DC letters over the signal bars - T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-T989

Does anyone know what a "DC" symbol over the signal bars stands for? I know they are upgrading the towers where I live for LTE and my data connection keeps dropping out. When this happend in the past it would just show no signal bars. I called in to support to ask them what it means and the rep had never heard of it and found no mention of it in their support documents. I am sure it means disconnected but it shows full signal bars. When trying to use data the phone goes from it's normal 3g symbol to the H+ and then this DC.
A coworker just got an SG4 and his phone shows LTE but also switches to this DC.

DC=Dual Carrier...meaning the phone is capable of getting the full 42mbs that tmobile offers and DC is the new 4g icon

krazierokz said:
DC=Dual Carrier...meaning the phone is capable of getting the full 42mbs that tmobile offers and DC is the new 4g icon
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Click to collapse
ah.... thank you.

krazierokz said:
DC=Dual Carrier...meaning the phone is capable of getting the full 42mbs that tmobile offers and DC is the new 4g icon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does this have anything to do with LTE then? I've started seeing this on my phone as well and I'm baffled as to if this means that LTE has been switched on in my area or what.

krazierokz said:
DC=Dual Carrier...meaning the phone is capable of getting the full 42mbs that tmobile offers and DC is the new 4g icon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that is the case, how come I've never seen DC on my Nexus 4 on T-Mobile? I live in Virginia Beach, and I'm 99.999% sure that this is a 42mbps market.

Its just cosmetic in some custom roms. Stock does not have it.
Sent from my Moto X cellular telephone...

Related

HSPA+

I was just wondering if there was an app that showed when I was actully on HSPA+ or just 3G cause as far as I can tell its either H, E or G. I've yet to see 3G. Id like to be able to see without going to settings, about phone, status. Cause I want to run speed tests on HSPA+.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
I think if you go to phone status. You would be connected under umts which would be 3g or hspa as hspa+ but hspa n umts its technically the same thing. It never shows hspa+ even though I live within the coverage with hspa+
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
That would explain why my speed test have been the same on umts and hspad on the status section =( thx mate
Sent from my G2, XDA app =)
When in a HSPA+ area your phone should show HSDPA under About Phone>Status>Mobile Network Type. The 'H' indicator will show no matter what 3G network you're connected to. I'm assuming T-Mobile did this to avoid confusion between 3G and HSPA+ which is technically still 3G.
Yea I know I was just looking for like a widget that told me constantly so I know when I can speed test
fRom Snugs G2 ^.^
Snuggl3s said:
Yea I know I was just looking for like a widget that told me constantly so I know when I can speed test
fRom Snugs G2 ^.^
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Click to collapse
I was just going to post this. Would be a great widget to have.
mark925 said:
I was just going to post this. Would be a great widget to have.
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Click to collapse
Yes it would. I'd give it a try but I'm clueless on how to make an app =(
fRom Snugs G2 ^.^
I have been using Netswidget. It seems to do the job, possibly a little buggy still at times. But it does show edge, umts and hsdpa on it. I even saw gprs the other day for a brief moment out in the sticks. But it seems to work fine for me.
I have mobile signal widget. Changes icon for edge, 3g, and hspa.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Max download 0.89!
Hello,
I am new to Android - do I have to turn on something to get higher speeds?
I consitently get 0.89 no matter where I am.
In fact, our region is listed as 4G speeds on TMobile website... McLean VA.
I am thinking a bad phone, maybe? Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Mobile Signal Widget for me also
http://www.appbrain.com/app/mobile-signal-widget/com.empirical.widget.signal
Just because you are listed on the coverage map as being in the HSPA+ area the towers might not be actally all set up for the top speeds. I live in Massachusetts in a suburb of Boston where we are on the coverage map as being in HSPA+ area but the next town over is ony getting top speeds of around 950 kbps download. The network has not been stretched out to it's maximum yet, you will be getting your speed probably very soon. It is still very spotty. This has been my findings in the Boston area. One town in HSPA+ will get 750 MBPS download (very fast) and just a short distance away will only get top speeds of only 950 kbps (not bad) It will get better soon.
pateltjp said:
Hello,
I am new to Android - do I have to turn on something to get higher speeds?
I consitently get 0.89 no matter where I am.
In fact, our region is listed as 4G speeds on TMobile website... McLean VA.
I am thinking a bad phone, maybe? Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im also in VA and dont see "4g speeds" but it depends on certain areas just because your in "4g" area doesnt mean your going to see it, like if your inside in a building, or just in a bad coverage area. Ive actually did a speedtest under 2 different cell towers and the most I ever got was 5down. They say the g2 is capable of doing like 14, but I dont think anyone is ever going to get that I would say 10 the most.
In the phone manual it shows the different types of networks the phone would show. This G, E, H, and H+. It wont show 3g because H is the same as 3g and H+ is "4g".
agsr4ever said:
In the phone manual it shows the different types of networks the phone would show. This G, E, H, and H+. It wont show 3g because H is the same as 3g and H+ is "4g".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've not heard of anyone seeing an 'H+' on the phone... *going to read manual*

