iPhone 4S and Telecom XT - iPhone prefers UMTS2100

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › iPhone 4S and Telecom XT - iPhone prefers UMTS2100

redskt

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#98921 9-Mar-2012 00:04

Hi all,

Is it normal for iPhone to frequently lock onto UMTS 2100 than UMTS 850? My iPhone 4S (bought from Telecom store) latches onto the 2100 band (UARFCN 10738) more frequently than the 850 band (UARFCN 1062). Currently on the latest iOS 5.1 (9B179), Auckland area.

Thanks.

naggyman

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#592615 9-Mar-2012 07:12

The 2100 band is there for extra capacity. Maybe the 850 band was full so it switched over?
Does it matter?

Morgan French-Stagg

morgan.french.net.nz

sbiddle

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#592616 9-Mar-2012 07:20

It really only matters if Telecom still haven't resolved their handover issues, but I believe these were resolved some time ago.

redskt

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#592707 9-Mar-2012 11:12

Oh, so it's normal for Phone to switch 850-2100 even when I get 3 bars max on 2100.

I usually get poor reception and slower data speeds on 2100. 2-3 bars and around 3Mb/s compared to 4-5 bars and 8+ Mb/s on 850. Not mission critical but it does matter.

freitasm

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#592708 9-Mar-2012 11:16

It depends where you are located and if the 850 cell is loaded.

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SteveON

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#592761 9-Mar-2012 13:09

redskt: Oh, so it's normal for Phone to switch 850-2100 even when I get 3 bars max on 2100.

I usually get poor reception and slower data speeds on 2100. 2-3 bars and around 3Mb/s compared to 4-5 bars and 8+ Mb/s on 850. Not mission critical but it does matter.

Just Curious, is the ping any different? I am trying to figure out when you would need 8Mb/s compared with 3 on a smartphone if the ping is similar, or are you Tethering?

redskt

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#593132 10-Mar-2012 11:25

@steveOn

I haven't needed to tether yet. Have not done any pingtests - speedtest.net app reports pings between 50-140ms. Other than the obvious, faster data speeds might help with battery life overall; not sure about that.

I was trying to find out whether it is normal for my iPhone to randomly hop between 850 and 2100. Freitasm and a couple others indicated that the phone may hop frequency when necessary e.g network load balancing. Question answered, thanks all :-)