Signal meanings.

[timbo1083]

Can someone list what the signal meanings at the top of my screen say? Coming from Verizon to t-mobile I have seen H which I know and E. What are others and what they mean, Nd when I have certain data speeds.

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[pantlesspenguin]

G - GPRS (may as well not even have data, it's super slow)

E - EDGE (decent for emails & such but not for streaming media or tethering)

H - HSPA+


I think those are all. Have you seen any others?

 

[timbo1083]

I've seen no data arrows with no letters had all. Kept giving me network errors for data.

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[Nissan4LIFE]

G - GPRS (may as well not even have data, it's super slow)

E - EDGE (decent for emails & such but not for streaming media or tethering)

H - HSPA+


I think those are all. Have you seen any others?

Correction and I even had to correct my T-Mobile rep at the store about this.

H - Does not stand for HSPA+ coverage but rather HSDPA which in most areas is 3G service according to the MyTouch user manual pages 16-17. There are no specific indicators to distinguish between 3G(HSDPA) & 4G(HSPA+) signals unless you go into Settings > About Phone > Network and view the mobile network type.

I had to argue with him in the store because he stated that Temecula, CA has 4G service when on the HSPA+ coverage map only lists Los Angeles & San Diego in southern California to have service and I still have yet to verify if it does exist in these areas.

Also the manual does list a 3G icon but that will only work on CDMA 3G coverage which shouldn't be in the MyTouch line anyways.

I hope that clarifies things guys!

 

[timbo1083]

It does. Thank you very much. Except for my case last night of great voice coverage but no data. But the other explanations are great. I wish they did distinguish between 3 and 4 g though. Oh well.

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[pantlesspenguin]

Correction and I even had to correct my T-Mobile rep at the store about this.

H - Does not stand for HSPA+ coverage but rather HSDPA which in most areas is 3G service according to the MyTouch user manual pages 16-17. There are no specific indicators to distinguish between 3G(HSDPA) & 4G(HSPA+) signals unless you go into Settings > About Phone > Network and view the mobile network type.

I had to argue with him in the store because he stated that Temecula, CA has 4G service when on the HSPA+ coverage map only lists Los Angeles & San Diego in southern California to have service and I still have yet to verify if it does exist in these areas.

Also the manual does list a 3G icon but that will only work on CDMA 3G coverage which shouldn't be in the MyTouch line anyways.

I hope that clarifies things guys!

I was actually wondering why I hadn't seen the 3G icon at all. My Vibrant had the 3G icon but wasn't a hspa+ enabled device like the MT4G is. And, I do live in an area with hsla+ coverage. So, you're saying that there is no 3G icon at all on this phone? How can one tell if they're in an area with regular 3G or hspa+?

 

[Nissan4LIFE]

I already explained how to tell the difference between 3 & 4G in my post...reread it!

 

[anon62607]

Is that accurate? My phone is showing HSDPA network type even though it's almost certainly on a tower that T Mobile considers HSPA+. Also I noticed that the G2, at least, considers it's own device category to be UE category 10, which is a release 5 category, meaning it's actually not an HSPA+ phone, but instead a 14.4 mbps HSDPA phone. It should never say HSPA+, to be technical.

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[pantlesspenguin]

I already explained how to tell the difference between 3 & 4G in my post...reread it!

Well I guess I meant an instant way, where you can tell by a quick glance w/o having to dig through menus.

So, basically the H will show up no matter if you're in an area w/ regular 3G OR HSPA+?

And, in my defense, I assumed H refered to HSPA+ because the G2 & MT4G are the only HSPA+ capable phones, & I happen to live in an area that has deployed HSPA+. Before this phone, I had the Vibrant that just had a 3G indicator.

 

[fredmr85]

Interesting. Damn and I thought I had hspa+ like everywhere I was going! T-Mo did just turn on hspa+ at my house I believe since I've been getting network download speeds around 3Mbps.

 

[andyr2007#AC]

I just got 4.55mbps, and I have hit 8.08 at home

 

[anon62607]

Well I guess I meant an instant way, where you can tell by a quick glance w/o having to dig through menus.

So, basically the H will show up no matter if you're in an area w/ regular 3G OR HSPA+?

And, in my defense, I assumed H refered to HSPA+ because the G2 & MT4G are the only HSPA+ capable phones, & I happen to live in an area that has deployed HSPA+. Before this phone, I had the Vibrant that just had a 3G indicator.

My Humble Theory On Why We Don't See An H+ when contected to an HSPA+ network with a G2 on Tmobile:

First we should recognize what HSPA+ vs HSDPA vs HSDPA/HSUPA actually are. There are several releases of the standard and the ones we are generally concerned with here are pre-R5 (R99, R4, etc), R5, R6, and R7.

R5 is what we think of as HSDPA. There are several modes that the forward channel (to the phone) can operate in involving different mod schemes, code rates (using turbocode 3/4 vs 2/4 or 36/37 or what have you) and maximum number of spreading codes per terminal.

The fastest supported end user bitrate for R5 (HSDPA) is about 13.98 mbps (or 14.4 mbps adding in the extra bits for turbocoding). End user terminals that can support this scheme are "category 10", and it is a R5 spec and that is HSDPA.

R7 - "HSPA+", added a new, higher order modulation scheme (64QAM). T-Mobile's network ( *I think anyway* ) supports non-MIMO, 64QAM as it's current best possible speed. This is part of HSPA+ - but the G2 at least and I think the myTouch 4G as well are actually category 10 devices - they don't support 64QAM.


Anyway, I think the long and short of all of this is:
* a Category 10 UE device such as the G2 is an HSDPA device, basically the same as a Category 8 device like the Vibrant except it supports 15 codes rather than 10 and a better code rate (fewer bits used for turbocoding). So I bet tmo is being cautious about saying "H+" on the G2 (and myTouch?) because while it may be connected to a HSPA+ network, the phones themselves are still talking at HSDPA configurations - just a better one than the Vibrant is talking at.

 

[Nissan4LIFE]

^ Thanks for the clarification...And I can see why TMO would do that. I just love the fact that the reps are saying that the phone has 4G coverage especially in an area that hasn't gotten it yet because they don't know what the phone icons mean. Yes its really bad on HTCs side but the HSPA+ network is not really 4G in some eyes.

 

[fredmr85]

^ Thanks for the clarification...And I can see why TMO would do that. I just love the fact that the reps are saying that the phone has 4G coverage especially in an area that hasn't gotten it yet because they don't know what the phone icons mean. Yes its really bad on HTCs side but the HSPA+ network is not really 4G in some eyes.

If Sprint can call WiMAX 4G and brand their phones as 4G, then T-Mobile should be able to get away with it too - especially considering they do have more coverage and faster speeds. True that T-Mobile has no plans for a 4G network, but just because Sprint does...that doesn't give them any more rights than T-Mobile to use 4G branding considering the current state of both networks.

 

[anon62607]

The bigger concern to me is that they're calling the G2 and myTouch 4G HSPA+ phones when they're actually not.

 

[pantlesspenguin]

True that T-Mobile has no plans for a 4G network, but just because Sprint does...that doesn't give them any more rights than T-Mobile to use 4G branding considering the current state of both networks.

I've actually heard that T-Mo DOES have plans for an LTE network down the line. How far out this is, or how active they've been in persuing it is anyone's guess, though.