Switching Cell Tower - Samsung Galaxy S20 / S20+ / S20 Ultra Questions &

Hey
I probably know the answer to this already, and isn't device specific. Does anyone know if it's possible to force a cell tower switch. I think what's happening is my local cell tower does not support 5G. I noticed recently when some work was being done, and during a power cut at this cell tower than my device switched from that cell tower to another. I was only getting 4 bars, but, was getting 5G and had download speeds of around 450mb+ rather than the 50mb on 4G. I've tried band switching and forcing 5G only, but that doesn't seem to work.
Thanks

This may help:
https://android.gadgethacks.com/how...ifferent-5g-band-your-samsung-galaxy-0323193/
Obviously turning airport mode on/off will force it to reacquire a cell tower.
Google it... there maybe other ways.

Thanks.
I've tried band switching but don't seem to have any luck. When I switch to N78, I seem to get not signal. I'm assuming it's connected to the same cell tower but only looking for the 5G bands. I've tried airplane mode etc but I think it looks like I'm connected to the same cell tower.
I might be completely misunderstanding how this works to be honest.
Google seems to not have answered my questions.

I'm guessing you already know of this and other related apps,I've never used before dont know if any have switching ability... so please dont shoot the messenger. ? Simply making a suggestion.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.staircase3.opensignal

Related

[Q] 3g everythere but at home????

I have a problem with my Tmobile g2 running 2.2, it is all stock no modifications whatsoever other than handcent and fancy widget.
The problem is I can not connect to 3g or hsdpa network when I am at home. By this I mean the cell tower that provides service when I am at home. I have txt and calling capabilites but I have no data whatsoever. I have to manually switch to 2g or edge to check email or use the browser. I have called tmobile and they keep telling me that the problem is with my phone, however when I am 2 or 3 miles from my house and it goes to any other tower on the planet everything works fine.
I have searched the g2 forum here but could find no answers. I apologize in advance if this has been indeed covered or discussed to death and I have just failed to find it.
I did find the *#*#4636#*#* option and when it is on 2g I can run a ping test and it finds the server just fine, but on 3g it always fails to connect. Again this only occurs of course when I am sitting at home!
Thanks to anyone who can shed some light on this or point me in the right direction because leaving it up to tmobile has proven to be fruitless.
It might also be worth mentioning that i replaced the sim card today as well, this too had no effect on this phenomenon.....
My mom's nexus s has the same problem. Only difference is that when i walk out the door i get 3g. Once i walk back in, I get edge...... I think its might be just tmobile frequencies poor ability to pentrate walls.
Sounds like a problem with the 3G network in your area, or just a weak signal there.
I know its not the signal strength, I always have full bars at home Its something to do with the network....
DefiantMenace said:
I know its not the signal strength, I always have full bars at home Its something to do with the network....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Full bars on 3G or 2G ? If you have full bars on 3G then it sounds like a network problem.
I have the exact same problem, but my building is probably over 100 years old with 300 coats of lead paint on it. It depends on your building. Signals can bounce off of mirrors for example and other materials. The more material the signal has to go through, the more attenuation happens.
I have a similar problem, my G2 can't maintain a consistent connection, I will go from 4 bars of HSPA+ to 4 bars of Edge to nothing (lost connection to network) and it will jump around wildly between these three states (every few minutes). My wife's MyTouch 4G doesn't do this, my G1 did not do this, our kids (dumb) phones have consistent connections.
I know it's some interaction between my phone and the TMO network, I'd say it was a defective phone except the only place it happens is inside my house.
I wish that TMO offered a microcell.
There is no reception problem, I have had the phone working here for awhile and it always has full bars, like I said I can hop in the car and drive a couple miles and it works just fine. Tmobile finally got back to me today and said they are having their Engineers troubleshoot the tower that provides service when I am home. I hope they get this fixed soon, they said 72 hours.......
It's that anti-cellphonereception chemical they put into paint!!

