Connection/Speed Issue and Tower Question - Sprint Samsung Galaxy Note II

I'm in the Los Angeles area where Sprint's 4G Network is just being built up. The service is terribly slow, even when on the 4G Network. My question/problem though is, I've noticed that when I go from one area to another, for instance if I'm at a shopping center and on tower that's 3G and then cross the street to another shopping center that has a tower that's 4G... my Data gets all screwed up. Somehow in the process of connecting to a new tower with a different speed, my Data always freezes up and you can't do anything for long periods of time. I'm talking anywhere from 5-10 minutes. I often have to put my phone into Airplane mode and reconnect to get anything moving.
Just wondering if this was a common occurrence? Or if this is just a result of Sprint's crappy network, or what.
On a related note, I've also noticed that even if I'm not going between towers, there are a lot of times when my phone says it has a strong Data Connection on either 3G or 4G, say 3 bars or so, and yet my Data hangs and I can't use the web. Any ideas what the cause might be?

captaingrey said:
I'm in the Los Angeles area where Sprint's 4G Network is just being built up. The service is terribly slow, even when on the 4G Network. My question/problem though is, I've noticed that when I go from one area to another, for instance if I'm at a shopping center and on tower that's 3G and then cross the street to another shopping center that has a tower that's 4G... my Data gets all screwed up. Somehow in the process of connecting to a new tower with a different speed, my Data always freezes up and you can't do anything for long periods of time. I'm talking anywhere from 5-10 minutes. I often have to put my phone into Airplane mode and reconnect to get anything moving.
Just wondering if this was a common occurrence? Or if this is just a result of Sprint's crappy network, or what.
On a related note, I've also noticed that even if I'm not going between towers, there are a lot of times when my phone says it has a strong Data Connection on either 3G or 4G, say 3 bars or so, and yet my Data hangs and I can't use the web. Any ideas what the cause might be?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The bars do not determine your signal strength. There's cases where people have no bars but data is still being transferred and get fantastic speeds. I recommend installing Speedtest and depending on your results you should call your network provider on the data issue
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

LuigiBull23 said:
The bars do not determine your signal strength. There's cases where people have no bars but data is still being transferred and get fantastic speeds. I recommend installing Speedtest and depending on your results you should call your network provider on the data issue
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I have Speedtest. The speeds in LA are awful. Usually range from 0.54 to 0.78 mbps DL on 3G. On 4G its about 8.7 - 9.13.
And thanks for the response, but I still don't understand what the connection issue is between Towers and I'm pretty sure calling Sprint to ask them what the deal is would be a waste of 3 hours.

captaingrey said:
I'm in the Los Angeles area where Sprint's 4G Network is just being built up. The service is terribly slow, even when on the 4G Network. My question/problem though is, I've noticed that when I go from one area to another, for instance if I'm at a shopping center and on tower that's 3G and then cross the street to another shopping center that has a tower that's 4G... my Data gets all screwed up. Somehow in the process of connecting to a new tower with a different speed, my Data always freezes up and you can't do anything for long periods of time. I'm talking anywhere from 5-10 minutes. I often have to put my phone into Airplane mode and reconnect to get anything moving.
Just wondering if this was a common occurrence? Or if this is just a result of Sprint's crappy network, or what.
On a related note, I've also noticed that even if I'm not going between towers, there are a lot of times when my phone says it has a strong Data Connection on either 3G or 4G, say 3 bars or so, and yet my Data hangs and I can't use the web. Any ideas what the cause might be?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may not know what can cause this issue but I can try to help on making it a tad better. Check out my recent post on how to increase your data speed on the Note 2 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2253340 and if your data does hang, try going into Settings, More Settings, Mobile networks, and just uncheck and check Mobile data. Hope this helps out.

Related

[Q] 3g everythere but at home????

