Hi all,
Does anyone know if T-Mobile has debilitated their version of the HTC Touch Diamond, called the MDA Compact IV by removing Wi-Fi, similar to what they did with MDA Compact III and others before that?
Here’s a video of the T-Mobile variant of the HTC Touch Diamond I was talking about above along with the customised (branded) TouchFlo 3D interface.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhrnATHTlkQ
It really worries me that they might have removed WiFi from their phone, with their unlimited Web & Walk tariffs now, what possible advantage would they have to do this?
If you look closely at the video above when the person goes into the settings menu, you are able to see under the condensed communications menu it does say WiFi.
But this is a pre-production model so it might not be accurate. Also, I noticed on the home screen there was no WiFi active icon on the title bar, but this might be because it wasn’t turned on.
Finally, if you look at the four buttons, they are reversed when compared with the HTC Diamond, the call and answer are at the top on the MDA Compact IV, whereas they are on the bottom on the HTC Touch Diamond.
Now if T-Mobile, have gone as far as switching the position of the buttons, then they might of also requested that WiFi is disabled. Then again, as it was a pre-production model, the buttons on the production version might be in the same place as the HTC version.
So many questions, and no answers!
Hey guys,
i was wondering off to the Tmobile website(dutch version) and the site says that the compact 4 is coming soon!!
gr. bram
link: Dutch T-mo Compact 4
Thanks bram_smulders,
I noticed that they don’t mention WiFi anywhere, just Web & Walk. Also notice how the buttons are still the other way round when compared to HTC’s OEM version. I hope someone can give me a definitive answer, but at the moment the signs don’t look good!
why no WIFI
imranbashir_uk said:
Thanks bram_smulders,
I noticed that they don’t mention WiFi anywhere, just Web & Walk. Also notice how the buttons are still the other way round when compared to HTC’s OEM version. I hope someone can give me a definitive answer, but at the moment the signs don’t look good!
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With the MDA compac III in NL there was GPS and WIFI on it, so why shouldn't it be on this one.
the uk and probably other places compact 3 has no wifi, wheras the exact same device on o2 in terms of the insides [the orbit 1] has wifi...
imranbashir_uk said:
It really worries me that they might have removed WiFi from their phone, with their unlimited Web & Walk tariffs now, what possible advantage would they have to do this?
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That looks like the whole point to me. If their Web & Walk tariffs are unlimited, and the Touch Diamond has HSDPA, who needs wifi?
Your comment is really quite ignorant.
Wi-Fi has many advantages over 3G and HSDPA in terms of speed, and reliability to name just a few.
Businesses that have WiFi LAN’s and WAN’s setup for sharing their intranet, storage servers, exchange servers, are behind a firewall and cannot be accessed over the internet even using VPN use it with their laptops and mobile devices.
If your device has WiFi and HSDPA then using appropriate software you would be able to make your phone into a mobile WiFi router, and connect a laptop to the internet in an emergency.
At home, WiFi can be used to stream video, audio, share NAS drives, and printers, the list goes on and on.
Additionally, you might live in an area that has no 3G coverage, then you’re stuck with GPRS or nothing, but if you had a wireless router at home, then that’s not a problem.
Finally, if you’re on a legacy tariff or cannot justify the additional £7 per month for Web & Walk as it’s only for occasional use, then WiFi is a free option, assuming you have access to a WiFi network.
Do you want more reasons?
The people at T-Tobile obviously are ignorant.
But your reasons assume and ignore a lot too:
1. Wifi itself may be fast, but broadband internet connections are not necesarily faster than 3G. Ireland is a good example. Where Rory (daredking) lives is also a good example (and that's in London!).
2. If you work for a business that has such high sceurity, that's your problem. Don't get a T-Mobile phone.
3. You can connect a laptop to the internet via your phone with bluetooth too. Personally, I've never seen it done with wifi - bluetooth and USB connections for that are much more common.
4. At home, again, bluetooth and USB can be used for at least most of those things. If your house is too big, why are you getting a T-Mobile phone?
5. If you live in the middle of nowhere, you're more likely to have a bad broadband connection than lack of 3G (at least in the British Isles).
6. Wifi may be free, but it has very limited coverage. Most people don't spend their lives within a few tens of metres of a wireless router.
Dark Fire said:
The people at T-Tobile obviously are ignorant.
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I’m glad we agree that T-Mobile is wrong to disable WiFi, or at least I think that’s what you mean. To answer the rest of your points:
Dark Fire said:
1. Wifi itself may be fast, but broadband internet connections are not necesarily faster than 3G. Ireland is a good example. Where Rory (daredking) lives is also a good example (and that's in London!).