[Q] Very poor signal

in my room my signal is always gprs or edge, i rarely do get either 3g or hspa, outside of my house, i get 3g and sometimes hspa, but i get only 2 bar of signal, it's really annoying, i don't know is it my phone or my carrier, but i think its my phone
in addition, sometimes my phone can't get an internet connection for no reason, im have an internet data but my phone just won't connect, the signal bar color changes into white
Carrier?
Data plan?
The right apn settings?
Do you have another phone to test?
Can't just point fingers on the phone or your carrier without concrete evidence.
Check the signal using any other phone in the same places to confirm if it is only your GNex suffering this poor signal or every phone around. Maybe the coverage of the 3G Tower is already poor in your place.
If you really confirm that it is your phone after trying what I suggested above, then it worths to mention the radio baseband you are using. You may also like to check this thread for a list of radio basebands
Regarding the white (or is it "grey"?) internet signal, this is related to whether you are connected to Google servers or not as far as I know. If connected then it is blue, otherwise, it is the other color.
Update: Oh guys you were faster than me although I started replying while no one did already

Connection/Speed Issue and Tower Question

I'm in the Los Angeles area where Sprint's 4G Network is just being built up. The service is terribly slow, even when on the 4G Network. My question/problem though is, I've noticed that when I go from one area to another, for instance if I'm at a shopping center and on tower that's 3G and then cross the street to another shopping center that has a tower that's 4G... my Data gets all screwed up. Somehow in the process of connecting to a new tower with a different speed, my Data always freezes up and you can't do anything for long periods of time. I'm talking anywhere from 5-10 minutes. I often have to put my phone into Airplane mode and reconnect to get anything moving.
Just wondering if this was a common occurrence? Or if this is just a result of Sprint's crappy network, or what.
On a related note, I've also noticed that even if I'm not going between towers, there are a lot of times when my phone says it has a strong Data Connection on either 3G or 4G, say 3 bars or so, and yet my Data hangs and I can't use the web. Any ideas what the cause might be?
captaingrey said:
I'm in the Los Angeles area where Sprint's 4G Network is just being built up. The service is terribly slow, even when on the 4G Network. My question/problem though is, I've noticed that when I go from one area to another, for instance if I'm at a shopping center and on tower that's 3G and then cross the street to another shopping center that has a tower that's 4G... my Data gets all screwed up. Somehow in the process of connecting to a new tower with a different speed, my Data always freezes up and you can't do anything for long periods of time. I'm talking anywhere from 5-10 minutes. I often have to put my phone into Airplane mode and reconnect to get anything moving.
Just wondering if this was a common occurrence? Or if this is just a result of Sprint's crappy network, or what.
On a related note, I've also noticed that even if I'm not going between towers, there are a lot of times when my phone says it has a strong Data Connection on either 3G or 4G, say 3 bars or so, and yet my Data hangs and I can't use the web. Any ideas what the cause might be?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The bars do not determine your signal strength. There's cases where people have no bars but data is still being transferred and get fantastic speeds. I recommend installing Speedtest and depending on your results you should call your network provider on the data issue
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
LuigiBull23 said:
The bars do not determine your signal strength. There's cases where people have no bars but data is still being transferred and get fantastic speeds. I recommend installing Speedtest and depending on your results you should call your network provider on the data issue
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I have Speedtest. The speeds in LA are awful. Usually range from 0.54 to 0.78 mbps DL on 3G. On 4G its about 8.7 - 9.13.
And thanks for the response, but I still don't understand what the connection issue is between Towers and I'm pretty sure calling Sprint to ask them what the deal is would be a waste of 3 hours.
captaingrey said:
I'm in the Los Angeles area where Sprint's 4G Network is just being built up. The service is terribly slow, even when on the 4G Network. My question/problem though is, I've noticed that when I go from one area to another, for instance if I'm at a shopping center and on tower that's 3G and then cross the street to another shopping center that has a tower that's 4G... my Data gets all screwed up. Somehow in the process of connecting to a new tower with a different speed, my Data always freezes up and you can't do anything for long periods of time. I'm talking anywhere from 5-10 minutes. I often have to put my phone into Airplane mode and reconnect to get anything moving.
Just wondering if this was a common occurrence? Or if this is just a result of Sprint's crappy network, or what.
On a related note, I've also noticed that even if I'm not going between towers, there are a lot of times when my phone says it has a strong Data Connection on either 3G or 4G, say 3 bars or so, and yet my Data hangs and I can't use the web. Any ideas what the cause might be?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may not know what can cause this issue but I can try to help on making it a tad better. Check out my recent post on how to increase your data speed on the Note 2 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2253340 and if your data does hang, try going into Settings, More Settings, Mobile networks, and just uncheck and check Mobile data. Hope this helps out.