Enable 3G on this phone?

I really just don't understand why T-mobile wouldn't include the ability to connect to 3G as well as H+ with this phone. It just sucks because you literally can't do anything on edge and it's pretty much useless. Is there any possible way to enable 3G and H+ through the APN's or something. (I did search around for this but couldn't find anything) Also it can apparently connect to AT&T 3G so wouldn't that show that it might be able to connect to T-mobile 3G in some way? (unless I'm completely wrong in assuming this lol)
Aren't our phones 4g?
Swyped from my Sgs2 T989
jmariconda said:
I really just don't understand why T-mobile wouldn't include the ability to connect to 3G as well as H+ with this phone. It just sucks because you literally can't do anything on edge and it's pretty much useless. Is there any possible way to enable 3G and H+ through the APN's or something. (I did search around for this but couldn't find anything) Also it can apparently connect to AT&T 3G so wouldn't that show that it might be able to connect to T-mobile 3G in some way? (unless I'm completely wrong in assuming this lol)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All of tmo's 3g is H , you just can't connect to AT&T's 3g unless you have an AT&T sim card and are unlocked ...
You will just normally get an H instead of it saying 3g, IF you can't get H then you are not in a "Tmobile 3g area" ...
TMO H+ should show as 4g, but that depends on the ROM you are using, I don't remember what stock looked like .... I know mine says H when I am on tmo 3g and 4g when on H+ ...
tcboo said:
All of tmo's 3g is H , you just can't connect to AT&T's 3g unless you have an AT&T sim card and are unlocked ...
You will just normally get an H instead of it saying 3g, IF you can't get H then you are not in a "Tmobile 3g area" ...
TMO H+ should show as 4g, but that depends on the ROM you are using, I don't remember what stock looked like .... I know mine says H when I am on tmo 3g and 4g when on H+ ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ohhhh now I get it lol I always wondered what the difference was between 4G and H on the status bar. Thanks a lot for clearing that up.
relldroid said:
Aren't our phones 4g?
Swyped from my Sgs2 T989
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea but my question was for when we couldn't get 4g, but like tcboo said, H is 3G while 4G is actually H+.
Yeah he's correct 3g was just standbye, when data was being used it become H, data on my phone is 4g tho I don't see an H+
Swyped from my Sgs2 T989
relldroid said:
Aren't our phones 4g?
Swyped from my Sgs2 T989
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tmobile doesn't have 4G
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
our 4g is actually 3g+ lol so all we have is 3g lol
Teo032 said:
our 4g is actually 3g+ lol so all we have is 3g lol
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Click to collapse
Actually I believe if you check the ITU standards H+ qualifies for 4g so it can be called 4g , really when it was released 4g did not even qualify as 4g ....
When you are using 4g you will see both data and standby as 4g only when on "3g" will it show "3g" during non-data usage and will show H during data usage ... (or it should , might be different if using a non-stock ROM)
EDIT: 3g/H/4g/H+ , really when it comes down to it the name does not matter, the speed of the network is what matters, they can call it "BubbaSmith" band and I would not care, it is the speed that makes the actual difference ...
and in my "4g" area, TMO currently smokes VZ/AT&T "4g" ..
tcboo said:
Actually I believe if you check the ITU standards H+ qualifies for 4g so it can be called 4g , really when it was released 4g did not even qualify as 4g ....
When you are using 4g you will see both data and standby as 4g only when on "3g" will it show "3g" during non-data usage and will show H during data usage ... (or it should , might be different if using a non-stock ROM)
EDIT: 3g/H/4g/H+ , really when it comes down to it the name does not matter, the speed of the network is what matters, they can call it "BubbaSmith" band and I would not care, it is the speed that makes the actual difference ...
and in my "4g" area, TMO currently smokes VZ/AT&T "4g" ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's true we have more or less 3.5g but Verizon has there 4g LTE which is according to statistics the fastest and true 4g, we come in 2nd i believe
Swyped from my Sgs2 T989
I'm hitting between 10-18Mb down and 2-9mb up with this beast, and no I don't live in a big metro area my lousy sensation topped out at
6mb down and 2mb up in the same area... as other person said idc Wtf they call it...its fast and consistent and cheaper then any other provider
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
relldroid said:
It's true we have more or less 3.5g but Verizon has there 4g LTE which is according to statistics the fastest and true 4g, we come in 2nd i believe
Swyped from my Sgs2 T989
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen those reports as well, but the ones I have seen are always theoretical speeds ...
I know in my area where VZ has LTE, and I have H+ I still get better speeds ...
One of the things, not all CPU's regardless of the radio, have the chipset support to reach the maximum, but ours is one of them that does, as does the Skyrocket ....
Where I actually live I have crappy service , but next time I am town, I will try and remember to save a screen shot of my speeds, last time I was getting in the high 20's without any issues, but I do average around 18 down and 2.5 up ....
tcboo said:
Actually I believe if you check the ITU standards H+ qualifies for 4g so it can be called 4g , really when it was released 4g did not even qualify as 4g ....
When you are using 4g you will see both data and standby as 4g only when on "3g" will it show "3g" during non-data usage and will show H during data usage ... (or it should , might be different if using a non-stock ROM)
EDIT: 3g/H/4g/H+ , really when it comes down to it the name does not matter, the speed of the network is what matters, they can call it "BubbaSmith" band and I would not care, it is the speed that makes the actual difference ...
and in my "4g" area, TMO currently smokes VZ/AT&T "4g" ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming soon from T-Mobile, the next great things in smartphones. The Google Nebula running Fruit Loop on our new lightning fast BubbaSmith network.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
avarize said:
Coming soon from T-Mobile, the next great things in smartphones. The Google Nebula running Fruit Loop on our new lightning fast BubbaSmith network.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL
But I thought that the new phone was code named "Deliverance" ????

