Disable LTE or force 5G? - Google Pixel 5 Questions & Answers

I find myself in an area with Verizon 5G and LTE coverage. The Pixel seems to prefer LTE but I suspect it is super saturated as download speeds are only in the 1-10 megabit range. Sometimes it switches to the 5G network and can get nearly 100 Mbps down. Is there a way to force the 5G network or disable the LTE network? I can usually get it to switch to 5G by toggling between Global and UMTS/GSM/LTE but it takes a number of tries and made me wonder if there was a way to force the switch.

That's a good question of which I don't have the answer. But let's say you did force it and disable LTE. What would happen when out of 5G range? I frequently see a bounce between the two but that's usually not when I'm stationary only on the move. My LTE speeds are better than 5g in my area so I don't concern myself much. Curious if you do figure it out and what the ramifications are.

bobby janow said:
That's a good question of which I don't have the answer. But let's say you did force it and disable LTE. What would happen when out of 5G range? I frequently see a bounce between the two but that's usually not when I'm stationary only on the move. My LTE speeds are better than 5g in my area so I don't concern myself much. Curious if you do figure it out and what the ramifications are.
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I would expect signal to drop if you were somehow able to turn off LTE. For my purposes I'm mostly stationary and would switch back to all networks when I left. An edge case for sure.
Having been here for enough days it appears to reliably switch to 5G if I hold the phone near the window while toggling the setting. It then holds the 5G network until I go through the interior of the building for some reason and the 5G signal likely gets too weak. I'm guessing the algorithm for switching isn't seeing enough signal strength to switch back to 5G once I return to the room.

l7777 said:
I would expect signal to drop if you were somehow able to turn off LTE. For my purposes I'm mostly stationary and would switch back to all networks when I left. An edge case for sure.
Having been here for enough days it appears to reliably switch to 5G if I hold the phone near the window while toggling the setting. It then holds the 5G network until I go through the interior of the building for some reason and the 5G signal likely gets too weak. I'm guessing the algorithm for switching isn't seeing enough signal strength to switch back to 5G once I return to the room.
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I think the simple answer to this conundrum is that 5G is not quite ready for prime time. They are building out but in order to get into a building they will need more coverage and perhaps some other technologies to extend the range internally. Hopefully by the time I get my shiny new P6 things will improve.
I haven't tried a speed test with 5G lately but it was pretty abysmal a couple of months back. LTE was about 20% faster at my home. However, I went to NYC and the speeds for 5G were lightning fast. It's a waiting game I believe.

bobby janow said:
I think the simple answer to this conundrum is that 5G is not quite ready for prime time. They are building out but in order to get into a building they will need more coverage and perhaps some other technologies to extend the range internally. Hopefully by the time I get my shiny new P6 things will improve.
I haven't tried a speed test with 5G lately but it was pretty abysmal a couple of months back. LTE was about 20% faster at my home. However, I went to NYC and the speeds for 5G were lightning fast. It's a waiting game I believe.
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It's certainly not ready to replace LTE, but in my case it is a significant improvement until I get to the elevator it seems. Once there it switches to LTE and won't switch back until I toggle. As I said, certainly an edge case and I've found a workaround but it would be nice to force it from time to time. IMO rather than being groups of network types, you should just get checkboxes for the ones you want the phone to use at any point in time. Of course we'll probably never see this as it would likely increase support calls as people changed settings and then got dropped calls/no signal.

Related

Advatages of talking via 3G Connection?

