4g and 3g confusion

[farrellcollie]

when I turn on 4g - the green light comes on next to it, but 3g stays up on top for about 15 minutes and the little white arrows flash. Eventually the 4g symbol will appear but often with no bars and the 3g symbol will flash back. Does this mean I am on 4g or 3g? Also I can almost never get 4g at night - it will drop. Is this normal?

 

[evoandroid]

You're just in and out of 4g coverage. Id leave in 3 g if that's the case to save batteries until coverage increases

 

[farrellcollie]

The funny part about it being because it is because I am going in and out of 4g places is it can happens when I am just sitting in one place even outside- not moving around. I guess I will just stick to 3g which drops too, but not as much.

 

[beluga]

The funny part about it being because it is because I am going in and out of 4g places is it can happens when I am just sitting in one place even outside- not moving around. I guess I will just stick to 3g which drops too, but not as much.

In wireless communication, there is something called fading, which causes the signal strong and weak, come and go at different times randomly. So when you sit on the cell edge, the signal fluctuation will cause your 4G come and go too.

 

[evotitans]

The funny part about it being because it is because I am going in and out of 4g places is it can happens when I am just sitting in one place even outside- not moving around. I guess I will just stick to 3g which drops too, but not as much.

Just sounds like you are on a edge of 4G, so are probably just barely picking up a signal.

In my house, I get barely a bar of 4G( Dont need it with WIFI at home anyway).....but in my office I get a SOLID 2 bars, with no dropout. Seems like when you are in strong 4G it doesnt drop at all.

 

[meyerweb]

Tapping the widget for 4G just tells the phone to look for a 4G signal. That process can take a while. If the 3G comes back, you're no longer connected to 4G.

Also, it appears that one of the changes in the last update was to change how often the phone looks for 4G. It seems that if you drop a 4G signal, the phone won't seek out 4G immediately. I saw a thread somewhere that indicated the phone won't look for 4G for 30 minutes after dropping the connection, in order to save on battery.