Before & After CDMA1X 800

[Mobilesolutions]

We all know that this time next month NEXTEL will shut down the existing IDEN network. With this comes deployment of 1X advanced on the 800mhz band. Some areas may see this sooner than others and some are already seeing it. 

 

I want a before & after screenshot from either your 1X engineering screen or from the Signal check app. The screenshots have to be taken in nearly exact same location, so choose somewhere that matters to you.  Hopefully this will be a good way to publicly measure the signal strength improvements over the coming months.  Looking forward to more bars in more places  :jester:

[digiblur]

On Samsung devices it will be the 1x Engineering RF screen.  

[Serious]

If your area didnt have native 800mhz Nextel spectrum do you still get 1x advanced? The reason I ask is I don't believe there is any 800mhz holdings by Sprint Nextel in OKC. So where is it going to come from?

[Mobilesolutions]

If your area didnt have native 800mhz Nextel spectrum do you still get 1x advanced? The reason I ask is I don't believe there is any 800mhz holdings by Sprint Nextel in OKC. So where is it going to come from?

Sprint owns enough 800 MHz in Oklahoma for CDMA advanced and LTE.

[koiulpoi]

Sure thing. Parts of West Michigan just got (non-accepted) 800 MHz, including the site closest to my home. I'm sitting in my basement (duh), with my phone on the table next to me. I've used the "select radio band" functionality to force the phone on to one band or another. This is on a 3G-Accepted site, by the way.

 

Forcing 1900 MHz tends to between this:

 

 

and this:

 

 

This is actually an improvement over legacy 3G, as I would rarely see any signal at all down here. Most of the time, I just set it to airplane mode as the constant scanning (and occasional roaming) would kill the battery.

 

 

Forcing "Secondary 800 MHz" (aka ESMR):

 

 

Now, mind you, since I'm almost certainly the only one on this entire sector, things like cell breathing aren't an issue. But it's an absolutely incredible difference. Again, I'm in a basement (partially underground), in a wood house, in a valley, in the middle of a forest.

 

And, before anyone asks, no engineering screens as I'm running an AOSP-based ROM. I'd quick whip back to TouchWiz, but the "select radio band" functionality crashes com.android.phone (whoops), so I can't easily show one or the other.

 

If only someone could figure out how to get, say, the Galaxy Nexus's engineering screens on to other phones...

[briank86]

Big drop in RSSI, but what's going on with the pilot signal for ec/lo?

[koiulpoi]

The second and third pic are the same.

Whoops, absolutely right. Fixed. If you wouldn't mind editing your post to remove the giant quoteblock...

[Rukin1]

Ha I'm going through the same issues right now

 

[Fire Ball]

koiulpoi, how do I find the "select radio band" function on an AOSP ROM? Hopefully it works on my S3.

[koiulpoi]

koiulpoi, how do I find the "select radio band" function on an AOSP ROM? Hopefully it works on my S3.

Well, first off let me say that you probably do NOT want to do this. Manually picking a radio band forces your phone to use only that band until you change it. It kills automatic scanning for other bands, as well as autoroaming. This lasts until you switch back to stock and hard reset / reprovision your device.

 

At any rate, it's:

1) Open the dialpad

2) *#*#4636#*#*

3) Phone information

4) Menu

5) Select radio band

6) Pick your band. Cellular is roaming (usually), PCS is native Sprint, Band Class 10 is ESMR 800 MHz.

 

I also believe that, without something like Digiblur's modified PRL, or native coverage in the regular PRL, switching to BC10 won't help anything. Could be wrong, but that's what I experienced: forcing BC10 with a regular PRL did nothing but show "no service".

 

Big drop in RSSI, but what's going on with the pilot signal for ec/lo?

I don't know...? Right now my Ec/lo on 800 is -3.5 dB. I actually have no idea what ec/lo means.

[digiblur]

And sometimes you can't switch it back!

 

Sent from my little Note2

 

 

[WiWavelength]

And sometimes you can't switch it back!

 

Some of us could probably handle the manual band class toggle because we have pretty good mental maps of where CDMA2000 is deployed in what spectrum.  But I do wonder if the manual toggle bug would not allow band class 10 CDMA1X + band class 1 EV-DO simultaneously.  Any experience, guys?

 

AJ

[koiulpoi]

Some of us could probably handle the manual band class toggle because we have pretty good mental maps of where CDMA2000 is deployed in what spectrum.  But I do wonder if the manual toggle bug would not allow band class 10 CDMA1X + band class 1 EV-DO simultaneously.  Any experience, guys?

 

AJ

In my experience, it does not allow it. Once you have manually set a phone to 1900 MHz (BC1), it will only ever use BC1 for 1X or EV-DO, even if your PRL is set up otherwise. If you set it to 800 MHz (BC10), it will only ever connect to 1X on BC10, completely ignoring EV-DO on BC1. However, it will still scan and connect normally for LTE on 1900 MHz.

