I was messing around with my captivate and i was noticing it wasnt getting same amount of service that my old iphone 3g did. When i was in an area where service was quite sketchy , i would put it down and get two or three bars. When I picked it up in my hands it would drop for one bar or no service.
So the question is do we have to buy cases for these phones since service drops so much by having direct contact with the phone ?
no, cases are not necessary for reception.
If you are completely losing signal when its in your hands, you need to go to att and get a new sim card. If that doesnt work, have them replace your phone.
Note: if you are holding the phone by the bottom and losing bars but your signal is not dropping, this is perfectly normal. All phones do this to an extent since the antenna is located at the bottom. If you completely lose signal or drop calls because of it, you have a serious problem.
what i have noticed thats not just 3g reception its wifi too which is weird, i pick it up in my hand i lose a bar of wifi when i am in the same room as the cablemodem/router that doesnt seem right.
Usually when i pick up the phone it drops the three bars i hold it in my left hand usually. Another issue is i bought this phone thru amazon since it was 30 bucks cheaper for upgrade price, will att still allow for trade in or do i have to send back to amazon ?
I too have noticed this with my phone. Never really noticed until this iPhone 4 shiz came out. Guessing its par for the course.
areas where i used to get full bars i am not getting full anymore when i pick up the phone, it also happens with wifi which is really problematic.
Sitting in same room as router and cable modem and dropping below full wifi connection, and if i walk out of the room drops to one bar of wifi guess i will have to call att tomorrow and return my phone
Kind of off topic how thorougly do they check thier phones am i going to have to find an rom that has all the att bloatware stuff on it ?
This is a sad day really liked this phone , but appears i am going to have to return it , since this issue is a known issue so getting a new phone wont make these problems go away.
I was reading on another forum site that a lot of people having this same issue oh well i guess
wifi doesnt drop for me... thats really strange. in any case if you are only losing about 2 bars its normal and will happen with most phones. If you lose signal completly then its abnormal and ur phone/hardware is faulty.
yeah was reading about antennae issue on back part of phone where the battery cover is you cant touch it apparently. well i am going from 2 or 3 bars to zero bars pretty much.
An good example would be when i went into apple store which has 3g microcell tower in the store to hide the antennae problem with iphone 4 , i dont get full service and the iphones get full no matter how hard you grip them.
Going to give both samsung and att a call tomorrow morning to see what i can do i really dont think its fair to have to eat the upgrade and restock fee when phone cant perform normal functions
mongstradamus said:
yeah was reading about antennae issue on back part of phone where the battery cover is you cant touch it apparently. well i am going from 2 or 3 bars to zero bars pretty much.
An good example would be when i went into apple store which has 3g microcell tower in the store to hide the antennae problem with iphone 4 , i dont get full service and the iphones get full no matter how hard you grip them.
Going to give both samsung and att a call tomorrow morning to see what i can do i really dont think its fair to have to eat the upgrade and restock fee when phone cant perform normal functions
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If you got the phone from amazon and are returning it, then it is free to return with no restocking fee. At least thats what they told me. All you gotta do is call the number for returns so u can get a return shipping label from them. Did you ask if you could exchange for another captivate at a local At&t Warranty Center?
I will be calling att and samsung tomorrow when i wake up to see what they have to say. As far as returning it to att, if its a known issue then an replacement phone will have the same possible issues.
So i did an little experiment to test 3g and wifi. I walked across the room, which has the modem and router, and stood by the door. got no 3g service in my hand, and the wifi dropped from full bars to just 1 bar of wifi in the same room.
I don't know what you guys are talking about. I can touch the phone any which way and the bar fluctuates by a single bar, if even that. I get more fluctuation walking around in my house then I do holding it. The only time I've ever noticed a significant drop in reception has been literally covering the phone front and back with both hands. Maybe you guys are just in poor reception areas. Before you completely discount the phone and send it back, instead of relying on the bars, look at the actual db signal in the settings.
I have looked at those i get an big fat zero. the other issue i have is my wifi goes from full to 1 bar by just moving to other side of the room thats not good at all.
