Can't get 4g+ on xperia Z5 premium

griffdaddy

I've recently switched from a note 4 to the z5 premium and can't seem to get 4g+ anymore on Three. Sony's support don't really know what I'm talking about and three say there's no reason why it shouldn't work. As far as I can see it should be working okay. I can get normal 4g and h+, GSM etc. Anyone any ideas?

Thanks,

Griff

wheresmybeaver

I'll be honest here when I say i thought 4g was the 'best g' currently going.

I think this could be different manufacturers interpreting things differently? I've an Xperia z5 on meteor that gets 4g, but the US model displays this as lte, and even within that I think there are different bands of speed. however Sony will only ever show 4g, even if there are different bands of speed within that. Samsung therefore may have different ways of presenting this information too.

Or am I miles off?

griffdaddy

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

I'll be honest here when I say i thought 4g was the 'best g' currently going.

I think this could be different manufacturers interpreting things differently? I've an Xperia z5 on meteor that gets 4g, but the US model displays this as lte, and even within that I think there are different bands of speed. however Sony will only ever show 4g, even if there are different bands of speed within that. Samsung therefore may have different ways of presenting this information too.

Or am I miles off?

Na that's not it. LTE and 4g are the same thing. 4g+ is also known as lte-a and can be up to 3 times as fast as regular 4g. I've hit over 100MBs on it before on my note 4

ED E

Three have CAT4 and CAT6 cells. 4s are 150Mb (About 130Mb real world) and 6s (LTEA/4G+) are 300s (probably 250Mb effective).

I've an LTEA CAT12 device but I'm yet to see it register the secondary channel (What moves you from LTE to LTEA) never mind activate it. From cursory reading of some very technical specifications it seems the UE(Phone) determines when to register an SCC but the eNB(Cell) decides when to activate it. You should still get the icon once its registered though.


I dont understand the process well enough (its not standardized) but I'm suspicious that Three may be using their own firmware to bring it up rather than interrogating the UEs capabilities on the fly. This would be a big pain. Was the Z5 purchased from Three/is it using Threes firmware?

MarkR

Is it the European version of the phone, or Japanese?

griffdaddy

It's the UK version of the phone from amazon running stock UK firmware. From looking around the net it seems to be an issue that some people have with xperias around the world on different networks. My note 4 was German stock unbranded from amazon DE and that worked okay on three. I think part of it might be the limited connection preferences available on the z5. The only LTE option is lte(preferred)/wcdma/GSM. The others are variations of wcdma and GSM. I've never seen LTE preferred before, and the phone does just that and tries to connect to 4g constantly. Very strange

dunleas

griffdaddy wrote: »

It's the UK version of the phone from amazon running stock UK firmware. From looking around the net it seems to be an issue that some people have with xperias around the world on different networks. My note 4 was German stock unbranded from amazon DE and that worked okay on three. I think part of it might be the limited connection preferences available on the z5. The only LTE option is lte(preferred)/wcdma/GSM. The others are variations of wcdma and GSM. I've never seen LTE preferred before, and the phone does just that and tries to connect to 4g constantly. Very strange

did you get the install file sent to you by three when you first logged on the phone? I recently changed to a z5 standard and when I booted up three sent a configuration file to the phone which I applied

griffdaddy

Yeah I got this as well, didn't seem to make a difference. I think that just updates the apn files

MarkR

That one should be fully compatible. Does it require roaming to be on?

istaunton

Icons are really Brand specific. Just because your Sony only says 4G does not mean its not connected to multiple frequencies (This is 4G+ or Carrier Aggregation). They are both Cat6 devices and should be capable of the same Download speeds. I would perform a few tests to see if the speeds comparable or if there is a difference?

Run a few speedstests on both a share a few screen shots and I can give you more info.

griffdaddy

istaunton wrote: »

Icons are really Brand specific. Just because your Sony only says 4G does not mean its not connected to multiple frequencies (This is 4G+ or Carrier Aggregation). They are both Cat6 devices and should be capable of the same Download speeds. I would perform a few tests to see if the speeds comparable or if there is a difference?

Run a few speedstests on both a share a few screen shots and I can give you more info.

Yeah I've done this as well in my guaranteed 4g+ speeds location on Baggott street. Can't get higher than 50 with full bars of 4g on xperia, automatically get much higher speeds on note 4. I'm starting to think this is a problem with xperia firmware not switching over properly to different frequencies

istaunton

Unless your doing the tests side by side or pretty close to each other there are just to many variables.
3 may have made a config change in that area.
Cell could be congested.
Could be an issue with backhaul
Indoor building coverage
etc
etc

Even still at 50Mbps thats well within the possibility of being of 4G

p.s. I have no connection to 3 or sony or samsung. Just incase someone starts shouting

griffdaddy

No it's definitely an issue

ED E

griffdaddy wrote: »

Yeah I've done this as well in my guaranteed 4g+ speeds location on Baggott street. Can't get higher than 50 with full bars of 4g on xperia, automatically get much higher speeds on note 4. I'm starting to think this is a problem with xperia firmware not switching over properly to different frequencies

Speed isnt an indication.

You could be on a 4G cell and get 120Mb and then be on a 4G+ cell and get 20Mb.

You need to use a diagnostic app that can see the radio mode, everything else is pissing in the wind.

istaunton

ED E wrote: »

Speed isnt an indication.

You could be on a 4G cell and get 120Mb and then be on a 4G+ cell and get 20Mb.

You need to use a diagnostic app that can see the radio mode, everything else is pissing in the wind.

Valid Point

griffdaddy

I'm hoping the nougat update that's issuing at the moment sorts it out. They might have changed something in the background