Develop Bugs

Galaxy Nexus GSM - AT&T or T-Mobile

I currently have a GSM Galaxy Nexus with a T- Mobile Prepaid Data plan ($30 - 5GB). I love the phone and service but I do live in an area were if I leave the city my signal drops to EDGE or nothing at all. I have been thinking about trying AT&T instead to help with reception issues.
Will switching to an AT&T plan help out with roaming? I check with T-Mobile and my current plan does not have roaming included.
Also, building penetration is extremely poor. Outside I can get between 5-6 mbps down and up. Going inside drops performance down to 1.5-2 mbps down and up. Is this a T-Mobile specific issue? Will switching to AT&T help with building penetration?

Building penetration is a gsm thing. Switch to CDMA if you want better penetration. Gsm goes further from the tower but is less effective through buildings

It actually has more to do with the spectrum you're using rather than CDMA vs. GSM. AT&T has deployed their 800mhz spectrum across much of the US and if you're using it rather than the 1900mhz spectrum they also use, your service will be better when in buildings. Also, GSM 3G is a WCDMA technology which makes the GSM vs. CDMA argument a moot point.

tizio13 said:
I currently have a GSM Galaxy Nexus with a T- Mobile Prepaid Data plan ($30 - 5GB). I love the phone and service but I do live in an area were if I leave the city my signal drops to EDGE or nothing at all. I have been thinking about trying AT&T instead to help with reception issues.
Will switching to an AT&T plan help out with roaming? I check with T-Mobile and my current plan does not have roaming included.
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Click to collapse
Well, the reason why your T-Mobile plan doesn't have roaming is because its Prepaid. Prepaid plans (with any carrier) very very very rarely include roaming. If you were to go to a full-price AT&T (proper) service, you'll be paying 3-4x as much as your Prepaid T-Mobile account, but yes you'll get better coverage.
If you simply choose to go to an AT&T MVNO Prepaid account (such as Straight Talk), you'll probably get better coverage (AT&T footprint is larger), although you don't get roaming still. It really does depend on your area and what carriers offer good service. In reality, AT&T could be just as bad as T-Mobile in your area.
Also, building penetration is extremely poor. Outside I can get between 5-6 mbps down and up. Going inside drops performance down to 1.5-2 mbps down and up. Is this a T-Mobile specific issue? Will switching to AT&T help with building penetration?
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Click to collapse
It's because T-Mobile runs HSPA+ on AWS, which is 1700/2100mhz. The higher the frequency, the harder time it has getting through walls, hills, etc.. AT&T won't be dramatically better, as it runs on 850mhz & 1900mhz, so you'll still be relying on high mhz spectrum. It'll never fare inside buildings as well as Verizon and AT&T's LTE rollout, which is in the 700mhz band.
timgt said:
Building penetration is a gsm thing. Switch to CDMA if you want better penetration. Gsm goes further from the tower but is less effective through buildings
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Click to collapse
Actually, it just depends on the frequency its running on...

timgt said:
Building penetration is a gsm thing. Switch to CDMA if you want better penetration. Gsm goes further from the tower but is less effective through buildings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, wrong. T-Mobile's 3G is on a higher frequency. (band IV)
To the OP: T-Mobile postpaid can sometimes roam on AT&T. Prepaid does not. Such is life with T-Mobile USA.
Not a big deal for me - I have great T-Mobile coverage - but certainly it's not good enough for people who don't spend a significant amount of time in densely-populated metropolitan areas.

Is it normal/acceptable for "4g" speeds to be less than 2 Mb?

About a month ago my area upgraded from EDGE to HSPA+. I finally decided to play with the speedtest.net app yesterday and I was only managing download speeds of maybe 1 or 2Mb, on a good test. This is enough for casual use, I suppose, but most people (on this board at least) seem to be getting much better speeds than that. A nearby area where the State University resides also produces similar speeds on my GNex and my previous phone (AT&T Galaxy S2).
Is this normal or do I need to change something on my phone?

