Help 3G/4G Icon, but no data connection Virgin Mobile

[Torque Effect]

Ok this has been ticking me off to no end.

My job is to drive a van for Autozone store to store, and radio just doesn't cut it for me. So I like listening to Spotify, or Pandora.

Well I am finding it extremely frustrating when I get into some areas, and music just stops. Well if there is a low signal, fair enough, but no, there is never a low signal when it does this, except for one town in particular I pass through out in the boonies.

At times I will have full bars, or nearly full bars, and 4g, or 3g data icon indicating that I am supposed to have a data connection. But pull up spotify or pandora, says no network connection, I open up Chrome or Firefox, no webpages loads either. This only happens in certain areas, and it is frustrating the hell out of me, that I am starting to consider a different wireless carrier that doesn't use the Sprint network.

But I would rather stay with VM if I can, so I would figure I would see if anyone would know what I could do that could possibly fix this if it is a phone issue.

I tried updating PRL, and Profile already, so don't tell me to try that, it doesn't do a damn thing. Is there any APN, or settings somewhere I can possibly change? I have already tried disabling 4G, and running just 3G, but it will do the same thing on 3G connections.

 

[Torque Effect]

By all the silence. I can only guess this is a network problem, not a phone problem.

Great.....

Seriously considering going to a carrier that uses the Verizon network, maybe their data network won't be a complete *********** like Sprint's.

There is no excuse for not properly maintaining your towers out in rural areas.

 

[jamstewonline]

This is just a thought about your problem. In my area there are areas that i get 4g and others i get 3g. When i am heading into an area that goes from 4g to 3g there is a few seconds that my data gets interrupted while it switches over. This also happens when switching from data to WiFi. Now with that being said if say your driving down the road and the right side is 4g and the lefts side is 3g if the road curves left then right your phone will constantly try to change to the 3g or 4g side thus interrupting your data signal continuously until it finally gets on one side and stays there. Does this make sense as an analogy? If you search the play store you should be able to find an app that will tell you where the towers are and the signal radius in the area your having trouble in. If both 3g and 4g coexist but are causing a gap or just reaching each other and not overlapping then i suspect my theory is right. If this is not happening and your either in 4g/3g area or 3g only area then my theory is wrong and well dang it i will have to begin thinking again. LOL. Hope this helps. oh yea the bars will show full if your signal 3g or 4g is present. It's the phone trying to figure out which one to connect to. Turning off connection optimizer may help correct this problem as it's function is to help your phone switch to the strongest signal automatically.

 

[Torque Effect]

This is just a thought about your problem. In my area there are areas that i get 4g and others i get 3g. When i am heading into an area that goes from 4g to 3g there is a few seconds that my data gets interrupted while it switches over. This also happens when switching from data to WiFi. Now with that being said if say your driving down the road and the right side is 4g and the lefts side is 3g if the road curves left then right your phone will constantly try to change to the 3g or 4g side thus interrupting your data signal continuously until it finally gets on one side and stays there. Does this make sense as an analogy? If you search the play store you should be able to find an app that will tell you where the towers are and the signal radius in the area your having trouble in. If both 3g and 4g coexist but are causing a gap or just reaching each other and not overlapping then i suspect my theory is right. If this is not happening and your either in 4g/3g area or 3g only area then my theory is wrong and well dang it i will have to begin thinking again. LOL. Hope this helps. oh yea the bars will show full if your signal 3g or 4g is present. It's the phone trying to figure out which one to connect to. Turning off connection optimizer may help correct this problem as it's function is to help your phone switch to the strongest signal automatically.

I understand what your saying. But I have switched it to CDMA mode only, and it still does the same thing, no LTE so it shouldn't be doing the back and forth thing.

I did turn off the connection optimizer, but won't know if it has any effect until the next time I am at work. Because at home I get a perfect 4G connection.

 

[jamstewonline]

maybe the connection optimizer part will work. not sure but I think even though your set to cdma only I think if 4g is in area then bars will still show full even though the 3g connections may be very weak. When your in the area that gives you trouble check your signal strength and network type through the phones settings menu/status.

 

[Torque Effect]

Also, just curious.

I noticed back when I had Cricket, if I wasn't in a 3G area it would use something called 1x. But with VM on the Sprint network, if there is no 3G, you have nothing. I am guessing that Sprint just doesn't use 1x?

 

[jamstewonline]

Sprint does use the edmo and 1x symbols on their phones but the vm f3 phone may not use it.
After a little searching other sprint phone manuals. I have found that most of them show the 3g symbol even when in 1x. the only real way to tell is through the settings menu and watch the status of the signal from there.