Develop Bugs

[How to] disable LTE on AT&T S3 (you can disable HSPA+ too)

I have read that you can change your APN settings to turn off LTE. However, I found another way (with the help of carefreelife). Use at your own risk! I am not responsible for any harm you may do though it seems fairly safe to me!:
UPDATE: THERE IS NOW AN EASIER METHOD TO DO THIS WITHOUT PULLING THE SIM AND REBOOTING (check out post #47 below or use this link)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=37310325&postcount=47
[OLD METHOD]1) With phone on, take off back cover and press your SIM card so it releases from the spring. It won't come all the way out as it's blocked by the battery. This seems fine - I didn't bother trying to force it out as I didn't want to break anything...
2) Once you see the message that the SIM card is removed, go to the dialer and dial *#2263#
3) You should see a menu with band selections. The current setting is "Automatic". If you switch to "GSM All", you will be EDGE (2G). If you switch to "WCDMA All", you will be on HSPA+ (3G, though AT&T and others call it 4G).
4) Press the SIM card back into place until it clicks. For whatever reason the phone will not recognize it until you reboot. Upon reboot you should see your new setting in effect.[/OLD METHOD]
I was attempting to follow this procedure for the S2:
{Trick} Get Around "RAT SELECTION RESTRICTED" on i897 modems! - xda-developers
...but I couldn't get the SIM out easily so I left it in...and followed the steps. It wouldn't recognize that the SIM had been reinserted so I gave up and rebooted...and it worked! No need to mess with airplane mode or anything just follow the steps above.
I was then able to follow the same procedure and turn back on the default setting which was "1) Automatic". After a reboot I am again connected to LTE.
Reason I'm using this: I'm testing a major battery drain issue that might be related to LTE/HSPA+ switching.
Reason you might want this: If you have poor LTE signal or even poor HSPA+ signal and want your phone to stop trying to connect to that network, this will stop it.
UPDATE:
A little bit of bad news here:
I have been on "WCDMA All" (HSPA+ aka 3G4/G, with LTE disabled) for 10 days now with ZERO problems whatsoever.
However, I am pretty sure that whichever you choose, if not "Automatic", you will be locked to ONLY that band:
i.e. if you choose "WCDMA All" you will not only be disabling LTE, but also 2G (EDGE) as well. You may not need it (and if so, it will not effect you) - but if your phone loses the HSPA+ signal, it will not fall back to 2G unless you change the setting.
I tested this theory by setting my phone to "LTE all" and trying to call myself from another phone. The call went straight to my voicemail. LTE is data only (for now) and when you receive a call, it switches to HSPA+. Unfortunately, since I had set my phone to "LTE All", it stayed on LTE and could not receive the call.
This may not be a deal-breaker but it's something to be aware of, for sure. I only tested "LTE All" because it was easy to do so, but I am assuming the same applies for the other settings...only "Automatic" would seem to pick the best available network.
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Click to collapse

Edited OP and changed thread title. Please help me test this. Thanks!

Just out of my curiosity, can you not do this:
settings > wireless and networks > more settings > mobile networks > network mode > GSM/HSPA
I have the Bell version, which is similar to ATT's, wondering if ATT disabled that option.

fortesquieu said:
Just out of my curiosity, can you not do this:
settings > wireless and networks > more settings > mobile networks > network mode > GSM/HSPA
I have the Bell version, which is similar to ATT's, wondering if ATT disabled that option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is disabled on AT&T versions. If you try the method I listed above without removing the SIM card, it will be blocked as well.
AT&T does not want us to have any control over which network we connect to. It's been speculated that they want us forced on to LTE to take strain off the HSPA network. Honestly I think that's fine - though I prefer to have a choice - except that I suspect LTE switching is causing my battery drain issue and I need to turn it off in order to test that theory.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1811182

carefreelife at Android Central forums showed me that WCDMA All is the proper setting to disable LTE and stay on HSPA. It's working for me and seems to be perfect!

