so i have a captivate, i love it. however my carrier has limited service where i live. i have seen people say they get better download and upload speed with different modems and i myself have flashed different modems and used speedtest app to see these differences. my question(s) are really as follows
can a modem give you better reception?
is it possible to make your antenna in your phone work harder to pick up better signal strength?
in general is there a way i can learn how modems work?
thanks smart peeps!
Gorship
bump
bump for hope.
Gorship said:
so i have a captivate, i love it. however my carrier has limited service where i live. i have seen people say they get better download and upload speed with different modems and i myself have flashed different modems and used speedtest app to see these differences. my question(s) are really as follows
can a modem give you better reception?
is it possible to make your antenna in your phone work harder to pick up better signal strength?
in general is there a way i can learn how modems work?
thanks smart peeps!
Gorship
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, a modem us the binary file that runs the antenna. So if we were able to control and edit the binary (which we can't) you could potentially make the antenna "work harder".
so a modem works by controlling, software wise, the frequencies the antenna uses. For example, I9000 modems tell the antenna to also pick up hsupa, and that is why I9000 based roms have faster data. The modem needs to also be compatible with the kernel so it can run properly. This is why e can't use modems like JK4 on captivate based Roms.
flashing a modem can increase signal. It is all about where you are though. JK4, which is a great modem in Boston, might not be a great modem in San Francisco, or Detroit.
there is a sticky thread in the development section for this with a website that will help you pick out a new modem. Make sure it is compatible with your kernel first.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
There is not an easy answer to this (I don't think) but here is an interesting read that may be of some help (or at least an interesting read )...
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Linux.Wireless.modem.html
4-2ndtwin said:
There is not an easy answer to this (I don't think) but here is an interesting read that may be of some help (or at least an interesting read )...
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/Linux/Linux.Wireless.modem.html
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Click to collapse
as detailed as it can get..thanks for the read...
viny2cool said:
as detailed as it can get..thanks for the read...
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True... Detailed.. However, mostly irrelevant..
When you flash a modem, you're flashing an operating system for the communications chip. It's an entire stand-alone operating system designed to minimalistically receive and transmit data. The communications chip is capable of running an entire device. This is evidant when you examine the binary. It contains keyboard, mouse and display drivers.
When the Captivate was released, it was released as a 3G device, not H, so its communications chip was configured to work as a 3G modem. This was likely a marketing decision as "3G" was all the rave at the time.
A modem won't improve your reception unless your old modem was configured incorrectly
As far as signal strength, it won't improve unless your old modem was configured incorrectly.
There are several tweaks which are applied in each version of modem firmware for different devices. Unfortunately, the communications chip is locked down/Closed-source Qualcrap.. So, we will never fully understand what configurations are available, nor can we do anything other than test and see which one works more effectively.
hey thank you so much guys, this is really interesting, sadly a little depressing but interesting. i have one last question then, since i am running my i897 captivate... with the ICS rom, does this mean i should use i9000 or i897 modems? i heard that i9000 modems were just better then i897 so i am using them... but if the above is true, i shoud be using i897 to get proper configuration of my device.
you guys are all awesome and ill be mashing the thanks button!
<3 Gorship
U have to use the specific modems for ICS... See here... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=16843698&postcount=1
And more specifically...See this page... http://soggycashew.weebly.com/cm7miui--ics-modems.html
yea im flashing a few of the ics i897 vs the i9000 i was using... still though... i have full bars with my old blackberry bold 9000 compared to my cappy which has 1 or 2... i dont understand why.
Related
Old
good to know, i am using that rom too. you can try speedmod kernel also, for the modem, it needs to be i9000 compatible.
I have success with both firebird kernal and speedmod kernel with the kp1 modem and the jk4 modem. You could tries these modems and see if they work for you. Not every modem will work the same for every phone in any location. You will just have to keep trying them out until you find one that works for you
well about every modem ive tried. aka or rom. works. just the poor call quality or slow network speeds. i tried speedmod last night. no go on ji6. whats wierd is on cognition or the leaked 2.2 froyo they work perfect on ji6. no matter the kernel. which i tried speed mod. glitterballs .4. so ill go out and find an i9000 kernel.
