T-Mobile LTE & Network Discussion V2

[Vince]

I'm surprised TMO doesn't make it as dense as NYC.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It is very dense here, just slow in a lot of busy places. In fact, I find T-Mobile to have a very strong signal, even in the woods, and indoors sometimes, contrary to how people label T-Mobile the "outdoor only carrier." It doesn't drop LTE nearly as much as Sprint does which is disappointing considering Chicago is Sprint's bread and butter market.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[Arysyn]

It is very dense here, just slow in a lot of busy places. In fact, I find T-Mobile to have a very strong signal, even in the woods, and indoors sometimes, contrary to how people label T-Mobile the "outdoor only carrier." It doesn't drop LTE nearly as much as Sprint does which is disappointing considering Chicago is Sprint's bread and butter market.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

 

Is there a reason for the LTE drops for Sprint in Chicago. As I've mentioned recently a few times it happened to me, but it did come back on, and I got some good advice here on S4GRU as how to get it to return quickly, though I'm not familiar with the reasoning for it happening. Is it because of network density or a difference in handoffs in contrast with T-Mobile?

[gusherb]

T-Mobile is pretty terrible in the busier places of the Chicagoland area. It's like immediately upon entering Chicago city limits, and there's wall-to-wall traffic, and people everywhere, you can expect sub-1mbps speeds until later at night. These are my experiences, and YMMV. Hopefully, when T-Mobile makes us 15x15, we'll see some relief, but I doubt it. This market is pretty saturated with T-Mobile customers.

Sent from my iPhone 6+

Two years ago their network seemed like a ghost town around here. HSPA+ was never congested anywhere in the summer of 2013.

I think many many Sprint customers jumped ship over to them as well as some VZW users. A lot of AT&T users around here have been with them since at LEAST the Cingular days (we were originally with them since Cellular One) and aren't going anywhere.

 

Going up to 15x15 probably won't be as good an improvement as some might hope for. I'm curious myself to see just how much an added 10 MHz helps considering things are already overloaded. Wouldn't be surprised if they had to start refarming PCS in the next year or so like they did in Bloomington, IN where B4 was only 5x5, with an added 5x5 B2 layer.

[ericdabbs]

Two years ago their network seemed like a ghost town around here. HSPA+ was never congested anywhere in the summer of 2013.

I think many many Sprint customers jumped ship over to them as well as some VZW users. A lot of AT&T users around here have been with them since at LEAST the Cingular days (we were originally with them since Cellular One) and aren't going anywhere.

 

Going up to 15x15 probably won't be as good an improvement as some might hope for. I'm curious myself to see just how much an added 10 MHz helps considering things are already overloaded. Wouldn't be surprised if they had to start refarming PCS in the next year or so like they did in Bloomington, IN where B4 was only 5x5, with an added 5x5 B2 layer.

 

They really need to buy the 700 A-block license from Leap (AT&T) in Chicago to help expand coverage and adding more capacity with another 5x5 LTE block.

[Vince]

Is there a reason for the LTE drops for Sprint in Chicago. As I've mentioned recently a few times it happened to me, but it did come back on, and I got some good advice here on S4GRU as how to get it to return quickly, though I'm not familiar with the reasoning for it happening. Is it because of network density or a difference in handoffs in contrast with T-Mobile?

I'm really not sure, as I'm far from a network engineer. But, what I can tell you is, out of my testing of all providers in this market, sprint is the only one that consistently (for me) lost LTE more than 75% of the time of stepping indoors with my phone in my pocket. Maybe it's the network, and possible lack of optimization, or maybe it's the way the iPhone handles signal and LTE band handoffs, I'll never know. I can also tell you that it's being noticed by the non-tech savvy. I have a few family members that I've converted to Sprint that are so upset that they're always on 3G in a bar, restaurant, or store, can't load anything, and have to go searching for wifi (horrible, I know). They repeatedly tell me, "that never happened on AT&T." That little "LTE" logo up top is very comforting to the masses, and when it's gone, the network is "crap." And when AT&T/T-Mobile drop down to "4G," nobody bats an eyelash.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[Arysyn]