I have a problem with my Tmobile g2 running 2.2, it is all stock no modifications whatsoever other than handcent and fancy widget.
The problem is I can not connect to 3g or hsdpa network when I am at home. By this I mean the cell tower that provides service when I am at home. I have txt and calling capabilites but I have no data whatsoever. I have to manually switch to 2g or edge to check email or use the browser. I have called tmobile and they keep telling me that the problem is with my phone, however when I am 2 or 3 miles from my house and it goes to any other tower on the planet everything works fine.
I have searched the g2 forum here but could find no answers. I apologize in advance if this has been indeed covered or discussed to death and I have just failed to find it.
I did find the *#*#4636#*#* option and when it is on 2g I can run a ping test and it finds the server just fine, but on 3g it always fails to connect. Again this only occurs of course when I am sitting at home!
Thanks to anyone who can shed some light on this or point me in the right direction because leaving it up to tmobile has proven to be fruitless.
It might also be worth mentioning that i replaced the sim card today as well, this too had no effect on this phenomenon.....
My mom's nexus s has the same problem. Only difference is that when i walk out the door i get 3g. Once i walk back in, I get edge...... I think its might be just tmobile frequencies poor ability to pentrate walls.
Sounds like a problem with the 3G network in your area, or just a weak signal there.
I know its not the signal strength, I always have full bars at home Its something to do with the network....
DefiantMenace said:
I know its not the signal strength, I always have full bars at home Its something to do with the network....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Full bars on 3G or 2G ? If you have full bars on 3G then it sounds like a network problem.
I have the exact same problem, but my building is probably over 100 years old with 300 coats of lead paint on it. It depends on your building. Signals can bounce off of mirrors for example and other materials. The more material the signal has to go through, the more attenuation happens.
I have a similar problem, my G2 can't maintain a consistent connection, I will go from 4 bars of HSPA+ to 4 bars of Edge to nothing (lost connection to network) and it will jump around wildly between these three states (every few minutes). My wife's MyTouch 4G doesn't do this, my G1 did not do this, our kids (dumb) phones have consistent connections.
I know it's some interaction between my phone and the TMO network, I'd say it was a defective phone except the only place it happens is inside my house.
I wish that TMO offered a microcell.
There is no reception problem, I have had the phone working here for awhile and it always has full bars, like I said I can hop in the car and drive a couple miles and it works just fine. Tmobile finally got back to me today and said they are having their Engineers troubleshoot the tower that provides service when I am home. I hope they get this fixed soon, they said 72 hours.......
It's that anti-cellphonereception chemical they put into paint!!

