Really disappointed in the 3g/4g data signal - Verizon HTC One (M7)

I've seen threads of people not happy with the data signal, but I didn't realize how bad it was until I was in a movie theater today. I couldn't get any data signal, not even basic google search. I even tried re-booting and still nothing. Picked up my wife's iPhone 4s and it was flying around internet sites.
I tested the same thing afterwards at the local food market and the exact same thing. My phone, no inside signal, her iPhone, perfect.
How can a phone become so popular with such crappy signal?

I've seen complaints too but I've got to say that my One has been on par with my iPhones, Galaxy S3, Blackberry's, etc... No signal issues here whatsoever
The other person on my plan has an iPhone 5 and we both usually have the same amount of signal anywhere we go

dspcap said:
I've seen threads of people not happy with the data signal, but I didn't realize how bad it was until I was in a movie theater today. I couldn't get any data signal, not even basic google search. I even tried re-booting and still nothing. Picked up my wife's iPhone 4s and it was flying around internet sites.
I tested the same thing afterwards at the local food market and the exact same thing. My phone, no inside signal, her iPhone, perfect.
How can a phone become so popular with such crappy signal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
note 2 is popular as can be and mine drops calls everyday.
I would get it swapped out. Maybe you got a dud. HTC usually has better radios than everybody but Moto.

josh995 said:
I've seen complaints too but I've got to say that my One has been on par with my iPhones, Galaxy S3, Blackberry's, etc... No signal issues here whatsoever
The other person on my plan has an iPhone 5 and we both usually have the same amount of signal anywhere we go
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only huge issue I have with it is its TERRIBLE hand-off, at least when my iPhone 5 or DNA lost 4g LTE it would grab it the moment it was available again. The One just holds onto that crappy 3G for dear life until I force it to go to LTE again.
Edit: Or wait 5-10 minutes.

I don't notice a difference from my Galaxy S4.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using xda app-developers app

I've had the phone for two weeks and saw the 3G icon for the first time today. Signal has been fine...

Ranger093 said:
The only huge issue I have with it is its TERRIBLE hand-off, at least when my iPhone 5 or DNA lost 4g LTE it would grab it the moment it was available again. The One just holds onto that crappy 3G for dear life until I force it to go to LTE again.
Edit: Or wait 5-10 minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's weird! I haven't experienced that problem either. I've only noticed my One on 3G once but the hand off to LTE seemed pretty normal to me. I can't really comment on that issue though because my area is pretty much all LTE so I don't deal with the hand offs.
I wonder if it's a defect in your phone? Does the One allow us to update the PRL? I remember the HTC EVO had an update PRL option that I think could do something with service issues... something or other, I can't really remember.

josh995 said:
That's weird! I haven't experienced that problem either. I've only noticed my One on 3G once but the hand off to LTE seemed pretty normal to me. I can't really comment on that issue though because my area is pretty much all LTE so I don't deal with the hand offs.
I wonder if it's a defect in your phone? Does the One allow us to update the PRL? I remember the HTC EVO had an update PRL option that I think could do something with service issues... something or other, I can't really remember.
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Click to collapse
No I don't think it is, GrayWolf has the same issue. I live in Minnesota and frequently travel to jobsites where there is concrete and such. Because Verizon hasn't upgraded every cell site with LTE yet just "Most of them" I frequently go into 3G. When the device goes into 3G for an extended period of time sometimes it takes a reboot to get back to LTE, most of the time it takes awhile to go back. And sometimes it goes right away, it's pretty annoying to be honest and may make me go to the Droid Maxx.

Lte onoff in the market helps me out. It was used for the thunderbolt to turn off the Lte radio when it was new. I toggle to Lte only, wait for it to get a signal them back to cdma+lte
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk 2

josh995 said:
That's weird! I haven't experienced that problem either. I've only noticed my One on 3G once but the hand off to LTE seemed pretty normal to me. I can't really comment on that issue though because my area is pretty much all LTE so I don't deal with the hand offs.
I wonder if it's a defect in your phone? Does the One allow us to update the PRL? I remember the HTC EVO had an update PRL option that I think could do something with service issues... something or other, I can't really remember.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your sim card updates the PRL.
Sent from my 4G LTE HTC One

I'll get a change to test out my reception later. I do know the 4G on the One seems almost twice as fast as my Rezound though.

I find my signal is much better on the One than on my previous SIII or SGN.

