Hi all,
Got an Incredible 2 a few days ago. So far so good *except* the antenna seems weak compared to my original Moto Droid1. With my original droid i almost always had 4 bars at home, in office, etc. With this phone im lucky to get 3 bars, often only 1 or 2. Anyone else have this issue? Its got me pretty worried and consideringreturning ...
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i agree.. when compared to my previous phones, i feel like i am getting much worse reception.
Will this lower reception also affect data speed?
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the reception might be the same and how it calculates the bars may be different. do you have any other reason to suggest your getting less signal other then the bar display?
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Ooh that's interesting. I'm only judging by the bar display. I sort of hope that you are right.
You could have a point there OneStepAhead. I Google'd "Droid incredible signal strength" and found many people commenting that the bars seem to have next to nothing to do with actual performance, eg making calls and sending data with virtually no bars worked fine. That's been my experience so far as well so I am going to ignore the bars for a while and just see if it hangs in there. Given this very common issue with the first version of this phone and the excellent reputation it had despite it, it'll probably be OK.
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Even though the bars seem to jump around more and seem to not be as strong as my previous phone, I'm actually getting faster data speeds on it when I do a speed test.
Don't look at the bars in the status bar go into the setting menu and goto about phone and look at signal strength there that is accurate not the bars at the top for example my dinc 2 is one bar right now at -80db and my coworkers Droid x is four bars at -83db so technically I am getting better signal
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Thanks for the comments. It's true, the bars jump around like crazy but don't have much to do with the signal strength readings in the system. In fact, sometimes the bars go up and signal strength goes down. Seems I'm pretty much always between -70 & -80. Your input makes me feel a lot better about this phone because it was the only thing making me nervous.
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the less negative the better the reception, correct?
The Elixir app has a little widget that shows the "percent" of cell signal you're getting. So it's not a db measurement, but perhaps something they calculate from that measurement. That'd be an easy way to see the number of bars and a percentage measurement at the same time. Sounds like of like what Apple said back during Apple's antennagate, where the bar algorithm was supposedly off.
Astromech said:
The Elixir app has a little widget that shows the "percent" of cell signal you're getting. So it's not a db measurement, but perhaps something they calculate from that measurement. That'd be an easy way to see the number of bars and a percentage measurement at the same time. Sounds like of like what Apple said back during Apple's antennagate, where the bar algorithm was supposedly off.
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right, that is why I suggested the theory of the bar algorithm being off as its apparently happened before. Let's hope that's the case!
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bik2101 said:
the less negative the better the reception, correct?
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Im not positive on that, i assume there is a sweet spot somewhere. Im guessing once the number gets low enough the signal strength is no longer good. Im just basing that on cable modem technology which should be between -15 and +10 if i remember correctly. too far on one side is not good. Surely some XDA member can shed some light on this?
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I have a Dinc2 as personal phone and OG Droid as the work phone, just sat it next to each other they are both at -70dbm and speedtest gave approx same speeds
hmm so from my observastions, i'm getting at abotu -90 to -100 pretty much wherever i am. this is not a good thing right?
I was at a friend's house last night. My phone had almost no signal (and therefore barely worked) but neither did a friend's blackberry on at&t and another bb on tmobile. I was at about -97 or so. Typically I'm between -70&-80 pretty much independent of number of bars showing. Last night I guess we were all basically in a dead spot.
That aside, just tried wifi on this phone last night and was blown away by the speed. It doesn't even come close to comparing to my ogDroid which took forever to ping. I never used wifi on that phone cuz it was actually slower than using 3g!
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Apples antennagate actually effected call quality I owned an original incredible and the reception and call quality seem to be a bit better on the incredible 2
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OneStepAhead said:
right, that is why I suggested the theory of the bar algorithm being off as its apparently happened before. Let's hope that's the case!
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And what I'm saying is that if the Elixir measurement or that of another app says you have, say 60% signal, but you only have 1 bar, at the least you'd be able to ignore your bars as irrelevant and rely on your percentage figure until such time as they release a fix for the superficial bar issue. Annoying, but a workaround.
Good tip on Elixir. Its %s seem to coincide for the most part with the bars. I made a call from Costco today with zero bars and it sounded fine. So I think i'll ignore all the bar stuff and just make sure it keeps working fine. My guess at this point is it will be perfectly OK.