[Q] Question about dbm

I'm using Open Signal Maps to see my connection. Apparently I have -95 dBm thru -104 dBm. I heard that -100 is practically no signal.
I'd also lyk to add that I have seen my phone drop to 1X. I didn't even know that existed in cities. Is that Sprint Version of a GSM phone on 1G? I'm sorry, I'm a previous Tmo customer, where we had 1G(.005Mbps)), 2G(.5Mbps), 3G, 4G. Here on Sprint, it seems lyk it's 1X, 3G, 4G.
I have an attachment of my closest tower. Shouldn't I be way above what I'm getting? The box is me, the circle is a McDonalds I go to. When I'm at McDonalds, my data speeds flourish. I see those 10Mb 4G speeds with full bars. At my house, I only get 3G. And I'm lucky if I get that. Sometimes it drops to 1X. Luckily we have WiFi 10Mb speeds at home.
This, however raises a huge question. Why do I have to be SO close just to get good signal? I mean, the fact that my phone is dropping to 1X means there's something up, right?
P.S. I know it's not called 1G and all that. I'm just saying that for those to easily understand. So you don't have to make a post correcting me.
View attachment 825746
The Open Signal app is not that accurate add far as location. Many times it would locate my tower in the middle of a lake. Data speeds vary greatly depending on distance, tower traffic, etc. 1x is what we sprint users call 2G.
Sent from my Epic 4G Touch using Tapatalk.
No_Nickname90 said:
I'm using Open Signal Maps to see my connection. Apparently I have -95 dBm thru -104 dBm. I heard that -100 is practically no signal.
I'd also lyk to add that I have seen my phone drop to 1X. I didn't even know that existed in cities. Is that Sprint Version of a GSM phone on 1G? I'm sorry, I'm a previous Tmo customer, where we had 1G(.005Mbps)), 2G(.5Mbps), 3G, 4G. Here on Sprint, it seems lyk it's 1X, 3G, 4G.
I have an attachment of my closest tower. Shouldn't I be way above what I'm getting? The box is me, the circle is a McDonalds I go to. When I'm at McDonalds, my data speeds flourish. I see those 10Mb 4G speeds with full bars. At my house, I only get 3G. And I'm lucky if I get that. Sometimes it drops to 1X. Luckily we have WiFi 10Mb speeds at home.
This, however raises a huge question. Why do I have to be SO close just to get good signal? I mean, the fact that my phone is dropping to 1X means there's something up, right?
P.S. I know it's not called 1G and all that. I'm just saying that for those to easily understand. So you don't have to make a post correcting me.
View attachment 825746
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1X= 1xRTT which is a voice/text network. it SOMETIMES works with web, albeit painfully slow. and just incase you didnt know, the ''G's'' only stand for "generation", so really, you could say 1G=talk, 2G=text, 3G=web, 4G= faster web.
demonlordoftheround said:
The Open Signal app is not that accurate add far as location. Many times it would locate my tower in the middle of a lake. Data speeds vary greatly depending on distance, tower traffic, etc. 1x is what we sprint users call 2G.
Sent from my Epic 4G Touch using Tapatalk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, but I mapped it, lyk looked at the visual and saw a tower there. I understand the whole network traffic and all, but when I go to work, my location is farther, but I still connect to that same tower, and I still get better reception. It's seeming lyk there is something at my house causing my phone HORRIBLE reception. That's the only thing I can think of. I don't know what's going on. -_-
It just seems that all the places I rest, by that I mean hang out, it seems I have no reception, but when I'm at the store or some place random I have great access. The more convenient places, but that's not very practical. This is making me want to break off this family plan and go back to Tmo.
Call Sprint and inquire about the Airave or search for that term on this forum. That device will fix your low signal issue where you hang out and they'll probably give it to you for free instead of lyk losing you as a customer
I know that 4g aka WiMax runs at 2.6Ghz frequency. 3g runs at a much lower frequency. The higher the frequency the worse the signle is at penetrating building and obsticals and is drastically reduced in effectiveness the farther away you are from the tower. See Verision uses LTE which used like 900Mhz i beleive which penetrates deeply into buildings and has a much farther range. Sprint is making the transistion to LTE on a 700Mhz frequency band i beleive which will be the best 4g out. Should be completed by the end of 2013 but i beleive it may take a bit longer than that. As for 3g and 1x getting a very weak signal can led to a tower not having a strong enough signal to support data of 3g. Also some towers are older and havent been upgraded to the 3rd generation of wireless data as a previous poster stated 1g 2g 3g is first, second and third generation techknology. What is weird and doesnt make sense to me ans many other people is that how many bars you have does NOT necessarily coinside with how fast your 3g connection will be. I and thousands of others have learned that even if you have full bars your 3g may to slow as snails and i have had 1 bar to no bars and gotten better 3g speed that certain places with full bars. Some of it has to do with weather, obstacle and how up to date the tower is. Like i said there are still older towers out there that don't even support 3g still. Hope this helpa you a little and im sorry that even pro's i have talked to cant say for sure why full bars and almost no bars doesnt always mean greater and less 3g speed necessarily :-(

[Q] Why do I have terrible phone signal but constant 3G/4G?

