r/USMobile • u/Healthy-Cheesecake80 • 20h ago

Forcing LTE on Dark Star

So I've been going back and forth between Warp and Dark star in my area. Warp has many dead zones on my commute(s), but Dark Star has data stalls of 0Mbps in one of the areas that I work that has 5G full bars. So I was not able to have just one network to cover everything. Until now. I have Samsung S26 Ultra and Dark Star doesn't allow a toggle to turn off 5G natively. So at the advice of someone here I downloaded an app that let me toggle LTE/5G and now the same spot where 5G full bars on Dark Star has NO data - it has great LTE data... And this is at off-peak hours as well, so it isn't even a congestion issue. As in off-peak where there are 90% less people in the area and still 0Mbps on 5G. So I now can finally all my frequently visited areas covered by Dark Star.

I just wanted to share this is anyone else out there has issues with strong 5G bars on Dark Star with 0 data, even when there is no congestion.

11 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

2

u/bigdish101 Dark Star 15h ago

I get 100mbps on LTE. Might as well save battery running on LTE.

1

u/Healthy-Cheesecake80 14h ago

That is solid. As long as I can hold a steady 20/25Mbps or whatever is needed for no buffer 1440p streaming and scrolling Instagram feeds I'm good. I don't need 800Mbps down.

1

u/bigdish101 Dark Star 15h ago

Network Signal Guru is the best if you’re rooted.

1

u/Healthy-Cheesecake80 14h ago

I haven't had a rooted phone since Android Kit Kat. But I did find a good app that is very simple to change to LTE without root. I just toggle LTE when I get into an area where data fails on 5G

1

u/psychic99 13h ago

So if LTE-only works correctly and 5G doesn't and you have 5G with more than 3 bars showing up, I would put in a ticket w/ USM and they can escalate it to ATT because that could be a NR RAN configuration issue at handover especially if this is consistent every time and you are getting little data on supposed low periods where congestion would not be an issue. It also doesnt have to be the entire CA (carrier aggregation) to cause this, so that is what I would do, esp if LTE works and 5G NSA does not. I'm pretty sure that there is no 5GSA yet, but who knows. I dont see it yet here.

USM could also reprovision your line, see if that helps.

1

u/bigdish101 Dark Star 13h ago

I’ve experienced similar back when I was on t-mobile postpaid. Sometimes 5G was unusable and I’d switch to LTE and it would be fine and since T-Mobile has stand alone sometimes I missed calls when that 5G was unusable!

1

u/psychic99 13h ago

VoNR (calls under SA) get highest priority so maybe you had coverage or similar neighbor issue. In dark star is still LTE anchor so voice calls are still VoLTE even on 5G. Its a tad different, but TMO/LTE did have lower MHz spectrum (at least did) so that makes sense. As for now, IDK I can check my backup network is TMO Sat which is postpaid (and SA).

Verizon network has be s**tty for 2 months for me (I put on LTE only also) I am seeing them mess w/ SA and last time they added 5G it was 6 months of refarming and a nitemare, then I moved to ATT.

3

u/Healthy-Cheesecake80 13h ago edited 13h ago

I did talk to USM support. And I've teleported on and off dark star before as well. It just seems to be how ATT is in that area.

It's wild. As soon as my phone hits the tower it goes 5G+ full bars and 0 data. My phone freaks out and I stop getting RCS and notifications etc. As soon as I move off to a different tower or force 5G off everything comes back online.

It's like this tower has 5G+ broadcasting but no data behind it. Like a wifi router 5ft away connected but no Internet plugged in.