on their weakest coverage area the phone does not like it and rejects it. Regardless of what the true signal levels are. There are enough people that have tested this, for me to believe. So regardless there is an issue here. It would be nice to try to play around with the threshold to see if it helps. IMHO it would.

slickdaddy96 said:
It may be voodoo, but it is obvious that places that should be getting LTE with live towers, on their weakest coverage area the phone does not like it and rejects it. Regardless of what the true signal levels are. There are enough people that have tested this, for me to believe. So regardless there is an issue here. It would be nice to try to play around with the threshold to see if it helps. IMHO it would.
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I am not arguing with you or with the content of the S4GRU article. I just thought I might bootstrap the conversation with a little additional research on what to look for in the code. However this fallback threshold is being handled under the hood, it must include reading some metric for LTE signal strength.

I do not think this is a hardware issue.. I think it is more of a Sprint is lying about how many towers are actually live..
case in point.. I can go to the woodlands or to Copperfield and my phone locks into LGE4G and switches seamlessly as needed..
however.
anywhere else that Sprint is showing as active is pretty much dead with no 4G and patehtic 3G even though if you go to the LGE coverage map as of Sunday it is showing as covered..
I think a large portion of what they think is covered now.. really isn't.

CVSiN said:
I do not think this is a hardware issue.. I think it is more of a Sprint is lying about how many towers are actually live..
case in point.. I can go to the woodlands or to Copperfield and my phone locks into LGE4G and switches seamlessly as needed..
however.
anywhere else that Sprint is showing as active is pretty much dead with no 4G and patehtic 3G even though if you go to the LGE coverage map as of Sunday it is showing as covered..
I think a large portion of what they think is covered now.. really isn't.
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I don't believe you are correct here. The creator of that site gets official info from Sprint about what towers are live, and he also has official info on Towers that will be upgraded and not live yet. People can force their phone to use LTE in those weak areas where it wants to go 3G by ##data## HDR/1X settings checking LTE only. The only issue with that is that you lose voice/text. So it is indeed something software wise on the hardware telling the phone to accept the 3G signal and reject the weak LTE signal.
The amount of towers live is accurate on that site. I am unsure of what maps you can see on the site if you are not a sponsor, but I have seen the maps they are accurate, but it does take sometimes up to two weeks for the info the be released to where he can update the "live" maps.
The LTE in the Atlanta area where I am is probably 20-30% complete, but the problem I am talking about is people on the edge of what should be coverage on a known active site (meaning it has been verified by users and by the site as a live tower) are getting switched to 3G.
There is known range of what LTE towers can do at certain frequency when it comes to coverage. People are within these ranges and on the weaker ranges of the LTE signal area they are being forced to 3G, when they can force their phone to LTE and it works fine.
So it is definitely software/firmware/modem based.

CVSiN said:
I do not think this is a hardware issue.. I think it is more of a Sprint is lying about how many towers are actually live.
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Nobody said it was a "hardware issue." The hypothesis in the article, proved in disabling the fallback, is that a firmware issue is a factor. There is a programmed threshold level of signal strength that forces the phone to fall back. The hypothesis is that this threshold would work better if it were set lower, because even a weak LTE connection can be better than a stronger EVDO signal.
And this is not mutually exclusive vis a vis your complaint about thin tower coverage. It is well known, at least to those who follow this closely at S4GRU, that these markets were launched with thinner coverage than originally planned but are continuing to be built out.
In fact, the fallback-threshold problem and the thin-coverage problem just magnify each other, because only those devices with very strong LTE signal will avoid falling back to 3G.

