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I left sprint for the galaxy S 4g on the the day it was available, and have been very, VERY unhappy with the reception on the phone. I checked the coverage maps on t-mobile.com before I switched, and both my work and home locations are supposed to be in "maximum coverage" areas for voice AND data, but I am getting only 1 - 2 bars and edge (EDGE!!!) most of the time. often the phone drops to "no service" at my work location.
I love the device, but I never, NEVER had these issues with sprint. I can't believe that I actually see the E network symbol at the top of the phone, and not at least 3G.
Could this be a radio problem? Or are the coverage maps at t-mobile.com that inaccurate?
At least for the two locations where I have less-than-ideal coverage, the T-Mobile maps hint at that.
Both on a Nokia N900 (3.5G) and my SGS4G, what I actually get is probably a notch or two down -- for example, "4G Good" means I probably get 4G outside, but more likely am getting 3.5G or 3G, especially if I'm inside.
Life in LA said:
I left sprint for the galaxy S 4g on the the day it was available, and have been very, VERY unhappy with the reception on the phone. I checked the coverage maps on t-mobile.com before I switched, and both my work and home locations are supposed to be in "maximum coverage" areas for voice AND data, but I am getting only 1 - 2 bars and edge (EDGE!!!) most of the time. often the phone drops to "no service" at my work location.
I love the device, but I never, NEVER had these issues with sprint. I can't believe that I actually see the E network symbol at the top of the phone, and not at least 3G.
Could this be a radio problem? Or are the coverage maps at t-mobile.com that inaccurate?
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If you are getting EDGE you are in a 2G area. I have a 2G tower close enough that it would smash my motorhome if it fell over. I get between 4 to 16KB/sec transfer rate. From the research I've done, T-M is putting up new towers but they have a long way to go before the coverage is going to be available. Also I have found that when I am surfing the web, My phone misses calls. When I am talking on the phone, my computer can't surf the web very well. T-M claims they have 4G in place in major service areas but the reviews I've read they are lucky if it's 3.5G.
thanks
I am swapping the device today after work. hopefully, it resolves my issues. If not, it's back to sprint. (they called me with a "win back" pitch the other day, maybe they'll refund the ETF I paid...
Life in LA said:
If not, it's back to sprint.
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Had to chuckle a bit with the recent announcements in the business world. Thankfully, any device we just bought will be obsolete by the time any merger goes through...
Bummer
well, it wasn't the device!
Brand new unit, and I'm sitting here at work with 1 bar and EDGE network! (despite the fact that the coverage maps show me in the maximum coverage area for voice and data!) NEVER in the 2 years I had sprint did I ever see the edge network pop up on my phone.
Back to sprint I go!
Life in LA said:
Brand new unit, and I'm sitting here at work with 1 bar and EDGE network!
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How are you holding the device? do you have a shock-case for it?
Nearly every cell phone i have ever used suffered from the "Grip of Death" problem that was over-hyped on the iPhone. It's a normal and natural interaction that if you are holding both sides of the phone your signal will be crap.
T-Mobile just has spotty coverage in some areas. I live in a highly populated area, and I still lose 3G in certain places. I don't even get reception in my apartment, but my laptop with Verizon 3G does. I left AT&T because of a lack of Android devices, and my wife and I were sucked in by T-Mobile's free smartphone sale thing. Now AT&T has the Atrix and another cool phone and we're stuck with crappy coverage.
Hi all, after a fruitful unlocking, rooting with the hack-kit, i updated the radio using the hack kit itself. However previously as well as with the new radio, the network reception was bad. I can tell this as my phone was showing no network whereas a friend along was chatting away on his phone. I thought this might have to do something with the radio. Hence i loaded up the Android Revolution HD 5.2.3 along with the recommended radio 12.54.60.25_26.09.04.11_M2; although the data speeds improved greatly, it is still losing connections in areas where other phones are easily able to make a call. I had this radio yesterday only, so should i wait for sometime or there is something wrong with the hardware?
I've also had this issue, and tried troubleshooting in the same ways. Randomly, my phone will cycle through all the connections (GSM, 3G, H, etc) and then go to "no service" no matter if i walk around or even go outside. I have called AT&T about this issue to see maybe if there are issues going on with the towers in my area...and they report no probems. The closest tower to my apartment is less than a mile away, and I live in a metropolitan area. So then they had me go to a store to have the sim card replaced because its plausible that a bad sim card could cause this issue. So far, with a new sim card, it's still having signal issues. So the next step is to do a warranty exchange.
AT&T service in my area is awful. Since moving south to Florida I have had the same problem but it's not unique to my Inspire. I experienced the same sort of nonsense with my old blackberry. Trying different radio/ril combos has given me some better results but it's an been an issue ever since I got south of Georgia.
