Develop Bugs

New Evo in Baltimore & a question

Got my Evo today - what fun! Its my very first smartphone and so far I think its great. With 4 bars on 3G I get 2.0-2.4 mbps down. With 1 bar on 4G I get about the same speed. I'll need to hunt around and see how 4G signal strength varies with position. My neighbor 1 block away gets at least 4 mbps. I guess this variability is the nature of Sprint's WiMax network?
I've seen lots of posts with people reporting statistics on time spent on/off, awake/asleep, amount of data downloaded, what apps are using what resources, etc. What tool does one use to collect this information?

You can get some information through the about phone; up time, awake time, battery use etc etc.
As far as the 4G, I think it's more of it being such a new network. Was just out back taking a breather and I can get 1 bar of 4G. 2-4 Mb pretty consistently ... sometimes it drops, pulled in 5 on a couple speedtests. The 3G though, it's weird because I'm lucky if I can even get 2 Mb. Dunno though, gotta assume the stability of the 4G will only get better. Figure I'm right on the brink even though the coverage map appears to have it bleeding out past me. In time I suppose.

Baltimore is the oldest (and I assume most built-out) 4G market area that Sprint has in the US. I was able to connect to 4G on the first day I had the Evo. Then did the OTA update. I've been unable to connect to 4G ever since. I switch the 4G radio on and wait, the icon at the top of the screen always says 3G. Am I doing something wrong? Is there somewhere else where I need to enable 4G? Anyone else having trouble accessing 4G since the OTA update?

I have also been having some problems with my 4g. I had no problems with 4g until the update.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Curious, 4G still works with my phone after the OTA.
I see B-More has been up since 2008 or something? First city! Whoa. But strange none the less. Your buddy, whom you referenced in the original post, still able to connect?

I've had my EVO in Baltimore since Launch Day - have not done the OTA yet (rooted) and my 4G was working fine until this morning. Wonder if there is some sort of outage today.
All I get is Scanning -> Connecting to Sprint -> Obtaining IP -> Scanning.
This has happened in Baltimore and Annapolis.
Also, I have hit 5mbps download near the Beltway and I-95.

Dude!? Where in Bmore? I'm over in Ellicott City and I get maybe 600kbps on 3g or 1200 in Samsclub Catonsville and at BWI...
4000-5000 on 4g
Oddly though I've been getting "network connection lost" and google maps just stops and refuses to download any tiles. Pandora freezes too...

You started having these problems today?
I've searched the web and this seems to be the only place that 4G problems have been reported in Baltimore.
Also, are you pre or post OTA?

willfck4beer said:
Dude!? Where in Bmore? I'm over in Ellicott City and I get maybe 600kbps on 3g or 1200 in Samsclub Catonsville and at BWI...
4000-5000 on 4g
Oddly though I've been getting "network connection lost" and google maps just stops and refuses to download any tiles. Pandora freezes too...
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Click to collapse
I'm downtown. This morning (7/2) I checked (outdoors) near Camden Yards and at the Inner Harbor. No 4G. Maybe its just coincidence that there's a network problem just after the OTA? I'll keep checking....

So, I called Sprint. As expected, they claimed maintenance in my "neighborhood". As I mentioned above, I've been in Baltimore and Annapolis today with no 4g. I have a hard time believing that they took out the whole area for maintenance. However, he did claim that it should be back up by 7pm.

I'm in Ellicott City and get about 4.5 on 4G and 600-1.0 on 3G.
I work right on the edge of the 4G coverage (Clarks Ace Hardware) so I'm usually at 1-2 bars. If I go 1 block east I get full reception, but if I go 100ft. west it completely drops 4G (route 144 & 40).

Checked for 4G connectivity this morning (inside my brick rowhouse, near the baseball stadium in Baltimore). I've got a weak 4G signal again - and measured 4 mbps bandwidth down. Good enough for me. I'll take some more measurements around town and see if there's any place with a stronger signal.