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I never said broadband is always faster than 3G I said WiFi is faster that 3G and HSDPA. Never the less in most cases broadband is still faster than 3G, but possibly not HSDPA depending on who your ISP is and what your local exchange supports.
Dark Fire said:
2. If you work for a business that has such high sceurity, that's your problem. Don't get a T-Mobile phone.
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That’s my point exactly I shouldn’t have to be forced away from T-Mobile or forced to by an unsubsidised phone.
Dark Fire said:
3. You can connect a laptop to the internet via your phone with bluetooth too. Personally, I've never seen it done with wifi - bluetooth and USB connections for that are much more common.
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Why on earth would you want to connect your laptop over Bluetooth thereby limiting your connection speed to 2Mbps or 1Mbps with 1.0, and limit your range to a few meters. Even that assumes you have Bluetooth on your laptop which may not be the case. To use USB, you got to have your cable with you take out your phone, and have a desk handy to put everything. More info on WiFi to HSDPA router here, once you do it you will never look back at Bluetooth, give it a go! http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=341398
Dark Fire said:
4. At home, again, bluetooth and USB can be used for at least most of those things. If your house is too big, why are you getting a T-Mobile phone?
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LOL I’m not even going to both responding to the comment that if my house is to big I shouldn’t be getting a T-mobile phone! I didn’t know T-mobile was only marketing their phones to people with small houses! All my equipment runs and streams over WiFi, this give me better range, and more bandwidth there is no point or advantage in doing it over Bluetooth.
Dark Fire said:
5. If you live in the middle of nowhere, you're more likely to have a bad broadband connection than lack of 3G (at least in the British Isles).
6. Wifi may be free, but it has very limited coverage. Most people don't spend their lives within a few tens of metres of a wireless router.
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[/QUOTE]
What’s that got to do with anything? The point I was trying to make is that when available it’s better to use WiFi over 3G. i.e. at home and work I connect over WiFi, anywhere else I use GPRS or 3G.
At the end of the day, it comes down to choice, T-Mobile have chosen to disable WiFi. I and many others who do use WiFi are forced to choose between a subsidised handset from T-Mobile, or moving to a different service provider, or buying an unbranded phone. If T-Mobile didn’t disable the WiFi like O2 and Orange, well then this thread would not exist!
imranbashir_uk said:
I’m glad we agree that T-Mobile is wrong to disable WiFi, or at least I think that’s what you mean.
At the end of the day, it comes down to choice, T-Mobile have chosen to disable WiFi. I and many others who do use WiFi are forced to choose between a subsidised handset from T-Mobile, or moving to a different service provider, or buying an unbranded phone. If T-Mobile didn’t disable the WiFi like O2 and Orange, well then this thread would not exist!
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I actually agree with you totally. Having known Mark (Dark Fire) for 7 years, i argue with him every day, but youve got him beat in my view here. im sure hes going to stab me or something now, but anyways, i think youre right.
On a side note, I dont think they have actually disabled it. If anyone can point me somewhere it says they have done, then please do, but i thought this was a thread firstly asking if they would, then slowly moving on to why tmobile are stupid if they disable it, then onto why it doesnt matter if its disabled.
Anyway, like I said, if somebody can show me somewhere it says it is disabled on the diamond, please do
Rory
This could obviously go on for ages. I am not supporting T-Mobile at all - I just said that their flawed reasoning was obvious.
"I’m glad we agree that T-Mobile is wrong to disable WiFi, or at least I think that’s what you mean." - Clearly that's what I mean.
"I never said broadband is always faster than 3G I said WiFi is faster that 3G and HSDPA." - How else is a wireless router going to connect to the internet?
"That’s my point exactly I shouldn’t have to be forced away from T-Mobile or forced to by an unsubsidised phone." - O2 forced me away through their lack of mobile internet. These things happen all of the time. Get used to it.
"Why on earth would you want to connect your laptop over Bluetooth thereby limiting your connection speed to 2Mbps or 1Mbps with 1.0, and limit your range to a few meters." - If you're on your laptop, connecting to the internet via your phone, your phone is obviously going to be within that range. Most servers have such slow connections or are used by so many people that a connection faster than 2Mbps doesn't make a difference (my broadband connection is 13Mbps, and I really don't notice the difference over 2Mbps). BTW, I only have a Touch, so doing wifi stuff with it is a bit pointless.
"I’m not even going to both responding to the comment that if my house is to big I shouldn’t be getting a T-mobile phone!" - You're completely misinterpreting that point, as I knew you would. My point is that most people don't have houses that are so large that the majority of the house is going to be outside bluetooth range - the distances over which I've achieved bluetooth connections have been surprising, and they can also undoubtedly be improved using several techniques.
