Only 2G (or) Only 3G! - Nexus 5 General

Just found a small trick to use only 3G instead of 3G preferrd.
Just dial *#*#4636#*#* select the desired radio in the drop down menu. WCDMA is 3G only.
Hope it helps

This has been known for years.

For YEARS
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Yeap yeap. Known for some time already. You can also force it to connect to 4G network instead of 3G network by selecting "LTE Only" but you won't be able to receive/ make calls and sms. Good for situation where you wanna use Internet and it is loading really slow cos your phone finds that the 4G signal is too low and determines that 3G is would be faster for you. But low signal 4G compared to higher signal 3G, 4G still wins most of the time to me.

Related

Suddenly no 3g, always H?!

My carrier had some little problems during the past weeks, aparently they were working on something. I sometimes, for short periods, did not have data connection or no servic at all. Now the problems are gone and a speedtest today showed that at my home, the download speed went from an average 1 Mbit to over 5 Mbit!
However, the H symbol won't go away anymore! It used to switch to 3g when not data was transferred. I assume that this will influence battery life.
Is there anything I should be worried?
From what I recall, H is faster than 3g, as long as your in a good signal area, the H will always be visable, it will only drop down to 3g if the area your in has no H signal... and if there is no 3g it will drop to a 2g signal... simples, having the H does not meen that data is being transfered!
I am aware of the different speed levels, what I experience now is that the H symbol stays all the time, whereas it used to change to 3g when idling even in areas with very good reception...
GMH24 said:
I am aware of the different speed levels, what I experience now is that the H symbol stays all the time, whereas it used to change to 3g when idling even in areas with very good reception...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, I don't get what you're saying. Let me clear it up:
Very good reception = H
Not so good reception = 3G
You want to see H (means HSDPA which is a a type of 3G data, but it's faster).
MrSimtang said:
Let me clear it up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, I'll try that too!
I live in an area with very good reception and therefore the phone used to switch from 3g to H whenever data was transfered and back . Now, however, it stays on H all the time and does not switch back to 3g when no traffic occurs.
It is just a change in the pattern my phone behaves so I wanted to get some info on that...
Hi, it's your phone doing what it should by seeking the best signal.
H refers to HSDPA which is based on UMTS (3G). Consider it a 'turbo' version of 3G. It's sometimes also referred to as 3G+ because it's faster then 3G but not really 4G technology. The tower in your area most likely got upgraded to HSDPA that's why you don't see the 3G icon anymore.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App
Not correct, he mentioned that his phone was using H on demand before, so the capability was there already.
The problem is that H mode uses more battery than 3G, which is why it normally only switches to H during data transfers instead of continously being on.
Possibly your provider made a change which forces your phone to stay in H mode. On hardcores homepage (see speedmod kernel thread) he describes a method to manually deactivate H mode if you want to play with it.
Hope that helps.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
seems to be the explanation... Suddenly I have ~6 Mbit, so almost unsurprisingly there had to be a catch
as for disabling H, it would be permanently so not quite an option. I guess, I'll have to live with it but nevertheless I'll call customer support..
Hspa and 3g are actually different technologies, but can be used on the same site and freq. If you have noticed that your phone is nowdays all the time showing H ( hspa ) and not in 3g like before it means that your carrier has expanded their hspa features and capacity of the network on that area. Main difference between these two tech is of course the speed and how network resources are shared between the users. In 3g you have dedicated ones, but speed limited and in hspa you are sharing the resources between other ones under that cell area. hspa is good if you are near by the cell and there is not too many users from battery consumption point of aswell from througput point of view, 3g is better if you are on the cell edge due to dedicated resources reserved only for you. Main point is, battery consumption of your phone depends mainly how you use your phone ,what kind of applications you have and how often those are connecting/contacted by the network.
Browsing in 3g sucks!
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App