Samsung has the worst radios. The Galaxy Nexus absolutely blew in that respect and, everyone came up with theories about false calibration of bars and whatnot, but the fact remained that it sucked with weak reception and poor hand-off between 3G and LTE.
Mike02z said:
I find my signal is much better on the One than on my previous SIII or SGN.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

godhamba said:
Samsung has the worst radios. The Galaxy Nexus absolutely blew in that respect and, everyone came up with theories about false calibration of bars and whatnot, but the fact remained that it sucked with weak reception and poor hand-off between 3G and LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found my Samsung Nexus was horrible, my Galaxy S3 was good... but now my One is not good again. I just hung up with a vzw CSR and he told me they had some problems with SIM cards when the One was released and to go get a new one. He said the SIM card could absolutely fix the problem.

dspcap said:
How can a phone become so popular with such crappy signal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My experience has been similar to what you had today. It seems mostly indoors I experienced the problems. I'm wondering, were you able to unlock your phone on day one? I did, and I'm wondering if custom ROMs or other changes we've been able to make have affected our reception.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using xda app-developers app

pmterp said:
My experience has been similar to what you had today. It seems mostly indoors I experienced the problems. I'm wondering, were you able to unlock your phone on day one? I did, and I'm wondering if custom ROMs or other changes we've been able to make have affected our reception.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried on day one, but they couldn't activate my phone... ughhh... but I was told today to get a new sim card.

godhamba said:
Samsung has the worst radios. The Galaxy Nexus absolutely blew in that respect and, everyone came up with theories about false calibration of bars and whatnot, but the fact remained that it sucked with weak reception and poor hand-off between 3G and LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Nexus was disappointing in several ways. I didn't go by the bars, but the dBm readout under settings. The Rezound was on par with my DInc, and soon I'll see how The One holds up to that.

Ranger093 said:
No I don't think it is, GrayWolf has the same issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My issues were related to a bad ril in CyanogenMod.
Only thing I notice now is that text messages take forever to send.

GrayTheWolf said:
My issues were related to a bad ril in CyanogenMod.
Only thing I notice now is that text messages take forever to send.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is ril part of the ROM? I'm running hyperdrive and wonder if it could be related?
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using xda app-developers app

My reception in general was better on my DNA. I am yet to see 5 bars on my One, but I'm also yet to see no signal. Using apps like dropbox from the gallery is nearly impossible, takes too long to load even a couple pictures let alone swipe through them. Don't care, I love this phone. My DNA shipped out to the buyer today. No regrets.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using XDA Premium App