I'm really not sure, as I'm far from a network engineer. But, what I can tell you is, out of my testing of all providers in this market, sprint is the only one that consistently (for me) lost LTE more than 75% of the time of stepping indoors with my phone in my pocket. Maybe it's the network, and possible lack of optimization, or maybe it's the way the iPhone handles signal and LTE band handoffs, I'll never know. I can also tell you that it's being noticed by the non-tech savvy. I have a few family members that I've converted to Sprint that are so upset that they're always on 3G in a bar, restaurant, or store, can't load anything, and have to go searching for wifi (horrible, I know). They repeatedly tell me, "that never happened on AT&T." That little "LTE" logo up top is very comforting to the masses, and when it's gone, the network is "crap." And when AT&T/T-Mobile drop down to "4G," nobody bats an eyelash.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

 

 

Thanks for the response, Vince.

 

I believe you on your points, especially as I experienced the same thing in a few places while on Sprint. When I posted about it, you were one of the few responders who were fair to me about it, and didn't disregard what I was saying or borderline suspecting me of lying, as I felt some of the other responders did, which really hurt me. I need to get this out to people here, which despite that I do feel more accepted and understood here recently, I felt a certain hostility here for a while. although Vince, you and quite a few others have been kind to me while still being fair in your responses, even when we disagree, which I appreciate.

 

However, to others who were (as I feel) were more hostile to me, particularly when I mentioned the 295/88 3g issues I experienced, I absolutely was telling the truth. The recent discussions on this thread really reminded me of the post I made about my travel to Naperville, as I was shocked and a bit hurt by some of the comments I've mentioned. I've been very open about my own personal issues that many would consider surprising that anyone would openly admit to, which is something that ought to give people a reason to trust me.

 

Anyways, back more to the topic specifically regarding Sprint and T-Mobile, I'm certainly not being harshly critical by my mentions of their problems, just as most posts here doing the same thing are just as fair. It is a much different situation obviously than what is on sites such as FierceWireless and TmoNews, where people just outright bash Sprint. Somewhere more borderline I think, would be the comments on Sprint's Facebook account, which is quite shocking. Now, I realize there are complaints on all the carriers' Facebook accounts, but Sprint's seems to have the most and the angriest of all of them. Even on the Google search results for Sprint Facebook, is a link right there for a "Sprint Sucks" account, which is pretty bad for Sprint to have right next to their own.

 

Sprint has got to do something about this image problem. I realize they are trying to improve it by doing all of these network upgrades that will help get their network both better user experience along with better rankings and reports with Root Metrics, etc., but in the meantime, Sprint uses these network upgrades almost as an insider knowledge only sort of thing, with mysterious project names and such. They only seem to give basic information out to the public about this, rather than engaging the public in a teamwork sort of way, which is what T-Mobile is doing by actively encouraging its users by its "Uncarrier" announcements. The only thing Sprint has to an engaged base, is S4GRU, which no offense meant towards this site, but I wouldn't call this a properly engaged site with the company.

 

So, what seems to be going on here with Sprint, is they have areas needing to be upgraded without communicating to them about the towers being down, or on 3g for a certain time, etc. Many people who experience these problems end up going on Sprint's Facebook, where their often enraged complaints just get louder or they are shut off completely by the bland, stale, scripted sounding responses from various Sprint employees on there. Let s face it, people who go on to Sprint's Facebook to type something akin to, for example (btw, I did not experience these serious of issues with Sprint myself, this is based on typical writings I've read on Sprint's Facebook, combining them into an example) "My network goes in and out of LTE to 3g and back every hour, I'm getting less than 1 mbps half of the time, and all I keep getting from Sprint is lame excuses and false promises, etc. Sprint really sucks!!!", these people certainly are not going to think better about their issues or even about Sprint when Sprint responds something akin to "We are very sorry you feel this way. What is causing the issue, message if we can help - Juan L" over and over and over again.