Anyone else hating SPARK?!

I really wanted to like it.
I have been running PA/CM rom since they first came out, flipping back and forth. ZVA came out and i was excited and TOT to it. my signal went to ****.
95% of my day is in a 4g area, on ZV8, I see 4g (and pretty fast speeds) most of my day.
I flashed to ZVA, and i can watch the 4g (at my desk, so basically the same place everyday) flip to 3g for no reason. the worst part is it does it in the middle of something. if i go into airplane mode and back out it goes to 4g, for a few minutes and flips to 3g again. so frustrating.
on the way home we drive by an antenna and with ZV8 i see 40 megabit speeds (i can see the antenna from the car)
on ZVA, it will NEVER flip to 4g. we will come into, and go out of the coverage area for that antenna and it will stay in 3g the whole time. if i flip airplane mode, it will kick into 4g.
absolutely terrible!
so ZVC comes out, I TOT to it for a day. same exact problems. 0 4g like the phone does not even try to look for it! also a co worker has the same phone and the same issues. He requested i flash him back to ZV8 just because of the terrible signal on ZVA/ZVC (he has never run a rom or anything other than stock)
is anyone else experiencing these problems?
is there anything that i can do that might help? id like to rock ZVC, but without reliable 4g its a no go
Have you tried disabling band 26 and 41 to see if you get same 4g as before. If not give it a try. ##DATA# and edit LTE. You will need your MSL. Maybe that would help. You will lose the other bands but maybe that is your problem. Maybe trying to connect to those bands but have bad signal so stays on 3g.
Working well for me surprisingly enough
Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk
Had the same exact problems and disabling bands 41 and 26 helped a lot. However, that means you basically are back to non-Spark, but that was still better than the frustrating fall back to 3G and staying on 3G. Some people say that just disabling band 41 helps too.
However, I've noticed much less of a problem recently with this issue with all 3 bands enabled on ZVA. I suspect that Sprint is upgrading towers around my area to better address this issue. So maybe it's not a software issue on our phones.
Sent from my LG-LS980 using xda app-developers app
The problem is ecsfb (enhanced circuit switched fallback) spark phones can't connect to the voice network and lte at the same time because they only have one antenna instead of two. But to be able to switch back and forth between lte and 3g the towers you're on need to have ecsfb enabled. I had the same problems before but it seems in my area (nyc) that they're starting to enable it as I'll be on lte get a call and then get put back on lte right after the call is up. The coverage for lte in my house is pretty horrible though the signal is like -120dbm outside its much better like -90ish. I just got an airave for my house because I was getting some dropped calls and it worked great for like the first hour the signal went to like -47dbm for the voice/3g network. However after a while it stopped using the airave and it went back to using lte and regular voice towers. I switched my phone to cdma only and it started using the airave again but just now I switched it back to lte/cdma and its no longer using the airave. So that kind of sucks lol. But back to spark it seems to be improving regarding switching to 3g/lte but the coverage hasnt changed much atleast in my house. Whenever I check which band I'm on its either 25 or 41 I have yet to see it go on 26. Hopefully they can hurry it up I considered switching to tmobile last week after sprint tried to charge to say my next bill would be $240 after they told me two weeks before it would be $180 smh. I complained like crazy and they decided to pay the difference and lower my bill so I'll stick with them for now.
OfficialPerson said:
However after a while it stopped using the airave and it went back to using lte and regular voice towers. I switched my phone to cdma only and it started using the airave again but just now I switched it back to lte/cdma and its no longer using the airave.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, another known issue with triband phones... The Airave won't connect if your phone is in LTE. But because your phone gets crappy signal at your house, you'll get crappy LTE that intermittently connects, so therefore airave only intermittently connects when you are on CDMA.
I have Tasker automating the switching between LTE/CDMA and CDMA only when I enter and leave my house, but I this solution isn't the best.
beezar said:
