Edge. Calling. Data. Questions.

[Jayce]

Hello there TF. To my surprise I noticed something today I had never noticed before. When on Edge, if you make a call you lose data connectivity. Oh wow? So I did some Googling and of course everybody confirms that by design, 2G towers (Edge) don't allow voice/data at the same time. Okay fine.

This got me wondering... what if I'm using an application such as Glympse... Glympse sends somebody a link which displays your location via GPS on a Google Maps page. You see in real time where the person is moving. I personally like to use it when I'm running late somewhere so people know if I get stuck in traffic or whatever. That said, Glympse naturally uses mobile data to display this information to the end user.

What if I'm actively running in a Glympse and someone calls? Does the call take priority and zap the Glympse connection? In the past apps like this magically resume themselves once the connection is restored. I just want to make sure if I set up a 4 hour session on an app that will use data it doesn't block out calls for those 4 hours.

In case anybody is wondering, my curiosity with this is in regard to the plan I have with T-Mobile. Unlimited everything for 50 a month. However my data is 100mb @ 4g and everything after is unlimited @ 2g, hence why this question has some relevance to it despite most people utilizing 3g and even 4g these days.

Thanks guys!

 

[KSoD]

Even with all my knowledge and expertise on the Cell Phone area, even I cant really answer this question. Really you would have to contact T-Mobile to find out if Voice or Data takes priority. I would think a call would, but really only they can answer this.

 

[Jayce]

All right... my girlfriend was kind enough to fuel a nerd moment for me and help me with a little experiment. I took my phone and sent myself a Glympse. She watched it on my laptop as I went outside with GPS enabled and 2G towers only selected. She watched me walk at 2-3 mph with consistent updates as I walked around. After 20 seconds she called me and said it immediately stopped updating me on my laptop, which was consistent with my data path being broken the second she called. Once we hung up, by the time I walked inside, I saw my signal bars turn from white to green. From what I'm seeing, on the CM7 mod for Android (not sure if it's true for all Android ROMs) green means I'm actually connected while white bars just signify it's in the process of connecting.

Once I got to the front step, it turned green, which meant my actual tower connection was active again. She told me when I got inside that right at the porch is where my laptop started updating my location again.

In short, voice takes priority, but it's pretty darn quick to flip back over to the actual data stream once the voice call is disconnected.

Case closed. Thanks KSoD!

 

[S0ULphIRE]

QoS usually dictates voice > nearlyeverything on any system.

 

[Jayce]

That's what I thought... until I read about a few iPhone users from a ways back saying that their calls went straight to voicemail. Some users were posting frustration with the iPhone and others were saying it's a carrier-wide thing.

I have no idea if it was just a bad feature implemented for the iPhone or if ATT was acting up to force their calls to voicemail or what. But I agree with you, a phone isn't a phone without voice. That's it's primary reason for existence and thus should take priority over anything and everything else.

 

[KSoD]

I can vouch for the fact that it isnt AT&T on this. I have been in the middle of browsing on my phone when a call has come in. Right away my browsing was interrupted and the call took precedence over the other activities. It doesnt matter what I am doing on my phone, at the time when a call comes in, it is always the main focus of the device. So I would have to say that it would be an iPhone specific thing and not a carrier thing.

 

[Jayce]

I can vouch for the fact that it isnt AT&T on this. I have been in the middle of browsing on my phone when a call has come in. Right away my browsing was interrupted and the call took precedence over the other activities. It doesnt matter what I am doing on my phone, at the time when a call comes in, it is always the main focus of the device. So I would have to say that it would be an iPhone specific thing and not a carrier thing.

If that's the case, I'm not even sure it's an issue as of today. Reason being, the only pattern I noticed with all of the responses I read in regard to people saying their iPhone auto-voicemail'd their incoming calls when they were on the web was from years ago. Based on that, I think they were responding in regard to the original iPhone.

But nonetheless, it sparked enough of a question for me to ask since I'm still a bit of a cheapie with my 100mb 4G/unlimited 2g after that plan. It's hard to consider 20 a month more for full blown 4g when I'm around wifi. so. darn. much.

 

[KSoD]

Let me ask this. A buddy has a similar plan. But he wants to take full use of the "unlimited" aspect over the 4G aspect. Is there a way within the T-Mobile phone to do this? He has the HTC Sensation 4G. I thought there was an app or something that would allow you to choose Edge or 4G?

 

[PP Mguire]

Hello there TF. To my surprise I noticed something today I had never noticed before. When on Edge, if you make a call you lose data connectivity. Oh wow? So I did some Googling and of course everybody confirms that by design, 2G towers (Edge) don't allow voice/data at the same time. Okay fine.

This got me wondering... what if I'm using an application such as Glympse... Glympse sends somebody a link which displays your location via GPS on a Google Maps page. You see in real time where the person is moving. I personally like to use it when I'm running late somewhere so people know if I get stuck in traffic or whatever. That said, Glympse naturally uses mobile data to display this information to the end user.

What if I'm actively running in a Glympse and someone calls? Does the call take priority and zap the Glympse connection? In the past apps like this magically resume themselves once the connection is restored. I just want to make sure if I set up a 4 hour session on an app that will use data it doesn't block out calls for those 4 hours.

In case anybody is wondering, my curiosity with this is in regard to the plan I have with T-Mobile. Unlimited everything for 50 a month. However my data is 100mb @ 4g and everything after is unlimited @ 2g, hence why this question has some relevance to it despite most people utilizing 3g and even 4g these days.

Thanks guys!

OT, but what exactly is your plan? I have 200MB data, unlimited text, and 500 any time minutes for 75 a month on a 3G phone. I can't possibly see how you have unlimited everything for only 50 while also having a 100MB data package with 4G. 2G (Edge) also takes up data since that is the only coverage I get at my house. Just curious, because if I could get on something like that then I would gladly lower my bill so I can get my phone turned back on.

 

[Yami]

on the CM7 mod for Android (not sure if it's true for all Android ROMs)

It's not