Galaxy S5 3G to LTE Hand Off Issue

[atg284]

Hello all!

 

First off I just want to say I am liking the S5 a lot so far. With that said, there is one glaring problem that seems to be picking up steam around the country. It seems that there is a 3G to 4G LTE hand-off issue. 

 

For starters I will show you what I have tried already. It is too long for the puropse of this post so I will like to my post here: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1961-network-visionlte-cincinnati-market/?p=307815

 

So I manually enables LTE and all three bands within the data settings via ##3282#. I did this by a LTE tower in my area. I was then able to transmit and receive LTE and the speed was good so I went home happy knowing there was nothing wrong with the radios in my S5. 

 

Then I started reading all over the place that people have to toggle airplane mode on and off just to go from 3G to 4G. I decided to test it out now that I have LTE enabled on my device. Sure enough when I got to the known LTE tower there was nothing. stayed on 3G all the way up to it. I then toggled airplane mode on and off and back to LTE with good speed. 

 

Long story short, People are reporting (me first hand) that the only way to connect to a LTE tower if by resetting their mobile connection manually. I really hope this is either A.) a NV/Spark upgrade issue that will be resolved soon B.) software problem that can be fixed on all S5's or C.) a network issue that can also be patched easily

 

If not, this is going to be a long 2 years...

 

Please tell me im wrong and that your S5 works automatically from 3G to LTE in your area. I need some good news. 

 

[Dkoellerwx]

How long did you wait before toggling Airplane mode? Some devices have a period of up to 10 minutes between LTE scans. 

[atg284]

I probably waited about 2-3 minutes if I had to guess. I am not use to it taking that long for a phone to switch to 4G. This seems to be occurring with a lot of people around the country which is why I came here to ask for guidance/help because there are no answers out there that I can find.

 

Here are some links on sprints forum that I am borrowing from someone's post on another forum:

 

https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/156844

https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/156769

https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/157302

https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/157292

https://community.sprint.com/baw/com...axy-s5/content

[shannonbrian]

My wige s5 connects good in delaware , baltimore ,and washigton dc . Just had problem with spark in bmore on connected once all day most stayed on band 25.

[Hugo]

[ . . . ]

It seems that there is a 3G to 4G LTE hand-off issue.

[ . . . ]

 

There may be a network issue in some areas... Here in Miami, my S5 has no hand-off problems.

[atg284]

There may be a network issue in some areas... Here in Miami, my S5 has no hand-off problems.

Awesome to hear! I'm just having a mini freak-out I guess. I dont want to be on 3G for another 1-2 years. 

[Destroyallcubes]

Hello all!

 

First off I just want to say I am liking the S5 a lot so far. With that said, there is one glaring problem that seems to be picking up steam around the country. It seems that there is a 3G to 4G LTE hand-off issue. 

 

For starters I will show you what I have tried already. It is too long for the puropse of this post so I will like to my post here: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/1961-network-visionlte-cincinnati-market/?p=307815

 

So I manually enables LTE and all three bands within the data settings via ##3282#. I did this by a LTE tower in my area. I was then able to transmit and receive LTE and the speed was good so I went home happy knowing there was nothing wrong with the radios in my S5. 

 

Then I started reading all over the place that people have to toggle airplane mode on and off just to go from 3G to 4G. I decided to test it out now that I have LTE enabled on my device. Sure enough when I got to the known LTE tower there was nothing. stayed on 3G all the way up to it. I then toggled airplane mode on and off and back to LTE with good speed. 

 

Long story short, People are reporting (me first hand) that the only way to connect to a LTE tower if by resetting their mobile connection manually. I really hope this is either A.) a NV/Spark upgrade issue that will be resolved soon B.) software problem that can be fixed on all S5's or C.) a network issue that can also be patched easily

 

If not, this is going to be a long 2 years...

 

Please tell me im wrong and that your S5 works automatically from 3G to LTE in your area. I need some good news.  

It could be scan times. Now Do you possible have any active data session going on when on 3g. If so it has to have a break before switching to LTE. Even so My s4 always took longer to go from 3g to LTE. also it could be because it is scanning b41, and b26 bands, not just for b25.

