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VZW - reception?

Anyone else notice poorer reception in their Verizon TP2 versus a regular TP or Touch? The Imagio/Diamond 2 is out on the 6th and am thinking of making the switch or swapping out my TP2 depending on other people's experience.
In particular the lunch and conference rooms at my office always had poor reception but I still always got calls on my previous Touches but this one I actually miss calls. So I am comparing apples to apples in a very repeatable test area and the TP2 appears worse.

I've read of several peeps reporting this issue, but fortunatly for me my tp2 is very good RF wise and most every other which way as well. Lovin' it.

I am trying to ignore it and hoping a radio flash (when HardSPL gets done) will help but my VZW TP2 is borderline for being able to complain about the radio. My wife is a long term user of VZW and I in the past. What I have noticed is that on the North side of my house I have dropped a few calls in the last week that I have owned the device (my wife NEVER drops calls with her VZW phone and I only dropped once in a blue moon with ATT).
So network or phone ?? I think it actually is phone but this borderline behavior has been solved for me in the past by radio upgrade/change with other devices.

After a few more days I have to say I have missed even more calls. I am going to swap it out for another and see what happens.

my sprint TP2 has better reception than my sprint TP
i wonder if we got better transceivers than yall since sprint has all radios.

[Q] How are call clarity-speaker phone and reception

I am considering sending back my G2 in the next few days dues to awful reception which is causing multiple problems. The speaker phone I find is not very good although the call volume through the device is not too bad. I am hoping that those of you who have the MT4G or have played with one extensively could share what the call clarity and volume status are like, along with the speaker phone volume and clarity is like. Also most importantly what type of reception you are getting and whether the signal fluctuates wildly like the G2. Any and all responses are appreciated.

Less than that of my Vibrant (same story with the G2). It was switching to EDGE next to my Vibrant with 1-2 bars of 3G. Poor reception is an HTC thing like poor speakerphones. I didn't get to test the myTouch but ask around, poor speakerphones have been a long standing complaint for HTC's phones.

I just switched from a G1 to the Mytouch and am pleased with the reception difference. I've always had problems in my house with the G1 and I seem to get more bars on the MT4G. As for the speaker? UGH... I tried to listen to Slacker radio on it and it was H O R R I B L E. I mean, to the point that I was surprised at how bad it sounded compared to my G1. Very tinny sounding. The speakerphone's volume is good and the clarity is decent. Just don't plan on hearing great tunes on it...

I have the g2 and mytouch 4G right now. The 4G is leaps and bounds superior to the g2 when it comes to reception. My g2 will never hold a 3g signal......just goes straight to edge. The mt4g Wlll drop from H to 3g and hold the 3g.
I get reception in my downstairs no problem with the mt4g but not with the g2.
All the g2 phones I've had have done the above as well as drop calls, cut in and out during calls etc.
Overall if you can get past the brick of a phone the g2 is (drove me nuts having such a thick phone to lug around), the only other problem for me was the reception.
For me the myt4g is the clear winner simply because the most important part of the phone works ........ the phone. Without the core of the device working properly what good is the hard keyboard???
Jmo from a guy who has and uses both.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

Great reception here, but I'm coming from AT&T so I don't have another TMobile phone to compare against. There's always wifi calling with the MT4G as well, which works great for me.
As mentioned, the speaker is almost useless. It is really, really bad. I use speakerphone so rarely it's not a concern for me. Earpiece volume & clarity is excellent.

Ill be honest, I am deeply dissapoimted in the external speaker on the mt4g. Compared to my mt3g it sounds cheap and the trebel is way to high. However im willing to bet that you coukd adjust the frequency ranges and it will sound fine. Reception is great for me though

My sister has complained of the speakerphone quality nonstop. She loves the phone, just hates that. Apparently its ridiculously quiet. Over Qik she had to use earbuds to be able to make out what I was saying. Apparently Pandora is really quiet too. At least mic is fine tho I could hear her loud and clear over my Evo. Despite the speakerphone quality, videocalling across the country from 2 different phones is awesome.

