Develop Bugs

(T-Mobile) Randomly Losing Signal

My gsiii for some odd reason loses 4G and sometimes even service. Last night when i was on a call, it dropped and the signal reflected that i was running on edge then it switched to someting that said "G." I looked at my brother's siii and he was also on edge. So i tried putting it on airplane mode however it would not go through. It's as if i never pressed anything. So i had to restart the phone and it was on airplane mode, so i took it off then about a minute and a half later i got 4G back. Today when i was browsing the web, i randomly lost 4G again but this time i continued to have signal just no data. About a minute later I got it back. About a minute later i lost it again and regained it about a minute later. I havent noticed anything else about the phone and ive had it for about a week and last night was the first time that i restarted it. Any ideas? Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks!

I'm also having the same problem it just happened to me today also and happened the other day when I restarted phone it did nothing then I did airplane mode that didn't do anything so I clicked the enable packet data off then on an item came back in hoping it's not going to be a hardware problem cause I've dropped calls for no reason and had no service or bars were showing but had no edge 4G etc
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

ballenone said:
I'm also having the same problem it just happened to me today also and happened the other day when I restarted phone it did nothing then I did airplane mode that didn't do anything so I clicked the enable packet data off then on an item came back in hoping it's not going to be a hardware problem cause I've dropped calls for no reason and had no service or bars were showing but had no edge 4G etc
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
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Yeah it's really weird, when I was using mt4g, it would do that randomly as well, I'm not sure if it's a phone or a network issue. Anyone else experiencing this random drop in data?

Same here I think it's a common issue with tmobile devices.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium

I think is just the network it had happened to me but while driving some place and Idk if is the coverage but other then that I do see going from h+ and 3g, I have a custom theme install
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

I just moved from Sprint to Tmo and I'm getting the same on my S3. It would look like i have good 4g coverage with 3 bars then all of a sudden it goes to Edge. So I have to wait for it to go back to 4g to start surfing. Edge is like 15kbps for me which is not even modem speed which is 56k. If I accidentally start surfing on Edge it seems to wanna stick to Edge until I close whats using data then it will eventually go to 4g. But when I get 4g its awesome and I get over between 6meg to 12 but only 40% of the time. I called Tmo and they said I have great 4g coverage where I'm at....ya sure.

aznmode said:
I just moved from Sprint to Tmo and I'm getting the same on my S3. It would look like i have good 4g coverage with 3 bars then all of a sudden it goes to Edge. So I have to wait for it to go back to 4g to start surfing. Edge is like 15kbps for me which is not even modem speed which is 56k. If I accidentally start surfing on Edge it seems to wanna stick to Edge until I close whats using data then it will eventually go to 4g. But when I get 4g its awesome and I get over between 6meg to 12 but only 40% of the time. I called Tmo and they said I have great 4g coverage where I'm at....ya sure.
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Click to collapse
Ha ha tell them to give you credit Lmao
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

It's them rebooting equipment due to all the upgrades they're adding.
Sent from my MyTouch 4g

hedjemunkee said:
It's them rebooting equipment due to all the upgrades they're adding.
Sent from my MyTouch 4g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is very good for a lot of reasons!! Can't wait.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

I just checked settings... battery... cell standby... 45 percent without signal.... anyone else check those stats? I got people telling me they called but no record on my phone

cwalker0906 said:
I just checked settings... battery... cell standby... 45 percent without signal.... anyone else check those stats? I got people telling me they called but no record on my phone
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Click to collapse
I've only experienced outright loss of signal once, which was last night. So far nothing else has happened really. It was just odd that my phone won't even go into airplane mode until I rebooted the device.

Same thing happened to me. I was actually quite worried and about to send my phone back. Everything seems to be working okay now. No issues.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

this has driven me mad for the past few days. recently I upgraded to a S3 and my dad got a S 4G (which was released 2 years ago). while we were in Costco, my S3 randomly switched to Edge while the S 4G has 4G all the time. ALso we were on vacation to San Francisco so I could experience "Tmo largest 4G network." While we were in a hotel in Fremont, my S3 again switched to Edge and back to 4G randomly while the S 4G had 4G. also the signal is not stable at all. sometimes(1 or 2 times) it even dropped to zero bar. SOMETHING wrong with samsung phones. I read somewhere someone had this issue with the S2 also. I can live with the HSPA+ for 2 years, but hey dont give me random Edge like that
I plan to go exchange for a new phone at Costco... probably a new S3 to see if the issue still exists...

