We are living in the time of 4G LTE connectivity. But practically the most commonly used data connectivity is still 3G. But when you are traveling away from cities you might have to use 2G EDGE connectivity as well.
Your android phone is capable of intelligently switching between 3G and 2G depending on the signal strength. But it’s not doing it in a smart way. Think about a situation where you have very strong 2G signal and very poor 3G signal. In such case your phone will choose 2G network.
But by experience you know that poor 3G signals could give you much faster connectivity that very strong 2G signals. In such a case it would be really great if you could stay on 3G network regardless of poor signal. I was going through Android menu looking for that option. But it wasn’t there. There you have 2G only mode, but not 3G.
If you are using a HSDPA USB modem, in control panel you have preferred network type. Once you set it to only WCDMA it’ not switching to EDGE. It’s because this option is not there in Android. There are several apps to lock your phone on 3G networks. But answer is in the box, menu is hidden. Here is how to find it.
Access Android Testing Menu
- Go to Phone and type *#*#4636#*#*
- It will open the Android testing menu.
- There you have several category of information. Tap in phone information.
- Scroll down there and you can find set preferred network type.
- Set it to WCDMA only, same as in HSDPA USB modem.
- Now your phone is in force 3G mode. It will never switch to 2G.
The problem is solved and we just forced Android to use only 3G. But Remember, in a situation where you don’t have 3G signals at all, you will be totally cut off from data networks. In such case if you need to use 2G EDGE connectivity, set preferred network type back to “WCDMA preferred”. If you restart your phone this setting will go back to default.
- Mobile Device: Samsung Galaxy Nexus
- Mobile OS: Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2
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Tags: #Android