I work in downtown Houston and, while I am always connected to either 3G or 4G, I consistently have terrible phone signal. It'll only ever range from zero to 3 bars and I don't even think I've seen a full signal since I've owned this phone. Now, this isn't too much of a deal as I can always text and make calls (although it takes a while to connect sometimes.), but I'm left wondering if this is a cell tower issue or if something may have updated incorrectly. I'm rooted and unlocked and have only ever flashed the last 6 or so Lifeless ROM updates, so I don't really think I could have messed it up myself, but I find it hard to believe that downtown Houston would have such bad phone signal. Any insight?
mrdrprofjeremy said:
I work in downtown Houston and, while I am always connected to either 3G or 4G, I consistently have terrible phone signal. It'll only ever range from zero to 3 bars and I don't even think I've seen a full signal since I've owned this phone. Now, this isn't too much of a deal as I can always text and make calls (although it takes a while to connect sometimes.), but I'm left wondering if this is a cell tower issue or if something may have updated incorrectly. I'm rooted and unlocked and have only ever flashed the last 6 or so Lifeless ROM updates, so I don't really think I could have messed it up myself, but I find it hard to believe that downtown Houston would have such bad phone signal. Any insight?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I work in Downtown Denver and have a very similar problem downtown, but not out in the suburbs. My Sprint store has given me a couple of explanations.
1) The buildings block the signal. There are areas of downtown, particularly by the tallest buildings, where occasionally I will drop my cell signal completely
2) In a higher concentration area signal is reduced due to more people using that signal (I don't understand how this one affects signal strength, but that's what I was told)
How is your signal outside of the downtown area? Did you update Profile and PRL after flashing? Ever dropped the phone?
Xiutehcuhtli said:
I work in Downtown Denver and have a very similar problem downtown, but not out in the suburbs. My Sprint store has given me a couple of explanations.
1) The buildings block the signal. There are areas of downtown, particularly by the tallest buildings, where occasionally I will drop my cell signal completely
2) In a higher concentration area signal is reduced due to more people using that signal (I don't understand how this one affects signal strength, but that's what I was told)
How is your signal outside of the downtown area? Did you update Profile and PRL after flashing? Ever dropped the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I live about 14 miles west of downtown, and even there, I don't get full strength signal. As I said, I don't ever remember seeing more than 3 bars of signal. I update the PRL and Profile after every flash, and just today I dialled ##72786# to see if the hands free activation would do anything but no luck. I've also encountered moments where I'll be at home (again, I normally have data coverage and a few signal bars) and suddenly, I'll get an alert notifying me that I'm roaming.
mrdrprofjeremy said:
Well, I live about 14 miles west of downtown, and even there, I don't get full strength signal. As I said, I don't ever remember seeing more than 3 bars of signal. I update the PRL and Profile after every flash, and just today I dialled ##72786# to see if the hands free activation would do anything but no luck. I've also encountered moments where I'll be at home (again, I normally have data coverage and a few signal bars) and suddenly, I'll get an alert notifying me that I'm roaming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That happened to me the other day. I was at work and I got roaming pop up. Really weird since that never happened before and because my 4G is so strong. 36168kbps Down and 6304kbps up.
mrdrprofjeremy said:
I work in downtown Houston and, while I am always connected to either 3G or 4G, I consistently have terrible phone signal. It'll only ever range from zero to 3 bars and I don't even think I've seen a full signal since I've owned this phone. Now, this isn't too much of a deal as I can always text and make calls (although it takes a while to connect sometimes.), but I'm left wondering if this is a cell tower issue or if something may have updated incorrectly. I'm rooted and unlocked and have only ever flashed the last 6 or so Lifeless ROM updates, so I don't really think I could have messed it up myself, but I find it hard to believe that downtown Houston would have such bad phone signal. Any insight?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has been an issue on every LG Sprint phone with Android I have used. I am not sure what causes it but the bars on the screen never show full strength. That doesn't mean it isn't working though. I have heard it is just how LG worked the rom to show signal.
jonny4 said:
That doesn't mean it isn't working though. I have heard it is just how LG worked the rom to show signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me first start off by saying this is the furthest from the truth. If it shows a weak signal its because this phone has a weak signal.
This is my 3rd day with this phone and as much as I raved about it on a couple of threads, weak signal is definitely one of the negatives.
Sent from my LG-LS970 using XDA Premium HD app
shook187 said:
Let me first start off by saying this is the furthest from the truth. If it shows a weak signal its because this phone has a weak signal.
This is my 3rd day with this phone and as much as I raved about it on a couple of threads, weak signal is definitely one of the negatives.
Sent from my LG-LS970 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can it have weak signal if when I get this I am getting 36168kbps Down and 6304kbps up?
Dr. Mark said:
How can it have weak signal if when I get this I am getting 36168kbps Down and 6304kbps up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude the LTE radio has nothing to do with the phone signal. Two separate radios.
This phone just has weak radios. Now the question is, is it a software or hardware issue? my bet is software but then again I'm not an engineer
Edit
Funny thing is open signal maps gives me an 85dbm reading yet in settings it shows 94 dbm
bizzshow26 said:
This phone just has weak radios. Now the question is, is it a software or hardware issue? my bet is software but then again I'm not an engineer
Edit
Funny thing is open signal maps gives me an 85dbm reading yet in settings it shows 94 dbm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just discovered if you switch the network setting from LTE/CDMA to CDMA my signal bar gets full.
Sent from my LG-LS970 using XDA Premium HD app
I don't have an issue with 3g I get great 3g signal my issue is with lte. Lte has bed in my area since late August early September and I've had the s3 evo lte and the iPhone none of them have had an issue picking up or holding lte the lgog does.and I think it all boils down to the phone not recognizing the correct signal and thinking its weaker than it truly is. In my house and through my town I would never drop lte On the others this phone barely holds it. I've been 100 yards from a cell tower and the phone won't go below 84dbm when I know the signal strength is stronger
I installed the Network Signal Info app on several phones in my store and the LGOG registered about 9db worse consistently compared to the SGS3 or Evo LTE
About the same thing I've seen with this phone I'm hoping its a quick fix for lg with the next update. I was really hoping that zv9 would come with a new radio