blackplague1347 said:
About a month ago my area upgraded from EDGE to HSPA+. I finally decided to play with the speedtest.net app yesterday and I was only managing download speeds of maybe 1 or 2Mb, on a good test. This is enough for casual use, I suppose, but most people (on this board at least) seem to be getting much better speeds than that. A nearby area where the State University resides also produces similar speeds on my GNex and my previous phone (AT&T Galaxy S2).
Is this normal or do I need to change something on my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1-3mbps is pretty normal for me indoors with 2-3 bars of signal, with 4-5 or so outdoors with better signal. I can only pull down those crazy numbers of 10+ with HSPA+ late at night when the towers aren't as busy. I'm in a small town, but we've had HSPA+ for a good year or more now (heck, I was on Verizon when it was switched on, so I don't know exactly how long...). Maybe your network is still getting upgraded / installed and the process isn't done yet?
I'm on the T-mobile $30 plan, by the way. I've heard AT&T's HSPA+ can be significantly slower in some places, so that may be part of it?

if they just rolled out the towers a month ago and upgraded to HSPA+, I'm not at all surprised by those speeds.

Att's hspa is notoriously slow compared to Tmo. I see between 6 and 18 mbps on my Tmo phones and my Att phones max out at around 6, averaging around 3.
For an area that just now got hspa turned on when the rest of the country is getting LTE, those speeds you are describing seem perfectly normal.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

I'm on T-Mobile and 1-2Mb is normal for me with 5 bars. If I'm extremely lucky I sometimes see 3Mb.
T-Mobile's "4G" in Phoenix is exactly the same speed as my 3G Vibrant.

Ravynmagi said:
I'm on T-Mobile and 1-2Mb is normal for me with 5 bars. If I'm extremely lucky I sometimes see 3Mb.
T-Mobile's "4G" in Phoenix is exactly the same speed as my 3G Vibrant.
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True, location also plays a big role.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

I would be happy to get 6Mb down with AT&T in Austin. Max is about 3.1Mbps which I think is crap since we know it is capable of more. Interestingly, AT&T LTE in the same areas rock!

TJBunch1228 said:
Att's hspa is notoriously slow compared to Tmo. I see between 6 and 18 mbps on my Tmo phones and my Att phones max out at around 6, averaging around 3.
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Well that's also because T-Mobile has HSPA+ 42mbps deployed, and devices that can make use of it. Most AT&T devices are at best 21mbps capable, and not all of their towers are.

Depends on signal strength. On VZW LTE I can pull 20+ mbps in Seattle, but only 2-5 mbps in outlying areas.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Winesnob said:
Depends on signal strength. On VZW LTE I can pull 20+ mbps in Seattle, but only 2-5 mbps in outlying areas.
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Well, we're talking about AT&T HSPA+ in here so...

martonikaj said:
Well, we're talking about AT&T HSPA+ in here so...
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Click to collapse
...so the thread title asked about 4g speeds. 4g = HSPA+ or LTE.

Winesnob said:
...so the thread title asked about 4g speeds. 4g = HSPA+ or LTE.
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"4g" in quotes, and OP specifically is talking about AT&T.

I'll have to run speedtest some more when I'm out of town and see what kind of numbers I can get. I would be interested to see what speeds a 3G phone gets in the same region as my "4G" Gnex (HSPA+ via AT&T, not LTE via Verizon).

ATT S3 on t-mobile 3G network ?

Anyone know if this (at&t) version will work on T-mobile HSDPA (3G) network?
My phone is unlocked.
I think ATT version is HSDPA 850/1900/2100, isn't T-Mobile run 3G only on 1700 ??

smashcz said:
Anyone know if this (at&t) version will work on T-mobile HSDPA (3G) network?
My phone is unlocked.
I think ATT version is HSDPA 850/1900/2100, isn't T-Mobile run 3G only on 1700 ??
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we have not gotten our S3 to work on t-mobile on there 3g network yet.

dirtbikerr450 said:
we have not gotten our S3 to work on t-mobile on there 3g network yet.
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I think it depends on area, some places they already deployed 1900, so those areas should work fine.