I am running dill's 6.0 with kp1 modem, 2 days now heavy phone use talking, texting, browsing and downloading. Absolutely no connection issues with kp1 at all so far. No voice quality issues either.
miketucky350 said:
hi everyone. I have a captivate. live in america. Well i have had slow network speeds with jk4 jk3. jl1 jl2 plus poor call quality on the other end. ect. but the stock jh7. and the froyo leaked ji6 modems kick ass where im at. it even relialably plays youtube while on on the edge network.
Ive come down to di11is roms are the fastest. smoothest and the BEST gps. no bugs. has any one tried that modem on those roms? ie 6.0 . well i use that modem on some other roms and i know you need a matching kernel. so i flashed kernel then modem. still boot loops. anyone found a combo that works? is there a voodoo sound/lagfix kernel that works with this rom/modem. on cognition 3.04 i used .v4 gb kernel/ji6. and worked great. just have much love for di11is roms
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read around, the pattern for modems is location based. It seems some modems work better in areas that other modems bomb out. I am going to take a chance and say you are in Kentucky if I read your user name correctly. It is helpful to others when talking about the modem that works best for you to be a little more specific then "I live in America". America can mean many different countries. (unfortunately in todays world climate it really only means one place)
Sorry just a pet peeve of mine.
For me in central florida jl2 has been the best. I will test ji6 to see how it goes for me. Hopefully it will become a preferred modem.
Again I am not trying to be a troll, sorry if it sounds like it.
phlunkie said:
If you read around, the pattern for modems is location based. It seems some modems work better in areas that other modems bomb out. I am going to take a chance and say you are in Kentucky if I read your user name correctly. It is helpful to others when talking about the modem that works best for you to be a little more specific then "I live in America". America can mean many different countries. (unfortunately in todays world climate it really only means one place)
Sorry just a pet peeve of mine.
For me in central florida jl2 has been the best. I will test ji6 to see how it goes for me. Hopefully it will become a preferred modem.
Again I am not trying to be a troll, sorry if it sounds like it.
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I don't understand that at all..... the only real difference is if the area covered is 850/1900 or 1900 only..... otherwise how can there be a difference?
shoman94 said:
I don't understand that at all..... the only real difference is if the area covered is 850/1900 or 1900 only..... otherwise how can there be a difference?
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I do not disagree with what you say. But reading around there are very similar findings in specific areas. I will look for the threads in the morning. Nyquil kicking in.
im auctually from indiana. sorry for putting up america. At first this modem stuff didnt make sense. How 5 different modems will have 5 bars but each one has different results. would be nice if it was like a pc. windows or linux or mac. where if the drivers installed they just work. Its just such a deal breaker when i get to work and the net is just slow even with 5 bars. (jl1 jl2. jk3 jk4) but with ji6 it works great. and speed test are wayy higher. am now checking out deviant roms. found i9000 with voodoo and ji6. hmm might be able to get di11is working with ji6 here in a minute!
well tried firebird 2.0. tried few other kernals no luck. i flashed kernal first. then modem. no luck. firebird says works will all modems. ive tried. both 959 vibrant ji6 and ucji6 cappy modem. same result. sends it to boot loop. its something easy. is it because its a i9000 based rom? cog 3.04 it works with all those kernals ive tried on dillis
soo heres my newby question. what exactly is a modem? ive never heard of them until i came to the captivate
also,i have been creating alot of new threads,(i know i know) im new here to xda so im still trying to figure my way around this wollyworld of development so if any of my questions have been answered,please feel free to be rude (sarcasm) and tell me google is my friend,or search the forums lol
Modem=radio
newter55 said:
Modem=radio
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that was the best short answer ever lol,so if i was to flash through the different modems,would it possible for my simple mobile data connection to get stronger?
