So, I just got this device since the signal in my area is pretty crappy and wanted to do something about it. Installed this, after to a few reboots n all, got it to work and I must say it works pretty well. LTE and voice signal reception are extremely improved.
I attached a couple pictures of the device itself. One photo of the signal strength standing directly in front of it, and one as far as I can get while still being in the house, about 30 yards away (1300 sq ft home, 1 floor). And finally a few speedtest results to show...speed lol.
Best thing about it, is this device is free. Just call Sprint and tell them you want one, and as long as you are in an "airave area" you get it free of charge.
The real question is, because it's the Sprint network, can you carry that device with you everywhere you go? In the Pgh area, you'd need to?
tCizler said:
The real question is, because it's the Sprint network, can you carry that device with you everywhere you go? In the Pgh area, you'd need to?
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What is Pgh? And no you can't carry it everywhere because you actually have to connect to a broadband modern/router. Now, a magic box you can take everywhere to intensify your LTE ONLY, but my main issue was voice being s h i t at home, and the Airave improves voice and LTE both.
Related
Just need to cents from those who have TP2. I got my phone from Telus (Canada) and couldn't have been more happy with the phone..............except. I get home and have little to no reception? I went from the Mike network to PCS. Two of my kids have cheap phones on telus and get at least one bar and most of the time 2-3 bars in our house.
On my Mike I was getting full bars all the time. On the TP2 I was getting 0-1 bars?????? Standing beside my daughter, she was getting 3 bars and I was getting only 1? In the first two days I was missing calls. They would go to my voice mail even with the phone on. I called my cell from my home and the first 3 calls went to voice mail before the 4th went thru!! I went back to the store and they showed me how to do a tower release and then tower upgrade. It didn't help. The second time back to the store they tried to get me to exchange it for a blackberry. Side by side the blackberry was getting 2 more bars than my TP2? They got another new TP2 out and the reception was the same on it as mine! So it wasn't just my phone. With telus you have 48 hours to cancel your contract so I returned it.
Has anyone else had similar issues.
I have considered purchasing an unlocked TP2 and use it on the rogers network as my friend gets 3-4 bars in my house but again will the TP2 still only get 0-1 bars on rogers as well?
Any suggestions would be great.
P.S. In the short time I had the phone I was extremely pleased. Would love to try the touch diamond 2, but would have to ensure the reception before purchasing.
Thanks
There are actually threads on this and it's a mixed bag. Some people complain that they have poor reception and others say that they have good reception. And just like you the ones with poor reception compare it to other phones. But the same with those that say they have good reception. If I remember correctly one guy said he actually had more bars than on a sony experia and a blackberry.
It may just have to do with the Radio rom and could possibly be fixed by flashing the radio. Can't be certain though.
How do you do a tower release and then tower upgrade?
leanne said:
How do you do a tower release and then tower upgrade?
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Yeah! First time hearing about that.
In my house I get 2 bars tops and sometimes 3 all this on 3G. Here and there I see 1 bar but that doesn't last. 3 bars on 3G runs just as fast as my WIFI in my house. Well it seems like it to me, but I would have to do a test. When I was using my Blackberry 8900 which is EDGE. I got 2-3 bars on that, but the connection (NET) was so slow in my house! Good thing I have WIFI when it comes to using the net on the BB in the house. Calls were fine so that wasn't a problem at all.
That's the worse when you have bad reception in the house! The place where you spend most of your time.
my g1 which is on WCDMA only gets 2 bars
while my TP 2 has 1 bar
luckily the TP 2 has excellent wifi reception with my home router..
so i cant complain
leanne said:
How do you do a tower release and then tower upgrade?
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The Telus rep told me that when cell phones have more than one tower in range, the phone will drop the weakest signal and connect to the strongest one. She said that sometimes phones won't release until the signal it is on becomes to weak to receive then it drops it to search for another signal.
I don't have the instructions with me right now, but any telus rep should be able to tell you how to do it.
I think ????? it was *22803, listen to message, then 1, listen to message, then 2, then wait for confirmation.
I will post back when I find the instructions.
solsearch said:
It may just have to do with the Radio rom and could possibly be fixed by flashing the radio. Can't be certain though.
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I was nervous about flashing a new rom in the event I had to return it. Guess I should have searched the forum more as I loved the phone, but couldn't live with missing calls while at home. I tried to have "call forward on not answered" put on my account but I was told that option was only available on business accounts and also it wasn't available in Ontario. I tried calling customer support a couple of times hoping to get someone who know how to get me that option with any luck.
if this is of any help; within the last 5 years I've used the Dash 1 (S620) the Dash 2 (S630), Wing (P4350) and now the TP2.