smashcz said:
I think it depends on area, some places they already deployed 1900, so those areas should work fine.
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yes that is what t-mobile has done

smashcz said:
I think it depends on area, some places they already deployed 1900, so those areas should work fine.
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Click to collapse
Chicago, for example, is listed as being underway but not finished yet. My coverage varies in the suburbs (as of two weeks ago) but the change in the amount of coverage just in the last month has been spectacular. There are T-Mo blogs that cover what areas have been done and which are undway (DC, Las Vegas, South FL, LA, Bay Area and Silicon Valley are done; most of the biggest metro areas are currently "re-farming", as T-Mobile puts it). I will say that, once it's done, I'm getting solid three to four bar coverage with that nice little stylized 4G winking at me. Tested it the other day and got 12.5 down, almost 2 up (1859).

chidino said:
Chicago, for example, is listed as being underway but not finished yet. My coverage varies in the suburbs (as of two weeks ago) but the change in the amount of coverage just in the last month has been spectacular. There are T-Mo blogs that cover what areas have been done and which are undway (DC, Las Vegas, South FL, LA, Bay Area and Silicon Valley are done; most of the biggest metro areas are currently "re-farming", as T-Mobile puts it). I will say that, once it's done, I'm getting solid three to four bar coverage with that nice little stylized 4G winking at me. Tested it the other day and got 12.5 down, almost 2 up (1859).
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Yep! Confirmed, in Atlanta too. I get 3G most of the time and sometimes H+ in the Duluth area.
I get 10.87 down and 1.28 up.
I have an unlocked i747 running OAKP in TMobile.

[Q] HSPA+ speed goes down after LTE launch

Dont know If anyone noticed this. I live in wash dc and 3 days ago LTE went live here. The thing is this though: I have a galaxy s3 with tmobile which supports hspa+ 42MB but not LTE and before the greatest LTE lauch here I was having like 21MB/s down and 3MB/s up on HSPA+ network. However after the LTE lauch my speeds on HSPA+ network went way down to constant 8MB/s down and 2.2MB/s up no matter what time u do the test no matter what server u use. I just hope this is not just another Tmobile trick to force me to update to an LTE ready device to be able to access higher speeds after I just got the not LTE ready galaxy s3. Can anyone in an LTE area confirm this?

My speeds are a little slower
And I'm getting more 3g and less HSPA
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

It all depends on spectrum licenses in your area. Where T-Mobile has to refarm their spectrum for LTE it will cut HSPA down to 21mbps.

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Well now that sucks. So my speeds go down when they turn on LTE? How lovely...
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

I think the problem is stemming from excess bandwidth consumption by those markets that have LTE and people with Note IIs ready to use it. The backhaul needs to be increased. Just like what happened when they launched UMTS... Give it some time. Or go get an LTE phone.

I live in KC and have not experienced any drop. My market and towers were confirmed by tmo to be running both.

The issue really is how good your PCS (1900) coverage is... The refarming will slide the AWS HSPA to 1900 to make room for LTE. This will cause problems in markets that don't have full PCS licenses or decent PCS coverage. And obviously indoor speeds will be slower when on PCS due to building penetration.

I also remember reading that part of the reason T-Mobile's HSPA+ was so fast was the fact that it uses one frequency for upload and the other for download, whereas PCS just uses one frequency for both. So I guess we will be as average as the rest now?

No data rate change here
jcbofkc said:
I live in KC and have not experienced any drop. My market and towers were confirmed by tmo to be running both.
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Same for LV. I have not noticed any major drop in data speed.

Ridiculous data speeds while on a call

Ok... I have gone round and round and round and round with AT&T on this issue. My data is nearly unusable while on a call. Most of the time it times out, and when it does work, it is ridiculously slow.
I have gone through the stores, technical support, wrote their corporate headquarters (which got no response whatsoever), Twitter, and finally I filed a complaint with the FCC.
The FCC complaint is where I am now, and they want to work with me on this issue. They keep focusing on the towers in my area (although it happens EVERYWHERE), and my phone (even though this is my second phone). Basically I am tired of wasting my time with this issue, and I want to point them to this thread to tell them this this is NOT just me. Maybe it is the Note 2, but I think it is their network. Hopefully this thread will tell me AND THEM.
So with that said, I would love for everyone to post their City/State, and 2 speed tests (one while on a call and one while not on a call). Not moving would be preferable.
I will post mine shortly.