[Q] Stay on H+ rather than H connection

I have already disabled fast dormancy using *#9900# code in my Note, but now my phone switch between H and H+ icon. When connection is idel, it falls back to H. If I browse a webpage, it takes more than 10 seconds to connect to H+. And yes, H has no data trafic avalable. That means I have to wait the phone to change to H+ if I want to browse the internet.
Does anyone know how to stay with H+ icon?
OMG no one knows?
I think it depends on your rom..
sunny7day said:
I have already disabled fast dormancy using *#9900# code in my Note, but now my phone switch between H and H+ icon. When connection is idel, it falls back to H. If I browse a webpage, it takes more than 10 seconds to connect to H+. And yes, H has no data trafic avalable. That means I have to wait the phone to change to H+ if I want to browse the internet.
Does anyone know how to stay with H+ icon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on your Network and rom + modem u using.
Post the details here and lets see what the community here can find.
Data works fine on H. It certainly seems faster on H+, but, as you say, the phone spends so long finding and connecting, the speed is wasted. I'd be happy to stay on H myself.
I agree, it would be nice to keep to one. My connection jumps from 3g to H to H+ and even to E, especially when moving on a train.
I think it is network dependent
E - Edge 2G
H - 3G
H+ - 3.5G
When you set your network mode to auto, it searches for faster avaiable network. If you set it to only WCDMA, you won't get E, but i think there is no setting to select 3G/3.5G.
Another problem to select WCDMA is, whenever any place dont have 3G coverage, your network will lost.
In germany it is also other:
G - gprs up to 56kpbs
E - edge up to 128kbps
3G - umts up 384 kbps
H - HSPA up to 14 mbps
H+ - extended hspa up to 21mbps
But H+ is only active when it is needed and it is all carrierer depending. If i am on H+ i can se my battery dying
Gesendet von meinem GT-N7000 mit Tapatalk
It is network related there's nothing your phone can do about it.
H+ is actually using the 64QAM modulation over the air interface which gives you 50% more throughput ideally than H.
3G is up to 384kbps
H is up to 14.4Mbps (16QAM)
H+ is up to 21Mbps
The above is the throughput on the lower levels, so at the application level you will get around 10% less (and that's if you are alone using the base station and your carrier is not limiting your throughput)
Everything that goes through wireless interfaces has to be shared between users. Therefore, the network has to manage valuable and limited resources to serve everyone and provide a best effort service. In order to do that, idle users or users below a certain threshold will be down switched from H+ to H (this usually happens due to radio signal conditions) and to 3G. After that it kicks you back to idle mode, so even if it says H, your actually not connected until a new session is triggered and based on your needs and availability, you are up switched to a faster channel.
Depending on each country and their marketing:
2G
2.5G is GPRS (G)
2.75G is EDGE (E)
3G
3.5G is HSPA (H)
3.9G (4G in the US) is HSPA+
4G is LTE
Fast dormancy is a new feature on 3G networks (not available in most networks yet) that improves your switching between different channels (H+, H, 3G, idle, ....) and it has a major impact on your battery life and the speed of establishing a new data connection once you are idle. This is also controlled by your network. Anyway, some people believe that turning it off while it is not supported by your network can help improving battery life. Which I don't think is true, since by turning it off you are forcing your mobile to ignore this new feature (and if it doesn't exist there's nothing to ignore anyway) and turning it off shouldn't have any effect unless it is active on the network and your carrier is not managing it correctly.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
There is a short code for turning off h+ my phone would always time out when trying to connect to h+ so disabled it. And it works great now, can't for the life of me remember what the short code is though!
Alexanderbooth said:
There is a short code for turning off h+ my phone would always time out when trying to connect to h+ so disabled it. And it works great now, can't for the life of me remember what the short code is though!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there a code to turn on H+ too? Because my phone used to show H+ but now it only shows H although I have not changed any settings.