"The point I was trying to make is that when available it’s better to use WiFi over 3G. i.e. at home and work I connect over WiFi, anywhere else I use GPRS or 3G." - No, you've missed my point again. My point is that, at least in the British Isles (I really don't know about other places), 3G is going to perform better due to lack of good broadband speeds at exchanges and distance from exchanges. As I said before, wifi may be fast, but it's the broadband speed that matters (unless you're accessing the local network, which you will not be most of the time).
Oh, and Rory, you always think I'm beaten, but you know that I kill people on details.
So on these phones that had wifi disabled, was it a hardware modification or just disabled in software?
I know the usual way to disable Wifi through software is to delete calibration and setup data in the WiFi chip. This can be reinstated if you have a path to direct connect to the wifi chip - either through OS or via baseband.
Was any effort made at all to try to enable wifi in those phones?
I don't really know, but from the way people have such strong feelings about it, I'd guess that it's a hardware modification. That does seem a bit extreme, but T-Mobile will have their reasons. Personally, I'd say that wifi disabled through software modification is a good feature - it would certainly provide many more hours of fun than having working wifi to begin with.
it was hardware, much like the disabled gps in the hermes.
disabled wifi by soft would be solved by a rom update
and yes, they tried to fix it [come on, its xda-developers, not xda-users lol]
Rory
Thats interesting, so they probably completly removed the WiFi chip itself.
I guess you could solder a new one in place, but thats alot of work
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=35879&d=1174679272
that pic is of a mda compact III, and shows why theres no wifi, its because the antenna is missing...
Hmm, but you would still be able to enable it (after flashing the right rom/bootloader), but would probably get a really weak signal.
But i guess from that its not just the antenna, but the main chip too. It wouldnt be dificult (costly) in production to run a set of boards without that one chip.
exactly, but i think tmob prob lost a lot of custom to o2,seeing as msot palces have all the phone shops [at least here in the uk] so its easy enough to walk down the road to an o2 shop and get the exact same phone but with wifi...
so im saying its not gona have crippled wifi...
ill look around for proof
having looked for proof, i havet found any, but the tmobile netherlands site doesnt say wifi in specs, btu does say hsdpa, bluetooth 3mp cam and 4gb flash memory.
but....... when paul from modaco "stumbled upon the compact 4 specs at the mobile world congress" it had wifi in the specs
so still inconclusive
Rory
Before you plug in that USB cable, join that bluetooth PAN or blaze up that WMWifiRouter demo, you'd best fire up a bandwidth meter on your lappy to make sure you don't sail too far past that 5GB or whatever carrier monthly max lest yo' ass be surcharged up the ass! Note also that if you're running XP you've probably got virii up the ass and that when you tether, when those virii spit out those dirty packets to random IPs, that counts against your cap just as much as facebook and youtube and xda and slashdot.
So put on this jimmy cap. FreeMeter, found on sourceforge (so you know it's legit), lets you monitor your throughput, it plots that **** out on a pretty tiny chart and lets you keep comprehensive yet intelligible logs of incoming, outgoing and combined bandwidth. And most importantly you can set the thing to alert you when you're approaching whatever you set it to warn you about when you're approaching, it .. you get the idea. Use it, put it in Start Up.
Doug
or...
Disable phone as modem through Diamond Tweak/Adv Config/Registry Editor and not worry about bandwidth at all
Umm.. I'm talking about a tool for those of us who want to tether but don't want to get a $4000 bill and know their carrier's cap, not a way to prevent people from accidentally tethering if that's what you're getting at.
I'm fairly certain that a carrier who wants to either tame network traffic or make more money from people downloading movies over their phone counts transmitted bytes on their own routers, not your phone, plus they probably don't warn you or clip off the connection when you hit any cap they may have set in their TOS, so this thing I posted is a tool for tethering (or just satisfying your curiosity).
Anyone know if these carriers cap just downloaded bandwidth or the combined figure for up and down data? And has anyone run into an enforcement situation and gotten a larger bill due to exceeding some data limit on an unlimited plan? And can carriers figure out whether I'm listening to Howard on SiriusWM5 versus downloading Linux ISOs on my laptop?
Unlimited data plan for the win. I'm glad I don't have to worry about caps
Well I don't know. According to this, assuming it hasn't been changed since Jan 08, if you use their Data Connect plan which I believe may be [partly] defined as using the isp.cingular access point rather than wap.cingular, you have a "soft limit" of 5GB a month. If you go over that "repeatedly," at least at the time of this policy from almost a year and a half ago, AT&T might send you a letter advising you of your overindulgance and threaten to "remove the feature" if you keep it up. And that's for legit tethering. I'm not sure if regular data, like streaming media on the phone without tethering, counts against that number which is of some concern to me as I listen to Sirius a lot and like to do it on isp.cingular because, I don't know, I just like to.