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I recently upgraded to a Dinc 2 with misgivings due to reports of weak signal. Last week I drove from Salem (Oregon) through the coast range to Tillamook, down US101 to Lincoln City and then back through the coast range to Salem. Carried and compared a Blackberry Bold 9650 and Dinc 2 (Verizon).
Whenever I stopped and compared the dBm on the two handsets, the readings were within 2-4 dBm, despite the Dinc 2 signal bar showing half or less bars than the BB.
It makes me agree with abqslim's post that the signal bars on the Dinc 2 have little to do with signal strength.
Related
I was just curious, why do many favor 6 bars over 4 bars in the notification bar?
To me the number of bars seems arbitrary when signal strength, as measured by db's, is what really matters.
On Sense, I prefer the 6bar appearance to 4bar...
higher resolution (in terms of averaged data analysis).
I like it because it gives me a better idea of what my current db's is actually at. It also looks prettier IMO
Sent from my HTC Incredible
I like the 6 bars because I like how it looks, it makes it easier for me to tell my actual signal
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Cryous said:
I like the 6 bars because I like how it looks, it makes it easier for me to tell my actual signal
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same
although I'd probably prefer even 8 bar as long as it didn't look too weird.
POQbum said:
same
although I'd probably prefer even 8 bar as long as it didn't look too weird.
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That first bar would be pretty tiny...
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As a single guy gets older, hitting 6 bars greatly improves your chances over just 4 bars!
If ive helped you, please hit the damn thanks button!
Because the measurement is different. If you have 100% signal with 4 bars, each bar would typically represent a 25% signal change between them. With 6 bars the signal bars would represent about a 16.7% change between each. So you get a finer measurement of what your signal actually is.
SoCGHOST said:
Because the measurement is different. If you have 100% signal with 4 bars, each bar would typically represent a 25% signal change between them. With 6 bars the signal bars would represent about a 16.7% change between each. So you get a finer measurement of what your signal actually is.
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Yeah. I always had 1 bar with the 4-bar 3G signal and it bugged me to death. Then I got the 6bar and had a pretty constant 2-3 bars.
That's a big reason why I like it, the 1 bar on the 4-bar made me seem like it was going to drop a call or the signal was about to go out.
I'm using the rooted GB OTA. Where can I find a mod that would display 6 bars?
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After scouring the internet, doing extensive research and compiling thorough personal observations, I've determined that 6 bars is better than 4 mainly because it just looks cooler.
Hey all,
Just wondering what kind of signal strength you guys are getting?? I know it is based on where you live but I'm just curious. I'm anywhere between -73 and -87. Is that any good?
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-77 here. Tower is about 1.5 miles away. I figured it would be much better than that.
Sent from my rooted HTC Incredible using XDA App
-69. No clue how good/bad that is lol. Displaying 2 out of 4 bars, although I heard those are immensely accurate lol.
Sent from my Droid Incredible running some random CM7 nightly.
-87 here. Signal is terrible on the supposed most reliable network. When
Sent from my 2.3.5 Incredible Obsession
Close to 0 of the best
Your mobile phone signal is very good
Verizon
I assume you have verizon right? I think verizon is awesome where i live since i most times get full bars (michigan by the way) so maybe your in deadzone for verizon... although can you hear me... good might fail there huh
What kind of radios r u guys running?? I'm running the 2.15.00.07.28. And I'm anywhere from 1 to 2 bars, but sometimes 4
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I'm on the 08.08 radio. And I know closer to 0 is better, I just don't know if mine is decent or awesome lol. Mine now is -75.
Sent from my Droid Incredible running some random CM7 nightly.
hmmm. i dont kno if updating it would be worth it or not. lol. the thing that bugs me the most is that my signal always bounces around. it never stays consistent. it goes from 1 bar, to 2, to 1, to 4, to 2 etc. i just wish it was constant because im pretty sure it puts a hurting on my battery
dinc_2008 said:
hmmm. i dont kno if updating it would be worth it or not. lol. the thing that bugs me the most is that my signal always bounces around. it never stays consistent. it goes from 1 bar, to 2, to 1, to 4, to 2 etc. i just wish it was constant because im pretty sure it puts a hurting on my battery
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Right now I'm at -79 with 3 bars showing. I'm in a spot were reception is great. At my apartment it was at -86, showing 1 bar. Verizon is not very strong where I live, but I never drop calls or have issues with cutting out. I did update my PRL today, which it did update to a different number, so I'll re-test it out at home to see what it looks like.
