I thought this was not possible.

[TheForce]

I'm traveling again and using my Thunderbolt in an area with no LTE 4G.
I connected with 3G here. So while I'm surfing the Internet I get a phone call and my wife answers. I'm still on the iPad tethered to the TBolt in 3G and no interruption. I don't understand how this is possible. I guess I'm good until the battery goes dead.

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys app

 

[Ramy]

The 3G on the 4G phones is different. The towers have a combination 4G/3G radio on them so that you can surf the internet and be on the phone on the same time.

 

[Peter Parker]

The inability to surf while using the phone was always a CDMA limitation. As Ramy points out the newere technology circumvents this. I have to say though that Ia m milsly surprised that you Verizon types can do this even when you have a 3g (and presumably CDMA0 connection.

 

[Hall]

The 3G on the 4G phones is different. The towers have a combination 4G/3G radio on them so that you can surf the internet and be on the phone on the same time.

Which is it, the phone or the tower ? He said he has no 4G signal, so it's safe to presume it's an "older" tower setup, i.e. 3G only. If that's the case, it should operate exactly like anyone on VZW a year ago would see, that is, no 'internet' data and voice at the same time.

I suspect he does in fact have a 4G connection but the statusbar icon is incorrect.

 

[Ramy]

Which is it, the phone or the tower ? He said he has no 4G signal, so it's safe to presume it's an "older" tower setup, i.e. 3G only. If that's the case, it should operate exactly like anyone on VZW a year ago would see, that is, no 'internet' data and voice at the same time.

I suspect he does in fact have a 4G connection but the statusbar icon is incorrect.

It must be the phone because I can surf the internet and talk while on the phone at my house and there is no 4G even close to where I live.

 

[isaacmorseMI]

It must be the phone because I can surf the internet and talk while on the phone at my house and there is no 4G even close to where I live.

So can I. I also have no 4G where I live.

 

[TheForce]

Guess it is the phone because it worked again in the most remote part of Tenn, near NC this morning. I did have 3G and was watching CNN on sling player when a call came in. No interruption!

Another observation is while driving past Columbia SC I went into a 4G zone and my tethering which was on in 3G quit. I restarted it for 4G LTE and it worked fine until I was past Columbia. Then the tether broke connection again until I reset it back to 3G. The Internet connection local to the phone switched automatically, but the tethering app did not.

BTW my wife is driving and I'm using tethering to 2 iPads and my Dell laptop. Can't do more than one video stream on 3G but video plus email and web surf is fine. With LTE I can watch 2 different sling boxes in HD simultaneously.

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys app

 

[Hall]

3G, LTE, Verizon, voice, data

 

[JamesJ]

The Thunderbolt is the only phone that has dual antennas...it is the only phone you can surf and be on the phone at the same time on Verizons network (3G only).

 

[berck]

It really has nothing to do with the antennas as much as if the tranceivers can handle it and the carrier will support it. GSM was always setup to handle different voice and data from the being. CDMA, not so much. There has been rumors that Sprint is going to enable this feature for 3G

 

[JamesJ]

It really has nothing to do with the antennas as much as if the tranceivers can handle it and the carrier will support it. GSM was always setup to handle different voice and data from the being. CDMA, not so much. There has been rumors that Sprint is going to enable this feature for 3G

it really has everything to do with antennas on the thunderbolt...trust me....again Thunderbolt is THE only phone on verizon as of this date that has a dual antenna setup so you can talk and get data at the same time..The thunderbolt was designed to be the IT phone on verizon..sad as they have fallen behind in software updates, but as far as hardware goes, its hard to beat everything the thunderbolt has.

 

[TheForce]

it really has everything to do with antennas on the thunderbolt...trust me....again.

This is not religion. Let's hear a technical reason to your call for faith in stuart628.

Here is what I do know and what I think is going on with the observation I made.
In a traditional 3G smartphone on CDMA, to get a data connection, the phone actually calls #77 as I recall the number and connects like a modem. In the Thunderbolt, using LTE radio in addition to the CDMA radio, we have two radios. CDMA phone and data up to 3G on one and 4G data only on LTE radio. LTE operates in the 700Mhz band which is different necessitating a different antenna tuned to a different resonant frequency. My source is from the Verizon reps at CES booth on these facts. I always knew that one could do data on LTE and voice on the CDMA simultaneously by working both radios in the one device box. I never knew that the LTE 700 Mhz radio could be used to also connect to 3G freeing up the CDMA radio for voice without cutting the data connection for 3G. I'm assuming that is how it is achieved since there is no 3rd radio in the phone. What I still don't understand is if the tower can communicate with an LTE radio even at 3G speed, why isn't it up to the task of 4G speed. I recognize that radio frequency and data speed are entirely different. This may mean that the towers are only partially ready for LTE and some around the country would not work in this manner??? There are still some things that just don't add up yet in my understanding on how it all works.

.sad as they have fallen behind in software updates,

BTW- I also started to get a message on my T-Bolt to download the new OS but have elected to put it off for a few days. The message keeps reminding me to update but I'm afraid to as some have claimed that updating will shut down my mobile router. I still don't get billed for it. Anyone else update the OS and now are paying a fee for the tethering app? http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/09/verizon-pushes-latest-thunderbolt-update-solves-reboot-issues/


Regarding GSM, the system is totally different and the voice and data share the same transmission through frequency slicing by design allowing simultaneous voice data on the same radio.

