HTC EVO lte connection issues

[digiblur]

Well in reality you are still saying it is an EVO LTE problem. But regardless, it's not the network when you can force the phone to LTE only and it works fine.

[chamb]

Well in reality you are still saying it is an EVO LTE problem. But regardless, it's not the network when you can force the phone to LTE only and it works fine.

 

Digiblur -- Is it possible that forcing the phone to LTE causes the Sprint Cell site to just accept this user and throw out any requirement it may have when a phone is capable of both 3G and 4G??? I surely respect any input you give on this as I can tell you are quite knowledgeable on the subject.

Yes, the HTC phone has a serious issue when compared to the Samsung. However, they BOTH have some issues connecting to LTE in weak areas. THE HTC is just much worse in this area, but the Samsung does have the issue to a lessor extent.

 

Could Sprint be comparing signal strength or error rate from the LTE phones and making a judgement to keep the phone connected to 3G even though 4G would work?? Could Sprint be denying LTE to phones in weak areas in order to avoid the transfer to 3G that has a high possibility of happening later??? Maye Sprint does not desire continual transferring between 3G and 4G that may happen in weak areas?? The question still remains-- Could Sprint be causing some of this and the HTC phone just shows the issue more frequently.??

[Mercurial1]

It is not just happening in weak areas though. My EVO still has to cycle airplane mode to pick up LTE signals even in strong areas.

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[squigey]

Has anybody got Sprint to swap out their Evo for an S3, based on the LTE connection issue?

 

As much as I like the phone, I'm not all that thrilled that it's sort of a defective phone....at least in regards to LTE connectivity.

 

I'd be more inclined to keep the phone if Sprint just came out and said they know there's an issue still and are working on a fix.....

[S4GRU]

I have a question for the "techies" that understand Sprint's Network Vision cell site equipment. We are blaming the HTC EVO LTE phone for several problems. It will not hold on to the LTE signal in weak areas and it also will not find LTE for us in weak areas. It is much worse in both areas compared to the Samsung Galaxy S III. See my earlier post in this thread.

 

Now my question -- Could the Sprint cell site equipment be controlling these phones and not allowing them to switch to the LTE Signal??? Is it possible that the cell site equipment is looking at the signals from the phone and making a judgement that the user would be better off remaining on 3G. There probably has to be some type of handshake and agreement between the phone and cell site equipment and maybe the Core Switch.

Maybe it is Sprint that is not allowing the phones to access the LTE unless the signal from the phone meets some requirement.

 

One thing for sure' date=' the HTC phone is not performing nearly as well as the Samsung. I tested this extensively and actually dumped the HTC phone back in Sprint's lap. I now have the Samsung Gaxaxy S III. A much better phone.

It will actually hold on to the Sprint LTE signal for about 1/2 mile further range all around a cell site. This is a very big item as this also probably means it will hold on to a connection as you walk into a building too.

 

The Samsung also has an issue with initially connecting to the LTE in a weak area, but it is much better at finding and connecting to the LTE than the HTC. I proved this time and time again. I did find that the Samsung phone would stay connected to an extremely weak LTE signal and it held on while I ran speed tests that failed because the signal was so weak. This could actually be a negative as who wants to hold on to a weak signal that will not work while a good 3G signal may be in the neighborhood.

 

Since both phones have an issue connecting to a weak LTE signal, could Sprint itself be causing some of this issue with the way the Network Vision software is configured. Could Sprint have some reason to want users with weak signals to use the 3G over the LTE??[/quote']

 

You have given this a lot of thought and it is interesting to consider. But the problem existed in the lab too, before they even took it out into the field for FIT testing...long before production. This has been a habitual problem for the EVO LTE since the day it arrived in concept form in a DHL package from Taiwan.

 

I have known about the issue since Mid April. I included info about the issue in early May, before the EVO LTE started shipping.

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

[chamb]

You have given this a lot of thought and it is interesting to consider. But the problem existed in the lab too, before they even took it out into the field for FIT testing...long before production. This has been a habitual problem for the EVO LTE since the day it arrived in concept form in a DHL package from Taiwan.

 

I have known about the issue since Mid April. I included info about the issue in early May, before the EVO LTE started shipping.

