Develop Bugs

GSM Nexus speed on AT&T (Austin, TX)

I don't know if this is a question or more of a poll...
I think I'm getting horrible 3G speeds here in Austin, TX. It also seems like I'm being capped. When I have full bars, speedtest always shows around a 3Mbps down and 1 Mbps up transfer speeds. I've tested this in many places around North Austin / Round Rock.
What speeds are others getting?
Could my sim card or data plan need tweaking from AT&T? I ask this because I was previously on a Galaxy Note with LTE and they had to switch me to a LTE plan at the time. Outside where I work, the LTE signal strength is very strong and I've gotten amazing speeds with the Note. But with the Nexus, I get the 3/1 speeds.
Any ideas?

What are your APN settings, also are you on the smartphone or medianet plan?

allyourbase said:
What are your APN settings, also are you on the smartphone or medianet plan?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for helping me.
I'm on a smartphone plan. Which APN settings are you wanting? There are a lot!

I live in Bastrop, like 30 miles east of Austin, and am getting about 2.5-3 down and .4-1.2 up. I was pretty disappointed because I thought I had remembered pulling more on my Captivate(smart phone plan though), too bad it broke. I'm using the MediaNet plan on ATT with AndroidHD Revolution(4.1.1) and Franco r223.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

If you're on the smartphone plan, I'm assuming you're using the "phone" apn? Also, you're aware that you can get unlimited hspa with the non smartphone plan formerly known as media net.
Who knows this could be purely speculation but let's say AT&T already has your imei number you could be automatically bumped to the same smartphone data plan if you attempt to use the dumb phone plan.
I am unsure how quick AT&T is figuring this stuff out. I had an AT&T GS2 and switched to a dumb flip phone then bought a GNex, took the sim card out of the dumb one and transplanted into the GNex and boom, unlimited data and texting for $30 a month.

I'm already on an unlimited smartphone plan. I chatted with AT&T support and there are currently no restrictions on my data plan. He also switch IMEI from the Note to the Nexus and moved me from a LTE plan to 3G plan. Data speeds remain the same.
I wonder if anyone with a GSM Nexus in Austin is able to get > 3Mbps...

Try the phone apn?

allyourbase said:
Try the phone apn?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry. I guess I don't know what you mean?

those speeds are normal for a 3G smartphone. Even with HSPA+. Remember, the Unlocked Nexus isn't LTE.

dwd3885 said:
those speeds are normal for a 3G smartphone. Even with HSPA+. Remember, the Unlocked Nexus isn't LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did a test a few days ago and got this...
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

dschreiber69 said:
I just did a test a few days ago and got this...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are on a SGS2 with HSPA+? Which city are you in?

Try testing with actual downloads instead of speed test sites. My speed test (I'm in northern Colorado) always tells me about 3Mb/s down 1Mb/s up too, but on actual downloads and manual tests, I hit 8-10 Mb/s even in kind of rural areas.

I'm in Indiana and get around 3-4mbit down and 1-1.5mbit up. The fastest ive seen once is 7mbit down.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

I remember with the captivate, the speeds would vary widely depending on which part of town I was in. But with the Nexus, it just seems very artificial to hit right around 3 down / 1 up every time. Almost like AT&T is capping it similar to what they did to the captivate. The modem AT&T put on the captivate was throttled for whatever reason but flashing an international modem removed it.

flintdragon said:
I remember with the captivate, the speeds would vary widely depending on which part of town I was in. But with the Nexus, it just seems very artificial to hit right around 3 down / 1 up every time. Almost like AT&T is capping it similar to what they did to the captivate. The modem AT&T put on the captivate was throttled for whatever reason but flashing an international modem removed it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ATT uses QoS to determine which devices on their network receive priority as well. Iphones receive the most for cell phones of course.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

In san diego the best and average i get is 3.5 mbps down. I am on the unlimited medianet plan
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

flintdragon said:
You are on a SGS2 with HSPA+? Which city are you in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. I had to send my Gnex in for service. Only got to use it for 17 days
Harbor Springs Michigan

Sorry to bring back an old thread, but I am wondering on this myself. I bought my gnex from google play, got it and noticed that the data rates are pretty steady at around 2.5 - 3.5 max down, and .9 - 1.2 up. The gnex has a 21Mbit HSPA+ radio in it, so in theory it should accept whatever AT&T can push to it. However, I came from an Atrix 2, and can vouch for the fact that the Atrix 2 when using the PTA APN on HSPA+ (no LTE for about 200 miles where I'm at) will download consistently between 7 - 9 Mbit... Same server on speediest.net, same APN, same place, the signal is within 1dBm of each other.
Because I have found no base band that can change this, nor any APN setting I am starting to believe that if AT&T gets an IMEI of a phone that it doesnt recognize, they will throttle it.
Any one else have any insight? 3.5Mbit is plenty, but I'd like to get the same speeds as what I consider a lesser device.
If I could find a way to change the IMEI I'd test this theory.