Curious,why dont u want LTE?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

bbgt2 said:
Curious,why dont u want LTE?
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Click to collapse
Testing to see if it's causing the battery drain issue described in this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1811182

Oh ok. Cant complain about battery life. Been on stock, rooted stock, CM10 and always the same 14 hours between charges. Heavy user WiFi Twitter exchange etc.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

bbgt2 said:
Oh ok. Cant complain about battery life. Been on stock, rooted stock, CM10 and always the same 14 hours between charges. Heavy user WiFi Twitter exchange etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My battery life is great too - there just seems to be a bug that causes it to suddenly become terrible and drain fast until it's rebooted. This is just a method I'm using to test it.
It's possible that disabling LTE can increase battery life but I'm not sure there's any evidence that LTE uses more battery than HSPA+. On older phones the LTE was not integrated into the SoC and thus was a power hog...but it's integrated on the S3.
For users who are on fringe areas and receive poor LTE or HSPA+ coverage...the phone will use extra battery trying to connect and stay connected to those...even if it's [mostly] unsuccessful. Using this method would be a good idea for people who would rather just stay on the bands with strong signal and stop wasting battery trying to get on LTE or HSPA+ fruitlessly.

Thanks a lot for this I've been wanting to switch to 2g only THANKS

Your the man! I've wanted to do this since I got the phone. Is there anyway to use combination bands like in the Captivate?
Sent from my GSIII
---------- Post added at 09:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 AM ----------
Woah I just noticed your that guy from the other thread that had some serious battery life issues. Still no luck huh?
Sent from my GSIII

I can't get into the screen.. Always get some error after entering *#2263#

DudeWatsThat said:
Your the man! I've wanted to do this since I got the phone. Is there anyway to use combination bands like in the Captivate?
---------- Post added at 09:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 AM ----------
Woah I just noticed your that guy from the other thread that had some serious battery life issues. Still no luck huh?
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Hey what's up. I don't know what combination bands are - haven't ever used the Captivate.
And yes I'm still working on those battery issues...I'm hoping that THIS fixes it...even though it would meaning losing LTE for the time being...at least I'd know what's causing it!
X10D3 said:
I can't get into the screen.. Always get some error after entering *#2263#
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's the error you get? Are you using an AT&T Galaxy S3?

jeffreii said:
Hey what's up. I don't know what combination bands are - haven't ever used the Captivate.
And yes I'm still working on those battery issues...I'm hoping that THIS fixes it...even though it would meaning losing LTE for the time being...at least I'd know what's causing it!
What's the error you get? Are you using an AT&T Galaxy S3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can mix the different bands between wcdma and gsm and their frequencies,that way you can get the best signal in your area.
How's that LTE test coming?
Sent from my GSIII

Does nothing. When I hit send it just says invalid mmi code.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

DudeWatsThat said:
You can mix the different bands between wcdma and gsm and their frequencies,that way you can get the best signal in your area.
How's that LTE test coming?
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Click to collapse
I can't say anything for sure until I get about 1 week of uptime with no plummet. It's been stable (battery and signal) since I enabled it, though.
X10D3 said:
Does nothing. When I hit send it just says invalid mmi code.
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Click to collapse
You shouldn't even have to hit send...as soon as you hit the second # it should go straight to the menu.
*#2263#
I can't guarantee this works with any modifications to stock as I have only done it on my unrooted stock AT&T S3.

CM10. I just learned that you can only use dialer codes on stock roms. AOSP roms don't recognize them. There's a small few that work. obviously this one doesn't. Where can I find the APN info?

Nice find!! Works perfectly with my AT&T Galaxy S3. Going to test it out for a few days. I have 4G LTE where I live but when I go to college in the fall there won't be any LTE. This will come in handy!
However, with the WCDMA option enabled, does this mean you only have access to 3G and not 2G? Sometimes when I am in rural areas there is no 3G so I need to use EDGE or GSM. Hopefully with the WCDMA all enabled 2G is still accessible.

X10D3 said:
CM10. I just learned that you can only use dialer codes on stock roms. AOSP roms don't recognize them. There's a small few that work. obviously this one doesn't. Where can I find the APN info?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen it here and there - including in my battery plummet thread linked earlier. I first found it mentioned here:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-galaxy-s-iii/181957-turning-off-lte.html
ComradeNF said:
Nice find!! Works perfectly with my AT&T Galaxy S3. Going to test it out for a few days. I have 4G LTE where I live but when I go to college in the fall there won't be any LTE. This will come in handy!
However, with the WCDMA option enabled, does this mean you only have access to 3G and not 2G? Sometimes when I am in rural areas there is no 3G so I need to use EDGE or GSM. Hopefully with the WCDMA all enabled 2G is still accessible.
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Click to collapse
That's a great question. I have looked at it like a hierarchy but there's plenty of reason to believe it could be otherwise. There's not really anywhere in Miami I can go that doesn't have really strong HSPA+ so I don't know how I can test it. If anyone can do this test themselves and see what happens when you leave a 3G area please post results here.
Actually, once I am done testing the battery drain I could switch from Automatic to LTE and find somewhere in Miami where there's only 3G and see if it switches down to 3G or just loses signal entirely. Someone could also switch to LTE mode and try to receive a phone call...if it is truly locked on ONLY LTE then it won't be able to take a call...
The more I think about it the more it seems like this could be a major drawback of this method. I look forward to testing this later and hearing what you guys find as well. Thanks!

