Hey, so I'm confused. I activated 3G on my phone but it is not showing "3G" but it shows a "H" icon instead. My friend told me that "H" is slower than "3G". I'm not sure if it's the fault with the phone or there is some settings I'm missing.
I've set the phone on GSM/WCDMA auto.
Please help!
H is HSDPA
Dont panic, H stands for HSDPA, which is faster 3G setting for the network. In order of speed you will see
G - basic GPRS - slowest data speeds
E - EDGE - Enhanced GPRS - A bit faster than G but not going to set your world on fire
3G - Faster connection
H - Fastest connection
Which one of these you get depends on the cell you are connected to, the quality of the connection and how many people are on the cell (sort of, I am no expert).
In summary, dont panic! Your phone is fine, you have a great network connection, but I am afraid you have a friend who is wrong. Break it to him gently.
MS
I thought Edge was slower than GPRS?
My Vodafone Wildfire S shows 'E' at home (whereas my O2 Nokia phone shows "G" or "H" depending on the weather)
taffypride said:
I thought Edge was slower than GPRS?
My Vodafone Wildfire S shows 'E' at home (whereas my O2 Nokia phone shows "G" or "H" depending on the weather)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPRS is definitely the slowest connexion
mstockham said:
Dont panic, H stands for HSDPA, which is faster 3G setting for the network. In order of speed you will see
G - basic GPRS - slowest data speeds
E - EDGE - Enhanced GPRS - A bit faster than G but not going to set your world on fire
3G - Faster connection
H - Fastest connection
Which one of these you get depends on the cell you are connected to, the quality of the connection and how many people are on the cell (sort of, I am no expert).
In summary, dont panic! Your phone is fine, you have a great network connection, but I am afraid you have a friend who is wrong. Break it to him gently.
MS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, yeah I forgot about that, thanks mate
Related
I've seen in my TyTN, WM6, radio 1.34 a (strange?) behaviour. I noticed with VODAFONE : I have a plain UMTS connection 3g icon and 3g data connection alive, used for push e-mail.
When I am in HSDPA area and data connection starts data transfer, I see a switch between 3G and H connection, then revert after 1-2 seconds ad the end of data transver back in UMTS mode.
Hypotesis:
1) Could be a simple WM6 LVSW edition bug
2) Could be a WM6 feature (HSDPA has well known problems in voice phone avaliability when active)
3) Could be a Vodafone Network feature, HSDPA onli when needed
4) 1.34 radio compatibility problem/feature?
5) ......
6) I am stupid and this is a well known fact
Question:
Any other wm6 user noticed same behaviour?
It has always worked like this, HSDPA is ON when you need it, not all the time.
thats part of the design, saving resources for the network.
elivne said:
It has always worked like this, HSDPA is ON when you need it, not all the time.
thats part of the design, saving resources for the network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This isn't working this way for all mobile phone providers in Italy, with TIM if you are in HSDPA area it will stay connected... and you're off-line if someone calls
May be we discovered why isn't enabled as DEFAULT setting and we need to enable using SetHSDPA.exe
sergiopi said:
This isn't working this way for all mobile phone providers in Italy, with TIM if you are in HSDPA area it will stay connected... and you're off-line if someone calls
May be we discovered why isn't enabled as DEFAULT setting and we need to enable using SetHSDPA.exe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto in Australia. If im connected to GPRS, the icon is permanently showing HSDPA... unless of course i only have GSM coverage (very rare!!).
In Taipei, it works exactly as elivne says... H only when needed.
Cheers
FWIW, I didn't experience proper "throttling" in and out of HSDPA mode until I upgraded to WM6 and radio 1.38 (not sure which to thank for it). Prior to that whenever I was in H coverage, the radio would run almost exclusively in H mode. Talk about battery drain! Currently I can run for almost 2 days between charges (and that's with push mail).
How a particular combination performs for you must depend a lot on the carrier, your locale, etc. Took a lot of "trial and error" for me.
