Related
Hi all,
I"m new here, with a quick question based on my usage today on both the Bell and Rogers network.
I unlocked my HTC Desire Z this afternoon, and I tried it out on Rogers to see what the speeds were like. It has been an odd experience. Here's the background, and my question is below.
Background:
- Aside from being unlocked, it is as originally shipped from Bell (e.g. no root access, ROM hasn't been flashed etc.)
- APN settings were taken from Rogers' own website (e.g. using rogers-core-appl1.apn).
- Speeds tested in downtown Toronto.
Experience so far:
Bell
I get a solid HSDPA indicator all the time (save elevators etc., when there is no connection). I can remember seeing a 3G connection icon perhaps once on Bell since I got it last week. Speeds are very good, four to five bars most of the time
Rogers
I get a solid 3G icon almost all of the time, except when I'm using data, in which case it seems to switch over to the HSDPA icon. Literally, it will show a 3G, and then if I try to browse the web, the icon will immediately switch to an H from a 3G and the web page will load quite quickly.
I was concerned that it was dropping the HSDPA connection frequently, and using 3G instead -- changing towers constantly. So I tried speedtesting it. The results were completely opposite what I expected.
Speedtest Results:
Using the Speedtest.net app (from Ookla) testing against the same Oakville, ON server from Toronto, I'm getting speeds dramatically faster on Rogers. I did three speedtests for each network.
Bell:
Fastest Down: 3411 kbps Fastest Up: 1633 kbps
Slowest Down: 1969 kbps Slowest Up: 1331 kbps
Rogers:
Fastest Down: 5740 kbps Fastest Up: 3766 kbps
Slowest Down: 5405 kbps Slowest Up: 1551 kbps
Ping latency was generally slightly higher on Rogers than Bell.
Question
Does anyone understand why, on Rogers, the Desire Z would be showing a 3G until data is requested, at which time it swaps over to show an H icon (e.g. HSDPA), whereas on Bell, it shows a constant HSDPA connection?
I would have thought that it would be slower on Rogers since it was showing 3G and then the icon switches to H, but I'm guessing that the icon switch isn't really reflecting what's going on, since the speeds are faster when this icon switch occurs. Any ideas?
Many thanks in advance!
TF
Its not just the Desire Z but also most smartphones on rogers. i had a samsung galaxy and it did the same thing. However, (correct me out there, if im wrong) But i remember reading the HSDPA was inbetween 3g and 3.5g?...i dont remmeber but to me i know that Rogers is faster, my brother has a Bell phone and my speeds were always faster.
heres a bit of help i found
HSDPA is actually one of the 3G protocols.
In everyday language HSDPA is often referred to as much faster than (basic) 3G so I would call it much faster as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jark99 said:
Its not just the Desire Z but also most smartphones on rogers. i had a samsung galaxy and it did the same thing. However, (correct me out there, if im wrong) But i remember reading the HSDPA was inbetween 3g and 3.5g?...i dont remmeber but to me i know that Rogers is faster, my brother has a Bell phone and my speeds were always faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure there really is a 3.5G as such, but if there is, then HSDPA is it. It provides faster speeds than the standard 3G (UMTS) protocols. There's also HSPA+ coming out, which is even faster. HSPA+ isn't 4G, although confusingly some carriers in the US (T-Mobile I think ?) are referring to it as such.
On O2 in the UK, I get the same effect, holds at 3G then switches to HSDPA when in use. There doesn't seem to be any latency when switching and if it can't achieve HSDPA it remains at 3G. Speedtest returns about 1.5-2 Mbit which is normal.
I can only imagine its a power saving feature as from experience with the Touch Diamond 2 / Touch Pro 2, having HSDPA enabled sucked battery life significantly. I don't remember this happening on those phones either. Seems like a good idea, but would be nice to choose (always on, auto, always off)
I actually used to disable HSDPA and use 3G exclusively and consistently got 2-3 days out of both phones with moderate use. I never missed it.
Craig
craiglay said:
I can only imagine its a power saving feature as from experience with the Touch Diamond 2 / Touch Pro 2, having HSDPA enabled sucked battery life significantly. I don't remember this happening on those phones either. Seems like a good idea, but would be nice to choose (always on, auto, always off)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That must be it -- interestingly, I went into the About Phone > Network > Signal Strength menu to check it out. When the icon is showing 3G, the "Mobile network type" is UTMS. When data is being transmitted, the icon immediately switches to H and the "Mobile network type" reports HSDPA.