Tampa Bay North
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 4

Not sure why you so frustrated. But signal's are suppose to drop while on a call!! Your using data, and yes we can be on the web and be on a call at the same time. I've been doing it since I was first on AT&T. :thumbup:
But I'm thinking it's your area or the modem. Here's my results after reading your post. I decided to go out for breakfast and perform this test to see if it was that BAD! :what:
Here's my results:
NO CALL HERE
ON CALL NOW
Still above 10 mb down. BUT IT DID DROP DRASTICALLY BECAUSE I'M NO LONGER ON LTE CONNECTION.
Just my 2¢®
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 4

To answer your question, I am upset because they advertise themselves as being able to use voice and data simultaneously and I can barely use my data while on a call. Most of the time it times out and I constantly have to redo my request. I think my problem is the ability to send data (which include acknowledgements and the request). I don't so much mind that it slows down, but being nearly unusable is a whole other story.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 4

Milkman00 said:
To answer your question, I am upset because they advertise themselves as being able to use voice and data simultaneously and I can barely use my data while on a call. Most of the time it times out and I constantly have to redo my request. I think my problem is the ability to send data (which include acknowledgements and the request). I don't so much mind that it slows down, but being nearly unusable is a whole other story.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 4
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Click to collapse
And that I have been able to do always. Be on a call and the web. But I understand your frustration on it not writing when you want. And it being so slow.
Not sure what Rom, modem your using? But I don't really see that much of a problem. Unless I'm inside of a metal building!!
Lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 4

Yeah look at my on call upload speed compared to you. Definitely a problem.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 4

Milkman00 said:
Yeah look at my on call upload speed compared to you. Definitely a problem.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
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I agree with you completely. On that note! What modem are you using. Take a screen shot of your about phone. Just curious if that is what is causing your problem. Wondering if your on the latest modem release..
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 4

I am rooted stock.

4.1.2
i317ucamc3
3.0.31-578342

As an RBS Engineer I can explain why this happens to you.
Its due to a few reasons
1. What frequency is 1st carrier in your market 1900mhz or 850mhz
2. How many carriers are in your particular area (the most i have seen is 5 in the major metro areas)
3. How far away the next tower is to you
4. How saturated each carrier is
Whwn testing a new LTE site i will get 30-50mbps download and 20mbps up
Thats cuz im the ONLY one on the carrier at the time.
So a tower is made up of carriers, each carrier has sectors with a corresponding antenna that face a different direction (Alpha Beta Gamma)
You have multiple carriers in areas where theres heavy traffic.
now back to your phone its multi banded 1900, 850, 700/2100(lte)
If your market is 850 first carrier and 850 second carrier your data while on the phone will be almost non existent becuase that band on your phone is in use with your call. But if you have 850 1st carrier then 1900 second carrier or vice versa then your speeds will be decent. For whatever reason when you place a call your data automatically switches to HSPA most likely due to the VOIP on the LTE band leaving only the 3g band for data. Now I dont engineer the network itself becuase I dont understand why LTE isnt left open for data while were on calls.
I dont know if i confused you more or if that helped.
Hope it helped though
Its like a highway
A carrier is a single highway with multiple lanes 850mhz 1900mhz 700mhz(for lte 1st carrier) and 2100 (for lte 2nd)
If your area has only 2 carriers 850mhz and 850mhz its like 2 lanes on a highway going in the same direction and the other side of the highway is blocked
If its 850mhz and 1900mhz but there is heavy traffic and not enough carriers its like bieng stuck in 5 o clock traffic and trying to turn around. Its busy on both lanes so everything is slow
Each carrier adds lanes for traffic in a typical metro area you will see someting like
1st carrier 850mhz
2nd 850mhz
3rd 1900mhz
4th 850 mhz
5th 1900 mhz
LTE 1st carrier 700mhz
LTE 2nd Carrier 2100mhz
Thats a lot of lanes for traffic

