WiMax > LTE? - Sprint HTC One (M7)

Will most areas with Wimax get LTE? I didn't care too much about this until I read that AT&T Ones get both Wimax and LTE. How exactly does this work? Has it to do with the GSM/CDMA thing?
I was with T-mobile before and you could say I was spoiled by their HSPA speeds. Now its normal for me to get anywhere from 80 to 100 kbps with Sprint. Occasionally I get an LTE signal and speeds upto 1.5 mbps. Would I get faster speeds if I had an older, Wimax phone?
Also, I was told by the Sprint rep that the Nextel towers will be converted to LTE. Is this true?

Where'd you read that att models support wimax?
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It's magic, considering ATT never deployed wimax whatsoever. Sprint is the only major cellular provider who went with Wimax, everyone else went lte or HSPA+
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sauprankul said:
Will most areas with Wimax get LTE? I didn't care too much about this until I read that AT&T Ones get both Wimax and LTE. How exactly does this work? Has it to do with the GSM/CDMA thing?
I was with T-mobile before and you could say I was spoiled by their HSPA speeds. Now its normal for me to get anywhere from 80 to 100 kbps with Sprint. Occasionally I get an LTE signal and speeds upto 1.5 mbps. Would I get faster speeds if I had an older, Wimax phone?
Also, I was told by the Sprint rep that the Nextel towers will be converted to LTE. Is this true?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All of this is true except AT&T ONE getting WiMax. As was said, AT&T has never had WiMax and the ONE is not capable of it. Whoever told you that is either mistaken or lying.
Depending on where you are WiMax could be more available then LTE as of right now. As they shut down the 800mhz Nextel towers, Sprint will be rolling out LTE 800 on those is the story most have heard.

I'm in Chicago and we have a lot of wimax. But also a lot of lte too. I did get faster speeds on wimax, but I could only get wimax if I were outside. So... I kept it off and only used wimax if I really needed it. It was a major battery hog.
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I had og Evo and Evo 3d which were both wimax phones. The signal was much more consistent than I get on my Evo lte and HTC one. As far as speed, I HAVE spiked to 22mbps once or twice on lte but I have to be right there in that sweet spot which is on the side of a major hwy. I can pull 5-8 mbps on an average lte signal but I am constantly loosing it and switching back to 3g and going back and forth. My wimax signal was a goo 7-8 inside my house. Lte is very inconsistent and my area is suppose to be over 80% complete I think last time I checked.
And like gk said wimax was a battery hog. I could never get half a day if I left my wimax radio on and off the charger. My lte devices last a lot longer. This one I take it off the charger in the morning and still have half battery at night most times
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sauprankul said:
Will most areas with Wimax get LTE? I didn't care too much about this until I read that AT&T Ones get both Wimax and LTE. How exactly does this work? Has it to do with the GSM/CDMA thing?
I was with T-mobile before and you could say I was spoiled by their HSPA speeds. Now its normal for me to get anywhere from 80 to 100 kbps with Sprint. Occasionally I get an LTE signal and speeds upto 1.5 mbps. Would I get faster speeds if I had an older, Wimax phone?
Also, I was told by the Sprint rep that the Nextel towers will be converted to LTE. Is this true?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would be surprised if it were directly true. The Nextel towers were all IDEN-based and are in the process of being torn down. I have no doubt they will be eventually switched to CDMA/3G and then LTE (or maybe built with LTE from the get-go), but probably not until after Sprint rolls out LTE to its existing tower infrastructure.

Not to go off topic too much but when I lived in Columbus Ohio we had pretty good wimax coverage. And in complete honesty the battery hit was hardly any worse than 3g so I would leave wimax on all of the time. I could go a full 12 hour day at work on my 3d with moderate usage and get home with 30 percent left. Similar comparisons in battery life on my 4g, shift, and et4g as well. Apparently its similar to any other signal issue.... But if its a good area wimax doesn't hurt the battery too bad at all really.

I used to get really inconsistent lte a month ago. I'm not sure if they improved the network to correct it or what but when I unlocked the bootloader, I saw a very consistent experience. Not sure if wiping everything did something to correct it, placebo, or new towers were flipped on the same day.
But I only get 2-3 mbps on lte
Wimax I was getting about 8-10
In any case... Sprint is the only major wimax carrier in the USA and att doesn't use it - as mentioned earlier, OP was lied to about this.
Also, I hear the Nextel iden network will be configured to lte on 800 mhz which our phones don't support. None do at this point actually.
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wimax is awful & I live in a "good" wimax area. Besides Sprint quit building on the network once they realized it sucked.