Data Constantly Drops

Hi I have my Galaxy Note 2 on jellybomb v 12.1 and i can use it and it will constantly drop data connection for a good two to three minutes...it does this about 5-6 times an hour is extremely frustrating. It's no that I have bad service cause it will still show full bars but no data connection. It has done this on my current rom and 3 other versions of jellybomb. Only thing i can think that it can be is that the phone is switching between towers, cause when I look in Llama under the towers tab it connects to about 3 different ones in a minute, can it be that or just connected to a bad tower. I'm in Los Angeles area if that makes any difference.
It's probably the towers around your city.
That used to happen to me all the time here in Tucson Arizona.
I hopped on the Sprint User Forums and ranted about having my 3G connection but couldnt open anything internet related.
Sure enough the moderators are Sprint employees and they can tell you if they are working on the towers around yoir area.
He even pointed out the exact location and tower they were working on.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
Furman69 said:
Hi I have my Galaxy Note 2 on jellybomb v 12.1 and i can use it and it will constantly drop data connection for a good two to three minutes...it does this about 5-6 times an hour is extremely frustrating. It's no that I have bad service cause it will still show full bars but no data connection. It has done this on my current rom and 3 other versions of jellybomb. Only thing i can think that it can be is that the phone is switching between towers, cause when I look in Llama under the towers tab it connects to about 3 different ones in a minute, can it be that or just connected to a bad tower. I'm in Los Angeles area if that makes any difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get the same thing too. I'm on Why Not V1.0 and in Los Angeles.
I think it has to do with the later stages of 4G LTE upgrades. There are LOTS of people using the network. Hopefully this settles out when LTE gets solid.
Maybe this is a good opportunity to call and complain about the data...
BTW, I notice that it happens mostly while moving. Could be moving in and out of LTE vs. CDMA areas
I'm having the same issue

