Develop Bugs

3G Speeds that make me cry

I just switched to sprint a few days ago and I am NOT satisfied! I FREAKING LOVE the Epic 4G Touch and it makes me happy to just unlock it and happier when my friends are like WOAH, that's a big phone, WOAH thats a nice screen WOAH its fast <3, but then they open up the facebook app and they're like ehh, this phone sucks. The problem is really with the network. That is atleast what I believe. I live in an area that doesn't have 4G, and NO companies have 4G out here, I was going to go with AT&T, but there was a problem with my credit or something, so I tried Verizon (wasnt really too interested) but they wanted me to fax in papers, then I tried sprint, worked out ALL ok , and I got like the best phone ever, but the 3G speeds make me cry, I just did a speed test and I got average of 15 kb/s down.. Not sure if there is an alternate radio I could use or something, or if other people have the issue, I have been thinking about going back and returning the phone and getting Verizon, but all of their good phones are more than $200 and I might end up owing sprint money. Ideas? Reflections?

We all know springs network sucks, thanks for reminding us (or at least me) that I'm stuck with this spotty network for 2 years...
Sent from my ET4G Galaxy S II using XDA Premium

You've been a member here for 2+ years, and you didn't research the Sprint network speed before going with them????
Well, the truth is, in most places their network speed sucks, so, if impressing your friends, and network speed is important to you, you will be sorely disappointed.
If you want the best phone, at the lowest prices, and don't give a damn about network speeds, then you are with the right provider.

wase4711 said:
You've been a member here for 2+ years, and you didn't research the Sprint network speed before going with them????
Well, the truth is, in most places their network speed sucks, so, if impressing your friends, and network speed is important to you, you will be sorely disappointed.
If you want the best phone, at the lowest prices, and don't give a damn about network speeds, then you are with the right provider.
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Lol, yeah... I was just so excited to actually get signal because I had tmobile then moved to an area where there really wasnt any tmobile and I saw sprint had "3G" coverage went to the store and yeah... I'm kicking myself for not looking around on here. I know that the 4G is **decent** but I miss my damn T-Mobile 4G, it was pretty damn good. If I get enough money and can argue enough, I'm probably switching to verizon. So there might be an Epic 4G Touch for sale soon, and I will have ****ty credit

well, the phone is fantastic; for me, I could care less about network speeds. When I need fast internet, I use my home computer..
for email, phone calls, texting, etc, these sucky speeds are fine for me, but, if your phone is your only connection to the internet, Sprint is a tough pill to swallow..

I see, its not completely awful for me, I think that its mainly a few towers in my city that suck because I can get 100 kb/s down sometimes, but 15 kb/s is normal for me. I just have combined ADHD with Facebook addiction and I am just a web junkie, so it kills me sometimes lol.

do you have a home computer/faster internet at home, or is this it?

if you want hope sprint is ugrading their network. At least for me this summer - about october my speeds at my house and work and around the area i averaged 200-500 for speed but as of late my speeds have increased greatly and now i average 800-about 1mb and sometimes i can get up to 1.2-1.6 mbps after work hours. My signal strength has also increased and i am seeing 3-4 bars in my house where before i wasnt seeing more than 2. So sprint is working on it and at least for me i am seeing some improvments.

yeah, at least sprint is in the process of upgrading their network. You will see improved speeds in the next year or two.

If you have access to wifi, that may be an option. The Sprint data speed at my house is pretty low (.. 100K level). However, this phone can get up to 18Mb down via my wireless router through my cable.

zilla1000 said:
If you have access to wifi, that may be an option. The Sprint data speed at my house is pretty low (.. 100K level). However, this phone can get up to 18Mb down via my wireless router through my cable.
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True, however what about when your not home? The thing that really gets my goat is when I force roam onto Alltel or verizon and get 1mbit+ when on sprint it's usually ~100 kbit.... or worse :/

