Sprint LTE Issues After 4.4.3 Update

CMSevilla

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So I've had my Nexus 5 since release, and while in 4.4.2 it's been unlocked and rooted without issues. I don't have a custom ROM on it, it's simply unlocked and rooted on stock so I can use my WiFi tether and to use Greenify the way I want it to work so my battery is saved a bit longer.

I received the OTA update on it a few days ago and I let it download and install (I knew it'd break my root). After the update completed, as expected, my root broke and I re-rooted it with the Chainfire rooting utility. Had to manually install SuperSU after because for some reason it didn't install it when I re-rooted it, but no matter. I was able to tether, Greenify worked, had all the latest updates. Life was good.

The next day I noticed that my phone would automatically go to 3G. Where I live, I've always had full bars of signal and LTE 100% of the time. Same applies to when I go to work. My office I get a bit less signal, but I always have LTE (this has been the case for the last 6+ months). I decided to do some troubleshooting and updated my profile and PRL on my phone and boom, LTE was back while at home. No issues. Now here I sit at work, however, and I come into my office and I have LTE for about 10 minutes, then it drops to 3G. I updated the PRL and it goes to LTE...then drops to 3G again. This has been going on all morning so far and I am confused as to why.

Anyone else on Sprint, or I guess any other carrier, having issues with the data connection dropping to 3G even though you're in a place where you know you receive LTE? Has the 4.4.3 update changed something with the radio in the phone? I've read through the change logs and I cannot find anything in particular.
 

Golfdriver97

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So I've had my Nexus 5 since release, and while in 4.4.2 it's been unlocked and rooted without issues. I don't have a custom ROM on it, it's simply unlocked and rooted on stock so I can use my WiFi tether and to use Greenify the way I want it to work so my battery is saved a bit longer.

I received the OTA update on it a few days ago and I let it download and install (I knew it'd break my root). After the update completed, as expected, my root broke and I re-rooted it with the Chainfire rooting utility. Had to manually install SuperSU after because for some reason it didn't install it when I re-rooted it, but no matter. I was able to tether, Greenify worked, had all the latest updates. Life was good.

The next day I noticed that my phone would automatically go to 3G. Where I live, I've always had full bars of signal and LTE 100% of the time. Same applies to when I go to work. My office I get a bit less signal, but I always have LTE (this has been the case for the last 6+ months). I decided to do some troubleshooting and updated my profile and PRL on my phone and boom, LTE was back while at home. No issues. Now here I sit at work, however, and I come into my office and I have LTE for about 10 minutes, then it drops to 3G. I updated the PRL and it goes to LTE...then drops to 3G again. This has been going on all morning so far and I am confused as to why.

Anyone else on Sprint, or I guess any other carrier, having issues with the data connection dropping to 3G even though you're in a place where you know you receive LTE? Has the 4.4.3 update changed something with the radio in the phone? I've read through the change logs and I cannot find anything in particular.

Try turning on Airplane mode for a few seconds, then back off. See if it holds the LTE signal.
 

brodieb

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So I've had my Nexus 5 since release, and while in 4.4.2 it's been unlocked and rooted without issues. I don't have a custom ROM on it, it's simply unlocked and rooted on stock so I can use my WiFi tether and to use Greenify the way I want it to work so my battery is saved a bit longer.

I received the OTA update on it a few days ago and I let it download and install (I knew it'd break my root). After the update completed, as expected, my root broke and I re-rooted it with the Chainfire rooting utility. Had to manually install SuperSU after because for some reason it didn't install it when I re-rooted it, but no matter. I was able to tether, Greenify worked, had all the latest updates. Life was good.

The next day I noticed that my phone would automatically go to 3G. Where I live, I've always had full bars of signal and LTE 100% of the time. Same applies to when I go to work. My office I get a bit less signal, but I always have LTE (this has been the case for the last 6+ months). I decided to do some troubleshooting and updated my profile and PRL on my phone and boom, LTE was back while at home. No issues. Now here I sit at work, however, and I come into my office and I have LTE for about 10 minutes, then it drops to 3G. I updated the PRL and it goes to LTE...then drops to 3G again. This has been going on all morning so far and I am confused as to why.

Anyone else on Sprint, or I guess any other carrier, having issues with the data connection dropping to 3G even though you're in a place where you know you receive LTE? Has the 4.4.3 update changed something with the radio in the phone? I've read through the change logs and I cannot find anything in particular.

I am not having issues at home or work - but the family traveled to KC, MO yesterday (about 2 hours south of where I live) and my N5 was on 3G more than LTE. I was checking since the 4.4.3 update should have enabled Spark - when I had LTE it was fast (25+ Mbps). But the 3G was SLOW. I did the update PRL and profile thing as well and had similar results (LTE for short time then back to 3G).

My N5 is 100% stock no root or anything else.
 

CMSevilla

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The Airplane mode trick is just causing the N5 to reconnect to the network, which gives back LTE and then reverts to 3G a few minutes later.
 