Very cool -- I'm going to see if this -- by itself -- extends my battery life tomorrow. Thanks for the feedback!
TF
Just FYI -- there has been a dramatic improvement in my battery life on Rogers, compared to what I was experiencing on Bell. Typically, I would be at about 40% battery life left at this point in the day (presumably because I was constantly connected to HSDPA with Bell). Whereas I'm at 80% battery life left with the Rogers 3G connection, and I've still been connected to Wi-Fi for the past five hours and browsing reasonably heavily.
Thanks for your help in sorting this out everybody.
TF
Interesting, as Bell has rolled out several HSPA+ areas, Toronto being one of them, and Rogers still only has HSPA.
What I found odd on my DZ (still on Bells network) is that my Network Mode is GSM / WCDMA auto (never seen this on any other handset I've hand that's been HSDPA) and I understand that the HSDPA networks here are CDMA with a GSM overlay (ie, the need for a SIM card, etc) and I frequently see my icon changing from 3G to H (again, this is only on my DZ), but Bell only has a CDMA EVDO 3G network and the HSPA "3G+" network, there's not really a GSM enabled 3G network.
I'm confused, as on my Telus Milestone, it's constantly H, never once seen 3G appear on it, and Telus and Bell share their network.
Maybe I'm just horribly misinformed.
I donno if it is just me but I seem to be getting ridiculously slow 3G speeds here on my unlocked Desire Z using Rogers. I go to school in Hamilton at McMaster and most of the times the 3G is nigh on unusable because of its speeds. I don't know if it is an app or anything that has caused it because it was never slow when I first got the phone.
I am running the virtuous rom 0.72 atm. I do have half a mind to just factory reset the device adn see if that fixes the issues however I really don't want to lose all of my contacts and other settings that I have on this device.
TravelFiend said:
Rogers
I get a solid 3G icon almost all of the time, except when I'm using data, in which case it seems to switch over to the HSDPA icon. Literally, it will show a 3G, and then if I try to browse the web, the icon will immediately switch to an H from a 3G and the web page will load quite quickly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The same thing happening to me with Galaxy S,and this started a few days ago.
I unlocked my phone and I am using it on Telenor Serbia a and past two weeks it was just H all the time,now it's 3g all the time and when I start browsing it switch to H again and it work well,but why do that,should I be concern?
VladaP85 said:
The same thing happening to me with Galaxy S,and this started a few days ago.
I unlocked my phone and I am using it on Telenor Serbia a and past two weeks it was just H all the time,now it's 3g all the time and when I start browsing it switch to H again and it work well,but why do that,should I be concern?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me on O2 UK, it depends on the area.. Sometimes its solid 3G, sometimes solid H and sometimes 3G when idle, H when in use.. I guess its the base station software / hardware..
Craig
HAK Devil said:
I do have half a mind to just factory reset the device adn see if that fixes the issues however I really don't want to lose all of my contacts and other settings that I have on this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you've snyced with google then your contacts will just sync back. And I go to school at Mac as well and usually the speeds are really slow inside any buildings... If i don't have full bars then the speed will be crap, otherwise they are fine. But I am on Fido, not Bell.
Also, I thought that Bell didn't have a 2G GSM network? If that is the case then that could be why only H would be appearing...
craiglay said:
For me on O2 UK, it depends on the area.. Sometimes its solid 3G, sometimes solid H and sometimes 3G when idle, H when in use.. I guess its the base station software / hardware..
Craig
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But why this start to happen two day ago and not before... Should I call my operator or it's up to my phone. Maybe to do factory reset of change rom...
VladaP85 said:
But why this start to happen two day ago and not before... Should I call my operator or it's up to my phone. Maybe to do factory reset of change rom...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be anything to be honest.. Your operator could have updated the base station.
It seems the phone is designed to do this probably to save power, HSDPA is battery intensive so having the phone in 3G while in standby probably saves quite a bit of power..
You could try emailing HTC with the question before your operator.