All right thanks for the clarification guys. I was suspicious when I read it (no idea where, some random forums). Since Sprint is letting go of Wimax and replacing their Wimax devices with LTE, would it be safe to assume that places with "Best" Wimax coverage and/or Nextel coverage will get LTE at some point (6 mos-1 year)? It's really sad when it takes 30-45 minutes do download Cut the Rope at the local mall (in silicon Valley).

Sprint lte (any carried for that matter) is very signal dependent. Stronger signal = faster connection. If u connect to lte and its a slow connection, chances are you are connected to a site farther away then u think, or have a site (one that serves your voice coverage) between the lte site and your phone. All sprint sites are being converted to lte. Most Nextel sites are not. During the conversion, sprint is putting up panels has house both voice and lte on 1900mhz, voice on smr800 and lte on 800smr. No 800smr lte devices are out yet, will will be starting this fall. When Nextel is turned off (last day of this month), sprint will start turning on the 800smr on voice and lte but may take some time (especially lte side). 800smr voice is already being broadcasted in parts of the county, such as in Chicago. Most if not all native sprint coverage will have lte by this time next year. For much more info, go to s4gru.com
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I had Wimax on my evo3d as well as for my home internet through clear. Wimax signal is much weaker than LTE it is easily affected by weather and even wind.it has poor building penetration, hence Sprint dumped the Wimax program and began with lte!!!
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Paleryder said:
I had Wimax on my evo3d as well as for my home internet through clear. Wimax signal is much weaker than LTE it is easily affected by weather and even wind.it has poor building penetration, hence Sprint dumped the Wimax program and began with lte!!!
Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wasn't so much wimax sucked based on the symptoms you described, it's the frequency Clearwire was using. They used 2500 mhz for wimax and if it were lte on that same band, we'd still have poor building penetration and weak signal.
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jcwxguy said:
No 800smr lte devices are out yet, will will be starting this fall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the htc one should actually be capable of 800smr lte with some changes to the radio config (and possibly radio software too, but i'm pretty sure that won't be necessary)... once 800smr lte is up and running somewhere near where i live i'll be able to test and figure out what exactly needs to be done to make it work.

hotaru2k3 said:
the htc one should actually be capable of 800smr lte with some changes to the radio config (and possibly radio software too, but i'm pretty sure that won't be necessary)... once 800smr lte is up and running somewhere near where i live i'll be able to test and figure out what exactly needs to be done to make it work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it is not capable of 800smr lte....its a hardware thing (no 800smr antenna within the phone) with the HTC ONE, check out the FCC docs...
https://apps.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1898233 (note page 5, only LTE BAND 25 (g block, 1900 mhz, sprints current lte network)
http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-342-updated-all-for-htc-one-htc-one-for-all/

jcwxguy said:
it is not capable of 800smr....its a hardware thing (no 800smr antenna within the phone) with the HTC ONE, check out the FCC docs...
https://apps.fcc.gov/eas/GetApplicationAttachment.html?id=1898233 (note page 5, only LTE BAND 25 (g block, 1900 mhz, sprints current lte network)
http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-342-updated-all-for-htc-one-htc-one-for-all/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
first link just says "You are not authorized to access this page.", but i have already seen the fcc filings for the sprint htc one.
from the second link:
CDMA1X + EV-DO band classes 0, 1, 10 (i.e. CDMA1X + EV-DO 850/1900/800)
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Click to collapse
Antenna 0 max RF ERP/EIRP: 20.10 dBm (CDMA1X/EV-DO 850), 23.80 dBm (CDMA1X/EV-DO 1900), 19.23 dBm (CDMA1X/EV-DO 800), 12.30 dBm (LTE 1900)
Antenna 1 max RF ERP/EIRP: 13.78 dBm (CDMA1X/EV-DO 850), 13.58 dBm (CDMA1X/EV-DO 1900), 14.27 dBm (CDMA1X/EV-DO 800), 23.63 dBm (LTE 1900)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cdma band class 10 is 800smr. both antennas work for 800smr. the radio can transmit and receive on 800smr frequencies.
it's very likely that a simple configuration change will enable lte on 800smr. if that turns out to not be the case, it's definitely possible to do it by modifying the baseband software.