wase4711 said:
do you have a home computer/faster internet at home, or is this it?
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I have wifi at home, but wifi eats the battery and I dont like being plugged in all the time lol
asqwrd said:
if you want hope sprint is ugrading their network. At least for me this summer - , about october my speeds at my house and work and around the area i averaged 200-500 for speed but as of late my speeds have increased greatly and now i average 800-about 1mb and sometimes i can get up to 1.2-1.6 mbps after work hours. My signal strength has also increased and i am seeing 3-4 bars in my house where before i wasnt seeing more than 2. So sprint is working on it and at least for me i am seeing some improvments.
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Thats really good to hear! I hope those upgrades come in my direction! I hope they are realizing that everyone else has upgraded networks and the speeds are sorta competitive. Net speeds is a BIG make or break to me, and verizon is looking awfully good right now, the only problem is they have no SGS II, but Im about to go annoy the Droid Charge people on the forum
zilla1000 said:
If you have access to wifi, that may be an option. The Sprint data speed at my house is pretty low (.. 100K level). However, this phone can get up to 18Mb down via my wireless router through my cable.
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I agree, the wifi is great on the phone, but like before, it noms the battery juices

I have also noticed better 3g speeds. Long island NY.
Of course wifi is just silly fast on this phone, 4g areas are limited where I am but when working very fast.
The drawback to 4g IMO is the battery drain... silly fast when running, worse than wifi IMO and can't turn off when screen off...
Sent rapidly using my Samsung Galaxy S-II Epic™ 4g Touch |•XDA App•|

Jameson JC said:
I have also noticed better 3g speeds. Long island NY.
Of course wifi is just silly fast on this phone, 4g areas are limited where I am but when working very fast.
The drawback to 4g IMO is the battery drain... silly fast when running, worse than wifi IMO and can't turn off when screen off...
Sent rapidly using my Samsung Galaxy S-II Epic™ 4g Touch |•XDA App•|
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From my understanding, WiMAX isnt't too far from WiFi lol, I also think the WiMAX radio sleeps when there is no data being transmitted, so it kinda helps with battery drain. Ill take a better look this weekend, I travel about 2 hours from my house to visit family and there is 4G there and I LOVE it lol

undefined said:
I just switched to sprint a few days ago and I am NOT satisfied! I FREAKING LOVE the Epic 4G Touch and it makes me happy to just unlock it and happier when my friends are like WOAH, that's a big phone, WOAH thats a nice screen WOAH its fast <3, but then they open up the facebook app and they're like ehh, this phone sucks. The problem is really with the network. That is atleast what I believe. I live in an area that doesn't have 4G, and NO companies have 4G out here, I was going to go with AT&T, but there was a problem with my credit or something, so I tried Verizon (wasnt really too interested) but they wanted me to fax in papers, then I tried sprint, worked out ALL ok , and I got like the best phone ever, but the 3G speeds make me cry, I just did a speed test and I got average of 15 kb/s down.. Not sure if there is an alternate radio I could use or something, or if other people have the issue, I have been thinking about going back and returning the phone and getting Verizon, but all of their good phones are more than $200 and I might end up owing sprint money. Ideas? Reflections?
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You should either complain or ask for a refund.

nabbed said:
You should either complain or ask for a refund.
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Im really thinkig about it. I might just argue witu verizon and get that. I checked coverage at the college im going to and there is no sprint coverage there either but there is verizon coverage lol
Sent via Galaxy S II

I concur this phone is by far the best! But sprint 3g sucks and 4g is poor. But tmobile 4g is fast all time lte.speeds
..but sidekick 4g sucks so i left
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

undefined said:
From my understanding, WiMAX isnt't too far from WiFi lol, I also think the WiMAX radio sleeps when there is no data being transmitted, so it kinda helps with battery drain. Ill take a better look this weekend, I travel about 2 hours from my house to visit family and there is 4G there and I LOVE it lol
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My city is a 4G area, but coverage is pretty spotty (of course). So, on a whim, I decided to see how bad of a hit I would take leaving 4G on all the time. Over the past week so far, I can unplug around 8AM, go to work, and when I get back around 6PM, I'll have about 40% battery left (fairly light usage).
Note that in my office I have zero 4G signal (heck, even voice is pretty spotty), so pretty much from 8:30AM to 5:30PM it just sits there and searches for 4G. I'm guesstimating maybe 15-16 hours of battery life under these conditions (again fairly light usage).
When I'm actually connected to 4G, battery life is quite good from what I've seen. I think it could easily do 20+ hours with medium usage, if I could get an all-day-reliable signal (big if there).
Leaving 4G on with my old Epic would kill the battery in short order (I'm thinking maybe 8 hours), so the Epic Touch is a MAJOR improvement for me.

