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Help ! G2X - Poor Reception ? Anyone Else ?

Just got the G2X today.
I'm having extremely poor to no reception at work.
All TMO phones I've used (G1, G2, N1, NS, Mytouch, Mytouch 4G, Galaxy S 4G)
in the past have random reception problems, mostly what I'd say is passable reception at work (in and out of steel buildings).
This G2X is the worst yet.
TMO service walked me thru putting a new sim in and and all.
But it didnt help.
It jumps back and forth from 2G with 2 bars to no service at all.
I didnt like the Galaxy S 4G but it got better reception.
I like this phone, vanilla and all.
Anyone else having this issue ?
If not its going back to TMO.

I got mine this morning at 10 and I have been having great reception! 4 bars with the 4G! And I came from the Samsung 4g also!
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

How do you know if you got 4G, I got the 4G symbol but network connection says utms and I mainly get around 3mb download on speedtest, but sometimes it goes to 7 or 8 mb down...but still says utms, I thought that was 3G. thanks!

reception
I have had great reception with the G2X. Better than both the G2 and MT4G.
fhaines

I love the phone, but the reception isn't very good in my house. The nexus s had better reception.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

G2x's reception is on average about 5 to 10 dB weaker than the MT4G that its replacing but I have full coverage everywhere I go and at home I just use wifi calling so its a non-issue.
I live right by an air force base and I'm sure their signals interfere with cell reception. at&t has tons of towers out here and I had to switch because of the signal interference being so bad.

EtherealRemnant said:
G2x's reception is on average about 5 to 10 dB weaker than the MT4G that its replacing but I have full coverage everywhere I go and at home I just use wifi calling so its a non-issue.
I live right by an air force base and I'm sure their signals interfere with cell reception. at&t has tons of towers out here and I had to switch because of the signal interference being so bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still have the MyTouch 4G and Galaxy S 4G and they both have much better
reception than the G2X does.
I'm pretty disappointed.
I'll probably end up returning it and going back to the MyTouch 4G
(I didnt care for the Galaxy S 4G....200mb internal memory what ?).
Especially since its being reported the Sensation is hitting beginning of June.

There are like 6 or 7 "poor reception" threads in here.
Does that mean this is now definitely a known issue ?
All I got was them walking me thru putting in a new sim.
Nothing improved and the tech said oh well it must be just the area you are in.
And this was after me telling her the MyTouch 4G and the Galaxy S 4G didnt
behave in this manner !
I'm leaning towards returning the phone at this point, but I'm going to wait
a week or so and see if any software updates addressing this are forthcoming.

I had a great reception with my G2x. Had 4G throughout the day both at home and office. And on the way from between home and office too.
Unfortunately had to return it for reboot issues.

I am getting only umts. The device shows 4G but still only umts. I have installed new sim card and had it reset on the network and nothing changes. Even my Vibrant will show hspda when in 3g areas but not this phone so far. I have called CS 3 times and finally they have agreed to send out a replacement phone. I also have had random reboots ( it reboots but reboots right back up to the app you were running before the reboot.) and after speaking for only apporx. a minute the phone feels like it will burn your ear., I really want to keep this phone but if the replacement is the same than I will just send it back and wait for the SGS II or the Sensation. Really is a shame as there is so much I really like about it.

Got the phone, what gives. Connectivity sux, shows like 3 bars and 4g but the internet is slow and spotty. What gives? My HD2 runs just fine in the same spot.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

I'm not getting any signal issues. My signal has been working great. I'd say return it man and get another one.

No 3G At All ! Whats Up With That ?
Definitely has an issue.
I've never seen it get 3G on this phone.
Only 2G or 4G.
I guess I will be returning the phone.
I really hate to, I like the phone.
But there is definitely something wrong with it.

My G2X has the best signal I have ever had with a T-Mobile phone. I keep a data signal in more places than I did with my Vibrant.

going_home said:
Definitely has an issue.
I've never seen it get 3G on this phone.
Only 2G or 4G.
I guess I will be returning the phone.
I really hate to, I like the phone.
But there is definitely something wrong with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My signal is great, but I'm only seeing 2G or 4G. This does not surprise me, I'm in a HSPA+ area. Why would I ever see 3G?