jeffreii said:
I've seen it here and there - including in my battery plummet thread linked earlier. I first found it mentioned here:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-galaxy-s-iii/181957-turning-off-lte.html
That's a great question. I have looked at it like a hierarchy but there's plenty of reason to believe it could be otherwise. There's not really anywhere in Miami I can go that doesn't have really strong HSPA+ so I don't know how I can test it. If anyone can do this test themselves and see what happens when you leave a 3G area please post results here.
Actually, once I am done testing the battery drain I could switch from Automatic to LTE and find somewhere in Miami where there's only 3G and see if it switches down to 3G or just loses signal entirely. Someone could also switch to LTE mode and try to receive a phone call...if it is truly locked on ONLY LTE then it won't be able to take a call...
The more I think about it the more it seems like this could be a major drawback of this method. I look forward to testing this later and hearing what you guys find as well. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd also love to know if 2G works, but I can't while in North California. There isn't a single place within a 20 mile radius of where I live that doesn't have full LTE and HSPA+ coverage since so many people live here. I go to college in a fairly rural area in California though so in late September I'll be able to confirm if we can get 2G with the WCDMA method.

LTE drops and comes back as I send SMS/MMS

This is on T-Mobile in USA. It's no big deal...just weird and annoying. Anyone else noticing it?

Duplicate

Seems that enabling LTE High-speed mode fixed it. It's under Settings-Wireless&Networks-Mobile Network-More.
Anyone else can confirm enabling this is required to get normal SMS/MMS delivery on T-Mobile.

Nevermind....SMS causes no issues....MMS still does.

jasaero said:
Seems that enabling LTE High-speed mode fixed it. It's under Settings-Wireless&Networks-Mobile Network-More.
Anyone else can confirm enabling this is required to get normal SMS/MMS delivery on T-Mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't recall seeing this on ATT (for the brief time I had the China version-don't have it any more; expecting the global model soon)

mac231us said:
Don't recall seeing this on ATT (for the brief time I had the China version-don't have it any more; expecting the global model soon)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would be very easy to miss as it really just flashes off and back on only for however long the MMS took to send.

Tweaked some APN stuff to match T-Mobiles suggestions for Android better and think it may have helped.

I've had the same issue since I got the phone. When sending MMS or opening the Visual Voicemail app my mobile data drops until I close out of the Visual Voicemail app through recents. Changing the APN or turning off Carrier aggregation or LTE High Speed Mode doesn't fix the issue,

T-Mobile?

Trying to Configure Note10+ 5G (N976V) with Visible but can not add APNs.

Trying to Configure Note10+ 5G (N976V) with Visible but can not add APNs. The option is Greyed out. I was able to do it with my Verizon S10 that is also not officially supported. Crazy thing is that for about 5 min i was able to use the Visible SIM in my Note and Call and Send Txt until I rebooted the Phone. The Phone is paid off and Im using it on Mint Mobile now but it doesnt Show the T-Mo Boot Logo when I switched SIMs like my S10 Did. Has anyone been able to get this to work. I was told by Samsung that I may need to Reflash the Phone.

i have the regular unlocked note10+ working on visible.

N976V on Visible.
I am having the same issue, the APN settings are disabled. If you get this resolved before I can figure out a work around please let me know. Thank you.
Rocking Visible Wireless with the following devices,
iPad Mini 4th gen
Samsung Note 9 SM-N960u
Motorola Z2 Force XT1789-01

hammerhead13 said:
Trying to Configure Note10+ 5G (N976V) with Visible but can not add APNs. The option is Greyed out. I was able to do it with my Verizon S10 that is also not officially supported. Crazy thing is that for about 5 min i was able to use the Visible SIM in my Note and Call and Send Txt until I rebooted the Phone. The Phone is paid off and Im using it on Mint Mobile now but it doesnt Show the T-Mo Boot Logo when I switched SIMs like my S10 Did. Has anyone been able to get this to work. I was told by Samsung that I may need to Reflash the Phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you work it out? if yes, can you share how?

