ingenium

Anyone have insight as to what is keeping the VoLTE rollout to previous devices from being more widespread. I understand that it's based on a software update to the UE, but are there network or other issues being resolved before doing so? 

There's really no reason. One member here just figured out how to hack the Pixel to force VoLTE to be enabled (root required), and it works perfectly. It was literally just forcing the toggle to appear... The VoLTE implemention is standard and the software and config is already there, it just needs forced on. Sprint is just limiting the rollout, either because they feel the network isn't ready, or for other reasons.

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Do I spy something interesting in the status bar.....

-Mike

Indeed you do [emoji6]

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After the update, my P3 still loves 3G... ugh. Wouldn't be bad if you could reset the radio via the DATA button, but you need a full Airplane Mode cycle to get that back - and you lose music, bluetooth and tethering connections in the process.

There is an adb command that you can run, without root I think, that sets what radios are affected by airplane mode. I set mine to not disable Bluetooth. Get an adb shell and run:

settings put global airplane_mode_radios cell,wifi,wimax

You can leave out wifi if you don't want it affected by airplane mode. The default list is cell,bluetooth,wifi,nfc,wimax

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Does field test show the earfcn? That could be used as well.

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Has a firmware update been pushed out to fix issues that were going on with the newest Magic Box Gold yet? I think it was supposed to enable wired backhaul too...

No. There was a beta firmware that one person was able to get pushed to their MB, and it added some things to the non-relay backhaul options, but it still was not working. They're seemingly having trouble getting it to work for some reason. Sprint is apparently having lots of software configuration related issues lately, between this and VoLTE rollout issues.

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Does anyone know how much of a change is allowed by the fingerprint scanner? My fingerprints might be wearing off or changing based on wear and tear just curious. I might just reset them or wait to see if the print starts working.

Supposedly, at least on the Pixels (I assume Samsung uses the standard implementation now), it's continuously learning and refining the known prints. So every time it's scanned and accepted, it takes that new scan into account for future scans. In theory this should mean that it will adjust to changes in your prints.

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This screen shot shows what my phone has been doing. Sometimes it will show the VoLTE icon next to the signal bars, with the exclamation point. It will sit like that for about a minute and then pop over to 3g or tmobile roaming, both of which are very weak where I'm at. I've tried reprovisioning, even a factory reset, but nothing seems to matter. I've reset the airave, but I don't think that's the issue since my wife's phone connects just fine.

Is there anything I'm missing before I call sprint and have the dreaded 2 hour call where they go through all the standard stuff to try to fix it?

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Supposedly the airave doesn't support VoLTE, and when in range it supposedly disables it, as if you crossed into a non VoLTE market. It's possible that this isn't working properly and it's confusing your phone. Maybe try disabling it?

I assume you've tried rebooting your airave? I've run into issues with mine that can last for weeks, where LTE from the airave does something to my phone and it will refuse to connect to LTE (on a magic box or macro, or the airave itself) until I airplane mode toggle. As soon as it connects to the airave LTE the problem repeated. I disabled LTE on the airave for a few weeks (blocked the LTE ipsec tunnel on my router, so it was 3g only), and when I reenabled it it had been fixed. [emoji2369]

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I only browse with Tapatalk, but whatever Robert did last week fixed the speed issues that I was having.

For people having issues, does Developer Tools show anything? Anything in the console, or any specific request that's hanging? That might be useful to help figure out the cause.

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On 2/19/2019 at 4:59 PM, dbsynergy said:

My phone is showing native coverage while connecting to a T-Mobile tower. I just did a software update on my Essential PH-1 this morning. Right after completing the update, it shows native full signal on T-Mobile AWS. 

 

That's really interesting that it's showing the real T-Mobile PLMN instead of the Clear PLMN. Unless SCP replaces it automatically when displaying it.

On 2/19/2019 at 10:38 PM, swintec said:

My essential has done the same since last week, with feb update. honestly i could not remember if this was how it was before.  Glad you confirmed this.  Fwiw, it does the same on USCC roaming as well UNLESS voice / 1x is also roaming then the R will be displayed.

I believe this has always been the behavior on Android. The roaming indicator is the status of the CDMA connection only. 

On 2/18/2019 at 1:22 PM, Flompholph said:

Does everyone for that cell sector use 256 qam?

Not sure if you were asking this question or answering it, but the speed increases only apply on a per UE basis, and doesn't directly affect others (more on that below). A (very technically inaccurate) analogy would be that each user has let's say 5 seconds to receive an incoming transfer before having to wait for their turn again. 256 QAM is a more efficient encoding that means more data can be sent in that 5 seconds. It would be like listening to someone speak, but being able to add extra "words"/data by varying the tone of other words, so that you need 33% fewer words to say the same thing. In a noisy environment (ie weak signal), you can't really hear the tone, so you have to revert to saying all the words (16 or 64 QAM).

That being said, it can indirectly increase speeds for other users. Since a UE using 256 QAM will download faster, it will be finished faster, freeing up airlink to be used for other UEs.

I was told by Mr. Schnelbacher that i was being sent a water resistant magic box... definitely hear a fan inside.
I have somehow acquired 3 magic boxes now... does anyone know for sure how long they can go without being connected before sprint will bill it and turn off the sim?

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Are they showing up on your account? If not, they are likely on an engineering or some other account at Sprint. Those units seemingly can go indefinitely without being powered on. I had one off for 6-8 months before I put it back in service and it came up fine.

