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Only getting umts yet phone says 4g or 3g

I Have noticed that when my device is showing 4 bars of 4g in the about phone section it shows the mobile network type as umts. With my nexus one and also with my Vibrant it would show up as hspa( which I believe is 3G) and also at times it would show up as hspa+(even though they obviously could not take advantage of the signal. With this phone which supposedly is 4g capable it is always showing umts. This does not like it is right. Is It the way that the this device software reads it? Does anyone have any insight on this or have experienced or experiencing the same situation? Any and all help and info is greatly appreciated as I am looking for reasons to keep this phone and am not trying to denigrate it. Thanks

I am having the same issue. Phone says UMTS as mobile network type but shows 4 bars of 4g.

Well what speeds are you getting. With my Nexus I never got over 2Mbs, and that was rare. Now I average 4-6. If you are getting better 4G speeds, I wouldn't worry about it.

jsapp said:
Well what speeds are you getting. With my Nexus I never got over 2Mbs, and that was rare. Now I average 4-6. If you are getting better 4G speeds, I wouldn't worry about it.
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only getting 1.2 Mbs tops. Average is less than 1. My Vibrant shows hspda and hspda+ and gets 1.5 and up in the same place. Both have been tried within seconds of each other. I contacted CS and immediately they said they would send out a replacement phone. This one has some issues but not as bad as some I have read on this forum. To receive the phone tomorrow.

jsapp said:
Well what speeds are you getting. With my Nexus I never got over 2Mbs, and that was rare. Now I average 4-6. If you are getting better 4G speeds, I wouldn't worry about it.
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I,m getting close to 4 down and about .5 up. I traded an sgs4g in at radioshack on their 30 day return policy and it was averaging about between 6 and 7 Mbps down in the same house. Im a super newb with this but that doesn't seem like it is right. I did just read that there is UMTS 4G.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-4g-umts.htm

Same thing on mine - 4G icon w/ 2-4 bars; network type shows UMTS.

c3plok said:
I,m getting close to 4 down and about .5 up. I traded an sgs4g in at radioshack on their 30 day return policy and it was averaging about between 6 and 7 Mbps down in the same house. Im a super newb with this but that doesn't seem like it is right. I did just read that there is UMTS 4G.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-4g-umts.htm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not nearly what i was getting. I think that the modem is only 14.4k because the tegra chip dont support the 21k modem that the sgs4g had but i didnt think i wouldn't still be able to get 6 or 7 Mbps Down.

Verizon GSIII signal levels

Can anyone coming from a thunderbolt, bionic, razr, or resound give me a comparison of signal levels on LTE?
My rezound currently I sit around -90dBm in my house and sat about there with the other phones listed. When I had the gnex I sat about -110dBm if I could even keep 4G.
Anyone who can give me a signal level in the same spot with both phones would be awesome.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda app-developers app

I would also appreciate this info.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk

*bump*
Seriously no one can answer this
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda app-developers app

Well this is a bad first sign:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1760127
Hope someone with a Rezound or RAZR chimes in soon.

I wish I could tell you.
My friend with a Droid Charge complains about poor signal, but my Galaxy S3 gets amazing LTE reception. I have yet to drop off the 4G network except when I leave the city.
I will see how it compares to his directly today.

not sure in comparison of other 4g phones, but my 4g signal has been really good in Centennial, Colorado (south of denver)

My phones as of 2223 EST
SGS3 -75 dBm 8 asu
Nexus -83dBm 2 asu

Well this guy's post comparing to his wife's RAZR is giving me hope again. Hmmm.

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. I came from the thunderbolt and can tell you that I normally was at -80 to -90 dbm 4g at my house, my sg3 won't get 4g here and sits at about -95 dbm 3g. Went to the store, got a new SIM, no change. Called tech support, got to level II support and was told to pull the SIM and reboot (eye roll) No change. I'll hang on and see what kind of"fix" comes out for it, if you recall the thunderbolt had a very similar situation at launch. We'll see what happens. Good luck.
SG3 on Verizon LTE

Not sure what to expect. Everyone seems to be near a 50/50 split. Just going to pick the phone up Tuesday and see what happens.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda app-developers app

Same issue here (low 4g signal/4g disconnect). Battery life is terrible because of it. Replaced my SIM as well. No change. Might swap the phone to see if that helps. I'm so fed up with this. Don't feel that this is much of an "upgrade".
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