As soon as someone has resolved this issue, please update this forum page!

I just upgraded my note 8(on Visible) to the note 10 plus 5g. After i put in the Visible sim card into my note 10 phone, the phone was not working with the Visible sim card. I was connected onto the wifi network at work and I went into the settings to update the APN information, but it was greyed out and could not enter that information into the phone. After a few hours of googling to see if I could fixed the greyed out APN area so that I could actually enter in the programming, I said let me check the phone outside with wifi turned off. I went outside and tried to place a call and the call connected. I was then able to get wifi calling turned on since the phone was not allowing me to do so before. I went back into work and tried to place a call on the wifi network and it worked. I also tried sending text messages and mms messages and they all work. I checked the settings under the APN area and the phone automatically populated the Visible Internet setting but it was also greyed out, but it was working and I was so happy. I am so happy now with my new galaxy note 10 5g phone that is up and fully working with the Visible sim card. So I believe that having the phone connect onto the cell tower signal and not the wifi allowed the phone to pull in the APN information that it needed. I also reset via the setting the network connections while I was outside a few times. Hopes that this helps...

Change CSC with SamFw Tool (don't brick your device!!!)
Don't update beyond U4
Unlock bootloader and root.
Modify everything.
Accuse Samsung of being stupid for ever creating such a product with such limitations.

A505U can't access Visible network

I've tried everything, so hopefully someone can shine some light into this issue.
I bought a new (unused but from a 3rd party) Samsung Galaxy A50 (A505U) Verizon branded and unlocked. Got a sim card from Visible and went to get it connected. Nothing. WiFi works, everything works, but no cell service.
Here's what I've done (some multiple times)
- reset everything to include network settings, hard reset, etc
- removing the sim, resetting, putting the sim back in. I always get a notification saying the sim card is removed and it goes away when I put the sim back in, so it is recognizing a sim card is in there
- switched sims with another Visible phone/sim and nothing. Both sims worked on other phone but neither worked on this phone
- tried getting into the hidden menus but none of them worked
- talked to Visible tech support which upgraded the issue to the highest level and concluded it's the phone
- Visible believes it's the APN settings but I cannot edit current APNs nor add new ones (grayed out)
- manually add networks, I can see Visible, TMobile, ATT, and some weird numbers, but when I try to connect to Visible it says cannot register on the network, other networks say the sim is not setup for them
- sometimes I get the icon that shows all bars but they're grayed out, sometimes it shows 3-4 bars lit up, sometimes even shows a 4G icon, but mostly the grayed out bars
- sent the phone to Samsung, they tested it and found no faults, guess the hardware is good, ruled that out.
- got into dev options but I'm aware the OEM unlock is not on option on the A505U, not sure if I can change anything else.
I'm out of options. Any other ideas? I think if I can either get into the hidden menus I'll be able to diagnose it better, or if I can somehow change the APN settings I'll be able to set it up. Visible tech support thinks it's the APN, which makes sense to me, but I can't change them.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

I was able to get into the CSC change function, there's not many there, but would changing the CSC help? If so, which should I go to?

I've had a similar issue. Was working fine until the Android 10 update arrived. Since then, it won't work with my total wireless sim card. Tried 3 different sim cards on it, but nothing. Can't add it do anything with the APN, and getting into the phone info hidden menu doesn't help any. I suspect it's a bug in the new firmware or something like that. Works fine with a Verizon SIM though.
Update: Verizon SIM no longer connects to phone. Still works with LTE data. It seems that the CDMA radio quit working with the update to Android 10. Must have been collecting to the Verizon network with VoLTE until it updated the provisioning or something.

So, I finally figured out a workaround for mine that was able to get both data and voice networks to connect while using total wireless, which is an MVNO on the Verizon network. I pretty much narrowed it down to being an issue with the modem not working with CDMA. What I did was download the last Android 9 firmware and flashed just the modem (file starts with CP_) using Odin. After that, I rebooted it and voila! It connected.

Just thought i would give my experience as i just delt with this. i got my 10 update this morning nd let it update and apon a reboot i lost all mobile connection, a signal bar would show for a few seconds looking like it was trying to lock in a signal and it would go back to the ⌀ symbol. i tried flashing the android 9 modem from 2 different updates and neither fixed it. i just decided to order a new phone as i feel its time anyways. my next attempt will be to flash android 9 back using odin then just throw this phone up on craigslist
edit: odin successfully flashed back to android 9 and signal now works again. so if anyone has this issue you can try the method above of just flashing the modem and if that doesnt work you can go back to 9 and restore functionality of verizon mvno's

darkmage1991 said:
Just thought i would give my experience as i just delt with this. i got my 10 update this morning nd let it update and apon a reboot i lost all mobile connection, a signal bar would show for a few seconds looking like it was trying to lock in a signal and it would go back to the ⌀ symbol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of curiosity, which carrier are you using?

