Related
Hello friends.
I am a total noob
I have a nexus one phone rooted with stock version of android (it's the lastest version from google, with the multi-touch. just rooted it to install my native language)
there is a problem with the 3G signal in my device. it is terrible comparing to other devices and it sometimes drops to EDGE because of it.
I've heard that radio updates can fix it but
1. I heard it's dangerous and can brick the phone. why?
2. if it really helps - could someone plz direct me to a download link + instructions?
thanks alot everybody
ohadbasan said:
there is a problem with the 3G signal in my device. it is terrible comparing to other devices and it sometimes drops to EDGE because of it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Are you sure you have your APN' s correctly typed
2. Uncheck the "use only 2G networks" @ Mobile network settings
3. This might help aswell @ dialpad > *#*#4636#*#* and select "phone information" you will see at the bottom some xtra network configurations , with submenus options too
I dunno if someone else has more advices
Hope you get it to work right !
&
Welcome to the forum !
Hey friend
first of all, thanks for the answer.
1. I did set the APN correctly but anyways, I don't think it's related, I just got bad reception although i should get a good one.
2. already unchecked. I have a weak 3G signal which i sometimes loose and the device goes to 2G
3. thanks. I just don't know what to do with these options there.
many thanks!
ohadbasan said:
Hey friend
first of all, thanks for the answer.
1. I did set the APN correctly but anyways, I don't think it's related, I just got bad reception although i should get a good one.
2. already unchecked. I have a weak 3G signal which i sometimes loose and the device goes to 2G
3. thanks. I just don't know what to do with these options there.
many thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Enter the code he talked about, then choose the WCDMA Only option. You will still get weak signal, but it will keep it from falling back to EDGE.
Wrong forum BTW. But oh well, learn it next time
what is the difference between these two settings on my N1? i get 3G/H with either setting, and they both switch to Edge around the same coverage areas too. PRL seems to have ever-so-slightly better dBm power readings, anyone else seen this? both seem to have similar network performance too (based on download speeds), should i stick with one or another? which gives better battery life?
TIA!
Hope this helps!!!
GSM Only - Only uses in G/E and never switches to 3G/H. Should have minimal battery usage.
GSM Auto (PRL) - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the PRL (Preferred Roaming List) for a provider on your phone. Not supported by all providers and may not be supported in certain regions. Should have moderate battery usage since it uses a predefined list to switch.
WCDMA Preferred - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the best/strongest signal available and is supported by all providers. Has high battery usage since it constantly scans the network for the strongest signal to switch.
WCDMA Only - Only uses HSDPA and will not switch to G/E/3G even if the HSPDA signal is too low. Use this only if you use your phone in a area with good coverage. Should have moderate battery usage.
craigacgomez said:
Hope this helps!!!
GSM Only - Only uses in G/E and never switches to 3G/H. Should have minimal battery usage.
GSM Auto (PRL) - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the PRL (Preferred Roaming List) for a provider on your phone. Not supported by all providers and may not be supported in certain regions. Should have moderate battery usage since it uses a predefined list to switch.
WCDMA Preferred - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the best/strongest signal available and is supported by all providers. Has high battery usage since it constantly scans the network for the strongest signal to switch.
WCDMA Only - Only uses HSDPA and will not switch to G/E/3G even if the HSPDA signal is too low. Use this only if you use your phone in a area with good coverage. Should have moderate battery usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you!! where'd you find this info?
There's a huge thread on this already. Gsm auto (PRL) gives me much better battery life over wcdma preferred but we really don't know exactly why. Both give you 3g and edge access.
RogerPodacter said:
There's a huge thread on this already. Gsm auto (PRL) gives me much better battery life over wcdma preferred but we really don't know exactly why. Both give you 3g and edge access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm discovering the much better battery life as well, pleasantly surprised to be at 70% after coming off charger 11 hours ago!
do you have a link to that thread? i searched before I posted but couldn't find anything of value. xda is a great resource, but sometimes info is difficult to retrieve from old threads. thanks!
mcgoo99 said:
i'm discovering the much better battery life as well, pleasantly surprised to be at 70% after coming off charger 11 hours ago!
do you have a link to that thread? i searched before I posted but couldn't find anything of value. xda is a great resource, but sometimes info is difficult to retrieve from old threads. thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=675136&highlight=improve+battery
RogerPodacter said:
There's a huge thread on this already. Gsm auto (PRL) gives me much better battery life over wcdma preferred but we really don't know exactly why. Both give you 3g and edge access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the fact that GSM Auto (PRL) uses a predetermined PRL to switch between G/E/3G/H vs. the phone constantly scanning to find the best signal in the case of WCDMA Preferred is the reason for the better battery life.
many thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated!
craigacgomez said:
Hope this helps!!!