Regards
Craig
TravelFiend said:
Just FYI -- there has been a dramatic improvement in my battery life on Rogers, compared to what I was experiencing on Bell. Typically, I would be at about 40% battery life left at this point in the day (presumably because I was constantly connected to HSDPA with Bell). Whereas I'm at 80% battery life left with the Rogers 3G connection, and I've still been connected to Wi-Fi for the past five hours and browsing reasonably heavily.
Thanks for your help in sorting this out everybody.
TF
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you switched your phone to stay in umts only to get this dramatic battery gain?
craiglay said:
It could be anything to be honest.. Your operator could have updated the base station.
It seems the phone is designed to do this probably to save power, HSDPA is battery intensive so having the phone in 3G while in standby probably saves quite a bit of power..
You could try emailing HTC with the question before your operator.
Regards
Craig
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone is Samsung I9000 Galaxy S So maybe I will email Samsung...
Thanks,
Regards
From my understanding
GSM = 1G
GPRS= 2G = G
EDGE = 2.5G = E
UMTS = 3G = 3G
HSDPA/HSDUPA/HSPA+=3.5G = H
Since Rogers has all the above mentioned transceiver systems you will see that mostly on the Rogers network Android phones tend to stay on UMTS=3G switching to H only when more data throughput is required.
The battery life is much better on UMTS vs HSDPA hence you will get a better battery life on Rogers vs Bell.
Bell only has a HSDPA/HSPA+ network hence you will only see H
I am not claiming to be a 100% on this
Just my 2 cents by putting together 1 and 1
xdjneo said:
GSM = 1G
GPRS= 2G = G
EDGE = 2.5G = E
UMTS = 3G = 3G
HSDPA/HSDUPA/HSPA+=3.5G = H
Since Rogers has all the above mentioned transceiver systems you will see that mostly on the Rogers network Android phones tend to stay on UMTS=3G switching to H only when more data throughput is required.
The battery life is much better on UMTS vs HSDPA hence you will get a better battery life on Rogers vs Bell.
Bell only has a HSDPA/HSPA+ network hence you will only see H
I am not claiming to be a 100% on this
Just my 2 cents by putting together 1 and 1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nearly there (source Wikipedia),
GSM is 2G
GPRS is 2.5G
EDGE is 2.75G
UTMS is 3G
HSxPA is 3.5G
I would put HSPA+ as 3.75G as its slightly different to HSxPA but would settle for 3.5G
Broadly speaking battery life reduces the higher the generation but I think UTMS can be more efficient than 2.xG sometimes. (NOT HS... which is generally terrible all over hence the behaviour between 3G and H)
I always used to disable HSxPA because of the battery life, its just not easy on this phone. It requires root and editing a prop file..
Craig
As you may know desire has a built in feature that monitors when you do need 3g connection and when not, so when you do not need it it automaticly switches to 2g. I have also read somewhere that this feature consumes less battery then being always on 2g. Is that true? I still heard a lot of people that are most of the time on 2g while they do not browse the internet, reporting decent battery lives.
So, as the title says, which is better?
2g uses less battery than 3g. Use 2g when not using data for the best battery life.
Whoever said that 2g and sometimes 3g uses less battery that 2g only needs to go back to school, its mathematically impossible if 3g uses more battery.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
lvnatic said:
As you may know desire has a built in feature that monitors when you do need 3g connection and when not, so when you do not need it it automaticly switches to 2g.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you completely sure about that? my phone seems to be always in 3G as long as it is available and switchs to 2G if it cant get a 3g connection.
anyway, 2G is the best option battery wise.
there is a video from google i/o 2k9 talking about this. I think it's this one : http://developer.android.com/videos/index.html#v=OUemfrKe65c
I have used both modes for some weeks, but i didn't see any difference.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=688492
How about this? Does it apply to desire as well? I am curently using gsm only when im not browsing the net.
2g only will use the least battery.
Auto is great but the issue is that it will preferentially seek 3g. To seek 3g more power is required. (Now this is a negligible amount on its own). However if comparing the battery use in only a 2g area the 2g phone will last longer.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
if you have signal i recommend to use 3g. the cells needs more power to have/transmitt fast data connections like hdspa and in that case the cellphone need less battery to connect to it. in Romania the network it's kinda new hardware, because we use cellphones later than anyone else and the tech was envolved when we first install the network, but remember if your cellphone go from 2g to 3g often, this will consume a lot of power.
