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External antenna/signal boost?

Hello! I'm looking for a way to boost my signal. I've noticed that when I have under 3 bars (and even if it bounces up to 3 and back down) my battery drains quicker than it can charge. At work as long as I have 3+ it will charge faster but if I'm at a different spot and its under 3 it drains. Also, it heats up (usually hangs out around 98.6 degrees but sometimes it'll go 105+). My main reason for wanting a boost at home is because I tether to play games when my sisters hog the house connection. So I'm looking for a cheap way to boost my signal. Small repeater sort of thing or something. To my understanding the little spots under the cover allow you to plug in external antennas, so where can I find everything for that? (And yes I saw that people can't get signal back after)
THANK YOU

Mechachu said:
Hello! I'm looking for a way to boost my signal. I've noticed that when I have under 3 bars (and even if it bounces up to 3 and back down) my battery drains quicker than it can charge. At work as long as I have 3+ it will charge faster but if I'm at a different spot and its under 3 it drains. Also, it heats up (usually hangs out around 98.6 degrees but sometimes it'll go 105+). My main reason for wanting a boost at home is because I tether to play games when my sisters hog the house connection. So I'm looking for a cheap way to boost my signal. Small repeater sort of thing or something. To my understanding the little spots under the cover allow you to plug in external antennas, so where can I find everything for that? (And yes I saw that people can't get signal back after)
THANK YOU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We used to live in an AT&T dead spot (yeah, yeah, who doesn't?) and ended up putting a powered wireless repeater in the house with an external antenna on the roof. I believe the manufacturer was Digital Antenna. They're not cheap, but the wired versions (if you can live with that) are a bit cheaper.

As long as you have high speed internet at home get an Airave. It puts up a tower in your house and processes everything over your home internet connection. 5 bucks a month i believe.
http://support.sprint.com/support/device/Sprint/AIRAVE_by_Sprint-dvc1230001prd/?id16=airave
Problem solved.

I thought about airwave but people ten to not pay the internet from time to time xD and does the signal crap out if people use the internet? Its only a 768 connection (country ftl) and people tend to netflix and cam -_-

Mechachu said:
I thought about airwave but people ten to not pay the internet from time to time xD and does the signal crap out if people use the internet? Its only a 768 connection (country ftl) and people tend to netflix and cam -_-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The airrave uses your internet connection for 3G data and voice calls. If your internet is slow to begin with and ppl are hammering it all day long the airrave won't work well for you. Also, it doesn't hand calls off to the real cell network, so if you're on the phone and you leave your house the call will drop. If you have good signal outside and bad signal inside, one of those repeaters is the way to go - but it ain't cheap.

Dang ok. What about something like the Wilson Magnet Mount Cellular Antenna at Radioshack? (Its on the site. Id link it but you need 8+ posts >.<)

I'd just limit your sisters ip address/mac address with a QOS policy, so that she can't hog all the bandwidth. (would be done at your router)
I've heard and seen on this board some nasty results from connecting external antennas to the connection point behind the battery cover. Do a search in the forums to see, I can't remember exactly off the top of my head.

Ya I only saw a couple people mention problems and it seemed to be things that they had only heard

Whatever you do DO NOT CONNECT an EXTERNAL ANTENNA to the CONNECTION POINT.
So far, everyone on this forum who has tried so with a Galaxy S has ended up with some permanent baseband (or whatever is responsible for the gsm/cdma part) corruption. What ended up happening was that the internal antenna would turn off. In some cases it meant that they could only call with the external antenna plugged in, and in other cases is meant that neither the external or internal antenna would work. (note: This has happened only on captivate and vibrant so far, so I am not sure what will happen on CDMA but.... Better safe than sorry right!?).
oh and sorry for the large font.... It catches your eye... ~_~

krackers said:
Whatever you do DO NOT CONNECT an EXTERNAL ANTENNAto the CONNECTION POINT.
So far, everyone on this forum who has tried so with a Galaxy S has ended up with some permanent baseband (or whatever is responsible for the gsm/cdma part) corruption. What ended up happening was that the internal antenna would turn off. In some cases it meant that they could only call with the external antenna plugged in, and in other cases is meant that neither the external or internal antenna would work. (note: This has happened only on captivate and vibrant so far, so I am not sure what will happen on CDMA but.... Better safe than sorry right!?).
oh and sorry for the large font.... It catches your eye... ~_~
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol I did that when i got my first smart phone, the htc touch. Thankfully back in those days sprint would fix any problem or give you a new phone no questions asked for 55 dollars. ( I used to find inventive ways to break my phone. Like the mentioned external antenna, or a homemade battery back)

