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Post Info TOPIC: 4G... 3G... which Gee Gee for your phone?
Mike Harding


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I am currently camped in a location with very poor Telstra mobile coverage, both my phone and tablet show only one to no bars of signal reception (about -125dB for the technical).

Nevertheless 4G does provide decent internet coverage here - you're not going to stream Netflix but it does enable acceptable web surfing,

The trouble is the damn phone (used as a hotspot) often decides it prefers the 3G cell it can barely see to the 4G cell it can barely see and when it switches to 3G data transfer fall into a deep pit and the phone will not switch back to 4G until it feels so inclined.

There is a solution... and it works... but if you are not confident with electronic technical stuff stop reading here and pick up a book :) I've just started re-reading John Le'Carre's "The Little Drummer Girl" and excellent it is too.

That solution: it is, most likely, possible to lock you phone into using 4G only; NB this *may* preclude you making voice calls if your phone and provider does not support VoLTE or WiFi Calling but, of course you can always switch back to 3G/4G if needed.

Do the following (Android only probably?) - on the phone keypad type:

*#*#4636#*#*

Select "Phone information"

Select "Preferred network type"

Select "LTE only"

Select the back button a few times or simply return to the main Android screen.

All done

NB: *Make a note* of settings before you change anything.

The above will prevent your phone switching out of 4G mode irrespective of signal conditions and has markedly improved data throughput at my location but if it all blows up and kills your grandmother don't blame me! :)



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Are We Lost


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Wow, what a lot of technical info that opened up ... if I undersood much of it. And what a good tip.

But I agree with the comment about making a note of things before changing anything. Absolutely. Otherwise you may be factory resetting your phone.



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oldbloke


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Umm. I don't get any options.
Umm you did mean dial it?

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Are We Lost


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Maybe it's dependent on Android version. I have Android 11 in a phone a few months old.

I just entered those characters in the phone dialer as if making a call, but when I entered the last asterix a screen headed "Testing" popped up before I could press the Send key.




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Buzz Lightbulb


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An NBN technician told me that the higher the xG the less distance the signal will travel. He was adamant that 5G and 6G were not a good idea but of course lead can be transmitted on the lower xGs. 



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Whenarewethere


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You need higher frequencies to transmit more data. You need lower frequencies to transmit further.



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Are We Lost


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oldbloke, I just tried the same input on my older phone with Android 9. It did nothing.


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Mike Harding


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Works on my Android 6 ZTE phone. I suspect it's manufacturers such as Samsung who stuff around with the Android code and disable it. Try Google for your particular phone code.



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"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"

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dorian


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Mike Harding wrote:

Works on my Android 6 ZTE phone. I suspect it's manufacturers such as Samsung who stuff around with the Android code and disable it. Try Google for your particular phone code.

https://oscarmini.com/force-4g-lte-on-samsung-s9-and-note/

How to Force/Turn On 4G LTE Only on Samsung S9 and Note Devices

  1. Open the settings app on your Samsung
  2. In the settings app, select connections
  3. Select mobile networks
  4. Select network mode
  5. Select LTE/WCDMA/GSM (auto connect) to enable  4G LTE network

Activating LTE/WCDMA/GSM auto connect mode will keep a stable 4G network on the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Note devices. This way network won't drop to 3G or 2G when the network is not very strong.



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Bow


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Will  3G will be turned off next year ?



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oldbloke


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dorian wrote:
Mike Harding wrote:

Works on my Android 6 ZTE phone. I suspect it's manufacturers such as Samsung who stuff around with the Android code and disable it. Try Google for your particular phone code.

https://oscarmini.com/force-4g-lte-on-samsung-s9-and-note/

How to Force/Turn On 4G LTE Only on Samsung S9 and Note Devices

  1. Open the settings app on your Samsung
  2. In the settings app, select connections
  3. Select mobile networks
  4. Select network mode
  5. Select LTE/WCDMA/GSM (auto connect) to enable  4G LTE network

Activating LTE/WCDMA/GSM auto connect mode will keep a stable 4G network on the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Note devices. This way network won't drop to 3G or 2G when the network is not very strong.

 Thanks Dorian,

I did find that yesterday and was already set ont LTE 4G.

IT, these things are meant to test us. Lol



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