Android Apps and News

A quick hack posted here on the XDA Android Development forum by “Stimpoff” may allow you to achieve faster download and upload speeds on 2G and 3G networks. I say “may” because it didn’t work for some people, including me up here in Minneapolis. However, there are enough happy users that have reported successes (up to 2x faster or more for upload/download speeds afterward) that I decided to pass it on. Let me know if it works for you. (Note that the basic version of the hack is already included in Cyanogen 4.2.8, but you can try the other settings below as well.)

The basic hack is very simple: the file build.trout.prop (or build.sapphire.prop or build.prop, depending on your ROM) in the /system folder contains the following entries:

• ro.ril.hsxpa=1
• ro.ril.gprsclass=10

Changing the entries to:

• ro.ril.hsxpa=2
• ro.ril.gprsclass=12

seems to provide a great increase in throughput speeds for some people. What are these entries, exactly? User “Amon_RA” explains in the thread that ro.ril.hsxpa indicates hsxpa support of the target network:

• ro.ril.hsxpa=0 – UMTS r99
• ro.ril.hsxpa=1 – HSDPA
• ro.ril.hsxpa=2 – HSDPA/HSUPA

While ro.ril.gprsclass indicates the GPRS class of the target network :

• Class 2 : 3 slots : 8 – 12 kbps upload / 16 – 24 kbps download
• Class 4 : 4 slots : 8 – 12 kbps upload / 24 – 36 kbps download
• Class 6 : 4 slots : 24 – 36 kbps upload / 24 – 36 kbps download
• Class 8 : 5 slots : 8 – 12 kbps upload / 32 – 40 kbps download
• Class 10 : 5 slots : 16 – 24 kbps upload / 32 – 48 kbps download
• Class 12 : 5 slots : 32 – 48 kbps upload / 32 – 48 kbps download

Amon_RA suggests a few more edits to try which are not included in the Cyanogen ROM:

• ro.ril.hep=1
• ro.ril.enable.dtm=1
• ro.ril.hsdpa.category=8
• ro.ril.enable.a53=1
• ro.ril.enable.3g.prefix=1
• ro.ril.htcmaskw1.bitmask = 4294967295
• ro.ril.htcmaskw1 = 14449
• ro.ril.hsupa.category = 5

Note that the author says it may take 2 or more reboots for the hack to take effect. The general process is as follows:

1) copy /system/build.trout.prop (or build.sapphire.prop or build.prop, depending on your ROM) to your local machine

2) edit the file with a text editor

3) remount the system read/write

4) push the file back to the /system folder

5) reboot your phone (this could take 2 or more reboots)

More complete instructions are in this thread. Note that you do this at your own risk, and doing this incorrectly could damage your system. For those that are still willing, good luck–and once again, let me know if it works for you.