CMSevilla

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I am not having issues at home or work - but the family traveled to KC, MO yesterday (about 2 hours south of where I live) and my N5 was on 3G more than LTE. I was checking since the 4.4.3 update should have enabled Spark - when I had LTE it was fast (25+ Mbps). But the 3G was SLOW. I did the update PRL and profile thing as well and had similar results (LTE for short time then back to 3G).

My N5 is 100% stock no root or anything else.

This confirms that 4.4.3 broke something with how it connects to the LTE radio. I will probably be wiping device and reverting to 4.4.2 unless I see a patch update from Google on this to fix it. Sprint forums are also showing the same uproar about this and their "engineers are working on a fix" which knowing Sprint means they don't know what's going on and they won't fix it because they expect Google to do so.

I rely heavily on my phone for work purposes and not having LTE is problematic because of all the data my phone receives and sends with or without tethering.

Also, about "Spark," supposedly Miami, FL has Sprint Spark and in my last visits (I go there often to visit family throughout the year) when it was live, I received nothing different speed/call quality-wise on my phone nor did my girlfriend who has a Galaxy phone.
 

Golfdriver97

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If you don't want to flash a different ROM, then going back to 4.4.2 is probably the way to go. I would back up everything just in case.

Signed, XenonRom, Nexus 5 and AC Forums App
 

CMSevilla

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If you don't want to flash a different ROM, then going back to 4.4.2 is probably the way to go. I would back up everything just in case.

Signed, XenonRom, Nexus 5 and AC Forums App

I really like the stock ROM--never had issues, not even the battery drain issue so to me the only cool thing was the revamped dialer (which I can live without).

Also, after doing a bit of research, Sprint supposedly released an update to all Sprint N5 to support Sprint Spark but 3 days after this update began rolling out they removed it. What this tells me is that perhaps this update may have interacted with their radio.

All in all, Spark sounds lovely, but I rather have my solid LTE connection I had before that averaged at 18Mbps down and 5Mbps up. Perhaps down the line when this is fixed, I'll re-update, but not before I read about the issues beforehand.
 

Golfdriver97

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I really like the stock ROM--never had issues, not even the battery drain issue so to me the only cool thing was the revamped dialer (which I can live without).

Also, after doing a bit of research, Sprint supposedly released an update to all Sprint N5 to support Sprint Spark but 3 days after this update began rolling out they removed it. What this tells me is that perhaps this update may have interacted with their radio.

All in all, Spark sounds lovely, but I rather have my solid LTE connection I had before that averaged at 18Mbps down and 5Mbps up. Perhaps down the line when this is fixed, I'll re-update, but not before I read about the issues beforehand.

Understandable about the ROM.

I don't live in a Spark area and LTE for me was pathetic. I was getting 5 Mbps up on a fairly good day. The reason I suggested the airplane mode idea was that what helped me with the 3G to LTE handoff, on both my N5 and Moto X through Sprint.
 

srkmagnus

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I'm not seeing anything different with LTE signal in the areas I frequent most. You should be able to reflash the 4.4.2 radio if that's what you want instead of reverting back to 4.4.2 entirely - there we're a lot of changes/improvements with 4.4.3 that you probably want to keep, the camera bug fix is one of those.

If you have adb setup and are comfortable using it to push the radio through fastboot, pull the 4.4.2 radio from the factory image and flash it:
Code:
fastboot flash radio radio

The last radio input should be the name of the radio (rename to radio for ease of input).
 

CMSevilla

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I'm not seeing anything different with LTE signal in the areas I frequent most. You should be able to reflash the 4.4.2 radio if that's what you want instead of reverting back to 4.4.2 entirely - there we're a lot of changes/improvements with 4.4.3 that you probably want to keep, the camera bug fix is one of those.

If you have adb setup and are comfortable using it to push the radio through fastboot, pull the 4.4.2 radio from the factory image and flash it:
Code:
fastboot flash radio radio

The last radio input should be the name of the radio (rename to radio for ease of input).

Might be worth a shot to see if that fixes the issue.
 

CMSevilla

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I agree - be sure to have a copy of the 4.4.3 radio (might be best to have the factory image) handyjust in case you want to reflash it. Good luck and keep us posted :).

Just flashed my Nexus 5's radio instead of the whole entire phone.

Went from baseband radio-hammerhead-m8974a-2.0.50.1.13 which is 4.4.3 to radio-hammerhead-m8974a-1.0.25.0.23 which is 4.4.2.

So far I am on LTE without issues, speed is just as fast as it was when I was connected to LTE. I do notice, however, that when I was on the 4.4.3 radio, my speed test would pick up a different server in Miami rather than where I live in Tallahassee, that being said, when I went back to the 4.4.2 radio, it picked up my Tallahassee server instead...

