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Three 4G Discussion Thread (Part 2)


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Old 13-09-2015, 16:06
GrannyGruntbuck
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I just want a decent signal in my house and garden with my S6 Edge.

I cannot be more than 700 mtrs as the crow flies from my local transmitter but my signal is pathetic and often there is no signal.
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Old 13-09-2015, 16:11
aioderek
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I just want a decent signal in my house and garden with my S6 Edge.

I cannot be more than 700 mtrs as the crow flies from my local transmitter but my signal is pathetic and often there is no signal.
I feel your pain! I'd be happy with a signal indoors, as it's so poor. Not fussed on speed as use wifi anyway! I just want a decent signal at home.
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Old 13-09-2015, 16:17
GrannyGruntbuck
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During the first two years with 3, my signal was fine but over the past 18 months or so, the signal has been awful. Despite 3 saying they have carried out repairs and fixed my problem, there has been no change. If this super voice thingy does not improve my situation when they eventually enable the S6 Edge, I am leaving them when my contract is up.
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Old 13-09-2015, 16:23
lightspeed2398
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Has anyone rung 3 support and had a chat with them about all of this? I was going to ring second line and see if they can manually activate VoLTE on an account because I was wondering if my 6+ on 9.1 Beta had the carrier profile but not VoLTE enabled.
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Old 13-09-2015, 16:44
keithsto
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Why wouldnt they have volte on 1800. Its no different to voda adding volte to their 800 frequency surely?
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Old 13-09-2015, 16:47
aioderek
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If it doesn't improve for me then I think I'll be going back to O2 as I know it's a decent signal at home. I'm in France a lot which is why I originally moved to
Three because of Feel at Home.. I get a better signal in France than I do I my own sitting room..
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Old 13-09-2015, 16:58
matty1000kk
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http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1455279085

Topped up my sim and data up and running on 4G 800mhz. Do we know how/why the Nexus 6 is able to connect? Seems to drop back to 1800 after a few minutes.

1800 speed test for comparison.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/1455289298
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Old 13-09-2015, 17:20
mupet0000
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I have a Nexus 6 too but I'm running the developer preview of Android Marshmallow. GavinAshford said that his Nexus 6 is able to connect to 800, he also told me his software version. So I flashed the same one, basically the latest official OTA "LMY48I".

Now, I get pretty good 1800 coverage, so I didn't see any 800. I went to the worst coverage spot in my house and gripped the phone to block the antennas, it lost signal and then briefly picked up 800 before going back to 1800. I did try this same method multiple times on Marshmallow with no luck. Here's the screenshot to prove it:
http://i.imgur.com/U06o1VK.png

Note the 65535 cell is some sort of garbage data the phone reports when it loses signal, I've seen it before.

Whatever 800MHz site I connected to, I don't think it's very close, my nearest masts don't have the antennas for low band. All I know about the Nexus 6 that seems different to other devices is that you can set your VoLTE flag on/off in the 4636 menu, it defaults to on. It was also turned on with Marshmallow.

I can't test 800 in regards to speed or if VoLTE works, simply because I can't stay connected to it for longer than a few seconds before it switches back to the stronger 1800. Even if I found which site(s) are broadcasting it, it's also going to be broadcasting 1800 so I'd need to find some kind of indoor spot where 1800 won't penetrate, and I'm probably not going to bother with all the effort.
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Old 13-09-2015, 17:49
PrinceGaz
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Is there an app I can download on an Android device which will display information about the currently connected mobile signal, including critically its frequency band. I've had a look at SignalCheck Lite, LTE Discovery, and G-NetTrack Lite, but there's nothing obvious to tell me which frequency band is being used on LTE (or any other mobile signal either, actually).

I know that with Three if you are on 3G (HSPA/HSPA+) then that is 2100MHz, and LTE is either 1800MHz or 800MHz. Is there any easy way within one of those apps which provides other info about the mobile signal (LAC, CID, RNC, BER etc) to determine whether it is 1800MHz or 800MHz?

I'm rooted with CM12.1 on a Samsung S4 Mini.
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Old 13-09-2015, 18:10
GavinAshford
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As far as I understand the same eNodeB means the same mast, ie BBU, RF units etc.
Thanks, that's what I assumed but wasn't sure.
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Old 13-09-2015, 18:20
matty1000kk
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I have a Nexus 6 too but I'm running the developer preview of Android Marshmallow. GavinAshford said that his Nexus 6 is able to connect to 800, he also told me his software version. So I flashed the same one, basically the latest official OTA "LMY48I".