[atg284]

It could be scan times. Now Do you possible have any active data session going on when on 3g. If so it has to have a break before switching to LTE. Even so My s4 always took longer to go from 3g to LTE. also it could be because it is scanning b41, and b26 bands, not just for b25.

 Well as I was driving up to the tower it never switched over. I feel like it should have by the time I got right up to it. I then parked and used the SignalCheck Pro app to see tower details and it had data going in and out every so often and never switched to LTE. I then opened up a browser and went to a new website and it still did not switch over.

 

So I would say I gave it up to around 5 minutes really before toggling the airplane mode. after that I started enabling and disabling in ##3282# to try to find some issue but couldn't. I'm not super versed in any of this just what I've picked up from this site mainly. 

[Destroyallcubes]

 Well as I was driving up to the tower it never switched over. I feel like it should have by the time I got right up to it. I then parked and used the SignalCheck Pro app to see tower details and it had data going in and out every so often and never switched to LTE. I then opened up a browser and went to a new website and it still did not switch over.

 

So I would say I gave it up to around 5 minutes really before toggling the airplane mode. after that I started enabling and disabling in ##3282# to try to find some issue but couldn't. I'm not super versed in any of this just what I've picked up from this site mainly. 

If you have time try waiting 10-15 minutes, and stop all apps using a data connection. If it refuses to connect, contact CS, or go into a repair center with the concern. But They will probably just tell you to do a profile update/prl Update. 

[atg284]

If you have time try waiting 10-15 minutes, and stop all apps using a data connection. If it refuses to connect, contact CS, or go into a repair center with the concern. But They will probably just tell you to do a profile update/prl Update. 

Ok next time I have time to go back I will. The thing is 10-15 minutes seems like an awful long time to switch. I hope that is not the "final" product. 

 

Someone on the sprint forums claims that if you disable band 26 it will auto pick up band 25 which should be working. The thing is, I dont see a band 25 in the LTE list to enable. :/

[halcyoncmdr]

If you have time try waiting 10-15 minutes, and stop all apps using a data connection.

 

This has something to do with it as well I think. The network will not hand-up with an active data connection, but it will hand-down. So you won't go from 3G-4G if you are using data, but you will go from 4G-3G.

 

It's most likely the LTE scan timer though. Usually 10-15 minutes will result in your phone rescanning and switching over automatically. Some phones also use a built-in "seen site" file that allows them to automatically rescan when you are within a certain distance (GPS or network triangulation) of a "known" LTE site. This is one of the things the Sprint Connection Optimizer does as well (both WiFi and 4G).

[Destroyallcubes]

Ok next time I have time to go back I will. The thing is 10-15 minutes seems like an awful long time to switch. I hope that is not the "final" product. 

 

Someone on the sprint forums claims that if you disable band 26 it will auto pick up band 25 which should be working. The thing is, I dont see a band 25 in the LTE list to enable. :/

You have to have your MSL and you can try disabling b26/b41. It would save some time having to scan for those bands, especially if you do not know if they have it in your area. That part it up to you,but Could be worth a shot.

[atg284]

Well i had to drive through a launched LTE network today and have mixed results....going through the city it connected to LTE and I believe it did so because I did not have 3G active like it was suggested earlier. Had LTE all the way through the city so I was happy. Then when it was time to go home it never connected to LTE the entire trip through the city on the same route I had originally came. At the edge of the city 15 min later I toggled Airplane mode and it connected instantly.

 

I still think something is wrong. I should not have to toggle airplane mode in a LTE launched city. My prl and profile were recently updated as well. I'm just confused.

[jasonsteele]

I'm a dummy when it comes to understanding network protocol, but this is just my experience...I use an iPhone 5 and I notice that when I am using an active data connection on LTE (Pandora, for instance) while driving the hand-off to another tower always latches onto 3G...every time.  It never seems to be the other way around.  It latches onto LTE if I toggle airplane mode, and if I stop all data it has no problem handing off to LTE from tower to tower.  Maybe just a network thing, looking to upgrade to the S5 soon.