^^^ Suprisingly, Its not att at all. Ask anyone on these forums, samsung has notoriously bad radios. Signal and cell strength just are not that great. And you can you can especially feel the difference coming from a motorola device. They have the strongest radios of all the major oems by far. No one even comes close.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

thekurrgan said:
Sorry to bring back an old thread, but I am wondering on this myself. I bought my gnex from google play, got it and noticed that the data rates are pretty steady at around 2.5 - 3.5 max down, and .9 - 1.2 up. The gnex has a 21Mbit HSPA+ radio in it, so in theory it should accept whatever AT&T can push to it. However, I came from an Atrix 2, and can vouch for the fact that the Atrix 2 when using the PTA APN on HSPA+ (no LTE for about 200 miles where I'm at) will download consistently between 7 - 9 Mbit... Same server on speediest.net, same APN, same place, the signal is within 1dBm of each other.
Because I have found no base band that can change this, nor any APN setting I am starting to believe that if AT&T gets an IMEI of a phone that it doesnt recognize, they will throttle it.
Any one else have any insight? 3.5Mbit is plenty, but I'd like to get the same speeds as what I consider a lesser device.
If I could find a way to change the IMEI I'd test this theory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this update. just saw it. It's frustrating knowing our phones could do so much better.

No 4G on CM9 or CM10

So i have played around with flashing different ROMs to my Nitro and quite like where CM10 is going. The only real issue that i have found is that while on CM10, my phone doesn't seem to be using 4G(which I understand is HSPA+). On the ICS Stock ROM, I can go to Settings > About Phone > Status(or something like that) and it says "HSPA+" and never changes. Wondering if it is just CM10, I flashed CM9 and had the same issue.
Today, I found that if i am connected to WiFi, I can disable it and my phone will show "HSPA+" for about 4 seconds, then go to "UMTS" for a second, and then to "HSPA". It never returns to "HSPA+".
This seems like a pretty big issue but every time I post a question about it in the various threads about CM, it gets skipped over and nobody talks about it. So, I thought it was time to make a thread for it.

Mine seems to work well on cm9 and cm10 not sure why your having an issue
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Sent from my LG-P930 using xda premium

I've been running cm10 nightlies and am getting 36mb/s 4g speed....wondering what's knocked yours out. Had you disabled lte with the power widgets in a previous rom maybe?
Sent from my LG-P930 using xda app-developers app

Try to reflash your baseband and firmware. That should do the trick.
Good Luck:laugh:

iyaoyasb said:
Try to reflash your baseband and firmware. That should do the trick.
Good Luck:laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried several and all have the same effects.

What version did try to flash again?
Sent from my LG-P930 using xda premium
---------- Post added at 11:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:48 PM ----------
Nevermind, just saw on a different post that you're trying to flash 20c correct? Even though it may be compatible, I would try to stick with what is stable with CM10. One of the band versions is of course the 10j baseband dated 26 Feb 2012. With all the security measures from lg, at&t, and Google combined, it is possible that they may have some sort of block installed that slows you, unless you run their genuine 4.1 stock jb software. It would not suprise me at all.
"If you can't fix it, use a bigger Hammer."
IYAOYAS to my fellow AO's.
--- Send from P-930 (CM10) Turbonized ---

I just flashed the 20c manually (I.e. firmware+baseband) via if= + of= command and got this result of it:
"If you can't fix it, use a bigger Hammer."
IYAOYAS to my fellow AO's.
--- Send from P-930 (CM10) Turbonized ---

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1851746

I don't know if it works, but to flash the official KDZ file may be a way...

Sooo....all of a sudden my lte doesn't work in cm10....didn't flash or change anything, it's just gone...wtf?!?!
Sent from my LG-P930 using xda app-developers app

All of u could check your apn settings, and maybe they may have changed
Sent from my LG-P930 using xda premium

china no 4g.....i see somewhere h+...
Sent from my LG-P930 using xda premium

I found out that it is actually a feature inherent in the radio that it only uses 4G when it needs it in order to save on battery.

I'm having a similar problem: every time the phone reboots (and it unfortunately does this frequently since going to CM9), the phone won't see LTE. I have to go into the Field Test mode (*#*#4636#*#*), where it is always reverted to WCDMA preferred and switch to LTE/GSM auto.
Any ideas?

shoehopper said:
I'm having a similar problem: every time the phone reboots (and it unfortunately does this frequently since going to CM9), the phone won't see LTE. I have to go into the Field Test mode (*#*#4636#*#*), where it is always reverted to WCDMA preferred and switch to LTE/GSM auto.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had this. I fooled around getting Field Test to show LTE/GSM auto, then going into the usual menu, putting it to LTE/GSM auto, going back to Field Test and checking it was Ok, then going back to the menu, switching to GSM auto, then going back to Field Test, etc., then going back to menu, switching to LTE/GSM, then checking Field Test, then rebooting (or something like that
BTW, there's an app in the market called "Hidden Menu" that will save you typing the key sequence each time. (There are actually multiple apps with the same name - the one I use has green #'s in the icon.)
Good luck!

