turning-on 3g, cell signal goes way down

[hydrolic11]

so for better or for worse, i realized that to save battery life, i can turn-off my 3G and just use wifi, which makes my battery lasts almost twice as long, as most of the time, I'm somewhere where wifi is readily available.

when i'm out in various locations, this tends to happen. once i turn-off 3g and am on Edge, my signal shoots up from no/one bar to full strength. i thought it might be the location where there is weak signal, but i've witnessed this a dozen times; i don't think its a coincidence. I googled all around and couldnt find others that experience this, but i just assumed not a lot of people think about turning-off their 3G, so they are none the wiser. has anyone witnessed their cell signal go down dramatically with 3G/HSPA+ turned-on?

 

[jim302]

First of all, bars are a very relative method of measuring signal strength and can vary by phone. The status screen will show the signal strength in dBm which is more meaningful (but still does not show the full picture).

3G UMTS (including HSPA) is completely different than 2G GSM (including GPRS/EDGE). The technology runs at a different power level and behaves differently.

The network may be engineered to deliver slightly lower signal strength on 3G to prevent interference, especially in more urban environments with dense cell sites. In addition, 3G may be on a different band than 2G, which can lead to differences in signal strength. In some rare cases, there will be a few 2G only cell sites that have not been updated to 3G. This all depends on your provider and your area.

A weak signal on 3G is usually good enough for acceptable data speeds and clear phone calls. 2G seems to struggle more at lower signal strengths.

What you are seeing sounds normal, and there is nothing wrong with your phone.

For questions like this, it helps to post your provider and location (city/state is usually enough).

 

[gone down south]

You have a weak 3G signal, and a strong Edge signal. What's the question again?

 

[soma4society]

Same here. But in addition to what the rather thorough poster above me said, I've noticed the phone seems to deliver dandy phone and data service even despite a ?weak" 3G/H signal. So I no longer worry about it.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[hydrolic11]

You have a weak 3G signal, and a strong Edge signal. What's the question again?

i asked it in the last sentence of the OP:

has anyone witnessed their cell signal go down dramatically with 3G/HSPA+ turned-on?

trolly troll troll troll.

 

[saeufer]

i asked it in the last sentence of the OP:

has anyone witnessed their cell signal go down dramatically with 3G/HSPA+ turned-on?

trolly troll troll troll.

Gone Down South isn't trolling, he's merely pointing out that there's not a real question here.

GSM/GPRS/EDGE use different radios at the cell site than UMTS/HSPA does. Depending on your carrier, they may use different frequencies as well, e.g. most of T-Mobile's GSM is 1900MHz and most of their UMTS is 1700/2100 (band IV); likewise AT&T has a fair bit of 850MHz GSM despite their UMTS being exclusively 1900MHz. Although they're generally (but not always) in the same physical location, the GSM and UMTS equipment on the tower may be transmitting at different power and in slightly different directions because they are two separate sets of equipment. The building penetration of different frequencies is different as well.

I get that you're using the same SIM and phone, but from a technical standpoint you may as well be asking "why do I get more bars on AT&T than T-Mobile?" The answer is the same: because you're connecting to different radios on the provider end.

The battery life difference makes perfect sense--2G radios use less power than 3G radios, so your battery lasts longer if you force it to stay on EDGE.