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

 

Robert,

Allow me to take this a step further. Even if it did happen in the lab, we do not know exactly how they were doing the test. Did they have a Sprint Cell site, even a mini one, with standard software and seen the problem??? Yes, they seen something, but what? Just exactly how did they see the problem??? Neither one of us was in the lab situation, so we can only guess how they stumbled onto the issue. I will be the first to say that the HTC has a much worse performance, but when you consider that the Samsung will also hesitate to connect to a weak LTE signal, then I question if we maybe have two problems.

 

Problem 1 - the HTC is just a poor performer compared to the Samsung when dealing with LTE.

Problem 2 - something else tends to cause BOTH the HTC and Samsung to NOT prefer LTE signals in weak areas.

 

This is new technology and it surely is possible to have two problems or even more.

[squigey]

Robert,

 

Any inside info on whether they are still working on the issue? I assume the answer is yes, but then again you never know.

 

If not, there's going to be a lot of people wanting to swap out their phones....at least most of the people on S4gru, that is.

 

Thanks!

[S4GRU]

 

Robert' date='

Allow me to take this a step further. Even if it did happen in the lab, we do not know exactly how they were doing the test. Did they have a Sprint Cell site, even a mini one, with standard software and seen the problem??? Yes, they seen something, but what? Just exactly how did they see the problem??? Neither one of us was in the lab situation, so we can only guess how they stumbled onto the issue. I will be the first to say that the HTC has a much worse performance, but when you consider that the Samsung will also hesitate to connect to a weak LTE signal, then I question if we maybe have two problems.

 

Problem 1 - the HTC is just a poor performer compared to the Samsung when dealing with LTE.

Problem 2 - something else tends to cause BOTH the HTC and Samsung to NOT prefer LTE signals in weak areas.

 

This is new technology and it surely is possible to have two problems or even more.[/quote']

 

I'm open to all kinds of ideas. But we do have a little bit of info from the lab as to the problem. In this article we published in April, "LTE device connectivity in lab testing continues to be problematic due to under defined processes and complications around provisioning and SIM UICC profiles. Escalation of this issue is in progress."

 

What does that mean precisely? I'm no more certain today than back in April.

 

Source: http://s4gru.com/index.php?/blog/1/entry-168-s4gru-reconfirms-june-10th-launch-of-the-evo-4g-lte/

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

[S4GRU]

Robert,

 

Any inside info on whether they are still working on the issue? I assume the answer is yes, but then again you never know.

 

If not, there's going to be a lot of people wanting to swap out their phones....at least most of the people on S4gru, that is.

 

Thanks!

 

They have issued three OTA's. That hasn't done it, yet. Will the 4th? Who knows? I know I sure don't.

 

Robert

[Jaggrey]

Did each of the OTAs come with a new radio?

[squigey]

Did each of the OTAs come with a new radio?

 

The last two did, if I remember right. I recall I just flashed the radios, etc. separately.

[squigey]

They have issued three OTA's. That hasn't done it, yet. Will the 4th? Who knows? I know I sure don't.

 

Robert

 

I'll probably be in a Sprint store once NV soft launches in LA and I can connect to a tower.

 

What's sad is I that I already looked at the tower maps to find a store that's in range of a tower. I figure it's hard for them to argue it's a network issue, if the Evo is the only phone in the store that can't connect.

[2k4mach]

Was in Castroville last weekend! Ip5 had lte driving most of the way up Hwy 90 and into town while EVO was 3g the entire way. That's when I realized there were many more active lte towers around SA then my EVO was connecting to. Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

was back out there today to pay my hanger rent, if your using sensorly ive mapped as much as i could today out there lol. been trying to map out san antonio as im out and about during the day. you can see my travels over in helotes and culebra/1604 as im all over that area and i think ive got it mapped out as best as it can. oh yeah today it actually picked up lte in my hanger pretty quickly once i got there and stuck till we left.

[stitch1007]

2k4mach, do you have a plane in that hanger? if so what kind? My dad has a Cessna 175 and my brother has an RV-3.

 

Anyways back on topic...

