CDMA network trick, really needed?

[pank]

Hello all, just got my EVO yesterday and have been browsing the forums. I noticed one of the save battery life tricks was to switch the network to CDMA instead of GSM.

This screen shot is from a fresh reboot and it appears to me that my phone is loading CDMA by default. So my question is this, do I really need to do the network switch since it appears mine already loads CDMA by default?

Also how do you tell what version phone you have, 2 or 3 for example. I've seen some posts stating that the V3 phones have less issues and I'm curious if this is one of them. Also I've had zero spontaneous reboots...

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Scroll down further and see what the "Set Preferred network type:" dropdown is set to. On mine, it was GSM Auto (PRL), even though the "Network Type" shown in your screen shot was CDMA. The drop down setting, I think, is used only when roaming.

Does it really matter? I don't know. But I can't imagine a setting that tells a CDMA only phone to look for GSM networks can do anything good.

 

[AngryCPA]

I didn't notice any better battery life with this trick...

 

[Zindoh]

If I do not do this after I reboot my device, my battery drains to an idle cell phone in about 6 hours.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

There is no GSM hardware in the Evo. Therefore there is no software switch.

Placebo.

 

[pank]

Scroll down further and see what the "Set Preferred network type:" dropdown is set to. On mine, it was GSM Auto (PRL), even though the "Network Type" shown in your screen shot was CDMA. The drop down setting, I think, is used only when roaming.

Does it really matter? I don't know. But I can't imagine a setting that tells a CDMA only phone to look for GSM networks can do anything good.

Preferred network type is always CDMA auto (PRL)

 

[Braaainz]

For those who thinks this works... after you do it, immediately try the trick again. You'll notice that the GSM option is selected again.

It's not that it switches to GSM after a reboot, It's that it does so after the force close that YOU cause when doing the trick.

 

[wado1]

There is no GSM hardware in the Evo. Therefore there is no software switch.

Placebo.

Exactly, thats what I thought.

 

[pank]

Thanks for the replies. Pretty much what it appeared to be then, CDMA is on already by default and there really is no need to go through these steps.

Thanks.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

For those who thinks this works... after you do it, immediately try the trick again. You'll notice that the GSM option is selected again.

It's not that it switches to GSM after a reboot, It's that it does so after the force close that YOU cause when doing the trick.

Actually, mine has stayed at the CDMA setting since the first time I did it. And, IIRC, the first people to discover this noticed it was set to GSM even before doing a force close.

But what do I know? Clearly you know the firmware code inside and out, line by line, so I couldn't be right.

Does it make any difference? No clue, as I've never noticed a battery issue with my Evo. But a number of people have reported it reduced the no-signal idle time by a huge amount. Worst case, it does nothing, including harm. Best case, it reduces the time the phone spends looking for a radio it can't find.