Nothing Above EDGE
Hello,
I'm a new member, but I have been an XDADev reader and android/iPhone/PC/Mac/Things that go buzz, whirr, click, zoom and or boom/ for my whole life.
I have a Nitro HD, (AT&T P930).
I followed Mattman's (Thanks! WELL done.) improved guide on unbricking/rooting etc. I have been rooted and updating every week or so to the latest CM10 nightly (VERY buggy at first! But half the "fun" for a nerd like me).
The dam shame of it is that I cannot get ANYTHING above EDGE (2G) to work. I have been stuck at 100kbps or so for weeks now. My only saving grace is that I have wifi at work and at home. But anytime other than that I am basically without any significant data.
When I initially saw this thread, I thought YES! Finally somebody has reported this and we are going to get to the bottom of it. But now after reading through it, (Especially Mattman saying its inherent to the radio) then perhaps MY problem is an isolated one and I did something wrong? I was wondering if anyone would like to help me address it? Because my problem is that while on CM10 it truly does NOT connect to 3G or 4G, ever. (went back to stock ICS and got minimum 3G all day, with spurts of 4G wherever my phone found it).
I am pretty good at this crap, so I wont need much hand holding. Just point and shoot me in the right direction
What I'm thinking right now is that perhaps my baseband is not correct, or maybe I should re-flash it?
Current basic info:
Network: T-Mobile
Mobile network type EDGE:2 (Poop)
Service state: In service
Mobile network state: Disconnected (wtf? I can get texts/calls/slow as shyt data)
Android Version: 4.1.1
Baseband Version: P930-MDM9200B-V10f-OCT-31-2011-XX (should it be this?)
Kernel version:
3.0.8-cynaogenmod+
[email protected] #1
Fri Oct 5 01:48:44 PDT 2012
CyangoenMod Version: 10-20121005-Nightly-p930
Thanks alot to anyone who can assist. (I'm close to giving up and going back to stock ICS "permanently", 3G and 4G work with that BTW).
-Patton

It's because you're on T-Mobile. AT&T phones won't work with T-Mobile's 3G/4G data.
I should clarify that you can roam onto AT&T's 3G network (because of the deal between AT&T and T-Mobile when their attempted merger failed), but that will only allow you to use a small amount of data (i.e., a small fraction of your full data plan allotment). Details here: http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-3299
I'm not sure if you need to do something special to get data roaming to work for you, but it's only going to give you 200MB of data use per month at the most, so it's probably not the solution you're looking for.

drumist said:
It's because you're on T-Mobile. AT&T phones won't work with T-Mobile's 3G/4G data.
I should clarify that you can roam onto AT&T's 3G network (because of the deal between AT&T and T-Mobile when their attempted merger failed), but that will only allow you to use a small amount of data (i.e., a small fraction of your full data plan allotment). Details here:
I'm not sure if you need to do something special to get data roaming to work for you, but it's only going to give you 200MB of data use per month at the most, so it's probably not the solution you're looking for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks very much for the info Drumist, Tmobile says the opposite, but I will call them and try to talk to someone in their higher level tech support (surprisingly good, some of them are!) and see if they have a different story to tell.
Further Clarification: The phone is unlocked and I am a T-Mobile subscriber with a 2gig per month 4G plan and a Tmobile sim card is in the phone.
The phone runs fine all the way up to the 2gig limit at 4G speeds on the stock ICS rom. (And I have had other unlocked ATT 4G phones run at 4G on tmobile's network. This is the experience that leads me to believe the problem is with the current rom).
I'm really getting the feeling I should just go back to it (rooted v20c ICS). The amount of variables here are a bit more than my time resources permit to ferret out.

NBPatton said:
Thanks very much for the info Drumist, Tmobile says the opposite, but I will call them and try to talk to someone in their higher level tech support (surprisingly good, some of them are!) and see if they have a different story to tell.
Further Clarification: The phone is unlocked and I am a T-Mobile subscriber with a 2gig per month 4G plan and a Tmobile sim card is in the phone.
The phone runs fine all the way up to the 2gig limit at 4G speeds on the stock ICS rom. (And I have had other unlocked ATT 4G phones run at 4G on tmobile's network. This is the experience that leads me to believe the problem is with the current rom).
I'm really getting the feeling I should just go back to it (rooted v20c ICS). The amount of variables here are a bit more than my time resources permit to ferret out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it's possible that it works. The Nitro HD supposedly supports the 2100MHz 3G band (which I didn't realize until just now looking), although AT&T doesn't use that particular frequency. T-Mobile uses both 1700MHz (AWS) and 2100MHz for their 3G/"4G" services. As I understand it, most of their network uses 1700MHz, with a smaller portion using 2100MHz. You may be lucky and happen to reside in an area with 2100MHz service, or I'm just wrong about that and 2100MHz is common. In any case, if you say you get service on stock ROM, then you get service.
So, based on that, I'd say the most likely cause of your problem is that you don't have the proper APN settings for T-Mobile on your device. You can find those settings here: http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-1979

drumist said:
Well, it's possible that it works. The Nitro HD supposedly supports the 2100MHz 3G band (which I didn't realize until just now looking), although AT&T doesn't use that particular frequency. T-Mobile uses both 1700MHz (AWS) and 2100MHz for their 3G/"4G" services. As I understand it, most of their network uses 1700MHz, with a smaller portion using 2100MHz. You may be lucky and happen to reside in an area with 2100MHz service, or I'm just wrong about that and 2100MHz is common. In any case, if you say you get service on stock ROM, then you get service.
So, based on that, I'd say the most likely cause of your problem is that you don't have the proper APN settings for T-Mobile on your device. You can find those settings here:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Following rani9990's advice earlier in this post, I did go through the APN settings based exactly off of that specific page. And even tried the mytouch4G APN settings, both worked, but both still only resulted in an EDGE connection. And I tried it again, in exasperation, to no avail.
Thanks again drumist, your time and advice is truly appreciated and valued.