 

I took my Evo into the closest repair center to the Sprint campus here in Overland Park. After looking at all their phones and seeing that they were all running on LTE with full bars. I showed the guy that mine was only 3g. I let them know of the issue and how other phones will pick up the LTE while mine just sits on 3g unless I cycle airplane mode and even then it won't stay on 4G. They had me leave it awhile so the techs could look into it. They re-flashed it and said to try that and if it was still having issues then to bring it back and they will swap it. It was on LTE as i left but it quickly dropped back to 3g. So I'll be going back tomorrow to do the swap I guess.

 

As you guys know the new one will probably have the same issues. So again I'll have to take it back. I don't plan on stoping till they can do something for me. So this could be a long week at the Sprint store.

 

What do you think my odds of getting a trade offer? If they do offer me a trade what phone should I go with?

[digiblur]

Three strike rule was the game I was going to play with them.

 

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

 

 

[2k4mach]

2k4mach, do you have a plane in that hanger? if so what kind? My dad has a Cessna 175 and my brother has an RV-3.

 

Anyways back on topic...

 

I took my Evo into the closest repair center to the Sprint campus here in Overland Park. After looking at all their phones and seeing that they were all running on LTE with full bars. I showed the guy that mine was only 3g. I let them know of the issue and how other phones will pick up the LTE while mine just sits on 3g unless I cycle airplane mode and even then it won't stay on 4G. They had me leave it awhile so the techs could look into it. They re-flashed it and said to try that and if it was still having issues then to bring it back and they will swap it. It was on LTE as i left but it quickly dropped back to 3g. So I'll be going back tomorrow to do the swap I guess.

 

As you guys know the new one will probably have the same issues. So again I'll have to take it back. I don't plan on stoping till they can do something for me. So this could be a long week at the Sprint store.

 

What do you think my odds of getting a trade offer? If they do offer me a trade what phone should I go with?

 

yeah have a cessna 210. ill be headed to sprint tomm. with my wifes s3 with me to show lte and no lte lol. im going with the 3 strike rule, thats the way ive always been treated by sprint when it comes to phone problems. if it didnt then i called retentions and explained everything and they would take care of me.

[stitch1007]

Could either of you explain the 3 strike rule process you used with Sprint? Take phone in they flash = 1, swap phone = 2, and then what happens?

 

Thanks,

[stitch1007]

Also what phone are you going to change to?

[shawn_kc]

They have issued three OTA's. That hasn't done it, yet. Will the 4th? Who knows? I know I sure don't.

 

Robert

 

I've got it. The fix is in Jelly Bean.

[stitch1007]

And how far out is this jelly bean update/fix?

[shawn_kc]

And how far out is this jelly bean update/fix?

 

It hasn't been posted yet. Here is an article on the htc one xl stating sometime in October. If that's the case, then hopefully sometime in November for the evo.

 

http://www.androidcentral.com/htc-one-xxl-jelly-bean-updates-tipped-october-release

[wjrandon]

I've got it. The fix is in Jelly Bean.

 

Are you being serious or hypothetical about the fix being in the Jelly Bean update? :-) Don't tease. lol

[shawn_kc]

Are you being serious or hypothetical about the fix being in the Jelly Bean update? :-) Don't tease. lol

 

I was kidding \ hoping the issue is resolved with Jelly Bean.

[wjrandon]

My SGSIII arrived last Thursday and I've finally had an opportunity to run both the SGSIII and EvoLTE side-by-side throughout metro Atlanta. My test are inline to simular reports that the SGSIII maintains a LTE connection for approx half-a-mile further from the transmitting tower than the EvoLTE.

 

The SGSIII would search for signal and obtain signal faster than the EvoLTE although my test with changing the LTE scan timer setting in the ##data# LTE Records menu were inconclusive.

 

When the EvoLTE was placed in LTE only mode the device would still loose its connection prior to the SGSIII switching to 3G. Although there's a caveat in this situation. On the extreme fringe of LTE coverage while the SGSIII maintained a connection, it was extremely unstable and unable to produce speedtest. This lends me to believe that the EvoLTE radio is somewhat the weaker of the two devices however its current shortcomings could be fixed via software updates to the radio as others have suggested.

 

Now I'm confident enough in this theory to return the SGSIII to Amazon and continue using the EvoLTE... at least until the next Nexus device comes out. ;-)

[Jaggrey]

So the Evo gives up on the weak LTE signal quicker than the S3, and the signal that the S3 maintains after the Evo gives up is mostly too unstable to be useful anyway?