K12123 said:
My gsiii for some odd reason loses 4G and sometimes even service. Last night when i was on a call, it dropped and the signal reflected that i was running on edge then it switched to someting that said "G." I looked at my brother's siii and he was also on edge. So i tried putting it on airplane mode however it would not go through. It's as if i never pressed anything. So i had to restart the phone and it was on airplane mode, so i took it off then about a minute and a half later i got 4G back. Today when i was browsing the web, i randomly lost 4G again but this time i continued to have signal just no data. About a minute later I got it back. About a minute later i lost it again and regained it about a minute later. I havent noticed anything else about the phone and ive had it for about a week and last night was the first time that i restarted it. Any ideas? Has anyone else experienced this? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile's 4G network works in a interesting way (do all HSPA+ networks work this way?). They idle in UMTS mode (3G) until there is network activity, and then switch to HSPA+ (4G) mode. The network changing is an automatic thing does to save battery life ("Cellular standby" is often the largest battery drains).
Ever use an AOSP-based ROM (i.e. Cyanogenmod)? You'll sometimes see the network indicator in the status bar switch between 3G to H+ to 4G, etc as you use it. Stock T-Mobile ROMs are hard-coded to always say "4G", but if you go to Settings → About phone → Status, you can watch the network type there change as well as the phone does anything over the cellular network.
You should never be dropping to GPRS or EDGE. Perhaps the mechanism described is defective on your phone?

Happened again today. Had signal but no 4G, not even Edge, just bars. i think it happens whenever the signals low. Thoughts?

I'm having the same issue at my work place. I'm getting Edge (50-80%) more often at my desk, when previously with my SGS2 it stayed at 4G all the time. Checking Cellstandby I am getting 31% time without signal.
Is there a setting to force 4g connection?
My office is in Cupertino, CA and reception is not bad in general, but there are a few locations with 4G dead spots.
I'll check my reception again at home (Santa Clara, CA). I can do a side by side comparison with my SGS2 (now belongs to my wife).
On call with TMO right now, they are going to do a reset of the phone in their system, then I will need to do a reboot. Fingers X'd that things will improve.
BTW, what options do I have to get a replacement phone if I bought mine from Walmart? Do I need to send it in or can I do an instore exchange? Just got it on Sunday. Will I incur any fees if I returned the phone?
---
Reset didn't work. Passed on to level 2, there submitting a service request to check reception in the area. Need to follow-up on Friday if the reception is still bad. Since I'm in Cali I do have 30 days to return the phone.

I have similar reception issue but I dont lose signal completely. I will go from 4g(hspa+) to 3g to edge then it will switch back to 4g after 30secs-60secs. Quite annoying since I will be stationary and it will happen and it happens more when Im in a car. Never had this problem when I had the Nexus One.

sfsilicon said:
I'm having the same issue at my work place. I'm getting Edge (50-80%) more often at my desk, when previously with my SGS2 it stayed at 4G all the time. Checking Cellstandby I am getting 31% time without signal.
Is there a setting to force 4g connection?
My office is in Cupertino, CA and reception is not bad in general, but there are a few locations with 4G dead spots.
I'll check my reception again at home (Santa Clara, CA). I can do a side by side comparison with my SGS2 (now belongs to my wife).
On call with TMO right now, they are going to do a reset of the phone in their system, then I will need to do a reboot. Fingers X'd that things will improve.
BTW, what options do I have to get a replacement phone if I bought mine from Walmart? Do I need to send it in or can I do an instore exchange? Just got it on Sunday. Will I incur any fees if I returned the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Question. With your s2 what happens if you're in an area without 4g? Do you get edge?
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

I am having the same issue. I had perfect 4g coverage all over my town, (I live in south texas). The problems started 2 days ago, when I lost all 4g coverage. I took out my sim card and placed it back in and the 4g logo came back on. But now I have been noticing that my cell signal will completely drop and then slowly come back up. This has happened several times. I also went to tmobile and changed my micro sim card and the issue remains. AND NOW I AM ON EDGE!!!!!