I was getting about 200Kb/S and I removed the sprint proxies from the ##DATA# and also switched my home agent to somewhere nearby. All of this got me to about 1200+ Kb/S. Give it a try, I feel like my phone is blazing fast in all aspects.

cd85233 said:
I was getting about 200Kb/S and I removed the sprint proxies from the ##DATA# and also switched my home agent to somewhere nearby. All of this got me to about 1200+ Kb/S. Give it a try, I feel like my phone is blazing fast in all aspects.
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Could you by any chance walk me through that? lol I looked around and didnt see any proxies or Home networks, I'm a CDMA noob =\

Foolish to buy Wimax device now?

With all the hubbub surrounding the Clearwire Wimax deal that was signed for the next few years, and the looming launch of LTE (mid-2012?), is it really foolish to sign a new contract and get a Wimax device?
All of the LTE devices I've seen on VZW/AT&T have atrocious battery life at the expense of crazy speeds (20Mbps+). A few coworkers got the Droid Bionic and barely make it to the end of the work day. Old college roommate works for AT&T and he says most of their LTE stuff needs extended batteries in order to be usable for a whole day.
Frankly I can live with Wimax's 3-5Mbps if it means I don't have to keep hovering around a charger all day. The Epic 4G Touch is so very tempting but I'm afraid I'm committing to "old" tech and that in 12 months I'll have regretted it.
(current VZW customer off-contract with an OG Droid)

dparm said:
With all the hubbub surrounding the Clearwire Wimax deal that was signed for the next few years, and the looming launch of LTE (mid-2012?), is it really foolish to sign a new contract and get a Wimax device?
All of the LTE devices I've seen on VZW/AT&T have atrocious battery life at the expense of crazy speeds (20Mbps+). A few coworkers got the Droid Bionic and barely make it to the end of the work day. Old college roommate works for AT&T and he says most of their LTE stuff needs extended batteries in order to be usable for a whole day.
Frankly I can live with Wimax's 3-5Mbps if it means I don't have to keep hovering around a charger all day. The Epic 4G Touch is so very tempting but I'm afraid I'm committing to "old" tech and that in 12 months I'll have regretted it.
(current VZW customer off-contract with an OG Droid)
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First and foremost the spectrum allocated to Sprint's WiMax sucks. It's a razor thin chunk. That is why Sprint's 4G sucks...LTE isn't inherently better in this regard. If LTE was on the same crappy spectrum it would suck too.
When you can connect to WiMax it's fantastic. I used to get 12-15mbps all day long in my area. Now it's in the 3-8mbps range depending on time of day.
That razor thin strip of spectrum allocated to Sprint/Clearwire's "4G" WiMax makes your connection easily disrupted by such disturbances as a closed window or a stiff breeze...seriously. If you aren't in a very solid 4G area (don't ask Sprint or Clearwire, ask people who have the service in your area) I wouldn't bank on getting a 4G signal very often, if at all. When a rom comes out that doesn't support 4G I don't care at all...yeah, it can be that bad.
With that out of the way it should be noted that you likely won't have Sprint LTE coverage in your area for at least a year, likely 2, maybe 3 or 4. Sprint has some rosy estimates flying around right now, but, I remember how their 3G and 4G rollouts went, so, I wouldn't take their word with a grain of salt...I would outright disregard it.
So where does this leave you? Most likely in an area with sparse (if any) 4G and LTE anywhere from 1.5-3 years away and you want a phone now.
Luckily Sprint's 3G service is improving quickly around the country--quicker in some places than others of course. Also the level of improvement will vary wildly depending on many factors, so, don't even bet on the future...especially when it's in Sprint's hands.
My advice? If you want to be/stay on Sprint and are currently satisfied with your service and would also like the ET4G, well, just go get it. By time your contract is up the LTE devices will actually exist and the LTE will be rolled out and WiMax will still be up and running and hopefully the 3G network is up to snuff.
EDIT: As a current Vzw customer you will likely be either disappointed or even horrified by Sprint's current 3G speeds. Ask around, some markets/areas have amazing performance. Where I live is so-so. I'm now getting 600-1000kbps regularly, though last month it was 300-500kbps. However 5 miles away at my friends house I actually saw 2.8mbps and killer 15mbps 4G all the time. Many people here are nowhere near as lucky as either me or my friend, so, ask around....you can never tell.

