LTE doesn't show up after traveling abroad

[DanFerrari]

Hi,

I recently bought a Galaxy Note 8 (International version) with Dual SIM capability.

The LTE connection was working normaly until I travelled to Brazil and came back.

Initially whe I returned I didn't have internet at all, but after some research I noticed that the APN settings were gone. After trying all the settings suggested on the forum (LTEMobile.apn) I don't get LTE anymore, now I only see 4G connections. 

When I was in Brazil I got a local SIM to use internet and one strange thing happened there: on the first couple of days the speed was terribly slow (H+ I think) but after an update that happened overnight the speed went to 4G and it was a lot faster after that.

Any ideas on what might have happened? It seems to me that I updated to a local firmware (brazilian) that only allows 4G connections, but I'm not sure.

Any help would be appreciatted.

Thanks,

Dan

[FidoRachel]

Hey @DanFerrari, welcome to the Community! 

The answer on this post might help.

Let us know if you need more details! 

[FidoNick]

Hey @DanFerrari! Did @FidoRachel's suggestion help out?

Let us know!

[DanFerrari]

Hi @FidoNick, Not really, based on the post she suggest I believe I have to accept the fact that my phone is now showing 4G instead of LTE that it used to show and that might mean the same thing I'd guess.... Because I never tested the speed when I was on LTE there is no way for me to compare to make sure it is actually the same.

[Cawtau]

Hello DanFerrari,

  Welcome to the community!

   Following the update in Brazil, your Note 8 likely denotes LTE as 4G. Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a North American term for fourth generation technology. Most of the rest World simply use 4G for the same technology. I understand that 4G is occasionally used to represent a data connection to the UMTS (WCDMA) network using the HSPA+ protocol. However, most phones which represent LTE as 4G usually use H+ when connected via HSPA+. 

  Unfortunately, there may not be any (easy) way to revert your to show LTE again. You would not be able to update your phone with North American firmware since the hardware can be quite different between the versions (see here).

  I understand you never tested your speed previously, however, you should note that there are many factors which can affect data speeds. Using the same phone at the same location at different times can also produce varying data speeds. The only way to verify to which network your phone is connected is to identify the band/frequency used.

  You should be able to verify to which band/frequency your phone is connected under your phone's status. Alternatively, there are apps similar to LTE Discovery which should also provide that information. If your phone is connected to Band 4 (1700/2100MHz), Band 7 (2600MHz), or Band(s) 12/17 (700MHz), your phone is connected to the LTE network. It is not possible to connect to the '3G' network with those bands/frequencies since Fido/Rogers' UMTS (WCDMA) network does not use those bands/frequencies. You can verify the bands/frequencies here.

Hope this helps

Cheers