I was wondering why someone would want to be connected to 3G all the time for talking. I could only guess that it is somewhat better quality. In my case I don't see it that much. I do however know that it waistes about double the battery using 3G all the time. If I am not using data is there any real advantages of it? and what if I am talking to someone who does not have a 3G phone.
Thank you,
Hmm, of course I could be wrong (but I doubt it), Data and voice are 2 different things. 3G is data, voice is voice.
Thats what I was thinking, but I dont understand why it would be connected via 3G all the time if im not even using the data. and 3G and EDGE connections seems to have different signal strengths. If it's only for data I guess I will leave 3G off all the time.
3G signal is emitted on a different frequency than GSM/Edge signal - it does drain the battery faster and is pretty useless if you are in a well covered GSM area and only using voice (phone) function. The quality gain isn't significant enough overall to make it worth battery drainage on a device like the Kaiser/Tilt.
The advantage of 3G is its data stream but it's also good with voice for hard to reach areas only reached by 3G signals - those are rare nowadays, especially in the US, but in some cities with landscape blocked coverage (like in some skyscrapers in Manhattan for example) you might not pick any GSM network at your work desk but might pick up 3G - in such places, using "bandswitch" regularly makes sense.
Lastly, 3G signal is slowly replacing GSM/CDMA (2G) as the broadcasting standard so I wouldn't be surprised that in the next 5 years, more and more GSM phone operators will stop mantaining there GSM frequency towers in favor of 3G.
Thanks jonas that's the answer I was looking for. I will use edge untill my signal gets low.
Jonasteddybear said:
Lastly, 3G signal is slowly replacing GSM/CDMA (2G) as the broadcasting standard so I wouldn't be surprised that in the next 5 years, more and more GSM phone operators will stop mantaining there GSM frequency towers in favor of 3G.
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Interesting, since that means AT&T has a lot of work ahead of them and better get their butts in gear rolling out 3G. I live in the whatever-it-is, 90%, of the network area that does NOT have 3G.
Or I suppose I could be an optimist about what you say, and think that maybe it means AT&T really will be accelerating the rollout of 3G. That would be nice given the snail's pace of 3G expansion in the past couple of years.
Over in the UK 3G is the standard 2G is still available but the telecommunications offcom have required all UK operators to offer a minimum of 90% 3G coverage by 2010
I've always heard that Voice on 3G uses less power on standby and when talking, but I might be remembering it wrong.
Data on 3G uses significantly more juice than EDGE does (over double in my experience!) but I don't think you'll see a significant difference without data usage on 3G vs GSM but I could certainly be wrong.
I always have FlexMail and IM+ running, I haven't compared battery usage without them yet.
One big advantage that 3G has over EDGE is you can do voice and data at the same time. I've heard varying stories about some phones can do it on EDGE and some can't, but I know on my Tilt my connections die when I'm on a voice call and reconnect after but does not on 3G.
The biggest advantage of 3g besides the penetration is that you can talk and maintain a data connection. Edge gives you one or the other at a time--data or talk.

Weak 3G Signal on T-Mobile?

I have a brand new Nexus One, the T-Mobile version. According to the coverage map, I'm in a Very Good voice coverage area and 4g Very Good data coverage area. I've never used T-Mobile before though, so I don't know typical signal strengths in and around my house.
I'm on a Pay As You Go plan with Web DayPass. I can get the phone to go into 3G mode but it only has 0-1 bars. On Edge it ranges between 2-4. I know there were 3G issues at launch but I thought they were resolved.
Is there some secret to making this work?
Just because a map says that you have good signal, doesn't mean you will actually get one.
Those maps are calculated based on some equations and formulas and so forth, rather than test every square inch for signal strength. Plus, I don't think they guarantee in-building coverage to be the same as outside.
You should probably try being close to a window to see if it improves. Another suggestion is to hold the phone by its sides rather than grasp it at the bottom. The phone's antennas are in the bottom of the phone.
I'm just trying to see if the phone might be the problem. The issues I'm having are the same as all the ones reported at launch. However all I can find are reports on that issue from a year ago, nothing about how/if it was fixed.
I don't know if it really matters but it's not like I'm on the edge of good coverage. There is Good - Excellent voice coverage and Very Fast Mobile Web coverage 20+ miles in all directions.
I can hold the phone perfectly still and Edge coverage will fluctuate between 2-4 bars. If I get 3G, it's typically 0-1 bars though I have been able to get 2 bars once.

CDMA-Less Device on Verizon (Amazing!)

