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[Q] Wifi antenna issue?

hey folks,
So I took my A2 to AT&T last week because the external speaker would be fine, then distort and then just cut out. VERY inconvenient when you use it as a GPS and it stops talking to you while you're on an unfamiliar highway at night (wound up a good 9 miles past my turn off.) I had a 2.3.5 original A2 and they replaced it with a 2.3.6 refurb A2. Since I've gotten this new one I'm noticing my Wifi connection is either much weaker than my previous unit or the meter on the notification bar is way off. Anyone else experience this? I'm wondering if I need to either get this one replaced again or if it's just the meter's display is slightly different in reporting strength.

voodoomurphy said:
hey folks,
So I took my A2 to AT&T last week because the external speaker would be fine, then distort and then just cut out. VERY inconvenient when you use it as a GPS and it stops talking to you while you're on an unfamiliar highway at night (wound up a good 9 miles past my turn off.) I had a 2.3.5 original A2 and they replaced it with a 2.3.6 refurb A2. Since I've gotten this new one I'm noticing my Wifi connection is either much weaker than my previous unit or the meter on the notification bar is way off. Anyone else experience this? I'm wondering if I need to either get this one replaced again or if it's just the meter's display is slightly different in reporting strength.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it is not a problem, as in it still goes plenty far, I would not worry about it. you are more likely to waste your time with att and not get anywhere otherwise. believe me, I was mad that I got a stuck pixel on my screen only a week after buying my phone and ATT refused to replace it. There is no point arguing with them. when my contract is up I am so going to verizon or sprint.

lkrasner said:
If it is not a problem, as in it still goes plenty far, I would not worry about it. you are more likely to waste your time with att and not get anywhere otherwise. believe me, I was mad that I got a stuck pixel on my screen only a week after buying my phone and ATT refused to replace it. There is no point arguing with them. when my contract is up I am so going to verizon or sprint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I called AT&T and their folks were really helpful. Granted their tech support folks really only know how to read from a script, but they agree with me that the problem is the hardware so a new one is being shipped out.
Little more into: I loaded up wifi analyzer and checked the signal strength. In the same room as my WiFi router I was getting -70 dBm signal where with my laptop I am getting -25. I'm guessing that this refurb phone was not put together correctly.

voodoomurphy said:
Well I called AT&T and their folks were really helpful. Granted their tech support folks really only know how to read from a script, but they agree with me that the problem is the hardware so a new one is being shipped out.
Little more into: I loaded up wifi analyzer and checked the signal strength. In the same room as my WiFi router I was getting -70 dBm signal where with my laptop I am getting -25. I'm guessing that this refurb phone was not put together correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah.. it's a hardware defect. Although it may be just a defect in the signal reader. Meaning does the connection dropout often? If it doesn't you might be still getting a good connection it's just your phone (and therefore you) thinks it has a low signal.

lkrasner said:
If it is not a problem, as in it still goes plenty far, I would not worry about it. you are more likely to waste your time with att and not get anywhere otherwise. believe me, I was mad that I got a stuck pixel on my screen only a week after buying my phone and ATT refused to replace it. There is no point arguing with them. when my contract is up I am so going to verizon or sprint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? AT&T has always been nice to me. I got the A4G, and then precisely 31 days later the A2 came out. Even though their free return policy lasts 30 days they let me upgrade for free (because they have a 60 upgrade police for iPhones and the rep I talked to was pro-Android ). Then a couple days later I got a new A2 because my first one had a dead (not stuck) pixel.
voodoomurphy said:
Well I called AT&T and their folks were really helpful. Granted their tech support folks really only know how to read from a script, but they agree with me that the problem is the hardware so a new one is being shipped out.
Little more into: I loaded up wifi analyzer and checked the signal strength. In the same room as my WiFi router I was getting -70 dBm signal where with my laptop I am getting -25. I'm guessing that this refurb phone was not put together correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to hear you're getting a new one; hopefully it won't have that problem. It definitely does sound like a hardware issue, unless it's a problem with your router. Did your original A2 cooperate fine with the router?