For my specific, the TP2 is equal to (or slightly better) than those past phones in the reception catagory.
Was wondering if it is at all customizable in the phone connection settings itself, or if it is only do-able through calling up customer support and asking to be able to pick up signals through ATT/Sprint/Verizon towers. Just upgraded from a steep monthly bill through Cingular, and went to T-Mobile, and now cell service at my house sucks horribly - 1 or 2 bars, with an occasional spike to 3/4 bars and I haven't seen it hit 5 bars yet at all even when I was in town.
I've seen the Radio ROM posts, but am not sure if thats what is needed to fix the issue of being able to pick up the other cell towers.
Since I am fairly new to the Smart Phone scene - feel more then welcome to guide me where its needed - I am very high on techy garble, so I can get my hands dirty when needed.
Thanks ahead of time!
Not possible you are stuck with the signal you have. You can only get an att signal with a att sim card.
WowMike2002 said:
Was wondering if it is at all customizable in the phone connection settings itself, or if it is only do-able through calling up customer support and asking to be able to pick up signals through ATT/Sprint/Verizon towers. Just upgraded from a steep monthly bill through Cingular, and went to T-Mobile, and now cell service at my house sucks horribly - 1 or 2 bars, with an occasional spike to 3/4 bars and I haven't seen it hit 5 bars yet at all even when I was in town.
I've seen the Radio ROM posts, but am not sure if thats what is needed to fix the issue of being able to pick up the other cell towers.
Since I am fairly new to the Smart Phone scene - feel more then welcome to guide me where its needed - I am very high on techy garble, so I can get my hands dirty when needed.
Thanks ahead of time!
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Click to collapse
well 4 bars is max you can get. the phone only displays only 4 bars. wich is maximum signal
a radio will most likely give you beter signal. i went from 1-2 bars in my room to 4 bars all the time it rarely drops below 3 in my room. but also remember. u cant get signal where it dont exist.
you cant use sprint or verizon towers period. and u only pic up att signals for emergancy calls if u dont have signal. or ur roaming
Hmm - yeah.. thats what I was curious about - in the Manual Networks settings, I can pick up ATT towers all the time, and finally after 10-15 seconds a TMobile tower pops up - as the default in the phone (Was told through Customer Care) that if any TMobile tower is in range, it has to be selected. I'm curious if there is a way to edit the registry on the pickups for the tower and make it so it doesn't have to be the default as TMobile.
But, other then that I am currently looking at the Radio's are doing some searching to find the better one to use...
Thanks again!
just because it picks up att towers dont mean that you can actually register on the network. the phone will default to any carriers sim card so if the phone is unlocked and you put in a att sim it will default to att.
u can force it to use att but i wouldnt recomend it because 1 tmobile only has roaming agreements with att in certain spots and once your out of that spot no signal. and 2 you can only use atts network for so long before tmobile vuts your service.
so best bet just keep it on auto
I have no issue making calls or using the internet with 1-2 bars with my tp2. I prefer more, but if i am somewhere with less, as long as i have any signal, it works fine. Only place i have issues with signal is in the red line subway in chicago. Edge only and the signal between the stations gets really low and strong a lot. Makes like hell with my phones.
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....
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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!!
Do you have worse data signal reception (and use) with Sprint vs. Verizon indoors?
More often than not, inside a store or restaurant in an 'excellent coverage' area, Sprint's data network is not usable (connection timeouts) where as surfing on Verizon is no problem.
I suspect a combination of Sprint Rev A and possibly cell density / Sprint using lower signal strength.
I didn't get a lot of response in the top Networking thread, so I thought I would post with fellow Sprint/ Evo 4G users.
other sim thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1501051
Hey,
It all comes down to you get what you pay for, sprint has amazing phones with ok at best service sorry if anyone takes offence but its true. When on big red you are paying a lot but you get good phones and strong service its just how it is sadly. Sometimes I have great data in stores others I dont it just depends on the cell tower and how the building is built, but like I said it just comes down to you get what you pay for!
Stevo
While you would think the signal would be similar, since both Sprint and Verizon are CDMA, it's not.
On sprint, there is a tower less than 2 blocks from my house. Outside I get full bars, but the second I step inside my house, I get knocked down to 1 bar. Using the Verizon PRL, I also get full bars outside, but when I step inside, I only lose one bar, and get 5/6 bars consistently. The same thing happens at a few restaurants around town, sprint gets 0 bars inside, but almost full bars as soon as I step outside, but with verizon, the signal stays the same in and out.
