Originally Posted by seatmad:
“Does anyone else have it that there phone is quite keen to drop down to 3g. On 4g I never seem to have one or two bars. It was either shows 4 or 5 and then gos to 3g.
I'm pretty sure it's the network that set the handoff threshold so would there be any reason behind EE doing this?”
Actually, it depends on the device that you are using. Different devices have different thresholds for dropping to 3G (or even 2G) - the EE network should allow you to use whatever the phone wants to use, regardless of signal strength.
For example, if you lock your phone to 4G only mode, you'll keep hold of 4G right until you lose signal, though at -130dBm you are really better off on something else, as throughput is going to be very low at such signal levels.
My Samsung Galaxy S4 does this when going from 3G to 2G; there are certain areas that have a very strong 2G, but a weak 3G, and the phone just jumps to 2G - why? 3G is still usable there and faster than 2G....
I also think on certain handsets, it depends on the signal levels of other technologies... for example, there's one place on the Midland Mainline (on the last 100GB SIM) whereby 4G was reasonably weak (1 bar) and 3G (from Orange, in fact) was strong, so the phone always jumped to Orange 3G. There was another point where 4G was at two bars, and there was a 3G mast very close by, so the phone went for the 3G. Though if 4G and 3G are both weak, the phone will either stay on 4G, or (stupidly) jump to EDGE/GPRS....
Has someone actually found a way to allow 3G and 4G on a Samsung S4 whilst blocking 2G? That would help a lot!
Originally Posted by packages:
“It's just 4G going out of range. In a vast number of places 4g coverage is the same as the minimum footprint of 3G”
Yep, but in some cases it's the phone jumping to 3G (or 2G) too early, see above... And in a lot of places, 3G coverage will be more than it's minimum, due to it being a lightly loaded mast (so no cell breathing).
Originally Posted by kev:
“I see the opposite - hangs onto 0 bars of 4G (still 22mbps+ mind) for dear life rather than using the 3G signal box at work.
Anywhere else is either 4G or Edge.”
That's strange, does your phone connect to 3G at all anywhere? Seems like it might be set to 2G.4G, if that is at all possible?
Though 22Mbps is still pretty good.
Originally Posted by de525ma:
“No... mine clings to 4G for dear life before falling back to 3G. Which is great. Because if you're streaming data, and it drops to 3G, it won't go back to 4G until you stop using data.”
I once tried forcing LTE Only mode on my S4, to see how that performed up the Midland Mainline. It'd still work up to about -125dBm; after that, performance dropped off significantly. But I have found the same; 4G will drop to 3G, but 3G won't go back up to 4G unless there is no data running at all - which will mean either pausing the stream, or forcing 4G and probably dropping the stream.
Btw, I've now got my EE SIM up and running (switched from Virgin to EE), have already had my number ported across, and did a 4G test upstairs. 4G strength is showing as up to 2 bars/50%, though usually it was on 1 bar. Approx -105dBm - so not my local mast, but a more distant mast. It provides 18Mbps down and 10Mbps up (on 4G) - which is pretty good for the signal strength available. And although 18Mbps isn't much better than my local 3G mast (3G can be anywhere between 10 and 20 Mbps), the upload speed of 10Mbps is definitely worth having. As a comparison, 3G is about 2.5Mbps up in my area, and Virgin Media Wifi (30Mbps package) is 2Mbps upload, with a speed restriction kicking in after 750MB of uploading (and a further speed restriction at 1GB upload). Thank goodness I got the 16GB deal when it was on special offer!