I can't take the reception jumping from full 4G down to 2G constantly. I ordered the Nexus S and I'm not looking back. Even without support for 14.4, SAMOLED and better service will make up for it.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

Frag x 3 said:
I can't take the reception jumping from full 4G down to 2G constantly. I ordered the Nexus S and I'm not looking back. Even without support for 14.4, SAMOLED and better service will make up for it.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FWIW, I came from a Nexus S and think the reception is quite a bit better with the G2X.

If you have reception problems you can try 2 things:
1) Go into your mobile network settings and change your network mode to GSM/WCDMA if it isn't already selected. Then click on network operators and do a search. You should see T-Mobile UMTS, T-Mobile GSM and ATT GSM. Once you see the networks it finds, click on select automatically. Before leaving this menu, make sure you click on data roaming. Don't worry, you won't be charged unless your internationally roaming.
2) Swap out your SIM card.

jrwingate6 said:
If you have reception problems you can try 2 things:
1) Go into your mobile network settings and change your network mode to GSM/WCDMA if it isn't already selected. Then click on network operators and do a search. You should see T-Mobile UMTS, T-Mobile GSM and ATT GSM. Once you see the networks it finds, click on select automatically. Before leaving this menu, make sure you click on data roaming. Don't worry, you won't be charged unless your internationally roaming.
2) Swap out your SIM card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did all that the 1st day (4-20-11).
Finally returned the phone today after testing the data connectivity
at work today with the MyTouch 4G versus the G2X.
No problem with the MT4G but the G2X had horrible or zero internet.
I will post the results with a new phone tomorrow.
The rep said they just got in a new batch of phones.
I hope the exchange has fixed the issue.
Its mostly wifi hotspotting that its really evident.
I want the phone to work because its the snappiest phone I've ever used.

Maybe it could be the area you are in. Both of my G2x and G2 have solid 4g signal.

G2X Reception

I Live and work in areas that should be 4G according to T-Mobiles coverage map. At work, I'm lucking to even receive a 2g signal and never get a 4g signal at all. At home, I can only get 4g if I select WCDMA Only and don't touch my phone.
I've noticed that my 4g (WCDMA) signal seems to range from -70dBm to -109dBm. As far as GSM I don't know what a good signal is, but I know I loose my signal at about -98 dBm. Interestingly enough, it will go from -85 dBm to -101 dBm in GSM just from me picking it up.
I'm wondering if my phone is getting good reception and if exchanging it might help the problem, but I have no numbers to compare this to. Does anyone get a better WCDMA signal than -69 dBm or have a good signal strength over -109 dBm. Does anyone know what a good signal should be?
I have seen some threads on reception but there are never any numbers to quantify this. To see your signal strength go to phone settings; about phone; status; signal strength.
Any input is appreciated.

There is an app to test for towers and reception . I found I'm not close to one.
Figures.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

Thanks,
I have Open Signal Maps installed. Lots of good info. According to the app, I'm a 217 meters from a tower. It actually shows 3 towers within a quarter of a mile. Maybe it's signal overload....

snake8b said:
Thanks,
I have Open Signal Maps installed. Lots of good info. According to the app, I'm a 217 meters from a tower. It actually shows 3 towers within a quarter of a mile. Maybe it's signal overload....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would have to agree. This thing can get great to little signal. It seems to have trouble with the in between.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

I also have horrible reception with this phone.... my sga4g had a solid full bar 4g signal all the time.. I thought maybe having my g2x rooted and running a custom rom might have something to do with it so I unrooted and went back to stock... but still no good... my phone can sit in one spot and I watch the signal go up and down 4g 2g .... so I locked it to wcdma only .... It stayed on 4g bars still go up and down but now it will just lose network connection... I called Tmo support today and supposedly I'm in an area that has great 4g coverage .... so they say they put in a service order and to stay on 2g for 72 hours and then pull my battery, put it back in and see what happens... love the g2x but starting to regret giving the wife my sgs4g...
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

swuln said:
I also have horrible reception with this phone.... my sga4g had a solid full bar 4g signal all the time.. I thought maybe having my g2x rooted and running a custom rom might have something to do with it so I unrooted and went back to stock... but still no good... my phone can sit in one spot and I watch the signal go up and down 4g 2g .... so I locked it to wcdma only .... It stayed on 4g bars still go up and down but now it will just lose network connection... I called Tmo support today and supposedly I'm in an area that has great 4g coverage .... so they say they put in a service order and to stay on 2g for 72 hours and then pull my battery, put it back in and see what happens... love the g2x but starting to regret giving the wife my sgs4g...
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine does pretty much the exact same thing inside the house and I'm also in an area that should have good 4G coverage. I think the radio is just bugged and hopefully the update(s) will fix that. Good thing the phone has wifi calling.

