I live in the UK, and am using a foreign version of a TP2 that I bought on eBay. I think it's probably the Hong Kong version - it's in English, but with support for Chinese characters on the keyboard.
Something I do fairly regularly is switch between 2G and 3G modes on my TP2 manually. I've created a start-menu short-cut to CMBandSwitching.exe which lets me change the phone's Band setting between "Auto", "GSM" and "WCDMA". My somewhat limited understanding of these settings is that "GSM" basically means "2G", and "WCDMA" basically means "3G". When I set the phone to "GSM" it picks up GPRS or EDGE signals (according to the status bar). When I set it to "WCDMA" it picks up HDSPA or 3G signals (if there are any). What I thought "Auto" mode did was simply switch automatically between 3G and 2G mode depending on 3G signal strength - so that if there's a 3G signal it uses that, if not, it uses 2G.
However, it seems like there may be slightly more to it than that. If I have the phone in GSM mode at home and search for available networks, it finds O2, T-Mobile, Vodafone and Orange (in that order - does that mean O2's signal is the strongest, or does it put it at the top of the list because I have an O2 SIM?) In WCDMA mode it only finds O2, which would suggest that O2 is the only 3G signal that can be picked up in my home (and even that's pretty weak ). However, if I set the phone to Auto, then search for networks, then it also starts to get a signal from the 3 network and lists all 5 carriers - in other words, in Auto mode it finds a signal which is not visible in either GSM or WCDMA mode. This suggests that Auto may be doing something else besides switching between 2G and 3G. Can anyone explain this?
Also, if O2 is the only network it can find when set to "WCDMA" does this mean that O2's is the only 3G signal I can receive?
Finally, there are four possible frequency settings in the lower part of the BandSwitching app. These are:
Auto
GSM(900+1800)+UMTS(900+2100)
GSM(1900+850)+UMTS(1900+850)
UMTS(2100+800)
Which is the best setting for UK use? I'm currently using the second one, and it seems to work okay, but would I gain anything by switching it to "Auto"? And can someone give me an idea of which areas in the world I could get decent 2G or 3G reception with that selection of settings available?
(bump)
No one...?
Related
Is there any trick to make 3G work on the dopod official rom on the AT&T network? I'm in southern california and can not get my phone to connect at 3G at all, even in the center of an area that's covered in dark blue (indicating 3g service availability) on AT&T's 3g coverage map page. I've tried forcing the band to UMTS and I just get no service. Is there some registry tweak or hack I need to do to make it work? I'm on the AT&T $19.95 unlimited media max plan. I get EDGE pretty much everywhere I go but no 3G. HELP
I was running the official Dopod release on my 8525 and UMTS/HSDPA was working fine for me, just as it has with all the other unofficial WM6 releases.
Did it ever work before? or are you just going off Cingulars Coverage Maps?
Try checking you connection settings
http://www.wireless.att.com/support/deviceConfig.do?content=KB71396.html
New phone
To be honest I just got this phone last week and I really havent had a chance to fully try it out, I'm coming from an 8125. I am pretty much going based on coverage maps which AT&T say they cover almost all of southern orange county. I work all over orange county and have yet to see any 3g service? As long as there is nothing special to change or configure on the phone I geuss maybe I'm just not in the right service area. Is there any other troubleshooting I can try? Some sort of debug mode? I did reset and reconfigure all my connection settings per the above reply, same issue.
Thanks
Did you look in the Wiki? Try this....
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Hermes_Registry
Enable/Disable GSM/UMTS Band Selection
Cingular kindly disables anything useful about the network on the 8525. To enable the Band Selection Tab on your Phone settings page, set the following:
[\HKLM\Software\OEM\PhoneSetting\]
"ShowUMTSBandPage"=dword:00000001
Get your phone to display an H when HSDPA is being used
HKLM\SOFTWARE\OEM\RIL and set EnableHSDPAIcon to 1
Hello Guys,
I'm experiencing a problem with my Froyo Desire for probably a week now.
The thing is that in certain areas my Phone can not receive calls / sms or such. In other words "GSM services" dont work. 3g though works fine (stable, strong and fast connection) My Provider is T-Mobile.
After quite a lot of testing I was able to isolate the error:
When WCDMA / GSM is chosen by the phone automatically it seems to me as if it didnt switch "back" to register with my provider via GSM when i want to make a call or if someone wants to call me.
When i switch to "GSM only" manually everything works fine but i have no 3g of course.
I also experience this problem only in certain areas. I live in an area where there is really strong HSDPA available (up to 7mbit\s). When i go to other places of my city i still get HSDPA (not as strong) but calls / sms still work.
The last paragraph may be of no importance, i don know.. probably it helps..
I have googled quite much about this problem and also found a few persons experiencing the same issue but nobody was able to come up with a solution.