Related

New verizon user

I was with t-mobile for 8 years and decided to try verizon for 2 years after hearing how good the network is. I thought there's no better time then now considering I have 275 in bestbuy gift cards and this amazing phone is 300. After 2 days of use it seems the network is just OK don't know if there are still bugs to be worked out of LTE network or if its the rom I'm on. Before flashing the rom the signal struggled also? Didn't have a whole lot of time to test as I rooted and had a rom an hour after getting my phone (live for the development) Does anyone have a clue on what's up. Verizon says my area in Cleveland (mistake on the lake) has good coverage and friends have said nothing but good things also. Thanks community! Love ya guys and girls out there
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
You might want to try flashing a different radio in your respective development forum, it's kind of hit or miss between regions so you'll have to see which works best for you
radio flash may not fix signal its been pretty common issue with vzw nexus users as i myself still experience it
I had a Razr for a month before the Nexus and my wife still has a Razr. Other than the well-publicized nationwide outages, voice and data are rock solid on that phone.
My stock Nexus has been anything but. I love voice and data several times a day. Hoping an update will improve things or that I got a bad unit. I have a replacement on the way as my headphone jack doesn't output stereo.
Certainly nothing scientific but in my experience the Verizon network is the best there is (I've been on T-mobile and Sprint, never ATT).
McDeadagain said:
I had a Razr for a month before the Nexus and my wife still has a Razr. Other than the well-publicized nationwide outages, voice and data are rock solid on that phone.
My stock Nexus has been anything but. I love voice and data several times a day. Hoping an update will improve things or that I got a bad unit. I have a replacement on the way as my headphone jack doesn't output stereo.
Certainly nothing scientific but in my experience the Verizon network is the best there is (I've been on T-mobile and Sprint, never ATT).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea voice has been excellent for me since release day however data is hit and miss in my area but if i go to another area of my city or anywhere else its rock solid really weird however i have a tbolt on another line that works rock solid everywhere data and voice
McDeadagain said:
I had a Razr for a month before the Nexus and my wife still has a Razr. Other than the well-publicized nationwide outages, voice and data are rock solid on that phone.
My stock Nexus has been anything but. I love voice and data several times a day. Hoping an update will improve things or that I got a bad unit. I have a replacement on the way as my headphone jack doesn't output stereo.
Certainly nothing scientific but in my experience the Verizon network is the best there is (I've been on T-mobile and Sprint, never ATT).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't speak to the voice/data dropping, but as per the headphone jack, I know this may sound like I'm talking down to you, but I'm really not: Did you try pushing the headphone plug all the way in until it clicks into place?
Samsung phones for some reason have very tight headphone connections. On my Vibrant, and on my GNex, I had to push the plug in pretty hard to get it to go all the way in. On the Vibrant, I thought I had the same exact problem as it was only outputting to the left speaker, but then I gave it a nice little push and it was fine.
Just thought I'd pass that along.
I've been on Verizon for quite a few years, with a bit of time on other networks through family phones or work phones. the network really is solid. data rates on 3G do not compare to good HSPDA, but LTE is fantastic. as far as the nexus itself, I have found that it has the exact same voice reception as my three previous android devices, and actually think the 3G data works better most of the time. now, the signal indicator is always lower, but actual signal strength seems to be identical, regardless of how many "bars" there are.
MMcCraryNJ said:
Can't speak to the voice/data dropping, but as per the headphone jack, I know this may sound like I'm talking down to you, but I'm really not: Did you try pushing the headphone plug all the way in until it clicks into place?
Samsung phones for some reason have very tight headphone connections. On my Vibrant, and on my GNex, I had to push the plug in pretty hard to get it to go all the way in. On the Vibrant, I thought I had the same exact problem as it was only outputting to the left speaker, but then I gave it a nice little push and it was fine.
Just thought I'd pass that along.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No offense taken ;-)
Actually I tried everything. I use it with the headphones plugged all the way in, and it worked for a couple of weeks and then suddenly stopped working. I tried a different pair of headphones too. The only time it does work is if I hold the headphone plug just barely into the jack. If I let go it falls right out.
Helluva silly thing to go wrong.
Alottt of threads have harked about the verizon gnex having poor connection. In myself have switched 3 different phones. And still have the issue. Tech support even tested them and said themselves there is definently and issue. Google code has ALOT of tickets specifying the same thing. This is slowly cooking into something serious
I was this tmobile for 7+. Took my wife's Verizon plan..we switched...she can even tell the poor reception. I just want to know if this can be fixed software wise because...I reaaallly like this phone but its very scary.
Your definitely not alone guys. This will gain traction in the coming days
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Thanks for all the replies! My guess after reading all the post is that its still a major work in progress. Verizon has a lot of users and a major Rep to hold up so they'll probably fix it and not leave us in a bad situation?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
mike216 said:
Thanks for all the replies! My guess after reading all the post is that its still a major work in progress. Verizon has a lot of users and a major Rep to hold up so they'll probably fix it and not leave us in a bad situation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LTE is still in Beta stage for sure. Obviously they'll figure it out eventually. It's their long term strategy to go all LTE for voice and data.
I too have this issue. Signal is significantly lower and I often lose signal altogether. Switching from 3G to 4G is also flaky. Just for the hell of it I called up VZW support and they said it's a work in progress and they are working with Samsung to get a resolution.
spencer88 said:
I too have this issue. Signal is significantly lower and I often lose signal altogether. Switching from 3G to 4G is also flaky. Just for the hell of it I called up VZW support and they said it's a work in progress and they are working with Samsung to get a resolution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I usually just leave mine in CDMA mode only due to the 4G/3G switching. I definitely get weaker signal in my house and slower LTE data speeds with the GNex compared to the Rezound I had for several weeks.
Raibyn said:
I usually just leave mine in CDMA mode only due to the 4G/3G switching. I definitely get weaker signal in my house and slower LTE data speeds with the GNex compared to the Rezound I had for several weeks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too leave mine in CDMA mode for most of the time. Signal can still be -83 dBm and it can drop off to -120 dBm at any given time, or drop signal completely and show 0 dBm.
I am having the same issues and have a thread going at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1403133
This is seeming to be widespread so hopefully there is a fix in the near future. For now, the 4.03 radio update others have mentioned helped me quite a bit, although it did not fix it. You can find it here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1403133 if you have not seen it already.
I am also in the same boat as you as I rooted to install CM9 the same day I got the phone. After reading the forums I believe the issue lies in the radio software (hopefully not hardware) and not with the ROM itself since CM9 is still very beta.

My take on Galaxy Nexus problems (VZW)