I'm in downtown Chicago, so I'm sure that it'll be a high priority area for deployment.
My job is 100% travel though, so for a few months at a time I could be anywhere else in the US (Mon-Fri). Typically it's big cities though, like Houston, NYC, Miami, Denver, etc. I just want something fast but consistent. Voice quality/coverage is priority 1, then battery, then data speeds.
I visited two Sprint stores in different parts of the city this week and the web browsing on their 4G seemed plenty fast.

dparm said:
I'm in downtown Chicago, so I'm sure that it'll be a high priority area for deployment.
My job is 100% travel though, so for a few months at a time I could be anywhere else in the US (Mon-Fri). Typically it's big cities though, like Houston, NYC, Miami, Denver, etc. I just want something fast but consistent. Voice quality/coverage is priority 1, then battery, then data speeds.
I visited two Sprint stores in different parts of the city this week and the web browsing on their 4G seemed plenty fast.
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I travel for work sometimes. Chicago is covered in 4G as are most major metropolitan areas.
So far as voice/text ("2G") is concerned you will be well served everywhere. Sprint has pretty thorough 2G coverage and you will roam on Verizon if not. You get "Unlimited" Roaming. If you roam too much they'll give you the boot. I wouldn't worry about it.
So long as you understand all said about 4G and are fine with that 3G is the only real sticking point and is as I described earlier. You will roam on Verizon (at 1x, ick...but we have ways around that if you are forced to roam momentarily), but, it's usually not Sprint's coverage so much as the performance. I personally have never experienced horribly un-usable 3G anywhere...even tethered to my laptop. But I haven't gone on any business trips in the past 9 months when things have gone downhill rapidly--or so the posts here would have me believe.

I'd say buy a VZW phone outright and stay out of contract. Their speeds will be faster as well as the reliability. If this were my only phone I would've dove headfirst off a bunk bed.
I have a company Blackberry on AT&T and a regular feature phone on AT&T so I'm covered service wise. To give you an idea AT&T's HSDPA (3.5G) technology is faster than Sprint's faux 4G.
I love this phone but something needs to happen soon or people are going to leave in droves. The phone is awesome but the service is something to be desired.
I'm in Northern NJ by the way.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

Lately the Verizon 3G coverage in downtown Chicago and the burbs have been sucking. I have updated my PRL several times and even flashed a different ROM just to be certain.

I get 4g in plenty of places. (I live in the bay area). Sprint just gave clear some money so I'm still good with buying my next wimax phone. From what I see and hear, lte isn't better than wimax just yet. Fastest speed I've seen is on hspa+ 22mbps.

I think its a waste if you live in an area like I do that doesn't have Wimax and never will.

I am coming from Verizon and the Thunderbolt and until phones get better battery's lte is not worth it unless you want 8 to 12 hours of battery depending on your usage(on my wifi and 4g and 3g service with sprint after 16hours of usage moderate I have 33% life left) In a few years when sprint gets lte maybe batterys will be caught up. Or if sprint doesnt ill switch to at&t or Verizon again. But I am happy with sprint. And I love this phone
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App

I have known since the beginning of the year when the Galaxy S II became available internationally that that was the phone I wanted to upgrade to. The decider for me to go for the Epic Touch 4G variant on Sprint was the truly unlimited data. I was off contract on AT&T, and even though I was fortunate enough to actually get very good service in my area on AT&T, I liked the idea of never having to worry about my data usage, no matter how I might choose to use my phone.
I don't generally get as good data coverage on Sprint as I did on AT&T, but when I do have service it is generally faster than what I got on AT&T, most especially on 4G. And when it does lose Sprint coverage, it roams on Verizon towers, so I really am never completely without service.
And the phone itself is great. No regrets there.

Thanks. Like I said, Verizon's coverage down here lately seems really lousy. The data speed is "acceptable". My OG Droid is still hanging on by a thread and I am still on an unlimited data plan, though I rarely go over 2-3GB per month.
I'm having trouble finding Chicago Sprint owners to comment on coverage and data speeds, though. Only one or two friends of mine have it and they're not really geeky enough to know what I'm interested in...they see a phone as a phone.

dparm said:
Thanks. Like I said, Verizon's coverage down here lately seems really lousy. The data speed is "acceptable". My OG Droid is still hanging on by a thread and I am still on an unlimited data plan, though I rarely go over 2-3GB per month.
I'm having trouble finding Chicago Sprint owners to comment on coverage and data speeds, though. Only one or two friends of mine have it and they're not really geeky enough to know what I'm interested in...they see a phone as a phone.
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You definitely needs to find someone. You do have a buyer's remorse period you could use.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

CODteabagger said:
You definitely needs to find someone. You do have a buyer's remorse period you could use.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
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Yes, the 30 day return period is nice. Would give me a shot at really test driving the thing.
Any suggestions on how to get some real details on Chicago Wimax and voice?

wimax will be around thru 2015 at the least... buying a wimax device now wouldnt be the end of the world.
also.. the first sprint lte devices wont get super awesome. and we wont be seeing the good lte chips(the ones that work on multiple bands) until 2013(sprints 2nd lte gen).