It's one thing when the service is bleek in a certain area, thus causing you signal issues. But in an area that has AT&T coverage all over, like in the instance of my area, then you really can't blame the coverage. In my situation, AT&T was unable to explain why I'm having these issues in the area that I am in. They even logged in my account that if replacing the sim card has no affect, then they will go ahead and do a warranty exchange.
cavsoldier19d said:
It's one thing when the service is bleek in a certain area, thus causing you signal issues. But in an area that has AT&T coverage all over, like in the instance of my area, then you really can't blame the coverage. In my situation, AT&T was unable to explain why I'm having these issues in the area that I am in. They even logged in my account that if replacing the sim card has no affect, then they will go ahead and do a warranty exchange.
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Well the coverage in my area should be great. The closest tower to my home is just over a mile away. I live right outside of Tampa. AT&T has coverage here. If I can get 5 bars on "H" one moment and 0 bars on anything a moment later without moving the phone I doubt it's just generally poor service in my area specifically. In any event I hope you're issue gets solved. I'd be interested to see what the resolution is
Well i understand the network issues might be there, but then if i see on the other phone (Galaxy S) its showing full network at the same place. So I assume there is something in my hardware or software which is having some issues...
Be sure to check teh signal strength between the two phones(android) by pressing *#*#4636#*#*>Phone Info Compare the dBm and asu of the two. Make sure the contacts between the batt and sim covers are clean as both are antennas for different radio's(sell and BT)
Tx Redneck said:
Be sure to check teh signal strength between the two phones(android) by pressing *#*#4636#*#*>Phone Info Compare the dBm and asu of the two. Make sure the contacts between the batt and sim covers are clean as both are antennas for different radio's(sell and BT)
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Click to collapse
Ok... will try with this and see what is the problem... anyways it's just a 3 day old new phone and the battery cover... well i am still trying to open it... what a mess... would you recommend flashing another radio and check or i am the only one with the network losing problem here?
Out here in Cincinati my signal has been going to garbage and I'm stock. If I put the sin in my Samsung focus I get 4 bars and 3g, in my inspire I'm lucky to get 2 bars. I think it has to do with inspire and 2.3.3 dident help me at least
Sent with Dr. Brown Technology & my HTC Inspire 4G
so long story short I am looking at ditching sprint where I have an EVO LTE. Trust me when I say I am used to crap reception and data speeds. I was reading the thread full of other people who have came from sprint and most seem happy but... I read a lot of comments from long time Verizon users saying things like " I have to contort like a monkey to get a message to go through". Are these just spoiled Verizon users that don't know how good they've got it? Or is coming from sprint a waste of my time? Thanks for any and all input.
PS: Verizon has LTE all over my area, sprint has not announced any LTE anywhere near me. Is the LTE utilized for voice and text? Will this help?
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Im sure others have problems, but mine has been great. Not a single issue to speak of. Been running CM10 for 2 months now.
Gordon Ramsay said:
so long story short I am looking at ditching sprint where I have an EVO LTE. Trust me when I say I am used to crap reception and data speeds. I was reading the thread full of other people who have came from sprint and most seem happy but... I read a lot of comments from long time Verizon users saying things like " I have to contort like a monkey to get a message to go through". Are these just spoiled Verizon users that don't know how good they've got it? Or is coming from sprint a waste of my time? Thanks for any and all input.
PS: Verizon has LTE all over my area, sprint has not announced any LTE anywhere near me. Is the LTE utilized for voice and text? Will this help?
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
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NO radio problems here.... I think a lot of people with problems may be on the border of having coverage where they are...? I have FULL bars no matter where I go in Michigan (except in Walmart) LOL I have LTE coverage too and it's been a solid performer and I may drop a call here and there but nothing out of the norm... Just my personal experiences...:good:
My .02
Go to a verizon store, put a rezound side by side to a samsung galaxy s3 and compare the dbm and asu and u will see how terrible the signal is . My phone is constantly at least 20 dbm less than the rezound .
It feels like i am back to sprint or tmobile since i got my device, constant data drops, phone call break ups and 4g/3g handing off is terrible .
Btw this is my 4th sim and second samsung galaxy s3 trial now , still reception in comparison to any htc phone is horrible.
Htc put their 4g antennas on the back cover which i think makes them practically immune to low signal issues.
Its a pretty phone , but if u want a device that actually communicates with satellites and cell towers, then get a real phone . not this one .
waiting for htc dlx
Mine has been completely fine.
Currently not being productive on my S3.
I came from Sprint at the beginning of the month. On Sprint it had gotten so bad that I was on 1 bar 90% of the time in the middle of the New Orleans area. I gave up waiting for it to get better and installed Roam Control so I could force it to roam on Verizon. Forced roaming only gets you 1x data, but it gave me full signal which prevented dropouts and draining the battery.