cogeary said:
Really? AT&T has always been nice to me. I got the A4G, and then precisely 31 days later the A2 came out. Even though their free return policy lasts 30 days they let me upgrade for free (because they have a 60 upgrade police for iPhones and the rep I talked to was pro-Android ). Then a couple days later I got a new A2 because my first one had a dead (not stuck) pixel.
Good to hear you're getting a new one; hopefully it won't have that problem. It definitely does sound like a hardware issue, unless it's a problem with your router. Did your original A2 cooperate fine with the router?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah there were no problems before. I was always impressed with the WiFi range on this little bugger.

farshad525hou said:
Yeah.. it's a hardware defect. Although it may be just a defect in the signal reader. Meaning does the connection dropout often? If it doesn't you might be still getting a good connection it's just your phone (and therefore you) thinks it has a low signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering the same thing but I would have my phone and my wife's side by side with the wifi analyzer open and she was getting FAR better strength than me. I drop connection all the time too. Hopefully the new one os better.

Weak Wifi Signal Hardware Fault

Hi all,
Over on the international One X forum, we have a lot of people confirming a serious hardware fault where the wifi contact pins fail to connect to the antenna.
I am curious if this fault affects your s4 at&t version of the phone too.
There is a simple squeeze test you can do to check for the fault.
See the link here...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1688538
Fingers crossed your not affected by it.
Oliver
*EDIT* HTC have confirmed the issue only affects the international HOX and the feedback this thread received seems to prove them correct. Great news. *EDIT-END*
Sent from my HTC Desire using xda premium

This applies to the AT&T and Rogers One X. If your phone has signal gain when you press on the wifi antenna area of the case, it's defective and will eventually lose connection completely over time, so get it replaced on warranty.

That's not what he was saying, he was just wondering if we had the issue. I can't get mine to drop below full signal with.WiFi, unless I go for a walk outside. So it isn't effexting my phone.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Hunt3r.j2 said:
This applies to the AT&T and Rogers One X. If your phone has signal gain when you press on the wifi antenna area of the case, it's defective and will eventually lose connection completely over time, so get it replaced on warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So this fault does applie to the at & t Rogers version? Yes if anyone does suffer this fault, get it replaced or repaired.
Have you been affected by the issue?
Cheers for your feedback
Sent from my HTC Desire

Thus far I cannot replicate this on my phone. Will test further later.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

my question is, how do we know when our phones will start acting up? Even if we exchange the phone, then there's still the likelihood that the new phone'd also have problems. Unless, HTC already has made some design changes to the newly imported batch (doubt it)
p/s: I have also not seen wifi issues with my phone. But I'll give it some more observations. Then again, I exchanged a HOX before because it couldn't keep a constant signal. So who knows..

ws2112 said:
my question is, how do we know when our phones will start acting up? Even if we exchange the phone, then there's still the likelihood that the new phone'd also have problems. Unless, HTC already has made some design changes to the newly imported batch (doubt it)
p/s: I have also not seen wifi issues with my phone. But I'll give it some more observations. Then again, I exchanged a HOX before because it couldn't keep a constant signal. So who knows..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It may not affect s4 versions at all, it is currently confirmed to affect the international version of the One X, I want to see if other phones are affected too.
The mostly likely causes of the problem are 1. Overheating and 2. The wifi connection pins getting squashed flat whilst your phone is in your pocket.
Sent from my HTC Desire

ws2112 said:
my question is, how do we know when our phones will start acting up? Even if we exchange the phone, then there's still the likelihood that the new phone'd also have problems. Unless, HTC already has made some design changes to the newly imported batch (doubt it)
p/s: I have also not seen wifi issues with my phone. But I'll give it some more observations. Then again, I exchanged a HOX before because it couldn't keep a constant signal. So who knows..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If reception is poor and improves when you push the case where wifi antennas are placed, you have a defective unit and you should get a replacement immediately.

damn i just sent my phone in for repairs because of a camera issue. i was experiencing the wifi signal drop prior to sending it in, but thinking it was a software problem. now, when i get my phone back ill most likely have to send it in again for repairs.

I believe our phones have the sam issue, when I press down I believe I do have an increased signal. Thanks for the heads up :/
-duf

It did increase my signal as well. It was struggling to connect where gnex used to have no problems and this corrected it.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

I was having the same problem with my ATT HTC One X.
I couldn't connect in places where my iPhone had 2 (out of 3) bars of wifi.
Unfortunately, it was a big enough deal to send the phone back. I thought they all did this.