I'm interested in a solution to this as well, preferably something that doesnt have a monthly fee attached.
In my basement, I get about 1-2 bars of service, and sometimes nothing at all. Is very frustrating to receive texts up to an hour late.

talk about ad placement
This came up right under the latest post in this thread:
Tri Band Yagi 700Mhz - 2500Mhz 9dBi
Our highest gain directional tri/multi antenna - for 700-2500mhz networks (including Verizon LTE, Sprint/Verizon/AT&T/Alltel 3G, and more).
LINK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Thank jebus for adfree android and adblockplus for firefox...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

[Q] Great signal but terrible performance

I work in a midtown Manhattan hi-rise near Rockefeller Center and get full signal bars on any phone in and around the office.
The problem is I get terrible performance. Voice calls are garbled and drop, and sometimes callers go straight to voice mail. E-mail, data and web work sporadically and load slowly if at all. The phone will actually get hot just sitting on the desk as if its CPU or transmitter is locked at 100%, and the battery drains quickly.
It's the same whether it's an iPhone, Android or Symbian smart phone or just simple dumb phone, and other people in my office have the same issues. I even notice the same kinds of things happening out on the street up to maybe a block away, but it seems to be at its worst when I'm in the building. But two blocks away, walking through Times Square or other busy places, everything is OK.
Any idea what could be going on and if there's any way to get around it? This is on AT&T.

Change baseband?

I think it's the fault of AT & T

AT&T is a terrible company

+1 on the AT&T being crap

I tried changing baseband but it didn't help, plus like I said it happens on all different kinds of phones. I've also tried manually switching from 850MHz over to 1900MHz band but that didn't help.
Updating my kernel might have actually helped a bit. It's hard to tell though, because the problem comes and goes.
I'm wondering if the signals are too strong and overloading the phone. Or maybe I'm exactly halfway between two strong towers in this building and they're interfering with each other, is that plausible? This is in the heart of NYC after all, AT&T must have a lot of towers in a very concentrated area around here.
Samsung Captivate i897
Serendipity 6.4
Baseband I9000UGKC1
Speedmod Kernel i897-13E-500MHz

I had a similar problem in my area once, it was rectified by the Network Provider.
Its due the GSM inter cell inheritence. Are you located very near to a Mobile Antenna tower.
It would be worth checking your own office building terrace for same

watt9493 said:
+1 on the AT&T being crap
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've had nothing but trouble with them in the past

Teampokerface
Heres how you fix the issue. I had a friend with the same issue. 1. open the window of your skyrise 2. take phone are throw it out the window 3. take elevator down to lower level. 4. Find nearest Verizon or Tmobile or sprint store and port your number. 5. take new phone from new network to your skyrise. 6. Congrats your problem has been solved. ANYONE WHO HAS AT&T NEEDS TO GIVE THEM THE FINGER AND MOVE TO ANOTHER CARRIER.

Thanks but if I wanted to hear people say AT&T sucks I would have posted this to Yahoo or something. I get a much better rate with AT&T through my company's FAN account, and I'd rather not pay double to another carrier if this is a technical issue that can be addressed.
For now I can use wifi around the office and put up with the spotty voice coverage, but I was hoping I might find some helpful technical advice here since this is supposed to be a developers forum with presumably mature users.
rathore4u - I'll see if I can find someone at my provider's tech support who understands the GSM inter cell inheritence issue you suggested. Thanks.