Yeah, another known issue with triband phones... The Airave won't connect if your phone is in LTE. But because your phone gets crappy signal at your house, you'll get crappy LTE that intermittently connects, so therefore airave only intermittently connects when you are on CDMA.
I have Tasker automating the switching between LTE/CDMA and CDMA only when I enter and leave my house, but I this solution isn't the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was gonna say I hope theres a way to get it to switch between the two when I leave and come back home thanks for the suggestion I'm going to check it out now.
beezar said:
Yeah, another known issue with triband phones... The Airave won't connect if your phone is in LTE. But because your phone gets crappy signal at your house, you'll get crappy LTE that intermittently connects, so therefore airave only intermittently connects when you are on CDMA.
I have Tasker automating the switching between LTE/CDMA and CDMA only when I enter and leave my house, but I this solution isn't the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downloaded tasker and I can't seem to figure out how to automate it to turn on 3g when I'm home and 4g when I leave would you mind letting me know how you set yours up?
OfficialPerson said:
I downloaded tasker and I can't seem to figure out how to automate it to turn on 3g when I'm home and 4g when I leave would you mind letting me know how you set yours up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4G uses a lot of battery, I stick to 3G which is fast enough for me plus LTE is not compatible with my Airave 2.5+. Also why not use WiFi at home it does wonders for battery life?
abhinav.tella said:
4G uses a lot of battery, I stick to 3G which is fast enough for me plus LTE is not compatible with my Airave 2.5+. Also why not use WiFi at home it does wonders for battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3g is way too slow for me I get 1mbps on average up and down. 4g may take more battery but for me it lasts long enough and the benefits are much greater. I do use wifi at home though but if you have the network set to lte the phone won't fully connect to the airave atleast for me because
the lte signal in my house is very low (about -120dbm). So in order to take advantage of the airave I have to set it to 3g even though I'm using wifi. The only alternative I have thus far is the anycut app I put a network settings widget on one of my home screens I can click that and it brings me to the lte/3g setting but its still not as good as having the phone switch itself instantly.
Yep, Airave doesnt support LTE, but do turn off data at home as its an unnecessary drain, dont know about your internet but my Comcast 30Mbps is faster than using the network, plus Airave uses 3G by drawing fom main internet anyway. Also restrict your Airave in settings to only your family numbers unless you want unnecessary connections from neighbors causing bandwidth loss. If you have a big home, call and Airave support will increase your Airave power output to cover about 5,000 Sqft.
Sorry, but theres no reason the phone should not be switching dynamically to 4g as the signal comes available. When I'm at work, and on 4.4.2 it will stay on 4g, and flip itself to 3g in the middle of a file transfer!!
on ZV8, it will get 3 bars of 4g in the same spot.
johnzm said:
Sorry, but theres no reason the phone should not be switching dynamically to 4g as the signal comes available. When I'm at work, and on 4.4.2 it will stay on 4g, and flip itself to 3g in the middle of a file transfer!!
on ZV8, it will get 3 bars of 4g in the same spot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Airave does not support LTE, so if you dont set it to CDMA only it wont connect to Airave. Thats why even Sprint support says to set to CDMA only, when near an Airave.
OfficialPerson said:
The problem is ecsfb (enhanced circuit switched fallback) spark phones can't connect to the voice network and lte at the same time because they only have one antenna instead of two. But to be able to switch back and forth between lte and 3g the towers you're on need to have ecsfb enabled. I had the same problems before but it seems in my area (nyc) that they're starting to enable it as I'll be on lte get a call and then get put back on lte right after the call is up. The coverage for lte in my house is pretty horrible though the signal is like -120dbm outside its much better like -90ish. I just got an airave for my house because I was getting some dropped calls and it worked great for like the first hour the signal went to like -47dbm for the voice/3g network. However after a while it stopped using the airave and it went back to using lte and regular voice towers. I switched my phone to cdma