I would be very thankful if someone could try to figure this out.
schnip
push______
Hi Guys,
... exactly the same problem here!
- same device
- t-mobile germany
- problem exists only in specific cells
ideas or solutions welcome
LordKnut.
gsm only Desire?
I'm having a nightmare with 3g 2g connectivity on my Desire on the three network whilst at home. If I could manually select gsm only this would be fine as I could still call and text and use wi-fi. Unfortunately my options are gsm/wcdpa (or whatever) auto or the 3g only.
can someone please advise if it is possible to select gsm only and if so, how?
many thanks
Can someone please advise me how if possible, to set the desire to gsm only?
VKeane said:
Can someone please advise me how if possible, to set the desire to gsm only?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wireless and network-Mobile network- should be here somewhere.
Thanks, but there is no option for gsm only. It's wcdma only or gsm/wcdma auto. there has to be a way around this.
Similar problem, different version
I've experienced similar problem.
In some area, I can get steady grps signal when I switched GSM only on; but when I switched WCDMA/GSM on, I could get no data connection at all.
I'm using China Unicom's mobile service.
Solution
Hi there,
I've the same issue and I fix it allowing the option GSM/WCDMA Auto in the configuration menu.
Then enter the following code *#*#4636#*#*, select "phone Information" and set preferred network type, set "GSM car (PRL)".
Sorry about my bad english.
I have finally acquired a data plan from my cell provider, and today I set up the APN settings for it. However, whenever I turn off the wifi, I only get the "G" (GPRS) icon in the status bar, with unbelievable slow download/upload speeds.
I just now tried flashing my radio to Radio_12.28e.60.140f_26.04.02.17_M2_SF (Even though I believe I had it before as well), and still I can't get it up to "H" (HSPDA).
I asked a co-worker with a Galaxy S on the same cell provider, and he has HSPDA speed at the same location as I. I also compared his APN settings to mine.
What can cause this error? Should I try flashing a different radio? is the Radio_12.39.60.19_26.06.04.06_M or Radio_12.35d.60.140f_26.06.03.24_M2 better in any way? Are they stable? Is this even the cause of my problem?
I have moved this question from the "Android Development" forum (sorry) - and over there I was told to use
*#*#4636#*#* -> Phone information -> WCDMA preferred
or
*#*#4636#*#* -> Phone information -> GSM auto prl
I tried both options, and when I tried "WCDMA only" I got disconnected, when I use any "preferred" setting, I get "Network type: GPRS".
I checked with my co-worker, and he has "GSM/CDMA auto (PRL)" - trying that I am still stuck on "GPRS" as my network type (He has "HSPDA" on his network type)
Are there any other hidden locations I need to check, in order to finally get HSPDA?
where did you buy it?
there are different "versions" out there with different frequencies.
"G" (GSM) is available in every country..but EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, etc have different frequencies..that could be a reason why it doesnt work.
DN41
I have ordered my DHD from France, but I believe it came from Spain, according to the English (Spain) and English (Catalan) languages on it.
Where can I see what frequencies it support, and how can I change it/fix it?
I just checked. The DHD is
Europe:
HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz
GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Both Israel and Spain (And France) is on 2100, so I think it should be OK...
seems that this is not the problem
if it would've been the wrong "revision" with different frequencies, you couldn't have done anything.
seems like a software problem...does other sim cards work?
DN41
Try
Settings, wireless and networks, mobile networks, network modes.
This give options for WCDMA only, GSM only and GSM/WCDMA auto.
Hope this helps.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
you might also want to check you have a 3G capable sim card, if you have only just aquired a data plan
Someone once told me there is no such thing as 3G sim - they are all basically the same, except for the on card memory size (64/32MB, or something like that). I wasn't too sure he was right, but then my cell provider just told me he can give me the data plan, without the need to physically upgrade the sim card. Then again - what do they know?
Do you think it might be the case?
ATGardner said:
Someone once told me there is no such thing as 3G sim - they are all basically the same, except for the on card memory size (64/32MB, or something like that). I wasn't too sure he was right, but then my cell provider just told me he can give me the data plan, without the need to physically upgrade the sim card. Then again - what do they know?
Do you think it might be the case?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, pretty sure there's no 3G SIM card. The SIM card only identifies you to the network.
Yes, it was the sim card. Apparently mine was quite antique... Now it works just fine with H/3G.
Thanks for the help, though.
ATGardner said:
Yes, it was the sim card. Apparently mine was quite antique... Now it works just fine with H/3G.
Thanks for the help, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's an orange thing, i couldnt get 3G for ages on orange, turned out they had only recently started providing 3G capable sim cards to PAYG customers lol
Hi guys/gals,
HTC Desire A8183 nextG Telstra bought outright.
All works fine with as supplied 2.2
The biggest headache is phone signal strength ... at home usually ...