I am going to keep on the lookout for any Sprint-side upgrades to their radio before I flash it back to the 4.4.3 radio. I will report back through the day to see if my LTE remains strong and steady with the old radio.
 

anon(335536)

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I believe I am seeing the same issue CMSevilla is seeing on sprint - I see LTE drop to 3G eventually. I'll reflash as well back to the 4.4.2 radios. I did notice that when I had LTE, it was very fast, i.e. 20 MB down and almost 10 MB up. I believe spark is starting to pop up where I live, so this makes sense to me.

Question CMSevilla: What are you using to tether? Thanks!
 

dan1431

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A close friend oddly was complaining about the same thing, he said that there is something wonky going on as he did not have trouble in Los Angeles last week but the minute after landing in Miami he has had issues maintaining LTE.

He said the Sprint Level 3 person said that while he did not have any concrete info he thought it could be an issue with the phone's radio firmware dealing with FDD vs. TDD LTE.

He according to a friend seemed much more knowledgeable than the average front line support, so who knows.

Dan

Posted via Android Central App
 

CMSevilla

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I believe I am seeing the same issue CMSevilla is seeing on sprint - I see LTE drop to 3G eventually. I'll reflash as well back to the 4.4.2 radios. I did notice that when I had LTE, it was very fast, i.e. 20 MB down and almost 10 MB up. I believe spark is starting to pop up where I live, so this makes sense to me.

Question CMSevilla: What are you using to tether? Thanks!

Yes, I do agree that LTE was superbly fast (I was hitting 20 - 25Mbps download) when on LTE in the 4.4.3 radio, but I really need my phone to have LTE more often than not...and 18Mbps is NOT a deal breaker for me at all--I will live with the 4.4.2 radio!

To tether I use the phone's stock Tethering & portable hotspot utility. To be able to use it, however, you will need to make an addition to your system files (it sounds daunting, but in hindsight, it was ridiculously simple).

Here is how to do it: How to re-enable tethering in KitKat with T-Mobile | Pocketnow

You don't need to follow the additional steps past 13 since you're on Sprint, you'll just need to reboot at that point after you've saved the new settings. Two things to note: A. Phone must be unlocked and rooted, B. Use SQLite Editor--I think it's a few dollars in the app store, but it's worth it.
 

CMSevilla

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A close friend oddly was complaining about the same thing, he said that there is something wonky going on as he did not have trouble in Los Angeles last week but the minute after landing in Miami he has had issues maintaining LTE.

He said the Sprint Level 3 person said that while he did not have any concrete info he thought it could be an issue with the phone's radio firmware dealing with FDD vs. TDD LTE.

He according to a friend seemed much more knowledgeable than the average front line support, so who knows.

Dan

Posted via Android Central App

It's definitely an issue as addressed by the following ongoing thread on Sprint's support forums:

https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/162466

Response No.6 is right on the money. Because our phones are now trying to connect to Spark enabled bands, and Spark isn't remotely as stable as Sprint claims, we're dropping to 3G.

Note where your speed test is trying to connect to do a speed test and where supposedly Sprint Spark works. It's a theory but it kind of makes sense considering Sprint was looking to get N5s to connect to these bands.
 

CMSevilla

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Been almost an entire hour where I'd normally lose LTE.

Since flashing radio back to 4.4.2 version, been solid LTE connection the entire time. I wouldn't call this a solution, but more of a workaround until Sprint fixes their issues with their data bands.

Screenshot_2014-06-09-13-21-48.jpg
 

Axe

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Yeah, to echo the link, S4gru threads say this 3G fallback often happens near newer tower upgrades where band 26 is not yet official/still being tested. Casual personal observation saw the 4.4.3 radio behave more like the 4.4.2 radio if band 26 is set to disabled. This requires the MSL number if not rooted.
 

srkmagnus

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It's definitely an issue as addressed by the following ongoing thread on Sprint's support forums:

https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/162466

Response No.6 is right on the money. Because our phones are now trying to connect to Spark enabled bands, and Spark isn't remotely as stable as Sprint claims, we're dropping to 3G.

Note where your speed test is trying to connect to do a speed test and where supposedly Sprint Spark works. It's a theory but it kind of makes sense considering Sprint was looking to get N5s to connect to these bands.
Good find - hopefully it's something that gets fixed soon. In the meantime, good to see you are back to a solid LTE connection until a fix is released.
 

anon(335536)

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To tether I use the phone's stock Tethering & portable hotspot utility. To be able to use it, however, you will need to make an addition to your system files (it sounds daunting, but in hindsight, it was ridiculously simple).

Here is how to do it: How to re-enable tethering in KitKat with T-Mobile | Pocketnow

Works like a charm! I can now tether once again. Thanks! Also, for those who don't want to spring for the SQLite editor, if you use ubuntu, you can download the sqlite app which provides a nice GUI to be able to edit the settings,db file. Just use adb to pull the file, and then adb push to push it back tot he sdcard and shell in, su, and copy to the correct location. Enjoy!