I asked Sprint support about a month or 2 ago if the One would be compatible with 800 when they launch it and they said none of the currently released phones are capable and none will be released until Q3 or Q4
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Note that by the time Sprint actually deploys in large-scale any non-1900mhz LTE, you'll be up for a new phone (that is, 2 years). It's going to take a long, long time. They haven't even started yet.

hotaru2k3 said:
first link just says "You are not authorized to access this page.", but i have already seen the fcc filings for the sprint htc one.
from the second link:
cdma band class 10 is 800smr. both antennas work for 800smr. the radio can transmit and receive on 800smr frequencies.
it's very likely that a simple configuration change will enable lte on 800smr. if that turns out to not be the case, it's definitely possible to do it by modifying the baseband software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that radio (antenna) will not work on 800smr LTE. Voice 800smr yes, lte, no
The Sprint version of the HTC One is limited to band 25 LTE 1900. It does not support either of Sprint's upcoming LTE bands -- band 26 LTE 800 and band 41 TD-LTE 2600.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------- Post added at 12:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:03 PM ----------
Vincent Law said:
Note that by the time Sprint actually deploys in large-scale any non-1900mhz LTE, you'll be up for a new phone (that is, 2 years). It's going to take a long, long time. They haven't even started yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sprint has started an 800smr LTE fit in Montana.
---------- Post added at 12:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:05 PM ----------
gk1984 said:
I asked Sprint support about a month or 2 ago if the One would be compatible with 800 when they launch it and they said none of the currently released phones are capable and none will be released until Q3 or Q4
Sent from my HTCONE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is correct :good:
***THIS IS LIKE THE OLD "WILL MY WIMAX DEVICE WORK ON LTE" DEBATE " lol ....we all know how that ended up

Related

[Q] 3g/4g

Hey guys I just got my droid3 today from Bell (Canada). (Its called motorola xt860 for a reason here but o well...)
I'm just wondering why it says 3g in my notification bar. should it be 4g??
I don't understand... maybe 4g aint available yet..
Oh, and it says my mobile network type is UMTS... what is that? I thought there was only GSM and CDMA
I need to know, please
Thank you
4G is more of a marketing gimmick. Phone is actually HSPA+ (3.5G). Not sure how Motorola made it but if it is like the Atrix, it will likely show "3G" and "H" or eventually "H+". You should consider H+ as 4G.
Only LTE was initially considered "4G", but latter they decided to rate 3G+ (21Mbps and 42MBps connections) as 4G.
This phone is not LTE - it is GSM/UMTS with HSDPA up to 14.4MBps and HSUPA up to 5.76Mbps, which in no way is slow, but much slower than what LTE can deliver. Blame carriers for the confusion - they were pushing for this marketing gimmick.
Oh I see, Thank you very much sir really appreciated !
It is a great phone. Even without the "true 4G" it is a good phone. I don't see LTE being a nessecity within the next 12 months, at least for me. The current HSPA+ speeds are more than reasonable. I will be picking up one of these puppies to replace my Milestone/Droid2 Global as soon as I figure a way around Bell. Hate the fact Bell got it instead Rogers/Telus, but at least it was made available in Canada unlike Milestone 2 for example.
Sent from my Milestone using Tapatalk
leobg said:
4G is more of a marketing gimmick. Phone is actually HSPA+ (3.5G). Not sure how Motorola made it but if it is like the Atrix, it will likely show "3G" and "H" or eventually "H+". You should consider H+ as 4G.
Only LTE was initially considered "4G", but latter they decided to rate 3G+ (21Mbps and 42MBps connections) as 4G.
This phone is not LTE - it is GSM/UMTS with HSDPA up to 14.4MBps and HSUPA up to 5.76Mbps, which in no way is slow, but much slower than what LTE can deliver. Blame carriers for the confusion - they were pushing for this marketing gimmick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So in another word, the Bell's XT860 is EXACTLY the same as the Droid 3/XT682 minus the CDMA modem?
eXecuter.bin said:
So in another word, the Bell's XT860 is EXACTLY the same as the Droid 3/XT682 minus the CDMA modem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup - you got it right.