I've had this phone now for less than a month. I know it's not a long time, but I think I've got a pretty good idea of how this phone performs. I have not rooted this phone, I am on 4.02 and PRL 15119.
1. The signal problem:
Coming from a Droid2, the first thing I noticed was one or no bars where I used to have full! I was losing data all the time, until I switched to CDMA only. My phone kept switching to LTE and back again, I spent more time in hand offs than connected!
I had the opportunity to have my Nexus, a TBolt, and a Maxx all in my basement together and did a few tests. All three phones had trouble holding LTE here when I was able to run a speed test, they all performed similarly, between 1 and 2 Mbps. When all three switched to CDMA, they displayed one more bar on and off than my Nexus, but showed similar pings and speeds.
I spend a lot of time in my basement and have never had troubles losing data (CDMA only) even though it displays 0-1 bars all the time.
Now, I do occasionally have problems with data, but it's nothing new to me. My Droid2 would show full signal and just not load a page or drop to 1x in locations known to be strong service.
I have not had this problem with the WiFi hand off back to cellular data. This phone switches faster than my Droid2 ever did. Like, by a lot. I work in no service building. Every morning I turn my WiFi on and just turn it off when I get in my car to go home. Usually I have cellular service before I can even turn off the WiFi.
I read a lot of reports where someones Nexus would be outperformed in a 4G speed test by another Verizon 4G device. Not the case here. My tests were constantly the same when comparing between the Nexus, TBolt, and Maxx.
I stopped in the Verizon store and two of the sales dudes had 4G phones, a Razr and another Galaxy Nexus. The Nexus guy was rooted on 4.04 and couldn't break 10Mbps while Razer guy and myself were fighting for 40Mbps.. Maybe there are some lemons out there
All in all, I may have gotten a good device (made in China, go figure), but I do not believe there is a real problem here. If this is your first android on Verizon, I can see where you'd think there are problems. Whenever I pick up my phone, I just ignore the bars and use it. It always works. Even in 3G, this phone loads pages WAY faster than my Droid2.
2. Battery life: I am not a real heavy user. There are times when I'll spend 20 minutes in the bathroom playing angry birds or reading threads, but that's about it. I got the Verizon extended battery before leaving the store with my new phone. This battery has 200mah more juice than the extended battery in my old Droid2.
I think this phone get's great stand by time, I got it to go 3 days off charger with a few calls and texts every day and a little bit of angry birds
On a whole, I'd have to say it get's as good or better life than my last phone.
3. Random reboots: I was constantly pulling my phone out of my pocket to find that it was off. I had gotten quite concerned after reading all the posts about crash reboots. It wasn't until I set the phone down while booting it up that I saw the screen shut off. I knew something wasn't right here and reproduced the shut down by smacking the phone in my palm while it was booting it up.
After looking closely, I noticed the battery would move up and down in its compartment. I solved this by taking some folded paper and taping it to the bottom edge of the battery. Pushing the battery up into the contacts on the phone. I also added some tape/paper to the top of the battery so the cover is pushing it down into the compartment.
Obviously I can't speak for everyone, but I haven't had a single crash/reboot. Just this battery connection problem.
4. Slow screen rotation: I have noticed this, it is VERY annoying when you first get the phone. Habit is to flip it landscape BEFORE launching the app you want to use. This is why you think it's so slow, because the home screen will not flip, it just refuses to. In any app, it flips just like you're used to. A non problem that I'm sure will get fixed.
5. Screen banding: I tried looking at the blank grey screen on any brightness, I could not get the bands I kept reading about. I guess I got lucky!
6. Overheating: I read this phone will try to use 2.4 and 5GHz spectrum's while on WiFi. The first thing I did was set it to 2.4 only and have not had any issues. I use WiFi 8 hours a day every day with out the phone getting hot. I also use the hot spot almost every night, as I don't have a land line internet at home. Never an issue, once again, to the touch this phone was not as hot as my Droid2.
I really like ICS and this phone seems like a keeper. I hope this inspires someone to go out and buy the Nexus!!
Over the weekend I went to the Verizon store to compare the vz nexus signal. Turns out every device with lte read -60 and then nexus -80. But there was one lg phone that displayed both signals at the same time, 1x and lte read -60 and -80. So I wonder does Verizon lte phones actually never show lte signal and always show cdma even when connected to lte?
Just earlier today I compared my Galaxy Nexus at -110 to my dad's Rezound at -80. Side by side at the exact same time. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture.
I'm unrooted stock 4.0.2 right now.
Silly question but did the salesman with the Nexus have LTE on?
How in the world could you go 3 days on a 2100mah? The most i can get is maybe a day or day and a half. Usually its under a day as i use my phone alot.
Dan76 said:
Just earlier today I compared my Galaxy Nexus at -110 to my dad's Rezound at -80. Side by side at the exact same time. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture.
I'm unrooted stock 4.0.2 right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lost the link but basically non ics phones show 3g signal instead of 4g or something like that. Its a different signal type that's why the gnex always shows less because its showing its actual signal
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
i honestly think its a hardware issue, but i have read all the threads and there is nothing concrete... my phone works perfect on 3g but i switch it to 4g and it just looses signal i could have 3 bars and then all of sudden it just looses all signal, it does not switch to 3g..im in a good 4g coverage area as well. im really angry and i dont want any other phone but the one i have . I hate blur so forget motorola