GSM Only - Only uses in G/E and never switches to 3G/H. Should have minimal battery usage.
GSM Auto (PRL) - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the PRL (Preferred Roaming List) for a provider on your phone. Not supported by all providers and may not be supported in certain regions. Should have moderate battery usage since it uses a predefined list to switch.
WCDMA Preferred - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the best/strongest signal available and is supported by all providers. Has high battery usage since it constantly scans the network for the strongest signal to switch.
WCDMA Only - Only uses HSDPA and will not switch to G/E/3G even if the HSPDA signal is too low. Use this only if you use your phone in a area with good coverage. Should have moderate battery usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does anyone know what gsm disconnects: =====DATA=====
mean?
my network keeps disconnecting and reconnecting :/
haksam said:
does anyone know what gsm disconnects: =====DATA=====
mean?
my network keeps disconnecting and reconnecting :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beats me....if I set to "gsm only" gsm disconects and doesnt reconnect
until I set it to to "auto mode"
« »
Was just messing around with my Nexus One, I have used the *#*#4636#*#* trick to turn on GSM Auto (PRL) Which greatly improved battery life but didn't do much for signal so just now I was messing around went back into the phone info section turned on GSM Auto (PRL) then went down to OEM-Specific Info/Settings and turned off ciphering and wow my dbm went from -101 down to -87 and I seem to be able to hold a 3g signal reliably. If I grasp the phone tightly and intentionaly try to make it lose 3g I still can but holding the phone normally it seems to stay on 3g and doesn't fluctuate nearly as much as before.
Can anyone else give this a try and let me know if it's just a fluke? Never seen my DBM's so low before in front of my computer so seems like something is up here.
I don't see any difference, but I am on 2G right now.
Meh, don't read it if you don't like. It is the first ever thing i've tried that actually noticeably improved my 3g reception so thought i'd share it. If enough people notice simliar increases in 3g reception perhaps it will lead to an official fix from Google. If everyone remains quiet on the subject we will never get anywhere.
Cheers
What's the difference between gsm (prl ) and wcdma that it was naturally set to?
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
Jrbourque said:
What's the difference between gsm (prl ) and wcdma that it was naturally set to?
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=682662
Jrbourque said:
What's the difference between gsm (prl ) and wcdma that it was naturally set to?
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't search as much when on wcdma. GSM auto(prl) is basically a file that contains a lists of towers in your area that you have access to. So your phone uses that instead of searching all the time.
Here is some more info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_Roaming_List
and I'm sure there is others.
thanks for the tip. I tired it and my dbm went from -102 to -87 to -93 range.
does having a lower dbm means better signal? I have a place where my 3gs gets 2-3 bars, and my nexus has 0 bars. Kind of disappointing, the the cell radio in the nexus 1 is not as strrong as the iphone 3gs. I'll test the phone later there, and let you know.
Yea, lower the dbm the better the signal, it definitely helps but doesn't alleviate the problem with holding the phone from the bottom. I have since switched to WCDMA Only to help combat that problem. It seems I am able to stay on 3g pretty reliably this way even though I sometimes lose all bars when holding the phone from the bottom it still stays connected to 3g and I am able to surf the web and make calls with no bars showing, it's rather peculiar but it's working for now so I won't complain. If this doesn't work out I think I will end up switching to Sprint and going with the EVO on June 4.
Definitely that's one thing I noticed is with zero bars my phone still makes clear calls and fast data, so I just figure the signal meter is just more conservative than other phones.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
So what exactly does turning off ciphering do? Is it worth it for the signal boost?
Ciphering is to keep other people from hearing your conversations, it's like encryption...not a big deal for me as I've nothing to hide and never give out credit card numbers over the phone or anything like that but it might be an issue for some.
ssj4vegita2002 said:
So what exactly does turning off ciphering do? Is it worth it for the signal boost?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.hackcanada.com/blackcrawl/cell/gsm/gsm-secur/gsm-secur.html
I am assuming that Ciphering is purely the encryption aspect ...