If I don't have best wifi performance enabled my wifi is very flaky. It'll lose connection when it has full bars. But with best wifi on it can get about what I can get with my gsii (slightly worse)

Ugh... This isn't a thread about whether the phone has flakey WiFi, it's about whether you can make your WiFi signal change if you squeeze the phone.
For what its worth, mine doesn't seem to change if I lightly squeeze it. I dont really feel like pressing it hard enough to f up the screen though, so maybe you'll have different results...
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

ECEXCURSION said:
Ugh... This isn't a thread about whether the phone has flakey WiFi, it's about whether you can make your WiFi signal change if you squeeze the phone.
For what its worth, mine doesn't seem to change if I lightly squeeze it. I dont really feel like pressing it hard enough to f up the screen though, so maybe you'll have different results...
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't have the fault then, if you had it you'd get 0-1 bars only around 8 meters away from your router with no walls between, whilst other phones enjoy full bars at that distance. Light squeeze the antenna part of the phone and the reception indicates full bars.
This fault affects bluetooth and battery performance too. It is really bad for anyone who has it. I'm glad you don't have it, but please, Don't make out that this is normal behaviour when squeezed.
My other thread has had 15000 views 200 comments. 7 different YouTube videos from 6 different members of xda forums, 7 self repair guides by 7 of our members taking their phones apart (all confirming it fixed their wifi) and countless people returning their phones for repair.
I only started the thread on 4 days ago. The popularity of the thread indicates what a serious issue it is on the international One X. If your s4 One X's don't suffer the issue or not as bad, it might give us a clue to what is wrong with ours.
Send from my old trusty Desire, untill I get my poorly One X back.

My phone was shipped to HTC for repair a week ago before I knew of this issue. When I saw this thread it made complete sense. My glass in one corner was separated from the actual device enough that light from the screen escaped out of it. I had absolutely no wifi. Still waiting to hear what HTC says. They received the phone a couple days ago. I'll report back on what they say about this.

Does anyone know if the new batch is any better?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA

I just bought mine yesterday and it seems to have pretty good wifi reception. It can detect almost every network in range that my laptop detects but shows a weaker signal for them. Connects to my own wifi with full bars when close and loses a connection in the same area of the house that my galaxy note did. So I'd have to say the new batch have no wifi issues that I'm aware of.

jordant2 said:
I just bought mine yesterday and it seems to have pretty good wifi reception. It can detect almost every network in range that my laptop detects but shows a weaker signal for them. Connects to my own wifi with full bars when close and loses a connection in the same area of the house that my galaxy note did. So I'd have to say the new batch have no wifi issues that I'm aware of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this with best wifi performance enabled or disable?

Cryosx said:
Is this with best wifi performance enabled or disable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had to give you a thanks, I didn't even know there was a best wifi option! I just checked the wifi setings and it's off. So this is my normal signal strength. I just checked best wifi and one of the signals it picked up was stronger. Mine is a full signal so I can't tell the difference. My daughter's room is the worst reception but it's 1:30AM so I won't test it on best right now.

Amaze or One S

So I love my sister, but she ordered new phones without asking me here. They offered her the One S for100 each and since it's the nest phone right now, she agreed. They should be delivered today out tomorrow.
The thing it's that I'd prefer the Amaze. I really want a dedicated camera button better frontfacing camera, sd card slot, and removable battery. Otoh the One S is slimmer it's supposed to have better battery life and a quicker camera. Le sigh.
Is it worth sending back the One S and ordering an Amaze? When I called CS they said the Amaze pricing would be somewhere between 100 and 200 so it may end up costing more money for the Amaze despite it being an older phone and available free online to upgrades.
is it worth sending back the One.to get the Amaze?
Sent from my HD2 running Dorimanx.

Tough call. I had the option for the GS2, Amaze, blaze and the One S. I went with the One S because of the rear camera, updated tech and premium build quality and feel. If removable storage is deal breaker or a physical camera button then the One S is not for you.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda app-developers app

Keep the One S, you won't regret.