davidadavila said:
i honestly think its a hardware issue, but i have read all the threads and there is nothing concrete... my phone works perfect on 3g but i switch it to 4g and it just looses signal i could have 3 bars and then all of sudden it just looses all signal, it does not switch to 3g..im in a good 4g coverage area as well. im really angry and i dont want any other phone but the one i have . I hate blur so forget motorola
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That shouldn't happen doesn't to me at all. Call Verizon. Get a new phone lol
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
RogerPodacter said:
Over the weekend I went to the Verizon store to compare the vz nexus signal. Turns out every device with lte read -60 and then nexus -80. But there was one lg phone that displayed both signals at the same time, 1x and lte read -60 and -80. So I wonder does Verizon lte phones actually never show lte signal and always show cdma even when connected to lte?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is generally the case.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
RogerPodacter said:
Over the weekend I went to the Verizon store to compare the vz nexus signal. Turns out every device with lte read -60 and then nexus -80. But there was one lg phone that displayed both signals at the same time, 1x and lte read -60 and -80. So I wonder does Verizon lte phones actually never show lte signal and always show cdma even when connected to lte?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they are not ICS devices, they do not show the LTE signal.
You have problems?
Cool story bro. This isn't a support site.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
fix-this! said:
How in the world could you go 3 days on a 2100mah? The most i can get is maybe a day or day and a half. Usually its under a day as i use my phone alot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was achieved over a weekend in a strong service area on cdma only. I was at a solid 3/⁴ bars the whole time. I was at a buddys house for a lan, so i was doing my surfing on the computer. I was doing most of my texting in google voice on my pc, so the only use the phone saw was calls and bathroom browsing lol.
Yes, the nexus measures signal differently and this is why it cant hold 4g, it thinks the signal is too weak and lets go before it should. If you had a vzw droid before and know where the strong 3g is, set it to cdma only and see how it performs compared to the old phone. If your getting data drops and dropped calls where you didnt before, then exchange your phone.
Ive read there is a way to force lte only, this would be the best test. But i cant remember how to do it.
Want to add, the ics keyboard is the best one ive ever used. Also, speaker volume on this phone is plenty loud. I have had problems with call quality when i have no bars. Just does not sound good and hard to unserstand people. When i have a bar or more, sounds great. Like theyre in the room.
chancy319 said:
Silly question but did the salesman with the Nexus have LTE on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely lte. I am not sure what vzws theoretical max speed is on 3g, but in our area, max is about 1.7Mbps. I know theoretical is no where near 10Mbps.
teeBOMB said:
Definitely lte. I am not sure what vzws theoretical max speed is on 3g, but in our area, max is about 1.7Mbps. I know theoretical is no where near 10Mbps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could the differences have been due to your radios? I'm on 4.0.4 with the new radios and I don't break 10Mpbs.
The speed is fast enough for me and I don't remember exactly the speeds I had on the earlier radios. I vaguely remember breaking 10Mpbs at times. I might reflash the older radios and do speed tests.
I'm happy to report I have zero problems with my VZW GNex since day 1
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
dynamicpda said:
Could the differences have been due to your radios? I'm on 4.0.4 with the new radios and I don't break 10Mpbs.
The speed is fast enough for me and I don't remember exactly the speeds I had on the earlier radios. I vaguely remember breaking 10Mpbs at times. I might reflash the older radios and do speed tests.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now i didnt see these guys screens, i dont know what they were using for testing or what server they were connecting to. He told me hes never been able to break 10 megs. For all i know he rooted and flashed on day one. I cant imagine the members of xda would overlook something so obvious, but who knows. Give it a try eh? For reference all my mentions have been using the official speedtest.net app and chicago servers. Im tempted to root, but im waiting for 4.05 ota and have no idea how to do it. Ill get there eventually
I've found that LTE can vary wildly in speeds. You really need multiple tests with multiple phones at the same location/time.
That said, I saw a huge difference between FC05 and FA02. I found that the best combination for my phone was FC04 on the CDMA radio and FA02 on the LTE radio. It's a good 2mbits faster and much more stable. Signal in my house is borderline, so you really see the difference.
tspderek said:
I've found that LTE can vary wildly in speeds. You really need multiple tests with multiple phones at the same location/time.
That said, I saw a huge difference between FC05 and FA02. I found that the best combination for my phone was FC04 on the CDMA radio and FA02 on the LTE radio. It's a good 2mbits faster and much more stable. Signal in my house is borderline, so you really see the difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion.
I flash the FC04/FA02 combo and in the spot near my house where I am disappointed, 4.5Mpbs down / 2.5 up, I got pretty much the same results. One difference I did notice is that the hybrid combo is slower to switch from 3G than FC05/FC05. I toggled LTE to force 4G connect.
I flashed back. Eager to see what 4.05 brings and also if the latest official IMM76K brings new radios.
Smokeey said:
You have problems?
Cool story bro. This isn't a support site.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, it kind of is since most of us come here for help.
Also, if your read the OP he was not complaining about issues as much as addressing them.

