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4G dropping to 3G

  • 9 March 2019
  • 7 replies
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I have an unlocked Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and live in an area with 4G volte calling availability but not regular 4G. My query is, when I first switch on my phone I get 4G at full strength, I can make a 4G call and all is OK, however after about 3 minutes of having 4G (from switch on or coming out out of airplane mode), my phone will switch to 3G 'H+' on about 2 bars and stay there. The phone is set to auto select LTE/3G/2G, is there any reason why 3G is getting priority over 4G?
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Best answer by Adzdalton 9 March 2019, 23:16

Hi @bpshanahan

So your smartphone will use a whole bunch of parameters to determine which mobile tower and what frequency (3G/4G ect.) to latch onto.

It's not just signal strength but also the quality of the signal. I.e heavy traffic on a particular frequency in that area can slow the speed down considerably.

Usually your phone will choose the best frequency for you, if that means dropping to 3G but getting better quality transfer of data.

You can of course set your priority yourself to 4G and see if you notice any change in quality. As your on the move tho i would recommend keeping it on auto.

Hope that helps :)
Regards
Adam
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7 replies

Adzdalton
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Hi @bpshanahan

So your smartphone will use a whole bunch of parameters to determine which mobile tower and what frequency (3G/4G ect.) to latch onto.

It's not just signal strength but also the quality of the signal. I.e heavy traffic on a particular frequency in that area can slow the speed down considerably.

Usually your phone will choose the best frequency for you, if that means dropping to 3G but getting better quality transfer of data.

You can of course set your priority yourself to 4G and see if you notice any change in quality. As your on the move tho i would recommend keeping it on auto.

Hope that helps :)
Regards
Adam
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Mohammed
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I have an unlocked Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and live in an area with 4G volte calling availability but not regular 4G. My query is, when I first switch on my phone I get 4G at full strength, I can make a 4G call and all is OK, however after about 3 minutes of having 4G (from switch on or coming out out of airplane mode), my phone will switch to 3G 'H+' on about 2 bars and stay there. The phone is set to auto select LTE/3G/2G, is there any reason why 3G is getting priority over 4G?


Hey @bpshanahan,

Have you tried checking our Coverage Checker on https://www.idmobile.co.uk/help-and-advice/uk-coverage-checker

It's entirely possible that there is an issue with the masts that are providing 4G Coverage which would explain the defaulting to 3G after a short time.

4G Coverage varies depending on the area and factors such as indoor/outdoor can affect this.

Have you faced issued elsewhere also? (approx more than 3-4 miles away)?

Mohammed
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Kurtph1969
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My phone is also dropping back to 3G when, allegedly, I'm in an area of good 4G coverage.

Last week I was in the Lake District this week (postcode: LA8 9PY). On checking the iD mobile coverage map, it reports NO 4G COVERAGE AT THIS POSTCODE! However, if you then tick the option “I have a 4G Voice Calling compatible phone, show me my updated coverage map”, it then shows excellent 4G coverage. I can confirm that this is true – the 4G coverage is being provided on Band 20 (with VoLTE).
Strangely though, iD/Three seem not to be wanting to advertise this fact. From my experience, the phone rarely automatically connected to the 4G network but remained on 3G which is disappointing. I did manually force the phone on to LTE mode and unsurprisingly, I received good 4G VoLTE coverage, but soon as I switched the phone to LTE/UMTS/GSM the phone dropped back to 3G. I thought that this could be a fault with the phone, so I tried another 4G phone and that also remained on 3G/UMTS.
I’m rarely getting 4G with VoLTE anywhere, so I’m not sure what Three are playing at. It almost feels like they don’t want people to use Band 20 because they don’t have as much spectrum available on that band? Thoughts please…?
Kurtph1969
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This video shows how my phone does not automatically select VoLTE but proves that VoLTE is working if I manually turn off Band 3 (thus forcing my phone to switch to LTE Band 20):

Video showing VoLTE
Kurtph1969
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Do iD mobile employees actually read these threads????
Phil
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Hi @Kurtph1969
What phone are you using please and what problems have you encountered with the switch between 3/4G for voice calls ?

Phil
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Kurtph1969
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Hi Phil,

I have already explained in detail above. Phone stays on 3G in areas of poor Band 3 LTE but good Band 20 LTE. Phone model irrelevant as it's the same on 3 separate phones including Huawei P20 Pro. Please see my video 2 posts back which demonstrates. Thank you.

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