[Q] Infuse for 1 week, my problems so far

Picked up my Infuse up at BestBuy on May 15th, the release date. After 1 week, I've had these problems:
Main problem is that GPS sucks. I had specifically tried to get a smart phone to ditch my GPS navigator. This phone isn't it. Long times to fix, sometimes *never* producing a fix. If there is no network (away from civilization, no wifi or cell), there's often no fix, ever. This problem alone is probably enough for me to take it back. Does anyone know what the GPS implementation is in the Infuse? If it is a Broadcom chipset, that would explain it!
Wifi signal strength seems weak. In places where my laptop gets full bars, it gets half that. In places where my laptop gets two bars, it sometimes can't connect or it intermittently drops. This is very annoying.
Cell signal strength seems a bit weak, too. My old phone gets consistently one or two bars more. Cell data seemed not as strong, too.
I tried the HDMI adapter. It showed video fine, but failed to send audio to my TV. I know the TV is capable of HDMI audio from other sources. Oh well.
While driving with the device on sunny day, the screen was dim and hard to read. Found out the display brightness was low in auto mode. So I put it on manual, but it refused to allow full brightness, saying "Display brightness limited due to temperature" or something to that effect. So, you can't have full brightness in sunlight when you need it most? I suspect anybody who tries to use the car dash mount is going to run into thermal limiting problems, making that use impractical. Maybe if you get a white skin to keep the solar gain down. The thermal design isn't apparently good enough to get the heat out.
Otherwise, the phone seems pretty good, but my issues are high enough to have me contemplating a return.
I'll note that the Galaxy S II is reported to have a new GPS chipset, SirfStarIV, which sounds like a significant upgrade to the GPS system. But, not yet released in the US. Sigh.
How does one determine the GPS chipset in a phone?
Thanks for any help.

I've had a few issues with the phone also but you don't really expect your cell phone to get the same wifi signal as a full blown laptop do you?

Wow, seems as the Infuse does not meet your expectations. Question, If not the Infuse then what would be your next line up of devices?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

These are also my big issues, its definently the best ATT handset minus the antenna, I keep missing calls if its in my pocket and the wifi is really buggy.

DarkH2O said:
I've had a few issues with the phone also but you don't really expect your cell phone to get the same wifi signal as a full blown laptop do you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I make no apologies for having high expectations.
The wifi circuitry inside a phone should be as good as any that is inside a laptop. That leaves only the antenna as the prime issue for wifi performance. I can understand losing 3 dB, maybe 6 dB over a well designed laptop, but not 20 dB. That's severe incompetence in antenna design.
I've seen other smart phones do significantly better than the Infuse with regards to wifi.

pixelkore said:
Wow, seems as the Infuse does not meet your expectations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In those areas it isn't. I am particularly sensitive to GPS performance for my needs.
Question, If not the Infuse then what would be your next line up of devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Atrix is noted to have good GPS performance. I've been advised that Motorola is less friendly to things like rooting and ROMs than Samsung, though.
The HTC Inspire seems to have similar weak GPS problems.
The Samsung Galaxy II S (Attain on ATT?) is said to have a new GPS engine so that is what I hold out hope for. I may just return the Infuse and wait for that to come out and hope the GPS is improved.

I have had similar issues as well. Having a normal temp around 105° is high for any phone. It causes my screen to flicker constantly during game play. I expected something like an oversized captivate, which I got. I will switch to the gs 2 when it is released.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

mciholas said:
I make no apologies for having high expectations.
The wifi circuitry inside a phone should be as good as any that is inside a laptop. That leaves only the antenna as the prime issue for wifi performance. I can understand losing 3 dB, maybe 6 dB over a well designed laptop, but not 20 dB. That's severe incompetence in antenna design.
I've seen other smart phones do significantly better than the Infuse with regards to wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get great speeds with my router. It's set to only n and I pay for 30 /5 and get that on land line and with phone I get 16-20 down and 4-5 on up...
sent from Infuse but miss my captivate on cont. 5.5.... One day this can be as good...

chvybeatsford said:
I get great speeds with my router.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speed is not the issue, I get great speeds when close to my access point. The issue is lack of range and an unstable link.
I have to be in the same room as the access point, or maybe one room next to it, to get a reliable wifi connection on the Infuse. Other wifi devices work fine throughout the house.
My GPS units will get a lock in any room of the house. The Infuse GPS will not get a lock in any room of the house and takes a long time even outdoors.

I also get good range. May be my house but I can get great speeds in the garage. And the router is 3 walls and about 35ft. Also get good rec. Out side across my yard. (60ft.).
Not the best signal but 2bars.about 6mb.This is. Brand New house with the router about in center of floor plan.
sent from Infuse but miss my captivate on cont. 5.5.... One day this can be as good...

my captivate got better reception and didnt get as hot with heavy wifi usage. but you cant have everything.

i wouldn't get it because of the bad gps. i guess samsung forgot to put a gps antenna in it like they did with the rest of the galaxy s phones.

