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How to keep phone from switching bands/towers

  • 30 January 2019
  • 7 replies
  • 5476 views
A

Hello I have an LGV40 purchased from tmo. I have noticed for the entire time I have used it at home I will have different signal strength in the same spot frequently. Single story, 1 family house, sitting next to a glass sliding door, 48335 Farmington hills MI. I  will often also be temporarily disconnected from the internet but i am able to reconnect right away. I downloaded network cell info lite and it is showing me the reason why. Every ~5-30 seconds my phone is switching between 3 bands/ towers. Band 66, 2, and 12. Each are also different towers. Speed tests on each are about the same however signal strength is not. It seems I get full signal from the tower using band 12. So while I don't actually care what tower I'm connected to as long as I can get a decent data connection I would like it to remain the same instead of switching every 5-30 sec causing data disconnects.(90% of the time it's switching no disconnect happenes but the 10% is very annoying) There is no option in my network settings to select a specific band only 4g,3g,2g and automatic. Yes I have p-dogged airplane mode, and fully reset, multiple times. The cycle continues. Thanks!

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Best answer by alex86 31 January 2019, 22:17

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7 replies

snn555
Rank
Userlevel 4

my last several LG phones did not allow particular band selections. I had an issue with my Stylo 4 staying locked onto a weak 66 tower when I had a strong 4 cellspot 10 feet away. I wanted to lock onto the strong 4 and not stay on the weak 66 but LG does not allow.

A

Thanks for the reply. I have discovered some 3rd party  apps that require rooting the phone to allow band selection. Pretty stanky I would even need to think about that. Especially crazy when PC mag rated the v40 as best reception of 2018. Considering that and the additional research I have been doing I'm thinking tmo might be the cause here. Found some Information from late 2017 about band 12 and how tmo acquired it from att. Also notes that tmo was charged more for band12 based on it's useage. If this is still the case I think it is pretty clear why I can't stay on band 12 with the phone rated best reception 2018. If that is not still the case whats up with your towers out here tmo? And of the 100 views why has no one from tmo stepped in to answer? Hmmmm.

syaoran
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Userlevel 7
Badge +15

There are dialer codes that allow you access to an Engineering Menu that will allow you to select bands.  However, do not use that menu to do so!  It has caused a lot of headaches for those that have messed with the connectivity of the device. 

Tower switching is based on the carrier aggregation in the device as well as congestion.  If the tower has to handle more call and or data traffic, it is going to hand your device off to another tower in range.  Most devices want to be on the closest tower or the tower with the best co nection.  Congestion will affect that. 

Syaoran - I am not a T-Mobile Employee but I could use a new job!
A

UPDATE: So now locked onto band 12 I'm holding the band but the speed is actually pretty poor. It's not awful but it's ~5-7mbps down 4-6mbos up.  This is a big difference from the 40-50 down I was getting switching around bands. As some other posts suggest I'm thinking I may need to just select 66 or 2.

Original reply: Interesting. I just discovered code : 277634#*#

So far seems to be holding the band. I am about equidistant from the 3 towers I mentioned.

I will be trying the band selection discovered with this code. It was listed for lgv30 but it also works on my v40

syaoran
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +15

Most device product lines share the same dialer codes, at least through a few product upgrades. 

Syaoran - I am not a T-Mobile Employee but I could use a new job!
A

It is def working. Very easy to select and go back to automatic. Very strange results now. So as I mentioned locked onto band 12 speeds ~5-7mbps down 4-6mbps up. Locked onto 66 : 10-17 down 10up. Locked into band 2: 12 down 2 up. Now when I go back to automatic: 38-40 down 5-13 up. So whatever is going on out here I can't have both speed and stability it seems.

A

Well I found my own basic answer to my question however it doesn't exactly solve my problem. So I am writing this post as my question answered.

Lg does have a dialer code to select bands. I found this code referencing the v30 however it works for the v40 also. Code: 277634#*#

You enter this code into your dialer to access the, "Operator Hidden Menu".

On this menu is a section, "Band Selection".

You can select your lte and other bands.

Placing a check next to the band and selecting save will use that band or other checked bands.

Removing all checks and selecting save returns

back to automatic.

This does and does not solve my problem because while it brings stability of not switching bands every 5-30 sec it drops my speed quite a bit. Still ok speeds regardless.

It seems I can't have both speed and stability with tmo.

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