How to disable HSPA / HSDPA for better battery life

Hi,
I was wondering if we can turn off hsdpa to save battery life, i used to have a Captivate and we used this secret menú to disable hsdpa, leaving only the 3G which consume less battery than Hdspa and is faster than 2G, but i can not find this menú on my nexus 4, someone knows how to do it?
This is the link to Samsung Galaxy where they shows how to do it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=837716
[REF] WORKING: How to disable HSPA / HSDPA for better battery life
Hi people.
One way to get longer battery life is to disable HSPA and just use 3G. 3G (UMTS) is not as slow as EDGE/GPRS but doesn't use as much power as HSPA.
Here's a quick comparison of *typical* download speeds:
GPRS: 48 kbit/s, EDGE: 150-200 kbit/s, 3G: 384 kbit/s, HSDPA: 1000 kbit/s
After some searching, I've found a method that actually works for our Galaxy S:
Go to the phone dialer pad and enter this code: *#301279#
Click [2] CHANGE HSPA REVISION
Click [1] RELEASE 99 (HSPA OFF)
Then you should see something like:
CHANGE_R99
HSDPA OFF, HSUPA OFF
Done!
Press the BACK button to exit, or press MENU button then END.
The setting should take effect shortly after you exit the menu. To be sure that the setting take effect, toggle Flight/Airplane mode.
You could store that number in your phone book or speed dial for a quick way to toggle HSPA.
The setting STAYS ACROSS REBOOTS!
If you want to enable HSPA again just go back to the same menu and choose [3] RELEASE 6 (HSDPA/HSUPA).
Just tested it with the XXJPP radio and it really works.
Longer battery life at last!
Quick way is Settings-More-Mobile Networks- Use Only 2g.
Better way is to install a toggle control app that let's you do it in one touch.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
chrisrozon said:
Quick way is Settings-More-Mobile Networks- Use Only 2g.
Better way is to install a toggle control app that let's you do it in one touch.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx, But 2G Its too slow, with this method the Hsdpa is off but the 3G still working so Its faster, but Looks like lg doesnt have this option or i can not find it.... Jet
HSPA is 3g
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Try this code:
*#*#4636#*#* :good:
Yeah the main way is to check "use 2g only" which would give you edge only and may save battery but yes it is very slow.
There is also a toggle 2g app which makes it more convenient, or you can use tasker.
Based on what I've read on the forums I'm pretty sure HSPA is 3g. In which case theres no in between.. if you go through the dialer menu you can choose wcdma/gsm which is 3g/2g. We're used to thinking hspa is 4g but its actually 3g since true 4g is actually LTE. Confusing, I know.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
HSPA/HSDPA is enhanced 3G. Sometimes referred to as 3G+. It is faster than 3G, but not near as fast as LTE, which is true 4G. I speak mainly for the AT&T network because I spent a lot a time with this on my HTC Inspire. AT&T invested a bit of money enhancing their backhaul to accommodate HSPA. I lived in a marginal area where my Inspire was typically on 3G but, by design of the device, was constantly searching and switching to HSPA and back and forth. This constantly drained my battery and caused dropped calls because it was switching towers when doing this. I ended up having to place a microcell in my home to alleviate this, since there was no way to do it thru the device. I'm not sure how my N4 would act today because I still use that microcell.
The OP was asking how to turn off HSPA. In the context of this phone, that's 3G. The next step down is Edge.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
HSDPA has no more battery drain than 3G...
3G is not HSDPA, is UMTS. HSDPA is 3G+.
chrisrozon said:
The OP was asking how to turn off HSPA. In the context of this phone, that's 3G. The next step down is Edge.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True that. Considering this is considered a developers phone that is unlocked and unbranded, I'm a bit surprised at the limited band selection.
It's a 5 band GSM phone, what more would you want? Other than LTE, obviously, we've done THAT discussion to death
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
I was referring to the ability to select the bands. When I go into the hidden test menu and try to select a radio band, I get a message that states "Unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped". And yes I know this was done intentionally to hide the LTE band. My point was that I consider that somewhat odd. That is all. With previous phones I found the ability to switch bands useful for signal tests in my area, even though I couldn't always make them stick.
THANK YOU. I can finally enjoy fast (Fast enough for my needs) internet without the blackhole drain of HSPA+. 3g, UMTS, does not drain as much as HSPA+.
cas0404 said:
Hi,
I was wondering if we can turn off hsdpa to save battery life, i used to have a Captivate and we used this secret menú to disable hsdpa, leaving only the 3G which consume less battery than Hdspa and is faster than 2G, but i can not find this menú on my nexus 4, someone knows how to do it?
This is the link to Samsung Galaxy where they shows how to do it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=837716
[REF] WORKING: How to disable HSPA / HSDPA for better battery life
Hi people.
One way to get longer battery life is to disable HSPA and just use 3G. 3G (UMTS) is not as slow as EDGE/GPRS but doesn't use as much power as HSPA.
Here's a quick comparison of *typical* download speeds:
GPRS: 48 kbit/s, EDGE: 150-200 kbit/s, 3G: 384 kbit/s, HSDPA: 1000 kbit/s
After some searching, I've found a method that actually works for our Galaxy S:
Go to the phone dialer pad and enter this code: *#301279#
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get
Connection problem or invalid MMI code
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I'll need this option too, bcoz my signal keep switching between h and h+ so its definitely drain my battery.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
fernandezhjr said:
HSPA/HSDPA is enhanced 3G. Sometimes referred to as 3G+. It is faster than 3G, but not near as fast as LTE, which is true 4G. I speak mainly for the AT&T network because I spent a lot a time with this on my HTC Inspire. AT&T invested a bit of money enhancing their backhaul to accommodate HSPA. I lived in a marginal area where my Inspire was typically on 3G but, by design of the device, was constantly searching and switching to HSPA and back and forth. This constantly drained my battery and caused dropped calls because it was switching towers when doing this. I ended up having to place a microcell in my home to alleviate this, since there was no way to do it thru the device. I'm not sure how my N4 would act today because I still use that microcell.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LTE is NOT true 4G, true 4G is LTE Advanced.
Sent from my Jelly Nexus 4
zim2dive said:
I get
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got same! Other method to change it? Maybe system file somewhere?
Gesendet von meinem Nexus 4 CM10.1 HC mit Tapatalk 2
It's probably an NV Item in the Qualcomm radio. You would just need to find what value it needs, put the N4 into "modem" mode, and use NV Item editor or similar to change the value.
turn the data and gps off ,.turn down screen brightness, then you will found very long battery life for you