0 bar = 109-113dBm / 0-2asu
1 bar = 107dBM / 3asu
3 bar = 97dBM / 8asu
At work ...
4 bars = 51-61dBM / 23-31asu
This is with Telstra nextG sim in, at the moment I'm using Amaysim (Optus) and it's the same maybe a little worse.
Sometimes when you first activate the screen there's no bars then 4 then 3-2-1-0 again, with Amaysim you get broken conversation and occasional resend txt messages and telstra most times conversation was ok and no resend txt's.
I'v seen you can change radio ?! to help with signal strength ... or would it be better to root the phone and use ???? program, as mentioned it all work as I need except signal so not looking for better battery or features just get a better signal.
Side note are the program's used to root the phone only run on Windoze ?
I use Intel iMac
Thks Greg
To change the radio, you must be ROOTED.
Unrevoked works on Mac, as well. Download it from here.
BTW, are you getting a good signal at home with other phones with the same SIM Card?
You may also try set this:
Some users experience longer battery life, if they switch from WCDMA preferred to GSM auto (PRL) - mostly in areas of bad reception.
To do this enter the Secret menu on the phone (*#*#4636#*#*), hit Phone information and set it under "Set preffered network type".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thks nagypapi,
Yeah LG U990 same problem on 3, Telstra nextG and Amaysim sim's.
WCDMA only, GSM only, GSM/WCDMA auto ... there the only choices in "preferred network mode" this is available in menu on 2.2 with going into the secret vault.
GSM only shows better signal bars but is worse in a call, I leave it on GSM/WCDMA auto.
I see there is more option in the vault might try them.
Is there any program that you would suggest that's ezy without to many problems as mentioned all the function in 2.2 are fine for me just need to get better signal.
Thks Greg
What is your current Radio (Baseband version number)?
Baseband version # 32.48.00.32U_5.11.05.14
Greg
Okay, so there is newer version, which I am using. The good news is, that the new radio is more battery efficient. The bad news - reception remained the same.
Bottom line, installing it won't get rid of your problem.
You need an antenna to boost your signal at home - because you've said, that you have problems with all of your phones.
Found some sites, take a look around:
http://cellphoneboosterstore.com/
http://www.alternativewireless.com/cellular-antennas/improving-cell-phone-reception/antennaadvice.html
Thks again nagypapi for all you help and the links ...
I'v emailed telstra's customer service to ask if they would refund my money on the phone it's there own nextg branded phone on there network doesn't work,
there coverage map shows I should get full service, not holding my breath but feel like a bit of sh!t stirring is in order.
Greg
I hate to burst your bubble, but for starters, I doubt your phone is defective. Secondly, a coverage map means nothing. If you're in a valley for example and the towers are on the other side of the hills, you're gonna get bad reception.
I agree in some ways that a newer radio might help things. But ultimately your phone can only receive a decent signal strength if the coverage in that area is of that strength.
Perhaps go with one of those signal boosters.
I have a slightly odd requirement, and I wondered if there was any way to fix it:
My carrier has a partnership with a second carrier so we can roam on each others networks for no extra cost.
Where I live, my own carrier only gives me a 2G signal, whereas the other gets 3G. Thing is, I have to physically select the other network. If it's on Automatic, it always "prefers" my own carrier.
This is fine until I'm on the other side of town where the other network gets no signal at all. I then have to manually select my own carrier again!
Is there any way to get it to prefer the other network, or even more ideally, prefer the one that offers the better signal at any given point?
Hi,
a bit of *bump* because I'm struggling with the same issue. I had such option on my previous samsung i780 (oooold) and it worked like a charm.
Currently my mobile operator has 2 roaming partners and if I want to change quickly the preferred order (because in some location it might have better coverage but only there and only for a while) I wold have to switch simcard to the old phone...
Isn't there at even a separate aplication to do that? Does andorid API allow such modification?
Glad I'm not the only one!
Interesting you mention an app to do it... i've not looked actually. If an app can access the list of networks and actually set the phone to use one, then I guess it would be possible. I'll check it out...
to the best of my understanding this is somewhat network option/setting and when suggesting an app I was thinging abount some way to read this setting, modify it and then save/send back to network. It would be a matter of access to the network settings from the API and knowledge how to operate it....
Still investigating this. Looks like the stuff to access the list of networks is in some internal APIs, so a little harder to access. I'll post back when I learn more...
Hey I hope you guys can figure this out have you tried the *#*#4636#*#* command and changed the radio? This will select the most preferred network.. e.g. I'm with Telstra in Australia, the stock radio defaults to 2100MHz but Telstra's HSPA+ is 850Mhz.. so I have to switch to AUS2 radio so it defaults to that every time.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
@Simmo3D
It's not about the radio band but about the service provider itself.