tramane said:
As an RBS Engineer I can explain why this happens to you.
Its due to a few reasons
1. What frequency is 1st carrier in your market 1900mhz or 850mhz
2. How many carriers are in your particular area (the most i have seen is 5 in the major metro areas)
3. How far away the next tower is to you
4. How saturated each carrier is
Whwn testing a new LTE site i will get 30-50mbps download and 20mbps up
Thats cuz im the ONLY one on the carrier at the time.
So a tower is made up of carriers, each carrier has sectors with a corresponding antenna that face a different direction (Alpha Beta Gamma)
You have multiple carriers in areas where theres heavy traffic.
now back to your phone its multi banded 1900, 850, 700/2100(lte)
If your market is 850 first carrier and 850 second carrier your data while on the phone will be almost non existent becuase that band on your phone is in use with your call. But if you have 850 1st carrier then 1900 second carrier or vice versa then your speeds will be decent. For whatever reason when you place a call your data automatically switches to HSPA most likely due to the VOIP on the LTE band leaving only the 3g band for data. Now I dont engineer the network itself becuase I dont understand why LTE isnt left open for data while were on calls.
I dont know if i confused you more or if that helped.
Hope it helped though
Its like a highway
A carrier is a single highway with multiple lanes 850mhz 1900mhz 700mhz(for lte 1st carrier) and 2100 (for lte 2nd)
If your area has only 2 carriers 850mhz and 850mhz its like 2 lanes on a highway going in the same direction and the other side of the highway is blocked
If its 850mhz and 1900mhz but there is heavy traffic and not enough carriers its like bieng stuck in 5 o clock traffic and trying to turn around. Its busy on both lanes so everything is slow
Each carrier adds lanes for traffic in a typical metro area you will see someting like
1st carrier 850mhz
2nd 850mhz
3rd 1900mhz
4th 850 mhz
5th 1900 mhz
LTE 1st carrier 700mhz
LTE 2nd Carrier 2100mhz
Thats a lot of lanes for traffic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it seems to happen everywhere that I go which is as far as 70 miles in any direction. The big 3 are in my area (Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon) as well as T-Mobile and Metro (but I am not sure if Metro is their own or they use other carriers).
The major metro areas that I visit are Tampa and Orlando and they do the same thing. I live in a rural area (so the towers are not very saturated), and there is a tower about 1.5 miles (tops) in either direction of me.
I am not sure what frequency my area is. How can I tell?

This is expected. AT&T doesn't support voice over LTE yet, so when you place a phone call the modem needs to switch back to the 3G/Fake 4G HSPA+ network. I'm guessing you just have poor 4G reception. Can you disable LTE and then do a speedtest on the regular 4G network?

Prior to the LTE implementation I was getting far better speeds on the HSPA+ network..
How do I disable LTE to get a current HSPA+ test?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 4

Looks like this might be the easiest way: http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-...3-you-can-disable-hspa-too-2.html#post2551614
Edit: while on a call I get 1663Kbps down and just 93Kbps up, so this might not be unique to you.

saturnspike said:
This is expected. AT&T doesn't support voice over LTE yet, so when you place a phone call the modem needs to switch back to the 3G/Fake 4G HSPA+ network. I'm guessing you just have poor 4G reception. Can you disable LTE and then do a speedtest on the regular 4G network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On HSPA+ I get 2.2 meg down and almost 1 meg up (910k).
FAR better than what I get while on a call in an LTE area.

OK after reading this thread. Do y'all think this problem will be fixed for the Note 3 because I read the note 3 will have the strongest LTE chip available? Or will it be determined on how heavy data traffic is on your frequency?

At&t hasn't supported voice+LTE data. Its the original voice+3G data. Its not the phone.

A given market can be very large it can encompass a whole state. I work in the south texas market which is basically EVERYTHING south of killeen texas. I have driven as far as 6hrs to south padre from austin and I remain in the same market. That was almost 400 miles south. Houston is part of the same market as well as all the way to east to the border of lousiana.

rangercaptain said:
At&t hasn't supported voice+LTE data. Its the original voice+3G data. Its not the phone.
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ranger - thanks but that doesn't explain the problems I experienced.

tramane said:
A given market can be very large it can encompass a whole state. I work in the south texas market which is basically EVERYTHING south of killeen texas. I have driven as far as 6hrs to south padre from austin and I remain in the same market. That was almost 400 miles south. Houston is part of the same market as well as all the way to east to the border of lousiana.
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Click to collapse
So how can I determine the frequency of my market to answer your original inquiry??