Why does my Signal suck?

Hi,
I own a VZW Galaxy Nexus, I'm not as phone savvy as I use to be and I can't for the life of me figure out/ find and reputable sources about why this phones signal sucks so terribly bad. Presently in my house I can rarely send texts and my calls will drop due to lost signal. I live in PA a few miles from Chambersburg/ Waynesboro (for those who may know the area). When I go back to MD I have no problems pretty much. I'd like to chalk it up to just where I live but I feel like theres another reason.
I've got Android Revolution HD not the 4.1.0 one (downloading now) I have the one prior. It works great, very smooth, no random reboots unless Im playing music, using the GPS, and charging it (which is odd...). I've read a couple different things about PRL one being that it can screw up your 4G and the other being that its no big deal. I have yet to do it because honestly I still don't believe it will make a difference.
What I am looking for is some confirmation so I can stop beating my head against a wall when I'm trying to send a text. Even over wifi I can't send one (idk if you can but I figure it shouldnt hurt it). I'm sort of missing my HTC Droid Inc 1...too bad the screen got smashed.
No one has a answer for me?
Patience young padiwan... someone will reply shortly.
I did notice something though, when my modem when completely herp derp and I had it shut off down stairs I got better reception then I do upstairs in my room with my PC : /
Edit: no idea if this means much but checking signal strength and it was at -100 dBm 1asu then went to -93 dBm 2asu,
Is your baseband I515.10? If so that's probably why. I have had two Verizon gnex, one with I515.10 and one with I515.9....
After talking to many people on here it seems that people that had a phone that shipped with I515.10 (including myself) have pretty frequent signal drop. Whereas the people that have I515.9 (what my first one was), do not.
It's a shame, but there isn't really much you can do about it other than call and complain that it is a well documented problem, and hope they send you a better one.
It's frustrating for sure, but I still wouldn't trade this device for any other.
Also, forcing the PRL CAN ruin your sim card, but it's not like it's a guarantee. As far as I know though, there isn't really any benefit in taking the risk and trying since the device auto updates PRL.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Yep my baseband is I515.1 ...LAME guess im gonna go call VZW
Good luck buddy.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
just as a reference, texts rely on cell signal, so if you dont have cell service but have wifi, texts wont send/receive.
called them and it turns out i'm on the very edge of two distant Cell towers one at 5miles and another at 7miles. Biggest issue is the terrain because I like in Southern PA there are a lot of mountains and hills which interfere. The Tech rep also mentioned something about the time of year going into play because of the amount of water in the surrounding area which he got from an engineer @ VZW.
In all honesty it sounds like they were feeding you a load of crap. Not that there's no truth to what they say, but if you had a different phone that worked in your home, but your galaxy nexus is not working? Then what the verizon representative was saying would not be aplicable.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Yeah... That makes no sense at all man. It's just coincidence that 60% of Nexus owners have the same problem?
If you raise enough hell, the will send you another... Trust me.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Ysosrslawl said:
called them and it turns out i'm on the very edge of two distant Cell towers one at 5miles and another at 7miles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can confirm this based on using an app called OpenSignal (free from the market). One of the tabs in the app is "Map" and will show your current location, as well as the location of the tower your phone is connected to, with a red line between the two.
It's because it's SAMSUNG PEOPLE.
No one will admit if anyone has any experience with any Samsung device they should know compare an HTC or iphone or moto photon signal to any SPRINT SAMSUNG PHONE ITS NOT SPRINT.
It's the Samsung software or hardware that's been glitched since day one since the first epic
They all have weak signal u can compare a photon which is Motorola to this galaxy nexus
Galaxy s2, galaxy s3 any Samsung, WEAK SIGNAL PHONES, and not one person realizes this with comparing the experience of device to Device on the same network
. How can u get 5 constant bars on a photon or 2 or 3 on HTC evo or sprint I phone in the same area, but always 1 bar on Samsung phones All on the same network. ITS SAMSUNG SKIMPIN OUT ON THERE BUILD QUALITY whether hardware or software related, it pisses me off they persistently ROLL OUT brand new Devices all year and waist good phones cause they can't build a stronger signal phone.
So forget about complaining about signal issues it won't change until they figure the real reason out
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
I have personally never had a signal issue, but I also have a baseband of .9. I feel this link gives a good insight of signal reporting on the GN.
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/25921-this-is-why-your-verizon-nexus-signal-sucks/

Anyone else considering switching to a different phone?

