AT&T 3G resolution

ShortFuse

Member
Mar 23, 2011
2
0
Okay, so I've been trying to figure this out.

When I get the tablet, I was in Florida, and the 3G worked fine. No problems whatsoever. Now that I get to my home in the NYC area, the 3G doesn't work at all.

I've tested with 3 different AT&T sims and 2 different S7 tablets.

Here's what I found out.

Edge works. Edge will always work. The device has no problem initializing with the connection with the cell tower when GSM Only is set. After the device has initialized with the cell tower and has signal (Settings > Status > Mobile network state: Connected), you can switch to WCDMA (3G bands)

Data will work, but dialing out will not. This is because voice is a different channel than radio on 3G.

But if you remember, I said it worked in Florida. I believe this is because, in Florida, I probably didn't have HSPA (3.5G). I only had UMTS (3G). I have tried to disable hspa and try to get it to work on 3G only, but I haven't found a way.

Are there any AT&T users on 3G that would like to report their findings?
 

buzzman

Senior Member
Dec 8, 2010
235
15
I normally have an extra PAYG T-Mobile sim in my tablet with no problems using phone-in and outgoing. When I play around with my att sim, the phone can sometimes get auto settings- edge only with call ability. It doesn't always find settings.

I can also do the Eddie s7 instructions to get calling and edge. When I do the sneak switch from GSM only to GSM/wcdma I immediately lose a bar of signal strength for calling and calls do not go thru to the s7- go directly to voice mail. I just assumed I couldn't call out- did not check. But I did get hspda (?)- the h connection for data. I would have to redo the whole connection from scratch to get back call ability- couldn't just reselect GSM only and get calling. I tried 3 to 4 different ways and still the same result. So for me if I want call and data on att it's edge only. ;(

Sent from my S7
 

Entropy

Member
Dec 24, 2010
42
1
Okay, so I've been trying to figure this out.

When I get the tablet, I was in Florida, and the 3G worked fine. No problems whatsoever. Now that I get to my home in the NYC area, the 3G doesn't work at all.

I've tested with 3 different AT&T sims and 2 different S7 tablets.

Here's what I found out.

Edge works. Edge will always work. The device has no problem initializing with the connection with the cell tower when GSM Only is set. After the device has initialized with the cell tower and has signal (Settings > Status > Mobile network state: Connected), you can switch to WCDMA (3G bands)

Data will work, but dialing out will not. This is because voice is a different channel than radio on 3G.

But if you remember, I said it worked in Florida. I believe this is because, in Florida, I probably didn't have HSPA (3.5G). I only had UMTS (3G). I have tried to disable hspa and try to get it to work on 3G only, but I haven't found a way.

Are there any AT&T users on 3G that would like to report their findings?
Define "home" - is it just "where you live" or "where your SIM's area code is"?

I have found that my S7 fails anywhere I have tried it where the tower area codes do not match that of my SIM - even on EDGE. It seems like the RIL just hangs waiting for a response when it tries to read the FDNs from the SIM. I haven't figured out why this doesn't break at home yet - need the SIM in my main phone all of tonight.

I'll post logcats of "working" and "not working" tomorrow.

To get a logcat of your device, get ADB set up on your machine (Google it), and do "adb logcat -b radio -v time" to dump the logs.

There IS a possibility there's something weird with the S7 around NYC, as all permutations of "not home" I've tested are in that direction.
Mine works:
Anywhere in the 607 area code's geographic area (my phone number is in the 607 area code)
Mine doesn't work:
South of 607 (Scranton area)
New Jersey
NYC area
Long Island
NYS Route 17 anywhere east of the 607 area code's geographic area

Not tested: Non-607 areas north/west of here (Syracuse, Roch, Buffalo)
 

ShortFuse

Member
Mar 23, 2011
2
0
I'm pretty sure it's RIL issues with HSPA. I've been trying to disable HSPA and get it on UMTS only and haven't been able to. Edge works, ALWAYS. I'm 90% sure it's HSPA. I've seen it work on 3G (UMTS).

I'm in the NYC area, but I also have issue with signal in Newark. I'm going to see if I can get my Microcell back working because I think Microcell works in UMTS not HSPA
 

Entropy

Member
Dec 24, 2010
42
1
No problems with HSPA for me - just problems with it working anywhere outside of my home area, regardless of mode (even EDGE).

Forgot logcats, d'oh! will post them tomorrow.
 
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