brd912 said:
soo heres my newby question. what exactly is a modem? ive never heard of them until i came to the captivate
also,i have been creating alot of new threads,(i know i know) im new here to xda so im still trying to figure my way around this wollyworld of development so if any of my questions have been answered,please feel free to be rude (sarcasm) and tell me google is my friend,or search the forums lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not modem, "modem.bin" it is the file that controls the radios. the reason for changing it is either for frequency settings for your location. north america other than t-mobile uses 1900 and 850mhz some countries like austrailia and new zeland use the same. europe uses 900mhz instead of 850 and many of the roms ported to out phone have the european modes. for that reason we use the canadian bell and telus modem.bins for the i9000 roms.
also the captivate modem.bin versions dont have hsupa conectivity and the captivate roms are not compatable with i9000 modems, the bluetooth calling doesn't work in that combination. it is also recomended to match the kernel to the modem but i find that the chinese captivate i9088 modem and the telus t959d modem work better for me than any i9000 modem available.
Dani897 said:
not modem, "modem.bin" it is the file that controls the radios. the reason for changing it is either for frequency settings for your location. north america other than t-mobile uses 1900 and 850mhz some countries like austrailia and new zeland use the same. europe uses 900mhz instead of 850 and many of the roms ported to out phone have the european modes. for that reason we use the canadian bell and telus modem.bins for the i9000 roms.
also the captivate modem.bin versions dont have hsupa conectivity and the captivate roms are not compatable with i9000 modems, the bluetooth calling doesn't work in that combination. it is also recomended to match the kernel to the modem but i find that the chinese captivate i9088 modem and the telus t959d modem work better for me than any i9000 modem available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does that mean no way no how,captivate running 3g on t mobile service?
what is the best Radio for At&t reception and signal strength?
Thanks guys
chrisrotolo said:
what is the best Radio for At&t reception and signal strength?
Thanks guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well sounds like we have an WM user. On Android they are modems and to be honest it is a best one for your area. I use jk4 in Alaska
actually never has a winmo device I have dell streak, first droid device.
but Im asking so I can flash the wife's cappy, she's complaining about signal strength, let me check what rom she has, I believe she has 500mhz speedmod kernel on a i9000 based rom.
I though I saw some HTC droid's , like Evo refer to modem as Radio
chrisrotolo said:
actually never has a winmo device I have dell streak, first droid device.
but Im asking so I can flash the wife's cappy, she's complaining about signal strength, let me check what rom she has, I believe she has 500mhz speedmod kernel on a i9000 based rom.
I though I saw some HTC droid's , like Evo refer to modem as Radio
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Click to collapse
oh ok that makes sense. HTC use radios and not modems. just make sure that the rom fits the kernel and modem. it will be trial and error.
Not to be a stickler but doesn't this belong in the q4 -q1 modem thread?
Sent from a place my wife doesn't know about (yet)
mrhaley30705 said:
Not to be a stickler but doesn't this belong in the q4 -q1 modem thread?
Sent from a place my wife doesn't know about (yet)
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Isn't zel a mod? He seemed alright with it's placement haha
It is like zelendel said it is mostly trial and error for your area but I would give JL2 and JK4 a try they have given me the best results JL2 better signal but JK4 almost the same signal but slightly better battery life for me anyway
I made some changes to build.prop to my Dell Streak on AT&T, based on a thread I found on xda, it seemed to boost my 3g speeds, will build.prop tweaks boost signal reception as well? possibly??
edit: nevermind, didnt find the tweaks in build.prop, or defualt.prop, are they somewhere else? or are they missing from build.prop?
the lines like ro.ril.gprs_class=12, etc.
and ro.ril.hsxpa=3, etc.
Dont forget the 3 new ones, kc1 and the 2 jp9 modems.
Sent from a place my wife doesn't know about (yet)
first of all I installed MIUI rom a week ago ..
it took me 2 hours to just do that..
then I figured out that people are flashing thing called "kernel' which apparently makes phone faster. So i flashed glitch kernel
then I noticed people talking about modem..
what does this modem do and what is the best modem for miui rom?
thanks in advance
I am a super newbie as well.
But I think people change their modem because sometimes the phone signal (3G/2G or whatever) is just too lower than the usual.
