6 ms·

Poking around the config files, AT&T and two other carriers (both of which are subsidiaries, from a quick Google) seem to display 3G connections as if they were

Poking around the config files, AT&T and two other carriers (both of which are subsidiaries, from a quick Google) seem to display 3G connections as if they were 4G: $ grep -r show_4g_for_3g_data_icon_bool assets/ assets/carrier_config_carrierid_1187_AT&T.xml: <boolean name="show_4g_for_3g_data_icon_bool" value="true"/> assets/carrier_config_carrierid_2119_FirstNet.xml: <boolean name="show_4g_for_3g_data_icon_bool" value="true"/> assets/carrier_config_carrierid_1779_Cricket-Wireless.xml: <boolean name="show_4g_for_3g_data_icon_bool" value="true"/> Android documents[0] this flag, which they don't appear to do for the `inflate_signal_strength_bool` field outside the source code from what I can tell. It seems like there a bunch of odd flags for controlling user-exposed visuals - another flag `show_4g_for_lte_data_icon_bool` is used by 96 carriers, for example. I wonder if there's some odd telecom history behind these, or if these flags were intended for some kind of edge-case. It seems like carriers have the option to arbitrarily override the thresholds used for determining signal strength[1], but only four carriers actually do. All only elect to customize the `lte_rsrp_thresholds_int_array` field; and all opt to make things harder for themselves, reporting their network connection as lower strength than the default classification[2] would: $ grep -r _thresholds_int_array assets/ -A5 assets/carrier_config_carrierid_2556_Xfinity_Mobile.xml: <int-array name="lte_rsrp_thresholds_int_array" num="4"> assets/carrier_config_carrierid_2556_Xfinity_Mobile.xml- <item value="-115"/> assets/carrier_config_carrierid_2556_Xfinity_Mobile.xml- <item value="-105"/> assets/carrier_config_carrierid_2556_Xfinity_Mobile.xml- <item value="-95"/> assets/carrier_config_carrierid_2556_Xfinity_Mobile.xml- <item value="-85"/> assets/carrier_config_carrierid_2556_Xfinity_Mobile.xml- </int-array> -- assets/carrier_config_carrierid_1345_Telstra.xml: <int-array name="lte_rsrp_thresholds_int_array" num="4"> assets/carrier_config_carrierid_1345_Telstra.xml- <item value="-120"/> assets/carrier_config_carrierid_1345_Telstra.xml- <item value="-115"/> assets/carrier_config_carrierid_1345_Telstra.xml- <item value="-100"/> assets/carrier_config_carrierid_1345_Telstra.xml- <item value="-90"/> assets/carrier_config_carrierid_1345_Telstra.xml- </int-array> -- assets/carrier_config_carrierid_1839_Verizon-Wireless.xml: # omitted, same as Xfinity, above ... -- assets/carrier_config_carrierid_2032_Xfinity-Mobile.xml: # omitted, same as Xfinity, above ... [0]: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/telephony/CarrierConfigManager#KEY_SHOW_4G_FOR_3G_DATA_ICON_BOOL https://developer.android.com/reference/android/telephony/Ca... [1]: https://source.android.com/docs/core/connect/signal-strength#implement https://source.android.com/docs/core/connect/signal-strength... [2]: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/refs/heads/master/telephony/java/android/telephony/CarrierConfigManager.java#11103 https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/... sDefaults.putIntArray(KEY_LTE_RSRP_THRESHOLDS_INT_ARRAY, // Boundaries: [-140 dBm, -44 dBm] new int[] { -128, /* SIGNAL_STRENGTH_POOR */ -118, /* SIGNAL_STRENGTH_MODERATE */ -108, /* SIGNAL_STRENGTH_GOOD */ -98, /* SIGNAL_STRENGTH_GREAT */ });

Shank 11mo ago
> seem to display 3G connections as if they were 4G https://www.theverge.com/2011/05/04/536673/att-t-mobile-dipping-hspa-4g-branding https://www.theverge.com/2011/05/04/536673/att-t-mobile-dipp... AT&T has a history of lying about what its network is. They were advertising HSPA+ as 4G and then recently started advertising LTE as "5G E". I can't find a lot of articles about the 4G branding one since the 5G one started. > show_4g_for_lte_data_icon_bool Realistically I think this is just a choice that many carriers made. It's quite common to see 4G instead of LTE outside of the US. Technically speaking I think WiMAX counted as 4G when there were competing 4G standards and you could make an argument that LTE is just one of the 4G standards.
ashirviskas 11mo ago
The same is done without modifying Android, likely nearly everywhere in the world, but maybe not every provider. Provider sends a config information of "Network Override" and can make your phone display any network type. I see this happening in Network Survey app (open source) with my provider.

Shank 11mo ago

> seem to display 3G connections as if they were 4G https://www.theverge.com/2011/05/04/536673/att-t-mobile-dipping-hspa-4g-branding https://www.theverge.com/2011/05/04/536673/att-t-mobile-dipp... AT&T has a history of lying about what its network is. They were advertising HSPA+ as 4G and then recently started advertising LTE as "5G E". I can't find a lot of articles about the 4G branding one since the 5G one started. > show_4g_for_lte_data_icon_bool Realistically I think this is just a choice that many carriers made. It's quite common to see 4G instead of LTE outside of the US. Technically speaking I think WiMAX counted as 4G when there were competing 4G standards and you could make an argument that LTE is just one of the 4G standards.

ashirviskas 11mo ago

The same is done without modifying Android, likely nearly everywhere in the world, but maybe not every provider. Provider sends a config information of "Network Override" and can make your phone display any network type. I see this happening in Network Survey app (open source) with my provider.