I spent the whole day yesterday at the harbor, 4G never connected once. Fail :/

Went to Sprint at Inner Harbor. They were getting 2 bars of 4G in the store, and I was getting none. The tech there noticed that I had turned off the "Location" switch (which allows GPS to update applications of phone's location). I did that because I didn't want GPS radio on all the time (save battery), and because I thought it would give me a bit more privacy. Tech said for 4G to work at its best - need to turn Location -ON. Reluctantly I turned it on, and now I'm consistently getting 1 or 2 bars of 4G around the Baltimore downtown area, with 3.8 - 4.5 mbps bandwidth down.
SO - in order to use that battery hogging 4G radio, one needs to turn on yet another battery sucking radio? Wow - are others in 4G markets finding that 4G works better with GPS on and Location on? Or was that tech just grasping for straws...?

i've always had the gps on. no luck

interesting! Don't know if any of you have tried sensorly map... kinda sweet... it signal strength maps 4G and 3g and 1xrtt via crowdsourcing... and lets you compare coverage btw sprint/att/vzw/tmob...
But I'm worried how accurate it is due to several issues:
...
1) I contributed data and never saw the map update
2) data will be skewed as GPS needs to be ON for map to work - so it should report better 4g coverage than actually exists AND
3) Most people who contributed seemed to be wardriving (or just leaving it on while driving)... and from what I've read wimax isn't that good at mobile or handoffs...
If it is accurate... this is not going to be a fun 2 years... SPRINT coverage looks like ****! even compared to tmob...
Any input from anyone smarter?
btw - I'm moving to a boat down in inner harbor... anyone have any results from the water?

I'm wondering how accurate it is too. Wasn't there some kind of radio problem with 4g not connecting? Wouldn't that skew the results?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

so im in downtown baltimore (otterbein area, right off the inner harbor), and both my wife and i just got evo's on friday. neither of us can get a 4g signal anywhere, unless we're standing literally across the street from the sprint store in the inner harbor. is this usual? is there some kind of outage right now? sprint was entirely useless when i called tech support, and i got transferred around about 11 times before being told they'll look into it and call me back tomorrow.

pjh410 said:
so im in downtown baltimore (otterbein area, right off the inner harbor), and both my wife and i just got evo's on friday. neither of us can get a 4g signal anywhere, unless we're standing literally across the street from the sprint store in the inner harbor. is this usual? is there some kind of outage right now? sprint was entirely useless when i called tech support, and i got transferred around about 11 times before being told they'll look into it and call me back tomorrow.
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Make an appointment to speak with a tech at the Inner Harbor store - sounds like there's something wrong with your phone or settings. Coverage in downtown Baltimore can vary a lot with location. I'm in Ridgely's Delight (less than a mile from you) - and I've been getting between 3.5 and 5.0 mbps down.

Very bad WiFi connection?

I apologize if this has been asked before. I searched (possible that I didn't search hard enough) but couldn't find anything.
Anyway, is it normal for the EVO 4G to have pretty pitiful Wi-Fi? What I mean is that I get terrible reception. My girlfriend's blackberry and my two brother's 2nd gen iPod Touch's get great Wi-Fi throughout the whole house. Both of my parents have notebooks and they don't have any issues either. If I'm about an inch from the wireless router I get full bars and 12mbps down (it's a G router) 12mbps up (according to the speedtest.net app), but the connection speed and signal immediately drops a significant amount as soon as I leave the room. The other devices don't have this problem. They maintain most of the speed and only lose a little bit of signal strength.
I know Sprint released an OTA update prior to Froyo that was supposed to address WiFi issues, but I was never able to do it because I was rooted and running a custom ROM (not based on that OTA update) prior to that. Now I'm running the latest Cyanogen nightly and I still get pitiful Wi-Fi
Anyone else experiencing similar issues?
Thanks!

Have you flashed the latest radio's?
My wifi reception was mediocre at best on 2.1, and when I went to Fresh 3.1.0.1 Froyo it pretty much was the same. Funny thing is though, I had only flashed the most recent radio (.28), I hadn't flashed the wimax radio because I don't live in a 4g area and didn't see the need for it. A few days after I flashed the new rom and radio I decided that it would probably be good to keep everything up to date regardles of whether it was needed or not, so I flashed the latest wimax radio. All of a sudden I have excellent wifi reception, before I could barely get a working wifi signal 20 feet from the router, now I get the same signal I was getting at 20 feet from the router 75 feet away.
To tell you the truth, I have no idea why it did this after flashing the wimax radio, as I was under the impression that the wimax radio had nothing to do with wifi, could be a coincidence, but it worked for me. The highest I ever got before at 20 feet from the router was 2 bars, now at the same place I get full bars, and I now get 2-3 bars at the opposite end of the house from the router where I got no wifi signal at all before.