TJay99 said:
Out of curiosity, which carrier are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Visible

samsung a50 not connecting to VZW towers (red pocket)
My phone is doing the exact same thing and while I can appreciate how you resolved the issue it doesn't make much sense to me.
I use Red Pocket for my network. (Which uses Verizon towers - I use the CDMA Sim)
Before this major update to 10 my phone worked flawlessly. Now it won't connect to the network much like you guys have stated in this thread. Mine will connect intermittently for like 3 or 4 min tops and then get kicked off the tower and will actually not show any bars (Circle with a line through it) to show no service for about 10 or so minutes then restart the whole process.
I also have a work phone (2nd phone) that is directly tied to the verizon towers on the verizon network. If I take the sim out of that phone and put it in my samsung a50 the samsung a50 is happy and can make phone calls, send texts, and stays on the vzw towers with no disconnects.
If I take my red pocket sim card and place it in my work phone that phone also works just fine - send messages, make phone calls, and stays on the vzw towers with no disconnects. (work phone = iphoneXR - it's free, sue me)
Even though reverting the modem obviously fixes your issue I do not think that is the actual problem. It also doesn't seem that a third party carrier is being randomly booted off the towers, it seems to be a glitch with third party carriers using third party sims utilizing this new android 10 software that VZW towers do not like.
Which obviously points to an issue with Samsung's latest software not being compatible with third party carriers.
I can't seem to contact Samsung in a direct manner to resolve this issue as they want me to take it to a third party store to have it looked at. I spent 2 and half hours with tech support from red pocket and they came to the conclusion that VZW was doing "upgrades/maintenance" to their towers in my area. (whatever that means.
Any ideas on how I can contact Samsung directly to detail this issue to them? I really do not want to have to root my phone in order to use odin to set my modem back to version 9 as I'm hearing that doing so voids all kinds of implied warranties with the phone and it's only 6 months old.
Appreciate any help that you guys might be able to steer me towards.
Thanks.

Before this major update to 10 my phone worked flawlessly- They Told you the answer, Odin # 9 or if its under warranty take it back Good luck.

My phone (SM-A505U) wasn't even working on visible before android 10.

See my post at the end of this thread: https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...official-firmware-t3955727/page2#post83845605

I have that problem too. Where I can download v9. I got the Odin.

Question How to fix faulty mobile network on Exynos?

I have a Galaxy S22 Exynos and I have troubles with mobile network. Although the phone shows it has full 4G or even 4G+ connection, Internet doesn't work at all, and only up arrow lights up. Turning airplane mode on and back off again seems to temporarily fix it. I've tried countless methods in order to fix it, but nothing seems to work. How to fix it?

I has same issue.
Moscow, megafon...

I have the same problem, its hardware issue and samsung doesnt want to admit it. I sended mine to warranty repair and hopefully they will fix it.
I had contacted samsung support for help and they asked to reset network setting, then all phones settings and then full format but none of those fixed the issue. Then they started to ask for log files but it wasnt possible to take the log file they asked for because it needs OTP password which i cant get because its only for samsung repair center. After that they said i should bring phone to repair.

Any news about this problem?
I'm tried switch mobile network to 3g/2g only mode and this is help, but not 4g or 4g+.
It looks like the phone can't switch from 4g+ to 3g mode and stuck.

istroganov said:
Any news about this problem?
I'm tried switch mobile network to 3g/2g only mode and this is help, but not 4g or 4g+.
It looks like the phone can't switch from 4g+ to 3g mode and stuck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I managed to find which LTE bands aren't working properly and disabled them

VantuzProper said:
I managed to find which LTE bands aren't working properly and disabled them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
could you tell how you did it?

istroganov said:
could you tell how you did it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I looked which band is faulty using the *#0011# code, and restricted bands with the Samsung Band Selection app from the Play store

VantuzProper said:
I looked which band is faulty using the *#0011# code, and restricted bands with the Samsung Band Selection app from the Play store
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not right though, it basically limits or possible connections... This is terrible...