One of the great things about this device on Verizon's network is instant LTE service. In my house I have dead areas which cause my signal to drop. When trying to get LTE back it can sometimes take 30 seconds or more because once I get to an area with service it will first go to 3G and then sometimes get stuck on it and I'll have to toggle airplane mode to get LTE back in a timely manner. With the OnePlus6T as soon as I have service it goes instantly to LTE! This is the first time I've ever had a device connect to LTE so fast. All my previous devices over the past 5 years since I've had LTE in my area have annoyed me because they always go to 3G first even though I have strong LTE service where I live.
I've always wondered why companies can't make their phones instantly connect to LTE when it's there and why they always favor 3G -- but this is no longer an issue since the OP6T doesn't have 3G on Verizon
imucarmen said:
One of the great things about this device on Verizon's network is instant LTE service. In my house I have dead areas which cause my signal to drop. When trying to get LTE back it can sometimes take 30 seconds or more because once I get to an area with service it will first go to 3G and then sometimes get stuck on it and I'll have to toggle airplane mode to get LTE back in a timely manner. With the OnePlus6T as soon as I have service it goes instantly to LTE! This is the first time I've ever had a device connect to LTE so fast. All my previous devices over the past 5 years since I've had LTE in my area have annoyed me because they always go to 3G first even though I have strong LTE service where I live.
I've always wondered why companies can't make their phones instantly connect to LTE when it's there and why they always favor 3G -- but this is no longer an issue since the OP6T doesn't have 3G on Verizon
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What now happens in the areas where you only had 3G on your old phone? On your new Oneplus 6T do you just have no signal at all since it is only a LTE phone?
mjnoles1 said:
What now happens in the areas where you only had 3G on your old phone? On your new Oneplus 6T do you just have no signal at all since it is only a LTE phone?
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Well, I'm assuming that in none LTE areas I'll have no signal at all. But, Verizon's whole network has been converted to LTE as far as I know. I never go anyone where I don't have LTE (and I live in the sticks). But in the off chance that happens I have 2 lines and my Pixel 2XL is still in service.
mjnoles1 said:
What now happens in the areas where you only had 3G on your old phone? On your new Oneplus 6T do you just have no signal at all since it is only a LTE phone?
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I too am on Verizon, and in my office at work, one of the places I had zero service on Axon 7, I still get calls and text and one spotty bar of LTE. At my house, in the basement bedroom where I have missed countless calls and txts, I have 3 bars of signal and no issues with calls, txts, or LTE.
I drive all around my county for work, and so far, I havent hit a no service area. on the Axon 7, they were evident. It could just be better coverage due to glass back vs metal (the real reason OEMs have switched to glass back imho) or the better modem of the SD 845, but hands down, the cdma-less VZW is far superior for me IRL usage so far.
This is obviously subjective, but despite living in a rural area, I have no need for cdma so far. Vzw is the only carrier with good coverage where i live (upstate SC) and somehow, cdma-less is better.
kitcostantino said:
I too am on Verizon, and in my office at work, one of the places I had zero service on Axon 7, I still get calls and text and one spotty bar of LTE. At my house, in the basement bedroom where I have missed countless calls and txts, I have 3 bars of signal and no issues with calls, txts, or LTE.
I drive all around my county for work, and so far, I havent hit a no service area. on the Axon 7, they were evident. It could just be better coverage due to glass back vs metal (the real reason OEMs have switched to glass back imho) or the better modem of the SD 845, but hands down, the cdma-less VZW is far superior for me IRL usage so far.
This is obviously subjective, but despite living in a rural area, I have no need for cdma so far. Vzw is the only carrier with good coverage where i live (upstate SC) and somehow, cdma-less is better.
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what network type are you using in the phone information settings??
mpetruzz said:
what network type are you using in the phone information settings??
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LTE only in *#*#4636#*#*
2g/3g/4g in Preferred Network Type
Yeah I was in a spot Friday that goes to 3g or no signal often. I still had some sort of signal. It had an R and an H on the signal bar I believe. It worked fine and was still pretty fast online. Signal is way better than any of the Pixels was.
When I select LTE only I get two signal icons in the status bar.
Just curious will wifi calling / VOLTE work on Verizon?
rekd0514 said:
Just curious will wifi calling / VOLTE work on Verizon?
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Volte has worked for me since the moment the tech I chatted with switched my sim to CDMA-less. Case and point, I am in the section of my house with the worst reception, a spot where the Axon 7 I came from got zero service on tmob and Verizon. Yet, much to my heart's content, I have service and VOLTE in the downstairs Faraday cage that is my house.
To the second part, no, Verizon doesn't support wifi calling on this device yet. Hopefully, they will work that out soon, but so far, I am having the best network experience I have had yet with Verizon.
mpetruzz said:
When I select LTE only I get two signal icons in the status bar.
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Wow, just reset mine and noticed. I guess I had defaulted back to LTE/CDMA/UMTS, which apparently works fine. When I switched to LTE only, you are correct, double LTE icons in the status bar. I don't remember it doing that on 9.0.4. That being said, the other, default setting works perfectly fine for me.
Did y'all not have any problems sending/receiving MMS (not SMS) when your phone was in LTE only mode? I had to manually switch back to the default preferred network type from the dialer menu in order to fix that issue.
I had no problems at all I did the following.
1.Ordered new SIM card
2.Turned off old phone and took out SIM from old phone
3.Went on my Verizon account put in info on BYOD
4. Insert New SIM in 6T
Finish Setting up in your Verizon account then turn on the 6T
Done all working
I was worried because my old phone was 3G but the LTE is everywhere I always have signal.