wfrandy said:
Have you flashed the latest radio's?
My wifi reception was mediocre at best on 2.1, and when I went to Fresh 3.1.0.1 Froyo it pretty much was the same. Funny thing is though, I had only flashed the most recent radio (.28), I hadn't flashed the wimax radio because I don't live in a 4g area and didn't see the need for it. A few days after I flashed the new rom and radio I decided that it would probably be good to keep everything up to date regardles of whether it was needed or not, so I flashed the latest wimax radio. All of a sudden I have excellent wifi reception, before I could barely get a working wifi signal 20 feet from the router, now I get the same signal I was getting at 20 feet from the router 75 feet away.
To tell you the truth, I have no idea why it did this after flashing the wimax radio, as I was under the impression that the wimax radio had nothing to do with wifi, could be a coincidence, but it worked for me. The highest I ever got before at 20 feet from the router was 2 bars, now at the same place I get full bars, and I now get 2-3 bars at the opposite end of the house from the router where I got no wifi signal at all before.
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Awesome I'll give that a shot!
Yeah it makes no sense at all, and even if it was only a coincidence I'm still willing to try it. I too upgraded to the latest radio but skipped the 4G radio update because for 1, my area doesn't have 4G, and because the ROM I'm currently using doesn't support 4G yet
Thanks again! I'll report back with my updated findings!

Unfortunately I don't think I helped my wifi signal definitely worth a shot though. I'm going to Nandroid backup my cm6 and flash to a rom based of sprint's Froyo update to see if wifi signal strength increases.
Sent from my EVO 4G using the XDA app.

[Q] 4G Problem

Both me and my wife have EVO 4G, since sprint towers are going live in NY I started using it.
What we noticed, on my wifes phone it never finds any 4g signals while I have it all over the city. We actually have sprint tower on top of our building that gives me maximum strength signal while at home.
When we got phones I recall she was actually able to find 4g singnal here and there but it was way to sporadic to keep it on.
Both phones are rooted and running newest Wimax.
I found on forums possible issue with with bad MAC but I confirmed that is not the case.
Is there anything I can test/try at all or should I seek replacement from sprint?

I guess RUU and sprint store here I go

[Q] 4G Connection Issue

Hi guys,
I can't seem to get a stable 4G connection on my Epic 4G for some reason. When I toggle the "4G" to "ON", it would connect for a split second and immediately Disconnects and tries to connect again and again. My friend tested his phone (Nexus S 4G) and he connects just fine with data speed of 3,000kbps on Speedtest compared to my miserable 600-700kbps. I've also tried testing this in several different areas including major cities that supposedly cover "4G" and it does the same
I'm currently running SRF 1.2 ROM on Genocide 2.0 Kernel but I believe this issue was present even before rooting my phone. I also tried using different modems (EB13, EC05, EE03, EF02, EG22, EH17) but it made almost no difference to my 4G connection.
Does anyone have any suggestion on this??? I would really like to experience my 4G connection on my supposed 4G phone.

I have the same set up as you, and the same spotty 4g. Sometimes it's very hard to keep a stable 4g connection even in areas where I know 4g has been strong. It disconnects, or it pretends that it is connected but data really isn't going through.
Though, 4g is kinda new to my area and there are rumors that it's still in testing phases. Also, I don't have any input from other 4g users here. So in the end I'm not sure if its just my epic, or if there are wider issues.
Sent from a secret underground bunker

Strong 4g signal
I am also running SFR 1.2 and I get very strong/stable 4g speeds. I live in Chicago (Sprint 4g has been here for a while), and I get 3-4Mbps in my apartment on 4g. This is enough to do things like play Xbox Live or Skype using my 4g. I have noticed that while traveling on trains in the area the connection tends to go on and off, but I would say that overall, I usually have a great connection.
This may just be in your area, where are you located?

mjben said:
I have the same set up as you, and the same spotty 4g. Sometimes it's very hard to keep a stable 4g connection even in areas where I know 4g has been strong. It disconnects, or it pretends that it is connected but data really isn't going through.
Though, 4g is kinda new to my area and there are rumors that it's still in testing phases. Also, I don't have any input from other 4g users here. So in the end I'm not sure if its just my epic, or if there are wider issues.
Sent from a secret underground bunker
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same issues, even though the Sprint coverage map shows I should be able to get 4G inside my house.
After researching, what I have found is you must find the nearest Sprint tower that has 4G, hold your left hand directly on the control board of the tower, and while placing your right big toe directly on the battery of your phone (must be the right big toe, the left big toe will not carry current correctly), you must complete the following key sequence on the dialer (###WTF***4G###***). Only then will you receive a 4G signal. Now be aware this will only enable the signal to last for 15 seconds. If you need more time that that, you must repeat the process. Oh...and By the way...This will only get you 1 bar of 4G service. I will be working on a detailed guide for 2 bars. There is no known method to actually get 3 bars of 4G service!!
Sorry, but this is a good of an explanation as anyone from Sprint has given me.
You may now return to your normally weak 3G Sprint signal.