[Q] How do I know I'm on 4G?

I'm in Chicago (both in the city and suburbs), and my S3 always shows "3G" in the notification area.
I know AT&T has an LTE network here, so shouldn't it say 4G or LTE? Could this be a problem with my account--or even the phone?
Thanks.
somewhere in the settings should be a network selection to choose between GSM/LTE(4G) and GSM(3G) only....at least on the Verizon phones there usually is, of course it says CDMA/LTE(4G) or CDMA(3G) only
eelton said:
I'm in Chicago (both in the city and suburbs), and my S3 always shows "3G" in the notification area.
I know AT&T has an LTE network here, so shouldn't it say 4G or LTE? Could this be a problem with my account--or even the phone?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have ATT GS3 and it says 4GLTE tiny icon, if you are sure you are in LTE zone and only getting 3g , call AT&T or go to their store , sim could be old/wrong and or your account was not properly activated.
When i got my GS3 i wasnt getting any data at all , called AT&T and they sorted it out.
Run speedtest see what you getting ?
I have at&t in chicago as well. I live up in lake county and work in des plaines. I was also at navy pier a few weeks ago. Never had anything other than 4g or LTE. I literally have never seen the 3g icon on my phone
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Thanks for the replies. I'll give AT&T a call.
I did run speedtest, while the phone was displaying 3G. the download speed was 7686 and upload 5704.
Well, I called AT&T and they couldn't find any problem. After 20 minutes, they said, "There's a network outage reported in Chicago, so that must be it." I asked how long the outage has lasted, and she said 17 hours. But I've had the phone for four days, and have never seen anything but 3G.
At any rate, they said I would have to call back in a couple of days. That conveniently got the rep off the phone.
I live in a 3G area, and it says 4G on my phone. Makes me feel like they are BSing us to believe 4G is everywhere.
Only time it has been off of 4G is when I"m in an Edge area. Speaking of which, I found it interesting that while driving up I90 in Wyoming (didn't look like anything was there for miles and miles), the data speeds were great. I was so surprised. Driving the much busier highways in the midwest, it is Edge, and it sucks.
Sorry...went off topic.
eelton said:
Well, I called AT&T and they couldn't find any problem. After 20 minutes, they said, "There's a network outage reported in Chicago, so that must be it." I asked how long the outage has lasted, and she said 17 hours. But I've had the phone for four days, and have never seen anything but 3G.
At any rate, they said I would have to call back in a couple of days. That conveniently got the rep off the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your account does need to be flagged as LTE or you won't get LTE service. I'm up in Gurnee and all over Chicagoland has pretty good LTE coverage.
Also, check your APN that you're on the "PTA" and not the older APN settings. If you see anything about cingular wap, you're on the old one.
I recommend going to an AT&T store, it's harder to blow you off when you're up in their face.
I have friends in Aurora, Lombard, Lyons and I used to work downtown; I always had great LTE signal out and about as well as my home area of Gurnee/Libertyville.
Lastly, AT&T distinguishes between "4G" which is HSPA+ and "4G LTE" which is their LTE network. Unless you're running a custom ROM with different icons, you'll have an E for edge (2.5G, total ****), 3G for a 3G area that hasn't been upgraded, 4G for a 3G area that's been "backhaul upgraded" to HSPA+ and 4G with a little LTE beneath it for an LTE area.
For me, I can tell speed-wise between "4G" and "4G LTE" mostly by the upload speed. HSPA+ (4G) I never see above 1.2Mbps or so, whereas on LTE I get up to 5Mbps roughly. Sad story is the LTE network in the Chicago area is the slowest of their LTE networks that I've seen anyway. I get so jealous of people in TX and whatnot that get like 24Mbps!
Sorry for the rambling...
One weird thing...when I click on my results in speedtest, it lists the network as LTE, even though the icon always shows 3G.
So maybe it's connecting to LTE, but not showing the correct icon? Does a download speed of 7686 seem faster than 3G?
To follow up, in case this helps anyone...
I spent another half hour on the phone with AT&T--level 1 and level 2 tech support. (The level 2 guy was much less informed than the level 1 woman.) Their bottom line was that I should exchange the phone.
However, when I use the network signal info app, it says I'm on the LTE network. So, I think I have an icon problem, not an actual network connection problem.
I think I'll just live with it, rather than exchange the phone.