only and it started using the airave again but just now I switched it back to lte/cdma and its no longer using the airave. So that kind of sucks lol. But back to spark it seems to be improving regarding switching to 3g/lte but the coverage hasnt changed much atleast in my house. Whenever I check which band I'm on its either 25 or 41 I have yet to see it go on 26. Hopefully they can hurry it up I considered switching to tmobile last week after sprint tried to charge to say my next bill would be $240 after they told me two weeks before it would be $180 smh. I complained like crazy and they decided to pay the difference and lower my bill so I'll stick with them for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
data connected on voice channel is 2g, not 3g
there are 3 channels: 1xRTT, EVDO, and LTE
un1ocked said:
data connected on voice channel is 2g, not 3g
there are 3 channels: 1xRTT, EVDO, and LTE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I'm more referring to is the settings in mobile networks. You have to put it to 3g/cdma depending on your rom and whatnot to be able to connect to the airave.
Band 26 isn't out yet if i'm not mistaken. I believe 41 is limited also. Disabling 26/41 will bring you back to nonspark band 25
i dont know how airave got involved in this thread. i could care less if i get solid 3g at my house, i am more concerned about the spark rom's delivering a reliable 4g connection when its available (which it does not)
OfficialPerson said:
I downloaded tasker and I can't seem to figure out how to automate it to turn on 3g when I'm home and 4g when I leave would you mind letting me know how you set yours up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a great of a solution, but it is automated. I have a profile with the state being connection to my home wifi. Enter task turns off keyguard, then enters mobile data settings, turns on the screen, and then uses two touchscreen taps to tap mobile networks then CDMA.
To execute screen taps, you use a Run shell command of "input tap x y" where the x and y are coordinates of where you want to tap. You figure out the coordinates by showing touch data in the developer options in settings. Be sure you enable root access for the run shell command otherwise it won't work.
Then you can shut the screen off with a system lock. The exit task is just opposite.
beezar said:
It's not a great of a solution, but it is automated. I have a profile with the state being connection to my home wifi. Enter task turns off keyguard, then enters mobile data settings, turns on the screen, and then uses two touchscreen taps to tap mobile networks then CDMA.
To execute screen taps, you use a Run shell command of "input tap x y" where the x and y are coordinates of where you want to tap. You figure out the coordinates by showing touch data in the developer options in settings. Be sure you enable root access for the run shell command otherwise it won't work.
Then you can shut the screen off with a system lock. The exit task is just opposite.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yikes thats a bit of a setup I'm using anycut with a network settings shortcut on my home screen it goes straight to the setting page for switching to lte/cdma.
OfficialPerson said:
Yikes thats a bit of a setup I'm using anycut with a network settings shortcut on my home screen it goes straight to the setting page for switching to lte/cdma.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, Tasker can enter the same page that switches lte/cdma via the Mobile Data settings. The issue is there is no Tasker setting or plugin or anything I've seen that lets you actually change the setting without simulating button taps via a run shell command.
Like I said, not a great solution, but it works. When I enter my house, I'm on CDMA, and when I leave, Global setting without me doing anything.

Will the 5T Work on Freedom Mobile?

I'm ready to pull the trigger and buy the 5T but I'm worried it won't work or have issues on Freedom's network. Does anyone know for sure if it'll work?
Doesnt look like it from the website.
Here is the screenshot
yes, i can confirm that it works.
By any chance, did anyone try it with Lycamobile in the US?
It will work but has has some issues. Specifically, switching from 3G, H, H+ to LTE on band 66 has been a problem.
To complicate things further, some areas of Canada, freedom has LTE on a different band, so you will see no problems.
So, to answer your question, the phone will definitely work. BUT, depending where you are, you may have some problems with the phone automatically reconnecting to LTE after a phone call or signal drop.

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