Interesting. I was looking for a phone number today to call T-Mobile, but their site wasn't working (kept getting no connection). I wonder what staying on 2g is supposed to do. Let me know how it turns out.

I have the same issue! Constant switch between 4G, E and x!
I talked to T-Mobile and they worked on the towers or so they say! It's gotten a lil bit better signal, but not much and not sure if it's because a custom rom!
Thinking about doing an exchange!
Would an UPDATE FIX THE RADIO? Or is it faculty hardware?
.....

htc2364 said:
I have the same issue! Constant switch between 4G, E and x!
I talked to T-Mobile and they worked on the towers or so they say! It's gotten a lil bit better signal, but not much and not sure if it's because a custom rom!
Thinking about doing an exchange!
Would an UPDATE FIX THE RADIO? Or is it faculty hardware?
.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be faulty hardware, but it could just be a software glitch in the radio baseband/drivers. If a radio update doesn't come with the initial software fix, I'm pretty sure the Gingerbread update should include one.

I too have TERRIBLE reception with the G2x. I'm coming from the HTC G1 and in spots that I used to get great reception with that phone, my G2x bounces all over the place from 4G to NO signal. It's driving me insane that it doesn't stay constant. I thought maybe it was just the towers in my area so I put my SIM back in the G1 and it never lost signal. I put the SIM back in my G2x and set it in the same spot as the G1 and it lost signal twice and toggled back and forth from 2G to 4G within 5 minutes. Hopefully there will be a radio update to fix this issue and that it won't be faulty hardware.
I absolutely LOVE this phone even with the flaws.. i just hope they fix the flaws soon.

I get pretty good reception, though at work I tend to bounce back from 4g and E, but I'm in a building that kills reception. Personally, I think it's the modem. I bet once we start getting newer modems, it's will stop this, but probably at the cost of battery life. My old vibrant got about the same reception, so I don't think it's hardware.

The Tmo tech told me to stay on 2g because my phone seems to be keeping a good consistent 2g signal... its just in the 4g that it doesn't hold a good signal.... I also kept bringing up if she thought that maybe a software upgrade might fix the problem but she didn't even acknowledge that I said anything about it .... I also told her that I read somewhere that for some reason T-Mobile should have given me the sim card that came with the g2x and she said that wouldnt make a difference because i just switched sims when i bought the sgs4g a few months ago and she then gave me free wifi calling...
Sent from my LG-P999 "2G" using XDA Premium App

Replacement Phone
Just an update. I went ahead and got a replacement phone to see if it fixed the problem. The new phone behaves identically. Also, a Samsung 4G user just moved into my office building and he gets 3 bars, which is what i get till I pick the phone up. The thing that bothers me the most is that it will loose so many dBm (bars) when I pick it up.
Does anyone know if a phone cover will fix this issue.

Anyone having issues with signal constantly dropping to 2G?

My wife just upgraded from the MyTouch Slide 3G to the Slide 4G. The 4G is constantly dropping to 2G so obviously the data speeds are terrible. Her Slide 3G usually always stayed in 3G in the same areas the 4G is now dropping. Anyone else experiencing this?

Did experience something like this at a friend's house.

Sounds like the problem that the one of the reviewers of the Sidekick 4G was having (ping-ponging between 4G and 2G). Not everyone was having that problem in the wild, though. Could be a coincidence that two recent physical keyboard-based 4G phones are having trouble holding their T-Mobile HSPA+ connections and skipping the 3G alternative, though it could be a bug with T-Mobile's HSPA+ at the tower or phone level. I don't know know the protocol rules on the handoff between 3G and HSPA+. Some reviewers have reported lower data rates than expected with the Slide. The Sensation supposedly has a death grip issue, so maybe there's a variation of that with the Slide (due to a different landscape hand position using the physical keyboard) resulting in 2G connections. Could be temporary capacity issues with your wife's local 3G/4G towers. Is this a constant problem or worse at different times of the day? I remember a few years back reading a report on 3G mobile streaming usage experiments in Europe that it only took like 8 people streaming on the same tower to saturate the tower's 3G capacity. Of course, the number should be higher with HSPA+, but just wanted to point out it is possible for a tower to get overloaded. Keep us posted. This is the kind of stuff that will determine whether I get the Slide and stay with T-Mobile.