I love my infuse, my only issue is that 2 or 3 times so far, the phone starts playing music from my library without a music player opened. I've checked all my notifications and they are all set to what I want. Only thing i can think of, it's playing music to let me know my battery is full. My captivate used to beep, if its not the battery then i have no clue. no alarms are set, calenders have alerts turned off, sms is set to what I want, I don't know lol

Rldowney said:
I have had similar issues as well. Having a normal temp around 105° is high for any phone. It causes my screen to flicker constantly during game play. I expected something like an oversized captivate, which I got. I will switch to the gs 2 when it is released.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you going to upgrade? Just off contract purchase?

I don't have any issues with my GPS. I have been using the phone and testing it our for almost 2 weeks now and have not had any issues with it using Google Maps or Google Navigator. I would put it on par with my Atrix where the GPS is phenomenal on it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA Premium App

Wifi issues
mciholas said:
I make no apologies for having high expectations.
The wifi circuitry inside a phone should be as good as any that is inside a laptop. That leaves only the antenna as the prime issue for wifi performance. I can understand losing 3 dB, maybe 6 dB over a well designed laptop, but not 20 dB. That's severe incompetence in antenna design.
I've seen other smart phones do significantly better than the Infuse with regards to wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had to return my Infuse due to the poor wifi reception. I had it side by side with my old iPhone 3G a couple rooms away from the router. The Infuse dropped wifi completely and I lost internet connectivity while the iPhone was happily chugging along.
It's a gorgeous phone and I was sorry to send it back, but not being able to keep wifi connectivity when compared with a 3 year old iPhone was a dealbreaker.

gPS
I rooted My infuse and installed faster fix and north america and my gps works perfect now it lock way faster then my htc inspire does i have noticed the phone gets warmer than others but i have only had it about four hours now so we will see

My gps using maps and navigation work perfectly, the only time i've noticed it getting hot is when I have it on the car dock, but, the thing is black and my car is old so everything is hot in it... i'm grandfathered into unlimited so I can't speak on the wifi cause I dont use it
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

jdonnell said:
I had to return my Infuse due to the poor wifi reception. I had it side by side with my old iPhone 3G a couple rooms away from the router. The Infuse dropped wifi completely and I lost internet connectivity while the iPhone was happily chugging along.
It's a gorgeous phone and I was sorry to send it back, but not being able to keep wifi connectivity when compared with a 3 year old iPhone was a dealbreaker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I'm gonna follow suit , this phone is an attrocity in every single way
1 - Touch the phone frame with two fingers , wifi and phone signals drop by 3/4ths which is RIDICULOUS ... there is no 4g and the hspa+ system should go and suck an Elephant's left NUT
2- Gps lockon takes more than 10 minutes ... again I'm screwed if I'm in a rush + no TomTom
3 - No gingerbread ?? . . . F^K you samsung seriously ... Ice cream is up next within the next 2 months and not even one dev on the internet was able to come up with custom firmware (No offense to any devs , I know you guys are awesome and work your @$$es off... so props to you for devotion and work always but patience is not my virtue)
4 - Single core is kinda painful to bear when you know quad core & 3d phones are being released very soon
5 - No apps that can use the front face camera (AS FAR AS I KNOW) so again why bother even giving this to us ?, Samsung you guys might as well have given us a dual core with one of the cores shut off.
6 - THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT ... call quality / microphone is ATROCIOUS ... In my quiet bedroom at night with no audio disturbances my gf is telling me every 5 seconds that she can't hear me and that pisses me off so badly. I've tried with at least 10 other people all giving me same bs. So I have to yell at my phone like a walky talky .... so sad
If you bought this phone from costco you can do 2 things guys.
Either return the phone and stick with w/e u had b4 until the good stuff comes out or wait 90 days and pray something decent comes out by mid august.
I'm returning mine and returning to my Iphone 3g ( as old as it may be and dinged up it still is dam reliable )

sonkameja said:
3 - No gingerbread ?? . . . F^K you samsung seriously ... Ice cream is up next within the next 2 months and not even one dev on the internet was able to come up with custom firmware (No offense to any devs , I know you guys are awesome and work your @$$es off... so props to you for devotion and work always but patience is not
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay. I hate getting worked up by people....but seriously? The phone has now been out for FOURTEEN DAYS!! Dont use "lack of dev work" as an excuse to take your phone back. I understand your frustrations, but just take it back and stop feeding this thread.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

I just returned my sensation. Or my usability study of the sensation.