Now I'm on Verizon with the S3 and have no signal issues. I don't think I've ever seen less than 3 bars. The signal starts might be lower than other phones based on other people's experience but I wouldn't know because I haven't had any problems to make it worth checking. I think it really depends on your area. If your current phone is rooted, you could try Roam Control to get an idea of what the signal strength will be like, although you'll be stuck on 1x data.
I too was scared by the reports in various threads that these devices have horrible radios. We switched to Verizon from ATT because ATT doesn't work at all at my office (searching for reception).
I haven't been looking at dBM or anything but from a functional standpoint I haven't had any issues. There are some areas where before I was getting 4-5 3G bars on my ATT iPhone4 where the SGS3 bounces between 1-3 bars 4G LTE. It's always disturbing when you see 1 bar of reception, but the phone operates well even getting 4-5Mbps in speedtest. If you look at bars (I know not really accurate) and whether or not I can browse, call, etc. the SGS3 compares favorable to the wife's iPhone5. In fact there were a couple places where I was getting 1-2 bars 4G and the iPhone5 dropped to 3G.
Her are some screen shots of my signals after an update last night. These are the best I've gotten on both and better than anything I saw on my Rezound.
Currently not being productive on my S3.
Never had an issue with signal on my S3. You also need to realize that the most vocal people are those that have an issue. For every 1 person posting about an issue there a dozens that have no problem at all.
Signal on my s3 is great its 100 times better then gnex was and about on par with my old droid RAZR.
dwyw42 said:
I came from Sprint at the beginning of the month. On Sprint it had gotten so bad that I was on 1 bar 90% of the time in the middle of the New Orleans area. I gave up waiting for it to get better and installed Roam Control so I could force it to roam on Verizon. Forced roaming only gets you 1x data, but it gave me full signal which prevented dropouts and draining the battery.
Now I'm on Verizon with the S3 and have no signal issues. I don't think I've ever seen less than 3 bars. The signal starts might be lower than other phones based on other people's experience but I wouldn't know because I haven't had any problems to make it worth checking. I think it really depends on your area. If your current phone is rooted, you could try Roam Control to get an idea of what the signal strength will be like, although you'll be stuck on 1x data.
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This doesn't work, each manufacturer measures it slightly differently. You have to use a third party app to compare phones that are not the same model.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Yes, it is. My GS3 consistently drops in places where my Rezound and iPhone work without a hiccup.
I actually just switched from Sprint to Verizon last week and love it. My gs3 has great reception and the network is very fast. I get a consistent 30 mbps down all over my area. With Sprint I was lucky to get 500 kbps
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
The Nexus was the worst for reception. The S3 is a close second. It seems to be people in some parts of the country don't notice the issue - possibly because they don't use their phone much or because they have towers that use different technology than the towers in the areas I travel. I spend a lot of time in Los Angeles, Vegas and Dallas. I can be at 4 bars one second and no bars (drop the call) and go back to 4 bars the next.
I was on Sprint and the HTC EVO 3D had that same issue even though the EVO didn't. I did always get crap data speeds on Sprint though. Some phones get great signal like the Motorola - so the question is - which is more imporant to you - the PDA or the phone. I use about 3000 minutes per month so I notice quickly when there are issues with a phones reception. My data speeds on the S3 are much better than I had on Sprint.
No the radios are not bad.
Excellent service, all the time here. In fact, I've never seen my phone with less than 3 bars, anywhere I go. And I travel a lot.
Yes the radios are very bad.....although improving. With the HE radio I finally have seem -99 dbm at my house although most of the time it is around -105. This is much improved compared to the original radio where I saw on average -110. I still drop calls in areas where I never have before. The poster that stated that HTC's have better signal are definitely correct. My wifes old rezound normally saw -80 to -85 at my house and never dropped calls anywhere. My old Thunderbolt was the same. Funny thing is that no matter what direction I go from my house, once I am a minute away I get full reception.....no matter what way I go. The radios don't do a good job of reaching out for the signal. The range is bad. Those stating that they are happy with their radios are probably in areas that don't have any weak spots. I'm holding out for newer radios cause every release seems to be a small step in the right direction.
ercDROID said:
Yes the radios are very bad.....although improving. With the HE radio I finally have seem -99 dbm at my house although most of the time it is around -105. This is much improved compared to the original radio where I saw on average -110. I still drop calls in areas where I never have before. The poster that stated that HTC's have better signal are definitely correct. My wifes old rezound normally saw -80 to -85 at my house and never dropped calls anywhere. My old Thunderbolt was the same. Funny thing is that no matter what direction I go from my house, once I am a minute away I get full reception.....no matter what way I go. The radios don't do a good job of reaching out for the signal. The range is bad. Those stating that they are happy with their radios are probably in areas that don't have any weak spots. I'm holding out for newer radios cause every release seems to be a small step in the right direction.
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Same exact thing here! You took the words directly out of my mouth.
