Q: LTE toggle? - AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4

Is there a way to turn off/toggle LTE?
Unfortunately one place I go has enough signal to cause the phone to stay on LTE, but the data rates are horrible (64 kbit).
The times it does drop to regular 4G I get great speeds. And LTE works fine in other locations, just not in this specific one.
Thoughts?

Same here! Been looking for a toggle widget myself.

Related

[Q] Anyone else's Nexus take a long time to get data connectivity?

Like the title states. When I was doing the initial setup with the phone I actually had to connect it to wifi since the 3G connection hadn't been established. Roughly 3-4 minutes before it connected. Same issue across roms and even the leaked radio. This happens during android os startup and airplane mode.
Maybe I'm spoiled but my OG droid data connection was usually established within 30 seconds. The Droid Razr I was "renting" was the same way.
Is anyone else's LTE nexus this way? Is this another quirk of the phone. Or do I have a defective radio?
Mine takes maybe 30 or 40 seconds for a 3g connection. Way way longer than my Sprint phone does.
Try changing to cdma only, instead of cdma/lte, see if that helps. its possible the phone is looking for a 4g signal first, or if its too weak to connect, then reverts to 3g
I've found personally, that initially, turning off/on data, both 3g and 4g take longer to connect, but if left on and running, it switches back and forth as necessary & quickly
When I switch to cdma only, it takes a long time to connect . Same when I switch back to lte.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
I live in a strong LTE region running the leaked 4.03 radio. Where the signals are strong, eg in the middle of a street, the radios are great. But surprisingly, this combo experiences 3G+4G holes where my Sprint phone works fine on 4G.
Switching WiFi to strong 4G signal seems to take 20-30 secs.
Switching from no signal reception to good 4G signal seems to take well over a minute.
Btw, not sure how long it takes to switch to 3G. It does happen when I enter buildings but I am not watching the signal indicator change.
dynamicpda said:
But surprisingly, this combo experiences 3G+4G holes where my Sprint phone works fine on 4G.
Switching WiFi to strong 4G signal seems to take 20-30 secs.
Switching from no signal reception to good 4G signal seems to take well over a minute.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've been using the leaked radios for a bit, and have had significantly faster switching wifi->4g, its almost instant now, and even for 2-3 bars. No signal->4g does take me a bit too tho.
As for Sprint, they have different antennas, and could be covering different areas, and on different towers than verizon
I've noticed the slow switch on both 3g and 4g. This includes switching from 3g to 4g and vice versa. Inside buildings or in the streets, it doesn't seem to matter.
The city I live in was one of the test markets for 4g, and I can get a 4g connection pretty much everywhere but the outskirts. 4g speed tests aren't in the wow factor like the Droid Razr, I mostly manage 10-12mbps down and 1-6mbps up.
I think I'm going to take a little trip around my local Verizon wireless and hit their test units to see if the same thing happens.