Friend has the blaze and its junk. Sgs2 is better than that. Amaze is a good phone with a bunch of hardware issues. I gave mine away after a few months and got the One S which is the best device tmo has to offer. Built solid, sense 4, globally marketed so much better development. Amaze development is a joke. It has a bunch of 15yr old kids developing a bunch of broken wip roms. Lol. It's embarrassing. Now that they have ics, they're developing CM7 LOLOL.
Get the One S or SGS3... I say the One S
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for the replies I first there are proud to the One S . This it's what I was hoping to hear. None of the pros for either phone are complete deal breakers. although the Sd card slot would be nice. I've got 12GB of music on my 32GB card now and 32GB will be hard to give up. Also, the front facing camera is only VGA right? How does it perform in different lighting situations? I'd only really use it for Google hangout and am current using my laptop which also has a VGA camera and I have to have a lot if lighting in order not to be a dark blur on the screen.
Sent from my HD2 running Dorimanx.

jillora said:
Thanks for the replies I first there are proud to the One S . This it's what I was hoping to hear. None of the pros for either phone are complete deal breakers. although the Sd card slot would be nice. I've got 12GB of music on my 32GB card now and 32GB will be hard to give up. Also, the front facing camera is only VGA right? How does it perform in different lighting situations? I'd only really use it for Google hangout and am current using my laptop which also has a VGA camera and I have to have a lot if lighting in order not to be a dark blur on the screen.
Sent from my HD2 running Dorimanx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U do get 23GB added to your dropbox for cloud storage as well with One S... Plus Google Play Music works well for uploading up to 20k songs
But if u need an sd slot and removable battery, get the sgs3... Not the Amaze
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2

glacierguy said:
Amaze development is a joke. It has a bunch of 15yr old kids developing a bunch of broken wip roms. Lol. It's embarrassing. Now that they have ics, they're developing CM7 LOLOL.
Get the One S or SGS3... I say the One S
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha, that made my day. sad yes, considering I still have an amaze.
nothing like a dozen themed roms all based off of one underclocked rom. aaaah.
but, I do like the camera button, from sleep it comes on in a second and its no lag, very fast, and great pics. Expandable memory is a plus for me, I couldn't be bothered with dropbox, I prefer to have my data to myself. the vga camera I wouldn't care about, I rarely use my front facing 2mp cam, but quality isn't there, I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference between the two. So, down to you which features are more important.

I have to agree with glacier on this, we just both switched from the Amaze. There are a few good Roms.. most of them are all based off of one Rom, so you get 10 different versions of a rom.
The One S is amazing, the amaze is literally a brick compared to this.
I can actually leave my capacitive lights on without seeing the light bleed, my back over doesn't squeak, I have a stronger WiFi signal.
I would stick with the One S.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium

Good to know about the front facing camera. Even though I'd use it maybe once a week, I SO want something better than my laptop camera. Alas, maybe it's not meant to be.
My sister actually waited 3 hours longer than expected for the UPS guy earlier. She lives down near Houston and she was already heading up here to Dallas today so she figured she'd wait for the phone to arrive. The sister is sweet.
I'm cautiously looking forward to it, although it would be hard to beat the all-kinds-of-awesome HD2 for me. It was cheap so I never worry about dropping it on the floor or bricking it and there are so many different ROMs available. Unfortunately I need the money since next month's Tmobile bill is probably going to be over $500(100 plus tax for 2 phones and the upgrade fees and the more expensive plan) so the HD2 is going on Craigslist this weekend. I get way to attached to electronics...

I agree with all these guys I have the amaze and one S IMHO stick with the one.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium

I had the Amaze and now have the One S. Between dropbox and google drive I really don't miss having a SD card. The battery life is ok, sucks if you stay connected to wi-fi and use wi-fi calling though. But over all think the One S is far better than the Amaze. Wouldn't go back

robbyb2 said:
I had the Amaze and now have the One S. Between dropbox and google drive I really don't miss having a SD card. The battery life is ok, sucks if you stay connected to wi-fi and use wi-fi calling though. But over all think the One S is far better than the Amaze. Wouldn't go back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im on WiFi calling almost all day, and my battery barely drains.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium

So we kept the two HTC One S phones. As you say robbyb, the extra dropbox space is nice. I've been uploading my music to Google Play, but it's been taking forever. It is over 6000 songs though.
I should probably start a new thread for this, but I may as well ask here. My immediate first impressions were that the device is really slick and attractive and fast and the cameras are all kinds of awesome. Then I started using the phone and found a glaring deficit, the internet signal strength. grrr.
Both my sister's phone and mine seem to have pretty crappy internet signals. This effects both the mobile data and wifi. While I was getting 2-4 bars in the house and 2-4mbs d/l speeds for 3g and up to 8-9 mbs for wifi with my hd2. Now I'm getting .024-19 mbs for mobile data. Yeah that's quite a range. The .024-.7 mbs happen in the park beside my home and the 18-19 mbs were at the McDonalds less than a mile away. If I'm outside, I get up to 4 mbs. My wifi reception doesn't vary quite as much as the mobile data reception. It's 3-7 mbs. For most of my tests, I stayed in the same place in the house, except for the trips to the park and McDonalds.
The mobile speeds at home suck. If I try to do anything while not connected to the wifi, the connection usually times out. The signal also seems to fluctuate a lot. The phone will be laying on the bed and not moving and the numbers of bars goes down to zero then up again to 3. A few times it's gone up to 5 bars and then I try to use the internet and the connection times out again. The phone also gets really hot at these times.
Yeah and the wifi fluctutuates almost as much. Likewise, it will sit in the same plce and go from 1-4 strength periodically.
I went ahead and changed the APN to the old one I was using with the HD2. I don't know why, but the next test did have almost double the signal strength, although I've still getting connection time outs. For the wifi, I tried FXR Wifi Fix and Rescue which worked great on my signal when the HD2 started acting up again on some random ROM a few months ago. Thought I'd give it another shot and no, it had no effect.
Now I have been using Speedtest and I know it's not completely accurate, but the results make sense based on how the phone is acting when I'm running the tests and I can compare the data to the HD2.
Sorry for the long-winded explanation of our difficulties, does anyone have a solution to wifi and 3g/4g issues. The phones shipped with the newest update from Tmobile and have been restarted several times.

jillora said:
So we kept the two HTC One S phones. As you say robbyb, the extra dropbox space is nice. I've been uploading my music to Google Play, but it's been taking forever. It is over 6000 songs though.
I should probably start a new thread for this, but I may as well ask here. My immediate first impressions were that the device is really slick and attractive and fast and the cameras are all kinds of awesome. Then I started using the phone and found a glaring deficit, the internet signal strength. grrr.
Both my sister's phone and mine seem to have pretty crappy internet signals. This effects both the mobile data and wifi. While I was getting 2-4 bars in the house and 2-4mbs d/l speeds for 3g and up to 8-9 mbs for wifi with my hd2. Now I'm getting .024-19 mbs for mobile data. Yeah that's quite a range. The .024-.7 mbs happen in the park beside my home and the 18-19 mbs were at the McDonalds less than a mile away. If I'm outside, I get up to 4 mbs. My wifi reception doesn't vary quite as much as the mobile data reception. It's 3-7 mbs. For most of my tests, I stayed in the same place in the house, except for the trips to the park and McDonalds.
The mobile speeds at home suck. If I try to do anything while not connected to the wifi, the connection usually times out. The signal also seems to fluctuate a lot. The phone will be laying on the bed and not moving and the numbers of bars goes down to zero then up again to 3. A few times it's gone up to 5 bars and then I try to use the internet and the connection times out again. The phone also gets really hot at these times.
Yeah and the wifi fluctutuates almost as much. Likewise, it will sit in the same plce and go from 1-4 strength periodically.
I went ahead and changed the APN to the old one I was using with the HD2. I don't know why, but the next test did have almost double the signal strength, although I've still getting connection time outs. For the wifi, I tried FXR Wifi Fix and Rescue which worked great on my signal when the HD2 started acting up again on some random ROM a few months ago. Thought I'd give it another shot and no, it had no effect.
Now I have been using Speedtest and I know it's not completely accurate, but the results make sense based on how the phone is acting when I'm running the tests and I can compare the data to the HD2.
Sorry for the long-winded explanation of our difficulties, does anyone have a solution to wifi and 3g/4g issues. The phones shipped with the newest update from Tmobile and have been restarted several times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Amaze has those problems also, but worse.
Really the only thing you can do is flash a custom rom and hope for the best, Zydroid is pretty awesome right now. Amazing battery life, my wifi signal doesn't fluctuate, my cell signal fluctuates some but I also have a week signal at home.
The only time my phone gets hot is when it's in direct sunlight, which I assume is due to the fact that it's surrounded in aluminum which, gets hot fast in sunlight...