[Q] GT-N7100 incorrectly shows roaming on T-Mobile USA

Hi,
I just received an unlocked International Galaxy Note II in the US. Ordered from Handtec in the UK, and the phone appears to be the French model. I have observed what I think is a problem when trying to use the phone on T-Mobile USA.
I put my T-Mobile USA SIM card in the phone, and the phone thinks I am roaming. Uhhhh no. It's a T-Mobile USA SIM card on the T-Mobile USA network. It is NOT roaming. Now, it probably doesn't have any impact beyond the "R" notifier, and a "Roaming" page which shows up on TouchWiz, but it DOES make me feel very uneasy. I have to enable "Data use while roaming" to be able to use data while on my home network!! It's crazy!
To those who will point out, yes, I know that T-Mobile USA has their 3G currently on the AWS 1700/2100 band, which the Note II does not support. I am therefore using EDGE with this phone. (Yes the data speeds suck, but T-Mobile's refarming will make this problem go away in the next few months). Even though I am on EDGE, I am not "roaming" unless the Note II's definition of roaming is different from mine. I am still on the home network, regardless of whether I am on 2G or 3G.
Has anyone else seen a problem like this?
If I can't figure this out in the next day or two, I may return the Note II and just wait another month or so for the T-Mobile US version. (Probably that's what I should do anyway, but I figured the GT-N7100 would get more developer support).
Hope someone can help!
Thanks!
Edit: I forgot to add - I also have and unlocked international Note 1 GT-N7000 and an unlocked iPhone 4. Neither possess the T-Mobile USA 3G band, and neither of which show roaming when I'm using T-Mobile USA. So, either T-Mobile did some funky network work today which changed something, or there is something different (and possibly a bug) about how the Galaxy Note II determines if it's roaming.

Unfortunately I cannot be of any assistance to your issue, just wanted to comment however. I find it very odd that ALL Note II's don't work on every frequency. Bear with me, I'm under the impression that they are identical hardware wise, every version. So, maybe it's a simple matter of flashing a different radio.img? Not that there are any available currently, but there will be shortly. I hope (think) it will be similar to the ATT Note on Tmo. Hopefully it works out better though. We still don't know if the Tmo Note II will be HSPA+42 or not, but it will support next years Tmo LTE.
So, as of now, this is a little bit of a disappointment for Tmo customers looking for the N7100. Hope you can find a workaround for at least HSPA+21 soon :good:

ccampbell1 said:
Hi,
I just received an unlocked International Galaxy Note II in the US. Ordered from Handtec in the UK, and the phone appears to be the French model. I have observed what I think is a problem when trying to use the phone on T-Mobile USA.
I put my T-Mobile USA SIM card in the phone, and the phone thinks I am roaming. Uhhhh no. It's a T-Mobile USA SIM card on the T-Mobile USA network. It is NOT roaming. Now, it probably doesn't have any impact beyond the "R" notifier, and a "Roaming" page which shows up on TouchWiz, but it DOES make me feel very uneasy. I have to enable "Data use while roaming" to be able to use data while on my home network!! It's crazy!
To those who will point out, yes, I know that T-Mobile USA has their 3G currently on the AWS 1700/2100 band, which the Note II does not support. I am therefore using EDGE with this phone. (Yes the data speeds suck, but T-Mobile's refarming will make this problem go away in the next few months). Even though I am on EDGE, I am not "roaming" unless the Note II's definition of roaming is different from mine. I am still on the home network, regardless of whether I am on 2G or 3G.
Has anyone else seen a problem like this?
If I can't figure this out in the next day or two, I may return the Note II and just wait another month or so for the T-Mobile US version. (Probably that's what I should do anyway, but I figured the GT-N7100 would get more developer support).
Hope someone can help!
Thanks!
Edit: I forgot to add - I also have and unlocked international Note 1 GT-N7000 and an unlocked iPhone 4. Neither possess the T-Mobile USA 3G band, and neither of which show roaming when I'm using T-Mobile USA. So, either T-Mobile did some funky network work today which changed something, or there is something different (and possibly a bug) about how the Galaxy Note II determines if it's roaming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That happened to me as well using my International Galaxy S3, I dug into it for about a month and trust me, it's something with the phone detecting that it can't connect to the HSPA+ bands it supports, and when it "defaults" down to EDGE it considers it "Roaming". Stop digging for answers, I was at it for weeks, this is the reason.
You wont get charged for roaming or anything though, so use EDGE until T-Mobile's refarming finally happens; I waited for 2 months and nothing, so I jumped ship and got Straight Talk. I use over 15 GB of data a month, no throttling, $45 bucks. :good:
Hope this helps, because NO ONE gave me a straight answer, Dont even bother calling T-Mobile, they're of absolutely no help. I flashed all sorts of custom ROMs, Kernels, Network Tools, Diagnostics, etc. trying to figure it out. It's just the way these Samsung phones (GT-I9300 and N7100 by the looks of it) work when their 3G/HSPA+ bands are not supported.
Cheers!