I have been to areas of my town where i know there is full 3g service, and i get maybe two or three bars. i was thinking maybe an case would mask that particular issue since i am not directly touching the phone. The fact that i really like this phone i would just do the case thing if that were a solution
asrrin29 said:
I don't know what you guys are talking about. I can touch the phone any which way and the bar fluctuates by a single bar, if even that. I get more fluctuation walking around in my house then I do holding it. The only time I've ever noticed a significant drop in reception has been literally covering the phone front and back with both hands. Maybe you guys are just in poor reception areas. Before you completely discount the phone and send it back, instead of relying on the bars, look at the actual db signal in the settings.
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I will admit the area where i live doesn't have the best reception in the world, but when i place the phone on an table or sofa, i get -105 dbm and 4 asu. once i pick it up drops to 0 dbm and 0 asu quite odd.
Just to make sure, I removed my phone from it's case, and plastered my hands all over it. With a solid 3 bars, I touched sides, with two fingers all the way to a two handed deathgrip. Not only did I not get a degradation of bars, at one point I got a bar increase! I palmed the back, front, cradled it my hands, held it to my body. I didn't get any change in bars.
Maybe it's the band of cell phone signal in your area. I know that either the 1900mhz or 850mhz is better than the other in terms of penetrating power, so if your signal is going over the weaker one, that may be the issue.
I am just going to give samsung a call , when i actually use phone i am not touching the back of the phone. I have taken it into area where usually you should get full service and i dont get it if i hold it in my hand.
I also did an comparison with my old 3g iphone and the 3g was getting two to three more bars...
The other major issue is my wifi signal dropping from full to one bar in the same room of the router that shouldnt be happening
well its like i said, this signal issue that you few are having isnt that wide spread. go get a replacement sim, if that doesnt work then simply have ur carrier replace your phone. you should be within the 30 day trial period anyway... dont bother talking directly with samsung, getting a phone replacement from att would be quicker.
well the only issue with returning the phone i dindt buy it directly from att , got it thru amazon so returning to get a new one may be a bit problematic i think.
The iPhone's issue is different - it has an external antenna, and one finger in the wrong place rendered no signal - one finger bridging the gap between antennas - creating an electrical conductive circuit.
The Captivate (and all other phones) have internal antennas covered with plastic (the phone's case) - so the antenna is already covered.
Apple tried to deflect criticism by talking about "The grip of death" killing signal on other phones. While this is true, it is not what plagues the iphone - although it can. All phones will show signal drop if you wrap your hand (or some other signal blocking material) around the phone.
The Problem with trying to measure the signal drop, is that signal bars are not very accurate - you need to be in the phone menus where it shows you actual signal strength in DB - I don't think you will get this for WiFi though. Then of course there are all kinds of external interference issues - Microwave ovens, cordless phones, etc.
So, unless you measure this stuff in a controlled environment, like consumer reports did, where you can control the transmitter and all eliminate all external influences, then most observations are not including all environmental factors.
My phone works great, regardless of what the bars say.
well i have seen my phones service go from -105 dbm 4 asu to nothing when i picked up the phone. and then i would get the nice blue circle with line thru it.
I did an speed test also with phone while holding it and when putting it on an table , the times i would actually get no bars on my phone while holding i would get 1/3 the dl speed of when it was sitting on a table.
I will have to wait till tues to get an replacement phone and hopefully i wont have the same issues
so are you getting the replacement from att or amazon?
I live in Manhattan, so my day consists of going underground for subway, and then back out at least 4 times per day. I have noticed several times that my radio never RE-grabs a signal when coming above ground it just sits with the bars and an X signifying no signal, in broad daylight...until i reboot the phone and it then promptly grabs signal. I have a buddy with a NS and he noticed this too...we also noticed it happens mostly when we are listening to something when emerging back above ground. Not sure if that has anything to do with it, or if it isjust cooincidence...however, has anyone else noticed their NS radio not grabbing a signal when back in range??? It is SO annoying to be walking around for 10-15min after coming above ground, to notice you have been cut off the whole time.
just instal the airplane mode on/off toggle
and hit it when you are back out on the surface
some times it's slow for the machine to grab signal
yes, i have noticed
like when i go into the basement, or server room, or other places with NO signal
and go back out to a place that I Know there is signal, yet it still in X mode
so, i just swap on/off airplane mode, and it works right away
mcosmi said:
I live in Manhattan, so my day consists of going underground for subway, and then back out at least 4 times per day. I have noticed several times that my radio never RE-grabs a signal when coming above ground it just sits with the bars and an X signifying no signal, in broad daylight...until i reboot the phone and it then promptly grabs signal. I have a buddy with a NS and he noticed this too...we also noticed it happens mostly when we are listening to something when emerging back above ground. Not sure if that has anything to do with it, or if it isjust cooincidence...however, has anyone else noticed their NS radio not grabbing a signal when back in range??? It is SO annoying to be walking around for 10-15min after coming above ground, to notice you have been cut off the whole time.