Has anyone been able to get a replacement and did it fix the problem?
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

New bell SGSIII drops signal all the time

Just got the phone today and rooted it right away In the last 7 hours its dropped about 7 times. Im not sure if its because of root or what. I have not installed any other rom.

Its not the root... Its the carrier
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

Foot shouldn't affect cellular signal at all, all that rooting does is give superuser
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app

Could it be because im inside and its trying to switch between H+ and LTE all the time? Is there a toggle i can just keep it at H+?

I would find that unlikely but you can try being on HSPA only and see what happens
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equlizer said:
Could it be because im inside and its trying to switch between H+ and LTE all the time? Is there a toggle i can just keep it at H+?
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You can go to settings, more, mobile networks and switch from gsm/lte or just gsm. But I have not dropped data other than H to 3G every once and a while in weird areas but not a whole lot, but talk to bell online chat and see what they say.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

what do you mean it loses signals?
does it get disconnected to the network completely? and you get the emergency calls only message?
because that happens to me as well. I am also thinking its because the phone tries to switch from LTE to H+ over and over.

I think I'm getting the same problem, a fee times a day i get zero signal, then all of a sudden it pops to full signal, without moving the phone. When i lost the signal, it says emergency calls only...
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

I had the same issue downtown Ottawa. I switched to HSPA+ only and the problem went away. Turned out, Bell was working on their LTE stuff and that was going up and down and so did the phone. Now, it is all good.

Try having Bell reset your connection from their system....then get them to give you a different SIM card.

I had the exact same thing happen to me when I was in a zone not completly covered by LTE, whenever my phone lost LTE connection I would lose all signal for a bit to eventually drop back to HSPA+, I simply disabled LTE until the coverage reaches where I am completly.

Yep, disabled LTE for now. Problem has gone away and battery life fixed

me and my brother have had the issue in dowtown ottawa on rogers. seems fine in my apt in the market but on a patio and at a restaurant it just wouldnt work!! couldnt send texts, or receive, couldnt call, sometimes it showed i had full bars and lte but couldnt do anything. my brother complained about this the day before. i will try disabling lte next time

equlizer said:
Yep, disabled LTE for now. Problem has gone away and battery life fixed
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Leave a like if I helped!
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[Q] Horrible signal. My problem or Sprints?

So today I have had issues with connecting to Sprint's network. In a city near mine, they are upgrading to 4G. My phone has been going from full signal to zero signal within seconds. It is killing my battery life. I am running CM10.1 with the current nightly. I restored a previous version of CM to see if it was an issue with the ROM and I was getting the same results. Do I need to flash the radios or leave it be? Could it be because of Network Vision? Is there a way to back up my current radios in case something goes haywire?

thekman24 said:
So today I have had issues with connecting to Sprint's network. In a city near mine, they are upgrading to 4G. My phone has been going from full signal to zero signal within seconds. It is killing my battery life. I am running CM10.1 with the current nightly. I restored a previous version of CM to see if it was an issue with the ROM and I was getting the same results. Do I need to flash the radios or leave it be? Could it be because of Network Vision? Is there a way to back up my current radios in case something goes haywire?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its most likely a carrier issue....make sure you have the most current radios installed which are FD02 if i remember correctly....other than that its a very rare occurance that software would affect your signal...probably due to the work that they are doing in the area....turn off LTE and see if the 3G signal does the same thing...good luck let us know what happens

Its sprints terrible network.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I've turned off 4g, reconnected with airplane mode, restarted my phone, fixed permissions. 3G is the same. I hardly have any service. The thing is, the past couple weeks the service here has been awesome. Then yesterday, this.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

thekman24 said:
I've turned off 4g, reconnected with airplane mode, restarted my phone, fixed permissions. 3G is the same. I hardly have any service. The thing is, the past couple weeks the service here has been awesome. Then yesterday, this.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
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Like i said its most likely the work that they are doing .... Give it a couple days because the same thing happened to me when Verizon was putting up their towers near me when i had my thunderbolt....give sprint a call see whats going on
...check their website see what it says for your area....for what its worth I'm 99% sure its their doing

JamesPumaEnjoi said:
Like i said its most likely the work that they are doing .... Give it a couple days because the same thing happened to me when Verizon was putting up their towers near me when i had my thunderbolt....give sprint a call see whats going on
...check their website see what it says for your area....for what its worth I'm 99% sure its their doing
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Click to collapse
Well, I have confirmed it to be on Sprint's end. All it took was a quick drive around town to pick up a different tower. My buddy has a signal booster in his apartment and I was picking up full bars there. Here's hoping LTE is close!