Yeah, that sunlight is not so good for electronics, lol. I wonder if my sister's and my phones are atypical. If the One S usually performs better, we may try to exchange them. That's why it's still stock. I'll wait until I'm outside of the 14 day return period and commited before installing a ROM, although every time I see the app drawer, I want to at least root it and get rid of all the bloatware. Now when I'm not having connection issues, this phone is pretty epic.
Eta the next morning. Oh bother. The phone has been off the charger for 1.5 hours and has only 50% battery left. That's so wrong. When I turned off the WiFi the mobile data couldn't connect until I restarted the phone. Bother that will be annoying if it continues

Signal Issues with Stock S3 (No 4G, bad handoff, etc.)

Forgive my ignorance, but I seem to be having the problems of not having consistent 4G. And slow 4G/3G transitions, as well as poor battery as a result.
I have also gotten the No mobile network, no sim, and roaming network notifications.
It seems like many are having these problems, yet people who report them seem to say it occured after flashing some ROM/Kernel (idk).
My phone is stock. Im wondering if its happening to other users who have not done any funny business.
Ironically I was holding off on rooting and rom'ing to avoid these little initial bugs

verizontb said:
Forgive my ignorance, but I seem to be having the problems of not having consistent 4G. And slow 4G/3G transitions, as well as poor battery as a result.
I have also gotten the No mobile network, no sim, and roaming network notifications.
It seems like many are having these problems, yet people who report them seem to say it occured after flashing some ROM/Kernel (idk).
My phone is stock. Im wondering if its happening to other users who have not done any funny business.
Ironically I was holding off on rooting and rom'ing to avoid these little initial bugs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was in same boat as you. I was holding off rooting and flashing roms to make sure my device was functioning correctly in stock form. Unfortunately it was not, and I was experiencing all of the issues you are facing on my SECOND gs3. I had replaced the first one for a loose home button, and ended up receiving a new device with more issues than the previous one.
I called up tech support last night, and listed all of the issues you just listed and the tech said those are all hardware issues so I'll have to send you another. I obviously haven't received the third phone yet, but I can tell you I was not experiencing these issues on my first one.

Kreeker said:
I was in same boat as you. I was holding off rooting and flashing roms to make sure my device was functioning correctly in stock form. Unfortunately it was not, and I was experiencing all of the issues you are facing on my SECOND gs3. I had replaced the first one for a loose home button, and ended up receiving a new device with more issues than the previous one.
I called up tech support last night, and listed all of the issues you just listed and the tech said those are all hardware issues so I'll have to send you another. I obviously haven't received the third phone yet, but I can tell you I was not experiencing these issues on my first one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should probably further elaborate and say that I was in Florida for the first week I had my device and the reception there was very good, and I never lost 4G, and was getting almost 35hours of battery when I am lucky to get 10 here. No major app battery draw, just signal...
So that leads me to believe that it is the network, which is a little weaker where I am now, is causing the phone to jump unecessarily in and out of 4G and drawing too much battery.
It's either that, or my phone stopped working properly after a week, which seems less likely.

I don't think it's less likely as a few have reported after a couple of weeks of fantastic service, the phone's data connection has plummeted.
I'm on my second device. Both devices had the same problem. 3g dropped to 1x dropped to no signal. Finding the signal when in a known good signal area took foreverrrr. I haven't seen 4g yet with this phone so I cannot comment there.
I've struggled with VZW to replace my phone. They're now looking at the network for errors, or something. I've taken matters into my own hands- rooted and rom'd the phone with Synergy and it has helped immensely.
Waiting for VZW or Samsung to fix it, I don't think, is a great idea. If you wanted a device that worked correctly out of the box, your chances may be higher with a phone from a different manufacturer. I don't recommend Motorola because of their stance on locked bootloaders but the radio in those things is fantastic.

So you think my phone is defective?
I have my doubts... I see lots of people complaining about so many things and there first reaction is to exchange the phone... they then end up with other problems because they meticulously scrutinize every little detail.
I also don't want to return my phone because I got a bodyguardz carbon fiber kit and screen protector and its applied perfectly! =) No bubbles or haze!