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I'm also a metro north commuter and the same thing happens to me randomly as well. I can go days without it occurring once, however sometimes it'll happen twice in the same day. Attempting to cycle Airplane Mode just locks up the device as well, so rebooting is the only option to restore network connectivity.
Noticed this as well when I'm in and out of subway stations. It hasn't been happening recently but sometimes playing around with the settings in the *#*#4636*#*# menu might help, like selecting GSM PRL or WCDMA preferred.
Anyway, I had the same problem with my Vibrant... never had the problem with my Nexus One or MyTouch 4G. Maybe HTC's hook onto networks better?
mcosmi said:
I live in Manhattan, so my day consists of going underground for subway, and then back out at least 4 times per day. I have noticed several times that my radio never RE-grabs a signal when coming above ground it just sits with the bars and an X signifying no signal, in broad daylight...until i reboot the phone and it then promptly grabs signal. I have a buddy with a NS and he noticed this too...we also noticed it happens mostly when we are listening to something when emerging back above ground. Not sure if that has anything to do with it, or if it isjust cooincidence...however, has anyone else noticed their NS radio not grabbing a signal when back in range??? It is SO annoying to be walking around for 10-15min after coming above ground, to notice you have been cut off the whole time.
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I normally loose signal completely when I am in the underground parking lot of my condo building. But as soon as I am outside it connects almost immediately.
brianbrain said:
I'm also a metro north commuter and the same thing happens to me randomly as well. I can go days without it occurring once, however sometimes it'll happen twice in the same day. Attempting to cycle Airplane Mode just locks up the device as well, so rebooting is the only option to restore network connectivity.
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I've got the exact same problem, not sure how to resolve it. Really wish they would push out an update and fix these annoying issues.
I've set my phone to WCDMA Only ( since and on boot up it doesnt connect to a network ) & WCDMA Perferred doesn't seem to want to stick.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=747f398a6c1bb2b9&hl=en
i have the same problem
Same problem with my Nexus S. Toggling airplane mode don't help. I have to power off/on my Nexus S then I get the signal again.
My phone has dropped data randomly two times this morning. I could only get it back by doing a switch to airplane mode. Anyone else with this problem? Is this a phone issue that I need to get a new one?
Sent from my HTC One X
Mine has dropped several times. when coming to and from work. It seems to always happen when it connects to wifi. when i leave work and its wifi, i lose all signal entirely.
I don't use wifi though that's the thing. I called ATT and they said it may need a new simcard......which this was. So I swung by and got one and the lady at the store said that my phone may be going bad! LOL wow I love how they train their people.
YES. Most definitely, this is the same problem I'm experiencing. I had another thread posted about how the 4G icon was lit but there was no signal. The icon now seems to be a little more accurate...But still.
At home I switch on WiFi so I don't run up my data but if I look at the settings for mobile network the status underneath in gray text keeps showing that it connects and disconnects. Endlessly. The phone isn't moving. My wife has signal on her iPad and iPhone (I know those are 3G).
I have to turn on airplane mode and then off...Then mobile network on and it seems to help a little. However it's still super spotty.
This is pretty much only indoors but I don't know. I'm going to go around town and try it out. On their coverage map I'm in a big zone of LTE coverage. Outside I have seen 30Mbps on LTE using speedtest.net app. So I don't know. I thought it was very odd given the houses here in CA don't exactly have super thick insulation and every other cell phone (Sprint, my wife's on AT&T, etc.) seem to be AOK. It's just this new One X that just can't stay connected to the 4G.
Going under settings > about > network ...
I see my signal strength....some readings are...
-109 dBm 4 asu
-101 dBm 6 asu
-107 dBm 2 asu
I have no idea what values I should be seeing - what is considered good?
Mobile network type says HSPA. Service state says in service. Icon up top is 4G with one bar. If I turn off WiFi I could not load a web page or anything. That's what annoys me. I usually see like 2 bars and that's fine...But if I see the damn bars and the 4G icon....I sure as hell expect the data to work, even if a little slower.