Yep, I'm on UK T-Mobile, and my icon only switches from "3G" to "H" when it's active.
As vp3G says, it noticably saves battery power from the old "permanent HSDPA" behaviour. Although I can't claim to get 2 days usage out of mine.
It is a network feature. If you are inactive on HSDPA for t sec the network will downswitch you to UMTS ( called R99 ). Only 10 users can use the HSDPA at the same time and there is an inactivity timer ( t=10 sec) try to manage the traffic by moving inactive users to R99 ( max speed 384 kbps)
Thank you for sharing your knowlege Austin Boy....
..."and that's the way it is"
Cheers
austin_boy said:
Only 10 users can use the HSDPA at the same time and there is an inactivity timer ( t=10 sec) try to manage the traffic by moving inactive users to R99 ( max speed 384 kbps)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really only 10 simultaneous users? Seems like the odds of getting a timeslice when you need it would be virtually nil.
The 10 limitation can be increased by any operator by adding Channel elements (Radios) or more when adding another carrier ( frequency). Europe has more spectrum than the US and it is possible to get two carriers ( 2x5MHz) and use one for speech and the other for data. In the US we are sharing the spectrum between GSM and UMTS. AT&T will be migrating GSM to UMTS gradually and using the 850 band for UMTS before moving to LTE (4G)
sub69 said:
Yep, I'm on UK T-Mobile, and my icon only switches from "3G" to "H" when it's active.
As vp3G says, it noticably saves battery power from the old "permanent HSDPA" behaviour. Although I can't claim to get 2 days usage out of mine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a similar switching scenario.
Prior to flashing my Radio to 1.38.00.10 and ROM to Black 2.0 I tested my download speed at www.dslreports/mspeed and was please to see I got almost a 1Mb/sec rating.
However since the flashes I have re-tested and am now only getting 250-300 kb/sec. It may be the network, so I will try on a few separate occasions and different locations.
NB. I have enabled HSDPA in HTweaksC
I noticed during the test that the download bar jumps staright up immediately but then slows down quite a lot?
sergiopi said:
I've seen in my TyTN, WM6, radio 1.34 a (strange?) behaviour. I noticed with VODAFONE : I have a plain UMTS connection 3g icon and 3g data connection alive, used for push e-mail.
When I am in HSDPA area and data connection starts data transfer, I see a switch between 3G and H connection, then revert after 1-2 seconds ad the end of data transver back in UMTS mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3 ITA is working same way.
Enabling HSDPA only when there is data transfer active.
Okay tried again on my commute home, and also when I got to my house.
Speed is looking good ! getting up above the 1mb/sec rate again.
Must have just been a busy cell/network
ok... i have a spv m3100 with black 3.0.1 wich is suposed to be HSDPA enabled... i have also enabled it in the tweaker.... today for the first time i have seen the icon H... in my area there is no HSDPA coverege... none... but i read today that untill the end of the year they are trying to cover it... and i was thinking that they are already making tests... i tested my speed at http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/ and i had a 145 kilobits per second speed... wich as far as i know it is similar to 3g... i disabled the HSDPA and tried a few times in 3g... the speed was 135 kb/s... to small the difference...
so... my question... what is the tweaker doing?... enableing HSDPA or just replacing the 3g icon with the H icon?
no one???
what is the tweaker doing?... enable HSDPA or just replacing the 3g icon with the H icon?
On any of my phones including new Pro2 when I have auto set for band, it always connects to GSM instead of 3G band on my network. This seems to be network depended because when in roaming it always connects to 3G when available.
Simple fix would be to leave 3G band only and not auto, but where I live not whole area is covered with 3G signal so I would often be out of reach.