I just tried to make the switch from at&t to t-mobile. I had my sensation for about a week, and just returned it this morning.
Reasons I loved the sensation.
Decent battery life *(not as great as everyone made me expect.
Awesome Camera, especially outside- I really could see myself using this phone as a replacement for a cheap point and shoot.
The hardware was pretty much all around fantastic. Great feel in hand. A ton thinner than the evo 3d, especially around the edges. This phone has such a nice shape that it almost gets lost in my pocket. I actually found myself grabbing my pocket to make sure it hadn't fallen out.
The wifi-calling was a great value add.
The screen was fantastic. My next phone will have to have a qhd or better display (no sgsII for me). Say what you want about contrast ratios, but I rarely use my phone outside. Having the extra pixels however was absolutely awesome for browsing the web. The extra pixels also made living without a hardware keyboard a little bit easier to bare *(when in portrait mode).
The unlock page that came with sense 3.0. Other than that sense just seemed to get in my way.
FM radio. I'm the guy who wants to watch and listen to the tv-s at the gym.
Why I just couldn't risk spending 2 years with it.
I had no reception at my house or work on t-mo. This is really the biggest reason why I had to return my phone.
Because of the above the cell radio was draining the battery attempting to connect to the networks. I really don't want to spend two years having to remember to turn off the cell radio every time I get home.
T-mobile support was an exercise in frustration to deal with.
Will I still even get 3g/4g service in 2 years? This is debatable. AT&T will have to repurpose some of T-mo's spectrum from somewhere.
The built-in picasa upload is broken *(I use this all the time).
No way to jump to the galery app when in camera mode. This seems like a really obvious omission.
The speakephone volume over wifi calling really shouldn't be considered a speakerphone at all. I couldn't test speakerphone over t-mo because I never had reception when I wanted to make a call.
There was no setting to auto disable the cell radio when connected over wi-fi and wi-fi calling was enabled. I admit this is a nit-pick, but it really would have been nice.
I counted at least 3 backup apps all of which were trying to send my contacts to different parts of the world. Why do I need to backup any of my contacts? For me everything is in google, that's why I want an android phone. The killer part about this is that these apps will suck your battery dry.
Currently no way to remove all the crap-ware that t-mo stuffs it's phones with. There is a lot of it. I bet that is why there is so much discussion about the a performance problem between the sensation and the evo 3d screen rotate speed.
No NFC. Not really a deal-breaker, but it is disappointing.
So give me a non-bloatwared, boot-loader unlocked sensation, add NFC, put it on a carrier that gives me reception, and I'll have my next phone. As for now I'll have to live with my rooted/ cyanogen-modded G1 on AT&T.
--troll away!--

npoc said:
Why I just could risk spending 2 years with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you accidentally a conjunction in there

xnifex said:
I think you accidentally a conjunction in there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lulz irony abounds, he missed a conjunction and you omitted a word from your sentence, pointing out his omitted conjunction @[email protected]
npoc said:
I just tried to make the switch from at&t to t-mobile. I had my sensation for about a week, and just returned it this morning.
Reasons I loved the sensation.
Decent battery life *(not as great as everyone made me expect.
Awesome Camera, especially outside- I really could see myself using this phone as a replacement for a cheap point and shoot.
The hardware was pretty much all around fantastic. Great feel in hand. A ton thinner than the evo 3d, especially around the edges. This phone has such a nice shape that it almost gets lost in my pocket. I actually found myself grabbing my pocket to make sure it hadn't fallen out.
The wifi-calling was a great value add.
The screen was fantastic. My next phone will have to have a qhd or better display (no sgsII for me). Say what you want about contrast ratios, but I rarely use my phone outside. Having the extra pixels however was absolutely awesome for browsing the web. The extra pixels also made living without a hardware keyboard a little bit easier to bare *(when in portrait mode).
The unlock page that came with sense 3.0. Other than that sense just seemed to get in my way.
FM radio. I'm the guy who wants to watch and listen to the tv-s at the gym.
Why I just could risk spending 2 years with it.
I had no reception at my house or work on t-mo. This is really the biggest reason why I had to return my phone.
Because of the above the cell radio was draining the battery attempting to connect to the networks. I really don't want to spend two years having to remember to turn off the cell radio every time I get home.
T-mobile support was an exercise in frustration to deal with.
Will I still even get 3g/4g service in 2 years? This is debatable. AT&T will have to repurpose some of T-mo's spectrum from somewhere.
The built-in picasa upload is broken *(I use this all the time).
No way to jump to the galery app when in camera mode. This seems like a really obvious omission.
The speakephone volume over wifi calling really shouldn't be considered a speakerphone at all. I couldn't test speakerphone over t-mo because I never had reception when I wanted to make a call.
There was no setting to auto disable the cell radio when connected over wi-fi and wi-fi calling was enabled. I admit this is a nit-pick, but it really would have been nice.
I counted at least 3 backup apps all of which were trying to send my contacts to different parts of the world. Why do I need to backup any of my contacts? For me everything is in google, that's why I want an android phone. The killer part about this is that these apps will suck your battery dry.
Currently no way to remove all the crap-ware that t-mo stuffs it's phones with. There is a lot of it. I bet that is why there is so much discussion about the a performance problem between the sensation and the evo 3d screen rotate speed.
No NFC. Not really a deal-breaker, but it is disappointing.
So give me a non-bloatwared, boot-loader unlocked sensation, add NFC, put it on a carrier that gives me reception, and I'll have my next phone. As for now I'll have to live with my rooted/ cyanogen-modded G1 on AT&T.
--troll away!--
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Also to the OP: A bunch of these problems are fixable with root, also there is a way to go to the gallery from the stock camera app... and even if there wasn't why wouldn't you just DL a camera app from market that would allow you to do what you wanted?
- Turn off the other contacts backup services... I did
- Why wouldn't you have 4g in 2 years? 4G will actually be much faster in two years and will be approaching "actual" 4G speeds.
- You couldnt do a one click disable of the cell radio while on wifi and wifi calling was enabled because that happens automatically.
- Speakerphone was too low on wifi calling? Wow, that's probably fixable as well.
- And if you have a smart phone YOU will need to learn how to manage its battery life. The Sensation actually does have preeettty good battery life for a smartphone.
Cheers, good luck on ATT we'll all probably be there next year anyway.