As promised, I have an update. I went to the VZW store and they swapped out my SIM card. No change. The same issues I described in the OP were encountered.
I've performed the following testing to help determine if my specific phone had an issue or whether it was just the LTE service in the area. This isn't the most extensive or scientific test, just a quick and dirty test.
The procedure was as follows:
-Compare phone signal strength in Settings -> About Device -> Status (within phones approximately 5 feet of each other)
-Compare speed test results using the SpeedTest.net app
My office:
1 person in my office also has a vzw galaxy s III. We are running the same stock system.img (I535VRALF2).
- On average, his signal strength was -88dbm, mine was -84dbm. Definitely within normal range for a decent LTE signal.
- His speed test results were similar to mine (within 10% for each direction)
1 person in my office has a Droid Razr (non MAXX) running ICS (important as ICS measures signal strength differently than GB).
- On average, his signal strenth was -95dbm, mine was -91dbm.
- His speed test results were very different than mine:
GSIII - 66ms ping, 8.5MBit down, 12.2MBit up
Razr - 61ms ping, 18.9MBit down, 9.1MBit up
A friend's house:
My friend also has a vzw galaxy s III. We are running the same stock system.img (I535VRALF2).
- On average, his signal strength was -104dbm, mine was also -104dbm. A fairly poor LTE signal.
- Our speed test results were similar (approx 4MBit down, upload was intermittent (would sometimes stall out) approx 0.5Mbit up)
VZW lists 4g coverage as "Verizon LTE (non-extended)" in both areas.
Conclusion:
The difference I encountered between my GSIII and the Razr was alarming, but again, this wasn't the most scientific test (and anyone familiar with the speed test app will tell you that it's usually best to run it several times (unfortunately, I was pressed for time). Just wanted to get an idea of encountered differences.
I can second what tillithz heard about an update being released to address the 4g connection issues. I heard the info from a VZW store employee (so take that with a grain of salt).
I'll be keeping my eyes open for details on the rumored update (and wether or not it breaks our current root/CWM/custom boot.img flashing abilities).

Any chance we will get better signal on this phone in the future???

Let me start off by saying that this is by far the best phone I've ever had feature wise and this thing is smooth and quick, but my signal strength is no where near as good as my thunderbolt was. I live just outside of Pittsburgh and the signal has always been great here. Since I got this phone, I have noticed many spots where I have no signal at all where I previously had a good signal. Do you guys think there's any chance that Samsung will release something that gives us a better signal. That's my only gripe.

In settings>about phone what is your baseband version?

Vrlg1

Certain ROMs tweak signal settings to get better results.
-Need to figure out how to do something with your phone? Check out this Guide
-Did my rantings somehow help you? Hit the thanks button [email protected] :silly:
-Sent from my Synergized SIII

Brian Gove said:
Certain ROMs tweak signal settings to get better results.
-Need to figure out how to do something with your phone? Check out this Guide
-Did my rantings somehow help you? Hit the thanks button [email protected] :silly:
-Sent from my Synergized SIII
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I have tried all the different ROMs and so far the signal has been subpar on all

Likely, yes
ercDROID said:
Do you guys think there's any chance that Samsung will release something that gives us a better signal. That's my only gripe.
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There is a distinct possibility that we will see at least one more baseband released for this device. Snapdragon wasn't in the original concept for the S3. It might very well have been a little rushed.
The VRALEC baseband that was used during early development has been leaked.
The VRALF baseband shipped with the first phones out the door (like mine).
The VRALG baseband shipped with the second batch of phones and as I understand it was rolled into the OTA update that I would have received if I'd chosen to live within Verizon's little corral for this device.
This thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1788313
was the first "modification" I rolled onto my phone (or any phone for that matter) and it did help me pick up 1X coverage where I didn't have it before. The thread indicates that each phone might respond a little better or worse to a given baseband depending on its own manufacturing variances. You might give the older (VRALF) baseband a whirl and see if it yields an improvement for you. As with everything Odin... proceed at your own risk =)

That shipped on my phone. Tried it for a while but not long enough. I know that in my house the signal strength was the same but not sure how it was in some of the weak areas. I might give it a try. Can't hurt.

My signal has been all over the place but I haven't dropped any calls. I have been running root66 and haven't had any problems but now I'm CleanROM for the past two days so we will see.

thunderbolt as far as I remember reports RSSI and S3 is reporting RSRP which is a proper way of reading LTE signal values, but it's ~20dBm lower. My signal is much better on S3 than let's say GNex.