[atg284]

I'm a dummy when it comes to understanding network protocol, but this is just my experience...I use an iPhone 5 and I notice that when I am using an active data connection on LTE (Pandora, for instance) while driving the hand-off to another tower always latches onto 3G...every time. It never seems to be the other way around. It latches onto LTE if I toggle airplane mode, and if I stop all data it has no problem handing off to LTE from tower to tower. Maybe just a network thing, looking to upgrade to the S5 soon.

I can't remember having this issue with wimax. My city had decent coverage with wimax and never had to toggle airplane mode on the evo 3d.

 

I am loving the S5 in general. The battery life and screen are amazing. It's very snappy and quick with taska. I love all the settings you are able to adjust and am already utilizing the NFC abilities in my car

[atg284]

Someone on the sprint forum said a tech acknowledged the problem and said they don't know when a fix will occur:

 

https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/156844?start=109&tstart=0

 

I just don't know what to think any more.

[BenChase7]

Someone on the sprint forum said a tech acknowledged the problem and said they don't know when a fix will occur:

 

https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/156844?start=109&tstart=0

 

I just don't know what to think any more.

Regardless of what you decide to think, don't make your basis on anything you hear from a Sprint tech or in a Sprint forum.  Both have been proven to be inaccurate and hearsay.  

Regardless, even though I do not own a Samsung device, nor do I plan to, it is disheartening to hear about this (potential) problem.  Especially since Samsung has had great RF performance in their last couple Galaxy S renditions.  So, I can imagine your frustration. Best of luck! Hopefully this is fixable via OTA software update. Have you considered a Nexus 5?  Its radio performance is admirable!

[JWMaloney]

This behavior doesn't sound any different from how my Nexus 5 works.

[The Dave]

Unfortunately, once you lose LTE with any phone it can take a while to reconnect. This is because the battery drain would be ridiculous if the scan time was set really low. I used to think my G2 took a long time to rescan for LTE, but oddly enough it seems to reconnect more quickly now with the KitKat update.

 

The advice is pretty good about making sure there isn't any app running that is using data, because it won't reconnect until the data connection is idle. There is an app made by a member here called LTE Discovery that lets you set a rescan to as little as 20 seconds. It works pretty well and suggest you check it out.

 

Finally, I wouldn't worry about "going for 2 years with 3G". NV is moving along and more and more sites are broadcasting not only band 25, but also bands 26/41. There are even places that don't have band 25 yet but broadcasting strong band 41 LTE. Every week the LTE footprint gets bigger and more seemless. I wouldn't worry much. Soon the LTE scan time will be a moot point.

[TheForce627]

Think I might have figured something out. With the connections optimizer disabled it has trouble going back to lte from 3g. But when it's on it will do it without trouble. Maybe give that a try and see how that works.

[mc_gusto]

I'm having similar issues, will be right across the street from a site and nothing. My s3 was much better at holding on to signals too. Now when I go inside my apartment I get no lte. My s3 never would leave lte ever.

 

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[atg284]

Well just so happens I went through a different LTE populated area and I held LTE for quite some time. I'm ok with waiting for NV to be completed in my city. 

 

Like others have suggested, I don't think it's the hardware in the phone. It's just that the network in my area is not complete yet. I also saw someone working at a tower by my house so excited for the time to come. Love the phone and when on LTE it's pretty fast.

 

Thanks everyone!  

[atg284]

Just thought I would add a link to an article from this site that was brought to my attention:

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-357-nexus-5-and-lg-g2-experience-temporary-sprint-lte-connectivity-issues-due-to-circuit-switched-fallback-technology/?st=75#commentsStart

 

Pretty much explains what I am going through and is an excellent read. 

[jaypoc]

My girlfriend and I are experiencing these problems on Long Island, NY and are trying to get Sprint to take back the phones, but they're quite adamant about upholding their 14-day return policy. (I initially reported the issue to them about a week after the first 14 days)

[Flompholph]

Has anyone tried changing their lte scan timer?

 

On the s4 I could do it in ##data# -> edit ->enter msl -> bsr -> timer menu -> nextLTEscan timer