4G vs 4G+ on Exynos/T-Mobile

When the status bar icon shows regular 4G, I consistently get download speeds of around 100 megabits/second. When it shows the little + sign next to it, speed drops to around 10 megabits. Seems backwards. Anyone know how to force the faster speed?
hella356 said:
When the status bar icon shows regular 4G, I consistently get download speeds of around 100 megabits/second. When it shows the little + sign next to it, speed drops to around 10 megabits. Seems backwards. Anyone know how to force the faster speed?
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Can't personally say for sure, but based on your experience I would guess that 4G+ is actually HSPA+ and 4G is LTE. Definitely backward from a user facing standpoint. HSPA+ should really be called 3G+ but many carriers marketed it as "4G" when LTE was still fairly new and not near as widespread.
I've had the same issue at a few locations and from what I was able to gather 4G+ is for carrier aggregation i.e. it uses multiple carriers to provide the service. So the slowdown is actually due to improper implementation of 4G+ between each carrier.
5G is coming,maybe it is already here.
Probably means there are too much there is too much congestion on the 4G+ network, whiles the regular 4G network doesn't have as much which would you get more of the bandwidth
For me 4G+ is way more faster than 4G. Here in UK on 4g+ download is 100-120mb/s. In France 200-250mb/s!!

Question S21 Ultra 5G - SM-G998B - Exynos - Problems with mobile data and signal.