Thats def not a good experience; as you say it sounds mostly coverage related which is the case for most carriers. Tmo has always been good to me where ive lived (4g here where i work and around my home).
Every phone/network won't work for everyone. Although the NFC is something that initially gave me pause, but I really don't see that being something i won't be able to live without in just 2 years; it's barely rolled out; not to mention text transactions and CC soda machines are also on the rise.
I am personally a little annoyed with how sense handles (or doesn't) the picasa gallery (Why can't i make a slide show with my picasa stuff).
Enjoy your G1 even with cyanogen; not sure I could go back THAT far even if I had crappy service
I am missing my MIUI though, still running my N1 with MIUI latest and it's been getting amazingly robust the past few updates (5 way unlock specifically).

I believe the Cell Radios turn off when you activate WiFi calling. And I have a way to get to the gallery from my camera app...
A G1 though?! I'd rather take all the cons you listed than go all the way back to that poor thing, on EDGE no less. G1 was awesome back in the day, but now you're just torturing the poor thing.

npoc said:
So give me a non-bloatwared, boot-loader unlocked sensation, add NFC, put it on a carrier that gives me reception, and I'll have my next phone. As for now I'll have to live with my rooted/ cyanogen-modded G1 on AT&T.
--troll away!--
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you buy an unlocked manufacturer phone from overseas your stuck with carrier bloatware and hardware/software changes. That or one of the Nexus series. And your only choice for NFC right now is Nexus. So I think we've found your next phone.

B3astofthe3ast said:
I believe the Cell Radios turn off when you activate WiFi calling. And I have a way to get to the gallery from my camera app...
A G1 though?! I'd rather take all the cons you listed than go all the way back to that poor thing, on EDGE no less. G1 was awesome back in the day, but now you're just torturing the poor thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure i had to manually disable the cell radios if I wanted them off when on wi-fi. It did however route my calls over wi-fi automatically. It did not automatically turn off my cell radio when wi-fi calling was enabled. When I was at work or at home, the power graph was pretty ugly with the cell radios on.