Anyone notice their service getting worse?

At first I thought it might have been my rom, but it seems it's happening with my GF's note 2 also.
Coverage we used to receive in some areas is almost completely gone. It will show signal and the 4g symbol but basically have NO internet service whatsoever.
On a better note, we've been receiving coverage in some areas we don't usually have it.
I'm hoping this is just a temporary thing due to the attempts to upgrade towers for LTE.
I don't know if it's because of the UVBMB4 update, but t-mobile service has been pretty crappy lately. Period.
We're in the San Gabriel Valley area.
Link for older UVALL4 modem below, people seem to experience better service
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...php?p=36786363

I believe my service has suffered as well. Before the last update that enabled our Lte radios, I had great speeds, now it's slowed Way down. I'm in San Diego CA. Hope that it's just as the Op said, LTE towers being updated and what not.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

Definitely have noticed a deterioration of service over the past month here in NYC.

Its because for some reason that new LTE APN is slow on HSPA+.. unless you have LTE in your area switch to the EPC APN. You can find the settings online. Its litter ally consistently a difference of 6+ mbps I have extensively speed tested lol..... click thanks if this helped
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

I also had problems even with old apn.
Flashed previous radio and service is top notch again.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

Same here, I thought it was rom related.

YES! My service has sucked royally for the past month or so. Data latency/hangups/slowness, and the signal will just completely go away sometimes. I noticed that it started as soon as I flashed the most recent radio too, I'm about to go back to the old one.

Count me in, even my regular phone reception went from 4 bars no 1 or 0!

Can anyone point to towards old radio to flash? I go from no signal downstairs to full bars upstairs...theres an obv issue with new radio.

Yup I've noticed this beginning this week I've made zero changes to the phone. I used to get full bars at work and this week it bounces between full and 1 bar regularly. Theure messing with towers for sure
North Carolina by the way. Charlotte. Big City of 1 million people.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

nxneko said:
Can anyone point to towards old radio to flash? I go from no signal downstairs to full bars upstairs...theres an obv issue with new radio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=36786363

nxneko said:
Can anyone point to towards old radio to flash? I go from no signal downstairs to full bars upstairs...theres an obv issue with new radio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also experiencing significant decrease on data speed. Has your data speed improve after flashing with older radio and APN setting?
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

zen0s said:
I'm also experiencing significant decrease on data speed. Has your data speed improve after flashing with older radio and APN setting?
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
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I was getting about 9/0.6 and with flashing back Im getting... 14/2 Though Ive been on HSDPA 15 & 21. Though Im not getting 4G as much, but it was sporadic anyways and I lost signal...and now I am not. So, Im happy now even though I am on 3G. However... in my corner big red has same problems as they wanted to not have tons of towers in this corner and theres only a ATT Tower....for a decent distance. basically reception fringe. though I am a new subscriber so i haven't experienced normal TMO, I literally got my device yesterday around 6pmish but it def wasn't normal and flashing previous radio did fix it like it solved everyone elses issue

janjannsen99 said:
Yup I've noticed this beginning this week I've made zero changes to the phone. I used to get full bars at work and this week it bounces between full and 1 bar regularly. Theure messing with towers for sure
North Carolina by the way. Charlotte. Big City of 1 million people.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my problems started last friday. i have limited to no service at all; no data, no voice, even no signal at times (circle with line through it, not just no bars). when i do get a signal, the phone refuses to register on the network. when im at home, i have intermittent service. i miss calls, texts wont send, if i do get a working call, it drops after a bit. there are times when it works fine, even on LTE but it never last long. went to the tmo store last night and they gave me a new sim which didnt do squat. already done the factory reset option (twice). phone has never been rooted, all stock. im in the KC metro so not like in the middle of nowhere. they said my next step is a warranty replacement phone if the sim didnt help. not sure if my problem is at all related to everyone elses in this thread, but yeah, service has sucked.