My speaker is loud but tinny.... but most HTC phones over the years have had ****ty speakers.... come to terms with it long ago... but they defiantly destroy every other phone manufacturer in every other aspect....
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

Reception is pretty good...no real complaints there, though in my area I get either H or EDGE, very rarely do I see 3G.
The speakerphone is touch and go...mostly go. I've had a couple of calls that were plenty loud (though tinny - treble sucks), and a few that were just barely audible. I think it also has to do with the other party's reception and phone. The quality definitely isn't great, but if it's loud enough then it's sufficient.
Regular call reception & clarity is just fine.
Beyond that, the MT4G is a [email protected] phone in all other regards...I wouldn't even consider the G2 in comparison unless you just HAVE to have a physical keyboard. There's no other phone in TMob's lineup that can hold a candle to the MT4G, or hardly any other phone in the market, period.
The speaker quality being sub-par is a small price to pay for everything else this thing can do.

My sentiments exactly...
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

One other thing I've noticed is the head set volume seems to be very low. I've tried apple ear buds and the ones that came with the phone- both are horribly low and lack any depth.
Maybe a set of nice headphones with a volume slider would help??
Anyways.. like others have said. The problems with this phone are minute compared to what it has to offer.

I think that the reception on this phone for data is the pits. I had the same issue with the G2, so it's not the phone, but the carrier. I have a AT&T Blackberry for work (data only) and it has signal in lots of places where the MT4G has nothing. I like the phone, but the reception stinks. Also the wireless reception is really bad. In my house it can't hold on to a signal very well (i.e. places my Macboook has full signal, the phone has maybe 1 bar or less) I guess there's a reason why T-Mobile isn't the #1 carrier. I work in midtown NYC, so it's not like I work in the boondocks, and I live about 30 miles north of NYC, so it's not like I live in the middle of nowhere. T-Mobile's coverage maps show full strength at both my work and home addresses. Coverage == FAIL.

dorqus said:
I think that the reception on this phone for data is the pits. I had the same issue with the G2, so it's not the phone, but the carrier. I have a AT&T Blackberry for work (data only) and it has signal in lots of places where the MT4G has nothing. I like the phone, but the reception stinks. Also the wireless reception is really bad. In my house it can't hold on to a signal very well (i.e. places my Macboook has full signal, the phone has maybe 1 bar or less) I guess there's a reason why T-Mobile isn't the #1 carrier. I work in midtown NYC, so it's not like I work in the boondocks, and I live about 30 miles north of NYC, so it's not like I live in the middle of nowhere. T-Mobile's coverage maps show full strength at both my work and home addresses. Coverage == FAIL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HTC = Mediocre reception. The G2? = HTC. myTouch 4G? = HTC.
Now if you want a phone with BETTER reception, you need to look into a MOTOROLA.

Evo 4G As Replacement?

Even though I love my Nexus, I am thinking of calling the Sprint people for a replacement. Here's why I think it is defective hardware:
- Poor 3G Connection Speed (50-150 Kbps)
- NO 4G connection in "In Building" region of Chicago (I'm outside)
- VERY poor voice calls, drops out about 1/2 of calls
- 1 bar of WiFi about 5ft from router.
Do I have a case/ any hope?

OH, I have also reset the phone 3x, "activated" 2x, and updated profile 4x. All to no avail.

Sounds like you have a bad device. Mine doesn't have any of these issues.

Although not all ns4g have these problems, it is common. I had 2 different ns4g's and they both had these problems; though it could be a mixture of hardware design and my local network. I would be really surprised if sprint would exchange phones based on that argument though.
Its a breath of fresh air coming to a GSM ns; minus the data cap of course!
Sent from my Nexus S

All the points except two are "normal" for me. This is true with other 4g phones I've had too. The wifi, I can look now 90° to my left, and through the clear of any obstructions sliding glass door I can see my router maybe 10 to 15 feet from me and I'm only getting 75% signal. Dropped calls I haven't experienced except for one place. On my way home, there was always one spot that the phone would drop when one tower is handing me over to the next one. It stopped doing that recently so I guess the problem was fixed on their end. If you're getting those speeds during the weekdays, that's not bad considering that's usually when the network is busy.

alanthemanofchicago said:
OH, I have also reset the phone 3x, "activated" 2x, and updated profile 4x. All to no avail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe try another radio, some have bad signal.