Thanks guys. This is exactly my issue. For some reason, in larger market cities, this is less of a problem.
I wish I could find a technical reason. There seems to be a discrepancy too in the quality of data signal with sprint's own towers.
And I don't buy in to the 'you get what you pay for'. My wife and I pay $1800 a year for 'unlimited everything and the first 4G network with enhanced devices that connect to high speed data'
I hope this isn't out of context but it seemed to be the most relavent thread for my issue.
Typically I haven't had many issues with my Sprint server (I'm in the Denver metro area) however over the last few days every call I get on the end voice is choppy, and eventually will cut out. When monitoring my signal it will jump from 3 or 5 bars to zero and then back up again.
I do have a rooted phone, however the ROM I'm using has the stock kernel and the most up to date radio.
I guess my question is, has anyone experienced any issues like this over the past few days? Is it possible that I'm having a hardware issue and need to un-root my phone and take it to the sprint store?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm not quite sure how to start the problem solving process. Thanks!
IrideAgro said:
Thanks guys. This is exactly my issue. For some reason, in larger market cities, this is less of a problem.
I wish I could find a technical reason. There seems to be a discrepancy too in the quality of data signal with sprint's own towers.
And I don't buy in to the 'you get what you pay for'. My wife and I pay $1800 a year for 'unlimited everything and the first 4G network with enhanced devices that connect to high speed data'
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Thats a lot for that plan. I use to have and switched to the $70 one due to the fact that I barely call land lines anymore. You might want to look into the other plans to save some money.
Now as far as the signal problem...it really depends on the phone, freq, rom, area and the building. I dont have the problems that you have..in face ppl with vw have that problem around me.
edlokien said:
Thats a lot for that plan. I use to have and switched to the $70 one due to the fact that I barely call land lines anymore. You might want to look into the other plans to save some money.
Now as far as the signal problem...it really depends on the phone, freq, rom, area and the building. I dont have the problems that you have..in face ppl with vw have that problem around me.
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Um, Lets see, Family unlimited plan with two Evos (+$20) - with a discount on the line. Use to be under $130/month, now it is at $146/month. So not sure what you are talking about regarding price.
Regarding your signal response, I was looking for something actually technical and informative.
IrideAgro said:
Um, Lets see, Family unlimited plan with two Evos (+$20) - with a discount on the line. Use to be under $130/month, now it is at $146/month. So not sure what you are talking about regarding price.
Regarding your signal response, I was looking for something actually technical and informative.
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Sounds about right Iride. We have a family unlimited plan here as well with an Evo and an iPhone 4s and I think we're somewhere in the $160 range with insurance and everything.
On the technical side I've posted a few times in other threads pertaining to the same issue but haven't heard back.
It seems my service is now only sporadic at home, but I can't confirm that fully just yet. I was downtown (Denver) using my phone yesterday and it seemed just fine, however when I returned home any call I made immediately had a sporadic choppy voice. This is strange to me as I've never had bad signal here until now. That's over 2+ years of living in this same apartment.
Maybe this is something on Sprint's end. This may be a silly question, but when calling for tech support, they can't tell if you've rooted your phone or not right? It would only be if you took it in to get serviced without unrooting?
Hope to figure out something soon...
Hey guys,
I have had a couple people complain that when I was talking with them with my Note 4, I was breaking up several times. I think I was home every time someone complained that I was breaking up.
This is my first phone ever with Verizon and so far the data signal has been flawless, always super fast. I am worried though that my radio signal on the phone isn't good, possibly a defective phone?
When I got into work this morning I left myself a 2 minute voicemail on my work phone and played it back to see if it was breaking up. I played it back and it was perfect.
Could my house just be a "bad spot" in the area? I'm in West Bend, about 30 minutes north of Milwaukee. My signal at home was about -101dbm and its about the same at work. If my signal/service is going to suck at home thats going to be pretty annoying.
Is there a number that I can call to update the towers? I know this helped on occasion when I still was with US Cellular.
PS. My wife got the exact same phone, I'll have to check to see what her signal strength is.
Thoughts?
thegipper said:
Hey guys,
Thoughts?
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Hello, I've moved your thread to Q&A as it's pretty clearly a question.
Thanks.
Do you have a case of any kind on your phone? If so, which one.
No case on my phone. So my wife just called me from home who also has a white note 4 and sure enough, the call dropped twice from her. When she is in the living room, it appears to be fine (I called from my work land line phone) but if she moves into our kitchen, the call starts breaking up.