One of the issues, especially if you switch from 4g to edge to gprs a lot, is a setting in the new modem.
It's something called acquisition order. It has 3 settings:automatic, gsm_umts, umts_gsm. In short it tells the phone what kind of network to prefer. It will search for and use that type of network first.
Prior to the latest update it was set to auto. Now it is set to prefer umts. For some reason this has caused an issue I've come to call phantom 4g. Where it'll say 4g with no bars and no data service.
That is my guess. I'll look into it further.
Sent from my SGH-T889

Thanks guys for the heads up on switching to an older radio, I dont have LTE in Miami yet and was having slow internet for the last 3 weeks, I just switched and wow! What a difference. I'm also using the Epic APN.

I also noticed that speeds were degraded after the update. However, there is a simply fix to make your web a tad bit faster....
Go into your network settings, and switch your mobile network from LTE/4g/3g/2g to just 4G/3g/2g
your device will stop looking for an LTE connection and will just utilize HSPA+
Made a world of a difference on my own device. Connecting to the play store, opening web pages, everything was right back to where it was before the update.
Obviously if you live in an LTE area, there is no need to do this...

newageoutlaw said:
I believe my service has suffered as well. Before the last update that enabled our Lte radios, I had great speeds, now it's slowed Way down. I'm in San Diego CA. Hope that it's just as the Op said, LTE towers being updated and what not.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know about you but I live in san diego too my data speed stay above 10meg and max is 15meg.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

So I'm gonna be a noob here for a sec. When people say they are flashing the previous radio (I'm referencing the link that was posted) are people just flashing the modem from the section under the most recent? (the one with the January date on it). Just thought I would ask. Better safe than sorry. Thanks!
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

superkamiguru31 said:
So I'm gonna be a noob here for a sec. When people say they are flashing the previous radio (I'm referencing the link that was posted) are people just flashing the modem from the section under the most recent? (the one with the January date on it). Just thought I would ask. Better safe than sorry. Thanks!
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, radio is synonymous with modem in this case. UVALL4 is the previous version.
Hastily spouted for your befuddlement

Phone wont connect to 3g when set to CDMA\LTE\EVDO mode

I have an interesting issue. My wife and I both have Note II's. I have a grey one, she has a white one. Both are on the latest Stock Rom and rooted, same kernel and modem revisions. Both phones on the dreaded 2000 PRL (Havent got around to flashing another one because we have an Airave 2.5)
My phone will not connect to 3g at all when I have LTE enabled. The other phone connects to 3G just fine with LTE enabled.
I have another friend that only sporadically connects to 3g with LTE enabled. If I set the phones that wont stay connected to 3G to CDMA mode everything is fine.
Any ideas?

Try automatic?
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

Does this happen around the airave? Airaves are known to cause a host of isues with rooted phones even with no custom roms
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app

The only way to get 3g when lte is enabled is when you lose lte sinal is you just want to use 3g set it to cdam mode only if you set it to lte
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app

Cdma only or global
I was reading some other sites and threads after I encountered a problem almost just like this because I had switched my signal type while on AOSP.
I discovered that because our phone are global they have different connection setting and in short when you switch to either global mode or CDMA only, and try to go back to lte evdo the phone will roam constantly and will not be able to reconnect to lte. So while I was trying to fix my LTE I managed to force my LTE on but I wasnt getting any cdma or evdo. finally I got everything back to normal by flashing a back to stock rom and doing a hands free activation.

I'm also have an overwhelming time with 3g. I have no lte in my area but have tried both CDMA only and CDMA/let settings. My 3g is on and off within 1 minute intervals or hours at a time. I pretty much have no data connection 95% of the day, until I get home from work and can hit WiFi.
I'm just stock rooted on MC2 and also on prl 2000.
I've been on the phone with sprint for days trying to figure this out or get them to waive my ETF. I refuse to keep paying for service when I am not getting any. It's bad enough they don't have 4G much less LTE here, but I can't continue to do these sub par dialup speeds to no speeds.
Any other tips to try would be greatly appreciated. As sprint says everything is fine in my area...
Go figure.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

Yeah, same problem here. Somehow after rooting the phone i completely lost 4G LTE connectivity. Now everywhere i go it's only on 3G or EvDo Rev-8 which sucks. I think the only way of fixing toys issue is to Unroot and go back to stock ROM.
After doing a lot of research on the matter that is the only solution right now to our 4G LTE catastrophe. :thumbdown:
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