It's just SUPER flaky. Again outside seems to help but to be honest I haven't sat and watched it. For all I know it could be connecting and disconnecting over and over outside as well but just have a stronger connection when it is actually "on."
I'm annoyed and speechless. I'm not in the boonies. I've never experienced anything like this before. I'm actually at my desk in front of a window. Uh...WTF?
Just picked up lunch and watched the data while on the trip.
This phone is unusable. It's gotta go back. Well, I guess it's welcome back Sprint. Sooooo disappointed.
All I got was HSPA. The only time I get LTE and those fast 30Mbps down is at night time. AT&T is such a joke and their network is NOT ready for this phone.
I'm in Palo Alto, CA. It's not the middle of no where. This is embarrassing. Either that or somehow I have a defective phone or SIM card or something I have no clue here...It's really really bad and I'm obviously not the only one.
3 days and it's been horrible, the only reason why I didn't notice sooner is because I've been using the phone on WiFi most the time.
tom_m said:
Just picked up lunch and watched the data while on the trip.
This phone is unusable. It's gotta go back. Well, I guess it's welcome back Sprint. Sooooo disappointed.
All I got was HSPA. The only time I get LTE and those fast 30Mbps down is at night time. AT&T is such a joke and their network is NOT ready for this phone.
I'm in Palo Alto, CA. It's not the middle of no where. This is embarrassing. Either that or somehow I have a defective phone or SIM card or something I have no clue here...It's really really bad and I'm obviously not the only one.
3 days and it's been horrible, the only reason why I didn't notice sooner is because I've been using the phone on WiFi most the time.
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how fast is the HSPA you're getting?
1-3.56Mbps down and 0.04-1.03Mbps up.
Out on the street downtown.
Best I've ever had was at night on LTE 30Mbps down and like 17Mbps up.
All to the same test server. Trying servers several states away it varied, sometimes I'd even see 20Mbps down to a far away server.
Again this is all WHEN I'm actually connected to the data network.
The thing just can't hold a connection. Constantly dropped.
edit-- ok so right now same time of day, servers, etc. Sprint's 3G is a little slower, but at least I'm not getting dropped.
and on a side note, i got a REALLY helpful lvl1 tech support lady on the phone. much better experience than i thought. there was an issue in the area before. but basically i'm going to give it another shot. if no good tomorrow, swap for a new phone. they'll call me back friday and we'll see... crossing my fingers.
Any update on this? I've got a new One X and work night shifts twice a week. I've notived tonight that the data drops when the phone is idle and obviously nothing pushes.
There's got to be a way of turning this off. I can see why HTC would call it a feature, but there has to be a flag or a switch somewhere....
Well the antennas on this phone suck. My wifi can reach about 3/4 bars in my room if I hold it a certain way but it rarely does. But mostly its 1/4 and sometimes 2/4. Also my cell signal is dirt. In my room its around 2 or 3 bars but my moms BB is always a full 5 bars and when i hold the phone a certain way both or either cell or wifi signal drop. Anyone know how to fix or has tried the tinfoil thing i heard about???????/
The tin foil thing would work but it might be kinda dumb looking. You could try flashing a new radio but in my experience they'll all about the same.
So I take the train every day to work and I've noticed that in the morning I usually have a solid 3G signal the whole way but on the way back I barely get 2G and browsing is practically impossible a lot if the time.
I know that signals can somewhat rubber band and be slow to hand over. However half way through my trip I stop at a station and the train sits there for about 5 min yet my phone (Nexus5) will still not attach to 3 or 4G (rebooting does not help). In the mornings going the other way I don't have this problem and always get at least a good 3G signal. What gives?
Olley!! said:
So I take the train every day to work and I've noticed that in the morning I usually have a solid 3G signal the whole way but on the way back I barely get 2G and browsing is practically impossible a lot if the time.
I know that signals can somewhat rubber band and be slow to hand over. However half way through my trip I stop at a station and the train sits there for about 5 min yet my phone (Nexus5) will still not attach to 3 or 4G (rebooting does not help). In the mornings going the other way I don't have this problem and always get at least a good 3G signal. What gives?
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Ask your carrier. They most likely drop speeds to allow more users to use their data but that's only a guess. Only your cell provider will be able to answer this.