 

I personally have been manually setting my phone to whatever works best, and haven't been hurt by it yet.

[Fire Ball]

Well, first off let me say that you probably do NOT want to do this. Manually picking a radio band forces your phone to use only that band until you change it. It kills automatic scanning for other bands, as well as autoroaming. This lasts until you switch back to stock and hard reset / reprovision your device.

 

At any rate, it's:

1) Open the dialpad

2) *#*#4636#*#*

3) Phone information

4) Menu

5) Select radio band

6) Pick your band. Cellular is roaming (usually), PCS is native Sprint, Band Class 10 is ESMR 800 MHz.

 

I also believe that, without something like Digiblur's modified PRL, or native coverage in the regular PRL, switching to BC10 won't help anything. Could be wrong, but that's what I experienced: forcing BC10 with a regular PRL did nothing but show "no service".

 

I don't know...? Right now my Ec/lo on 800 is -3.5 dB. I actually have no idea what ec/lo means.

 

I checked to see if I could even do it on my S3 but I can't. There isn't a menu after you go to phone information. It's okay though because it doesn't really sound like I want to do it anyway, haha. The modified PRL works well enough on its own.

[GoWireless]

What's the code to get into the engineering screen on the SGS4 (stock unrooted ROM). I tried puching in *#*#4636#*#* on the dial pad but nothing happens. Do I need to enable some special mode or something? Do I need to press something after the last *? Am I missing something?

Edited June 3, 2013 by GoWireless

[bigzeto]

##DEBUG#, then you'll need to enter 777468

[GoWireless]

##DEBUG#, then you'll need to enter 777468

Thanks!

[Mobilesolutions]

Before CDMA 800 

(this is taken 1' behind my glass double-door, one of the only places in the house that gets signal)

This is across the street next to my neighbors mailbox. Cellsite is about 3/4 of a mile from my home, albeit my neighborhood is filled with 40 + year old trees and old brick homes.

 

The bedroom that gets signal connects to 1X only, here is a speedtest of that connection.

I'm sure looking forward to being able to make calls from inside my home, the airave is often left off now.  gps won't lock unless the beacon is outside, I am debating wireless bridging it to the attic. But would just prefer to wait on 800. 

[halcyoncmdr]

Before CDMA 800 

(this is taken 1' behind my glass double-door, one of the only places in the house that gets signal)

 

This is across the street next to my neighbors mailbox. Cellsite is about 3/4 of a mile from my home, albeit my neighborhood is filled with 40 + year old trees and old brick homes.

[/uR

 

The bedroom that gets signal connects to 1X only, here is a speedtest of that connection.

[url=http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/Will_Burnett/media/Screenshot_2013-06-03-11-38-21_zps9277f2b4.png.html]

I'm sure looking forward to being able to make calls from inside my home, the airave is often left off now.  gps won't lock unless the beacon is outside, I am debating wireless bridging it to the attic. But would just prefer to wait on 800. 

 

Your place sounds like RF's worst nightmare.

[Mobilesolutions]

 

 

Your place sounds like RF's worst nightmare.

It sure doesn't play well with PCS!

[Geekslayer]

I thought would take the newest PRL out for a spin, and now my phone connects to 1X advanced 800mhz. However I noticed a few strange things. It took forever to get 3G data connection from the site, and if you look at the photo below, you'll notice that my 1x800 signal was weaker then the 3G signal. The site in question is in Waterville, MN and has been 3G 800 accepted. This area has always been a signal issue for me. I was hoping for a little more signal then what I saw. I'm really not worried about it yet, since they haven't even launched the new service yet. Do you think they're still testing the site?

 

[tongboy]

I thought would take the newest PRL out for a spin, and now my phone connects to 1X advanced 800mhz. However I noticed a few strange things. It took forever to get 3G data connection from the site, and if you look at the photo below, you'll notice that my 1x800 signal was weaker then the 3G signal. The site in question is in Waterville, MN and has been 3G 800 accepted. This area has always been a signal issue for me. I was hoping for a little more signal then what I saw. I'm really not worried about it yet, since they haven't even launched the new service yet. Do you think they're still testing the site?

 

 

 

Your 1x and EVDO do not look like they were connected to the same cell site.

 

Sent from my EVO LTE

 

 

[WiWavelength]

Your 1x and EVDO do not look like they were connected to the same cell site.

 

Bingo!

 

And, folks, please stop referring to "3G."  Other than WiMAX and LTE, everything on Sprint is 3G.  So, refer to CDMA1X and EV-DO

 

AJ

[Geekslayer]

Your 1x and EVDO do not look like they were connected to the same cell site.

 

Sent from my EVO LTE

 

I'm almost 100% sure they both came from the same site. There is not another Sprint site within 10 miles.

[WiWavelength]

I'm almost 100% sure they both came from the same site. There is not another Sprint site within 10 miles.

 

You need to post engineering screen caps with PN offsets to demonstrate.  Otherwise, that could have been your CDMA1X 800 RSSI at significant distance.

 

AJ