farfromovin said:
Unfortunately I cannot be of any assistance to your issue, just wanted to comment however. I find it very odd that ALL Note II's don't work on every frequency. Bear with me, I'm under the impression that they are identical hardware wise, every version. So, maybe it's a simple matter of flashing a different radio.img? Not that there are any available currently, but there will be shortly. I hope (think) it will be similar to the ATT Note on Tmo. Hopefully it works out better though. We still don't know if the Tmo Note II will be HSPA+42 or not, but it will support next years Tmo LTE.
So, as of now, this is a little bit of a disappointment for Tmo customers looking for the N7100. Hope you can find a workaround for at least HSPA+21 soon :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
farfromovin,
I agree it's a complete pain why one model can't work worldwide - or even between carriers in one country, the US!! I'm not sure that all the revisions are the exact same hardware though. Certainly the different revisions will support different LTE bands from one another, different 3G bands (ie T-Mobile USA) and even different technologies (VZW, Sprint, US Cellular CDMA). Whether there is one uber radio chip that's the same in all versions, with different bits enabled here and there, I don't know. I would doubt that a chip currently exists to support all GSM, UMTS, LTE and CDMA bands in the one, but you never know.
I really cannot wait (getting super sick of it) until T-Mobile's 1900MHz refarming, and finally all UMTS/HSPA phones will work on pretty much any UMTS/HSPA network worldwide. But just as we finally get 3G harmony, LTE comes along with a zillion different bands, and we're back to where we were at the start of GSM, and the start of UMTS - all over again.
As far as getting the GT-N7100 to work on T-Mobile AWS bands - unless the radio supports that band somewhere, and can be enabled by some hacky flashing, I don't think there's much chance. I followed a thread for a while which was trying to do that for the original GT-N7000 and it ended up nowhere unfortunately.
I'd be very, very surprised if the T-Mobile US official Note II did not support DC-HSPA +42. Given how TMO pushes that, I don't think they'd sell a phone without it these days. I'm kind of surprised the GT-N7100 doesn't have it, to be honest, but I guess it's not yet that widespread, and most carriers will bypass it to go to LTE.
Cheers!

Ars-Hexis said:
That happened to me as well using my International Galaxy S3, I dug into it for about a month and trust me, it's something with the phone detecting that it can't connect to the HSPA+ bands it supports, and when it "defaults" down to EDGE it considers it "Roaming". Stop digging for answers, I was at it for weeks, this is the reason.
You wont get charged for roaming or anything though, so use EDGE until T-Mobile's refarming finally happens; I waited for 2 months and nothing, so I jumped ship and got Straight Talk. I use over 15 GB of data a month, no throttling, $45 bucks. :good:
Hope this helps, because NO ONE gave me a straight answer, Dont even bother calling T-Mobile, they're of absolutely no help. I flashed all sorts of custom ROMs, Kernels, Network Tools, Diagnostics, etc. trying to figure it out. It's just the way these Samsung phones (GT-I9300 and N7100 by the looks of it) work when their 3G/HSPA+ bands are not supported.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Ars-Hexis,
Thanks so much for the reply. I googled about the same issue on the i9300 as you mentioned - and sure enough a couple of threads on androidcentral, and tmobile support - and all with pretty much a bunch of people going "what?" I think you're right, and this is either some crazy change which Samsung has made to the "S3" generation of phones, or it's an unintended bug which was introduced. I contacted Samsung support on twitter but I'm sure they'll tell me to go away since this is an international model and not sold or supported in the US.
I would love to have this properly reported to Samsung though because it is NOT correct behaviour, and I'm sure it does not meet the 3GPP standard behaviour. These phones' definition of "roaming" is frankly wrong. It's possible they know about the bug but don't care about it too much, because it only affects the minority of importers or travelers, and then only on the very few networks which use AWS band for 3G.
The phone and data works fine of course, so it's really a cosmetic annoyance. However, if I was actually outside TMO's network without knowing it (maybe camping on to some network on the Canadian border or something) then I'd never know if I was actually roaming or not. So the phone's roaming indicator, by being permanently false, is useless in the times when I'm actually roaming. Since this is not a likely scenario for me to be on the Canadian border and roaming onto an AWS-only network any time soon, I'll not worry too much about it.
Yes, I'm really sick waiting on this refarming. It's a huge undertaking of course, so I understand why. I do have a Straight Talk AT&T SIM which I got for my Galaxy Note 1, however I don't use it often for several reasons: haven't ported my number to it, am wary about data throttling or cut-off, and I find the data hit or miss on Straight Talk anyway. I heard stories about people being warned or cut off after 100MB in any day, but if you're saying 15GB and no throttling, it may be something I want to put to the test!
Thanks a lot for your reply! It's nice to know I'm not crazy!
Cheers!

