boomerbubba

I don't think eHRPD per se is supposed to be any faster than EVDO.

The toggle reportedly is/was necessary on the older LG2 firmware, but not with the latest LG8 firmware. You do have to make sure that the LTE setting is turned on, though.

Monitoring apps by themselves won't do you much good. First, understand that none of them are able to map LTE towers directly. The better ones do log and map CDMA sectors (typically 3 per tower) which may or may not be actual tower locations. (I use the CDMA Field Test app for that.) Even when they are not, they do map coordinates offset some distance around the towers, with sequential BSID values. So if you want to do a boots-on-the-ground survey, you still need S4GRU's map of the actual towers to see where they are. There are several threads discussing this issue here. Just search.

Become an S4GRU sponsor and gain access to the detailed maps available exclusively here.

Both the "bars" display and the signal strength you mention on the Status screen are actually based on the 1x signal, not the LTE signal. (At least on the LG8 version of the firmware.) The strength of that signal, based upon those levels, is strong. The only place on the GS3 to get a signal strength reading for the LTE signal (calculated as RSRP) is on the hidden LTE Engineering screen. How are the LTE data speeds?

No, the GS3 has a noise-cancellation mic on the top edge.

I bought my current GS3 from corporate online because I wanted the 32GB model. (Bought the phone late on a Friday afternoon and standard free shipping had it at my door Monday evening.) I bought my prior Sprint phone, an Epic 4G, through an online channel because that was the simplest way to establish my employer discount. I did swap that out at a local store over a hardware warranty issue.

You don't have to upload a screenshot for everything. Most folks will take your word for it if you just type the figures.

Do they let you get your hands on a local copy of the logged data that is uploaded to the mothership? If so, is it useful? Does RootMetrics support LTE?

That is good news. But remember that the "bars" display on the GS3 with an LTE data connection is not based on the LTE signal, but on the 1x signal. I hope you were also getting good LTE data speeds.

So do I (not an EVO LTE user) understand correctly that this update has still not even been released yet? The original post a couple of weeks ago led everyone to think that there would be a quick update to optimize the LTE signal threshold. Maybe the need is not as acute as it was on the Samsung GS3. But since this is one of Sprint's flagship phones, if there still is an LTE threshold problem on this handset that fact has to color the experience of many users out there reporting their LTE rollout results.

It's not quite that easy, but close. If your phone is stock you just have to download the update zip file to the root of your external SD card. Don't unzip it. You don't even have to rename it like you used to do in the old days. Then apply the update from the recovery menu: Power off the phone. Get to recovery mode with a combination of holding Volume Up, Power and Home for a few seconds. Release these keys the moment you get the first splash screen. (If you hold too long, you will just reboot with no action.) Using the Volume rocker pick the option to "apply update from external storage" Press the Power button to execute After the update is applied, reboot. The update zip file is typically available on multiple forums soon after Sprint starts pushing it out. Here is a link a XDA.

You are certainly better off asking about this in an EVO forum. Your sig says you're running a custom ROM, which probably is a big factor. In general, I think OTA updates are meant for stock devices.

Your sig says your GS3 is rooted, which means you would have to take extra steps installing the update anyway. Why don't you just go ahead and do it all now yourself with a downloaded copy of the update zip file?

You are both reading my comment wrong. I am not defending Sprint's maps at all. I am defending reality and reason against trolls. The truth is that the LTE coverage in Sprint's opening markets is still spotty, and does not match the official maps. And the coverage problems are magnified because the OTA fix on the handsets is going slowly . That does not mean coverage is "non-existent."

That is the worse lie, by any sober objective measure, no matter what the exaggerated Sprint maps say. I have seen plenty of evidence here and on other forums of lots of "non-existent" LTE service, and experienced a lot of it firsthand. I'm just a guest here myself, but I think you will find that kind of provocative trolling without factual basis is not welcome.

Sprint's own maps are obviously too optimistic. For a comparison of their map vs. a theoretical but realistic coverage map of a specific local area, see this post from yesterday: LTE Coverage Map - McKinney, Texas 8/7/2012

I saw that once using Netmonitor and thought that might be the reason. But since then I learned that it might be caused by a problem with the underlying Android telephony API not updating all the ID fields at the same time, leading to occasional inconsistencies like this. There is an open issue at Google documenting this: Issue 32593: base station ID (SID, NID, BID) not updated at same time leading to bogus IDs

I have never experienced that behavior. My 1x signal strength varies robustly.

Are you talking about the LTE Engineering screen under the DEBUG menu? That is the only screen on the GS3 that shows the LTE signal level. In my brief experience, the last values reported for RSRP and RSRQ remain when the LTE connection is lost rather than resetting to 0 or null. They only change when a new LTE connection is obtained.

Are you going to be able to include any LTE tests? (Thought maybe you made a secret detour on your vacation.)

It's not difficult to download the update file and apply it manually, especially if your phone is not rooted. Read this link at XDA,. The comments there also include a video tutorial by qbking77. Or this link at Android Central.

In the manual specs for this product I only find Other Wilson products have similar ranges. I thought that the G Block Sprint is using for LTE includes 1990-1995 Mhz. See also this comment by WiWavelength.

To enable or disable LTE, go to Settings -> More settings -> Mobile networks -> Network Mode and select either CDMA or LTE/CDMA. I am running the latest firmware update (LG8), which you also should be running if you want to connect to LTE reliably.

I don't think so. See my email from Wilson in this thread.