Robert A said:
if you have signal i recommend to use 3g. the cells needs more power to have/transmitt fast data connections like hdspa and in that case the cellphone need less battery to connect to it. in Romania the network it's kinda new hardware, because we use cellphones later than anyone else and the tech was envolved when we first install the network, but remember if your cellphone go from 2g to 3g often, this will consume a lot of power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you recommend wcdma only? Even when I don't use the internet? Its true that I have signal most of the time, but I am on "gsm only" all the time, switching to wcdma only when I browse the net.
I would recommend GSM auto (PRL) from the testing menu ( *#*#4636#*#* ) then in phone information. Your phone will still use 3G but only when the signal is strong. Otherwise it will prefer 2G.
WCDMA preferred will try to force 3G even when the signal is weak. Consuming more battery.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
2G only uses the least power.
3G only uses moar power.
Constant switching uses the most, it peaks at 600mA battery drain in the process.
3G only will only give you signal outages, therefore I would not recommend it. It is not widespread as GSM signal is.
Oh I finally know how to acces PRL options, thanks. But regarding this, I found this thread on the nexus one section, which says wcdma prl is better. Any of you know how accurate that is?
Edit:
sheek360 said:
He mentioned that gsm auto prl will save the user a bit more power because it wont force the phone to continuasly hunt for a stronger signal. Typically this option gives our n1's a weaker signal and slower data speed. But he said it depends on our network in our city.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nvm, it wasn't battery related anyway. And I found what I needed. Thanks a lot.
Im back to gsm only, gsm auto prl didn't seem to be better in terms of battery saving.
I have recently upgraded from an old Moto Droid 2 to the Gnex on Verizon. I wanted to upgrade before the new cut went into effect so I could retain my unlimited data. I stream all my music from a music server at home, and stream netflix, and hulu plus alot as well. I have had the phone for about 5 days, and have unlocked, and roote dit but have left the Vanilla 4.0.2 as is for now so I could get a solid baseline for battery life and radio performance before tweaking anything in the future.
Today was the fist time I had to commute to and from work with the phone, and I am very upset with the coverage I got. I take the train and am constantly switching cell towers, and usually experiance spoty coverage because of it, however when using my Droid2 on 3g it was still good enough to stream music throughout my commute.
I have noticed that the majority of the time, the phone shows absolutely no data connection now, and when it does connect it never goes above 1 bar. How is this possible when the Droid 2 had a better signal? I have read that some people get "lemons" and that the Gnex has been known to have radio issues, I apologize in advance if I am spamming the forum, but I wanted to get some feedback from some of the advanced Gnex owners here.
IS this normal? How can I test my phone's radio or know if I have a "lemon". IS this scenario easily remedied through flashing a radio? I still have 11 days to test it out, if I want to return the phone to Verizon.
As much as I really wanted to have a Nexus device, I won't pay for a smartphone that can't maintain a data connection. According to Verizon's coverage maps, much of my commute is LTE territory but yet I can not even maintain a 3g connection.
FWIW, the only thing I have done thus far was toggled the radio to CDMA only in attempts to get a data connection, it did seem to help out, but overall it seemed that my connection was slower than when I was using my Droid2. I will try getting speedtests when I can to compare to ones from my Droid 2 as well, not sure what else to do.
If you need LTE, your best bet is to upgrade to 4.0.4 radios and see if that helps. If it doesn't, return the phone to 4.0.2 and exchange it for a new one.
You have a lemon if the data connection drops out completely, which is what it sounds like it is doing.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
I find that enabling 'Use only 2G networks' helps out with most signal issues, depending on where I am. For example, in central London I leave the option unchecked (ie, use all networks), and the speeds are great. Then when i leave London and the faster networks dissipate, the speeds decrease to little or no cover. Then I enable the 2G only option and streaming/reception is back to good. This is in the UK on GSM though...
ed.j said:
I find that enabling 'Use only 2G networks' helps out with most signal issues, depending on where I am. For example, in central London I leave the option unchecked (ie, use all networks), and the speeds are great. Then when i leave London and the faster networks dissipate, the speeds decrease to little or no cover. Then I enable the 2G only option and streaming/reception is back to good. This is in the UK on GSM though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Verizon version doesn't have this feature.