For a unit on your account, I think it's like 2 weeks or so before you start getting calls and texts from Sprint telling you to return it.

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If it's live I surely haven't noticed any difference.

Neither have I. I've confirmed that it's being used via NSG, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. I suspect backhaul is the bottleneck.

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Anymore rumors on VOLTE for Pixel 3 XL? VOLTE on my Wife's iPhone XS Max has been flawless

 

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Last I heard was late January I think? So it should be coming soon, at Sprint Speed[emoji769]

 

The Feb OTA should be dropping today (always the first Monday of the month), so there's a chance it will be in there.

 

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Same as [mention=696]bigsnake49[/mention]

That's the original software that it launched with. It's likely saying limited connectivity because it's unable to use it, and is probably falling back to LTE.

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I spoke too soon.

What software release are you on?

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The throttling isn't just on T-Mobile. It's on US Cellular as well. Typically a US Cellular phone will clock around 20Mbps, my Sprint phone limits too less than 3Mbps. Does the same on a brand new recently updated and retrofitted former iWireless tower in Centerville, IA, where I'm able to get around 25-30Mbps on a T-Mobile phone and less than 3Mbps on my Sprint one sitting right next too it. And in both cases my Sprint phone is newer, and more capable of faster speeds. So it wouldn't make since if it was the device. I also had the same limitation when I had Virgin Mobile Inner Circle, the same 3Mbps cap throttle. Couldn't use T-Mobile as the tower didn't get upgraded till late December 2018, I switched to Sprint early December.

Perhaps T-Mobile or US Cellular is restricting the bands available, and not allowing carrier aggregation. It's also possible that T-Mobile or US Cellular is deprioritizing roaming on their congested sites, rather than Sprint throttling it. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if providers gave priority to their own customers over roaming UEs.

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It will not use mobile data while connected to WiFi. It just makes handoffs from wifi to mobile data (such as when you move out of wifi coverage) quicker and smoother. Normally there is a slight delay while it brings up the LTE connection. I believe this option has to be enabled for wifi calling voice call continuity (VCC) to work reliability.

The downside is that it will use slightly more battery, since it has to keep the LTE connection active. How much of an impact this will have depends on how strong your mobile signal is. In low signal areas it might have a noticeable difference, but then again it might not.

For what it's worth, it's been enabled by default on my phones for years (Pixel 1, 2, and 3, and possibly the Nexus 6P and 6).

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VOLTE popped up on my S9 plus for a few mins then when away. I even made a call on it and, it worked. Now it when away. Anyone else getting it on there's?

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Are you connected to a magic box or airave now? Neither of those support VoLTE at the moment, and it will be disabled if/when you're connected to one.

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Is this something that only works outside of the U.S.?

I think so. I haven't tried it in the US. I'm not even sure if the option is shown when you aren't roaming. It's also possible that the option is there, but it won't let you authenticate on a domestic carrier's network if a Sprint signal is detected.

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How do you choose the carrier you want to connect to?

Do you have Android? On my Pixel, I go to Settings, Network & Internet, Mobile Network, Advanced, and untoggle Automatically Select Network. It will then do a scan and bring up all the networks it finds. You'll only be able to authenticate on one that Sprint has a roaming agreement with.  

 

 

It will often give an error at first saying that it can't associate, but it actually does. Not sure why. It starts with GSM, then EDGE, then maybe 15-30 seconds later it goes to HSPA, and finally 15-30 seconds later it ends up on LTE. At least that's how it's behaving for me now in Costa Rica (where Sprint has roaming agreements with all 3 carriers).

 

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The LTE availability for international roaming on Sprint's website isn't accurate. It's only accurate in that it lists the roaming partners. In my experience, if the carrier has LTE, then you'll be able to use it assuming your phone supports the bands.

You can actually force your phone to roam on whichever provider you want (if it's a roaming partner). Usually I find that one carrier has better coverage, but more subscribers so the speeds are slower. And another carrier(s) has worse coverage, but faster speeds. So I'll switch between them as appropriate.

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I wish at big events like this, they would flip the priority to prefer upload > download. 13mbps on a fairly empty network isn't going to mean much when it gets crowded

It would cause massive interference and wouldn't work unless you had a buffer area with no b41. Or if they had an unused set of earfcns, they could potentially use those just at the stadium with a different TDD timing config.

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You can still edit PRLs with the correct software, but applying them back to a device is another story... I haven't been able to find a way to write a PRL in 5 years. The last phone I was able to do it on was a Galaxy S4.

With newer phones, I believe the PRL is stored on the SIM in some way. Anything that uses a CSIM or ISIM.

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I'm in Costa Rica right now, and the Pixel 2 XL has dramatically better reception on LTE band 3 and HSPA band 5 than my 3 XL does. Side by side, my 3 will have no service and the 2 has usable service. The 3 drops LTE frequently while moving, but the 2 holds on.

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I haven't been blocked for a long time now. Seems that problem is fixed.

But it takes foreeeeeverrrrr for Tapatalk to update it's cache from S4GRU when launching the app and opening the site. Anyone else see this?

... I can help get it going a bit faster if I force close the app and clear it's cache before launching.

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I have the same issue with it often not loading in Tapatalk. I've found that I can just swipe away Tapatalk and reopen it, and then it works quickly.

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