Back in the day, I used to be able to see a list on my AT&T Motorola Razr of all the cell provider signals in my area. For instance, if I were in Pittsburgh, I could see the list of available networks compatible with my phone (the phone would apparently create the list from actually getting signal from those cell towers) and if I felt like it, I could switch to a different provider that had a stronger signal.
Now that my gs3 is unlocked I'm hoping I can find a way to see that same information. For example, the AT&T signal in an area might be terrible, but there could be another provider that will give me "roaming" coverage with a better signal. I would then switch to that roaming coverage voluntarily on the fly.
Anyone know of a way to do this? Under settings / more settings / wireless and networks / mobile networks I find "network operators". Currently only "default setup" is listed there. But this is where I'd expect to see other network signals that my phone is getting.
Related
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...?
Dont get me wrong, Verizon Coverage is unbeatable, but I plan to live in Tijuana Mexico so that I can save some money on rent. The problem is that my phone (and every other phone I had) tries so hard to find verizon signal with no success as obviously there is no vzw towers in Mexico (only partner towers). On the phone menu there is only home only, automatic A, and automatic B. I need a hack so that I can have a "roaming networks only" so that I can freely use my phone without it switching automatically to a 1x one bar or zero bars. How can I do this?? Thank you so much in advance
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.
Hi,
Does anyone know of a way to change the preferred carrier network when roaming? I suppose I need to change the PLMN on my sim-card?
I found a way with the pc-software below (but did not test it yet):
https://www.dekart.com/products/card_management/sim_manager/
But I would rather have a way to do it on my phone, since it seems that I can only block networks in this program; and not simply change the preferred network.
Reason is that I live near the German border and travel a lot in Germany. My own provider (KPN Netherlands) dictates a their own network there (E-Plus), but it has very poor coverage where I use to travel; especially in 4G. So I would rather have Telekom - T-Mobile as my preferred roaming carrier network.
Is there an app with which such can be done? I remember that at my older phones changing the preferred roaming network was a standard option.
Or does anyone have experience with Dekart SIM-manager or another program which works?
Thanks in advance!
HI there,
I brought my Robin to Toronto in July, but couldn't get data service however I tried. I did some brief googling on this, and found no answer. The 2G voice and SMS worked fine.
I have never had data problem in Canada in the past. I am on T-Mobile and previously LG V20, IPhone SE, Moto G4 Play, Galaxy S3, S4, S7 all worked fine in Toronto.
(trust me I tried all mobile setting options being an amateur android user for many years)
Any suggestions (other than APN setting etc that is user available in mobile data setting)?
Thanks!
Robin supports
GSM 850/900/1800/1900
HSPA 850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100
LTE Bands 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/19/20/28
Check which band your device is connecting to when you use your T-Mobile SIM.
There are many diagnostic codes but most are disabled for users to invoke.
But this one usually works,
Use *#*#4636#*#* > phone information > network type that is the band you are connected to.
If you aren't able to get info of the band you are connected to try apps like LTE Discovery or NetMonitor Cell Signal Logging.
LTE Band numbers are associated to certain frequency. Check [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_frequency_bands)
If the band you are connected to is indeed 3G/4G supported go to your carrier and ask them to get this working. Carriers usually have a whitelist of 4G devices which is how they determine which SIM is connected to which device and which network to provide.