Preferred Network: Global or LTE/CDMA?

[Davidoo]

I have always been told all my Verizon devices should be set to LTE/CDMA rather than Global network type. Does it make a difference and does anyone know why? The reason I ask is that I was in a VZW corporate store today and looked at another Turbo and noticed it was getting 5 bars of 4G and a signal of -62dBm. Mine was only getting 3 bars at -100 something. I checked the settings further and the display phone was on Global. I changed mine to Global and after a couple of flashes mine also went to 5 bars and -62 dBm.

At my house I always have 3 to 4 bars, but now when I got home I only had one. Set it back to LTE/CDMA and it went back to my usual signal strength. How does this work? Is it because Global uses a different band that is not available on the tower near my house?

 

[wanda boyce1]

I am having the same problem.

 

[doogald]

As far as I know, when you are in the US there is no difference - your phone uses LTE/CDMA anyway. When you travel out of the country, though, that's when global kicks in - it lets the phone connect to GSM/UMTS networks as well.

 

[quantum tao]

i have never seen an absolutely definitive answer to this question.
some people say its better on battery life to have it set to lte/cdma.
i've heard if you have good verizon coverage to set it to lte/cdma.
when i'm in the bomb shelter here it gives me a popup asking if i want to turn on global mode.
every verizon phone i have ever had has used global as default, why would they do it if it was only for out of the country?
are different phones affected differently by this setting?
maybe a verizon tech can enlighten us.

 

[doogald]

They make global the default so that non-technical people who travel don't have to monkey with the settings.

It won't hurt the phone to switch it. You did notice the one time you see a difference in the states - when you have no signal it will offer to try to connect to a GSM network. If you find yourself in those conditions often, by all means switch. If you'll never travel, by all means switch. I've been out of the country twice in the last four months so I just leave it global.

 

[w9awx]

I had service issues from my house in SE WI. Had global turned on. Contacted tech support and was told to switch off the global network. Solved issue. Not sure why it would have caused an issue in the first place.

 

[Masheen]

I noticed a better signal in NYC area by switching to LTE/CDMA. Perhaps it helped battery as well. I was always under the impression that they both use difference bands, but I have never received an official answer. I'd have to call Verizon corporate and hope that I get a level 2 tech that actually knows this answer. Regular Verizon store reps will double talk until they're blue in the face.

 

[Bruce39]

Have a Note 3, just changed from GLOBAL to LTE/CMDA - no change. 2 to 3 bars & 100 to 105 db. Signal strength seemed to change for the better with the upgrade to 4.4.4 (from 120-125db to 100-105 db).

 

[wolf_walker]

I flipped it back and forth a few times sitting in my living room, no change in signal dbm reading.

 

[Davidoo]

I usually don't see a change either when I switch....EXCEPT when I was in the Verizon store and it made a huge difference as Global mode had a much stronger signal. Possibly they have some type of repeater or mini tower in there that broadcasts on a frequency that only Global picks up? All the devices I checked in the store were set to Global.

 

[D._Manley]

I usually don't see a change either when I switch....EXCEPT when I was in the Verizon store and it made a huge difference as Global mode had a much stronger signal. Possibly they have some type of repeater or mini tower in there that broadcasts on a frequency that only Global picks up? All the devices I checked in the store were set to Global.

I actually have a slightly better 4G signal @ home on Global.

 

[wolf_walker]

I usually don't see a change either when I switch....EXCEPT when I was in the Verizon store and it made a huge difference as Global mode had a much stronger signal. Possibly they have some type of repeater or mini tower in there that broadcasts on a frequency that only Global picks up? All the devices I checked in the store were set to Global.

That makes my tin foil hat tingle...

 

[doogald]

Global just means that the phone will look for GSM / UMTS signals where they have roaming agreements when a CDMA / LTE signal doesn't exist. As far as I know, Verizon doesn't roam to any GSM carrier in the US (AT&T, T-Mobile). The signal will not be different - there is only one radio, one mobile antenna. Battery life may be slightly worse only in the case when you have a weak CDMA signal - the phone will start looking for GSM signals, which it will not be able to connect to anyway.

 

[CID B]

I have always been told all my Verizon devices should be set to LTE/CDMA rather than Global network type. Does it make a difference and does anyone know why? The reason I ask is that I was in a VZW corporate store today and looked at another Turbo and noticed it was getting 5 bars of 4G and a signal of -62dBm. Mine was only getting 3 bars at -100 something. I checked the settings further and the display phone was on Global. I changed mine to Global and after a couple of flashes mine also went to 5 bars and -62 dBm.

At my house I always have 3 to 4 bars, but now when I got home I only had one. Set it back to LTE/CDMA and it went back to my usual signal strength. How does this work? Is it because Global uses a different band that is not available on the tower near my house?

I have used Boost for years and just got a nice new phone and have had the worst service ever. I noticed my connection settings are on automatic I don't have a global setting and was doing some research myself trying to figure it out. I believe only in theory that the reason for not having a strong consistent signal recently is because my phone is more frequently searching for a better one and disables the current signal while doing that. I'm going to try switching back to LTE/CDMA mode and see if it makes a difference. Not a tech wiz but it makes sense to me.

 

[talon1812]

I use mint mobile. Last year, my phone quit making calls saying "no sim card or sim card error" I ordered a new sim card from mint. In the meantime, I figured out the problem and got it fixed. However, when I got the new sim, it installed different APN settings that can't be edited, deleted or changed to a different APN. Now, for phone calls and texting, I have to have the mobile network set to "automatic". When texting pictures or web data, I have to set my phone to LTE/CDMA. If I forget to switch it back, I can't make calls or send text messages. I have 4 lines with Mint and it only happens on my main line. Did I mention that this is exceedingly annoying? Amy thoughts on situation? I have not called Mint about it. They used to be great with American agents, now when you call, you get someone in Philipines or India.