 

This, among so many other things is contributing to Sprint's reputation getting worse in some ways, among not visibly improving this reputation in others. Despite my Framily issue with the representative I spoke with that one time, I haven't had any issues with other staff, and Sprint seems to be handling the closed account quite well, at least according to my mother. I spoke with a few store representatives last night who knew me, and they were very helpful discussing certain things I needed to discuss about a potential return to Sprint with the aid of a very kind member here on S4GRU. I'm definitely getting the impression of honesty from them that I just didn't get at T-Mobile, which was and still is being proven to me. Only reason I tried back with T-Mobile was for my mother's wishes, which now even my mother seems tired of T-Mobile, finally!

 

I have a feeling with all of the adds T-Mobile is getting, while they continue to have limited spectrum, regardless of all the 700mhz stuff I think most of you here on S4GRU know that I'm not a fan at all of T-Mobile's decision to get that spectrum, though it isn't going to do much with the capacity issues T-Mobile still is likely to have. This would be a good time, maybe not for network improvement advertisements, but instead for some form of Sprint getting together a connection to its users moire publicly, beginning with its long time users and fans. I've been reading that many of Sprint's long time users are upset at how Sprint doesn't offer them nearly s good of deals as they do for new signups. If Sprint changed that, reaching out to them more, while appeasing its fans with some sort of kind gestures, they would have a good foundation to move towards getting people involved in the updates going on in Sprint, which could be an initiative spawned by the recent "getting better" advertisements.

 

I've said this before and I'll say it again. While I realize doing this extensive kind of public relations buildup is costly and time consuming, but a great start to this besides the advertisements I mentioned, would be for Sprint to reach out to Robert here on S4GRU and negotiate a plan for this site to be funded and cross-promoted in conjunction with Sprint, while allowing him to run this site with very little interference by Sprint. The could be several useful features between the forum and Sprint for the community which would grow even bigger. For instance, there could be a section for Marcelo to do a weekly update and have a fan input section to go along with it, where people could communicate to him right there on it. Also, I have several other ideas I have for this concept, but won't go into right now, as this already is becoming a long post by me, as is typical of me, I admit. Although I am trying to lessen my posts in certain topics.

 

To finalize my post here, if Sprint were to do these public engagements with its users along with expanded "getting better" advertisements, such as having an uncarrier-like public announcement system, but instead of titles using numbers, it could be called "Getting Better June 2015, Better at getting... Network Densification", along with the details. Beginning this sooner rather than later is crucial at doing things when T-Mobile could be getting worse where people leave. Winning those people over are critical and crucial to Sprint's success, which many of them would appreciate Sprint's newly formed systems of communication with their customers, both style and substance.

 

This also means addressing those areas where users often complain. If Sprint can begin to address those very quickly, almost rapidly, despite whatever extra it may cost, doing so by fixing a problem while maintaining customers and their satisfaction, would quickly go into reversing this nasty view of Sprint being "too slow". As that publicly known part of Sprint's reputation reverses itself, many of Sprint's public interactions will help with the rapid reversal of those negative aspects of its reputation. Once much of that is healed, Sprint can then truly begin to see results in the way people view them, particularly in having people start to view Sprint more the way Sprint is hoping they'd start with, which is the quality of network and the value of the service, rather than just on reputation, especially a decades old reputation that is filled with negativity, and hardly representative of what Sprint truly is, even in their worst markets.

 

Ultimately, Sprint can fix those towers and improve the 4g LTE so that 3g doesn't appear so frequently. Although, Sprint ought to first publicly heal enough of its reputation first,. in order for people to truly notice they've fixed the network, Or else, Sprint will always appear to suck even when it doesn't, just because enough people say that, regardless of the truth. Kind of like a vice versa situation going on with T-Mobile. People say it doesn't suck when indeed it truly does, other than for the people who truly are satisfied with the service they receive from them, and not just because they think John Legere is the second coming of Christ.

[Arysyn]

Oh wow, that is a long post.

 

I promise to break my posts down a bit more from now on. I apologize.