[Q] In newly-added LTE markets, is coverage as good as it's going to get?

I live in LA, where LTE service was introduced a little less than a month ago. Just switched over to Sprint from Verizon, and right now, Sprint's 4G coverage is spotty enough to make me reconsider my decision.
A question, for folks in areas that have had LTE for a while longer, is this the kind of situation where there's likely to be real improvement early on as some initial kinks get worked out, or is it pretty much already as good as it's going to get when sprint rolls it out?
Even though sprint officially announces Lte coverage doesn't mean it's 100% compete! They are constently adding towers.
I live in LA and get lte in my city but next door cities don't have it yet! I believe L.A is only 50% covered right now.
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Same here. I am greatly disappointed with the Sprint service. I always have 3g, but EVDO is pathetically slow... I never thought I'd say this, but I miss Verizon... I wish I would have gone with AT&T. :/
You might want to check out this thread: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1413-network-visionlte-la-metro-market/
There's also a separate thread for OC.
Sprints wimax coverage was actually decent in LA. I live and work in La Verne at the eastern edge of LA County. There is like two LTE towers out here. I'm pretty sure it will get as good if not better than their wimax coverage, if you can wait another year you should
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FrozenRiff said:
Sprints wimax coverage was actually decent in LA. I live and work in La Verne at the eastern edge of LA County. There is like two LTE towers out here. I'm pretty sure it will get as good if not better than their wimax coverage, if you can wait another year you should
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another thing to consider too is that at some point Sprint is also going to deploy LTE on the 800MHz band, which has a longer reach and penetrates buildings better than 1900 (current LTE deployment) or 2600MHz (WiMax and future LTE). That could also have a significant positive impact on reception. They are supposed to begin do that sometime towards the end of the year. However, none of Sprint's current phones support that LTE band unfortunately.
Check out the Sensorly app
Play Store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sensorly.viewer&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5zZW5zb3JseS52aWV3ZXIiXQ..
It will help with your decision about service in your area. Where I live EVDO isn't bad so when I'm in an area without LTE there isn't much of an issue. As far as LTE just starting in your area, yes it continues to get better. Verizon's LTE was the most spotty junk you've ever seen when they first started. It takes a while to fill in all the gaps in coverage and I have noticed my phone's 4G icon coming on in more places. The plans for Sprint Network Vision exceed all the other major carriers' LTE networks and will be easily upgraded to LTE Advanced. The problem is it's still in it's early stages. Verizon got a huge jump on LTE while Sprint was messing with WiMAX so it's likely that Verizon will have the LTE advantage for now in most areas.
Yeah, towards the beginning of roll out, signal is.horrible. But don't lose hope. It can, and does, only get better from here :thumbup:

HTC One LTE

I pick up LTE by my house when I go to the store, which is about half a mile away. When I'm outside that store, my HTC one shows full bars 4G, my girlfriend's iPhone 5 only shows 3G, when I leave the store I still get full bars until I drive under an overpass, then it just randomly turns to full bars 3G.
That doesn't really make sense, I got excited the first time I spotted 4G in that area, thinking that I should also have it inside my house, since it would be faster than my home internet
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I've read several times people saying the bars don't reflect your LTE signal strength but calling signal strength. You could be in the bare minimum fringe of LTE and pick it up and saturated cdma and have full bars and spotty 4g.
Also, the antennas in phones can vary in efficiency and quality. One phone may pick up better than another.
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IPhone 5 bars represent data signal.. The One shows 1x voice.. The One does not hold very good 4G in fringe areas. Wait for the area to launch then start to pinpoint the issue.
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i hope i get 4g soon..i heard by next week
BrianBaker said:
IPhone 5 bars represent data signal.. The One shows 1x voice.. The One does not hold very good 4G I'm fringe areas. Wait for the area to launch then start to pinpoint the issue.
Sent from my HTCONE using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sense Roms always show voice signal as bars. You are right. If you install an AOSP Rom on your One the signal bars will be of your data. That's why my wife's old NS4G always seemed liked it had worse signal than my old EVO 3D.
DruoGaby said:
i hope i get 4g soon..i heard by next week
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the possible bad news: The HTC One uses the Snapdragon 600 which does not support the 800 band of LTE that Sprint has been deploying. I'm currently in Chicago and I can tell you that the 1900 band in a market that is nearly at 100% is spotty at best. The 800 band will travel farther and get better building penetration. The only way to to use the stronger transition band is to switch to a Snapdragon 800 phone when they come out in Q3.
Birdemani said:
Here is the possible bad news: The HTC One uses the Snapdragon 600 which does not support the 800 band of LTE that Sprint has been deploying. I'm currently in Chicago and I can tell you that the 1900 band in a market that is nearly at 100% is spotty at best. The 800 band will travel farther and get better building penetration. The only way to to use the stronger transition band is to switch to a Snapdragon 800 phone when they come out in Q3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But I don't think Sprint will do much LTE on 800 for a while. They are still shutting down IDEN through the end of the 2013.
undrgrndchemist said:
But I don't think Sprint will do much LTE on 800 for a while. They are still shutting down IDEN through the end of the 2013.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The last day Sprint will be supporting iDEN across the country is June 29th. The 800 band has been testing in Chicago in spots already, especially out in the suburbs. In a market like this where it's the most completed of any NV rollout, the 800 LTE and 800 1x will be live in late Q3.
Check out s4gru.com for all info on LTE deployment for Sprint. There are apps like Sensorly that can show you actual data strength. Your bars do show voice not data strength though, unless you are on a AOSP ROM, they show data strength.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
gk1984 said:
I've read several times people saying the bars don't reflect your LTE signal strength but calling signal strength. You could be in the bare minimum fringe of LTE and pick it up and saturated cdma and have full bars and spotty 4g.
Sent from my HTCONE using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have heard this 2. Bars and 3g/4g icon have nothing to do with each other. Bars is phone reception, 3g/4g icon is current data connectivity.
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[Q] 6903 on Canadian Fido lte

Has anyone gotten their z1 LTE working on canada fido?
i've got a 6903, and i swear before i inserted the apn manually i've seen 4g on my status bar. could be just my imagination.
i've tried internet.fido.ca for apn and i'm limited to H+. when i go online and they suggested ltemobile.apn, i couldn't get data at all.
kazukiflame said:
Has anyone gotten their z1 LTE working on canada fido?
i've got a 6903, and i swear before i inserted the apn manually i've seen 4g on my status bar. could be just my imagination.
i've tried internet.fido.ca for apn and i'm limited to H+. when i go online and they suggested ltemobile.apn, i couldn't get data at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on Rogers, which is the same service and I get 4G using ltemobile.apn. I'm more than happy with this and have been getting 38 mbit on speedtest.
I've not seen the LTE icon tho, and either I cannot get it in this area (which seems unlikely as I am in downtown Vancouver) or this phone will not do LTE as it does not have the 700 band.
30Seconds said:
I'm on Rogers, which is the same service and I get 4G using ltemobile.apn. I'm more than happy with this and have been getting 38 mbit on speedtest.
I've not seen the LTE icon tho, and either I cannot get it in this area (which seems unlikely as I am in downtown Vancouver) or this phone will not do LTE as it does not have the 700 band.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you mean you still get 4g speeds even though you didn't get the lte icon?
kazukiflame said:
did you mean you still get 4g speeds even though you didn't get the lte icon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see a 4G icon and have not seen the LTE icon. I've read the manual and it mentions a LTE icon but not a 4G icon, but that's what I have. For all I know I am actually getting LTE.
I had thought that LTE was even faster then this, especially in major cities near antennas.
But from what I have read a lot of LTE users do not even get the speeds I am seeing so I am quite pleased with this phone's data connection as it is.
I am on TELUS and when i originally got the phone it only showed 4G. I have however updated to 534 and it now shows LTE. Hope that helps?
hoklun said:
I am on TELUS and when i originally got the phone it only showed 4G. I have however updated to 534 and it now shows LTE. Hope that helps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on 534 now. Can I ask what sort of speeds you are getting?
LTE coverage on the Z1 is more spotty though compared to my previous Note 2. Also Telus lacks access to 2600mhz LTE from Bell/Rogers which offers higher speeds.
hey guys, if you are getting anything above 30mbps/download.. especially member 30 Seconds who is getting 48mbps, that's definitely LTE. I just wanted to confirm that you DONT need the 700Mhz to be on LTE. I called Fido on separate occasions due an initial 'not-so-bright' rep who take ages to answer my question and eventually needed to ask her co-worker for help (I don't know how they get hired.. lol) and both Fido employees have stated that ONLY 2100 and 2600 Mhz is needed for LTE. I questioned if support for 700Mhz is needed and they said no. I still am not able to test out my Z1 yet which is still in the box so hopefully somebody can come forward and verify that they see their C6903 showing the LTE symbol on Fido or Rogers.
The frequencies are used differently.
High frequency in urban areas for throughput. Low frequency for less dense areas, more range and penetration. So, what you"need" depends on where you are basically.
Sent from my GT-I8190N using Tapatalk

