cooljb

I'm getting 800 Mhz all over Memphis. Specifically, East and Southeast Memphis - Poplar/Massey, Winchester/Hacks Cross. Also in Cordova where I live. There are several ways you can get this information. On Samsung phones there are several dialer codes that you input on the phone dialer that bring up hidden test/debugging menus. I don't have any experience with LG androind phones so I'm not familiar with the codes for LG phones. Some of them may be universal, and some of them are manufacturer specific. You can find a partial list here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2523252 The first one listed on the above link says it works on LG phones. Again, I can't vouch for any of this since I don't have an LG phone. There is also an app in the Play Store called SignalCheck Lite (free version). The frequency isn't actually displayed. In the hidden debug screens what is displayed will be denoted as either the "Band" or the "Band Class". Here is how these relate to the actual frequencies being used: Band 25 = Band Class 1 = 1900 Mhz (Original Sprint PCS frequency) Band 26 = Band Class 10 = 800 Mhz (Old Nextel frequency) Band 41 = 2.5 Ghz (Old Clearwire/WiMax frequency) - Not sure what the Band Class for Band 41 is - others here may know and can please chime in if they do. It may not even have one as Band 41 will only be used for data, not voice. In the SignalCheck Lite app the band will be listed as "BXX" - example "B25" for Band 25, B26 for Band 26, etc. If you're getting dropped down to 3G you're probably on an 800 Mhz tower, per the issues being discussed in this thread. You can probably verify that now with one of the above methods.

I know you guys can't do anything about it - I just had to vent a little. But there are obviously a lot of people here who are knowlegable about all of this and can, and have, shed light on why/how these problems have come to be. I've learned a lot just in this thread over the last couple of days. Sorry for the rants. I know you guys are here to help - and you have. Now I know Ericson is the problem, which I didn't know before. I also know (which I kind of knew already) that my issues are more than likely being caused by my phone hitting a tower that has 800 Mhz data deployed but no eCSFB yet. And when they do update these towers with eCSFB my problems will probably go away. This site has been very helpful. As I said I have learned a lot from it. I'll keep the rants to myself from now on.

It's definitely been more than a few weeks that I've been regularly getting dropped back to 3G on my S4 tri-band. That's why I'm annoyed. I can understand, and tolerate, reasonable service disruptions due to the upgrades. But to me, weeks and weeks of disruptions are not what I call reasonable. As of right now, today, I am still regularly getting dropped to 3G all over memphis. I can usually get LTE back by toggling airplane mode, but sometimes that doesn't stick either. I SHOULDN'T have to do ANYTHING to keep my LTE service that I pay dearly for every month. Again, week after week of this is getting old. And doubly frustrating is trying to get help from sprint - who say there are no issues - while I'm looking at my 4G phone getting 3G service. And they tell me there are no issues on the network. And oh yeah, my wife's S3 and my daughter's iphone 5 both are getting 4G, but I can't. And there are no issues on the network, according to sprint. VERY frustrating, and unacceptable to me as a customer. This should NEVER happen. And if and when it does, it should be fixed IMMEDIATELY. It should NEVER take weeks or months to get people's service working properly.

Thanks! I'm going to do just that.

<rant> If this is the case, heads should be rolling. On the Sprint forums you have tons of people who signed up with sprint and got the latest greatest phones (S5, HTC One M8) and they CAN'T get 4G???!!! If it's a new customer, I wouldn't be surprised if Sprint is losing a lot of them after they find out their bad ass phone is getting dial-up internet speeds. They're probably losing existing customers over this too. And I'm also a long-time customer, and I'm very frustrated and upset that I have to fiddle with my phone to get it to work right because someone (either at sprint, or one of their vendors, or both) is not doing their job. And it seems that nothing is being done to fix it either. Maybe I'm oversimplifying it, but that's no way to run a business in my opinion. Dan Hesse should be on the phone with the CEO of Ericson telling them "I'm losing customers because of your screw-ups. You guys need to fix this ASAP!" I know if I were in his position that's what I would be doing. Am I missing something here? It's so frustrating too because the network has so much potential to be completely awesome. And to see sprint and their vendors fumbling around doing a half-ass job on it is maddening. How can sprint offer sub-par service and expect me to keep paying my bill. They sure as hell would cut my service off if I stopped paying my bill, how come I can't cut off my payments when they don't provide me with the service I'm paying for?! </rant>

W-iFi calling is a real crap shoot. It's VERY picky about the Wi-Fi signal. If it's not damn near perfect, Wi-Fi calling won't work. Plus it does an awful lot of location verification (for 911). It's a little tedious and not very user friendly. I've only gotten it to work at home under ideal conditions - and I get a great Sprint signal at home, so I don' really need it here. Seems not quite ready for prime time to me.

That's my frustration with talking to sprint - when they say there's no issue, then there's nothing for them to escalate. But I've seen a flood of complaints on the sprint community forums about this issue - specifically with the S5 and the new HTC One. I can only hope that between people calling and complaining, people complaining in the sprint forums, and of course the engineers on the ground - who surely are aware of these issues, that they will eventually be addressed. Like I said, when I called sprint, they basically said there were no issues, therefore there was nothing for them to escalate. And I generally don't bother to call sprint for that very reason. But I have actually gotten lucky once or twice and gotten someone on the phone who knew what was going on. So I give them a call from time to time in hopes of getting lucky again...

I'm in the Memphis market - which according to the S4Gru running list has 99% NV complete, and 96% LTE complete. However on my SPH-L720T, I frequently get dropped down to 3G and have to toggle airplane mode to get it back - and it doesn't always stick either. My wife has the S3 and my daughter has the iphone 5 and they both get LTE ALL the time. Does this mean that even though the are 99% done with Network Vision, eCSFB has not been fully implemented in this market? I stupidly called sprint about this, and of course they say there are no issues in the area - which means they either don't know about eCSFB, or they have been instructed NOT to acknowledge any issues on the network (even though someone at sprint must be aware of these issues). When I get LTE it's generally on Band 26 nowadays and I'm getting 800 Mhz voice as well. I've even seen LTE on Band 41 sporadically. And when I'm on LTE it's generally very fast. Just wondered if some of you more knowlegeable people could shed some light on why I would be getting dropped back to 3G as much as I am. Theoretically I should almost NEVER get dropped back to 3G based on 99% Network Vision completion and 96% LTE completion, right?

I (and MANY others) had the same problem after the Wi-Fi calling update. I initially fixed it myself with Odin. Samsung has since created an app in the Play Store called "Refresh Customization" that many people have reported fixes these issues caused by the W-Fi calling update. There are 2 options in the app, do both of them. I would try the app first, if that doesn't work, use Kies, or if you're a true geek, use Odin and re-flash your phone with the NC6 firmware.