Hi all,
I live in Germany and had a Motorola Milestone 2 before. On my new beloved Droid 3 which I imported and unlocked for usage with Vodafones network I noticed signal issues with both EDGE and 3G. So I searched for a soultion and found a thread about the Droid 2 Global which is said to have a not so well GSM signal too and offers a solution for this.
After adding these lines to my build.prop I have noticed a HUGE improement of signal strengh and data transfer speeds.
Code:
the code is (much thanks goes out to Zeppelinrox and his v6 supercharger script):
ro.ril.hsxpa=3
ro.ril.gprsclass=12
ro.ril.hep=1
ro.ril.enable.dtm=1
ro.ril.hsdpa.category=28
ro.ril.enable.a53=1
ro.ril.enable.3g.prefix=1
ro.ril.htcmaskw1.bitmask=4294967295
ro.ril.htcmaskw1=14449
ro.ril.hsupa.category=9
Please test it and tell me if it works for you too!
This is the original Droid2Global thread: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...acking-tweaking-3g-settings-radio-driver.html
According to the thread you linked it was added to local.prop , not build.prop?
I'm also guessing he meant local.prop
So anyways, added it to the file, rebooted, and everything still works.
It's too soon to say if anything improved at all. Not more bars than before the reboot anyways.
Hi,
yes I know that in THAT case it was added to local.prop, but while looking around I saw that these "tweaks" are pretty old. On a CM page those lines were added to the build.prop so I put them there, too.
PLEASE report if you notice any improvements.
Ok i see. So you were correct after all. I will change it and report back
Edit: Changed it in my build.prop this time, and rebooted, but not much has changed for me.
I'm on the Vodafone network in The Netherlands.
OK, would you say that it would be better to put those lines in the local.prop then?
Nope, i'm saying neither of them are doing anything for me
But i did some searching for the changes you mentioned, and one of the articles said it could take up to 3 reboots before it takes effect.
There was no mention of signal though. Just speed.
Well, I just tested this. And it seems to have resulted in better signal reception. At least for me, so thank you for digging it out!
I tested it too but it doesnt work for me. Maybe it depends on the carrier you´re on. (I use E-Plus)
I tried to edit both Local.prop and Build.prop, I had no problem with editing Build.prop...
but for Local.prop, it resets to default as soon as I reboot my Droid 3, is this the reason why I have not experienced any improvement?
Thanks.
You could also use Network Info II or some sort of signal checker off of market to get a numeric before/after measurement of your cell signal. I'm interested in the results.
@Moderator: Please move this topic to general! Thanks!
i found no difference in the dbm of my signal strength after this, and in all honesty unless you do a large number of speedtests before and after (i'm talking 20), any differences you see will probably be within the margin of error
onethreeteeh said:
i found no difference in the dbm of my signal strength after this, and in all honesty unless you do a large number of speedtests before and after (i'm talking 20), any differences you see will probably be within the margin of error
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I figured, too bad
Is anybody else's phone hanging around in 3G even if the singal strenght is ~109db (or no signal bar) and no more mobile internet is possible, but at 2g the signal would be great? It takes just too long to switch and its burning battery like hell meanwhile.
I did notice that too...
I'm on a dext while motorola fixed my hardware keyboard again .. it has the same problem, poor battery life, low 3g signal but no 2g signal at all. Probably related to my provider but i did notice thatwith the last swap phone they gave ne (desire z) it had at least 2 bars better reception and 3-4 times the battery life. Didn't measure the dbm for any hard numbers when i had it. Shame
Willis111 said:
I'm on a dext while motorola fixed my hardware keyboard again .. it has the same problem, poor battery life, low 3g signal but no 2g signal at all. Probably related to my provider but i did notice thatwith the last swap phone they gave ne (desire z) it had at least 2 bars better reception and 3-4 times the battery life. Didn't measure the dbm for any hard numbers when i had it. Shame
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you trying to get 2G signal on Bell Canada? If so - no GSM phone will ever pick signal - Bell does not have 2G network - only 3G.
Willis111 said:
I'm on a dext while motorola fixed my hardware keyboard again .. it has the same problem, poor battery life, low 3g signal but no 2g signal at all. Probably related to my provider but i did notice thatwith the last swap phone they gave ne (desire z) it had at least 2 bars better reception and 3-4 times the battery life. Didn't measure the dbm for any hard numbers when i had it. Shame
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a DZ and my Droid 3 is crossing the Atlantic sea right now, I can compare them easily the next week.