4g/3g data connection

It seems whenever I don't have a 4g data connection, I'm not getting any data connection. Anyone else have this problem? When I'm in builldings I never get a data connection. Even when I'm outside I rarely get data connection unless it's a 4g spot. I know someone with a GN and side by side, he gets a connection at work while I have gray bars. Is this prevelant among most of you all? I'm on Verizon if that makes a difference.
Yes, I have this issue as well when I am at work but only when I have wifi turned on. With wifi on I get no 4g connection inside the building and the phone won't drop down to 3g, just gives me gray bars and no data. Manually switching from LTE/CDMA to CDMA restores my 3g data connection. Turning wifi off enables the LTE data connection. I assume it's trying to use the building's wifi network that I am not authenticated to for some reason. It's quite annoying and seems to be draining my battery.
My 4g reception sucks. I am rather disappointed. I canceled my ATT account and paid the ETF to switch to verizon for the GN. I am in plano tx which is in the Verizon LTE area and i dont get any signal except in a few spots on the highway. I work in Richardson, which is also in the LTE area, and i dont even have 3g in the building. I dont have any signal when i go deeper into the building away from the windows. I am running stock 4.0.2. I hope this gets better. I am already regretting dropping ATT.
jason.hamilton said:
My 4g reception sucks. I am rather disappointed. I canceled my ATT account and paid the ETF to switch to verizon for the GN. I am in plano tx which is in the Verizon LTE area and i dont get any signal except in a few spots on the highway. I work in Richardson, which is also in the LTE area, and i dont even have 3g in the building. I dont have any signal when i go deeper into the building away from the windows. I am running stock 4.0.2. I hope this gets better. I am already regretting dropping ATT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange. I have excellent 3G and 4G signal in buildings, coming from Sprint I had non-existent data everywhere, especially indoors.
Just as an fyi. I went to Verizon to try to get a new phone. They told me my sim card was bad. I got the phone on the first day and they said they had issues with the first sim cards with the nexus. My wifes has the same problem.
New sim card, NO MORE connection issues. Yeah! Anyone else who has this issue might try this. I am now getting 3g and even 4g connections inside now.
ill go to the verizon store after work and switch sims. Just got it on 1/1. Ill go to a different verizon store to make sure its not a bad batch lol.
Wasnt the SIM card. Still getting crappy signal strength. I am going today and replacing the phone. If that doesnt work, i am going back to ATT skyrocket...
spencer88 said:
Strange. I have excellent 3G and 4G signal in buildings, coming from Sprint I had non-existent data everywhere, especially indoors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my office I get very weak to no 4G signal, so that the phone is constantly switching from weak 4G down to 3G and causing connection disruptions. I usually just disable LTE and use CDMA only mode to fix this. I have heard that a LTE signal should penetrate inside of buildings better, but apparently my workplace is almost impenetrable. We have a Verizon 3G repeater in the office or I would get no usable signal at all.
Spencer, what kind of speeds are you getting with LTE in the Columbia area? It seems like I got better speeds when I had my Rezound than I'm getting with my Galaxy Nexus.
jason.hamilton said:
My 4g reception sucks. I am rather disappointed. I canceled my ATT account and paid the ETF to switch to verizon for the GN. I am in plano tx which is in the Verizon LTE area and i dont get any signal except in a few spots on the highway. I work in Richardson, which is also in the LTE area, and i dont even have 3g in the building. I dont have any signal when i go deeper into the building away from the windows. I am running stock 4.0.2. I hope this gets better. I am already regretting dropping ATT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had the exact opposite experience in Dallas. I switched from AT&T a year ago. I couldn't even make calls in my house. (I live in Lakewood) I had to go upstairs or outside. As far as data goes even on just 3G the Verizon speeds are much faster. I've done quite a few AT&T vs Verizon 3G side by side tests and Verzion has won every time. 4G is just a bonus for me. When I get a 4G signal there is no comparison. My coworker and I did a speed test on Tuesday at DFW. His iPhone 4s on AT&T vs my Gnex. I was getting 10-15 mbits down and he was getting like 2-3