As for under-the-radar tethering without a plan using an unlimited MEdia Net plan through the natted WAP, well, I'm safely guessing that that's a TOS violation and it could get ugly if you burn through enough data to get their attention. Ugly meaning at best a warning or possibly signing you up automatically to the Data Connect plan. I'm speaking out my ass here mostly but I might be right. Anyway I think that applies to most of us here so that's why I put up the bandwidth meter (and for those of other carriers like Verizon who are more anal) to keep y'all under the radar as I don't think AT&T immediately knows (or cares) if the packets going through their routers originated originally from your phone or a computer. I imagine that takes careful packet parsing that might just be out of the question to do for everyone all the time. Tallying up gigabytes on the other hand, that they probably do. But I wish they would pour more money into infrastructure because bandwidth is getting pretty thin in my city during the day. Can barely listen to Howard without frequent buffering.
What I'm more nervous about however is Time Warner doing the same thing for my Internet like they've been doing in other markets. Latest word is that they're backing down but if they start up I'll sign up for FiOS.
Overall I've been pleased with AT&T. Today my old man needed help signing on to his company email using a Java thin-client a la citrix and couldn't get it going on my mom's Kubuntu Linux laptop. So I fired up WMWifiRouter on a train from Connecticut going around 80mph and was able to VNC (like remote desktop) to his laptop (Linux, btw) using my laptop through my phone /while actually on the phone with him/ while having two SSH terminals open behind it to fix it. That's pretty badass, to me, doing all that flying through tunnels, real and technological bouncing from one cell to the next.
</ramble>
ahh yes
I quite often forget how the majority of users here at XDA are on GSM networks. I was speaking of using "HKLM\Comm\InternetSharing\Settings\ForceCellConnection=Sprint" to force all data connections from the device to use the 'Sprint' (used for data connections on the device) connection versus the 'Phone As Modem' connection that triggers the counter for Sprint's 5GB cap. Nice app though. After using and exploring all possible upgrades and features of a P.O.S. Treo 700p as a "in between" device while I switched from T-Mobile to my Dad's corporate Sprint plan, I discovered this similar app from Sprint. Just in case any Sprint WM users wanted to be completely legit/keep track of their tethering from a non-WM device.
Sprint Connection Manager
For Windows XP/2000
For Windows Vista
Now, you may know me for having immense troubles with my network connection speed, reaching .06Mbps (60Kbps) down and rendering my phone's wireless internet unusable, regardless of ROM, modem, or any real variables.
After a new SIM card from ATT and a few lucky Master Clears (where it worked after each session for roughly one hour before locking up again), I think I may have found the cause...Or so I thought. IP addresses weren't the culprit.
What is awkward, however, is that my EDGE service now works, and it's faster than my 3G service. On EDGE, my internet is 3 times faster than that of 3G, again still poor, but an improvement nonetheless. Thus, I've concluded that it's an issue with 3G and either my cell network or my phone's 3G cell chip.
How could I go about diagnosing this issue? I want my 3G service back... I have changed modems several times, and switching ROMs doesn't do anything. Anything I can flash, use Service Mode, etc, I'm game for. I don't want to keep throwing money at ATT if I can't use the service.
EDIT: Signature is showing my current internet speeds over HSUPA. HELP!
Aus_Azn said:
Now, you may know me for having immense troubles with my network connection speed, reaching .06Mbps (60Kbps) down and rendering my phone's wireless internet unusable, regardless of ROM, modem, or any real variables.
After a new SIM card from ATT and a few lucky Master Clears (where it worked after each session for roughly one hour before locking up again), I think I may have found the cause.
On ATT's network, one is authenticated with an IP address, as you may know. This is reflected in SpeedTest.net's plank for "External IP" in the results browser.
When I was getting real download speeds (my standard HSUPA rated 5.1Mbps down, 1.7Mbps up), my phone is connected to an IPv4 address beginning with "166.199.xxx.xxx". On UMTS (where I would get anywhere between 1.6-3.4Mbps down, 1.6Mbps up), the phone is also connected to "166.199.xxx.xxx". On 2G with decent speeds, I would get the same results yet again.
However, over the past week or so (since the 16th of January), I have gotten craptastic download speeds of .06Mbps and equally lousy upload speeds of .11Mbps. I just realised that in these cases (which happen after using the phone for roughly 45 minutes after a Master Clear and permanently stay that way), my phone is connected through a "32.16x.xxx.xxx" IP address.