LTE? Does The Icon Change?

Silly question, but I'm curious. In my area, according to what I have seen on T-Mobile's website, there is some LTE coverage in the greater downtown area. Although I have "4G" just about everywhere, I have also been through the downtown areas and never seen an LTE icon or anything like that on my phone. Speed test results have also not shown anything significant either. Can someone with known LTE chime in?
02CWRX said:
Silly question, but I'm curious. In my area, according to what I have seen on T-Mobile's website, there is some LTE coverage in the greater downtown area. Although I have "4G" just about everywhere, I have also been through the downtown areas and never seen an LTE icon or anything like that on my phone. Speed test results have also not shown anything significant either. Can someone with known LTE chime in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, here's a screenshot:
http://i.imgur.com/OubhiYj.jpg
It will say LTE along with the 4G icon
Sent from my DROID RAZR using xda premium
ryceone said:
Yep, here's a screenshot:
http://i.imgur.com/OubhiYj.jpg
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Click to collapse
Perfect! I hit the thanks button for you.
Wow 33mb download
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda premium
awesomedeals88 said:
Wow 33mb download
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Yeah crazy right?
A similar question (I have neither an S4 nor T-Mobile service at this time, but will in the near future).
When you switch from HSPA+ "4G" to LTE 4G... is there an interruption in service for a few seconds as you change networks? I have a Nexus S 4G on Sprint right now, and where I live if I drive 10 miles I will go back and forth between 3G and 4G several times. And every time 4G becomes either available or unavailable, I will have a several second interruption in service while it switches networks. It's so annoying that I sometimes completely disable 4G because I'd rather have slow steady 3G than all these switches back and forth with gaps. Does that make sense?
The111 said:
A similar question (I have neither an S4 nor T-Mobile service at this time, but will in the near future).
When you switch from HSPA+ "4G" to LTE 4G... is there an interruption in service for a few seconds as you change networks? I have a Nexus S 4G on Sprint right now, and where I live if I drive 10 miles I will go back and forth between 3G and 4G several times. And every time 4G becomes either available or unavailable, I will have a several second interruption in service while it switches networks. It's so annoying that I sometimes completely disable 4G because I'd rather have slow steady 3G than all these switches back and forth with gaps. Does that make sense?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its quite normal it just means your radio is switching signals and theres a small down time for a second while it searches for the change in frequency.
Your probably seeing the O with a line thru it for a split second then signal bars arise
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda premium
lojak29 said:
Its quite normal it just means your radio is switching signals and theres a small down time for a second while it searches for the change in frequency.
Your probably seeing the O with a line thru it for a split second then signal bars arise
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I do understand the reason behind it and that it's normal for my phone.
But I have never used an HSPA+ or LTE network or phone and I'm asking if the same thing happens with the S4 when switching between HSPA+ and LTE. I assume it does, but would appreciate confirmation from someone with the phone, on Tmobile, with both networks available in their area. Thanks.