ccampbell1 said:
Hey Ars-Hexis,
Thanks so much for the reply. I googled about the same issue on the i9300 as you mentioned - and sure enough a couple of threads on androidcentral, and tmobile support - and all with pretty much a bunch of people going "what?" I think you're right, and this is either some crazy change which Samsung has made to the "S3" generation of phones, or it's an unintended bug which was introduced. I contacted Samsung support on twitter but I'm sure they'll tell me to go away since this is an international model and not sold or supported in the US.
I would love to have this properly reported to Samsung though because it is NOT correct behaviour, and I'm sure it does not meet the 3GPP standard behaviour. These phones' definition of "roaming" is frankly wrong. It's possible they know about the bug but don't care about it too much, because it only affects the minority of importers or travelers, and then only on the very few networks which use AWS band for 3G.
The phone and data works fine of course, so it's really a cosmetic annoyance. However, if I was actually outside TMO's network without knowing it (maybe camping on to some network on the Canadian border or something) then I'd never know if I was actually roaming or not. So the phone's roaming indicator, by being permanently false, is useless in the times when I'm actually roaming. Since this is not a likely scenario for me to be on the Canadian border and roaming onto an AWS-only network any time soon, I'll not worry too much about it.
Yes, I'm really sick waiting on this refarming. It's a huge undertaking of course, so I understand why. I do have a Straight Talk AT&T SIM which I got for my Galaxy Note 1, however I don't use it often for several reasons: haven't ported my number to it, am wary about data throttling or cut-off, and I find the data hit or miss on Straight Talk anyway. I heard stories about people being warned or cut off after 100MB in any day, but if you're saying 15GB and no throttling, it may be something I want to put to the test!
Thanks a lot for your reply! It's nice to know I'm not crazy!
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there! Sorry I hadn't answered in such a long time. We'll actually I've found that the S3 (sold it) and the Note 2 (own it) some how cannot be tracked for data usage correctly by straight talk. It's quite interesting... I ported my number over from T-Mobile, so if you have an S3 with a T-mobile prepaid sim... I think you have nothing to lose! I'm in Dallas and regularly get around 3-4Mbits/S during high usage hours and 6-7Mbits/S after 7 pm when network usage goes down.
There have been 2 occasions over the past 2 months where I'm throttled for like an hour and suddenly it gets uncapped on its own (?!?!?) lol. Last month I used about 25 GB... It's insane. Btw, if you if get throttled for real (happened to me once), you can just call them and say your "Internets is slow" (act technologically challenged) and they'll reset it.
Ah 1 last thing: I got the at&T ST sim card when I switched.
Cheers!
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium HD app

I just got my International Note 2 today, and I am using it on the T-Mobile network also. I am seeing that I am roaming but my data is off and I am just using wifi. I have turned off my phone and back on again and its still showing. But after reading this whole thread I am getting that is a bug or something along those lines is that correct? Thanks.

I really need to know
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

roaming
I am on prepaid tmobile and I have Roaming sign only in areas where I used to loose signal with my old phone . Basically when I go in Garage underground my signal starts getting weaker and weaker and then roaming kiks in and signal is up all the way . T-mobile does not charges for local roaming . If you use USA tmobile and you are in usa you are fine . My texts and voice are still the same rate for me . When I had Chinese rom it was showing all the time , now I flashed German t-mobile and R shows only sometime , but it does not bother me .
Hope this helps .

I too have a Note II (GT-N7100) I purchased in Thailand in December. I use it on the T-Mobile network and have the same issues with the "R" symbol. I am located in Tampa Bay area, Florida.
T-Mobile was indicating to me in January that this was an issue in weaker signal areas for their data network as they prepare to refarm it. Don't know if this explanation is entirely accurate, but I find in my local area that the R symbol goes away in certain areas and it behaves "normally". This includes the area where my T-Mobile office is located. It seems to be somewhat of a patchwork network, and for some reasons certain areas cause it to go into the Roaming mode.
I was just on a trip with stops in Los Amgeles, San Francisco, and Philadelphia and noted the same behavior in some of those cities: Getting normal signal indications in some places, and Roaming in others.

Is there a way to actually boost antenna strength?

Since it seems so obvious now that the 800 and 850 band radio is so terrible, I'm wondering if there is any way to physically enhance the reception abilities of the antenna.
I ask now because this has become a safety issue for me when I travel throughout the state. I don't even really care about having data while roaming but I really would like to have some sort of dialing capabilities.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

Idk it could be possible. If you open up your phone, your antenna snaps on and off like all your comments inside. It runs up one side of your phone. You could search through eBay and see if there's any stronger aftermarket antennas to replace with. But ya, do some research first and see what people say about the antenna if you find a different one

Dalmus said:
Since it seems so obvious now that the 800 and 850 band radio is so terrible, I'm wondering if there is any way to physically enhance the reception abilities of the antenna.
I ask now because this has become a safety issue for me when I travel throughout the state. I don't even really care about having data while roaming but I really would like to have some sort of dialing capabilities.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean since it seems obvious now that the 800 and 850 band radio is so terrible?
Last i checked Sprint was not using the 800mhz stuff yet as IDEN is still up and using it. Sprint is still using 1900mhz pcs band.
FYI, its not 800 and 850, those are the same thing. the 800 band is actually in the 850mhz range.. so when someone says 800 they are refering to the 850 as well. So its 1 band not 2.. But if im wrong let me know.

IAmSixNine said:
What do you mean since it seems obvious now that the 800 and 850 band radio is so terrible?
Last i checked Sprint was not using the 800mhz stuff yet as IDEN is still up and using it. Sprint is still using 1900mhz pcs band.
FYI, its not 800 and 850, those are the same thing. the 800 band is actually in the 850mhz range.. so when someone says 800 they are refering to the 850 as well. So its 1 band not 2.. But if im wrong let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct. However, when roaming, our phones use the 850mhz cellular band if there is no PCS signal available.
For some reason, reception in the 850mHz band is noticeably inferior to any other Sprint phone I've ever owned. My S2 gets a great signal where the S3 has no service.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

Dalmus said:
You are correct. However, when roaming, our phones use the 850mhz cellular band if there is no PCS signal available.
For some reason, reception in the 850mHz band is noticeably inferior to any other Sprint phone I've ever owned. My S2 gets a great signal where the S3 has no service.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are u concluding that it's the antenna that's the culprit? With all the construction and destruction sprint is doing to their network at the current time(IDEN being phased out, LTE rolling out, 3g and voice upgrades to current towers, and EHRPD thrown in the mix), it very well could be a network problem not the phone... I would suggest doing a bit more R&D before diving into a project like this. If u have the free time and just wanna do it by all means go for it. I would make sure u have some way of getting a replacement if something were to go wrong. I personally don't have any problems when roaming with voice quality...