3G Data
I am having the same exact problem. I thought it was related to airplane mode, I have it turning on at midnight and off at 6am. In the morning, if there is no Wifi and the phone is in 3G, I can't get data. Restarting gets data back, but I'm looking for a more elegant solution than that.
I'm having HUGE data issues, see:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1421440
just a quick question. are you guys running custom ROMs/kernels? if so, please add that in your post.
none at all here.

Questions about 4g!!!

So my area is scheduled to get 4g the 17th but I had a few questions about 4g...
First of all how do you tell if you have a bad lte radio? Does it just not connect to 4g or does it do something else? I've been testing to see if I got it yet everyday and it hasn't popped up even once yet so I'm not sure if I might have a bad 4g radio or not
Second of all how long does it take for 4g to pop up after switching to cdma/LTE? does it usually connect to 3g first or just go to 4g?
And thirdly if I have a poor 3g signal (says about 80-90 dbm but my 3g speeds are usually around 200-400 kbps), does it tend to carry over to 4g? (just as in slower speeds than if you have a decent 4g signal)
Hello.
To answer your question about the lte radio... If you aren't sure if your area has 4g and are trying to test by turning it on or off I think your best bet would probably be to ask someone else (who has a 4g phone) if they are obtaining the network. If possible, you could go somewhere you know for certain has 4g (if theres anywhere remotely close) and try it there. I doubt you have a bad radio if your 3g signal is working, have you flashed any roms or are you running stock? If you think the radio is bad you could always try and flash the most recent ones.
The time it takes to switch from cdma to cdma/LTE is almost instant. When you do so your blue 3g bars disappear and it turns grey. After no more than 5 or 10 seconds it will connect to 4g (if its available) and display the blue bars. If you're in an area with both 3g and 4g the phone will automatically connect to the 4g first if it can.
In my personal experience I've noticed that if you're in an area with bad 3g reception the 4g will be about the same give or take a little. I also believe that even if you have poor 3g and 4g the LTE will still have a higher data transfer rate.
Moonkae said:
Hello.
To answer your question about the lte radio... If you aren't sure if your area has 4g and are trying to test by turning it on or off I think your best bet would probably be to ask someone else (who has a 4g phone) if they are obtaining the network. If possible, you could go somewhere you know for certain has 4g (if theres anywhere remotely close) and try it there. I doubt you have a bad radio if your 3g signal is working, have you flashed any roms or are you running stock? If you think the radio is bad you could always try and flash the most recent ones.
The time it takes to switch from cdma to cdma/LTE is almost instant. When you do so your blue 3g bars disappear and it turns grey. After no more than 5 or 10 seconds it will connect to 4g (if its available) and display the blue bars. If you're in an area with both 3g and 4g the phone will automatically connect to the 4g first if it can.
In my personal experience I've noticed that if you're in an area with bad 3g reception the 4g will be about the same give or take a little. I also believe that even if you have poor 3g and 4g the LTE will still have a higher data transfer rate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for...I know a couple places not too far that have 4g for certain, and as for comparing to other 4g phones to see if they have 4g I can probably just check the local Verizon store
I'm definitely hoping for at least 5 mbps download for LTE speed, which I'm sure is fairly easy to get, I can't stand average 3g speeds of 100-500 kbps and maybe 1 mbps if I'm lucky
I'm supposed to be getting 4g officially here tomorrow so hopefully it all works
Thanks again