My brother said my voice was breaking up too when I called him yesterday, also from my kitchen.
This makes it sound like its not the phone, but the signal in my area. This is troubling to me because we are in a town of 30k+ just 20 miles north of Milwaukee. We have never had a single call issue with US cellular or straight talk.
What should I do at this point?
thegipper said:
No case on my phone. So my wife just called me from home who also has a white note 4 and sure enough, the call dropped twice from her. When she is in the living room, it appears to be fine (I called from my work land line phone) but if she moves into our kitchen, the call starts breaking up.
My brother said my voice was breaking up too when I called him yesterday, also from my kitchen.
This makes it sound like its not the phone, but the signal in my area. This is troubling to me because we are in a town of 30k+ just 20 miles north of Milwaukee. We have never had a single call issue with US cellular or straight talk.
What should I do at this point?
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When I first joined with Verizon, I was having a lot of issue with poor signal and dropped calls. I called them to complain, and they told me that I could either get out of my contract, or they'd give me a network extender. Because at home was the only place where I was having issues with the service, I opted for the network extender. The one that they gave me was refurbished, but it has worked fine for over two years.
Your mileage may vary, but calling them to complain is definitely worth a try.
usmaak said:
When I first joined with Verizon, I was having a lot of issue with poor signal and dropped calls. I called them to complain, and they told me that I could either get out of my contract, or they'd give me a network extender. Because at home was the only place where I was having issues with the service, I opted for the network extender. The one that they gave me was refurbished, but it has worked fine for over two years.
Your mileage may vary, but calling them to complain is definitely worth a try.
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Click to collapse
That's exactly what I did. I told them that my 14 days is almost up and I want them to make a note on my account that if my signal doesn't improve at home, then I can cancel my service.
She did bring up a network extender but I said there is no way I'm paying for that. If they would be willing to give me one to use at home I would be ok with that.
So far I'm not happy with Verizon's coverage, which is funny, because that is what they are known for.
We have never had a single call reception issue when we had US cellular and Straight talk.
grr...
thegipper said:
That's exactly what I did. I told them that my 14 days is almost up and I want them to make a note on my account that if my signal doesn't improve at home, then I can cancel my service.
She did bring up a network extender but I said there is no way I'm paying for that. If they would be willing to give me one to use at home I would be ok with that.
So far I'm not happy with Verizon's coverage, which is funny, because that is what they are known for.
We have never had a single call reception issue when we had US cellular and Straight talk.
grr...
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Click to collapse
So they didn't give you the extender? They were very accommodating a couple of years ago when I called. They acted like they actually wanted to keep me. They were going to let me cancel AND keep the two S3s that I had just gotten. Before that, I had Sprint, and I'd have gone to two tin cans and string before I'd have spent another day with Sprint.
I used to live in Illinois, and aside from the area right near my house, the signal was pretty good. I'm in Colorado now, and Verizon out here is an entirely different story. LTE is a joke where I live. I get a decent signal, but download speeds are sometimes worse than 3g. There are only four communities out here with XLTE. I was considering going to TMob or ATT, so I asked some of my neighbors. They all said to stick with Verizon, so here I am.
They are going to have technical support first check the towers or something to that extent. She started a ticket for my complaint and are going to get back to me within 24-48 hours. If it doesn't improve, then we are going to talk about an extender. So far the only reception issues that I appear to be having is in my house.
Whats weird is the signal strength is the same at home as it is at work. I called my land line from my cell phone at work and left a 3 minute message of me babbling and not once did it ever break up. If the strength is the same, why is it cutting in and out and dropping calls at home?
Hopefully they can resolve this. They are going to give me an extender for free or I'm dropping them.
Sounds like a problem tower, or a tower that's too far away. Or a tower that's overly congested.
Well I hope they can fix it. Kind of ridiculous that I can't get a reliable signal in my own house in a town of 30k people.
Signal on mine is a little better than the S4. Call and text range is great.
I am happy with the signal overall.
I have noticed that people tend to not hear me at all when I have a call open to them
Alot of the times as I'm talking the opposite side keeps talking back words like "Hello, hello.. are you still there?" and all the while I can hear them perfectly. I swapped my Note 4 for a new one at the store and for a while I was good until today the samw thing happened again. Im beginning to worry that the antenna reception on this phone is not as good my old Galaxy S4.
Really hope it is just a software problem that can be corrected. I live in Finland and I have a non branded and non sim-locked Samsung Galaxy Note 4.