It seems to be different phone to phone. But if your phone signal seems normal, you don't need to anything (I guess )
Feelosopher said:
I am a super newbie as well.
But I think people change their modem because sometimes the phone signal (3G/2G or whatever) is just too lower than the usual.
It seems to be different phone to phone. But if your phone signal seems normal, you don't need to anything (I guess )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i hav good signal so im good i guess
thx for the info
candoo100 said:
first of all I installed MIUI rom a week ago ..
it took me 2 hours to just do that..
then I figured out that people are flashing thing called "kernel' which apparently makes phone faster. So i flashed glitch kernel
then I noticed people talking about modem..
what does this modem do and what is the best modem for miui rom?
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Modems are the software that establishs and controls your phone, data and gps signal. Some modems work better in certain regions or with certain carriers. Some may be best with gps, or shine at data transmission. Also if your phone supports the 850 band you will need a modem that supports that. Getting the best signal you can is important because the sgs can burn a lot of battery life seeking and finding a solid connection.
Modems are painless and quick to flash via recovery, so it never hurts to try a few out to find the best for you and your usage.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
rschenck
Thanks for this educative info.
When we think to root, we should know some know hows to avoid such issues.
This Is The Vendor File From UGKG3 Bell's Vibrant, If You Need Anything More Let Me Know... I Figured Its Possible Being A North America Rom
http://www.mediafire.com/?nu6rx2n4lbp5iq4
I Dont Know Anything About Gps, If It Work Good But If It Doesn't Kill Thread...
This might do it... certainly hope so
Sent from a cell tower to the XDA server to you.
UnderGroundKingGinger
Sent from my T959 using XDA Premium App
i think this will help quite alot
I'll take a look at it and see if there's anything usable for my CM7 fix. But I'm guessing this was pulled from a TouchWiz ROM? From what I can tell at first glance, CM7's gps does not use a lot of the stuff found in the rar you posted. Maybe some stuff can be integrated into CM7 directly, but I don't know enough to incorporate it into a fix after the fact.
Maybe someone else can help take a look, but AFAIK I can't use most of this.
Hopefully it'll help out TW-based ROMs.
aosp 4g rom for sprint that has source http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/0...urce-code-before-the-phone-even-hits-shelves/ might have something there for, might not. Phone is kinda galaxy s ish
I'd hate to break it to you but, the virgin mobile and the bell vibrant are simply rebranded i9000's using these files would be like using i9000 gps files. We wont be able to get 100% fast and accurate gps until our vibrant (sgh-t959) gets its own leak, if it even exists. We won't ne able to get gps with files from even phones that look identical to our phones (t959d) because of their radio bands. Our vibrants are the only galaxy s models (other than the t959V) that get 3G signals on 1700mhz bands. I think to have the 1700 bands, it requires a slightly different hardware radio, this slight difference allows the i9000 gingerbread gps (from jellete) to work but leaves all other files from the i9000 unusable on 2.3.
philliple97 said:
I'd hate to break it to you but, the virgin mobile and the bell vibrant are simply rebranded i9000's using these files would be like using i9000 gps files. We wont be able to get 100% fast and accurate gps until our vibrant (sgh-t959) gets its own leak, if it even exists.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also hate to be negative here but it may be that the T-959 is no longer being supported (evidence being that Sam firmwares source only seen the froyo update in the system)
I think that the obly way we will see a spot on GPS is if someone takes the time to hack, crack, and reverse engineer the files we do have and try to figure out where certain things go.
Maybe ... just maybe since cyanogen got a job at Samsung he may be able to convince them to opensource certain things in the better interest of android.
Just a thought lol
Sent from the depths of Norwegian black metal
ironlood said:
I think that the obly way we will see a spot on GPS is if someone takes the time to hack, crack, and reverse engineer the files we do have and try to figure out where certain things go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If only we knew someone with enough experience
ironlood said:
Maybe ... just maybe since cyanogen got a job at Samsung he may be able to convince them to opensource certain things in the better interest of android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone better hit him up
Really ikno samsung pays attention to hacker community so they know our problem at least give us GPS files to implement into the roms
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App