BonesRed said:
Lulz irony abounds, he missed a conjunction and you omitted a word from your sentence, pointing out his omitted conjunction @[email protected]
- Also to the OP: A bunch of these problems are fixable with root, also there is a way to go to the gallery from the stock camera app... and even if there wasn't why wouldn't you just DL a camera app from market that would allow you to do what you wanted?
- Turn off the other contacts backup services... I did
- Why wouldn't you have 4g in 2 years? 4G will actually be much faster in two years and will be approaching "actual" 4G speeds.
- You couldnt do a one click disable of the cell radio while on wifi and wifi calling was enabled because that happens automatically.
- Speakerphone was too low on wifi calling? Wow, that's probably fixable as well.
- And if you have a smart phone YOU will need to learn how to manage its battery life. The Sensation actually does have preeettty good battery life for a smartphone.
Cheers, good luck on ATT we'll all probably be there next year anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said the big reason I had to return it was poor reception.
Being a t-mo customer you are not guaranteed anything over the next 2 years. AT&T is trying to acquire t-mo to repurpose some of t-mo's spectrum. What part of their owned spectrum is anyone's guess
I agree that all the firmware issues are fixable, but they are still annoyances that I shouldn't have to deal with. I don't know how long it will take for HTC to unlock the sensation's bootloader or for someone to get root on the phone, but I had 14 days to make a decision on whether I wanted to be stuck with a 2 year contract. The speakerphone is a firmware deal-breaker for me atm, as I do have to use my phone for conference calls.
As for me my current plan is to find a recent boot-loader unlocked AT&T *cough* 4g compatible phone on craigslist, and then sign a contract on ATT or VZ when the right phone comes up.

in settings, there is an option to what you want it to do...cell preferred, wi-fi preferred, or wifi only

woldy2 said:
in settings, there is an option to what you want it to do...cell preferred, wi-fi preferred, or wifi only
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You completely missed the point. Wi-fi was preferred, but it leaves the cell radio on which drains battery. Better luck next time.

npoc said:
I'm pretty sure i had to manually disable the cell radios if I wanted them off when on wi-fi. It did however route my calls over wi-fi automatically. It did not automatically turn off my cell radio when wi-fi calling was enabled. When I was at work or at home, the power graph was pretty ugly with the cell radios on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get pretty good service even though I live in a basement (I was barely getting any bars on Sprint and Verizon before that). However, I still use WiFi calling to maximize my battery life (and it's working), and I use a Tasker profile to automate turning on wifi, turning off cell radio when it detect the cell towers by my house and my wifi ssid.

relic419 said:
I get pretty good service even though I live in a basement (I was barely getting any bars on Sprint and Verizon before that). However, I still use WiFi calling to maximize my battery life (and it's working), and I use a Tasker profile to automate turning on wifi, turning off cell radio when it detect the cell towers by my house and my wifi ssid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good suggestion, I will have to use that if I ever go back to T-Mo. Still, T-Mo should have made that a setting in their app.

I am about to return mine after 4 days of use. I love the phone and will be exchanging it for a new one.
Mine has started randomly making calls while sitting on my desk charging, The unlock ring started bouncing around the screen when I unlocked it and I had to turn off phone to get it to stop, it can charge all night long and still only show 75%, and I am dropping calls. Not what I want from a $600 device. I hope my second one is up to par. I have never had to exchange a phone with Tmobile before for these reasons.

A few notes.
If you used WiFi calling you wouldn't have to (nor CAN you) turn off the radio. It doesn't drain the battery in WiFi calling mode, you know nothing about how it works.
I upload to Picasa no problem.
Speakerphone volume is always low, the speakerphone sucks.
AT&T support and/or customer service is horrible. If you are speaking with a regular T-Mobile rep (one that does NOT introduce themselves as Android or PDA support) for phone issues you are speaking to the WRONG representative.

I couldn't ever see my self going back to a G1, may as well get out the bag phone again

I'm coming from Sprint and switched to T-Mobile primarily because of WiFi-Calling, and secondly because of the HTC Sensation. Not a single carrier has signal inside my apartment unit. Sprint gave me an Airave which works well for about a year, but recently started giving me problem where I cannot hear the caller, but the caller can hear me most of the time. With T-Mobile's WiFi-Calling, it works all the time. The sound quality may not be the greatest, but acceptable enough that I can have a conversation using it over an hour. On a full charge, 0 bar signal, using WiFi-Calling for almost half an hour, I did not see a drop on my battery charge, not even 1%, last time I checked.
I'm sad to leave Sprint, but T-Mo's WiFi-Calling is unbeatable, specially when travelling overseas.

Wifi Signal Strength

Why is it that the wifi signal strength is better on my laptop than on my phone?
I have noticed this for nearly every device I have owned. The laptop will always seem to catch a better signal than the phone, even though they are both in the same position, same network, etc.
Is there anything I can do to boost the signal range of my phone?
(no I'm not sticking an antenna on it)

Interesting - I notice the complete reverse. My doubleshot has stronger signal to my wifi router and for a longer distance (of about 5 feet in my driveway) then my laptop.
Sent from a digital distance.