I will try my commute home using only female no Ltd and see if any data connections can be made and will keep reading up on radios to flash this week
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Well I must say there was a noticeable difference with the phone on CDMA only, so I am truly hoping I did not get a lemon! I also read this interesting thread here which calmed my nerves:
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/25921-this-is-why-your-verizon-nexus-signal-sucks/
Often times, it is easy to jump to conclusions based on hunches, and I compared data fron a few speedtests while I was tethering on #g and they were indeed comparible to my previous phone.
I also went ahead and manually flashed the IMM76K Android 4.0.4 update before I got it OTA, I have read a few people's comments about 4.0.4 having better LTE performance, SO I will continue to try it out some more. I guess next stop is trying various radios/kernels, but I am a bit rusty. I havent done anything besides a one stop custom rom, since my HTC Dream days.
I have noticed a great improvement with 4.0.4 update.. actually in most cases, LTE has been more consistent than 3g... the handoff between the two seems to be the problem still, once it transitions from 4g to 3g it often craps out, but nothing an airplane mode toggle doesn't fix.
Does any one by chance know if it is possible to try mixing LTE/CDMA radios?
Hey People,
I bought 2 months ago my Galaxy Nexus on Play Store for this wondeerful price they sell it.
My plan was to bring it here to Brazil and, of course, use it.
But, I used it on T-Mobile network while I was in the USA in Maryland area. The results where very good... Almost always having 3G signal and pretty decent speeds testing on speedtest app.
When I started using it here in Brazil, I had some issues related to HSPA+ speeds.
My carrier (Claro BR) does support HSPA+(some carriers here, don't), and sometimes, I think, the phone just forgets to use HSPA+ and keeps using HSDPA...
I can reach up to 4Mbs on HSDPA and always between 4-8Mbs on HSPA+.
What I normally do is turning on and off airplane mode and the phone starts using H+ again.
I am using I250UILE1 radio and CNA 05192012 nightly w/ 1344-384 Trinity kernel.
I forgot to say that when I turn Wifi off and automatically let my phone connect to DATA connection it fastly connects to HSDPA switches for a little time to UMTS and then switches back to HSDPA and no signal for H+. And I again have to switch radio off and on (airplane mode).
I think I tried almost everything...
Hi All. Long time since I’ve posted but looking at getting a note 2 tomorrow.
Now I live in Australia and on the Optus network but using a cheap provider that at the moment only uses their 3G network.
At the moment I have a sim card setupfor the 3G network.,
At the moment Vaya don’t have access to the Optus 4G network (1800MHz frequency) but it is gonna happen.
Can I buy a LTE version and use my current sim and run on the 3G (H+ even) using my existing sim card and the 4G note 2?
Then when Vaya release their 4G plans I can grab a 4G sim (or is 4G just account and phone dependant??) and away I go?
I believe it shouldn’t be a problem as the phone still operates on the 3G network as if I bought a N7100 if 4G is not enabled. But it will use more power just having that chip sitting in there.
yes, it will work.
it will only work in 4g if a 4g network is supported from your carrier. otherwise it will revert to the fastest network from your carrier that is supported by the device, which in most cases is hsdpa.
Souai said:
yes, it will work.
it will only work in 4g if a 4g network is supported from your carrier. otherwise it will revert to the fastest network from your carrier that is supported by the device, which in most cases is hsdpa.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply.
Now I've been searching everywhere for good analysis on the 3G and 4G battery comparison but there isn't much out there but personal thoughts. Well there is more on the S3 so maybe that is a good guideline.
So the 4G version with LTE turned on can only achieve half the screen on time of the 3G version. Wow that terrible. With LTE off it last about 7-8 hours screen time rather than closer to 10 hours to the 3 version.
Has anyone got some good links that compare the battery life between the two models? I can live with turning 4G off most of the time if it doesn't drain too much but I don't need the speed if it has a big toll on the battery life even with LTE turned off.
http://www.samsungupdate.com/tag/battery-life-3g-vs-4g-galaxy-note-2
Its touched on here but still not sure.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1979246