Upgrading to a Wimax phone this year seems fine. And you can enjoy the unlimited data. It will set you up to upgrade in 2013, when new phones will be ready to utilize Sprint's LTE (800MHz/1.9GHz) and Clear's LTE-Advanced (2.5GHz).

dparm said:
Yes, the 30 day return period is nice. Would give me a shot at really test driving the thing.
Any suggestions on how to get some real details on Chicago Wimax and voice?
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It's 14 days now.

daneurysm said:
It's 14 days now.
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Ooo that sucks. It'll probably get ****ty 3G speeds on the 15th day.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

CODteabagger said:
I'd say buy a VZW phone outright and stay out of contract. Their speeds will be faster as well as the reliability. If this were my only phone I would've dove headfirst off a bunk bed.
I have a company Blackberry on AT&T and a regular feature phone on AT&T so I'm covered service wise. To give you an idea AT&T's HSDPA (3.5G) technology is faster than Sprint's faux 4G.
I love this phone but something needs to happen soon or people are going to leave in droves. The phone is awesome but the service is something to be desired.
I'm in Northern NJ by the way.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
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Yea Im gonna have to disagree here, one of my customer just bought a skyrocket from att and my touch destroyed his phones speeds while he was on the socalled 4gLTE hspa+ network and I was only in a 3g area (all of san diego county) there is nothing faux bout WiMax, it is all a money issue when it comes down to it.

Yes I am anxious for LTE-A as well as more power efficient radios. I remember when the first "3G" stuff came out years ago (HSDPA or whatever)...the battery life sucked but within a year or two they got it worked out.

daneurysm said:
...Sprint's 4G sucks... When a rom comes out that doesn't support 4G I don't care at all...yeah, it can be that bad.
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Yeah, it's not anything to write home about.
But I mostly use wifi at home and work so I'm not too put out by the slow speeds.
It is good enough to have a halfway decent skype session, youtube, etc...
I was hoping to get some gaming action though.
That ain't happening unless it's on wifi, at least in my area.

Galaxy Nexus Signal Strength

Anyone else get bad reception and weak radio from the Galaxy Nexus. I have the new radio i think (1515.09 V.FA02/ 1515.FA02).. the changing between 3g and 4g is still terrible and sometimes its hard for the signal to even come back in.
Do you know if this is the best radio? i think soon I will just get a Motorola device because they have better signal strength even in weak coverage areas. Not happy with the galaxy nexus for that reason. I think htc may even be better at that. samsung isn't good with their signal stength with phones.

The only time I get bad reception is in my house for some odd reason. It's so fraustrating because when I had my thunderbolt or bionic I got 4G in my house. Any where else I am good with 4G. I almost switched somebody phones but then I realized I might as well stick to the nexus.

kidnice15 said:
The only time I get bad reception is in my house for some odd reason. It's so fraustrating because when I had my thunderbolt or bionic I got 4G in my house. Any where else I am good with 4G. I almost switched somebody phones but then I realized I might as well stick to the nexus.
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Yeah.. just not willing to settle for a weak signal in a phone just because its a very nice phone. I pay for data and i want to have access to it completely.

I get 4G almost everywhere I go with the GNexus. Live about 25 minutes from Pittsburgh and can drive around pretty much everywhere and get good reception, at least on par with my Thunderbolt.