I understand... Gotta weigh it out for yourself.
I personally don't think there's anything wrong with scrutinizing a device you paid any amount of money for. It's yours. If its flawed, get another.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

My phone is in stock and right now I'm not trying to root the phone because I know lte is not perfect right now so I don't wanna do anything that will mess up the phone.
Sent from my sprint galaxy s 3, finally have lte

Wut?
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Thinking about coming to the s3..

Any apparent issues with these phone? I have the recent Samsung galaxy nexus, and I have the 3g-4g issue with mine and it was a PITA. Any issues with these phones, as in common issues?

This phone started getting really poor signal when the Note 2 came out. It got so bad a lot of people needed to get it replaced! Apparently, the Note 2 didn't have these issues.
Just kidding.
In some areas this phone can have signal issues. At home, work and most other places nearby I get perfectly fine signal. However when I visited some of my friends in Detroit we went to a bar that caused my phone to really heat up in my pocket. I noticed it was on 1x and my battery had been drained pretty good. Its hit or miss, but I'd say 90% of the people have no issues.
Out of the box the phone does not handle Bluetooth calling with an aux cable plugged in. You won't be able to hear the person on the other end until you unplug the cable from the phone. Fortunately, one hobbyist was able to fix what a multi-billion dollar corporation couldn't and released SoundAbout onto the play store. You'll have to buy it to get the Bluetooth correction ability, but it's worth it if this is a function that you use.
Samsung is playing coy about the availability of an extended battery. Only murmers of it exist though some people have managed to get their hands on it overseas. We're hoping this doesn't become vaporware because it's a 3000mah battery that doesn't add too much extra bulk. The stock battery provides average battery life. Better than your GNex but worse than battery titans like the maxx phones and Note 2.
There are issues with the real time clock that causes recovery backups to have an incorrect date. All of my backups were performed in 1970 apparently.
AOSP is very functional on this phone but it's still a WIP. Notable issues include staticy A2DP Bluetooth music playback (mastamoon builds unofficials that fix this at the expense of call echo), massive fps lag upon exiting games (fixed by turning screen off/on) and weaker signal strength in some areas. There may be other issues I'm forgetting about, but that's most of it.
There is a small chance you can lose your IMEI number when you flash custom ROMs or kernels. This is bad as it causes your phone to lose its ability to make calls, send texts or receive data. Luckily there are easy methods to back this up and restore if needed. I've backed mine up and thankfully have never needed to restore it. Look for the thread titled Comprehensive IMEI Backup for more details.
That's most of the issues with this phone.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

No comparison to the GNEX. The GNEX was just terrible when it came to signal. The S3 might not be the best signal phone, but it is leaps and bounds above the GNEX.

[email protected] said:
No comparison to the GNEX. The GNEX was just terrible when it came to signal. The S3 might not be the best signal phone, but it is leaps and bounds above the GNEX.
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VERY true story!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I've been having trouble with signal reception at home, but that's the only place I have an issue. My house seems to be in a deadzone with a radius of no more than 200m. My iPhone4 didn't have a problem with calls there, but hte GS3 does. That said, I don't really have a problem anywhere else. A network extender remedied that issue. I also get a quick A2DP audio skip once every couple of minutes, but that doesn't bother me much.
Aside from that, it's been an awesome phone. Lot's of support, and lots of roms to try out.

You have 14 days to return, give it a run. I have zero signal issues.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

I have the 32G blue on Verizon and although I don't always have a strong signal I have never had a dropped call. I travel a lot and watch the 4G and cell signal, most of the time I have 4G about 80 % the rest is 3G. Did notice that when the phone is switching between the two occasionally it will go to 1x not all the time. I did flash like a dozen ROMs not loosing my IMEI, however I did back it up b4 I started flashing just in case. Recommend you do a lot of reading b4 you start flashing n you shouldn't have any problems. Love the phone n the ROMs
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Thanks guys especially the 2nd poster!

This phone is awesome and one of the best I've owned so.
Came from the flagship thunderbolt on the verizon network.

Oh the thunderbolt my wife has had 6 of them none worked right
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

I've had mine a couple of week now. I came from a Motorola Bionic. I would much rather the Bionic's radio, I find I have reception issue in places the Bionic was fine in. I got my wife a S3 also, it seems like her reception is better than mine.
Other than that, the phone is amazing. I would and have recommended it.