slickdaddy96 said:
I don't believe you are correct here. The creator of that site gets official info from Sprint about what towers are live, and he also has official info on Towers that will be upgraded and not live yet. People can force their phone to use LTE in those weak areas where it wants to go 3G by ##data## HDR/1X settings checking LTE only. The only issue with that is that you lose voice/text. So it is indeed something software wise on the hardware telling the phone to accept the 3G signal and reject the weak LTE signal.
The amount of towers live is accurate on that site. I am unsure of what maps you can see on the site if you are not a sponsor, but I have seen the maps they are accurate, but it does take sometimes up to two weeks for the info the be released to where he can update the "live" maps.
The LTE in the Atlanta area where I am is probably 20-30% complete, but the problem I am talking about is people on the edge of what should be coverage on a known active site (meaning it has been verified by users and by the site as a live tower) are getting switched to 3G.
There is known range of what LTE towers can do at certain frequency when it comes to coverage. People are within these ranges and on the weaker ranges of the LTE signal area they are being forced to 3G, when they can force their phone to LTE and it works fine.
So it is definitely software/firmware/modem based.
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Click to collapse
I don't care where he is getting his info from.. do you honestly think Sprint would come out and say they lied about coverage?
They are flat lying and covering their asses.
There is no 4G coverage in 2/3s of the areas down to street view where they say there is supposed to be live towers at least here in Houston.
and the fact that in the 2 places that have been confirmed in the other thread by other users just solidify my theory.
The hardware is working fine at least on the GS3.. it swiches in and out of 4G perfectly when it senses it..
you can sit in these 2 areas and it will pick it uip every time no reboot needed..
yet go to most of the other so called covered areas.. and reboot till your phone blows up or force to LTE and still not get crap..
they are lying..
I will post flat GPS pics of my exact location and then post the Sprint service map right over my coords.. and prove it to you.
I am right smack dab in the middle of a heavy LTE covered area on the sprint map..
but no matter what you do on the device there is no signal.

In the woodlands just as in Conroe, I have areas where no 4g, mid range, or full strength. I even went to Houston the other day. No 4g in sight around 1960 area or greater. I can say that it's not a 4g blanket as the coverage map wants you to believe. Seems that's actually a when completed map.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

hayabusa1300cc said:
In the woodlands just as in Conroe, I have areas where no 4g, mid range, or full strength. I even went to Houston the other day. No 4g in sight around 1960 area or greater. I can say that it's not a 4g blanket as the coverage map wants you to believe. Seems that's actually a when completed map.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
Exactly my same experience.

hayabusa1300cc said:
In the woodlands just as in Conroe, I have areas where no 4g, mid range, or full strength. I even went to Houston the other day. No 4g in sight around 1960 area or greater. I can say that it's not a 4g blanket as the coverage map wants you to believe. Seems that's actually a when completed map.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
I agree. Dallas is same way. SHows a large portion of Dallas as covered and everywhere I have been I have connected in only 2 places.
The coverage map is very deceiving as this is clearly not all the covered areas. Now, maybe in future build out it will be, but certainly not right now.

I was in San Antonio over the weekend and for the most part I was unable to connect to LTE. That is until I was on the runway of San Antonio International Airport. Then afte I landed in Dallas I didnt recieve LTE at all. I walked all over the airport since I had a long as hell layover. Still no LTE. However the DFW airport seems to be sponsored by Samsung. They have a Samsung lounge as well as NFC chips everywhere to download stuff for free.

Uh, this thread is not about how overly optimistic Sprint's published coverage maps are. (I actually agree that they are way overstated, on the basis of credible reports on forums.)
That does not mean that the fallback-threshold setting does not also contribute to the problem! And that is what this thread is about -- actually seeking technical solutions. If people just want to rant about Sprint, there are lots of other threads for that.

CVSiN said:
I don't care where he is getting his info from.. do you honestly think Sprint would come out and say they lied about coverage?
They are flat lying and covering their asses.
There is no 4G coverage in 2/3s of the areas down to street view where they say there is supposed to be live towers at least here in Houston.
and the fact that in the 2 places that have been confirmed in the other thread by other users just solidify my theory.
The hardware is working fine at least on the GS3.. it swiches in and out of 4G perfectly when it senses it..
you can sit in these 2 areas and it will pick it uip every time no reboot needed..
yet go to most of the other so called covered areas.. and reboot till your phone blows up or force to LTE and still not get crap..
they are lying..
I will post flat GPS pics of my exact location and then post the Sprint service map right over my coords.. and prove it to you.
I am right smack dab in the middle of a heavy LTE covered area on the sprint map..
but no matter what you do on the device there is no signal.
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Click to collapse
You are not getting my point. We are not talking about the official sprint.com coverage maps. We all know those are inaccurate to what really is going on. He has specific placemarked towers on Google maps, he has several actually (known live maps which only sponsors can see, and planned towers which lump the live and not-live together on a non-interactive map). The completed ones (which have been verified by him and this is through internal sprint info) They have also been proven by people with phones going right where the known "live" sites are on his map and getting full bar 4G service. You obviously have not looked at his maps at all and are just assuming things, and you are assuming wrong. I have a tower that is "live" about 0.5 miles from my house I get almost full bars in my house. I go to other places pull up his maps and where he says they are live they are indeed live.
So now that we have gotten that out of the way. It is widely known how far LTE coverage will go per tower based on frequency and power broadcast. There is no disputing that. The problem lies within places that are in the outer range of that specific (or any specific tower) they are connected to. Forcing the phone to LTE only does make the phone connect to the LTE tower with verified speed and data flowing, so no the users aren't lying either. Once they turn their phone back to LTE/CDMA/EVDO, the phone again sees the stronger 3G signal and refuses to connect to LTE in the EXACT SAME LOCATION THEY WERE WHEN THEY TOGGLED LTE ONLY.
Stick your head in the sand and be negative about Sprint all you want, meanwhile the rest of us will continue to try to find a way to fix the threshold problem that indeed exists.