After the poor battery experience with the milestone 1 I decided to keep the DZ, to see if the droid 3 is usable.
I added the code to build.prop and after reboot it remained.
But I didn't noticed an improvement in signal strength. :-(
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk
Hi folks
Today I got my i9305 (swapped for i9300).
I'm not interested at all in 4G, it's the 2GB ram i was craving for. Anyways, is it possible to disable 4g completely?
I read 3G and 4G both use the same chip/antenna and therefore disabling 4g is not possible without killing 3g too. Is that true? Would be a bit of a bummer but in the end I stick to edge anyways and fire 3g/4g only up when really needed and disable it asap.
Also, I read the new 3g/4g chip is more energy hungry than the 3g-only chip, even if only 3g networks are selected.
Can someone elaborate on this?
I dont think there is a big difference in battery performance
You can choose WCDMA only on the mobile network options and 4G will be off. I'm not sure if 2G will be off too, though.
Perseus Kernel has some lte energy tweaks.
Gesendet von meinem GT-I9305 mit Tapatalk 2
shaz2sxy said:
I dont think there is a big difference in battery performance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are dead wrong.
LTE is power hungry, the i9305 has the same battery as the i9300, you will notice a battery drop.
@OP, I saw somewhere the "trick" to get 4g on the nexus 4, maybe you can try that and see if it works to disable 4g? search it up, it's a code in the dialer.
nop56773 said:
You can choose WCDMA only on the mobile network options and 4G will be off. I'm not sure if 2G will be off too, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WCDMA is 3G only. GSM is 2G. The S3 is really missing a setting for WCDMA/GSM only.. this would effectively block 4G and only allow 2G, 3G, HSDPA and HSUPA. I don't need 4G, even for normal browsing HSDPA is pretty fast. Would love the WCDMA/GSM option!
---------- Post added at 09:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:46 PM ----------
btemtd posted this in the Pandoriam thread - use at your own will and take responsibility if anything messes up
*#197328640# and then go to UMTS->Debug Screen->Phone Control->Network Control->Band Selection would be what one would want to lock only into certain bands like maybe the ones that are not lte
quantumtraveler said:
WCDMA is 3G only. GSM is 2G. The S3 is really missing a setting for WCDMA/GSM only.. this would effectively block 4G and only allow 2G, 3G, HSDPA and HSUPA. I don't need 4G, even for normal browsing HSDPA is pretty fast. Would love the WCDMA/GSM option!
---------- Post added at 09:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:46 PM ----------
btemtd posted this in the Pandoriam thread - use at your own will and take responsibility if anything messes up
*#197328640# and then go to UMTS->Debug Screen->Phone Control->Network Control->Band Selection would be what one would want to lock only into certain bands like maybe the ones that are not lte
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool, thanks for the hint. But I wonder, does this disable the 4G modem? I think what it does is tell the phone to ignore 4g signals in favor of 3g, but the 4g module is still on (and thus consuming power).
If the 3g and 4g modems are actually on the same chip, we're phucked :silly: I believe this is the case, but I still need someone to confirm this...
afaik 4G will only be active if your contract/the area you are in supports it.
Same scenario for 2G/3G. If your phone is on 3G it will not be using 2G at the same time. Unless you are actually on 4G your 4G is NOT active. I can easily see this as I have both the 9300 and 9305 on which I get very similar battery performance (rom dependant of course). If 4G was active then this would not be the case.
Yes LTE is power hungry but only if you are using it!!!
Point is I notice NO difference between the phones battery so do not overthink the situation and just enjoy the phone.
EDIT: Check this out, will have to see if it actually makes any difference in battery preformance though!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=35073360#post35073360
chippyuk said:
afaik 4G will only be active if your contract/the area you are in supports it.
Same scenario for 2G/3G. If your phone is on 3G it will not be using 2G at the same time. Unless you are actually on 4G your 4G is NOT active. I can easily see this as I have both the 9300 and 9305 on which I get very similar battery performance (rom dependant of course). If 4G was active then this would not be the case.
Yes LTE is power hungry but only if you are using it!!!
Point is I notice NO difference between the phones battery so do not overthink the situation and just enjoy the phone.
EDIT: Check this out, will have to see if it actually makes any difference in battery preformance though!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=35073360#post35073360
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, thanks for your input. I'll take your word for it I just got i9305 yesterday (switched from i9300). I have yet to evaluate the battery behaviour. The WCDMA/GSM Auto option you linked to sure is a must have!