[gusherb]

I'm really not sure, as I'm far from a network engineer. But, what I can tell you is, out of my testing of all providers in this market, sprint is the only one that consistently (for me) lost LTE more than 75% of the time of stepping indoors with my phone in my pocket. Maybe it's the network, and possible lack of optimization, or maybe it's the way the iPhone handles signal and LTE band handoffs, I'll never know. I can also tell you that it's being noticed by the non-tech savvy. I have a few family members that I've converted to Sprint that are so upset that they're always on 3G in a bar, restaurant, or store, can't load anything, and have to go searching for wifi (horrible, I know). They repeatedly tell me, "that never happened on AT&T." That little "LTE" logo up top is very comforting to the masses, and when it's gone, the network is "crap." And when AT&T/T-Mobile drop down to "4G," nobody bats an eyelash.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

If the iPhone 6 can stay latched onto other carriers LTE for better or worse then it can't be anything wrong with the iPhone 6. On att mine won't drop the connection til about -123db though it varies.

 

The big difference as I'm sure you know is that the rare time dropping to "4G", it usually works. Unless I'm going in and out of service of course.

 

Oh and one other thing, have you ever tried VZW?

I managed to activate a SIM on prepaid without buying a plan and went out and about and found lots of weak band 13 with some B4 islands. They have lots of LTE drops just like sprint, thanks to their site spacing only good for CDMA 850. If I had switched to them from S, I would NOT be happy.

[S4GRU]

Oh wow, that is a long post.

 

I promise to break my posts down a bit more from now on. I apologize.

Please do. I have to admit, I skip over your posts like that. Most people here will not commit to reading such a long post unless it is full of details about deployment or the network. Bloviating needs to be concise to attract attention.

 

Although, I do appreciate your breakdown into paragraphs. Unlike some people around here.

 

Using Nexus 6 on Tapatalk

[ericdabbs]

Oh wow, that is a long post.

 

I promise to break my posts down a bit more from now on. I apologize.

 

DUDE!!! TL;DR.  Learn to summarize and not drag on and rambling off topic.  To be honest your last long post was talking more about Sprint and NOT about Tmobile which is the point of this thread.  Not to trying to jump on the hater bandwagon but I think we all understand here at S4GRU that Sprint still has some major work to do and is nowhere near done....hence Marcelo's "Next Generation Network Plan" but its just going to take some time.

[maxsilver]

Out of my testing of all providers in this market, sprint is the only one that consistently (for me) lost LTE more than 75% of the time of stepping indoors with my phone in my pocket. Maybe it's the network, and possible lack of optimization, or maybe it's the way the iPhone handles signal and LTE band handoffs, I'll never know.

This has been my experience in most markets too. (Especially northern markets, like Michigan, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, etc).

 

Chicago is actually the one place I've been to that I've seen this happen the least. I'm a little surprised you see it that often actually, Chicago is the best Sprint market I've ever been to.

 

 

I can also tell you that it's being noticed by the non-tech savvy. I have a few family members that I've converted to Sprint that are so upset that they're always on 3G in a bar, restaurant, or store, can't load anything, and have to go searching for wifi (horrible, I know). They repeatedly tell me, "that never happened on AT&T." That little "LTE" logo up top is very comforting to the masses, and when it's gone, the network is "crap." And when AT&T/T-Mobile drop down to "4G," nobody bats an eyelash.

I see people having this reaction a ton. Especially since we have sizable chunks of the city without LTE. And since everyone knows me as the "guy obsessed with cell phones", I hear about it from lots of people.

 

I think a big part of this is caused by Sprint claiming 1x as "3G" (regardless of the fact that the technical definition allows it -- I'm not trying to rehash that discussion).  

 

But from a purely customer experience standpoint alone, users see "3G" and expect a full data experience, just slower.  So when AT&T / T-Mobile drop down to "4G/3G/H+", no one bats an eyelash because "stuff mostly still works, just slower".  But when Sprint drops down to "3G", it often 1x800, which translates to 'no data'. "Twitter doesn't work, Facebook doesn't work, Reddit doesn't work. Nothing works" is how I hear people describe this.