What does this mean? How can I force it to stay on the "166" IP/network? ATT has been of no assistance, whatsoever, so I call for your help, XDA community!
EDIT: Sometimes, I think I'm being too technical in detail because nobody ever responds, but I just don't see this going in the Android Development board.
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You are assuming that all of those IP addresses are routable through whatever network you are connected to. Perhaps there are some "crappy" towers connected to a piece of the network that sucks and you happen to hop around onto them?
Either way, why not just set the adapter manually using ifconfig to test your theory?
http://www.manpagez.com/man/8/ifconfig/
( Yes, I am a crusty unix administrator that would prefer for you to RTFM )
z28james said:
You are assuming that all of those IP addresses are routable through whatever network you are connected to. Perhaps there are some "crappy" towers connected to a piece of the network that sucks and you happen to hop around onto them?
Either way, why not just set the adapter manually using ifconfig to test your theory?
http://www.manpagez.com/man/8/ifconfig/
( Yes, I am a crusty unix administrator that would prefer for you to RTFM )
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Hm, this didn't work, speeds didn't change and I found that it's band-dependent; 32.xxx.xxx.xxx is just the 850 band for my area, while 166.xxx.xxx.xxx is the 1900 one. However, using EDGE now works since meddling with it, so I can at least reduce this to a 3G specific issue. Any pointers?
I was thinking. SOME of us with sprint tabs dont have data plans and just use the wifi/tether to our phones. would it be possible to use the otherwise useless 3g radio to connect to another device?
I know that this is a rather farfetched idea, but I was thinking that it would be nice to basically turn a 3g enabled device into a 3g transmitter/receiver...the possibilities are endless!
Your imagination is endless, but the hardwareis limited. But keep pitching ideas!
That's a creative idea, but probably not worth the trouble. You'd need to write a custom radio file, build a kernel to talk to your radio file, and build an app to manage the connection. You might have to do some low level configuration to the flash registers on the CDMA chip as well. It might be illegal to hijack the 3g airwaves for peer to peer communication. A cellular device has the ability to broadcast for miles and your rouge signal could interfere with other users, depending on how you modulated the signal.
etvaugha said:
That's a creative idea, but probably not worth the trouble. You'd need to write a custom radio file, build a kernel to talk to your radio file, and build an app to manage the connection. You might have to do some low level configuration to the flash registers on the CDMA chip as well. It might be illegal to hijack the 3g airwaves for peer to peer communication. A cellular device has the ability to broadcast for miles and your rouge signal could interfere with other users, depending on how you modulated the signal.
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legality aside, im surprised that there are no projects on this matter.
actually, do they even sell 3g transmitters?
EDIT: ok so basically I think I tried to create a Femtocell out of a cellphone. Interesting tech. wonder if its possible to hack a phone into one.
In the past month or so, I've surpassed 15GB of data due to lots of video streaming and some torrent downloading. Since then, it seems that any time I try to download another torrent, my speeds are throttled to less than 10KB/s. I usually use ADownloader, and find it more convenient and (previously) much faster than from my home connection, but now when I resume a torrent, ALL data suffers, and am unable to even browse the web or run a basic speed test without timing out. As soon as I pause/stop the download, speeds ramp back up. I should note that if I switch to Wifi, and use my home connection, speeds come back up to what I would expect. So it doesn't appear to be an issue with the software.
I haven't noticed anyone pointing this out, but it does seem that they will throttle torrent users. What I don't understand is why throttle to such a ridiculously slow speed? At least bring me down to 3G speeds (~1MB/s). To drop me to less than 10KB/s is an insult.
What's next? Will they throttle heavy Netflix users? Amazon Prime streaming? etc. Is there really not enough bandwidth to go around? I might call Verizon to confirm/deny my findings so I can figure out what they actually care about. I have a feeling I'm not going to get a straight answer, or they will just not know what is actually taking place
Are you using tTorrent or another client that will randomize the port? Try picking another random port, it usually fixes it.
Those apps are not gentle on your wireless modems. I wouldn't necessarily assume it was Verizon doing it.
I had talked to a verizon customer service lady over the phone and asked her about throttling and she say there poloicy is to never throttle there customers connection. she uses her hot spot on here thunderbolt and exceeds 10g all the time and has never seen throttling so I would think more that it was your software like the aboved has mentioned
having a lot of simultaneous connections like torrents do can cause issues with the modem and wireless hardware, I've crashed my router a few times getting too torrent happy, I assume doing it with something that wasn't made really to handles such traffic would cause issues as well.