I have both. They are good at different things. I carried the Evo for 9 months and the nexus for about 2 months so far. Probably won't go back to the Evo anytime soon.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App

I am in the same boat except that I jsut bought my NS4G last weekend so I am still in grace period. I am working with a rep. from sprint to figure out why I get no 3G coverage in my house when I am in the second tier of excellent, good, fair, and poor coverage. I really love my NS4G and don't want to let it go.

The Evo definitely has better signal, more features, bigger screen, maybe better support/Development. I like my ns4g because it's fast and simple. Easy to root, beautiful screen. Plus personally I don't need or use most of the features on the Evo.
Hell, I would consider selling it if the price were right, but I will never sell this Nexus. Unless it is toward upgrading to the next Nexus.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App

Comparison of cell phones by antenna strength?

I've searched all over the place for an actual comparison of cell phones and the antenna strength they have. Not how much reception they have, or if they lose signal depending on how you hold them, but how strong their internal antenna is.
Example, the Motorola Milestone, from what I understand has two antennas. Blackberry Torch has two as well. At least that is what I've picked up from bits and pieces around the internet. Not sure if accurate.
But, I know for a fact that the Motorola Milestone will have superior coverage compared to my Galaxy S Fascinate. At least -10dbm, and 5asu better. Which equals almost 2 bars. The Blackberry Torch as well. 3 bars better consistently. So, in this day and age of buying unlocked phones, surely there has to be a comparison somewhere to show which phones have stronger antennas, which ones have the two antennas, etc, etc.
And I just can't find it anywhere. Anyone have ideas?

Bravo!
That's a good wake up call
it's true a lot of people are forgetting the phone main function should be "to be a phone"
yet now in days when people talk or compare a phone, is more into competing power, and how entertaining it's
from personal experience i can say as a PHONE, the Moto Milestone XT720 has absolutely the best reception, vs Nexus S, I9000 and SGS2 i9100, HTC devices, etc
on 2nd place i'll put SGS2 T989 as good reception
3rd place goes for all the others phones

Any other response to this, on the spot, question?
Cheers !
K.

AllGamer said:
Bravo!
That's a good wake up call
it's true a lot of people are forgetting the phone main function should be "to be a phone"
yet now in days when people talk or compare a phone, is more into competing power, and how entertaining it's
from personal experience i can say as a PHONE, the Moto Milestone XT720 has absolutely the best reception, vs Nexus S, I9000 and SGS2 i9100, HTC devices, etc
on 2nd place i'll put SGS2 T989 as good reception
3rd place goes for all the others phones
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Few months later, and I still say the Motorola Milestone has the best reception I've ever seen.
Still looking for an answer to the original question though. Seems like no one has done any research on it and put together some information.

Virtually the same....
Mobile customers planning to do a cell comparison of phone reception strength are pretty much wasting their time.
The majority of cell phones today are so well designed and competitive that they virtually all deliver the same level of service. Users may notice a difference between carriers due to cell site positioning compared to their homes or offices. The closer the cell site is, the better your phone reception is going to be regardless of which cell phone you utilize. Doing a cell comparison phone reception strength of carriers can be a good idea...

AllGamer said:
Bravo!
That's a good wake up call
it's true a lot of people are forgetting the phone main function should be "to be a phone"
yet now in days when people talk or compare a phone, is more into competing power, and how entertaining it's
from personal experience i can say as a PHONE, the Moto Milestone XT720 has absolutely the best reception, vs Nexus S, I9000 and SGS2 i9100, HTC devices, etc
on 2nd place i'll put SGS2 T989 as good reception
3rd place goes for all the others phones
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cause everyone just uses texts now-a-days rather than calling

cpumaster said:
Mobile customers planning to do a cell comparison of phone reception strength are pretty much wasting their time.
The majority of cell phones today are so well designed and competitive that they virtually all deliver the same level of service. Users may notice a difference between carriers due to cell site positioning compared to their homes or offices. The closer the cell site is, the better your phone reception is going to be regardless of which cell phone you utilize. Doing a cell comparison phone reception strength of carriers can be a good idea...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, MOST cell phones are more or less the same within a general 'bar' or two. But there are a few that stand out, like the Motorola Milestone and the Blackberry Torch. I was just wondering if there are others that have similar exceptional antenna strength and reception.