[Q] Not able to connect to data while making phone calls

Just received my new HTC One (M8) yesterday. After setting it up and thinking everything was good to go. I made a phone call and tried to look up something on the internet. The page didn't pull up and when I looked at the status bar I noticed that the LTE symbol was gone. I looked in setting and my mobile data was on but showing disconnected. Has anyone else not be able to use voice and data together?
palo117 said:
Just received my new HTC One (M8) yesterday. After setting it up and thinking everything was good to go. I made a phone call and tried to look up something on the internet. The page didn't pull up and when I looked at the status bar I noticed that the LTE symbol was gone. I looked in setting and my mobile data was on but showing disconnected. Has anyone else not be able to use voice and data together?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's been like since the Evo 4G LTE days.
From s4gru dot com (can't post link for being too much of a noob on this site still)
"In previous Sprint LTE phones, when a device was in Sprint LTE coverage it would park in both the LTE and CDMA Sprint networks at the same time. When a voice call came in, it would just go straight through to the device. And signal to the LTE network would be maintained the whole time while the call was active.
In contrast, a Sprint Triband LTE device can only stay on one technology at a time. CDMA or LTE, not both. So when a Sprint LTE Triband device is in Sprint LTE coverage it parks only in LTE. And doing so means it cannot transmit calls without Circuit Switched Fallback (CSFB) on the network side. CSFB and eCSFB (Enhanced Circuit Switched Fallback) are network controls that will allow a single mode/single path network to operate in two modes, both CDMA and LTE.
Here is how it works in the simplest way I can describe. When your Triband LTE device has an LTE signal, it cannot receive or make calls on its own. It is just using LTE data happily. However, what if someone calls you? How does it get through the CDMA network to your device? Via CSFB.
When the Sprint network tries to forward a call to your device but cannot see it via CDMA, it then checks for an LTE connection to your device. If it sees one, it tells your device to disconnect from LTE for a moment and reconnect to CDMA. Your device then jumps over to take the call on Sprint CDMA and the LTE session is interrupted. This happens very fast and seamlessly. Except for the loss of data availability. If you receive a text, the Sprint network is able to route it to your device via LTE."
This is why I tried to upgrade from the EVO 4G to the EVO 4G LTE recently, I was trying to get a phone that handled LTE and had SVLTE, but it didn't work out reception-wise in my area, so bit the bullet and got the M8, knowing that if I use it for tethering will have to figure out if there is a way to force it to stay in LTE and have phone calls go straight to voice mail.
rhe12 said:
From s4gru dot com (can't post link for being too much of a noob on this site still)
"In previous Sprint LTE phones, when a device was in Sprint LTE coverage it would park in both the LTE and CDMA Sprint networks at the same time. When a voice call came in, it would just go straight through to the device. And signal to the LTE network would be maintained the whole time while the call was active.
In contrast, a Sprint Triband LTE device can only stay on one technology at a time. CDMA or LTE, not both. So when a Sprint LTE Triband device is in Sprint LTE coverage it parks only in LTE. And doing so means it cannot transmit calls without Circuit Switched Fallback (CSFB) on the network side. CSFB and eCSFB (Enhanced Circuit Switched Fallback) are network controls that will allow a single mode/single path network to operate in two modes, both CDMA and LTE.
Here is how it works in the simplest way I can describe. When your Triband LTE device has an LTE signal, it cannot receive or make calls on its own. It is just using LTE data happily. However, what if someone calls you? How does it get through the CDMA network to your device? Via CSFB.
When the Sprint network tries to forward a call to your device but cannot see it via CDMA, it then checks for an LTE connection to your device. If it sees one, it tells your device to disconnect from LTE for a moment and reconnect to CDMA. Your device then jumps over to take the call on Sprint CDMA and the LTE session is interrupted. This happens very fast and seamlessly. Except for the loss of data availability. If you receive a text, the Sprint network is able to route it to your device via LTE."
This is why I tried to upgrade from the EVO 4G to the EVO 4G LTE recently, I was trying to get a phone that handled LTE and had SVLTE, but it didn't work out reception-wise in my area, so bit the bullet and got the M8, knowing that if I use it for tethering will have to figure out if there is a way to force it to stay in LTE and have phone calls go straight to voice mail.
