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Root T Mobile, AT&T, & MetroPCS LTE fix.
- Thread starter Savage Shadows
- Start date
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- Tags
- nexus 4
jhawkkw
Chinchillin'
Is it 'epic' or 'epc''? Not nitpicking, just want to be sure I have it right.
It's epc, stupid auto correct, lol
chrlswltrs
Extreme Android User
I have good LTE in Seattle, but once I go north the coverage is a little spotty. Sometimes I will temporarily lose signal completely in places I never did before (like in my house). And my signal bars are green frequently which never used to happen
Do I need to change any other setting or will my phone automatically switch between the 2 APN's to choose the best one?
jhawkkw
Chinchillin'
I have both listed in the menu and then change it manually based on location. As for physical settings, they're virtually the same except for the address and I only have ipv4 instead of ipv4/ipv6 in apn protocol.
new optimus
Android Expert
Ya I followed you with the epic, just saw yours and went with it lol oops.
^ directed to jhawk.
The apn will not switch automatically, the fast.t-mobile one will work for both, you could leave it all the time, however if your in an area that lte is weak switching to epc and even putting the phone to wcdma preferred will get you a better signal.
for some reason ( I think because the phone is not technically supposed to have lte) t mobile has decided not to have the nexus 4 on the whitelist for lte and so if your not on fast.t-moble the lte signal is not able to connect causing some strange behavior if you have it enabled but not using the right apn
jhawkkw
Chinchillin'
Ya I followed you with the epic, just saw yours and went with it lol oops.
^ directed to jhawk.
The apn will not switch automatically, the fast.t-mobile one will work for both, you could leave it all the time, however if your in an area that lte is weak switching to epc and even putting the phone to wcdma preferred will get you a better signal.
for some reason ( I think because the phone is not technically supposed to have lte) t mobile has decided not to have the nexus 4 on the whitelist for lte and so if your not on fast.t-moble the lte signal is not able to connect causing some strange behavior if you have it enabled but not using the right apn
Autocorrect at it's finest.
But yeah, the fact that we have LTE is a mistake. The S4 pro chip has radios built into it for band 4 aws LTE, but we're still missing other parts of hardware like the signal amplifier which makes signal inconsistent. It was also Google's mistake for giving us a radio that allows for it's usage.
I saw some report that according to the vendor id on the radio, it should also support band 1 & band 5 lte, but those are not North American bands so we'll never see that.
new optimus
Android Expert
Actually that is fud probably put out by LG, we are missing hardware for band 2 and band 17, I believe those are the ones. But everything for band 4 is there.Autocorrect at it's finest.
But yeah, the fact that we have LTE is a mistake. The S4 pro chip has radios built into it for band 4 aws LTE, but we're still missing other parts of hardware like the signal amplifier which makes signal inconsistent. It was also Google's mistake for giving us a radio that allows for it's usage.
I saw some report that according to the vendor id on the radio, it should also support band 1 & band 5 lte, but those are not North American bands so we'll never see that.
And I have found they are actually better then samsungs galaxy S3 here at home the LTE tower is quite far away and as such the signal is very weak, -124dBm yet I can get it every time and with 5+mb download speed with the nexus 4 while the S3 sitting right beside it can not/will not pick it up unless forced into lte only mode and even then the download speed is 1-3mbs
The mother board is the same board used in the LG Flagship and it would have cost them quite a bit to either
1 remove the lte or
2 R&D a totally new board
I do not know if it was easier to keep all the supporting hardware or cost effective. You would think if it was not cost effective all the new nexus 4's would have hardware eliminated LTE.
But from my understanding even one you buy today has LTE.
jhawkkw
Chinchillin'
Actually that is fud probably put out by LG, we are missing hardware for band 2 and band 17, I believe those are the ones. But everything for band 4 is there.
And I have found they are actually better then samsungs galaxy S3 here at home the LTE tower is quite far away and as such the signal is very weak, -124dBm yet I can get it every time and with 5+mb download speed with the nexus 4 while the S3 sitting right beside it can not/will not pick it up unless forced into lte only mode and even then the download speed is 1-3mbs
Yeah, If only it supported band 17.
There's so much misdirection by LG, Google, and T-Mobile about what the deal is with LTE on this device that it's tough to tell which is actually true and what isn't.
bruce73
Android Enthusiast
It's epc, stupid auto correct, lol
If it's any consolation, the LTE fix is "epic."