I'm in MD and I'm constantly having this issue in my apartment. One minute I have 4g and the next I have 2g and it wont switch back until I restart the phone. I wont even be holding it and i see the issue. Dunno, at least I have 14 days to bring it back.

Had same issue with my sensation. Try going into settings and switching to just wcdma as opposed to it picking between gsm/wcdma. It is under wireless and mobile settings. That is assuming you are in a good 4g area. It will not show 3g
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA Premium App

Well i saw this happening on the 1st floor of my house. But it was in a hallway away from the windows. but when i moved it came back to 4g and stays there. I think it has do more with the tower and whats available in your area.

Should I ever see 3G on the phone? Currently it is only ever in 4G or 2G. I notice the manual mentions 3G also though. I was assuming it always said 4G even if it was really 3G, but now I'm not sure. Has anyone seen 3G at all for their signal? I'm wondering if there is a setting wrong on the phone.

For those of you that don't have the network settings, go to the market and download an app called Network, it's free. Scroll down to set preferred network type and chose WCDMA only.

Randomocity812 said:
I'm in MD and I'm constantly having this issue in my apartment. One minute I have 4g and the next I have 2g and it wont switch back until I restart the phone. I wont even be holding it and i see the issue. Dunno, at least I have 14 days to bring it back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This issue is the phone itself. This is a verry buggy phone. Coming from a family g1 plan and were very excited but these phones have issues. Cant wait for root. Neways i know the 2g issue is that it gets stuck and u have to reboot. For ex. I tested in cordelane ID in near costco. Full 4g bars. Had 2 mt4gs's. One phone was in 4g and the other was stuck. I tried the old g1 trick they had in the beginning switching in and out of airplane mode. Did not work. Rebooted and it worked fine. Many other issues like all the time on both phones the widgets get stuck. U must slide to next screen than go back and widget works. Like i said i have 2 phones so i can troubleshoot and feel confident its not a glitch with a particular phone, etc. These phones suck.

LTE Issues in Los Angeles?

I'm at USC in LA, and since yesterday my phone has been having issues connecting to LTE. I haven't heard any news of outages,though, so I'm wondering if something is borked with my phone. I was on CM7, but I tried going completely back to stock and still no dice. Is anyone else having LTE issues?

haven't heard of anything but gaving the same issues since yesterday. In the Burbank area.

Oh, good — then maybe there's a chance that it's not just my phone. Even 3G sometimes drops out, and nothing comes up for LTE Only except 1X.
Weird that nobody is reporting anything, though.

dacre said:
Oh, good — then maybe there's a chance that it's not just my phone. Even 3G sometimes drops out, and nothing comes up for LTE Only except 1X.
Weird that nobody is reporting anything, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you are using the radio from chingys leak that is the problem,best one I found for la is the original ota update radio
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

I think it was an outage because 4G kept flickering all day yesterday and now it seems steadily on today without me changing anything. Thanks for the suggestion though.

there's no LTE yet where i am, but every now and then the 3G will cut in & out for about a day or so(and get stuck at 1X). whenever i call Verizon about it they'll either say there's work being done in my area or an area nearby and just said they could transfer me to a tech to see if there's something on my phone not set correctly or will just give the b.s. "pull your battery for 30 seconds" bit.
good luck if you call them

I'm at USC as well and didn't notice any issues. I was on MR2.5 and flashed the new 802 radio last night which seems even better connection and speed-wise. What radio are you using?

I'm in West LA, on the latest leak, no issues at all yesterday or today.

Currently running on 1x like a boss. Wait a minute that ain't good 4g down on the east side of the city.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

4g is off and on in San Diego

Only getting 1x here in nyc wtf is going on? Where can i go to find out if theres an outage?

Tampa Florida here and I have 3g but its about the speed of 1x and its not stable. Comes and goes sometimes I get the lame 1x too.
XDA App - HTC: Thunderbolt

I'm in Pomona area and I'm all over the 3g and 1x

4G is down here in Oklahoma. Was just getting to a good part of my movie on netflix too. Bummer...
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

Powered By LE5 said:
Only getting 1x here in nyc wtf is going on? Where can i go to find out if theres an outage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here, it hit about a hour ago. I been reflashing radios and different roms. I think its due to the new cities being added to the 4g network

3G and LTE is out for me too in LA. I'm using 1.48.00.0726w and 0.01.78.0802w_3

currently only 1x and 3G in Vancouver, WA for the past few hours.