Significant problems as well, returning phone.
I have had the phone since 2/13. I'm in Rochester, NY and have had a significant number of dropped calls, times when the signal dropped, and extended re-connect times. I received a new SIM last night, which had no effect on the problem. I also tried the 4.0.4 update to the radios the OP has, with no significant improvement. VZW has said that a software update due in early march will alleviate the problem. I don't buy it. I've decided to return my phone within the 14 day "Worry-Free" period and go back to my OG Droid for the time being. I'm going to wait until the reports come back on this new "update", which is probably just 4.0.3. So i'm not feeling very confident.
-rs

I had the same problem...bad signal and wouldn't switch from 4g to 3g I returned mines and got another and now i'm very happy.the first one was a piece of junk but the second has been awesome..
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

stepinmyworld said:
Yeah.. just not willing to settle for a weak signal in a phone just because its a very nice phone. I pay for data and i want to have access to it completely.
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Let me ask you a question , how did you get to the conclusion of bad reception or bad radio strength ? I had my razr side by side with gnex a few days ago. GNex shows one bar less than razr . I guess many folks will then consider throwing their gnex to nearest wall after seeing this. Guess what ? Then I ran speed test on both of them side by side at same time for 20 times to test speed (yeah I was bored that day) . Every single run I observed about 1mb/s to 3mb/s faster in gnex than razr. Even at the same time gnex showing one fewer signal bar.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

jiwengang said:
Let me ask you a question , how did you get to the conclusion of bad reception or bad radio strength ? I had my razr side by side with gnex a few days ago. GNex shows one bar less than razr . I guess many folks will then consider throwing their gnex to nearest wall after seeing this. Guess what ? Then I ran speed test on both of them side by side at same time for 20 times to test speed (yeah I was bored that day) . Every single run I observed about 1mb/s to 3mb/s faster in gnex than razr. Even at the same time gnex showing one fewer signal bar.
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Bars are irrelevant...

Having both the nexus and the rezound, I can definitely say the rezound has better 4g radio strength. With my rezound I get 2-3 bars 4g easy anywhere in my house. Gnex barely gets 1 and most of the time is on 3g. Very frustrating.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

That's the problem. There are plenty of places I go that I lose 4G completely (on 4.0.4), while friends with the Razr or Rezound still have 2-3 bars of 4G and it's going strong.
I couldn't care less how many bars I have...I just care when I get dropped to 3G and other people don't.

My bionic held the 4G signal the best out of GN and Thunderbolt. But the browser on the GN is pretty darn fast that I hardly have any complaint when browsing on 3G. My GN holds that 3G with a death grip though. 4G is flaky at work and at home unfortunately...

Went thru 2 bad ones before I got one that worked properly.
If its giving issues, return it and try a replacement.
Seems Samsung's quality control is seriously lacking but they are a good phone when they work.

I think I get pretty good service on 3g. I don't have 4g in my area yet. I've had a droid x and iphone 4 and the nexus is best.

[Q] How is 4.0.4 Signal on CDMA Nexus?

Hello,
I am looking to get feedback from users on Verizon's CDMA nexus running 4.0.4. I am wondering if the signal quality has been improved? Obviously signal is important to me, and I live in an area that would have signal issues if I don't stay in the beaten path! I like the idea of a pure nexus device; however, it is not worth it if I can't make or receive phone calls.
Thank you for any input!

Verizon In New England Area
I've been running the unofficial 4.0.4 radio for month now in New England. For the most part I get great 4g and a decent 3g coverage when 4g drops. At home it will usually stay in 4g. Sometime it will drop to 3g when it's in my pocket or I'm in the middle of the house. I use it a lot for 4g hotspot seeing I'm on the unlimited plan. At work because it's a huge medal building, it will drop a lot more. We even have cell towers for Verizon on the roof. But I believe at that point I'm too close. With this phone I've noticed that it very rarely drops down lower than 3g giving me bad data connection. This is only my second 4g phone, having the Lg Revolution before. I'm trying to revive the revolution for my wife so she can use the 4g hotspot too. But now I've just flashed the 4.0.4 official radio and I'm going to see how it does. I'll let you know.

I get 1 bar on this new VZW GN, where my CDMA iPhone 4S gets 3. Since this VZW GN came with 4.0.4, I'm not sure what it used to be like.
HTH

I would say get a Motorola RAZR if signal strength is important to you...I live in Jersey and commute to New York, and I've had this phone since launch on VZW...signal strength is not it's forte and has not improved one iota...I've tried every radio that has leaked out, and a bevy of custom roms to boot...no improvement...I'm extremely bummed...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

My decision
Well...I wanted to post what I ended up deciding and if I am happy with it or not after a few weeks.
I went with the Verizon Galaxy Nexus.
My previous setup was US Cellular on a Motorola Electrify!
As expected, the signal quality was less than the Electrify; however, most of the signal issues are while I am driving. Where I used to drop out once; I now drop out twice on the same stretch of road. This is only for about a minute though.
My job has 7 different locations with one out in the middle of no where. I have service at all sites which was the biggest decision factor. I do not regret the decision I made 3 weeks later.
I was a bit concerned about the speaker volume, but volume+ fixed that.
The phone quality is great IMO. I have found nothing lacking on the phone except the signal. I was a bit iffy on the camera, but It is better than my Electrify 8mp camera. Plus ICS.... enough said on that.