I'd like a list like this to, The Nexus S is terrible.

I've noticed that out of all the phones I have had, Nokia's have the best reception. I still like Symbian over Android, but eh
Sent from my GT-S5830 using xda premium

Nokia and Motorola seem to have the best signal strength based on my experience regardless of the "antenna strength " indicator.

+1 for Nokia phones on sym.

the best signal phone are those with antenna in exterior, and those are safer for healthy.

The original Motorola Droid and my current Droid Razr Maxx have the best signal out of all the phones I've ever had. And I'm talking measuring the signal strength with programs not just by bars, as I found them to be inaccurate.
My HTC phones would have to be held a certain way or the signal strength would drop.

Motorola is best for me .

In my experience most Motorola phones have great antenna/signal strength.

For me Nokia always had best signal but nowdays what to do with their usless phones.

If I remember right when the Galaxy Nexus came out people were showing horrible signal strength across the board. So Samsung issued a 'fix' that changed what was previously 2 bars or something to show as 4-5 bars.

To bump this old thread again.
Consistently getting 2 bars would be fine. Probably good enough to call, and for sure good enough to text.
My problem is I get 1 bar maybe inside my home with the Galaxy S, while the Motorola Milestone gets 4 bars.
Is the Galaxy S2 better in terms of reception than the original Galaxy S? I want to upgrade phones anyways. It is a bigger phone than the original Galaxy S, so perhaps it has better reception.

Azure1203 said:
To bump this old thread again.
Consistently getting 2 bars would be fine. Probably good enough to call, and for sure good enough to text.
My problem is I get 1 bar maybe inside my home with the Galaxy S, while the Motorola Milestone gets 4 bars.
Is the Galaxy S2 better in terms of reception than the original Galaxy S? I want to upgrade phones anyways. It is a bigger phone than the original Galaxy S, so perhaps it has better reception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try switching modems for galaxy S, I get 1-2 bars using JVU modem and 2-4 bars using JW4.

Mostly all Hi-End Motorola phones have the best antennas but if your a modder, stay away

M8 Terrible Signal vs DNA

I gotta vent. It's driving me nuts! My girl has my Droid DNA - and just like me when I had it, she gets at least 3 bars of LTE at home. I'm lucky to get ONE BAR of 1X on my M8!!! It's ridiculous! I can barely send text messages from home. They sit there for several minutes with the 'sending' icon. It's so choppy, people are even receiving double or triple text messages. How can one HTC phone have such incredible signal and a newer one have such terrible signal!?
When I get a chance, I'll take a look at the actual signal dB numbers. Regardless of the numbers, though, this phone's service sucks. Other than that, I absolutely love this phone.

aol8mydog said:
I gotta vent. It's driving me nuts! My girl has my Droid DNA - and just like me when I had it, she gets at least 3 bars of LTE at home. I'm lucky to get ONE BAR of 1X on my M8!!! It's ridiculous! I can barely send text messages from home. They sit there for several minutes with the 'sending' icon. It's so choppy, people are even receiving double or triple text messages. How can one HTC phone have such incredible signal and a newer one have such terrible signal!?
When I get a chance, I'll take a look at the actual signal dB numbers. Regardless of the numbers, though, this phone's service sucks. Other than that, I absolutely love this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's much better than my GNex, but that's not saying much (it had notoriously bad reception). I've only noticed going down to 3G once, which is great for me.

aol8mydog said:
I gotta vent. It's driving me nuts! My girl has my Droid DNA - and just like me when I had it, she gets at least 3 bars of LTE at home. I'm lucky to get ONE BAR of 1X on my M8!!! It's ridiculous! I can barely send text messages from home. They sit there for several minutes with the 'sending' icon. It's so choppy, people are even receiving double or triple text messages. How can one HTC phone have such incredible signal and a newer one have such terrible signal!?
When I get a chance, I'll take a look at the actual signal dB numbers. Regardless of the numbers, though, this phone's service sucks. Other than that, I absolutely love this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the signal on M8 is much worse than on the DNA (I have access to both), but only at certain angles of the M8.
M8 has a complete solid metal back, which is completely opaque to microwave and radio waves. When you turn the M8 correctly, it gets a better signal. Not by very much but better.