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Thanks for the info. I just came from the HTC Evo 4G LTE. Never had any problems with Simultaneous Voice and Data so I was very surprised when I couldn't talk and use data on this phone. Of course Sprint tech support was useless. They believe it should work just fine.
Thanks again!
Im on m7 currently talking on the phone and checking email... are you saying I wont b able to do this on the m8?
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thesabri said:
Im on m7 currently talking on the phone and checking email... are you saying I wont b able to do this on the m8?
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using XDA Premium HD app
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Apparently so, more or less. See http://www.fiercewireless.com/story...upport-simultaneous-voice-and-data/2013-11-19
thesabri said:
Im on m7 currently talking on the phone and checking email... are you saying I wont b able to do this on the m8?
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using XDA Premium HD app
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Yes that's exactly what it means. After discussing this on various forums it seems that no new phones on Sprint will be able to do voice and data simultaneously. The tri-band doesn't all these phones to operate on both the LTE band and the CDMA band at the same time. I'm trying to decide now if I'm going to return my M8 and switch to T-Mobile. Then purchase it from them.
this may be a deal breaker for me as well. i have been paying for wimax wifi untill lte deployed in my area... that the phone i want wont allow the vlte is very disapointing.
I thought I heard a while ago that is a thing of the past. GS3 (and apparently the Evo 4G lte) was the last to be able to do that. They removed that feature from the S4, and any device from that point on iirc. Not 100% on all that, but I know I read something like that before.
Never investigated as to why, but the only thing I can think of would be for safety reasons. Its bad enough that people text and drive, and I can just imagine how many would be driving, on the phone, and texting, or trying to browse the web.
Certainly a feature I will miss though, coming from an S3. Neither my wife nor mom want to upgrade because they don't want to lose that capability.
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It works on the m7 so that's not true djroc007
Sent from my HTC One
indiscriminant said:
It works on the m7 so that's not true djroc007
Sent from my HTC One
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He probably meant while on 3g.
Sent from my lair.
indiscriminant said:
It works on the m7 so that's not true djroc007
Sent from my HTC One
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I don't think the m7 is a tri-band phone so it should work.... it works on my evo lte no matter what network im connected to but on my m8 it wont work at all.. I will try in on the g2 because that's also a tri-band phone and see what happends
Fair enough. I wasn't 100% sure, I just remember seeing somewhere that they were doing away with that capability at some point. It's stupid though either way. There's been plenty of times while talking about something on the phone where I've said "hold on, I'll Google it", or had the other person send me a picture of something. Will miss that feature.
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For clarity, please confirm is my understanding is true: this issue will be fixed in time, but we just don't know when - and Sprint is being shady about it.
I am an AT&T customer on the old Skyrocket. Long overdue for an upgrade, and I've been leaning toward switching to Sprint and getting the m8 ('real' unlimited data is a major factor). Now I'm weighing this issue, deciding whether it's significant enough to not make the switch after all.
buffjam9011 said:
For clarity, please confirm is my understanding is true: this issue will be fixed in time, but we just don't know when - and Sprint is being shady about it.
I am an AT&T customer on the old Skyrocket. Long overdue for an upgrade, and I've been leaning toward switching to Sprint and getting the m8 ('real' unlimited data is a major factor). Now I'm weighing this issue, deciding whether it's significant enough to not make the switch after all.
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No, this is not really an “issue” since it’s not a feature that’s performing improperly. SVDO and SVLTE (being able to hold a call while on 3G or LTE, respectively) is simply not possible due to the new antenna design.