Now, I get pretty good 1800 coverage, so I didn't see any 800. I went to the worst coverage spot in my house and gripped the phone to block the antennas, it lost signal and then briefly picked up 800 before going back to 1800. I did try this same method multiple times on Marshmallow with no luck. Here's the screenshot to prove it:
http://i.imgur.com/U06o1VK.png

Note the 65535 cell is some sort of garbage data the phone reports when it loses signal, I've seen it before.

Whatever 800MHz site I connected to, I don't think it's very close, my nearest masts don't have the antennas for low band. All I know about the Nexus 6 that seems different to other devices is that you can set your VoLTE flag on/off in the 4636 menu, it defaults to on. It was also turned on with Marshmallow.

I can't test 800 in regards to speed or if VoLTE works, simply because I can't stay connected to it for longer than a few seconds before it switches back to the stronger 1800. Even if I found which site(s) are broadcasting it, it's also going to be broadcasting 1800 so I'd need to find some kind of indoor spot where 1800 won't penetrate, and I'm probably not going to bother with all the effort.
I'm running the latest official software. Mine connects for a few mins but then drops back. One odd thing I've noticed though is when set to 4G/3G, it refuses to connect 4G for 10 mins so. If I force 4G only, it connects straight away to the 800mhz 4G. If I then select 4G/3G it drops the 800mhz 4G and connects to 3G.
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Old 13-09-2015, 18:32
moox
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Whatever 800MHz site I connected to, I don't think it's very close, my nearest masts don't have the antennas for low band. All I know about the Nexus 6 that seems different to other devices is that you can set your VoLTE flag on/off in the 4636 menu, it defaults to on. It was also turned on with Marshmallow.
I have that on my Nexus 5, but you can't change it - it's always on (and I think it was off some time ago - have 3 pushed something to the SIM card to change it?)

Of course the Nexus 5 has no VoLTE on any network, even though the hardware can do it. The 6 does on a few US networks.
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Old 13-09-2015, 18:46
GavinAshford
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I have a Nexus 6 too but I'm running the developer preview of Android Marshmallow. GavinAshford said that his Nexus 6 is able to connect to 800, he also told me his software version. So I flashed the same one, basically the latest official OTA "LMY48I".

Now, I get pretty good 1800 coverage, so I didn't see any 800. I went to the worst coverage spot in my house and gripped the phone to block the antennas, it lost signal and then briefly picked up 800 before going back to 1800. I did try this same method multiple times on Marshmallow with no luck. Here's the screenshot to prove it:
http://i.imgur.com/U06o1VK.png

Note the 65535 cell is some sort of garbage data the phone reports when it loses signal, I've seen it before.

Whatever 800MHz site I connected to, I don't think it's very close, my nearest masts don't have the antennas for low band. All I know about the Nexus 6 that seems different to other devices is that you can set your VoLTE flag on/off in the 4636 menu, it defaults to on. It was also turned on with Marshmallow.

I can't test 800 in regards to speed or if VoLTE works, simply because I can't stay connected to it for longer than a few seconds before it switches back to the stronger 1800. Even if I found which site(s) are broadcasting it, it's also going to be broadcasting 1800 so I'd need to find some kind of indoor spot where 1800 won't penetrate, and I'm probably not going to bother with all the effort.
LMY48M that was released this week works too - the OTA came though on my phone today and 800 is still working.

My Moto G LTE (2013) has the VoLTE flag setting in the 4636 menu (its 'on') and I cant get that phone to connect to 800. I think it must be the N6 that is whitelisted on Three's end - maybe as another test device a-la the Galaxy S5 - which makes me hopeful for VoLTE on it. Saying that, if Marshmallow preview doesn't work on 800 then what to do in 2-3 weeks when its released; I think I'd rather have 6.0 than the possibility of VoLTE.

From your screen grab it seems that to get down to 800 you need to hit -125dB on 1800, and even then the 800 you're connected to is even lower (-128) which suggests it is farther away than your 1800 mast.

I think I've figured out which mast I'm getting my 800 from - if I'm correct its ~3.5miles in a straight line over some lakes/ponds along a river valley and then a few fields, so nothing really blocking the signal. If anything I suspect its being channelled in my direction which I think why I get reasonable download speeds (3-6MB) but pathetic/struggling upload (0.2-0.6MB); the mast can transmit a lot better than my phone can.
It's also seems to be much higher up, the ground is ~30m higher at the mast than my house and Three's antenna's are mounted at 40 metres (assuming they haven't been moved since Ofcom's sitefinder has been updated) which probably helps.
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Old 13-09-2015, 19:07
matty1000kk
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Also just noticed that if you are constantly downloading for example, internet radio, it will stay on the 800mhz side.

