BJ2 Radio Reception - An Explanation?

[Guest MadSci]

I have read several comments that people are unsatisfied with the reception on their BJ2. Several also comment that the BJ2 seems to be a bit 'twitchy' in that it seems to hop around between 'G', 'E' and '3G' alot.

When I first got my phone, I was also disappointed. Areas that I knew to be solid 3G (both according to AT&T's website and my BJ1) were coming out as only EDGE ('E'), or even 'G', and areas that were formerly solid EDGE reception were often only showing as 'G'. And the network did seem to 'hop around' alot, switching among the 3 speeds much more than I was used to seeing.

Despite this, the actual reception and download speeds seemed to be at least as good as my trusty "old" :( BJ1, faster even in many locations.

Hmmmm.

After watching it closely for the last week, I think that the BJ2 is using a form of adaptive frequency shifting. When I leave it alone for a while, it seems to drop down to the speed that is 1 step lower than the max available in the area. Once I initiate a call, or data connection, it then hops 'up' to the fastest network in the area, and usually stays there until a while after the connection has been terminated, then drops down a peg.

Watching even more closely, this behavior seems to be more prevalent during high use periods like rushhour and the dreaded Daycare Pickup time!.

So I think that Samsung and AT&T have set this beast up to keep the 'housekeeping' cell to tower traffic at a fairly slow rate, but to pick up the pace as quickly as possible upon establishing an active call. It would make sense to do so, assuming AT&T was trying to squeeze as much data as possible over the 3G network resources, but had plenty of 'G' and 'E' bandwidth available. Given the rapid rise in smartphone use, they may be trying to protect their network. I could even suppose that shifting housekeeping data exchanges between the handset and local tower to the 'G' spectrum might be done to free up their EDGE network for all those iPhone Browsers, poking along at only EDGE speeds :D

Now I have no way to determine if this is actually happening, but the behaviour I am seeing is pretty consistent.

As for the sensitivity of the radio, well, I NEVER saw a 3G connection at my house on my aged :D BJ1. The 3G signal dropped out a half mile away, despite the assurances of AT&T that I was 'just' at the border of coverage. Now I get it all the time, and there has been no activity at the local towers that I can see.

Am I dreaming? Maybe, but I like this dream and I'm sticking to it. Is anyone else in this dream along with me? Can a technically astute MoDaCo Member comment, or even ask a contact on the 'inside' if this is going on?

MadSci

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Interesting, if that IS the case, it'd be nice to turn it off :(

Wasn't there a secret menu for that kinda stuff on the BJ1 somewhere?

P

[Guest halorin]

There was a program in the Windows directory called BandSel.exe. It's in the BJII, but you when you try to change bands it doesn't work. You get an error message. I think that active switcheroo -is- in place, but my BJII never does that annoying speaker feedback thing when inactive, so. Who knows. :(

[Guest thelostsoul]

Well, I can tell you that on my Cing 3125, even though it's only EDGE, I'll note that the indicator will say it only has GPRS but it runs at EDGE speeds. I always thought it was just a WM thing...

[Guest combustion]

This makes sense, as I know i live in a 3G area but when I look at my signal when not in use goes from 3G to edge in a matter of seconds.

[Guest MadSci]

This makes sense, as I know i live in a 3G area but when I look at my signal when not in use goes from 3G to edge in a matter of seconds.

Thinking about this a bit more, one doesn't have to conjure up Network issues for AT&T at all to explain this. Remember the howls of protest over the battery life of the BJ1? Samsung had to build a new larger battery and backplate, and then ship them for free to all the BJ customers. Must have cost them a small fortune.

It was noted at the time that the real battery killer was 3G, and as Paul noted in a previous response to this thread, various Hacks and hidden menues were used by BJ1 owners to actually shut off the 3G radio option, just to keep their phone powered for a workday.

Now we know that the BJ2 has a larger standard battery (1700 mAh) than the BJ1 (1200 mAh), but it's smaller than the 'large' BJ1 battery (1800mAh). And the BJ2 runs a processor at 20% higher clock speeds, so how do you keep everyone happy and make a slim, light phone, that can blaze along at 3G without killing the battery in a few hours? No one at Samsung or AT&T would have wanted to have BJ2 owners griping about battery life and again crippling the device and tieing it to the EDGE network (especially with all those pokey old iPhone Browsers so in need of the slow lane :(

So I guess they settled upon the behaviour noted above, which will keep the battery life as long as possible, while making the fastest speed network available on an "as needed" basis.

I'll buy that for a dollar :D

MadSci