What's the GPS issue you guys are referring to? I took a quick look on hippowise, but only saw the LTE tethering fix.
new optimus
Android Expert
very true,
I found this which is about the most comprehensive in easy to follow words
AnandTech | Nexus 4 Includes Support for LTE on Band 4 (AWS)
jhawkkw
Chinchillin'
Found a potential issue with this mod, for some reason it may have severely compromised the usability of EDGE. I was in an EDGE only area for a brief time, phone connected and displayed the E on the signal bars, but it remained gray, and wouldn't let me pull any data when using tapatalk. 
Anyone else experience this?
Anyone else experience this?
bruce73
Android Enthusiast
Sorry, guys, this question was meant for another forum.
new optimus
Android Expert
Actually just drove from jax to gainesville with nothing but edge signal, had nav running pulling info.Found a potential issue with this mod, for some reason it may have severely compromised the usability of EDGE. I was in an EDGE only area for a brief time, phone connected and displayed the E on the signal bars, but it remained gray, and wouldn't let me pull any data when using tapatalk.
Anyone else experience this?
jhawkkw
Chinchillin'
i know that att/lte only goes as far north as around latta road to english road in greece. However, there was a public notice over a week ago in suburban news about t mobile replacing the six antennas atop the water tower in hilton. I would expect that to mean lte/ hspa+ 1900 spectrum is coming. Only it didnot say how soon it will be done.
jhawkkw
Chinchillin'
That would be pretty sweet, the quicker the expansion the better.
new optimus
Android Expert
yes any expansion is good
Fuzzy13
Extreme Android User
I think I'm finally done with t mobile. It seems like indoor service is getting worse and worse. I used to be okay with it but now that att has added lte to their go phones plans, that $60 plan is looking mighty nice.
This means giving up my nexus though. Hopefully the next Nexus will have lte and work with att. Otherwise I'll go the G pro or G2 route.
Sorry.Had.....to.........vent........whoop......service...........is......cutting........out.........
This means giving up my nexus though. Hopefully the next Nexus will have lte and work with att. Otherwise I'll go the G pro or G2 route.
Sorry.Had.....to.........vent........whoop......service...........is......cutting........out.........
new optimus
Android Expert
I dont like the high(er) price for less service but you have to go with which one actually gives you service where you need it.
Fuzzy13
Extreme Android User
Att in my area is great. LTE is mid 30s. So I wouldn't say it's less service.
You can't deny their coverage and lte speeds. But if it wasn't for pre paid I wouldn't mess with it.
new optimus
Android Expert
I should have said less total download amount. That is what I meant.Att in my area is great. LTE is mid 30s. So I wouldn't say it's less service.
You can't deny their coverage and lte speeds. But if it wasn't for pre paid I wouldn't mess with it.
Fuzzy13
Extreme Android User
I should have said less total download amount. That is what I meant.
I was wondering. lol
Nah, but honestly I average right at 2 gigs a month so I can easily manage my data consumption if need be.
I didn't care about the garbage signal indoors at first but for some reason it has been bothering the ish out of me lately. Even at my job, I'm in an excellent coverage area. I'm in a warehouse but one spot will be good one spot wont and it comes and goes all day. Even if I stand at the damn door I cant get service, I literally have to walk all the way outside to get service.
And yesterday I starting thinking about something I was totally against to begin with and that was the X phone. I am not a Motorola fan but if that price point is right and I can use it on ATT's LTE then I'll gladly give up the old Nexus. :/
new optimus
Android Expert
Understandable. and with prepay when/if tmo gets the signal steady you could switch back easily.
:smokingsomb:
Fuzzy13
Extreme Android User
Understandable. and with prepay when/if tmo gets the signal steady you could switch back easily.
Why does att have better indoor reception than t mobile considering their both gsm? Is it a specific band that is better?
I love t mobile. I feel they are really looking out for their customers with all their recent changes but damn, fix the indoor reception. Something I'm sure everyone struggles with at some point. It's freaking aggravating having to go outside just to use my phone. It used to not be this bad :/
jhawkkw
Chinchillin'
Frequency/Wavelength are a big reason why. The lower the frequency, the farther the distance it can travel before degrading and the better the building penetration is. However, higher frequencies allow faster data speeds. AT&T 2g/hspa is on the 850MHz line and most LTE is on 700 MHz. For T-Mobile, 2g is on 1900 MHz, HSPA is on 1700/2100 or 1900MHz while LTE is on 1700/2100 MHz.
This is why buying a large portion of the 600MHz spectrum next summer is a crucial move for T-Mobile.