The increased coverage looks promising though. I need to have wonder about to see how accurate there coverage map is.
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Old 13-09-2015, 19:39
jonmorris
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I hope MBB accounts will get full 800 access, which also gives Three a selling point for MBB.
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Old 13-09-2015, 20:07
japaul
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I wonder if 800MHz is actually the lowest priority and not 2100MHz.
Top marks to you Denco.

I had a little peek into the 800 cells and assuming mine are typical, cellreselectionpriority for 800 is set to 0 (on Three, 1800 is 6 and 3G is 3). So when phones are idle and use the reselection rules, they should welcome 800 like a fart in a space suit.

So in addition to Three blocking devices, unless you can force 800 (or just force 4G when there isn't 1800 around) phones won't use it. If you do get on it, you won't be on it long if 1800 or 3G reappear.

I suspect a 0 priority setting isn't the final situation and we should lay off Three for the time being and treat it as if it hasn't launched yet. It's not as if they've announced anything. The only point to criticise maybe is the coverage map which isn't showing an accurate picture for 4G on devices able to access 800 in areas with 3G but no 1800.
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Old 13-09-2015, 20:13
jonmorris
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It could well be that this is the friendly trial I was talking about before, so given there's no public announcement yet it could well be subject to change.
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Old 13-09-2015, 20:32
Gigabit
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It's clearly just a Digital Spy trial. Three highly value our feedback.
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Old 13-09-2015, 20:38
Denco1
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Thanks for confirming my suspicions japaul.

Out of interest how do you check cellreselectionpriority, do you use special equipment or can any layperson check it?

I guess it is too early to judge the network, one thing that has me puzzled though is doesn't 1800MHz VoLTE need to be tested sooner rather than later, if they plan to use it at all? I presume 800MHz VoLTE has been in trial for many months now, surely 1800MHz VoLTE would need at least a few weeks if not months of live network testing before Three could be satisfied with its performance.
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Old 13-09-2015, 20:51
Thine Wonk
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I can force 800 so I'll have a look next time I'm travelling to see what's available.
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Old 13-09-2015, 20:57
japaul
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Checking Three 800 isn't really for the layperson but I think an iPhone shows it on one of it's screens for networks you can access. Probably best not to use a 6 though as it will likely mislead you.
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Old 13-09-2015, 21:11
GavinAshford
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Based on the priority info from japaul I've merged 4G 1800 + 3G layers (blue) and overlaid that on top of the 800 4G (red) to see where might be benefiting from the 800mhz
http://gdurl.com/YlLL
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Old 13-09-2015, 21:17
Denco1
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Based on the priority info from japaul I've merged 4G 1800 + 3G layers (blue) and overlaid that on top of the 800 4G (red) to see where might be benefiting from the 800mhz
http://gdurl.com/YlLL
Wow that's great. I was hoping you may have been able to create that.
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Old 13-09-2015, 21:25
japaul
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Yeah, great job Gavin except now I feel like I should do more testing on the iPad. Damn, those red areas aren't so far away.
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Old 13-09-2015, 21:28
DevonBloke
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Top marks to you Denco.

I had a little peek into the 800 cells and assuming mine are typical, cellreselectionpriority for 800 is set to 0 (on Three, 1800 is 6 and 3G is 3). So when phones are idle and use the reselection rules, they should welcome 800 like a fart in a space suit.

So in addition to Three blocking devices, unless you can force 800 (or just force 4G when there isn't 1800 around) phones won't use it. If you do get on it, you won't be on it long if 1800 or 3G reappear.

I suspect a 0 priority setting isn't the final situation and we should lay off Three for the time being and treat it as if it hasn't launched yet. It's not as if they've announced anything. The only point to criticise maybe is the coverage map which isn't showing an accurate picture for 4G on devices able to access 800 in areas with 3G but no 1800.
There is a problem here though. Assuming this may change and it's like it is now, maybe to stop it getting swamped or something, they still can't change it to be a higher priority until 1800 has VoLTE too. As Denco says, an 800 call switching up to 1800 would drop.
Having said that, can they somehow cause an active call to stay on 800 until the end of the call (when 1800 would then be reselected).
Did that make sense??
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