Samsung Signal Atrocity

Been a power user of smart phones since they've existed, unlocking modding, etc.
I have never had a phone with worse data reception period.
Owned the GS2 since launch. Tried everything. Every combination known to man to get signal consistency that even comes close to an HTC phone or even my original pocket pc from UT Starcomm...
I once streamed a broadcast of the CUSA BBall tourney in the mountains in Co in like 2003 or 4 on one of those bad boys ...
No way I could do it on this galaxy s2. Not unless I was sitting still with no other devices at sea level in a giant grassland.
The phone is gorgeous, screen near perfect, feels great in hand, great durability, best phone I've ever had in almost every area...
BUT when you can barely browse the web, or use banking apps because timeouts and disconnects and 4g sleeping/searching won't stop...
It may as well be a paper weight. Will never buy a Samsung again; never should have left HTC. Tried as hard as I could to believe and prove that this was the best phone you could buy. Signal issues kill it in a long term use review.
Buy HTC. Radio is most important thing on a phone period.

I've been noticing the same thing with the signal reception. If this phone had a better radio it would honestly be the best phone. I will never buy HTC again because of the lack of updates and the piss poor battery life. Also HTC sense is garbage. But yet again these are just my opinions. If HTC comes out with a good phone that's not a brick maybe I'll try it.

Agree, they are big bricks and die quick, but the reason may be that they lock onto that signal like the fat guy that lucked into the insecure 8 or 9.
Big time web browser. Trying to justify switch to evo lte. Long term phone user and I get big time value mod, etc because of the price. Hard to dump something less than a year in for me.

Don't worry both Samsung and Sprint has the fix for you. They will release the fix in the near future.
Its called the Galaxy S3
LOL

Signal Strength on FD24, FD26 & FE07 Is Erratic. Yeppppppppp!
I cant remember it being this bad on GB...but my memory is horrible. This signal bullsh*t on ICS is KILLING my battery, and i cannot charge my phone where i work. I have to walk with an extra battery and a charging case for that battery.
Sprint & Samsung have until the OTA to fix this issue...if this OTA fails to make the phone live up to a reasonable use of its potential...im jumping to Verizon & the Droid Maxx.
Between the GPS...signal stability & 3G speeds....ive just about f*cking had it.

it took you this long to realize this? when i had my samsung moment replaced 4 times due to data loss and modem issues, i told myself i would never buy another samsung phone. look how that turned out.
samsung has terrible radio support. it's not just the phone radio, it's their GPS and wifi too.

I read these threads all the time... Never really post in them a lot though....
From what I've read its all about the area you live in. I live and work in Center City Philadelphia and get ok to good 3G & 4G signals and never really have any of these issue of timing out, slow downloads or issues with browsing.
I do count myself lucky though cause when I go to visit my family (they live in the sticks) its wifi only for me... So I do feel your guys pain.
Sent From My Galaxy Class StarFighter

SouthPhilly said:
I read these threads all the time... Never really post in them a lot though....
From what I've read its all about the area you live in. I live and work in Center City Philadelphia and get ok to good 3G & 4G signals and never really have any of these issue of timing out, slow downloads or issues with browsing.
I do count myself lucky though cause when I go to visit my family (they live in the sticks) its wifi only for me... So I do feel your guys pain.
Sent From My Galaxy Class StarFighter
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nope it's not the area you live in. having traveled to just about every major city in the US in the last 5-6 years, my moment and the e4gt have always lost signal completely multiple times. while travelling, my htc evo never once experienced those problems, and gps lock was always instant.
i dont believe it's an area/location problem at all. i think it's more like samsung has terrible cdma support. you dont hear much about their gsm phones having these issues.

cnstarz said:
nope it's not the area you live in. having traveled to just about every major city in the US in the last 5-6 years, my moment and the e4gt have always lost signal completely multiple times. while travelling, my htc evo never once experienced those problems, and gps lock was always instant.
i dont believe it's an area/location problem at all. i think it's more like samsung has terrible cdma support. you dont hear much about their gsm phones having these issues.
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Yea its my job to travel weekly to multiple cities....and my HTC NEVER had such issues with the radio.

