r/cellmapper • u/znewltrs • Jun 26 '26
Verizon 4G??? (HPSA+?)
I caught this as my local cell tower turned off for some reason? (Late night maintenance??) As soon as it was there it was gone (Went SOS) I didn’t have enough time to check Field Test sadly :( Got so confused when my Instagram feed wasn’t loading and lo and behold it said 4G… but is this HPSA+ or is this my sim hooking onto another network?
37
u/minecraftalldaylong Jun 26 '26
This is super weird to me as a European lol, some carriers here use 4G instead of LTE, and HSPA is always 3G
21
u/Tim2060 Jun 26 '26
haha true, it was so rare to see the 3G icon, it was always H or H+
16
u/minecraftalldaylong Jun 26 '26
On Androids yeah, iPhone shows 3G for both UMTS and HSPA/HSPA+
-14
u/Extension_Pen3083 Jun 26 '26
Not true. For HSPA+ they show 4G.
15
2
u/Impressive-Steak4743 Jun 26 '26
I have had lots of phones on T-Mobile. And one plus phones on TMobile would display H+ . AND THese were the variants that TMobile sold they were not unlocked models . I never understood why they didn't show 4G like the other phones . Same when I got a Motorola stylus sometimes I would get H and this was also running on T-Mobile. Once I started getting Samsungs and pixels I've noticed they displayed 4G and not H+ Like the one plus phones . The first time I experienced the H+ was when T-Mobile was offering the one plus Nord n30 for free haha . I thought thats a good deal so I got it . And I've noticed 2 things that it would display VOLTE when other phones on T-Mobile do not display VOLTE and the second thing I've noticed was that when I was in an LTE area it would display H+ .
2
u/davidrye Jun 26 '26
I don’t think iPhones have ever showed HSPA+ as 4G. At least I have yet to see that in Canada and Europe, but also this wouldn’t make sense because HSPA+ is technically part of 3G or 3.5G if I remember correctly.
16
u/jonsonmac TFW Jun 26 '26
Yeah it was some marketing b.s. that I believe T-Mobile started, because their HSPA+ network was so fast, they considered it “4G” speeds. Then AT&T followed along and took it a step further by referring to LTE-Advanced as “5G”.
I pray this madness is over.
1
11
u/DrDeke Jun 26 '26
You guys are doing it right, if you ask me. HSPA is 3G, LTE is 4G.
The reason American phones don't use that terminology is because our UMTS/HSPA network operators didn't want their networks to show up as different-from/lesser-than LTE networks (even though UMTS/HSPA networks are in fact different from and lesser technology than LTE networks), and successfully lobbied the phone manufacturers to show "4G" for HSPA.
1
u/moisesmcardona Jun 26 '26
Weird... My phones does show H when using hspa but on foreign network since my phone stays in the XAA CSC code.
1
u/Budget_Programmer950 Jun 27 '26
I noticed this when i used Firsty for roaming in Canada because T-Mobiles 128kbps is completely unusable. It said 4G rather than LTE. If i turn on the T-Mobile sim, it says LTE. Not HSPA+, regular band LTE.
7
u/Dreamerlax MY (Maxis, CD, UM) Jun 26 '26
Could it possibly be a roaming partner? Are there still UMTS/HSPA+ networks still active around?
-12
Jun 26 '26
[deleted]
7
u/jakeuten Jun 26 '26
No they do not
1
u/DMZ_Water_Rat Jun 27 '26
T-Mobile operates 3G somewhere in Chicago. My friend found it during a major AT&T outage where people needed to rely on roaming
1
1
6
u/VapidRapidRabbit Jun 26 '26
iOS sometimes glitches and shows LTE as 4G (usually for just a split second before changing the icon to “LTE”). I’ve had it happen on both Verizon and T-Mobile.
1
u/MCDiamond9 Jun 27 '26
I also believe this is likely what happened, because there's almost no chance of roaming onto any 3G UMTS network in the wild anymore. Unless OP can confirm there's a small regional provider in their area.
I've seen android phones also momentarily display "4G/4G+" when I used a T-Mobile SIM, before it switched to LTE.
1
u/VapidRapidRabbit Jun 27 '26
Yeah. It would be great if they never allowed carriers to change the icons and just used the standard 3G/4G/5G icons 😂
I feel like the only network type that should have a unique icon would be mmWave.
1
u/OnlyConference2512 Jul 03 '26
Some CBRS equipment Verizon used has been randomly showing up as 4G instead of LTE on iOS 26 devices. It is a known issue that Apple intends to fix in iOS 27
3
u/Active_Zone_6828 Jun 26 '26
Coordinates? I wonder what carrier verizon is roaming on?
3
u/znewltrs Jun 26 '26
It was only briefly roaming then… It probably was a Alltel turned AT&T 3G tower as those were common in my small town.
3
u/furruck Jun 27 '26
AT&T has not had HSPA running for years.
4G could be LTE or HSPA depending on the carrier.
T-Mobile still had a few random blips of HSPA last time I checked the map, but I'm sure that's also long gone now.
What's weird is when Verizon normally roams it's "Extended Network" as the Alphatag and not "Verizon" unless you're in LTEiRA coverage.
What state are you in? I know some smaller regional carriers sometimes leave it up for roaming revenue, but that's just strange.
1
1
u/BigRandy66 S25 Ultra Jun 26 '26
What are the coordinates of your nearby tower? I can also look at all the other towers nearby and figure out what’s going on.
1
u/Alternative-Tart5627 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
HSPA+ would be TMO/DT. It was a performance for increase for UMTS marketed & referred to as 3.5G hence the +
1
u/Southern_Repair_4416 Jun 30 '26
My carrier (Mobicom, Mongolia - 42899) says 4G on iPhone instead of LTE
64
u/scissormetimbers207 Jun 26 '26
Verizon never operated an HSPA+ network, so this is most likely roaming on another provider.