Sent by one of my many Anthromorphic Personifications
Here are the results of a real world test that I just did with a co-workers HTC Thunderbolt compared to my SG3:
Both phones on 4g and side by side
HTC dBM -66
SG3 dBM -92
I think the results are pretty clear. Nothing else really needs to be said about the quality of the SG3 radio......it is not as good as the competition. If it was close by a few dBM then it would not be of concern to me. A 26 dBM difference is huge!
Because of this difference in signal strength he was able to have much faster download speeds. I was 17 down compared to his 27 down.
So we've been testing a Verizon and T Mobile phone (currently have Sprint) as Sprint has been pretty poor in our area as of late. The T Mobile phone is a Galaxy Blaze, and with it we get amazing 4G signal in the street outside our house. However, we can move literally 3 feet closer to the house, and the signal will drop to absolutely nothing. Inside the house it just frequently switches between very low 4G and very low Edge signal. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Is there any chance that a different phone (we want Nexus 4's) would have stronger reception and not have this problem, or is our house pretty much screwed?
Different internal radios will be different, yes.
However, I get absolutely no signal in my house with my T-Mobile S3. I don't find this to be a problem since T-Mobile has native calling over WIFI. Whole house is covered by strong WIFI signal and the call quality has been pretty great when used that way. I don't know if you can get WIFI calling onto the Nexus 4, I would guess probably not but who knows (maybe someone has found a way) - I'd have to research that.
I don't know how well a signal repeater would work, but it seems like it could since you could place it outside the home where it would have access to a great signal and repeat it inside.
If your Sprint phone can roam on Verizon, I'd question how much of a difference it would make to switch to Verizon itself. I have had both and the signal in my home was basically the same - the Sprint phone was connected to the same Verizon towers the Verizon phone was. I'm sure there might be some technical reasons there would be differences at some point (radios, how roaming is dictated), but I never noticed them in practical use.
Depends on the plans you're looking at and where you're willing to compromise.
For whatever reason, roaming doesn't seem to fix the problem on Sprint here. Verizon gets great signal, but 4 days in the 2gb plan is clearly not going to work. This pretty much leaves T-Mobile our only choice. T-Mobile also seems to just get better and faster service everywhere we go, so it would still be better than Sprint, as we're used to not having service at home anyway. It would just be unfortunate to have to continue like that.
Hi guys recently I bought an unlocked g955u1 from best buy and am on Verizon. I've noticed that my cell signal has been reading a bit off despite doing the Verizon software update. My phone is almost always stuck on 3 bars lte according to lte discovery and the range of dBm will average -100 to as low as -108 which realistically should be 1-2 bars not 3. In the past the only time I've really saw inaccurate readings like this is when I've been on gsm carriers. It's not as much as a problem as more of an annoyance as everything works fine. My question is anybody know why it's reading so inaccurate?
The bars are more or less just approximate visualizations of the network strength anyway. It varies from carrier to carrier, as well as phone manufacturer. You're better off sticking with the dB display if you want a truly accurate reading. Imho.
I have a T-Mobile variant and have noticed the my DL and UL speeds are a lot faster than any of the phone I've had in the past. We live out from town and even on the Nexus 6 it shows 3 bars and on the S8+ I get all the bars and the DL speed on the other phones at my house are around 5Mbps and on the S8+ I get 17-20Mbps at the house now. In town it has gone up from 40Mbps to 55Mbps.
My ATT S8+ reception
While I agree that the dBm is what you should be looking at, I have noticed some funky things going on with my ATT S8+ in terms of reception. Using the same SIM card, placing the phone in the exact same place, my S6 Active has a signal strength of -124 dBm /asu 16/"In service" on LTE. The S8+ gets a signal strength of -113 dBm/asu of 0/"Out of service." To me this seems like the S8+ is actually getting better reception than the 6S Active but the phone is out of service. I also tried this same test in another location using a different cell tower. Same results, the S8+ gets better reception...but the phone does not perform as well. In location number 2 I have also notice the S8+ fish for better signal and switch from LTE to HSPA where the signal strength is -99 dBm but the asu is only 7.
Since I live in a area with weak cell coverage the S8+ is driving me nuts...I contacted ATT about it last night, will see what happens.
Also somewhat related:
I'm using a US Unlocked on T-Mobile, and I've noticed my signal dropping out in areas where I previously had great signal on my Pixel XL. My buddy (also on T-Mo) just got an LG G6 and had full signal when mine dropped out.
Anyone else notice a weak signal? If I flash the T-Mo firmware, will that improve my signal? Did I get a bad unit? I hope not as everything else is perfect, screen included.
i notice (with TMobile) that if i am in 4g lte, then move to area with only edge for a few mins, then back to the 4g lte area...my phone doesn't connect back to the best signal
only a reboot let's me reconnect to 4g lte