On the EVO 4G LTE, SVDO and SVLTE were both possible, but that phone wasn’t the greatest RF performer. On the One M7, SVLTE was still possible, but SVDO was removed to help offset RF fade so that the signal could be improved. I suspect that the antenna design was changed again on the M8 to further increase performance, but at the cost of only being able to do voice OR data at any given time. Also, there appears to be a network limitation with tri-band LTE devices. See the post from rhe12:
rhe12 said:
From s4gru dot com (can't post link for being too much of a noob on this site still)
"In previous Sprint LTE phones, when a device was in Sprint LTE coverage it would park in both the LTE and CDMA Sprint networks at the same time. When a voice call came in, it would just go straight through to the device. And signal to the LTE network would be maintained the whole time while the call was active.
In contrast, a Sprint Triband LTE device can only stay on one technology at a time. CDMA or LTE, not both. So when a Sprint LTE Triband device is in Sprint LTE coverage it parks only in LTE. And doing so means it cannot transmit calls without Circuit Switched Fallback (CSFB) on the network side. CSFB and eCSFB (Enhanced Circuit Switched Fallback) are network controls that will allow a single mode/single path network to operate in two modes, both CDMA and LTE.
Here is how it works in the simplest way I can describe. When your Triband LTE device has an LTE signal, it cannot receive or make calls on its own. It is just using LTE data happily. However, what if someone calls you? How does it get through the CDMA network to your device? Via CSFB.
When the Sprint network tries to forward a call to your device but cannot see it via CDMA, it then checks for an LTE connection to your device. If it sees one, it tells your device to disconnect from LTE for a moment and reconnect to CDMA. Your device then jumps over to take the call on Sprint CDMA and the LTE session is interrupted. This happens very fast and seamlessly. Except for the loss of data availability. If you receive a text, the Sprint network is able to route it to your device via LTE."
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Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
Apparently in a theoretical future, when Sprint rolls out voice over LTE, this issue would, well, not be an issue anymore.
"Schlageter said the tri-mode LTE smartphones will be able to handle simultaneous voice and LTE data when Sprint deploys Voice over LTE. She noted Sprint has not yet set a timetable for when that will happen."
Source: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story...upport-simultaneous-voice-and-data/2013-11-19
Thanks for the replies. Seems like a usability oversight (or just bad decision) to me. Are other carriers able to support SVLTE or SVDO on Triband LTE devices or is this a device constraint?
Thinking about it, I only occasionally use data and voice at the same time so this might be more of a minor irritation to me. I have a question for those you who have experience with this - Is there any noticeable lag when CSFB occurs for either user (caller/receiver)?
Also, the language in the spokeswoman's replies in that article is frustrating.
buffjam9011 said:
Thanks for the replies. Seems like a usability oversight (or just bad decision) to me. Are other carriers able to support SVLTE or SVDO on Triband LTE devices or is this a device constraint?
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I wouldn’t say it’s an “oversight,” either. I would say it’s more of a limitation of the compromise between RF performance and features. Sprint’s M8 variant will have access to more LTE bands in more areas than any of the other carriers. I could be wrong, but I suspect that the trade-off for SVLTE has something to do with the fact that the Sprint M8 will be switching between LTE bands more often than other carriers’ variants. Let’s take a look:
For the One M8, these are the LTE frequencies that each carrier-specific phone has the radio/antenna for:
AT&T: 700/850/AWS/1800/1900/2600 MHz
Sprint: FDD 800/1900 MHz , TDD 2600 MHz
Verizon: 700/AWS/1800/2600 MHz
TMUS: 700/AWS MHz
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Source: M8 spec page
As it currently stands, these are the LTE frequencies the above carriers have deployed or will soon deploy:
AT&T: 700/AWS/1900/2300 MHz
Sprint: 800/1900/2500 (2600) MHz
Verizon: 700/AWS MHz
TMUS: 700/AWS/1900 MHz
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Sources:
List of LTE networks - Wikipedia
AT&T Mobility - Wikipedia
Sprint - Wikipedia
Verizon - Wikipedia
T-Mobile USA - Wikipedia
This means that only the AT&T and Sprint versions can use 3 LTE bands on their respective networks. However, since only Sprint will have all 3 bands available nationwide, I suspect that there might be something network-related which would allow the AT&T model to still allow SVLTE, but again, I could be wrong. I think I’ll take this to S4GRU.com to fact-check.

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