hi guys,
so i have an S3 and i LOVE it to death. i am running Task AOKP rom which makes the phone 100000 times better but even on stock TW, the phone was great. however, what i am noticing (and from doing some reading a lot of other people notice as well) is that the reception of the phone is really lacking. over the past few days, i have been doing some experimenting with my S3 and a few other phones that i have access to. almost in every single situation, the S3 reception was drastically worse than the other phones. here are a few examples:
1) yesterday me and the wife went to a friend's wedding. when we got there, i had zero reception (x on the reception bars) while my wife's iphone had 3 bars (both ATT).
2) at work, i always have 1-2 bars and not that great reception while my coworker with an HTC phone on ATT has full service.
3) at my house, i have a few areas that the phone just struggles to get even a single bar and both my wife's iphone as well as all my previous phones (galaxy s2, iphone 4, blackberry etc..) never had that issue.
this is my second S3 unit and the previous one was not that great reception wise as well. i tried every kernel and rom you can imagine and even reverted back to stock a few times just to make sure its not rom related.
at this point, i am actually considering selling the S3 and going with an HTC One X even though i prefer everything about the S3.
have you tried different modems...just a sugestion.....some people get better reception when they flash different modems
Plays2 said:
have you tried different modems...just a sugestion.....some people get better reception when they flash different modems
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, tried every single one of the modems that has been released so far. at first i was sure that it is just my phone or my area but a google search shows that this is pretty known issue with the S3 which is not giving me too much hope. like i said, i LOVE the phone and love its features but this one is starting to get me down.
Are you using a protective case? I've read where some cases cause reception issues.
I am quite sure that the radio in the sgs3 is not as strong as many other phones I've had. Wifi and mobile connection are much weaker compared to other devices. I am also sure that its the hardware as no matter what modem or rom I'm running its low signal in areas where friends on the same carrier with different devices are fine. It's normally not a big deal in areas with a strong signal but in areas with a weaker signal its very noticeable when others with different hardware have a signal still.
redger725 said:
Are you using a protective case? I've read where some cases cause reception issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no case. i even tried it without the back cover and the results were the same
blue265 said:
I am quite sure that the radio in the sgs3 is not as strong as many other phones I've had. Wifi and mobile connection are much weaker compared to other devices. I am also sure that its the hardware as no matter what modem or rom I'm running its low signal in areas where friends on the same carrier with different devices are fine. It's normally not a big deal in areas with a strong signal but in areas with a weaker signal its very noticeable when others with different hardware have a signal still.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, that's what most posts are saying in random forums. if it is a hardware issue, no modem in the world will make it better. i also agree that it is not a big deal in areas with strong signal but yesterday i had zero service which meant no incoming or outgoing calls for 3-4 hours while my wife had no issues with her iPhone (made me look really bad especially after all the **** i give her about owning an iPhone )
Its weird because in places other people dont have reception (they have iphones and other android phones), such as elevators, basements, in sky scrapers, i have reception and they don't. Maybe the network i'm running on (rogers) is well implanted in the city but i honestly have not noticed any worse reception in my GS3 compared to my other phones like the GS2 or iPhone 4
I switched from an iPhone 4 and I have actually got better reception and call quality with my S3 than I ever did with my iPhone. I am on ATT too.
Have you tried disabling LTE to see if you can force it to HSPA?
also have you tried a new sim just for good measure?
I haven't had much issues with respects to service when comparing it to my Nokia Lumia 900 and iPhone 4
Drew
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
I get better reception that my old iPhone 4 and my infuse... areas where I use to drop calls don't anymore. Example: an area up north where I go shoot firearms, I would lose service about 1 mile before heading up the mountain road, now, I have service the entire time except for about a mile up when I go between a sub station and a dam, but once I pass it, I'm good to go. Many parts of i5 I would drop service, now there is only 1 part where service gets spotty and I may drop the call. Several other places that I learned drop calls no longer do for me since getting the s3... not sure why our experiences are different, maybe you had bad luck and received 2 defective devices. I'm in California btw, splitting my time between sf bay area, Sacramento and Redding.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Yeah I can't wait to ditch my S3, looking to get a S4 when it comes out.
cheetablaze said:
Yeah I can't wait to ditch my S3, looking to get a S4 when it comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this to lol:thumbup:
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
I get great reception as far as I can tell. At my friend's house, his iPhone gets awful, call-droppingly bad reception and I have no issues. Both AT&T.
*#*#4636#*#*
put that in your dialpad and than go to phone options and btu it to gsm/lte preffered. if you were like me the setting should be on wcdma originally in which case i had horrible reception like you
I notice no issues with stock.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
I'm pretty annoyed by the lack of OEM accessories that we were promised.
Also annoyed that JB hasn't been officially released yet by the four major USA carriers.
But I'll be darned if there is anything better to switch to.
Phone OR manufacturer. We complain a lot, but Samsung and the Galaxy series have always been the Android leaders.
I get great reception. Full 4g lte coverage in my area. S3 is a great device. No regrets. Best phone out there by far.
I am getting signal and "0" call drops when in lift too and in car parking lots... where all my previous phones used to drop signal crazy!!!
I get great reception. ATT, Miami. My old iPhone's couldn't compete.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Rattles said:
hi guys,
so i have an S3 and i LOVE it to death. i am running Task AOKP rom which makes the phone 100000 times better but even on stock TW, the phone was great. however, what i am noticing (and from doing some reading a lot of other people notice as well) is that the reception of the phone is really lacking. over the past few days, i have been doing some experimenting with my S3 and a few other phones that i have access to. almost in every single situation, the S3 reception was drastically worse than the other phones. here are a few examples:
1) yesterday me and the wife went to a friend's wedding. when we got there, i had zero reception (x on the reception bars) while my wife's iphone had 3 bars (both ATT).
2) at work, i always have 1-2 bars and not that great reception while my coworker with an HTC phone on ATT has full service.
3) at my house, i have a few areas that the phone just struggles to get even a single bar and both my wife's iphone as well as all my previous phones (galaxy s2, iphone 4, blackberry etc..) never had that issue.
this is my second S3 unit and the previous one was not that great reception wise as well. i tried every kernel and rom you can imagine and even reverted back to stock a few times just to make sure its not rom related.
at this point, i am actually considering selling the S3 and going with an HTC One X even though i prefer everything about the S3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was it in San Antonio, tx
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

Reception Issues?