I have Korean Galaxy S3 with 2GB RAM.......from the dial pad i can enter a code and go to hidden settings menu....there i can select gsm/wcdma/lte only options.......... as I don't have a LTE connection but my operator and phone supports it.....in the beginning i got network error messages....although the network connection was always stable and i wasn't disconnected......
so what i guessed from this was that LTE modem was on and even i was connected to 3g it searched for lte and then got rejected by operator and gave error...
so i went to hidden menu and selected "WCDMA only" and now i don't get that error and always connected on 3g.....
from this i conclude that it has stopped searching for LTE connection but is the modem actually turned off.....i don't know...
maybe you can make some sense of this....
Just use a 3G sim.
I've got the LTE, and am using my previous 3G sim on a 3G plan.
You can switch off LTE by installing and app called "Phone Info" from the Play Store.
And under device info set network selection to "WCDMA Preferred". This is essentially the WCDMA/GSM option you're looking for.
I did that and my battery life is much better.
PhoneInfo
flashvc said:
You can switch off LTE by installing and app called "Phone Info" from the Play Store.
And under device info set network selection to "WCDMA Preferred". This is essentially the WCDMA/GSM option you're looking for.
I did that and my battery life is much better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yip PhoneInfo works well. You can use WCDMA preferred (this will prefer 3G/HSDPA over 2G) or GSM/CDMA PRL auto (this will go with the stronger signal)
flashvc said:
You can switch off LTE by installing and app called "Phone Info" from the Play Store.
And under device info set network selection to "WCDMA Preferred". This is essentially the WCDMA/GSM option you're looking for.
I did that and my battery life is much better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a 4G sim/contract as I can only see this being of benefit if you can actually use 4G or if your network supports it and it tries to connect via 4G before realising your contract does not support 4G. Otherwise it will not use 4G anyway. As I mentioned above I can easily see this as I have both the 9300 and 9305.
I do not have time at the moment but will try next week and see if it actually makes any difference to battery life. Would be nice if it does!
Yeah, I have LTE provisioned on my contract, there's nothing special about the sim though. To be honest I have no idea if the phone will try to attach on LTE and then just fail in the case that you don't have LTE provisioned and as a result use more battery?
Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk 2
Guess only some good old tests will tell us but as I do not really notice any difference in battery life between the 9300 and 9305 (I do not have an LTE contract) I am not holding my breath though but hope to be pleasantly surprised!
This will information not be of much use but anyways:
I was abroad for 4 days and thus had mobile data connection turned off, only using regular cell phone connectivitgy for calls/sms and wifi in between.
The battery life was downright amazing, never managed to get it below 50% for an entire day, even when taking pictures, using wifi + whatsapp and doing calls all the time. I even did play games in between.
No surprise, but still, when mobile data is off and you rely solely on wifi, bettry life is outstanding :good:
Vipeout said:
Alright, thanks for your input. I'll take your word for it I just got i9305 yesterday (switched from i9300). I have yet to evaluate the battery behaviour. The WCDMA/GSM Auto option you linked to sure is a must have!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well having tested for over a full day now, I can safely say I see NO difference at all in having 4G disabled if you are not actually on 4G.
Skander1998 said:
You are dead wrong.
LTE is power hungry, the i9305 has the same battery as the i9300, you will notice a battery drop.
@OP, I saw somewhere the "trick" to get 4g on the nexus 4, maybe you can try that and see if it works to disable 4g? search it up, it's a code in the dialer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont think he is wrong at all..
I have Owned a I9300 And I have had the EXACT same battery expereince. So why is he wrong?
Your not ON LTE 24/7 it automatically picks up LTE when needed and Only if you are using the internet. I use the internet the same as the I9300 and I still had to charge my phone every night just like the I9305. I have all widgets that need Network connection and I Always have it set on auto 4g/3g/2g . 100% there is no difference at all. If I use powersaving mode and use my phone on occassion i can have it last almost 2 full days even with LTE set this is with stock kernel. And this is the same i had with the I9300 on stock rom.
But i always use the phone OC at 1700 No undervolt Always have lte on auto. And I using perseus Kenerl and i charge my phone before i sleep. Which is what i did with the I9300 when i had it OC
All this talk about dramatic battery drain.. I dont see it
So is there a problem with battery drain or not ?
Envoyé depuis mon GT-I9000 avec Tapatalk