Why is my voice signal weak when I'm on LTE/CDMA and suddenly strong when I switch to CDMA only?

[Android Central Question]

I just got a new Kyocera Hydro Vibe (yes, I know it's an outdated phone, but there are no modern small-ish phones). It is on Android 4.3. I have not updated to KitKat yet because I've read so many bad things about it (mostly regarding SD cards being rendered more or less useless).

I've noticed that if I have Network Mode on LTE/CDMA, I only get one bar of signal (-102 dBm), but if I switch to CDMA only, I get 5 bars of signal (-84 dBm). I didn't have this problem with my HTC One SV. It was always nearly full bars on 4G, so it doesn't seem like it should have anything to do with my location / cell towers. And I've done speed tests, and I still get decent data speeds on the LTE/CDMA connection (I may have lower standards than most of you guys, but it's good enough for me). I made a call to Boost Support (just the auto system, not talking to anyone) just to test calling on that one bar, and at one point during the call, while the auto thing was talking, I saw the bars go to zero (but the call never dropped). Should I just ignore what the signal indicator says? Are actual phone calls going through 2G and I just don't get to see an indicator for that? I'm just wondering if it's necessary to keep my phone off the LTE network in order to make sure I don't miss any calls.

Oh, I have tried updating my profile and PRL. Neither of those things made a difference. Do you think updating to KitKat would help?

 

[anon(9918034)]

Hmmm, honestly while a phone on Android 4.3 will work. The more the phones advance the more networks advance as well. Is that phone a boost Mobile phone that is actively receiving updates from them?

Also being on boost means you are using sprints network. Thier network is already overloaded and underwhelming. Being a boost customer means that you will be de-prioritize when there are more Sprint customers especially on LTE coverage. That would explain a better signal while on cdma only, less traffic using that band as opposed to LTE.

Also if the calls are clear and you don't drop, I wouldn't worry about the bars at all.

 

[jeanerz13]

Hmmm, honestly while a phone on Android 4.3 will work. The more the phones advance the more networks advance as well. Is that phone a boost Mobile phone that is actively receiving updates from them?

Also being on boost means you are using sprints network. Thier network is already overloaded and underwhelming. Being a boost customer means that you will be de-prioritize when there are more Sprint customers especially on LTE coverage. That would explain a better signal while on cdma only, less traffic using that band as opposed to LTE.

Also if the calls are clear and you don't drop, I wouldn't worry about the bars at all.

Thanks for the quick answer! Yes, I am using Boost Mobile. I know Sprint is basically the worst of the big carriers, but Boost is cheap and since I don't go out of town much I've never had a problem with coverage in the past. The phone was technically a Virgin Mobile phone (I got it new in box even though it was discontinued something like 3 years ago - gotta love overstock items). I was able to have it re-SKU'd and activated on Boost since they use the same network.

I know I'm ridiculously out of date on the Android version. It's just that all the current phones are too freaking big now. This one and my HTC One SV is basically at the size limit I can handle. I only replaced that one because it took a belly flop and shattered the screen. I thought about getting another but this one was actually a bit of an upgrade on specs so I decided to go for it. If manufacturers ever decide to market phones 4.5" and smaller again maybe I'll join the rest of you on Android Zebra Cakes

The phone is not currently receiving updates. The newest version it can be updated to is 4.4.3 from what I've seen online. I just haven't done it yet. I saw a lot of old posts about the KitKat update severely limiting what could be saved to the SD card. I was hoping to look into that more before I made that move. Maybe see how much space bloatware would take up. On my old phone I moved all the apps I could to the SD card and even then (with only maybe 10 or so downloaded apps) my phone kept wanting me to uninstall apps before letting me update existing ones. Google Play Store would tell me "you only have 100MB of space... delete some stuff to be able to install this 20MB update" which I thought was crazy. And when I deleted cache, space available actually was reduced. I temporarily fixed it by uninstalling the Google Play Store updates (and then it updated itself back to current, but that somehow cleaned some stuff up). Long story to say: I wanted to see how the space management was going to be on the phone before I decided to move to something that I've heard reduces your storage options. I will likely do it eventually.