Goodroid said:
Hi guys,
I can't seem to get a stable 4G connection on my Epic 4G for some reason. When I toggle the "4G" to "ON", it would connect for a split second and immediately Disconnects and tries to connect again and again. My friend tested his phone (Nexus S 4G) and he connects just fine with data speed of 3,000kbps on Speedtest compared to my miserable 600-700kbps. I've also tried testing this in several different areas including major cities that supposedly cover "4G" and it does the same
I'm currently running SRF 1.2 ROM on Genocide 2.0 Kernel but I believe this issue was present even before rooting my phone. I also tried using different modems (EB13, EC05, EE03, EF02, EG22, EH17) but it made almost no difference to my 4G connection.
Does anyone have any suggestion on this??? I would really like to experience my 4G connection on my supposed 4G phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whts your location cause I am having the sam exact problems with my epic and evo!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

[Q] Poor cell signal- often roaming

I've had the E4GT for less than 24hrs, and biggest issue is the less than splendid cell reception. Sitting in my living room i used to get 2-3 bars- this thing constantly throws into roaming. I updated my PRL, Profile, and Firmware. Didn't know what the latest PRL was that was out.
I know this thing has only been out a few days, so i understand some bugs. Is anyone else having signal issues where they didn't before?
I'm really trying rock this for a couple days stock before i root the hell out of it, lol.
Thanks for any input. Link me to resources if you like, i have no issues reading up on my own if this is a common issue.

fattmann said:
I've had the E4GT for less than 24hrs, and biggest issue is the less than splendid cell reception. Sitting in my living room i used to get 2-3 bars- this thing constantly throws into roaming. I updated my PRL, Profile, and Firmware. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto! I even have an Air Rave and reception is poor.

I am running into the same situation. It keeps on switching between roaming and normal for no reason. I usually get pretty good reception in my room. It will sit there at about 2-3 bars reception, few minutes later its roaming. The phone hasn't been moved at all.

This happened to me 20 minutes after I got it on Friday but after a reboot it was fine. No problem since then. I assumed it was a network issue.

Same issue here, even with Airave (evo next to SG2 has better signal)

Huh, I'm getting better reception than my Evo 4G. The Epic Touch now works in my condo elevator at basement garage level where the Evo would consistently drop a call.

has anyone did a signal strength comparison instead of bars. they may have different values per bar on different phones.

Returns are warranted?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

I wonder if there is a difference in radios or something. My experience tells me that this radio is finicky as heck, and I don't know why.
Is there a way to find out if Samsung used different parts or suppliers to make the Epic Touch?
I remember HTC doing this with their phones, and some would be fine, and some would not (different issue each phone, lol)

Mine was doing the same i switched the phone to only go on sprints network and has been fine. I rarely need true roaming but it would go into roaming even when sprint service was available.

I think Sprint may be doing network upgrades/maintenance. The same phenomenon occurs on my Epic 4G Touch and multiple Nexus S 4G's. I'll see signal jump from -106 dBm to -76 dBm and in some places go into roaming. Nothing to worry about as long as it works. They may be upgrading equipment to support EVDO rev B hopefully.
I get much better 4G reception on the E4GT than the NS4G, FWIW.

My signal isn't as good as my photon was better then my evo 3d. I usually don't roam much. Trust me when I say this, reception could be worse lol ill deal with it!!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

I hope the poor signal has to do with upgrading to EvDo RevB on Oct7

Thank God I am not alone. My cell reception too is finicky. In places my old evo (which my girl use now)have weak signal my epic touch would roam in and out. Sometimes it won't leave roaming even after I get to a known good reception area. Only a reboot would kick it back to sprint network. I read somewhere that calling sprint and having them reset my phone on their end might help. I am going to try this out as soon as I get home.