Hi, I have an S21 Ultra 5G, (SM-G998B), the software update is up to date, and for a few days, I started to encounter various problems, sometimes I lose the signal altogether, I can't call, and I can't be called, I receive a message after 10 minutes that I have some missed calls, other times my mobile data does not work, it is set to 5G / 4G / 3G / 2G, I switch to 4G / 3G / 2G and it recovers for a while, then again to 5G / 4G / 3G / 2G when it has problems, to recover.
I thought it was because of the card, but it's not because of it, I changed it, and it still does.
I don't know what else to do, has anyone encountered this problem?
Thank you!
I assume that you compared with another phone at the same location, etc.
Also, get Network Signal to check what levels is the phone reporting.
If you see very low signal levels ONLY on this phone, a trip to the Samsung rep is probably needed as the modem might be fubar.
I have an open case with EE over the fact my Samsung gets 0-1 bar in what they claim is Excellent coverage indoor and outside. My son (PIxel) and daughter (iPhone) have a good signal so I'm wondering if the S21 Ultra has a signal issue.
AdrianKiwiRO said:
Hi, I have an S21 Ultra 5G, (SM-G998B), the software update is up to date, and for a few days, I started to encounter various problems, sometimes I lose the signal altogether, I can't call, and I can't be called, I receive a message after 10 minutes that I have some missed calls, other times my mobile data does not work, it is set to 5G / 4G / 3G / 2G, I switch to 4G / 3G / 2G and it recovers for a while, then again to 5G / 4G / 3G / 2G when it has problems, to recover.
I thought it was because of the card, but it's not because of it, I changed it, and it still does.
I don't know what else to do, has anyone encountered this problem?
Thank you!
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Click to collapse
Make sure you have updated the carrier settings app in the play store.
From when is it happeneing ?
Did you try with a different sim card ?
lywyn said:
I have an open case with EE over the fact my Samsung gets 0-1 bar in what they claim is Excellent coverage indoor and outside. My son (PIxel) and daughter (iPhone) have a good signal so I'm wondering if the S21 Ultra has a signal issue.
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Click to collapse
Have terrible signal strength everywhere with my s21 ultra
I often find if I cycle airplane mode on and the off again it reconnects to 4g and is less terrible but still find my older mate 20 pro Huawei got much better signal strength everywhere than my brand new Samsung
4G Performance on Exynos S21 Ultra is waaayyy slower than an S10+ or S20+
Hi Has anybody else noticed that the S21 Ultra doesn't seem to deliver consistent and reliable 4G speeds, particularly in terms of 4G uploading. I've done a comparison between my S21 Ultra and a S10+ both on the same network (EE) and the results are shocking. The S21 Ultra simply doesn't...
eu.community.samsung.com
AdrianKiwiRO said:
Hi, I have an S21 Ultra 5G, (SM-G998B), the software update is up to date, and for a few days, I started to encounter various problems, sometimes I lose the signal altogether, I can't call, and I can't be called, I receive a message after 10 minutes that I have some missed calls, other times my mobile data does not work, it is set to 5G / 4G / 3G / 2G, I switch to 4G / 3G / 2G and it recovers for a while, then again to 5G / 4G / 3G / 2G when it has problems, to recover.
I thought it was because of the card, but it's not because of it, I changed it, and it still does.
I don't know what else to do, has anyone encountered this problem?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have better 5G reception? I had similar problem with 5G reception as my provider still working on expanding it. I am running on 4G for now.
I'm avoiding 5G for now as battery drain is worse having to keep two networks connected. 5G is data only so the phone has to keep a 4G connection for calls/texts and 5G for data.
I have followed EE's instructions: Reset network settings, remove clean SIM, airplane mode on/off, connect to the wrong network and connect back to EE. None of helped
I have the same problem as you. Any solution? I have s21 ultra exynos.
I have since spoken to an EE network engineer about my problem with the signal strength on my phone. So I opened a case due to being in an excellent coverage area but always having a 0-1 bar signal. They did various checks and reported back that everything was fine. I still had a low signal outside with a mast just up the road so they raised it up to an engineer to talk to me. He gave a better answer to my problem, I was near a mast and should have excellent cover. But years after the mast was installed Aldi opened a massive distribution centre right next to the mast and he said the number of phones connecting to the mast was very high thus reducing the signal quality. They are upgrading the mast to 5G so that should improve the situation for me. My original thought was the phone aerial was not up to much but after checking with others in the street they had the same signal problem. So it was Aldi's fault
Signal on my S21 Ultra is fantastic, Vodafone UK. I'm on Vodafone with my work iPhone Xs and the S21 Ultra always has at least one bar more.
I anticipate that you in comparison with some other smartphone at the equal place, and so forth.
Also, get network sign to check what degrees is the smartphone reporting.
Tutuapp 9Apps Showbox
If you see very low sign tiers best on this smartphone, a ride to the Samsung rep is probably needed because the modem might be fubar.
I have signal issues with EE too with s21U. Never had problems in VODAFONE UK. Glad that it is not just me on this boat.
Do let me know if any of you guys sort out this. I know it is not to do with our devices, it might be to do with a config issue either at our or their end.
Has anyone ever found a solution to the abysmal signal strength on this lemon
s21 poor signal strength
I've just upgraded to the s21 from the s10. Problem is that I now only get 1 bar showing on the signal strength most of the time (including home). On the s10 it was on 3 bars most of the time using the same network and SIM. If I swap the SIM card back to the s10 I get 3 bars showing again I...
eu.community.samsung.com
noone606 said:
Has anyone ever found a solution to the abysmal signal strength on this lemon
s21 poor signal strength
I've just upgraded to the s21 from the s10. Problem is that I now only get 1 bar showing on the signal strength most of the time (including home). On the s10 it was on 3 bars most of the time using the same network and SIM. If I swap the SIM card back to the s10 I get 3 bars showing again I...
eu.community.samsung.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't faced any signal issues so far. I get fantastic LTE signal on my S21U, same as my wife's OnePlus 6. No issues with call quality or network speed either.
Congrats
I'm guessing your not in an area with iffy coverage then or your just lucky
Most are not
Which is quite evident if you bothered to read any of the thread I posted as an example
noone606 said:
Congrats
your just lucky
Most are not
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Click to collapse
I'm sorry that you have problems with your device, but do you know most people? The vast majority of people who bought this phone, doesn't face any issues with the signal, so they don't go to post on forums about it. There is always that loud minority who think that everyone has this problem, just because they have it.
And it's "you're", not "your".
Nice Grammer
noone606 said:
Nice Grammer
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I hope that was sarcasm...or you just dug a deeper hole
Very poor signal here too with ee, my rog phone 2 was always full strength with 4g yet me s21 ultra is only 1 bar with no data... and yes I have triad everything, everyone in my house is on the network yet they all have 4g and good signal.

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