[Q] Force phone to stick to low signal LTE rather than switching to 3g?

Hey guys
So I looked around the forum for an answer to this question and i found similar topics but not exactly what I was looking for. I have the HTC one with sprint and the only issue I have with it is how it handles its preferred networks. If have 2 bars of LTE but 4-5 bars of 3g its going to stay on 3g and not switch to LTE. Is there anyway to change how it gives each signal preference. Currently it will wait till there is no 3g signal before it switches to 2g but LTE is not giving the same preference. I know it's just this phone because I had the iphone 5 before this and when I was on campus at my university it would stick to the 1 bar of LTE i had rather than switching to 3g. If I force the phone in LTE only mode then it will pick the LTE signal but then I can't call and text obviously so it's not very useful.
There are two things that the iphone 5 did which I miss but otherwise love this phone. One is getting LTE in places that has low coverage and the other is roaming on verizon network on 3g. The iphone would always roam on 3g but the htc one only roams on 2g.
Is there a way to change those things with this phone? Thanks in advance!
onelight17 said:
Hey guys
So I looked around the forum for an answer to this question and i found similar topics but not exactly what I was looking for. I have the HTC one with sprint and the only issue I have with it is how it handles its preferred networks. If have 2 bars of LTE but 4-5 bars of 3g its going to stay on 3g and not switch to LTE. Is there anyway to change how it gives each signal preference. Currently it will wait till there is no 3g signal before it switches to 2g but LTE is not giving the same preference. I know it's just this phone because I had the iphone 5 before this and when I was on campus at my university it would stick to the 1 bar of LTE i had rather than switching to 3g. If I force the phone in LTE only mode then it will pick the LTE signal but then I can't call and text obviously so it's not very useful.
There are two things that the iphone 5 did which I miss but otherwise love this phone. One is getting LTE in places that has low coverage and the other is roaming on verizon network on 3g. The iphone would always roam on 3g but the htc one only roams on 2g.
Is there a way to change those things with this phone? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried changing the preferred in the *#*#4636*#*# > Phone Information?
Hi thanks for the response. Yes I have messed around with that. That's how I got the LTE only option. It isn't a matter of not finding LTE signal. It's just the way the phone handles what is perferred. The phone first sees if there is a strong LTE signal and it catches that but the moment it goes to about 3 bars or less it will switch to 3g. I want it to continue sticking with LTE until the signal is gone completely like it does with 3g -> 2g.
onelight17 said:
Hi thanks for the response. Yes I have messed around with that. That's how I got the LTE only option. It isn't a matter of not finding LTE signal. It's just the way the phone handles what is perferred. The phone first sees if there is a strong LTE signal and it catches that but the moment it goes to about 3 bars or less it will switch to 3g. I want it to continue sticking with LTE until the signal is gone completely like it does with 3g -> 2g.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If its that way then I belive a builder will be able to forge a flashable zip for that purpose.
Terramoto said:
If its that way then I belive a builder will be able to forge a flashable zip for that purpose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see. And who do I ask for that? Or how can I build one? Sorry I am a bit of a rookie in this. I don't want to mess around with it too much but can learn. I thought there might already be some sort of hack or a modded PRL.
any new insight on this by anyone? thanks
I have lte at my work if I do lte only but it will switch to 3g when i turn everything else one because 3g signal is stronger than lte. id rather use lte however but still have my texting and calling capabilities.
onelight17 said:
any new insight on this by anyone? thanks
I have lte at my work if I do lte only but it will switch to 3g when i turn everything else one because 3g signal is stronger than lte. id rather use lte however but still have my texting and calling capabilities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know it's not an optimal solution, but have you considered using Google Voice integration in the meantime? With LTE only mode, so long as you're signed into an app of choice (Google Voice/Hangouts should be able to handle your calls and texts if you tweak at it a bit), you should have the desired service until you can get some dev help.