Is there a way to make 3G (where signal is available) preferred band regardless of network preference?
u should have play around with your device more often, or read a lot in the forum, its in the communication settings - phone - change band - choose WCDMA
gunggu said:
u should have play around with your device more often, or read a lot in the forum, its in the communication settings - phone - change band - choose WCDMA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think you have read my question entirely
I know where to choose band, but I need it to be on AUTO since 3G signal doesn't cover all region where I live.
But at the same time i want it to connect to 3G first if there is 3G for my network. Currently when band is on AUTO and when I turn on the phone it connects to GSM by default rather than 3G.
In case of bad 3G coverage, The phone "Fall's" down in 2G mode by it self. We can't choose with one is prior to the other. It is an hadware (ie in the 3G ship) that is implemeted this choice, because 3G was promoted to respond to 2G saturation. In your case, this is due to a bad 3G covergage or bad 2G signal.
Hope it can help
Schmurtz1968 said:
In case of bad 3G coverage, The phone "Fall's" down in 2G mode by it self. We can't choose with one is prior to the other. It is an hadware (ie in the 3G ship) that is implemeted this choice, because 3G was promoted to respond to 2G saturation. In your case, this is due to a bad 3G covergage or bad 2G signal.
Hope it can help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was afraid of something like this
Although I'm not sure this is in phone hardware, rather that preference is set by network. For example on my own mobile network even when I'm very close to 3G base station and signal is excellent, when I turn off the phone and turn it on it will choose GSM signal if phone is set to auto. This happens with every phone, not just HTC. And it will never connect to 3G again unless I set it manually in settings.
On other networks and when in roaming when I turn on the phone and have auto set it automatically connects to 3G, and when I loose 3G signal it connects to GSM but once 3G signal is available it automatically reconnects to 3G.
So I think this is actually set by network and not the phone.
I sometimes work at a place that has full edge signal, and 2 lines (stable and good reception) of 3g. All HTC phones always prefer EDGE, if band is set to auto.
frkser said:
I don't think you have read my question entirely
I know where to choose band, but I need it to be on AUTO since 3G signal doesn't cover all region where I live.
But at the same time i want it to connect to 3G first if there is 3G for my network. Currently when band is on AUTO and when I turn on the phone it connects to GSM by default rather than 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oops sorry, my bad...
even in my room here the 3G signal is weak (1 bar), but the phone still prefers 3G (HSPA) and not EDGE, it turns to EDGE when i go to the bathroom , but when i got out, in a couple of minutes it turns back to 3G.
Guys is it totally normal for your internet connection icon to continuously switch between 3G and H?? no matter whether I set it for WCDMA only or GSM / WCDMA auto..
I have noticed that when there is no current internet connection being made - the icon remains 3G, then when i connect to the internet it switches to H, but freezes up all the time. When I use my o2 sim on the same desire handset, the icon remains H and the speed is fast continuously without any pause or disruptions.
Any help would be much appreciated, also a copy of an APN for orange internet would be great so I could check it with mine.
Never noticed a H on mine. Only seen it go to 3G+
Mine goes between 3G and H all the time while im in my flat.
Not checked while im out.
Its probs a network thing, orange might not have a strong 3G+ network in your area so it keeps switching. I even seen mine on GPRS sometimes.
3G+ is HSDPA
What I'm trying to say is that my phone never displays a H just a 3G+. I have pretty good HSDPA coverage where I am
thanks for the replies - will keep testing my internet connection, still feel that o2 was faster but what the heck - the Desire was free so had to switch alliance!
hi,
just a stupid tech question that keeps me wondering.
i have a HTC Touch pro2
i'm happy running android and windows mobile latest HTC ROM on it.
now the strange thing is...
on WinMo i never, ever got a 3g signal only Hspda and most of the time Edge.
so basicly my speed s*cks.
now the other hand.
on android on running 3g almost all the time, and speeds are super.
what the heck is going on?
i would think to Stable HTC rom would be the best for now, but it is't.
so the question.
what is android doing differently then winMo with the same APN settings on the same location. that one gets Edge and android gets 3G?
ps...
you android devs... keep up to good work.