[Q] [Request] Signal bar hack.

Does anyone know how to have the bar indicator read HSPA even when I'm connected to LTE? To me, when I'm connected to LTE I could care less about signal strength because speed is all that matters. I prefer to know how my call would be, so I'd like the bars to read my HSPA signal and forget about the LTE strength. I like to know I'm connected to LTE but like i said, i could care less about what the LTE strength is. If anyone knows how or could point me in the right direction, that would be awesome if its possible. I've looked all over the place and couldn't find it, all the threads I've found tell you how to change the icons and such, which I've done. But this is something I do not know. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Harmtan2 said:
Does anyone know how to have the bar indicator read HSPA even when I'm connected to LTE? To me, when I'm connected to LTE I could care less about signal strength because speed is all that matters. I prefer to know how my call would be, so I'd like the bars to read my HSPA signal and forget about the LTE strength. I like to know I'm connected to LTE but like i said, i could care less about what the LTE strength is. If anyone knows how or could point me in the right direction, that would be awesome if its possible. I've looked all over the place and couldn't find it, all the threads I've found tell you how to change the icons and such, which I've done. But this is something I do not know. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Signal bars don't have anything to do with LTE. Unless I completely misread what you said.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Harmtan2 said:
Does anyone know how to have the bar indicator read HSPA even when I'm connected to LTE? To me, when I'm connected to LTE I could care less about signal strength because speed is all that matters. I prefer to know how my call would be, so I'd like the bars to read my HSPA signal and forget about the LTE strength. I like to know I'm connected to LTE but like i said, i could care less about what the LTE strength is. If anyone knows how or could point me in the right direction, that would be awesome if its possible. I've looked all over the place and couldn't find it, all the threads I've found tell you how to change the icons and such, which I've done. But this is something I do not know. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reading this as you have written it, it sounds like you want to read the other car's spedometer on your dashboard and don't care what speed YOU are going at... (not very much of a useful report)............
It makes no sense and is most likely impossible due to the fact that the "strength" is read according to the frequency the radio is working.
Also, "Strength" is not the correct description of the signal bars shown, as it is a COMBINATION of available bandwidth as well as signal strength properties. You could be having a GOOD signal, but there are too many users in your cell service area so the bars are less of a quantity, but you still have service. It's too bad they didn't have a better way of showing that condition.....
Anyways, good luck and Aloha!
bobolinko said:
Reading this as you have written it, it sounds like you want to read the other car's spedometer on your dashboard and don't care what speed YOU are going at... (not very much of a useful report)............
It makes no sense and is most likely impossible due to the fact that the "strength" is read according to the frequency the radio is working.
Also, "Strength" is not the correct description of the signal bars shown, as it is a COMBINATION of available bandwidth as well as signal strength properties. You could be having a GOOD signal, but there are too many users in your cell service area so the bars are less of a quantity, but you still have service. It's too bad they didn't have a better way of showing that condition.....
Anyways, good luck and Aloha!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate the response. The thing is, the bars haven't been consistent with speed. At one bar where I work, I pull down 15 Megs, when I go to lunch at the Mcdonalds I have 5 bars of LTE and pull 15 megs. Bars on HSPA also factor in Call quality where as LTE doesn't because you can't make calls on it. The phone has to stay connected to HSPA because of this, I basically want to be able to see my call strength before Make a call. I've read in certain phones especially on Verizon and other carriers especially, they manipulate the signal this way to make it look better. That's what I'm after in a nutshell.
Just change the data settings so that the phone only goes up to HSPA connections. Basically turn off LTE entirely.
That will always show HSPA strength in the status bar because it will always be connected at HSPA signal strength.
He wants lte. But does not care how strong the lte signal is. He only cares about being able to see the hsdpa connection strength.
With that said, if you have lte, you more than likely have full connection to hsdpa. I've forced hsdpa while in a one bar lte zone and hsdpa read full bars. So if your data connection says lte, 99.9 percent of the time you will have full hsdpa connection.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
elesbb said:
He wants lte. But does not care how strong the lte signal is. He only cares about being able to see the hsdpa connection strength.
With that said, if you have lte, you more than likely have full connection to hsdpa. I've forced hsdpa while in a one bar lte zone and hsdpa read full bars. So if your data connection says lte, 99.9 percent of the time you will have full hsdpa connection.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If he wan'ts that then he can't have it. The radio can only connect to one signal type at a time. And the only way to know what the HSPA signal strength is would be to be connected to it so it can be monitored. So in any situation where it's possible to determine the HSPA signal strength, you can't be connected to LTE.
Unless you carry another phone around that's always connected to HSPA and use that as a refference, but that seems....dumb.
Skipjacks said:
If he wan'ts that then he can't have it. The radio can only connect to one signal type at a time. And the only way to know what the HSPA signal strength is would be to be connected to it so it can be monitored. So in any situation where it's possible to determine the HSPA signal strength, you can't be connected to LTE.
Unless you carry another phone around that's always connected to HSPA and use that as a refference, but that seems....dumb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just wondering if it was possible My question becomes, if it can only be connected to LTE and not both, how do I receive incoming calls cuz I know that they don't do calls over LTE yet cuz they haven't launched VOLTE. Unless you were a lucky Mtetro PCS Customer. Not trying to be a pain in the ass, legitimately curious.
Harmtan2 said:
I was just wondering if it was possible My question becomes, if it can only be connected to LTE and not both, how do I receive incoming calls cuz I know that they don't do calls over LTE yet cuz they haven't launched VOLTE. Unless you were a lucky Mtetro PCS Customer. Not trying to be a pain in the ass, legitimately curious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your connection switches to hsdpa. If you set your connection to "lte only" calls will not work. So it switches before connecting. And about VOLTE, will we need a new phone for that to work or is it basically a T-Mobile side thing?
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