Force HSPA+ instead of 4G?

Does anyone know how to force the note 4 to use HSPA+ instead of 4G?
The reason why i ask is because in areas where i cannot get 4GLTE the note 4 goes into 4G and its basically unusable (~1mbps maybe, most of the time i cannot even perform a speed test) eventhough the 4G is with 5 bars. In the same exact area HSPA+ gets very good speeds of 6mbp+
To test this, i forced 4G on my note 4 at my house and got a 1mbps speed test. Before upgrading to the note 4 from t-mobile i had an old note 2 from verizon running H+ getting 6mbps+ at my home.
Update: i really think the note 4 or the modem is causing the issue. Testing again my my house. When i first force the 4G connection the speed test are horrible. (< 1 mbps). After some time it seems idling in 4G it seems i got pushed into H+ reframed?(but still 4g icon) and getting consistance 6mbps.
I also noticed that the note 4 drops LTE to 4G at 2 bars or so when LTE speeds is definitely present and running at 20mbps
Hspa+ shows as 4g. If you go to other network settings where the apn is you can select lte,wcdma, options. In remote areas my 4g speed is better than my lte . The lingo is kinda weird so every carrier has different definitions of 4g. Hspa+ is technically 3.5g lol.
The app Advanced Signal Status let's you choose your network type.
Install it from play store and lock it to what you want. Try phone calls and SMS for the modes you try because some modes will be data only.
I noticed this today at home. I forced it to WCDMA mode only, it took like 10 mins for it to eventually show "4G" at my home office. The signal and download speed were terrible when forced into WCDMA hspa mode+ (4G) . In the same room and home my Note 3 would get a very good signal this time last year when I used the Note 3.
Perhaps T mobile has done something to the cell site here? Or The Note 4 isnt working as it should?
Ive had the same issue. So i work in one city and live in another. So when i get to work my data is slooooow. I force it to 4g and after a while back to lte. Speeds are fine. Same thing happens when i get home. Tmo told me to just restart my phone but that doesnt always work
Same situation with me. LTE tower doesn't reach my room but I got 10mbps in my living room....and my room I get less than 1mbps and goes to lte to 4g often with very slow speeds. I even have a LTE booster which doesn't really help much with speed. Without the lte booster I get almost 0 signal in my room
I used to have same problem during lte upgrade in my area. On lte around 8+ up and down while on 4g speds were 15-20 down and less than 2 up. Ping times were longer on 4g. After upgrade I no longer need to switch between lte and 4g
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
darekz said:
I used to have same problem during lte upgrade in my area. On lte around 8+ up and down while on 4g speds were 15-20 down and less than 2 up. Ping times were longer on 4g. After upgrade I no longer need to switch between lte and 4g
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But is T Mobile removing their 4G HSPA wcdma towers? I used to get a very good db signal in my office, now -115db at best for 4G in same location but band 4 700Mhz is now present? Any relationship between these ...
See the below screen shot. On that menu you can pick the non LTE function and force H+. You can also switch back to LTE.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Thanks I had already figured out how to.force a specific data connection , hence why that thread I posted was asking what the default option is, since I didn't write it down.
But back on subject, 4G next to non existent now at home after 700mhz band 12 availability.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
What is UMTS? I never get Hspa+
I've found that my data is ridiculously slow (I'm talking edge speeds) when I turn WiFi off, even when I am in an area that gets a strong LTE signal. I feel like my device does not automatically connect to the best available tower; rather, it seems to try to latch on to whatever tower it was connected to before I connected to WiFi. Toggling "mobile data" off then on again seems to reconnect my device to the closer/better tower and the speed improves drastically. (It's possible that toggling airplane mode or network modes will do the same thing). When you are in an area that has poor LTE, you might consider keeping it off. Change the selection from “LTE/WCDMA/GSM” to just “WCDMA/GSM” and you'll be on the slower HSPA+ network (though, I believe it still shows the 4G icon). You can always change it back when you are in a better area.
4G is back up and running in my home location. Must have been temp disabled when they rolled out 700mhz band 12 LTE in my area.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

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