I'm sure that's *way* more info than you wanted.

The calls don't seem quite as crisp as on my old phone, but there's no cutting out and I wouldn't exactly call them staticky. It might have something to do with their "sonic receiver" technology (using vibrations instead of an actual speaker). I'll try to ignore the little signal level indicator since I haven't experienced an actual problem with calls yet. I just thought it was weird that it showed so low when it didn't on my previous phone (4.2 btw). If it was customer load and I was being de-prioritized, I thought I would have been de-prioritized as a boost customer on the old phone too.

Anyway, sorry for all the rambling and thanks again for the reply

 

[anon(9918034)]

There are a bunch if small screen phone's. They use gsm not cdma. You would have to search to cricket or metro pcs to use them. They do exist, honor makes some very good phones that are smaller than the norm and decently priced. Sony does a compact line for it's xperia series, the last one they put out is really nice.

If I remember KitKat and up, you can no longer store apps on the SD card at all. That is why the phones internal storage is ever increasing. Also apps can't efficiently run from an SD card. The read and write speeds are to slow to keep up demands if applications and content in them.

 

[jeanerz13]

There are a bunch if small screen phone's. They use gsm not cdma. You would have to search to cricket or metro pcs to use them. They do exist, honor makes some very good phones that are smaller than the norm and decently priced. Sony does a compact line for it's xperia series, the last one they put out is really nice.

If I remember KitKat and up, you can no longer store apps on the SD card at all. That is why the phones internal storage is ever increasing. Also apps can't efficiently run from an SD card. The read and write speeds are to slow to keep up demands if applications and content in them.

Is it just the app itself that can't be stored on the SD card? Can app data be stored there? And will the update make data already stored there inaccessible? I don't currently have any apps on my SD card, but one of my apps lists 2mb of app data on the card. I also have photos in albums (ported from the old phone) on the SD card. For some reason the default gallery app doesn't allow me to move photos from album to album - will I lose the ability to view them completely with a newer version of Android?

 

[jeanerz13]

Well, I took the update and immediately regretted it. The signal got much worse. I went from 2-3 Mbs download on 3g to .8 at best (more like .2 when it would even connect). For 4G, I used to get 8 or 9. Now the best I can do is 1.5, but that's rare, it's been staying around dial up speed when I can get a connection. 3G used to be consistently around -85 dBm, now I'm lucky to get better than -100. Both LTE and 3G seem to hang around -115 since the "upgrade”. Is there a way to roll back an ota update without rooting?

 

[anon(9918034)]

Well, I took the update and immediately regretted it. The signal got much worse. I went from 2-3 Mbs download on 3g to .8 at best (more like .2 when it would even connect). For 4G, I used to get 8 or 9. Now the best I can do is 1.5, but that's rare, it's been staying around dial up speed when I can get a connection. 3G used to be consistently around -85 dBm, now I'm lucky to get better than -100. Both LTE and 3G seem to hang around -115 since the "upgrade”. Is there a way to roll back an ota update without rooting?

You can try and contact the phone manufacturer and see if they have a guide to down grade. If not maybe hit up the good ole xda forum and ask them. Have you tried to do a factory reset?

Also is the phones apn settings on the best option for the boost network. It could be loaded with a basic setting that doesn't give the best experience. I would contact boost technical support from a different phone. Trouble shoot it the best they can. They might not be able to help considering it isn't a boost Mobile phone, they may not have any support even though it can be used in third network.

Might be time to consider a slightly larger device, or live with a barely functional phone. Which is worse a phone that hardly works or a slightly bigger device that you will get use to over time.

I prefer the smaller devices myself. I am currently rocking the note 9 and functionality far out weighs the size of the device.