AndroidIs4Me
Lurker
I have a new phone. I am just outside of the 4G area but solidly within the 3G area. There should be almost complete coverage for dozens of miles in all directions.
Anyway, I noticed two odd things that I'm trying to understand.
The first is that the 3G icon at the top of the screen is frequently dimmed. I thought the 3G icon being on means I'm in the 3G area, and when it is off means I'm not in a 3G area (although I'm not sure what area it thinks I'm supposed to be in though.... there's no 1X or EDGE or anything else showing up). When 3G dims, I still have 4 bars signal strength, and I can launch an app that needs to talk on the Internet, and it still works fine. (And, using that app enables the 3G icon if it wasn't enabled already.) I realize the up/down arrows right below the 3G icon mean data transfer, so what does the 3G icon itself actually mean?
The other thing is a bit more worrisome. I did about 30 miles of driving today, with a few stops in between, the last of which was at work. The coverage maps show this is all solidly within the 3G area, and it should be since this was major highway driving (I495 in Massachusetts) where cell towers tend to be most heavily concentrated. Yet, when I pulled out the phone at the first stop, I got the dreaded triangle icon (but good signal strength).
Why is it roaming in a Sprint area? I didn't know that was possible. The coverage maps don't show any roaming for many dozens of miles farther from me. Data sort-of worked, but was terribly slow... several minutes to get it to read an email. How do I tell what network it is roaming on?
I then continued on to work, and it was still roaming when I got there. I tried using it for data but it was bad. I turned the phone off and on again, then a short time later the triangle went away and I had normal 3G again with 5 bars. I played with the apps and performance was then great. So, why was it in roaming mode at a location which had a very strong (5 bars) Sprint signal? I would have thought it would switch off of roaming once it saw the great Sprint signal at work. (We installed antennas within the building to boost signal strength for cell phones too. But, it didn't use them initially when I arrived at work.)
Anyway, I noticed two odd things that I'm trying to understand.
The first is that the 3G icon at the top of the screen is frequently dimmed. I thought the 3G icon being on means I'm in the 3G area, and when it is off means I'm not in a 3G area (although I'm not sure what area it thinks I'm supposed to be in though.... there's no 1X or EDGE or anything else showing up). When 3G dims, I still have 4 bars signal strength, and I can launch an app that needs to talk on the Internet, and it still works fine. (And, using that app enables the 3G icon if it wasn't enabled already.) I realize the up/down arrows right below the 3G icon mean data transfer, so what does the 3G icon itself actually mean?
The other thing is a bit more worrisome. I did about 30 miles of driving today, with a few stops in between, the last of which was at work. The coverage maps show this is all solidly within the 3G area, and it should be since this was major highway driving (I495 in Massachusetts) where cell towers tend to be most heavily concentrated. Yet, when I pulled out the phone at the first stop, I got the dreaded triangle icon (but good signal strength).
Why is it roaming in a Sprint area? I didn't know that was possible. The coverage maps don't show any roaming for many dozens of miles farther from me. Data sort-of worked, but was terribly slow... several minutes to get it to read an email. How do I tell what network it is roaming on?
I then continued on to work, and it was still roaming when I got there. I tried using it for data but it was bad. I turned the phone off and on again, then a short time later the triangle went away and I had normal 3G again with 5 bars. I played with the apps and performance was then great. So, why was it in roaming mode at a location which had a very strong (5 bars) Sprint signal? I would have thought it would switch off of roaming once it saw the great Sprint signal at work. (We installed antennas within the building to boost signal strength for cell phones too. But, it didn't use them initially when I arrived at work.)