Yea I would hope with the phone updates, it gets us new ones. Complain enough and they might just listen to us.

Signal is great on my device. Have not been anywhere where there was no signal...must be the area maybe?

droidstyle said:
Signal is great on my device. Have not been anywhere where there was no signal...must be the area maybe?
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Do you always have stable 4g?
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium

blestsol said:
Do you always have stable 4g?
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
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Yes its rock solid never pulls less than 10mb down from anywhere in my city...even gets good 4g in the surrounding areas. I have only found 2 areas in a 50mi radius that it switches to 3g.

the signal on my S3 is worse than my fascinate. A phone, which, was known for having bad reception.
samsung just seems to have horrible radio in their phones. The guy one cube over at work gets 1-2 bars of 1x on his bionic, I get nothing

jtiger12 said:
the signal on my S3 is worse than my fascinate. A phone, which, was known for having bad reception.
samsung just seems to have horrible radio in their phones. The guy one cube over at work gets 1-2 bars of 1x on his bionic, I get nothing
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I disagree, i had a fascinate for well over a year...

I can confirm bionic signal > SGIII
jtiger12 said:
the signal on my S3 is worse than my fascinate. A phone, which, was known for having bad reception.
samsung just seems to have horrible radio in their phones. The guy one cube over at work gets 1-2 bars of 1x on his bionic, I get nothing
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Click to collapse
i traded up from a bionic and indeed get weaker signals with the SGIII from the same locations (including some dropped calls).
Solution: purchased a Samsung Network extender for Verizon Wireless of ebay for my home. Now 4-5 bars
Its stupid I had to do that since I live in a major city (pop>600,000)

hollywoodo said:
i traded up from a bionic and indeed get weaker signals with the SGIII from the same locations (including some dropped calls).
Solution: purchased a Samsung Network extender for Verizon Wireless of ebay for my home. Now 4-5 bars
Its stupid I had to do that since I live in a major city (pop>600,000)
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Motorola has the best radios, this is nothing new...however part of the reason the gs3 gets better battery life is because of reducing power to the radio and wifi antenna. As already stated signal is no issue for me, i could care less if it had twice the signal. It does seem to be a issue for other folks, so hopefully a new radio version will roll out or some crafty dev will figure out a way to increase voltage to the radio(if even possible) at the expense of battery life.
---------- Post added at 10:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:21 AM ----------
On a side note i just compared signal with my mother inlaws moto razr, -101db on the razr vs -107db on my gs3.

MF1 Good Suddenly?

When I flashed MF1 when it first came out I noticed I was getting worse signal and slower 4G speeds and no 4G at all in my house. Download speeds would be about 4-6 mbps down. Now, all of the sudden I am getting a strong signal and now get 3 bars of 4G in my house with download speeds upwards of 20-21 mbps. I have not changed ROMs or kernels. Over the last week I'd say I noticed this. I wonder if Verizon did anything on their end. I am in NJ about 20-25 minutes west of the Lincoln Tunnel off of Route 3. Anyone else over the last week get a sudden jump in their signal strength and speeds?

That's what people call "settling in" a phenomenon (as far as I know) that means that software (generally stuff like ROMS, kernels, modems) will sometimes become more stable and overall better with time, with no change to the software
If you're responding to me, make sure to quote me so I get an immediate email

pettigrew95 said:
When I flashed MF1 when it first came out I noticed I was getting worse signal and slower 4G speeds and no 4G at all in my house. Download speeds would be about 4-6 mbps down. Now, all of the sudden I am getting a strong signal and now get 3 bars of 4G in my house with download speeds upwards of 20-21 mbps. I have not changed ROMs or kernels. Over the last week I'd say I noticed this. I wonder if Verizon did anything on their end. I am in NJ about 20-25 minutes west of the Lincoln Tunnel off of Route 3. Anyone else over the last week get a sudden jump in their signal strength and speeds?
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Or maybe they put in a new or upgraded cell tower near your home or city that could explain it.
{°™ Sent From My VZW Galaxy S3 Powered By 7000 Jigawatts Of Zerolemon Juice ™°}

Androideka5 said:
That's what people call "settling in" a phenomenon (as far as I know) that means that software (generally stuff like ROMS, kernels, modems) will sometimes become more stable and overall better with time, with no change to the software
If you're responding to me, make sure to quote me so I get an immediate email
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get what you're saying but I never experienced a "burn in" with any other modem. I'm not complaining at all lol I just wanted to point it out.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