boomerbubba said:
Uh, this thread is not about how overly optimistic Sprint's published coverage maps are. (I actually agree that they are way overstated, on the basis of credible reports on forums.)
That does not mean that the fallback-threshold setting does not also contribute to the problem! And that is what this thread is about -- actually seeking technical solutions. If people just want to rant about Sprint, there are lots of other threads for that.
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Click to collapse
But that is the issue.. if there was coverage where they say it is.. your phone would not need tweaked..
They are one and the same issue.

CVSiN said:
But that is the issue.. if there was coverage where they say it is.. your phone would not need tweaked..
They are one and the same issue.
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Click to collapse
It can be both causes. They are complementary, not mutually exclusive. (Sorry to interrupt your emoting with logic.)

slickdaddy96 said:
You are not getting my point. We are not talking about the official sprint.com coverage maps. We all know those are inaccurate to what really is going on. He has specific placemarked towers on Google maps, he has several actually (known live maps which only sponsors can see, and planned towers which lump the live and not-live together on a non-interactive map). The completed ones (which have been verified by him and this is through internal sprint info) They have also been proven by people with phones going right where the known "live" sites are on his map and getting full bar 4G service. You obviously have not looked at his maps at all and are just assuming things, and you are assuming wrong. I have a tower that is "live" about 0.5 miles from my house I get almost full bars in my house. I go to other places pull up his maps and where he says they are live they are indeed live.
So now that we have gotten that out of the way. It is widely known how far LTE coverage will go per tower based on frequency and power broadcast. There is no disputing that. The problem lies within places that are in the outer range of that specific (or any specific tower) they are connected to. Forcing the phone to LTE only does make the phone connect to the LTE tower with verified speed and data flowing, so no the users aren't lying either. Once they turn their phone back to LTE/CDMA/EVDO, the phone again sees the stronger 3G signal and refuses to connect to LTE in the EXACT SAME LOCATION THEY WERE WHEN THEY TOGGLED LTE ONLY.
Stick your head in the sand and be negative about Sprint all you want, meanwhile the rest of us will continue to try to find a way to fix the threshold problem that indeed exists.
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Click to collapse
I have that map as well.. they are flat wrong.. at least for Houston and other members that have the same maps are reporting the exact same thing. So whose head is in the sand?
I literally work 5 blocks from 1 on his list and live right next to another.. and no 4G on those towers at all in LTE forced mode or not.
Ive been with Sprint for 8 years.. so I have earned the right to be a little angry over this broken promise and lied about coverage maps.
I would never have bought the phone this early had it not been for his maps which show coverage in my area. but in reality there is none.

CVSiN said:
I have that map as well.. they are flat wrong.. at least for Houston and other members that have the same maps are reporting the exact same thing. So whose head is in the sand?
I literally work 5 blocks from 1 on his list and live right next to another.. and no 4G on those towers at all in LTE forced mode or not.
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Click to collapse
Are you looking at a sites complete map, or a map of the whole NV project for the area? Since only 14 percent of the total sites in the Houston market are reported complete, most of them have no LTE yet.

There's an LTE test app (maybe 2) in /system/app that may hold the answers. Just go ahead and create a shortcut to its activity with your launcher and see what's there. I've frozen it so I can't really comment on if it works for changing thresholds or not