LTE is back up. Not sure how long that will last though

jamesfrom818 said:
LTE is back up. Not sure how long that will last though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
up again in Manhattan aswell

jamesfrom818 said:
LTE is back up. Not sure how long that will last though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you're right, as soon as i posted it came back up for me.

Weak Radio?

am I the only one experiencing a weaker radio in this phone? I've had a bunch and with this phone in my basement I only get 3G (4G with every other phone) I'm also getting alot of dropped calls in my area. I know it's not just the phone as I've tried 3 and they all do the same thing. Is there a new Radio to flash for better service?
Also is there a way to remove the cover? The camera seems to have a haze behind the cover, it's never been dropped/spilled/etc.

I wouldn't say the radio is the worst reception wise but IT SUCKS with the 3g/1x/4g sometimes when I'm traveling I'll enter a 3g or even 1x area and when I get to a 4g area it's still stuck in 3g or 1x until I cycle airplane mode off then on again, drives me nuts sometimes. As far as signal strength it's on par with my galaxy s4 but not good as my old Droid or note 2 I'd say the radio is average but the 3g handoff thing is very annoying
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Free mobile app

We're working on that all over the nation. Cdma or 1x will be totally phased out over the next year but how many of us are going to have m8's in a year? Every Ericsson and Verizon approved contractor is out there killing it right now trying to fine tune the network.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Free mobile app

When I first got the M8 on stock..I thought the radio was quite good. Once I rooted/S-Off and went to Viper ROM...still was quite good. THe last few eeks to a month..I've noticed the radio acting very oddly. In normaly strong 4G areas...it will just drop data and wont reconnect until I switch the mode (I use the old T Bolt LTE On/Off app) from CDMA + LTE/EvDO Auto to LTE, CDMA or just LTE ONLY to force a reconnect...but even then it will get stuck on 1xx in a strong 4g signal area. At that point only a radio off/on gets the 4G back.
Radio seems to be very "sticky" and stubborn once it gets off the 4G LTE these days. (I am in NJ....so the whole state is bathed in LTE)
Not sure what to do...it isn't per se terrible...but it is getting annoying.

Not as good as my iPhone 5 but much much better then my galaxy nexus.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

Before the M8, I had the thunderbolt, rezound and M7. The M8 is on par with all of those phones. I haven't noticed any signal difference. I'm in a pretty good 4g coverage area though. So I'm sure that helps.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

bakemcbride21 said:
When I first got the M8 on stock..I thought the radio was quite good. Once I rooted/S-Off and went to Viper ROM...still was quite good. THe last few eeks to a month..I've noticed the radio acting very oddly. In normaly strong 4G areas...it will just drop data and wont reconnect until I switch the mode (I use the old T Bolt LTE On/Off app) from CDMA + LTE/EvDO Auto to LTE, CDMA or just LTE ONLY to force a reconnect...but even then it will get stuck on 1xx in a strong 4g signal area. At that point only a radio off/on gets the 4G back.
Radio seems to be very "sticky" and stubborn once it gets off the 4G LTE these days. (I am in NJ....so the whole state is bathed in LTE)
Not sure what to do...it isn't per se terrible...but it is getting annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am having very similar issues but I am in California and very slow 4g speeds at times in areas that have always been pretty good (10-30mbps+). Now I'm lucky if I get 5 and sometimes it's so slow, speedtest fails with communication issues. Xlte areas don't seem to be having issues though as I consistently pull well over 70 down sometimes passing 100+. Seems like only the band 13 lte is the problem in my area. It is quite annoying and if they don't fix it soon, they better plan on crediting some of my bill because I can't even use my phone at work anymore.

Evocm7 said:
I am having very similar issues but I am in California and very slow 4g speeds at times in areas that have always been pretty good (10-30mbps+). Now I'm lucky if I get 5 and sometimes it's so slow, speedtest fails with communication issues. Xlte areas don't seem to be having issues though as I consistently pull well over 70 down sometimes passing 100+. Seems like only the band 13 lte is the problem in my area. It is quite annoying and if they don't fix it soon, they better plan on crediting some of my bill because I can't even use my phone at work anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup..exactly what I'm experiencing. Maybe with the XLTE implementation they're having handoff/communication issues with the older 3G/4G network.