How do I re-enable LTE

Hey all! Ok, so my gf has had this S2 from Koodo (Telus) since January. Out of the box it came with LTE/4G enabled and working fine. However, I rarely leave things alone and right away I installed TWRP, AOKP and I think, Tiberius Kernel. Have been using variations of each since. However, ever since I did that, the 4G hasn't worked. In the phone settings it says LTE/GSM Auto. However if I change it to anything else, like LTE ONLY, for example, it just stays at LTE/GSM auto. Nothing happens. So I am wondering how to get her 4G to work again since I know it is fully capable of it and my area does have working LTE.
santeana said:
Hey all! Ok, so my gf has had this S2 from Koodo (Telus) since January. Out of the box it came with LTE/4G enabled and working fine. However, I rarely leave things alone and right away I installed TWRP, AOKP and I think, Tiberius Kernel. Have been using variations of each since. However, ever since I did that, the 4G hasn't worked. In the phone settings it says LTE/GSM Auto. However if I change it to anything else, like LTE ONLY, for example, it just stays at LTE/GSM auto. Nothing happens. So I am wondering how to get her 4G to work again since I know it is fully capable of it and my area does have working LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The t989d doesn't have lte. Doesn't have the hardware for it.
Sent from my cell phone telephone
Ok but my mother has the same phone (got them each one) but I haven't touched that one and it says 4G by the signal bars... Why is that?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
santeana said:
Ok but my mother has the same phone (got them each one) but I haven't touched that one and it says 4G by the signal bars... Why is that?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4g is the same as H+ on custom roms. And now some say DC. Not sure why they left behind the 4g symbol, but its all the same thing. So if you see H+, DC or 4g, its all actually 4g.
You should be on GSM/wcdma preferred in mobile settings.
Sent from my cell phone telephone
kj2112 said:
4g is the same as H+ on custom roms. And now some say DC. Not sure why they left behind the 4g symbol, but its all the same thing. So if you see H+, DC or 4g, its all actually 4g.
Sent from my cell phone telephone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh ok! Thanks!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
I have sorta the same problem, except I have a tmobile s2 t989. I flashed cm 10.1 nightlies and the newest radio. Phone works good except my phone no longer shows the 4G symbol above the signal bars. It instead says 3G. Before rooting it said 4G above the signal bars. Every once in a while it says DC. Any advice?
iMacMane said:
I have sorta the same problem, except I have a tmobile s2 t989. I flashed cm 10.1 nightlies and the newest radio. Phone works good except my phone no longer shows the 4G symbol above the signal bars. It instead says 3G. Before rooting it said 4G above the signal bars. Every once in a while it says DC. Any advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Explained the symbols in posts above. And if you are getting a lot of 3g....that's reception. Your losing your 4g connection and its picking up 3g. Usually for this to happen you'd only be getting about 1 bar on your signal.
Sent from my cell phone telephone
kj2112 said:
Explained the symbols in posts above. And if you are getting a lot of 3g....that's reception. Your losing your 4g connection and its picking up 3g. Usually for this to happen you'd only be getting about 1 bar on your signal.
Sent from my cell phone telephone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate the info. I live in Orlando and I'm pretty sure we have tmobiles 4g or hspa+. I was just wondering why I'm only getting 3G date speeds instead of 4G speeds. The internet still seems relatively fast but wanted to make sure the phone wasn't slowing down the speeds to 3G speeds.
iMacMane said:
I have sorta the same problem, except I have a tmobile s2 t989. I flashed cm 10.1 nightlies and the newest radio. Phone works good except my phone no longer shows the 4G symbol above the signal bars. It instead says 3G. Before rooting it said 4G above the signal bars. Every once in a while it says DC. Any advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aosp ROMs run on 3g (umts) until data is called. Once data is called it will pull up h+(hspa+)or dc(dc-hspa) depending on your area. Its a battery saving feature and the stock Samsung ROMs show 4g all the time. Unless on edge or GPRS. I think even touchwiz ROMs went to umts while idle.
sent from my t989 hercules

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