EDIT: I am using the 08.08 radio.
I'm using the 2.15.10.07.07 radio from the GB OTA and I have a -65. At times I've seen it as high at -91 at my house.
Can't complain though, I get service everywhere I've been.
thisisepic0727 said:
I'm using the 2.15.10.07.07 radio from the GB OTA and I have a -65. At times I've seen it as high at -91 at my house.
Can't complain though, I get service everywhere I've been.
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Technically, -91 is low, not high lol. Closer to 0 is higher.
Sent from my Droid Incredible running some random CM7 nightly.
SteveG12543 said:
Technically, -91 is low, not high lol. Closer to 0 is higher.
Sent from my Droid Incredible running some random CM7 nightly.
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Ahh, good point, I didn't notice my mistake. I usually get -91 or so around my house, but at work I get -65 -- only about 2 miles distance, but work is closer to a tower.
I don't remember what I was getting with the 07.28 radio. I wish I would have checked before I flashed the new one.
Even with 5 bars of signal, you will probably never go below -50.
bellj949 said:
Even with 5 bars of signal, you will probably never go below -50.
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+1
10charac
Sent from my 2.3.5 Incredible Obsession
I've used many roms so far and my current one is cm7 nighty 99, and I know I don't have service in my school, even next to a window... the previous rom I had was incredible HD 1.0 which I had a bar and service in my school. Ill know when I have the best service is when I know ill have service in there, and yes everyone with att has complete full bars, but thats besides the point. I truly don't mind changing roms, and I'd rather right now so I could care less to upgrade the radio so how about some input guys?
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ROMs don't effect real signal strength. There can be variations to how each rom reports signal strength, but the actual signal isn't determined and can't be enhanced by the rom. For example, I've seen one rom constantly bounce around, displaying 1 bar for -90dbm and 3 bars when the dbm was -100+, where another rom was more consistent, but the true signal strength was the same between the two. Probably one just averaged more when determining what to display.
I've battled with low signal strength for the past 2 years on Verizon. Tried every trick in the book, and nothing did a thing. The only thing that helped was getting a network extender.
Hmmm... interesting. Then what do you think could have given me signal in my school versus this current rom which gets nothing?
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Nvm stupid question
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What radio do you have.
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x Eacott said:
Hmmm... interesting. Then what do you think could have given me signal in my school versus this current rom which gets nothing?
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Not a stupid question at all.
As a matter of fact, ROM's will not affect your TRUE signal strength, but I have tried Sense and AOSP ROMs on the Inc1 and its readout 'bar' wise did change between both styles of ROM.
More then likely its a reporting issue on the Dinc2 - which means nothing really.
If on AOSP you should be able to change the bar readout to -dbm readout which will be more accurate.
The true question is this...have you been measuring by dbm in 'about phone'?
And the real money maker...Are you able to make and receive calls? Is data speed an issue?
I realize the release is brand new and has already been pulled but I'm curious to find out what people will think after using it a few days. Have you encountered any improvement or degredation in call quality, data quality, battery life? Sorry about the number of choices but some people think polls are skewed for a result and always say I should have had this or that as an option so I tried to think of as many options as possible since I can not add more choices after the fact.
Battery life hasn't improved for me but could be the rom I'm on (patient Zero )
I don't lose data as much now but still to early to tell. Appears better.
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Subjectively, seems worse to me, but better handoff to 3g.
Same reception as FA02/FA02. Quicker handoff though. Favors 3G over 4G.
Battery life hasn't really improved nor dbm's. One thing I did notice was 3G to 4G handoff was quicker.
akademix said:
Battery life hasn't really improved nor dbm's. One thing I did notice was 3G to 4G handoff was quicker.
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Doesn't data have nothing to with dBms?
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wyattyoss said:
Doesn't data have nothing to with dBms?
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er...what?
wyattyoss said:
Doesn't data have nothing to with dBms?
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Lolololol
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I notice that the screen on mine is much more sensitive to touch. That was my biggest issue before so now I'm happy!
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patalo said:
I notice that the screen on mine is much more sensitive to touch. That was my biggest issue before so now I'm happy!
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Ditto on that as well. Very sensitive. My 4G is the same as my Razr Maxx and D4. Cross Fingers!