I highly doubt you will find a better antennae for the phone but what i know you can find is a signal booster for your vehicle from a company called wilson. Google it.

Visionikz03 said:
How are u concluding that it's the antenna that's the culprit? With all the construction and destruction sprint is doing to their network at the current time(IDEN being phased out, LTE rolling out, 3g and voice upgrades to current towers, and EHRPD thrown in the mix), it very well could be a network problem not the phone... I would suggest doing a bit more R&D before diving into a project like this. If u have the free time and just wanna do it by all means go for it. I would make sure u have some way of getting a replacement if something were to go wrong. I personally don't have any problems when roaming with voice quality...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I base my conclusion on the antenna because both my ZTE tablet and my Epic Touch both get good reception in Crivitz, WI, when my S3 shows no service.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

Have you tried a different modern/baseband? Updated profile and prl?
I have no issues with service compared to their coverage maps.
Sent from Pluto.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

Im leaning towards different PRL. Going out on a limb here.
Tablets use a different PRL because data roaming agreements are different then voice.
GS2 uses a different PRL as well due to WiMax and its an older device.
Or as Speedin07si mentioned different modem/baseband.
Also when doing reception testing using different devices really isnt a fair comparison. To know if your device has an issue you need to throw an identical model device into the mix for a real comparison.
I still dont believe the implemintation of the 800 band for CDMA has been deployed yet and as a result dont think that is the issue.
But i have, in the past, with other Samsung devices had issues with modem/baseband and with my old Epic and Epic Touch sometimes found i had to play around with different modems to get best performance.

IAmSixNine said:
Im leaning towards different PRL. Going out on a limb here.
Tablets use a different PRL because data roaming agreements are different then voice.
GS2 uses a different PRL as well due to WiMax and its an older device.
Or as Speedin07si mentioned different modem/baseband.
Also when doing reception testing using different devices really isnt a fair comparison. To know if your device has an issue you need to throw an identical model device into the mix for a real comparison.
I still dont believe the implemintation of the 800 band for CDMA has been deployed yet and as a result dont think that is the issue.
But i have, in the past, with other Samsung devices had issues with modem/baseband and with my old Epic and Epic Touch sometimes found i had to play around with different modems to get best performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was my thought, as well. I tried the signal comparison on all three devices (all three are rooted) with prl 11115. The ZTE and the Epic Touch both had fair to good reception (the tablet had a 3g connection while the Epic Touch had 3g and 4 bars of voice reception). The S3 wavered between reception with 0 bars (connected, but not enough to get a call through) and no service.
In areas with native Sprint coverage, the reception in the S3 is much better than the other two devices.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

LG G4 VS986 on T-Mobile LTE problem

Issue:
Phone will not stay locked on LTE in Global or LTE/UMTS/GSM mode. When in Global or LTE/UMTS/GSM mode and LTE does connect, it's momentarily and when trying to run a speed test or open a webpage, it quickly disconnects and connects to HSDPA. If switched to LTE/CDMA signal locks in great and data speeds are great however voice services are not available. Any thoughts or advice is welcomed. Thanks ahead of time!
Facts:
Phone: VS986
Android Version: 5.1
Build: LMY47D
Soft Version: VS98611A
APN: T-Mobile Fast apn (fast.t-mobile.com)
Strong LTE area
*#*#4636#*#* Not available on LG G4
Radio Swither Not available on LG G4
Rooted
Xposed installed
Gravity Box installed (no change when using smart radio features)
G3 Tweakbox installed but module will not register with Xposed Framework (I know it was along shot)

What band LTE are you connecting to? I found that here on band 2, I will connect at first, but then it switches back to edge. Seems fine in a band 4 LTE area though.

geoff5093 said:
What band LTE are you connecting to? I found that here on band 2, I will connect at first, but then it switches back to edge. Seems fine in a band 4 LTE area though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the Raleigh NC area. According to LTE Discovery i'm using Band 4. and I also experience the same. A brief connection while in global or LTE/UMTS/GSM mode then it falls back to HSPA.

taifuller said:
I'm in the Raleigh NC area. According to LTE Discovery i'm using Band 4. and I also experience the same. A brief connection while in global or LTE/UMTS/GSM mode then it falls back to HSPA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't found LTE Discovery to report the band correctly, at least in my case. It would say I'm on band 4 on my Moto X, but when using a band 4 only device I would only get Edge, but when I go in a confirmed band 4 area it works fine. From what I've found, most 2G > LTE sites were converted to band 2 LTE. Although since you get HSPA the chances of it actually being on band 4 are higher.