Anybody else having reception issues? My HTC Rezound would always have 1-2 bars at my house but I either get 1 bar or nothing on my One. My signal strength is -117 dBm.
Haven't noticed that here. Mine is still naked until the double flip case from HTC arrives
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
After more research I think the issue is a bad SIM card. I will go to the vzw store today and get a new one.
GrayTheWolf said:
After more research I think the issue is a bad SIM card. I will go to the vzw store today and get a new one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did the new SIM fix the problem? I'm thinking of jumping from the S4 to the One, but it seems that the S4 has better radios, or from what I can tell from various forums and an in-store test.
elir41 said:
Did the new SIM fix the problem? I'm thinking of jumping from the S4 to the One, but it seems that the S4 has better radios, or from what I can tell from various forums and an in-store test.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Due to parental issues, I can't get to the VZW store till later today. I will let you know what the outcome is.
Before this issue started my reception was wonderful.
I'm kinda disappointed in the signal reception on this phone actually. I can from a Galaxy nexus which was notorious for having crappy reception. This phone is worse and the data speeds are slower.
My friend who has an HTC one Dev edition on att has great service and speed. I'm starting to think that Verizon's network isn't what they crack it up to be.
Mine seems to be going well. I haven't had any signal issues. I usually average about -70 dBm give or take on LTE.
Mine shows 3 bars at -101dBm with peaks to about -95, even with that I can average barely over 1meg down speeds. Don't even ask about up... I'd just return the phone but I'm leery since I'm one of the few that actually got my bootloader unlocked. Wonder if they are throttling me since I have unlimited data...
91ludesit said:
Mine shows 3 bars at -101dBm with peaks to about -95, even with that I can average barely over 1meg down speeds. Don't even ask about up... I'd just return the phone but I'm leery since I'm one of the few that actually got my bootloader unlocked. Wonder if they are throttling me since I have unlimited data...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't do it. I had to get a replacement and I lost my unlock.
Reception has absolutely been worse on this phone for me.
I used to have the DNA, then I got the S4 and now I'm on the One.
With the DNA and S4, when I'd leave my house, I was immediately on 4G (3bars with the DNA, 1 bar with the S4). On the One, I get no 4G. Instead, I get 2-3 bars of 3G when leaving my house, and it doesn't switch over to 4G until I've driven a couple miles. Sometimes it never switches to 4G.
This is really disappointing because I was assuming it would have the same or even better radios than the DNA (and especially the S4, which also gave me worse reception when compared to the DNA)
I'd save overall, about 50%+ of the time, I'm on 3g now, where I would have always been on 4G with the DNA. :crying:
eleazar123 said:
Reception has absolutely been worse on this phone for me.
I used to have the DNA, then I got the S4 and now I'm on the One.
With the DNA and S4, when I'd leave my house, I was immediately on 4G (3bars with the DNA, 1 bar with the S4). On the One, I get no 4G. Instead, I get 2-3 bars of 3G when leaving my house, and it doesn't switch over to 4G until I've driven a couple miles. Sometimes it never switches to 4G.
This is really disappointing because I was assuming it would have the same or even better radios than the DNA (and especially the S4, which also gave me worse reception when compared to the DNA)
I'd save overall, about 50%+ of the time, I'm on 3g now, where I would have always been on 4G with the DNA. :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With my replacement my reception is wonderful again. No issues.
GrayTheWolf said:
With my replacement my reception is wonderful again. No issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very interesting. Did you just go into the store and say the reception is bad? I feel like they'll see that I have 4G at the store and say that it's perfectly fine. :\
I got mine after they blocked htcdev, so I have nothing to lose with replacing it.
eleazar123 said:
Very interesting. Did you just go into the store and say the reception is bad? I feel like they'll see that I have 4G at the store and say that it's perfectly fine. :\
I got mine after they blocked htcdev, so I have nothing to lose with replacing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone was screwed up when I flashed CM and I couldn't make calls. So I had a definitive and repeatable reason to get a new phone. It would just sit there and say "dialing".
eleazar123 said:
Reception has absolutely been worse on this phone for me.
I used to have the DNA, then I got the S4 and now I'm on the One.
With the DNA and S4, when I'd leave my house, I was immediately on 4G (3bars with the DNA, 1 bar with the S4). On the One, I get no 4G. Instead, I get 2-3 bars of 3G when leaving my house, and it doesn't switch over to 4G until I've driven a couple miles. Sometimes it never switches to 4G.
This is really disappointing because I was assuming it would have the same or even better radios than the DNA (and especially the S4, which also gave me worse reception when compared to the DNA)
I'd save overall, about 50%+ of the time, I'm on 3g now, where I would have always been on 4G with the DNA. :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, that sounds more like a software issue (not recognizing when it should switch) rather than an actual reception issue.
I think it is actually the sim card, because when I got home my reception was finally the same as my wife's nexus and the speed was much better. They gave me a new sim card with this phone and I wish they would have just used the one that was already in my nexus.
jntdroid said:
Honestly, that sounds more like a software issue (not recognizing when it should switch) rather than an actual reception issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The other guy that tried cyanogenmod is having the same issues as me. We are going to try different things to make his work again.
GrayTheWolf said:
With my replacement my reception is wonderful again. No issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know someone in my town has good reception on this phone.
I want to pick it up soon when beg red starts the new upgrade early plan in a day or two.
OK maybe I'm blind, how do you check dbms on this phone??
Sent from my phone
jntdroid said:
OK maybe I'm blind, how do you check dbms on this phone??
Sent from my phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Settings -> about -> network
chrisloveskaos said:
Good to know someone in my town has good reception on this phone.
I want to pick it up soon when beg red starts the new upgrade early plan in a day or two.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, reception is great. Cool to meet someone from my home town!
I'm up near Falls Lake.

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