HSDPA is 3g lol.
High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is an enhanced 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, also dubbed 3.5G, 3G+ or turbo 3G, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity
Thought: when in WinMo do you use Internet Explorer? b/c no matter what your connection speed is, that browser is super slow. If that's the case try Opera Mobile 10 (fast + stable) or Opera Mini 5 (faster + slightly buggy).
If this doesn't apply to you feel free to ignore that advice
3G
mmmh
on wiMo if i start up my data connection
my icon of the data connection goes verry fast to the following letters
3G
H
E then my connection works
and sometimes G
so i think it's
3G
Hspda
Edge
Gprs
my i'm wrong
but on the same place i boot to android
and it's 3G and sometimes goed to E = edge
is it that android sees the 3G and HSPDA as one?
ps i'll try the browser thing, idd still IE
piwi3910 said:
mmmh
on wiMo if i start up my data connection
my icon of the data connection goes verry fast to the following letters
3G
H
E then my connection works
and sometimes G
so i think it's
3G
Hspda
Edge
Gprs
my i'm wrong
but on the same place i boot to android
and it's 3G and sometimes goed to E = edge
is it that android sees the 3G and HSPDA as one?
ps i'll try the browser thing, idd still IE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, android sees 3g and HSDPA (DPA - "Downlink Packet Access" not PDA - "Personal Digital Assistant") as the same thing. In WinMo the "H" is a faster connection than the "3G".
I suggest trying different radios
piwi3910 said:
mmmh
on wiMo if i start up my data connection
my icon of the data connection goes verry fast to the following letters
3G
H
E then my connection works
and sometimes G
so i think it's
3G
Hspda
Edge
Gprs
my i'm wrong
but on the same place i boot to android
and it's 3G and sometimes goed to E = edge
is it that android sees the 3G and HSPDA as one?
ps i'll try the browser thing, idd still IE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI: If the "H" signal bugs you try downloading Advanced Config for WM. I think it's on the marketplace and change the "Show HSDPA icon" to no. It will continue using HSDPA (because, as said here, HSDPA is faster) but it will show the 3G icon at the top.
I'm almost the time, have 3g signal....I already call several times on video call (only works on 3g)
Hello guys,
I´m a happy Desire owner since 2 weeks now and have a little question.
I noticed the following:
In areas with bad network coverage, signal shows (E)dge, or if it´s even mor bad it shows (G)PRS. That OK.
But in areas with good coverage it shows 3G (UMTS) all the time, and only if I transfer data, eg syncing email, it´s showing (H)SDPA, and switches back to 3G.
Is that normal?
I wonder as this is my first android device, and all my older WiMo phones where showing (H)SDPA all the time.
I´ve read else where, that often changing networks need a lot of battery power.
Oh, I´m using T-Mobile in germany with an unbraded Desire running 2.2.
I noticed this also with 2.1
Thank you!
Perhaps the question was´nt clear enough ... sorry.
I mean, I this the same at your phones, or do they show (H) all the time?
Thank you again!
Mine does this too.
If you want to lock to a single network type *#*#info#*#* in the dialer.
In the UK mine shows hsdpa most of the time, sometimes gprs when roaming. It does not show anything when on WiFi, just shows the bars. If you press from home screen the menu - settings - about phone - network, then you see the signal strength and type of signal .
bubblesmoney said:
In the UK mine shows hsdpa most of the time, sometimes gprs when roaming. It does not show anything when on WiFi, just shows the bars. If you press from home screen the menu - settings - about phone - network, then you see the signal strength and type of signal .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats what I thought it should do ... so it seems my SIM is having a problem.
Yesterday I put a friend´s SIM in it (also using T-Mobile) and it shows H all the time and never 3G. If Network is bad it switches to E and then back to H.
Now I´ve ordered a new SIM, so lets see ...
OK my SIM is around 12 years now ... 1998 ...