I'm fairly certain this is a Band 4 area. The latest T-Mobile maps are pretty good about pointing out Band 2 areas. I've since sold the phone and acquired a iPhone 6 Plus which I'm looking to sell to replace it with an international G4 or T-Mobile G4. I was pretty impressed with that phone. If I had to rank my favorites, it's number 2. Nexus 5 is still king of the hill for me. There wasn't a better phone out when it was release for a better price.

did you ever figure this out? samething is happening to me

Unfortunately I didn't. I sold it and bought one for T-Mobile...... Which I just sold about 3 hours ago.

So I tested it out again, and in a band 2 area when I boot up my phone with a T-Mobile SIM, I get LTE for several seconds then it cuts back over to 2G.
Now that there is a new software update for the G4, I wonder if this is anymore reliable. Anyone who took the OTA update in the past few days, can you let us know if it's any better?
Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

Been there, done that...wanted to switch over to T-Mobile, but unfortunately, the VS986 only works with two of their three LTE bands, as you know, and it seems everywhere I went, they were using the one the phone doesn't receive (I'm in southern California, for what it's worth, but tested it on a freeway run up the I-5 to the central part of the state - only got 4G-LTE in a few places). Wound up going back to Verizon

I'm getting the exact same results in Burlington, VT (T-Mobile band 2 market). I first have to manually select T-Mobile (defaults to roaming on AT&T HSPA+) then LTE works for less than a minute (LTE Discovery says band 4) and then I lose signal when I get signal again, I only have edge. It does this constantly and is really annoying.

Aww, bummer. I was thinking about switching to T-Mobile, but looks like that is not a viable option? So no one has been able to successfully use the phone on T-Mobile, even after enabling bands 2 and 4 only?
This whole plethora of LTE bands, where each provider does its own crap is such a mess, is just serves to lock in customers, since switching phones is expensive. Government should mandate that all phones can work on all US LTE bands, the technology exists.

I am on the same boat. Everything works on my VS986 on t-mobile network. but I cannot get the LTE to work properly. LTE discovery shows band 4 (not sure if correct though)

konradsa said:
Aww, bummer. I was thinking about switching to T-Mobile, but looks like that is not a viable option? So no one has been able to successfully use the phone on T-Mobile, even after enabling bands 2 and 4 only?
This whole plethora of LTE bands, where each provider does its own crap is such a mess, is just serves to lock in customers, since switching phones is expensive. Government should mandate that all phones can work on all US LTE bands, the technology exists.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My VRZ LG G4 shows that it has Band 2, 4, 5, and 13. I tried enabling 2 & 4 only, 4 only, 2 only, 2&4&13 only but with no success.
What is interesting is I am coming from VRZ LG G3 and LTE was just fine and never had an issue.
I looked at the VRZ LG G3 LTE bands and I see Band 3,4, and 13 enabled. It did not even have band 2.

More testing:
When I switched the Network Mode to LTE/CDMA I get constant 4G-LTE & internet is working but my phone cannot place and receive phone calls.
with LTE/CDMA I see 4G at 100dBm and 1X at 120dBm

ruijay said:
More testing:
When I switched the Network Mode to LTE/CDMA I get constant 4G-LTE & internet is working but my phone cannot place and receive phone calls.
with LTE/CDMA I see 4G at 100dBm and 1X at 120dBm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, almost sounds like a bug in the LTE/GSM mode.
I assume when you switch to global mode, voice works but only HSPA, right?

konradsa said:
Interesting, almost sounds like a bug in the LTE/GSM mode.
I assume when you switch to global mode, voice works but only HSPA, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is right.
The best internet speed was with LTE/CDMA but no voice or text

ruijay said:
That is right.
The best internet speed was with LTE/CDMA but no voice or text
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of curiosity, what speeds do you get on HSPA in global mode?

konradsa said:
Out of curiosity, what speeds do you get on HSPA in global mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With HSPA/3G I get around 7 mbps download and 1.88 mbps upload

ruijay said:
More testing:
When I switched the Network Mode to LTE/CDMA I get constant 4G-LTE & internet is working but my phone cannot place and receive phone calls.
with LTE/CDMA I see 4G at 100dBm and 1X at 120dBm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ruijay said:
That is right.
The best internet speed was with LTE/CDMA but no voice or text
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think since someone reported before that this used to work the G3, it sounds like a bug to me. I guess we can hope and pray that this will work in future releases, but there is no guarantee of course. Not sure what complaining to Verizon will do, since they are probably not very interested in you using T-Mobile. Of course, you can always wrap the complaint into something like you are using the phone in a different country on vacation and it doesn't work. Maybe a complaint to the FTC could work too, since it sounds like Verizon is required to have their phones unlocked for use on other networks based on some settlement.

konradsa said:
I think since someone reported before that this used to work the G3, it sounds like a bug to me. I guess we can hope and pray that this will work in future releases, but there is no guarantee of course. Not sure what complaining to Verizon will do, since they are probably not very interested in you using T-Mobile. Of course, you can always wrap the complaint into something like you are using the phone in a different country on vacation and it doesn't work. Maybe a complaint to the FTC could work too, since it sounds like Verizon is required to have their phones unlocked for use on other networks based on some settlement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am tempted to try the guide in here to add more LTE bands:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/g4/general/guide-enabling-lte-bands-t3137818
While some testers said the LTE bands are limited by hardware others reported some success modifying the software. Any thoughts?