Yep never had a issue with any signal or gps on ANY of my HTC phones.
Samsung wireless radios are POS!
Waiting on user reviews to see if I'll get the EVO 4G LTE
Sent from my EPIC TOUCH!

I live in Houston, TX the #1 coverage city for Sprint. First Samsung I've owned. Hardware was just so killer vs the then market leading (regardless of whether or not you liked the gimmick) evo 3d it wasn't close. Never knew signal issues could be crippling because I owned HTCs, so I never had issues.
The issues I did have... Build quality, shaky early sense, camera quality, screen quality... ALL don't even matter if you can't load a webpage, upload a photo, etc.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA

Dose anyone even know if the S3 will carry the same radio the S2 has? many times the phone manufacture will use same hardware ie gps Bluetooth to same money.

Wow I must be really lucky. I live in Reno and I have never ever had any signal issues. sure it goes from full to 2 bars from time to time but I have never lost signal.

rujelus22 said:
Wow I must be really lucky. I live in Reno and I have never ever had any signal issues. sure it goes from full to 2 bars from time to time but I have never lost signal.
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Same here and I live in Alabama, nowhere near the areas that will see 4G or LTE first.

The OG evo has one of the best antennas on a cell phone, ever. You can't make a blanket statement that HTC is awesome when plenty of their phones have ****ty antennas. Have you used an Evo 3D or design? You would be complaining there too. God forbid you get an iPhone, which has the worst antenna I've ever seen. My store is literally across the street from a tower, and iPhones get 2 bars and horrible data speeda where my ET is pegged and gets 1.5mbit down on 3g.
You probably got your gs2 at about the same time the iPhone came out, when the 3g network got saturated with all the morons "upgrading" front 4g android phones or poor souls upgrading from blackberries with 1x. This phone has performed exactly as I expected it to.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Wow......no "Cool Story Bro" posts yet? I'm proud of you guys.
Let's hope it stays like this.

jayharper08 said:
Wow......no "Cool Story Bro" posts yet? I'm proud of you guys.
Let's hope it stays like this.
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Stool Corey Bro /runs
PS: As much as i hate to admit this, its all true. I was playing with a friends photon the other day....this was getting amazing reception where as i get NONE at my house :\

Well first off I do agree that the E4GT does have a horrible modem/radio. The worst i have ever had on a smartphone. Don't get me wrong this is the best phone I have ever had but I get a GPS lock half the time I try and after a minute or 2. Its just pathetic. Ya I know some people say my GPS works great but my dad and 2 friends have this same phone and all have the same GPS and poor signal problems. So if your GPS works great you are very lucky. As for the data speeds I have ran speedtest side by side on the E4GT OG EVo and 4s side by side. E4GT>4s>OG Evo by not to much though(at least that is the results I got).
I think the biggest culprit here though with data speeds is sprints ****tastic network. I usually average 300kbs. I'm sorry but im not paying $180 a month for those kinds of speeds when VZW and ATT 3g speeds are 6-8 times better than that(not to even mention 4g and lte). Also VZW and ATT are not even more expensive. For the same thing Im getting on sprint I can get at ATT(3gb monthly data) for the SAME price. On VZW(4 gb monthly data) its 10 bucks more. I realized unlimited data means nothing if you have crappy speeds. If you alive in a sprint area were your lucky to get 4g or lte soon more power to ya.
As for buying a samsung phone? Its possible but not until 1) They stop making there phones ugly (not the sII but the sIII is butt ugly IMO) 2)get better modem/radio/GPS 3) change from pentile display. At least in online pictures the sIII's display looks worse than our phone.
HTC One X here I come!!! (sooo excited)
/end rant lol sorry/

I live on LI Ny, and the coverage is horrible here, I work in Queens, it's the only time I can actually brows the Web, besides wifi.. And no 4G on LI..
Bobby O's Epic Touch..

I have noticed that if you have your bluetooth connected and then enable gps, I don't get a gps lock until I disable gps, then bluetooth, and then enable gps. It's been like that on every ICS rom I have tried.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2