I get the same service I've always had. Full LTE and AWS. Something is wrong with either something that you may have flashed or your phone is defective. Send it back.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using xda app-developers app

You may want to exchange your device, my reception is on par or even better than the Note 3 that I just sold.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Coming from a sgs3... The reception is awesome.
Sent from my HTCM8

My service seems the same if not slightly better in some areas as my old razr HD and razr that my girlfriend has.

sfreemanoh said:
It's much better than my GNex, but that's not saying much (it had notoriously bad reception). I've only noticed going down to 3G once, which is great for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im with you man. I also came from a GNex, and it seems like a lot of other have too.
Its crazy how much better the reception has been with the M8. I had trouble getting any 3G or 4G in my new house with my GNex, even outside. With my m8, I get an average of 3 bars of 4G. And the difference is like that everywhere I go including work. I don't know how I lasted that long on the GNex. I guess I just got used to the crazy bad reception.
That being said, I have always heard that most Motorola phones have some of the best reception. And this was always the case with my older motorola flip phones (E815) also. But I stopped buying motorola phones after the original Droid X bootloader was locked down like Fort Knox, and they said all their newer phones were gonna be like that.
EDIT:
To the person that just sold the NOTE 3. That phone is just like the GNex was. Awful reception. My dad had the phone for two days and returned it. We looked up reviews and saw tons of people complaining about the reception. Which is funny because the Note 2 had a solid reception. My brother uses it and gets great service, as well as all the reviews. Samsung must have dropped the ball on the Note 3 antenna.

I agree with the OP. This handset has noticeably lower signal strength than my old HTC Rezound, and the one my wife currently uses as her personal phone. My M8 is only slightly better than the GNEX she has as a company-provided work phone. Disappointing, actually, as the M8 is a phenomenal device in most other regards.
To be honest though, I've not experienced a single dropped call, as of yet. But, I see data switching to 3G quite regularly. I'm still on the stock ROM, only S-OFF and rooted.

Just to add that coming from the DNA to the M8, I have been extremely happy with reception.
My DNA would consistently drop out at certain points in the city (minneapolis) but my M8 has been solid.
To be honest, I really don't pay a lot of attention to bars, so I couldn't say if I have the same, more or less bars with the M8, but I haven't had any issues with connectivity.

Freedom First said:
I agree with the OP. This handset has noticeably lower signal strength than my old HTC Rezound, and the one my wife currently uses as her personal phone. My M8 is only slightly better than the GNEX she has as a company-provided work phone. Disappointing, actually, as the M8 is a phenomenal device in most other regards.
To be honest though, I've not experienced a single dropped call, as of yet. But, I see data switching to 3G quite regularly. I'm still on the stock ROM, only S-OFF and rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your M8 is only slightly better than a gnex, you have a defective M8. G-nex has the worst reception of any phone I've ever owned, by FAR.

For me in New Jersey, where LTE practically covers the entire state, the M8 gets good reception but my DNA definitely got better reception.
At work in Newark..And I work in a glass building...DNA would be between 96-98 dBm and my M8 is between 102-105.
I'm assuming that's the aluminum casing. Don't get me wrong, reception is great but in marginal signal areas like at home in my basement, dna would hold LTE where M8 will drop to 3g and sometimes 1x