 

People remember that. Like Forever. It's their own mini-PTSD episode.  It only takes a handful of times for "3G = no data" association to happen before people learn it, and just give up.

 

Even if later on their phone is parked on EVDO with good backhaul, they're so accustomed to "3G" meaning "no data" that they just assume the "network is crap" whenever they see the 3G icon, regardless of whether data is actually working or not.

 

---

 

That little "LTE" logo is comforting to the masses, in large part because telcoms have explicitly trained people pavlovian-style that data is only useful if they see the LTE / 4G icon.  

 

A few years ago, T-Mobile replaced two broken EDGE-only rural sites in Holland / Allegan with HSPA+, but left the T1 backhaul as-is. If they still did that, or if AT&T or T-Mobile labeled EDGE as "3G" (which they're similarly technically allowed to do by ITU), I think you'd see the exact same problem + response happen with them.

[Sanyo M1]

This has been my experience in most markets too. (Especially northern markets, like Michigan, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, etc).

 

Chicago is actually the one place I've been to that I've seen this happen the least. I'm a little surprised you see it that often actually, Chicago is the best Sprint market I've ever been to.

 

 

I see this a ton. Especially since we have sizable chunks of the city without LTE.

 

I think a big part of this is caused by Sprint claiming 1x as "3G" (regardless of the fact that the technical definition allows it -- I'm not trying to rehash that discussion).  

 

But from a purely customer experience standpoint alone, users see "3G" and expect a full data experience, just slower.  So when AT&T / T-Mobile drop down to "4G/3G/H+", no one bats an eyelash because "stuff mostly still works, just slower".  But when Sprint drops down to "3G", it often 1x800, which translates to 'no data'. "Twitter doesn't work, Facebook doesn't work, Reddit doesn't work. Nothing works" is how I hear people describe this.

 

People remember that. Like Forever. It's their own mini-PTSD episode.  It only takes a handful of times for "3G = no data" association to happen before people learn it, and just give up.

 

Even if later on their phone is parked on EVDO with good backhaul, they're so accustomed to "3G" meaning "no data" that they just assume the "network is crap" whenever they see the 3G icon, regardless of whether data is actually working or not.

 

---

 

That little "LTE" logo is comforting to the masses, in large part because telcoms have explicitly trained people pavlovian-style that data is only useful if they see the LTE / 4G icon.  

 

A few years ago, T-Mobile replaced two broken EDGE-only rural sites in Holland / Allegan with HSPA+, but left the T1 backhaul as-is.

 

If they still did that, or if AT&T or T-Mobile labeled EDGE as "3G" (which they're similarly technically allowed to do by ITU), I think you'd see the exact same problem + response happen with them.

 

I experience this in the Minneapolis area, where I'll drop LTE. It's been happening quite frequently recently, which is unfortunate and frustrating to constantly cycle airplane mode to get lte back. Data just drops, nothing loads, maps doesn't refresh. It's good that I have SCP running otherwise I'd be none the wiser about being on 1x instead of EVDO/EHRPD.

[lou99/maximus1987]

This has been my experience in most markets too. (Especially northern markets, like Michigan, Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, etc).

 

Chicago is actually the one place I've been to that I've seen this happen the least. I'm a little surprised you see it that often actually, Chicago is the best Sprint market I've ever been to.

 

 

 

I see people having this reaction a ton. Especially since we have sizable chunks of the city without LTE. And since everyone knows me as the "guy obsessed with cell phones", I hear about it from lots of people.

 

I think a big part of this is caused by Sprint claiming 1x as "3G" (regardless of the fact that the technical definition allows it -- I'm not trying to rehash that discussion).

 

But from a purely customer experience standpoint alone, users see "3G" and expect a full data experience, just slower. So when AT&T / T-Mobile drop down to "4G/3G/H+", no one bats an eyelash because "stuff mostly still works, just slower". But when Sprint drops down to "3G", it often 1x800, which translates to 'no data'. "Twitter doesn't work, Facebook doesn't work, Reddit doesn't work. Nothing works" is how I hear people describe this.