I noticed I had 4G in an area I couldn't before, other than that nothing really changed for me. One of the guys I talk to on G+ says that he never got 4G in his house before and his wifes Rezound always did, but since updating the radios last night he gets 4G inside his home.
I'm still getting random drops from 4G, but the passing off onto 3G seems to be a lot faster. Also I noticed that I get more bars in area where I had less (ex. 2 bars of 4G is now 4 bars of 4G), but still had the same dbms.
Subjectively I feel it helped tremendously. Haven't had a single data drop all day when before I would get several drops a day. I also have better reception.
Why did it get pulled?
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I've been on 4.0.4 for months now but I did flash the radios from the official update and my signal is better.
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No noticable difference for me. Although my house is right across the street from an LTE tower in a park.
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So far I am disappoint.
While the hand offs are faster I'm connected to LTE a lot less now...and previously it seemed that signal in my area was improving ><
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wyattyoss said:
Doesn't data have nothing to with dBms?
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dBm is how strong of a signal your phone is getting. (if you want a higher dBm hold it higher/different ) That should be more dependent on hardware than software though, what's sometimes more important is the Signal to Noise Ratio and the Carrier Interference & Noise Ratio (SNR & CINR). Which is basically how easy your phone can hear the tower.
It's like trying to yell across a room that is full of drunk people, whoever you're talking to may be able to hear you yelling but they have no idea what you're saying. Same way for cell phones if you're in a very crowded area.
Something you guys may want to look at. So I was going to test the radios today. I sat here on lean kernel and AOKP and was getting between 86-89dbm of 4G with the new radios which was better but I figured what the hell and flashed the IMM76K build and now I get 71-74dbm with lean kernel. I don't know if everyone is going to see results like this but it is definitely worth a shot if you are seeing low dbm with the new radio.
Speedtest is now giving me 20mb down when the highest I could get before was 12. I know this sounds to good to be true, so don't believe me if you think so but I am just reporting what I am seeing.
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I'm not surprised the results are mixed but I was hoping for better.
Radios
For some reason my signal starts off really bad then goes back to normal. I have noticed it favored 3g more so than 4g. Normally on my drive home from work, as soon as i hit the highway it hits 4g, i was a good 10 miles down the road, still showed 3g, so toggled lte off then on and boom back to 4g, albeit weak for a minute then back to normal. Speed tests show slightly faster, but that's negligible for me. Could just be network congestion at the time the other tests were run.
On a side rant i did notice something slightly strange. Installed bamf 1.25 simultaneously on my nexus (had since launch date) and a certified pre-owned replacement for a friend, which of course was freshly rooted by me si the "sd card" was empty other than the roms, and the fresh phone blazed through the installed about 30 seconds quicker than mine and also rebooted faster. I clicked both phones at the same time, both using 5.8.0.0 touch recovery. Nothing to do with the radio, but felt like sharing. Guess i might completely wipe my phone and see if it speeds her up!
I'm on the official JB ROM and have noticed that my device's wifi signal is very low (1 to 2 bars at most) inside the house.
Is there a fix to make the signal stronger or maybe a custom ROM or radio that has stronger wifi?
Thanks in advance for your replies.
U could increase signal strenght using dd-wrt on ur router. Maybe that could help..
I had an iPhone the last two years and with the same router the signal was full all around the house. I really like this device and hope to find a solution.
the wifi antenna is on the bottom half of the phone, hold it at the top and youll see a big improvement. iphone is at the top middle
I also read some time ago that the Nexus show you the "true" signal streangth whilst other devices/manufacturers programs the software to show more bars just the please the costumers eyes. So even though it might look less on a Nexus the actuall speed remains the same as other phones. Don't know if this is true but i like to believe it is
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Tjotte said:
I also read some time ago that the Nexus show you the "true" signal streangth whilst other devices/manufacturers programs the software to show more bars just the please the costumers eyes. So even though it might look less on a Nexus the actuall speed remains the same as other phones. Don't know if this is true but i like to believe it is
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It's a relief if it's true, but I think the problem is there. In the same distance around the house I had signal with the iPhone 4 where GN has none.
I happen to get low bars too, not a lot but I get hella fast downloads than my previously droid incredible. I can download a 100mb file in about 15-25 seconds.
My droid incredible took around 50 seconds to a minute. So I do praise whatever they did to the WiFi performance or it could be the ROM lol..
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