Question about 4g data

Hey guys,
I just switched from Verizon to t mobile and I have a question about their data connection.
I know they have 4g and 4g lte but are you suppose to get data while on regular 4g?
Whenever I'm on 4g I get no data even with full bar. I am currently on Jedi V5.
Thanks in advance.
Yes. Data should work at all times. Even on 4G.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 3
bryanthomas007 said:
Yes. Data should work at all times. Even on 4G.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any idea why there is no internet with full bar on 4g? Or how I can fix it?
hslayer said:
Any idea why there is no internet with full bar on 4g? Or how I can fix it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you need to further explain in detail what is happening on your phone? maybe a video or something.
XxLostSoulxX said:
you need to further explain in detail what is happening on your phone? maybe a video or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have full bar on 4g and i try to load page on my browser and it doesn't load, same thing with apps that require internet connection, they will not work
hslayer said:
I have full bar on 4g and i try to load page on my browser and it doesn't load, same thing with apps that require internet connection, they will not work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lawl tmobile sucks....no but seriously, i would recheck your apn settings, make sure theyre all in order...otherwise...thats strange, i know that i have LTE all the time, but if i make a phone call, i drop to 4G because the LTE Radio has to be disabled temporarily when im making calls, which is understandable, the only other thing i can think of is T-Mobile being at fault for some kind of issue on their end. but if you can check your apn settings and try again see what you come up with.
the SAME thing happens to me. I believe it has todo where we live? Anyways in my house when I do loose LTE and get even full bars of 4G its worse then 3G. Half the times it says no connection other times it takes forever to load. I tried going in and out of airplaine mode tried turning ut off and on ect. Also tried to dial##2263## and don't work on my phone. Maybe because of the ROM? But yea my 4G is crapppp.
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
I also am in the middle of switching over from Verizon to T-Mobile. This is going to be a really hard decision to stay or not. In terms of Data, T-Mobile is no where near Verizon even if they have faster speeds on SOME of their towers. Verizon is very solid and I just always have Data. It isn't something you ever even think about. T-Mobile on the other hand is very hit and miss. When it is good, it is very good but when it isn't, well it isn't.
So to get to you problem, I am seeing the very same thing with my two completely stock Note 3's. I just took a trip this weekend up the cost (Los Angeles to Pismo Beach up HWY 101) so I got to see the how the network does on a trip. for MUCH of the trip, I had a very strong 4G signal but had EXTREMELY slow data speeds, It was basically unusable. Google Maps for example was completely unusable since the map wouldn't update with this extremely slow or no data connection. What I am seeing with T-Mobile is that the connection type indicator such as 4G has 0 to do with what speeds you are going to get. Many of the 4G towers I was on was only giving me download speeds in the range of 0.1 to 0.01 Mbps.
I am within an excellent range for the tower at my house, I can actually see it from my house with no interference between it and me. My speeds on what shows to be a strong 4G signal is Ping = 644 ms, Download = 0.69 Mbps and upload = 0.85 Mbps.But again, on my trip, there were many times that full bars of 4G gave me no response to anything I tried to do that required Data.
T-Mobile may have the fastest speeds when you can get them but there are WAY to many towers and that have 0 to very slow speeds on major highways! You can't even use Google Maps on US HWY 101?
I really want to stay on T-Mobile but coming from Verizon it is a huge step backwards in terms of data reliability. If I do end up staying, I really hope they start concentrating on making the data network actually usable when you are driving around. I would rather have 4 or 5 Mbps of speed on every tower vs 25+ Mbps on some towers sprinkled around that your lucky if you live next to one.
chuko303 said:
the SAME thing happens to me. I believe it has todo where we live? Anyways in my house when I do loose LTE and get even full bars of 4G its worse then 3G. Half the times it says no connection other times it takes forever to load. I tried going in and out of airplaine mode tried turning ut off and on ect. Also tried to dial##2263## and don't work on my phone. Maybe because of the ROM? But yea my 4G is crapppp.
Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are running a touchwiz rom its *#2263#

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