 

People remember that. Like Forever. It's their own mini-PTSD episode. It only takes a handful of times for "3G = no data" association to happen before people learn it, and just give up.

 

Even if later on their phone is parked on EVDO with good backhaul, they're so accustomed to "3G" meaning "no data" that they just assume the "network is crap" whenever they see the 3G icon, regardless of whether data is actually working or not.

 

---

 

That little "LTE" logo is comforting to the masses, in large part because telcoms have explicitly trained people pavlovian-style that data is only useful if they see the LTE / 4G icon.

 

A few years ago, T-Mobile replaced two broken EDGE-only rural sites in Holland / Allegan with HSPA+, but left the T1 backhaul as-is. If they still did that, or if AT&T or T-Mobile labeled EDGE as "3G" (which they're similarly technically allowed to do by ITU), I think you'd see the exact same problem + response happen with them.

 

Which phones label 1x as "3G"? I know the iPhone actually says "1x" if it's 1x.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[maxsilver]

Which phones label 1x as "3G"? I know the iPhone actually says "1x" if it's 1x.

 

I don't have a way to check this, but my understanding is that all Sprint branded Android LTE phones display both 1x and EVDO as "3G", and iPhones don't.

 

And my memory is hazy on this, but I think Nexus devices don't Nexus devices do, BlackBerry's don't, and Windows Phones do, but my memory is very hazy -- I'm not 100% sure of this.

 

(edit: I forgot that I changed this manually on my Nexus)

Edited May 17, 2015 by maxsilver

[tybo31316]

I don't have a way to check this, but my understanding is that all Sprint branded Android LTE phones display both 1x and EVDO as "3G", and iPhones don't.

 

And my memory is hazy on this, but I think Nexus devices don't, BlackBerry's don't, and Windows Phones do, but my memory is very hazy -- I'm not 100% sure of this.

 

(edit: I forgot that I changed this manually on my Nexus, I think Nexus devices *do* show 1x as "3G" by default)

The Nexus 6 shows 1x as 3G too. When I had the Nexus 5 it showed as 1x. I'm sure its changed with all the updates.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6

[Trip]

I have the Galaxy S5 and it uses "3G" for both eHRPD and 1X.

 

- Trip

[Arysyn]

DUDE!!! TL;DR.  Learn to summarize and not drag on and rambling off topic.  To be honest your last long post was talking more about Sprint and NOT about Tmobile which is the point of this thread.  Not to trying to jump on the hater bandwagon but I think we all understand here at S4GRU that Sprint still has some major work to do and is nowhere near done....hence Marcelo's "Next Generation Network Plan" but its just going to take some time.

 

I was trying to give ideas for Sprint to improve its reputation, though I know they are doing a good job on their network. Thing is, no matter what good Sprint is doing on their network, I still read so much hate against them in comments sections, much of which is unwarranted. The complaints I read about on their facebook sometimes seem legit, but then they go on saying things like "We've been with Sprint for 8 years, or 12 years or 16 years, etc." If they were so unhappy with Sprint, why then do they remain customers with them for so long, then complain about it on Facebook.

 

So while I was typing these thoughts, I got a bit carried away with it, something that happens when I'm thinking too much, then I forget how long a message I'm writing. Though I didn't mean to attack Sprint in any way. Besides, I'm considering going back with them, from an offer I've received from someone here on S4GRU, which will be pretty great.

[Sanyo M1]

 

I don't have a way to check this, but my understanding is that all Sprint branded Android LTE phones display both 1x and EVDO as "3G", and iPhones don't.

 

And my memory is hazy on this, but I think Nexus devices don't Nexus devices do, BlackBerry's don't, and Windows Phones do, but my memory is very hazy -- I'm not 100% sure of this.

 

(edit: I forgot that I changed this manually on my Nexus)

 

I'm fairly certain on KitKat it actually showed '1X', but ever since lollipop it shows '3G'.