Considering how much this issue was bragged on by AT&T users as well as the AT&T commercials, I'm surprised that until now, I don't believe anyone here has mentioned this as unique to the LTE 4g phones. I don't think it is unique to Thunderbolt but maybe just that Thunderbolt was first.

 

[Ramy]

BTW- I also started to get a message on my T-Bolt to download the new OS but have elected to put it off for a few days. The message keeps reminding me to update but I'm afraid to as some have claimed that updating will shut down my mobile router. I still don't get billed for it. Anyone else update the OS and now are paying a fee for the tethering app? Verizon pushes latest Thunderbolt update: solves reboot issues, kills free mobile hotspot -- Engadget

Yes it does disable the hotspot feature. Don't know about tethering via wire though, haven't tried it.

 

[berck]

it really has everything to do with antennas on the thunderbolt...trust me....again Thunderbolt is THE only phone on verizon as of this date that has a dual antenna setup so you can talk and get data at the same time..The thunderbolt was designed to be the IT phone on verizon..sad as they have fallen behind in software updates, but as far as hardware goes, its hard to beat everything the thunderbolt has.

I don't have time to explain in detail, but I will repeat again that dual antennas have nothing to do with it. You can mux multiple signals onto the same antenna as long as the antenna can cover the spectrum you need. There are reasons why a dual (or multiple) antenna setup is desired, but that generally has to do with spectrum coverage, separate Tx/Rx, or diversity. Its the back end processing behind the antennas that have to be able to handle multiple formats (CDMA voice, CDMA 3G, WiMax, LTE, etc). GSM was setup to handle both voice and data at the same time. The control change would just move you to a different voice traffic or data traffic channel. CDMA should be able to do the same thing, but its whether the phone hardware supports it, and the provider allows you to take up an additional channel.

 

[JamesJ]

I suppose now is as good a time as any to delve into the dual transceiver situation on the Thunderbolt. The two transceivers I speak of are the MSM8655’s built in cellular baseband (like all Qualcomm SoCs, you get a modem for free), and the MDM9600 which sits at the heart of every single other Verizon LTE product except the LG VL600 data card, which uses LG’s own L2000 chipset. If you want the short story, the Thunderbolt fully supports simultaneous CDMA2000-1x voice and 3G EVDO or 4G LTE data. The way this is done should already be somewhat obvious - the MSM8655 gives the Thunderbolt a continual free CDMA 1x connection for voice, SMS, and slow data, and the MDM9600 does all the 3G EVDO and 4G LTE data heavy lifting. What this boils down to is real SVDO (Simultaneous Voice Data Optimized) and SVLTE (Simultaneous Voice and Long Term Evolution data).

found here:
AnandTech - HTC Thunderbolt Review: The First Verizon 4G LTE Smartphone

and if you just google thunderbolt and dual antennas you will have plenty of other answers...again, the thunderbolt is the ONLY phone on verizon that can do this because of this dual antenna (radio) setup..that is what makes it possible...Dual Antennas have everything to do with it in this situation...While berck might be right in other situations when it comes to verizon and the thunderbolt his logic dosent apply...also Don if you havent taken the MR2 OTA (which I assume your phone is bugging you to do) it will shut down your free wifi hotspot...but it has made my thunderbolt back to where it should be, battery life is good, and I dont get the random reboots which I use to!

 

[LostBoyinVA]

The capability for the Tunderbolt to do simultaneous voice and data has nothing to do with its capability to do 4G LTE. It uses a new CDMA chipset that allows this capability. Google it, lots of articles on how the Thunderbolt is the first verizone phone to do simultaneous voice and data on 3G "using a special 3G CDMA chipset". However the capability to do so is part of the 4G LTE network. When the 4G LTE network was down in April if you wanted access to 3G you had to change a system setting to switch 3g networks to regain 3G data connectivity. While the setting was in place you were not able to do simultaneous voice and data.


Verizon’s 4G LTE Network Down Nationwide | Android Community

 

[JamesJ]

The capability for the Tunderbolt to do simultaneous voice and data has nothing to do with its capability to do 4G LTE. It uses a new CDMA chipset that allows this capability. Google it, lots of articles on how the Thunderbolt is the first verizone phone to do simultaneous voice and data on 3G "using a special 3G CDMA chipset". However the capability to do so is part of the 4G LTE network. When the 4G LTE network was down in April if you wanted access to 3G you had to change a system setting to switch 3g networks to regain 3G data connectivity. While the setting was in place you were not able to do simultaneous voice and data.


Verizon’s 4G LTE Network Down Nationwide | Android Community

last part is correct, because I believe you are killing the 700 antenna..so therefore you are going back to just a single antenna instead of the 2 antenna (1 for 1x adn EVdo and the other for lte or 700 mhz). The first part is sorta wrong, if the thunderbolt didnt have the 700mhz antenna for 4gLTe then it would only have one antenna for 1x and Evdo (3g) service so therefore it is kinda tied in to the 4g lte antenna but not the service....does that make sense?

 

[Hall]

However the capability to do so is part of the 4G LTE network.

The reason the OP posted in the first place was because the area he was in does NOT have 4G service...

 

[TheForce]

Thanks, Hall that is correct.

 

[JamesJ]

The reason the OP posted in the first place was because the area he was in does NOT have 4G service...

correct.

oops sorry Don didnt see your post for some reason.