Weak antenna?

Seeing 4 bars of LTE signal strength on my phone is like seeing a unicorn.
I live in Upstate NY and I have the A705MN phone.
I have tried three different sim cards, all of them of course GSM compatible. The result is exactly the same among all three. I typically get 1 or 2 bars LTE.
My previous phones under the same carrier and same sim card were typically 4-5 bars. (The Wifi strength, BTW, is equal to what I've seen from my other phones.)
What can I do to improve the signal strength?
I've seen posts by those with S10's where they do something to disable specific bands. But I'm not sure how to do that on the A70 phone. I've tried the specific codes that were mentioned in threads for the S10, but those codes do not work on the A70.
Please help. As much as I like the Samsung otherwise, this factor might be the reason I return the phone.
Yes same problem here
106IFA said:
Seeing 4 or 5 bars of LTE signal strength on my phone is like seeing a unicorn.
I live in Upstate NY and I have the A705MN phone.
I have tried three different sim cards, all of them of course GSM compatible. The result is exactly the same among all three. I typically get 1-3 bars LTE.
My previous phones under the same carrier and same sim card were typically 4-5 bars. (The Wifi strength, BTW, is equal to what I've seen from my other phones.)
What can I do to improve the signal strength?
I've seen posts by those with S10's where they do something to disable specific bands. But I'm not sure how to do that on the A70 phone. I've tried the specific codes that were mentioned in threads for the S10, but those codes do not work on the A70.
Please help. As much as I like the Samsung otherwise, this factor might be the reason I return the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try LTE only settings in settings>connections.
senseijtitus said:
Try LTE only settings in settings>connections.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the screenshots.
I edited the access point that I'm using and changed it to LTE. But then when I go to select network mode, I cannot chose LTE Only. That option does not show up. I have tried rebooting after editing and selecting the Access Point, and I still do not see that option.
I have tried using apps such as 4g Network Only and have switched to LTE only, but that change does not seem to make a difference or the network goes down altogether.
Any suggestions?
senseijtitus said:
Try LTE only settings in set5ings>connections.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There was a post in the forum for using settings editor app to enable LTE only option. It will enable this option for both sims.
senseijtitus said:
There was a post in the forum for using settings editor app to enable LTE only option. It will enable this option for both sims.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't been able to do this or find what it is you're referring to. I've tried adding a few values through Settings editor apps. Values such as "hw_networkmode_preference" etc.
Doesn't work.
But besides, why would setting the connection to LTE only fix this problem? I don't see how this is not a herring.
Most of the times I am see 2 bars of strength. Every now and then I get 3 bars, and more frequently than that I get only 1 bar. 4 bars is quite rare.
The real problem with this antenna is that if I step inside a supermarket or bathroom then my connection is gone. If I'm traveling around the state of NY, in more remote areas, I'm sure I will not have a chance of any connection.
I would LOVE this phone if it had a better antenna. I can deal with the subpar fingerprint reader. Just give me a strong antenna like all of my previous phones and then I'd be a happy camper!
I decided not to return the phone so I am stuck with this phone.
106IFA said:
I haven't been able to do this or find what it is you're referring to. I've tried adding a few values through Settings editor apps. Values such as "hw_networkmode_preference" etc.
Doesn't work.
But besides, why would setting the connection to LTE only fix this problem? I don't see how this is not a herring.
Most of the times I am see 2 bars of strength. Every now and then I get 3 bars, and more frequently than that I get only 1 bar. 4 bars is quite rare.
The real problem with this antenna is that if I step inside a supermarket or bathroom then my connection is gone. If I'm traveling around the state of NY, in more remote areas, I'm sure I will not have a chance of any connection.
I would LOVE this phone if it had a better antenna. I can deal with the subpar fingerprint reader. Just give me a strong antenna like all of my previous phones and then I'd be a happy camper!
I decided not to return the phone so I am stuck with this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Setting the band to lte only would help in better reception even at low signal strength. One thing I had noticed in lte band is its consistency in connection speeds and call quality even with low signal. I think this is because of the high bandwidth of the lte signals. But I'm not an expert in it. Try changing the band to lte only. It should work better.
senseijtitus said:
Try LTE only settings in settings>connections.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did get this theme and icons in screen shots ?
Maystro said:
Where did get this theme and icons in screen shots ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bodhosativa theme from xda apps section.
senseijtitus said:
Setting the band to lte only would help in better reception even at low signal strength. One thing I had noticed in lte band is its consistency in connection speeds and call quality even with low signal. I think this is because of the high bandwidth of the lte signals. But I'm not an expert in it. Try changing the band to lte only. It should work better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But I'm trying to get better signal, rather than better reception with low signal.
There's got to be something wrong with my phone. It blacks out if I step inside a bathroom in a building and such and it's very rarely at 4 bars.
A thing I noticed. If I go and select 2g/3g only (switch off 4g lte) my signal reception instantly switches to full (4 bars) Usually I get around 2 bars with LTE active.
The strange part is that even with lte off I can still receive an lte 4g signal when outside..this is perfect for me as it means i have a really strong signal (reception) indoors but still have the benefit of 4G outside. I don't quite understand it tbh. I mean i have switched to "2g/3g only" yet i still see 4G pop up in the status bar on my commute, and it definitely receiving 4G speeds. I'm not sure if it's a bug or not but I kinda like it.
Con500 said:
A thing I noticed. If I go and select 2g/3g only (switch off 4g lte) my signal reception instantly switches to full (4 bars) Usually I get around 2 bars with LTE active.
The strange part is that even with lte off I can still receive an lte 4g signal when outside..this is perfect for me as it means i have a really strong signal (reception) indoors but still have the benefit of 4G outside. I don't quite understand it tbh. I mean i have switched to "2g/3g only" yet i still see 4G pop up in the status bar on my commute, and it definitely receiving 4G speeds. I'm not sure if it's a bug or not but I kinda like it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a terrific idea. Thank you for bringing that up.
I am implementing your suggesteion and it's nice to see 3-4 bars of strength again.
I don't need the fastest data connection. I just need a strong or secure basic data connection, since most of the time I'm not doing anything data intensive with my phone anyway when I"m away from a wifi connection.
But I'm not sure if my phone hops up to LTE at anytime.. I wish had the same "bug" that you do. I just started testing with your settings so I'll see if I can get it so that 3g is the preferred and basic network and 4g is the optional...
After another day, I'm back to LTE/3g/2g auto.
The general reception even for 3g or 2g is lower overall than what I saw from every other phone I have used. So in areas where I can expect to have a relatively low signal I get a particularly low signal for all bands, 4g, 3g, and 2g. That being the case, there's no practical difference if I cap my connection or not.
Samsung better warranty this phone. Does anyone know who I should call?
Since I bought my phone through an Ebay seller and the phone is West Carribean stock, not USA stock, which is where I am, I have no warranty on this phone.

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