How to (and why) disable Spark LTE Bands

Macguyver

Senior Member
Mar 9, 2011
903
184
0
I couldn't find this info anywhere on xda but I wanted to share this with you all, as the xda community has always helped me and I've rarely had the opportunity to return the favor.

I'm a month into a new G3, and all was well until the last 3 days. About 10 days ago band 41 started showing up with great speeds. I only get about 105-110dBm (1-2 bars) but I was still getting around 20 mbs download speed and it worked great. 2 days ago, my G3 would lock onto band 41 at work and I couldn't get any data. Our wifi is sketchy and I need reliable LTE. After profile & PRL updates were no help, it would bounce from band 41, to 26 to 3G. Back and forth my phone was going band to band trying to lock onto a good signal but kept trying to hold onto the weak band 41 driving me nuts.

So after some research I found a way to disable band 41 & 26 for now until the network becomes more stable. If you are in an area where spark isn't fully baked and have trouble holding onto band 41 or even 26 you can do this. I now have a clean steady stable fast LTE connection at work where I need it the most.

To disable LTE bands:

1. Call or chat with a Sprint rep, ask for your MSL code, its a 6 digit number.
2. Go to you dialer and dial ##3282#, this enters you into a data menu.
3. Tap "LTE", then "edit"
4. Disable any LTE bands causing the issue. I started with 41 but ended up also disabling 26 as it was also spotty and fluctuating.
5. Then hit the back button and the phone will reboot.

You can the re-enable them using the same process at any time. I figure I'll check once a week to see if things are working. If they aren't I'll just disable them again. I would think this would also work on other spark capable devices like the M8, S5, N4, G2 but I don't know for sure.

Thanks, I hope this helps anyone that may be dealing with spotty spark LTE service until spark gets fully implemented.

Goodluck
 
Last edited:

engine95

Recognized Contributor
Oct 14, 2008
3,912
4,801
263
@Macguyver. THANK YOU so much for this!

I'm on the fringe of LTE/eHRPD and just by killing band 41, my reception is finally holding LTE. I've have to put my phone on CDMA just to keep data until now.
I still average 15% cell standby meaning searching for signal, but at least it holds and my battery has gotten better using LTE.

Thanks again. :)
 

Macguyver

Senior Member
Mar 9, 2011
903
184
0
@Macguyver. THANK YOU so much for this!

I'm on the fringe of LTE/eHRPD and just by killing band 41, my reception is finally holding LTE. I've have to put my phone on CDMA just to keep data until now.
I still average 15% cell standby meaning searching for signal, but at least it holds and my battery has gotten better using LTE.

Thanks again. :)
Your welcome, glad to help. Glad it made a difference!
 

Linkford

Senior Member
Nov 9, 2010
57
2
0
Switching bands on Sprint

I couldn't find this info anywhere on xda but I wanted to share this with you all, as the xda community has always helped me and I've rarely had the opportunity to return the favor.

I'm a month into a new G3, and all was well until the last 3 days. About 10 days ago band 41 started showing up with great speeds. I only get about 105-110dBm (1-2 bars) but I was still getting around 20 mbs download speed and it worked great. 2 days ago, my G3 would lock onto band 41 at work and I couldn't get any data. Our wifi is sketchy and I need reliable LTE. After profile & PRL updates were no help, it would bounce from band 41, to 26 to 3G. Back and forth my phone was going band to band trying to lock onto a good signal but kept trying to hold onto the weak band 41 driving me nuts.

So after some research I found a way to disable band 41 & 26 for now until the network becomes more stable. If you are in an area where spark isn't fully baked and have trouble holding onto band 41 or even 26 you can do this. I now have a clean steady stable fast LTE connection at work where I need it the most.

To disable LTE bands:

1. Call or chat with a Sprint rep, ask for your MSL code, its a 6 digit number.
2. Go to you dialer and dial ##3282#, this enters you into a data menu.
3. Tap "LTE", then "edit"
4. Disable any LTE bands causing the issue. I started with 41 but ended up also disabling 26 as it was also spotty and fluctuating.
5. Then hit the back button and the phone will reboot.

You can the re-enable them using the same process at any time. I figure I'll check once a week to see if things are working. If they aren't I'll just disable them again. I would think this would also work on other spark capable devices like the M8, S5, N4, G2 but I don't know for sure.

Thanks, I hope this helps anyone that may be dealing with spotty spark LTE service until spark gets fully implemented.

Goodluck
Thanks for the bit of info. I turned off bands 41 and 25 to stay on band 26. Band 41 stayed between -115db and -123db and band 25 was a bit better but band 26 stays between -100db and -112db. Still not great but much better than band 41. On speed test for band 41 i was getting mostly 0's. On band 26 i am getting about 4megabit down and 2 megabit up. Never any 0's for download or upload. It does slow down but never 0's coming in on the throughput.
 
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