[gusherb]

I'm fairly certain on KitKat it actually showed '1X', but ever since lollipop it shows '3G'.

That would be correct. I was furious when my N5 started saying 3G while on 1x.

[lou99/maximus1987]

That would be correct. I was furious when my N5 started saying 3G while on 1x.

#3gGate

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cdk]

That would be correct. I was furious when my N5 started saying 3G while on 1x.

 

I wasn't furious, but I was annoyed when they changed it. At least with Signal Check Pro I know what is really going on.

[cortney]

#3gGate

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

More like #OffTopicGate

 

I didn't even realize this was the T-Mobile thread 

 

One thing Android does do whether it's CDMA or GSM, Sprint or T-Mobile, is continually seem to confuse data/signal readings depending on the version.

 

In terms of the signal reading ("bars"), I've noticed a difference for at least B17 since the 5.1 release. Instead of getting 1-2 bars for virtually everything and 3 for strong and 4 for "next to tower" strong, I now see a fairly proper fluctuation between 2-5 bars virtually everywhere and only 1 (aka "none") for a weak signal ready to handoff. It seems to take the SNR into account, unless I'm mistaken.

 

Have T-Mobile users on Nexus'/5.1 or newer Custom Roms noticed this (seemingly positive) change for your bands 2 or 4 or even 12? The Band 2 on AT&T seems to reflect this, but I wasn't on B2 too much before the update nor am I yet.

[Paynefanbro]

More like #OffTopicGate

 

I didn't even realize this was the T-Mobile thread 

 

One thing Android does do whether it's CDMA or GSM, Sprint or T-Mobile, is continually seem to confuse data/signal readings depending on the version.

 

In terms of the signal reading ("bars"), I've noticed a difference for at least B17 since the 5.1 release. Instead of getting 1-2 bars for virtually everything and 3 for strong and 4 for "next to tower" strong, I now see a fairly proper fluctuation between 2-5 bars virtually everywhere and only 1 (aka "none") for a weak signal ready to handoff. It seems to take the SNR into account, unless I'm mistaken.

 

Have T-Mobile users on Nexus'/5.1 or newer Custom Roms noticed this (seemingly positive) change for your bands 2 or 4 or even 12? The Band 2 on AT&T seems to reflect this, but I wasn't on B2 too much before the update nor am I yet.

 

I wish all phones treated signal this way. I hate to say it but that was actually one of the things that made me consider switching to a Nexus device or an iPhone. I was tired of seeing 1 bar of LTE and then when I went to SignalCheck Pro, I saw that I had a -100dbm signal. It's actually so annoying.

[EvanA]

More like #OffTopicGate

 

I didn't even realize this was the T-Mobile thread

 

One thing Android does do whether it's CDMA or GSM, Sprint or T-Mobile, is continually seem to confuse data/signal readings depending on the version.

 

In terms of the signal reading ("bars"), I've noticed a difference for at least B17 since the 5.1 release. Instead of getting 1-2 bars for virtually everything and 3 for strong and 4 for "next to tower" strong, I now see a fairly proper fluctuation between 2-5 bars virtually everywhere and only 1 (aka "none") for a weak signal ready to handoff. It seems to take the SNR into account, unless I'm mistaken.

 

Have T-Mobile users on Nexus'/5.1 or newer Custom Roms noticed this (seemingly positive) change for your bands 2 or 4 or even 12? The Band 2 on AT&T seems to reflect this, but I wasn't on B2 too much before the update nor am I yet.

Google modified the thresholds for signal bars in 5.1. It's now more generous and matches how other Android phones display signal strength.

[cortney]

Google modified the thresholds for signal bars in 5.1. It's now more generous and matches how other Android phones display signal strength.

Thanks, I'll admit I was not up to speed on what actually happened. Scratch my SNR theory.

 

Now, do you know if they modified that across the board (not so good for high-band like B41) or is there any individuality? Oh, and now I'm bring it back off topic