Droid316 said:
Or maybe they put in a new or upgraded cell tower near your home or city that could explain it.
{°™ Sent From My VZW Galaxy S3 Powered By 7000 Jigawatts Of Zerolemon Juice ™°}
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Funny story...my town recently shot down an attempt to construct a tower. That thought they were going to get cancer being so close to a cell tower. Maybe a neighboring town said ok.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

Actually I believe this has to do with the S4 Google Edition RIL blogs that were merged on 7/1. Since the 7/1 build I have found reception to have improved on my S3 as well, getting an extra bar in several places around the city.

landale said:
Actually I believe this has to do with the S4 Google Edition RIL blogs that were merged on 7/1. Since the 7/1 build I have found reception to have improved on my S3 as well, getting an extra bar in several places around the city.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on a touchwiz ROM. BoneStock 3.0 to be exact.

U guys and girls who have had a great experience with mf1 are lucky. I've had terrible coverage since the last 2 updates dropped. I'm battling it out with vzw now. I had to flash back to a stock tar from way back and go through 4 updates....just to prepare for this worthless battle of wits with vzw. However the good news is the rep accidently told me about another update samsung is going to roll out to address spotty coverage.....so this beers to a queationable leak!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

landale said:
Actually I believe this has to do with the S4 Google Edition RIL blogs that were merged on 7/1. Since the 7/1 build I have found reception to have improved on my S3 as well, getting an extra bar in several places around the city.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where can I get this update for my S3??

Rich3077 said:
Where can I get this update for my S3??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The update he spoke of will be found in CM and most other AOSP Roms that decide to include it. Check your individual AOSP based Rom for details.

[Q] AT&T users.

Love the Nexus 5. By far the perfect phone. But my question is does anyone get any drop signals? At times my data will just go completely blank then come back. Could be the my area. But just had to ask.

No problems with AT&T in SE Michigan.

Well it could just be the area that I am. The wife has a iphone 5s and she gets none of the drop calls.

No issues with me in STL.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

I definitely think that the signal is a bit worse than it was on my One X. It tends to drop completely in areas where my One X had marginal signal but still connected. I'm in Northeast Florida.

I've actually had this the last few days, a split second of no service and then back to normal. This is in thy southwest and west suburbs of Chicago.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I notice the signal strength shows low (2-3 bars lower) compared to my old S4 but when I make a call it jumps to max. Could this be a battery saving thing?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

android.gt said:
No issues with me in STL.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
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STL REPRESENT
couldn't pass it up.
---------- Post added at 09:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:30 AM ----------
marcusva79 said:
Love the Nexus 5. By far the perfect phone. But my question is does anyone get any drop signals? At times my data will just go completely blank then come back. Could be the my area. But just had to ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to be clear you did not flash any custom roms with radios or anything right?

No issues here. I travel weekly for work and so far I can say no issues in the following areas:
Lexington, KY
College Station, TX
Atlanta, GA
Houston, TX
Knoxville, TN
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it is just AT&T and in your area. I carry a Verizon Galaxy S4 and my Nexus 5 on AT&T around. I can consistently get awesome coverage and 25-35mbit speeds on my Verizon phone. Sometimes I question if AT&T data is even working, and a speedtest will show only 5mbit down. I know its not the Nexus 5 because I can have other random people I am with on AT&T do speedtest on various phones and have the same issue.

marcusva79 said:
Love the Nexus 5. By far the perfect phone. But my question is does anyone get any drop signals? At times my data will just go completely blank then come back. Could be the my area. But just had to ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I work in central Mass, and the signal in my office is horrid... for LTE. If I force it to only use HSPA+ (Settings > More... > Mobile Networks > Network Mode > 3G) I have full service of HSPA+ and no dropped signals. Coming from an HTC One (where there are like... 25 bars to display signal) I'm thinking it's just an aesthetic change for me mostly.

coolguy949 said:
I notice the signal strength shows low (2-3 bars lower) compared to my old S4 but when I make a call it jumps to max. Could this be a battery saving thing?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 biggest battery drains are screen and radios. Newer radio chips are much better at conserving juice. And why turn up the radios if you don't need them. S800 soc has a lot of battery saving features, and newer lte chips use a lot less juice.
In other words, yes, that's a battery saving thing.
Coming from a gnex, this has great battery life, and has double the cores and clock speeds, and a graphics chip that compares to a lower end pc add in video card. Gotta love that technology!