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Help I am thinking about getting a refund!

Ineedtoknow

Newbie
Jul 15, 2013
13
0
All right I'm just about at the end of my rope. I have taken my galaxy S4 back three times now and it's still not working right. I keep having problems with the 4G network. The first time I had to take it back because they forgot to add the mobile network. The second time I took it back they had to install a new Sim card. I just got back from my third trip where they updated the Sim card and did a speed test on it. Everything was working just fine until an hour ago. The 4G icon right above the up and down arrows keeps diapering and an E replaces the 4G and then it's slow as ****. I have a 500MB 4G plan and I only have 116MBs used so I know it's not that.

Please help

Thanks
 
Yeah it's tmobile but I don't understand it because even when I was in town it still had an E above it until they updated the sim. Also the 4G icon & speed stayed for about seven hours after I returned home. I even click airplane mode four different times to test it to make sure it was fixed. Anyone know of any other noncontact 4G service?

Thanks for all the help I also have a few other complaints about it. Don't get me wrong I like the phone but it's definitely fallen short of my expectations.

Another complaint is the most recent I am having trouble transferring video

After recording video of my bike ride on a mountain trail with my S4. I watched all of it on the way home and it looked amazing. But when I downloaded to my computer it was all jumpy and froze at times. How can I fix this?

I have an old HP Pavilion running windows vista. Also when I transferred it to a USB and played it on my ps3 it was still jumpy and freezes at times.
 
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I would still try checking out Open Signal and see if their information is matching up with the phone itself. I know they switched out the sim, but it could be the phones internal radios that are bad.
I would suggest a factory reset on it first if you havent already done so. Then if that doesnt work, return the phone and make them give you a new one to replace it because the chances of you having the same issues on a new phone would be rare.
I've had my phone on t-mobile since it came out and I have 0 issues including when transferring videos at full 1080p.
 
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I download open signal maps and inside the house the data signal was poor. So went outside and the best I could get was 1 MBps yesterday it was 5-6 MBps you said that it could be the phones internal radios. Could you give me some more info so I could at least sound like I know what I'm talking about :eek: Also is there any thing else I should have them check out?

Thanks
 
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I download open signal maps and inside the house the data signal was poor. So went outside and the best I could get was 1 MBps yesterday it was 5-6 MBps you said that it could be the phones internal radios. Could you give me some more info so I could at least sound like I know what I'm talking about :eek: Also is there any thing else I should have them check out?

Thanks

Here's one more app you can try. Network Signal Info.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.android.telnet

Keep an eye on the signal itself. Percent and dbm. See if it constantly goes up and down with big gaps and for how long.

Here's one last thing you can try (only if you are in the U.S.) and will connect you to a different apn on t-mobile. You won't get lte from it, but it may fix the issue with 4g data speeds. I doubt this will fix any signal issues itself, just the data. I get faster data speeds from it. Why t-mobile only gave people one apn option on the GS4 is beyond me.

1- Open the Settings
2- Select More Networks
3- Select Mobile networks
4- Select Access Point Names
You'll see only 1 apn listed which should say t-mobile US LTE (fast.t-mobile.com)
5- Hit the menu key and select New APN (doing this will leave the other one there in case you want to switch back after)

Enter everything below in the areas exactly as typed (leave other things alone or as not set) and save it. Go back and select the new apn setting. The 4g will drop for a second or 2 then come back. Check your download speeds then. Any better or worse?

Name: T-Mobile US
APN: epc.tmobile.com
Proxy: Not set
Port: Not set
User name: Not set
Password: Not set
Server: Not set
MMSC: http://mms.msg.eng.t-mobile.com/mms/wapenc
MMS proxy: Not set
MMS port: Not set
MCC: 310
MNC: 260
Authentication type: Not set
APN type: default, mms, supl
APN protocol: IPv4
APN roaming protocol: IPv4
 
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Well I finally exchanged the S4 for a brand new one yesterday morning. They keep saying that it could be fixed but it was my seventh visit there. The closest tmobile store is in a mall so by the time I find a place to park and walk in. I am even more unpleasant then normal also luckily or unluckily for me I'm a big scarry looking guy so they didn't argue much. Everything seemed fine until today when the 4G icon disappeared and the E is there again. Below is a picture I know it's not a very good one because I took it with my old precedent.

IMG_20130805_203224_zps7fed3a98.jpg


I didn't think this would happen again especially now that I have a new S4 but here we are. The phone worked perfectly for about nineteen hours I turned the 4G on and off several times. I even turned the phone off overnight and this morning it worked perfectly and for most if the day. I was on the internet when someone called me and ever since then the 4G and the speed has disappeared. I had 12.8 MBps now I'm lucky to 1 Mbps I can't figure it out everything about the phone is completely stock. By that I mean I haven't changed anything on it so it's the same as it was after they set it up at the store. The only thing that I can think of is that I use airplane mode to turn everything off that's my only guess. On my precedent I used airplane mode to turn on & off the service and network all the time is the S4 different? Also is there a way to reactivate the 4G LTE?

Thanks

(sincarafan) I successfully set up the.alternate APN but it didn't help the data speed.

Another thing that happened was the guy at the tmobile store said to leave the phone on and use it until the battery was dead. After that then I could charge it up he claimed it would make the life of the battery longer is that true?
 
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Doing a discharge until the phone shuts down is ok once. It actually helps the "% battery left" sensor to have accurate readings. Don't get in the habit of doing it though. It will not improve your battery life. Lithium ion batterys like it when they're at full power.

What sort of apps do you have on your phone? Are you using any kind of task manager/killer?
 
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Airplane mode will disable the 4g but turning it off will reactivate it and shouldnt have any effect with making the 4g drop to e. Lte will connect itself as long as it is available and the apn is on the fast.tmobile.com setting. Something tells me this is tmobiles issue with their tower and signal issue considering it's going on with the new phone as well.
 
Upvote 0
Well I finally exchanged the S4 for a brand new one yesterday morning. They keep saying that it could be fixed but it was my seventh visit there. The closest tmobile store is in a mall so by the time I find a place to park and walk in. I am even more unpleasant then normal also luckily or unluckily for me I'm a big scarry looking guy so they didn't argue much. Everything seemed fine until today when the 4G icon disappeared and the E is there again. Below is a picture I know it's not a very good one because I took it with my old precedent.

IMG_20130805_203224_zps7fed3a98.jpg


I didn't think this would happen again especially now that I have a new S4 but here we are. The phone worked perfectly for about nineteen hours I turned the 4G on and off several times. I even turned the phone off overnight and this morning it worked perfectly and for most if the day. I was on the internet when someone called me and ever since then the 4G and the speed has disappeared. I had 12.8 MBps now I'm lucky to 1 Mbps I can't figure it out everything about the phone is completely stock. By that I mean I haven't changed anything on it so it's the same as it was after they set it up at the store. The only thing that I can think of is that I use airplane mode to turn everything off that's my only guess. On my precedent I used airplane mode to turn on & off the service and network all the time is the S4 different? Also is there a way to reactivate the 4G LTE?

Thanks

(sincarafan) I successfully set up the.alternate APN but it didn't help the data speed.

Another thing that happened was the guy at the tmobile store said to leave the phone on and use it until the battery was dead. After that then I could charge it up he claimed it would make the life of the battery longer is that true?

I'm thinking it has to be the reception in your area. BTW, you could have taken a screenshot of your homescreen and attached it in your post :)
 
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