[Benjamin_NYC]

Partially joking, but where did 3G go? Since I got my Q10, I never see 3G. It's 4GLTE (sometimes), 4G (most of the time), or E (2G, rarely).

So what happened to 3G? Do T-Mobile's 4G phones (specifically BB10's) not have the right 3G bands?

Likewise, T-Mobile's new International roaming scheme is 2G only (no complaints), but I would have thought they would could have done 3G. Or sold 3G packs cheaper than they're selling the 4G packs. Seems like maybe my Q doesn't have the radio for T-Mobile's 3G bands?

Also, if my data is throttled, it jumps 4G to 2G. Why not 3G, or offer 3G replacement for a small fee? Is it because they know 2G will suck and people will be inclined to upgrade?

When in Europe on this phone, I get H or H+. I think H is 3G and H+ is 4G, but I don't know for sure. If so, I guess because bands are different over there, maybe they gave Euro 3G bands in these phones?

Posted via CB10

[Branta]

It is likely that most 3G towers in your area were upgraded to 4G, so you will get the best available (4G family) signal. If you had an older non-4G phone you would probably see 3G.

HSPDA and HSPDA+ are effectively 3.5G, but in USA the marketing slime call them 4G. The US networks got ITU to redefine a lower standard for what qualified as "4G". The original protocol had a significantly higher entry point with much higher minimum performance which they couldn't achieve on existing networks.

[Benjamin_NYC]

It is likely that most 3G towers in your area were upgraded to 4G, so you will get the best available (4G family) signal. If you had an older non-4G phone you would probably see 3G.

HSPDA and HSPDA+ are effectively 3.5G, but in USA the marketing slime call them 4G. The US networks got ITU to redefine a lower standard for what qualified as "4G". The original protocol had a significantly higher entry point with much higher minimum performance which they couldn't achieve on existing networks.

But with my Q10, I **never** see 3G, only 4G or 2G. My question is: Is this because the 3G radio does not exist in this phone? If not, then why do I never see 3G, only 4G or 2G?

[Benjamin_NYC]

But with my Q10, I **never** see 3G, only 4G or 2G. My question is: Is this because the 3G radio does not exist in this phone? If not, then why do I never see 3G, only 4G or 2G?

This would indicate that, in fact, the Q10's used on T-Mobile's network (100-1) do *not* have the T-Mobile 3G band, and that must be why I never see 3G. Maybe I would if I had AT&T:

BlackBerry Q10

[raino]

As Branta said, 3G and "4G" are just different tiers of speed on the same network. The bands therefore are the same.

T-Mobile's native Q10 is the 100-5. The -1 does not have the AWS UMTS band, but it does have the 1900 band. The UMTS 1900 network--refarmed--by design probably skips 3G and attains HSPA+ speeds (most likely as high as DC-HSPA.)

T-Mobile 3G does still exist on the AWS network. I see it all the time

[Benjamin_NYC]

As Branta said, 3G and "4G" are just different tiers of speed on the same network. The bands therefore are the same.

T-Mobile's native Q10 is the 100-5. The -1 does not have the AWS UMTS band, but it does have the 1900 band. The UMTS 1900 network--refarmed--by design probably skips 3G and attains HSPA+ speeds (most likely as high as DC-HSPA.)

T-Mobile 3G does still exist on the AWS network. I see it all the time

But 4GLTE is something different? Is that why the 100-5 Z30 works on T-Mobile 3G/4G/LTE but only 3G/4G for ATT?


Posted via CB10

[raino]

LTE bands can be the same or different from the UMTS bands. In the case of TMO, they are the same (1700) concurrently because TMO is either refarming their network to LTE, or deploying newly acquired spectrum as LTE. In the case of AT&T, for most of the country, their UMTS and LTE bands are still different. Their primary LTE band is band 17, which is not in any Z30 yet.

[Benjamin_NYC]

LTE bands can be the same or different from the UMTS bands. In the case of TMO, they are the same (1700) concurrently because TMO is either refarming their network to LTE, or deploying newly acquired spectrum as LTE. In the case of AT&T, for most of the country, their UMTS and LTE bands are still different. Their primary LTE band is band 17, which is not in any Z30 yet.

Thanks!


Posted via CB10

[gariac]

If you go to BlackBerry World, there is a free app called "signal". If you do a search for signal, it is NOT the first app. (Doh!) Scroll down until you find Signal. Click on radio, then RF bands. It will show you the capability of the phone.

FYI, this app reads the signal strength correctly. There is another app in the store that gets it wrong, but I want to give the author a heads up before posting the problem. But Signal looks good as far as I have checked it.

You may find the "filter" option interesting. It makes it look like my TMobile z10 has cdma capabilities. You also see cdma in the engineering screen, but no towers are detected.

The attachment feature hasn't worked on Crackberry lately, else I would show you some screen shots.

Posted via CB10

[Benjamin_NYC]

If you go to BlackBerry World, there is a free app called "signal". If you do a search for signal, it is NOT the first app. (Doh!) Scroll down until you find Signal. Click on radio, then RF bands. It will show you the capability of the phone.

FYI, this app reads the signal strength correctly. There is another app in the store that gets it wrong, but I want to give the author a heads up before posting the problem. But Signal looks good as far as I have checked it.

You may find the "filter" option interesting. It makes it look like my TMobile z10 has cdma capabilities. You also see cdma in the engineering screen, but no towers are detected.

The attachment feature hasn't worked on Crackberry lately, else I would show you some screen shots.

Posted via CB10

Interesting. If I turn off the Filter, I see CDMA stuff there (EVDO, 1X, etc.) but it doesn't make it look like my phone is capable of CDMA.

Pretty cool stuff!


Posted via CB10

[gariac]

Interesting. If I turn off the Filter, I see CDMA stuff there (EVDO, 1X, etc.) but it doesn't make it look like my phone is capable of CDMA.

Pretty cool stuff!


Posted via CB10

What we don't know is if all these variants of the z10 have hardware differences or is it just software.

My first Z10 had a proximity detector issue. I got a replacement. I think it left the factory unlocked. I need to do another post to verify this. Anyway, I can now see the Verizon LTE. When I try to connect to it, the phone then switches to AT&T LTE. I on T-Mobile so is just get SOS.

I did a review on Signal and listed some bugs. There seems to be no way to reach the author. The main bug is it will say you have all services even if you only have emergency. Just go to networks, do a manual scan, then connect to a carrier where you don't have a contract. The phone goes to SOS, but the app doesn't detect that.

Posted via CB10

[rai187]

I have this same weird problem as well. When I go into network connections I can pick:



But there is no single option for 3G.. what if I just want 3G

Posted via CB10

[gariac]

I don't have that option either, so as they say in the land of Apple, "It is a feature."


Posted via CB10

[Benjamin_NYC]

I have this same weird problem as well. When I go into network connections I can pick:



But there is no single option for 3G.. what if I just want 3G

Posted via CB10

I don't think there's any reason you'd just want 3G. I think 3G and 4G are essentially the same thing. It's LTE you might want to turn off sometimes.

Posted via CB10

[raino]

You can't get "just 3G" because it's not up to the phone to do that. If in a given area you can pull 30mbps ("4G",) your phone won't limit itself to 5mbps or whatever counts as 3G. It'll pull the best speed it can.