Blue6IX said:
Interesting - I notice the complete reverse. My doubleshot has stronger signal to my wifi router and for a longer distance (of about 5 feet in my driveway) then my laptop.
Sent from a digital distance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of all the different phones I have owned, NONE have been able to catch wifi signals as good as my laptop
As I speak right now, I am connected to the same network with both devices. Laptop shows a good signal, while the phone is showing a poor signal, and even disconnects at times.

Interesting. I guess logic might wanna tell me that a laptop would have a larger/more powerful radio chip, or whatever it is that receives the signal... and that has basically been my experience, my laptop can stray further away from the router. But perhaps it depends on your hardware?

gtmaster303 said:
Out of all the different phones I have owned, NONE have been able to catch wifi signals as good as my laptop
As I speak right now, I am connected to the same network with both devices. Laptop shows a good signal, while the phone is showing a poor signal, and even disconnects at times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this has been the case from my G1 all the way til the DS.
yogi2010 said:
Interesting. I guess logic might wanna tell me that a laptop would have a larger/more powerful radio chip, or whatever it is that receives the signal...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to think the same. That has been my thinking since I started brainstorming ideas about this. It would be interesting to see a answer with facts tho. :thumbup:
Typed by ---- oh wait! I'm schizophrenic!

Well, my laptop is about 2 years old and beat up, compiling kernels is killing it.
I wouldn't be surprised if the wifi chip suffered some damage from how many times its overheat and shut off.
Sent from a digital distance.

I have this same problem, out of all my devices my Doubleshot is the worst at picking up a wifi signal. This includes two other low end Android phones, the Droid Eris, and the Huawei Ascend. On my Ascend I can pick up my neighbors wifi almost anywhere in my apartment, even better than my laptop, but on the Doubleshot I can not pick up the signal at all unless I am outside right next to my neighbors house. I wish there was a fix for this issue. Even at school where the wifi is very strong, I can only pick up a weak signal that disconnects from time to time on my Doubleshot, but my Ascend never had that problem, it always received the signal strong and clear.

Blue6IX said:
Well, my laptop is about 2 years old and beat up, compiling kernels is killing it.
I wouldn't be surprised if the wifi chip suffered some damage from how many times its overheat and shut off.
Sent from a digital distance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My laptop is nearly 4 years old. Runs a Centrino chipset. Maybe that explains the better signal it catches. Either way, I've never seen a phone outperform a laptop in signal strength

gtmaster303 said:
... Either way, I've never seen a phone outperform a laptop in signal strength
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol - you should come by my house. Sometimes (I posted it in a thread a few months ago around here somewhere) I use the doubleshot as a wifi bridge to my router to make up for the inadequacies of my laptop wifi abilities, or for my desktop that has no other means of internet connectivity.
It seems I represent a minority (of one!) in this... i dunno. I've been excited about how well it works out, and am quite surprised (astonished even!) to find everyone else singing a different tune.

Blue6IX said:
lol - you should come by my house. Sometimes (I posted it in a thread a few months ago around here somewhere) I use the doubleshot as a wifi bridge to my router to make up for the inadequacies of my laptop wifi abilities, or for my desktop that has no other means of internet connectivity.
It seems I represent a minority (of one!) in this... i dunno. I've been excited about how well it works out, and am quite surprised (astonished even!) to find everyone else singing a different tune.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, seems like you're the only one. By the way, if your laptop is overheating from compiling, you're doing something wrong. No laptop should overheat, even under full load, unless you have blocked vents, or you're overclocked.

Lol, unless it's choked with dust, has no compound between the processor and heatsink, the fan doesn't work and it relies on an external cooling pad for all of it's cooling air circulation.
Half the usb ports are burnt out and no longer function and the speakers stopped working a year ago. Since the audio out jack has stopped functioning.
I'm pretty impressed with the fact that it even still turns on, let alone being able to actually do anything with it, but, I'm hoping to get a full blown linux install on the doubleshot and thereby circumvent ever having to purchase a real computer again.
I'd grab another laptop, but, i'd rather invest my limited tech funds into android hardware and write off real computers entirely, and given the capabilities of the doubleshot and future android devices on out this is no pipe dream - the only thing between me and realizing that goal is the knowledge to make it happen, a gap that shrinks daily.
Sent from a digital distance.