hxdrummerxc said:
Im with you man. I also came from a GNex, and it seems like a lot of other have too.
Its crazy how much better the reception has been with the M8. I had trouble getting any 3G or 4G in my new house with my GNex, even outside. With my m8, I get an average of 3 bars of 4G. And the difference is like that everywhere I go including work. I don't know how I lasted that long on the GNex. I guess I just got used to the crazy bad reception.
That being said, I have always heard that most Motorola phones have some of the best reception. And this was always the case with my older motorola flip phones (E815) also. But I stopped buying motorola phones after the original Droid X bootloader was locked down like Fort Knox, and they said all their newer phones were gonna be like that.
EDIT:
To the person that just sold the NOTE 3. That phone is just like the GNex was. Awful reception. My dad had the phone for two days and returned it. We looked up reviews and saw tons of people complaining about the reception. Which is funny because the Note 2 had a solid reception. My brother uses it and gets great service, as well as all the reviews. Samsung must have dropped the ball on the Note 3 antenna.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, my mom's GS3 had similarly crappy reception to my GNex, and Samsung's radios have never had the best reputation, but I heard they've gotten somewhat better. But I guess maybe they reverted back to their old ways with the Note 3...
Don't forget though, while the DX had a locked bootloader (I had a DX as well, it was actually my Android gateway device), it also had a great development community. So with some awesome dev's, even a locked bootloader doesn't mean the device won't be awesome.

Coming from multiple devices such as the Gnex, DNA, Note 3 and now the M8, I think there's more to it than just moving from one phone to another. Yes, HTC is known for better radios than Samsung and having the Note 3 before the M8 I personally witnessed the M8 produce better reception. But I think the issue also stems from the added LTE frequencies that have been added to newer handsets. For example my Note 3 before the AWS roll out performed very good, but once the roll out hit NYC and I started to check if I was connected to band 4 in my handset I began to notice my service between LTE, 3G and 1X fluctuate a lot. At work where I was constantly connected to LTE band 13 before and don't ever remember having 3G, the phone began to connect only to 3G.
Purchasing a new phone such as the M8 that has support for AWS but is weaker may be the result. The Droid DNA only supported Verizon LTE Band 13.

When I'm at work where my DNA had great LTE reception, my M8 seems to be OK - only slightly less signal. I think the problem is worse when the LTE signal is marginal like at my home. It seems that's when the difference is very noticeable. At home, I'd be lucky to get LTE on my older phones (Thunderbolt and Rezound) but the DNA was awesome. LTE all the time at home. I think I was spoiled.

You probably got a defective device, because mine gets signal everywhere I couldn't before.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

Signal
I went from a GNex to an X, and noticed a great signal reception different. I thought the X had great reception, and held with Motorola's reputation for good radios. My M8 has a lot better reception than the X did, far none. Spots where I would have ~1 to 2 bars of 3G, I now have at least 3 at all times. The 4G radio boundary seems to be a lot better than the X had as well. I would agree with what was previously stated, and say you have a defective unit.

Coming from a g2 I consistantly see -5 db better with this device in the same locations.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

The M8 appears to have similar signal reception to the S4. My son loves the M8, so no chance of an objective view there. The new device pixie dust is too strong
I find the following based on comparing:
DNA > i5s > M8/S4 Both the DNA and iPhone 4s have better reception than than the equal M8 & S4. Still not tested the S5 and will not unless they get a 32gb model. That would be my phone.
The worst phone recpetion device I ever owned was the Nokie N600. It was AWFUL and made the GNEX seem like a DNA on steroids. I grew to really "hate" Nokia after that device. Their Windows Phone love solidifies the "hate".

Something quite a few people here are not taking into account is that the M8 is utilizing Verizon's AWS band, whereas the Rezound/DNA are not. Your M8's signal bars are more than likely displaying AWS signal(assuming your area has AWS this will be the case). On a Rezound, your signal bars reflect your 1X signal...which will always be extremely high in most areas. On a DNA you will be seeing the normal LTE band.
If you're trying to compare to older devices like the Rezound, you need to launch a voice call on your M8 before even giving a second thought to the signal bars. To address the DNA...you won't really be able to compare the two devices since the DNA doesn't support the AWS band at all...unless you live in a non-AWS area.
If you do the appropriate comparisons, the M8's signal is great. I hope this helps clear up a lot of the misunderstanding going on in this thread. :good: