So I have been using the Galaxy Nexus for a while, before that I had the Droid Charge. Both phones have had pretty significant issues maintaining a LTE connection which by itself wouldn't be too bad but the hand off from LTE to CDMA had been pretty abysmal. I want to move up to the GS3 but I need to know if it has the same issues keeping a LTE signal. Also when it does lose LTE how long does it take to switch to CDMA and vice versa. Your responses are greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
I think there's only an issue with hand offs on AOSP based ROMS. Touchwiz ROMS are fine.
As far as the radio goes, it's adequate. It's not the best radio ever but it's good. 4G to 3g takes a couple seconds.
I wouldn't worry about those issues too much. As always ymmv with signal strength.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
I'm usually in a strong 4g area, but I've had great coverage and signal. The only time it's gone down is when I'm inside of a building. FWIW, the GS3 has a new chip so the radios are a lot different from previous samsungs, from what i understood.
Related
My N5 is not great at picking up LTE service. My AT&T signal is weak at my house and I don't get LTE, although my Galaxy S2 used to connect that way. Not sure if the phone really doesn't see it or if it thinks it's too weak and HSPA would work better.
(Sending from a moving bus so please bear with me)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
rochrunner said:
My N5 is not great at picking up LTE service. My AT&T signal is weak at my house and I don't get LTE, although my Galaxy S2 used to connect that way. Not sure if the phone really doesn't see it or if it thinks it's too weak and HSPA would work better.
(Sending from a moving bus so please bear with me)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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I have the same issue on T-Mobile. My phone sucks about picking up and using LTE whereas my Nexus 4, a phone that required hacking to get LTE enabled, was a champ. My N4 would remain on LTE all day while in the city regardless of signal strength with no real observable detriment to my battery.
With the Nexus 5, I'm lucky to have it switch to LTE in high signal areas. My Nexus 5 will stay on LTE if I force it to connect using LTE Only (you lose voice with this setting) under the secret dialer menu (*#*#4636#*#*), but if I let the phone decide, it sticks with 3G/HSPA+.
I'm paying for LTE and I want to use it, damn it! LTE at half signal strength is still faster than HSPA+ at full strength for me on T-Mobile.
Actually as I travel along the Ohio Turnpike it is not doing too badly, picking up LTE as we pass near metro areas (Toledo, Cleveland). It is also working great tethering my tablet with Wi-Fi as well.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
I'm having the exact same issue here I'm in the Los Angeles area and I have experienced good speeds on LTE up to 23 down and 12 up but one thing I have noticed is my LTE drops a lot in to H. I'm coming from Verizon which always stayed on LTE locked in so I guess I was spoiled. I left verizon because I got sick of them hating on Nexus Phones but man right now I'm hating these LTE drops on AT&T. But I know for a fact that it's a phone problem because when the phones goes from LTE to H I can manually restore the LTE but I can't get it to stay locked. I called them and they're response was it's just the phone switching from tower to tower.
I just helped my son install the hybrid modem for his Nexus 4 and set up the T-mobile APN for it. I was about to tell him that he would have to go somewhere else to test it since I never get LTE at home, and then boom, the 4G icon shows up on his phone! I checked Network Signal Info and sure enough, it's got an LTE connection with about 6Mbps transfer rate. Sitting right next to him my N5 has only 3G with occasional switches up to HSPA and back, and a very low transfer rate. What gives? I am able to get LTE on the N5 in other areas of town and it works wonderfully, but around my home it is very weak and almost never runs in LTE mode.
Could it be that the N4 is connecting on a different LTE band? If so, why is the N5 not using that band as well? Is there something that can be done for the N5 to tweak it to improve its LTE reception or how it chooses how to connect to available LTE signals?
Both N4 and N5 have 1700 band so it should get perfect HSDPA.
It might be the towers in your area are busy or the signal is weak.
I use straight talk t-mobil and I get HSDPA around 15Mbps and my friend get a little more on LTE here in chicagoland.
Also for people on Straight talk if you want to get LTE att version you need to get a new simcard and change APN and for t-mobil
just get a new simcard and boom you get LTE.
Idk if I'd worry about it. In most places the HSDPA speeds for T-Mobile are the same or better than the LTE speeds you would get. I'm in the far north chicago suburbs and I get LTE and HSDPA downloads at 25mbps. The LTE coverage is still a bit spotty. Its probably only worth it if I you're in a developed urban area. However it is a bit strange that you guys have the same hardware, service and location but different connections. The only thing I can think of is that I've seen some people instruct to setup the apn as fast.tmobile.com. however mine only worked with fast.T-Mobile.com (with the dash). I would also check to confirm that your phone is set to lte preferred (LTE/gsm) and not gsm priority. Those are the only things I can think that I can think of. Hope it helps.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
gorilla p said:
Idk if I'd worry about it. In most places the HSDPA speeds for T-Mobile are the same or better than the LTE speeds you would get. I'm in the far north chicago suburbs and I get LTE and HSDPA downloads at 25mbps. The LTE coverage is still a bit spotty. Its probably only worth it if I you're in a developed urban area. However it is a bit strange that you guys have the same hardware, service and location but different connections. The only thing I can think of is that I've seen some people instruct to setup the apn as fast.tmobile.com. however mine only worked with fast.T-Mobile.com (with the dash). I would also check to confirm that your phone is set to lte preferred (LTE/gsm) and not gsm priority. Those are the only things I can think that I can think of. Hope it helps.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
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T-Mobile 4G LTE will properly works on fast.t-mobile.com, fast.tmobile.com is not the proper APN (the - matters)
There are just way too many variables. Maybe his modem has better reception, newer sim card, etc.
RobinD42 said:
I just helped my son install the hybrid modem for his Nexus 4 and set up the T-mobile APN for it. I was about to tell him that he would have to go somewhere else to test it since I never get LTE at home, and then boom, the 4G icon shows up on his phone! I checked Network Signal Info and sure enough, it's got an LTE connection with about 6Mbps transfer rate. Sitting right next to him my N5 has only 3G with occasional switches up to HSPA and back, and a very low transfer rate. What gives? I am able to get LTE on the N5 in other areas of town and it works wonderfully, but around my home it is very weak and almost never runs in LTE mode.
Could it be that the N4 is connecting on a different LTE band? If so, why is the N5 not using that band as well? Is there something that can be done for the N5 to tweak it to improve its LTE reception or how it chooses how to connect to available LTE signals?
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Fwiw there are other threads where people have reported that the N4 picks up LTE in the same place that an N5 does not. So you are not alone. N4 may have a stronger radio. That would be unfortunate... Never good to see a step backwards on something as important as that.
Sent from my Nexus 5
Good news everyone! I too has having this problem. My Nexus 4 was an LTE champ and then it was a huge let down that my Nexus 5 was treating LTE like it had cooties, but now my Nexus 5 works the way it should. What I did was go to my nearest T-Mobile store and told the representative what was happening. He called tech support and they ended up doing some sort of reset to my account. I also had questions about my SIM card and felt that it could have been at fault. He offered to switch it out to the new ISIS SIM and as soon as my phone booted up, it was on LTE. Since then, it has behaved like my Nexus 4. I am even in my office where the Nexus 5 wasn't picking up LTE, but my Nexus 4 was, and it is on LTE at the moment.
I am not sure if the reset that tech support did solved the problem or the new SIM, but I would definately give that a try--it didn't cost me anything and now I am happy with my Nexus 5. Good luck!
In my experience my N4 has slightly better signal pickup than my N5.
The real reason is probably differences in the radios' priority algorithms. Set your N5 to LTE-only and see what happens, I imagine you'll get LTE.
dijit4l said:
I am not sure if the reset that tech support did solved the problem or the new SIM, but I would definately give that a try--it didn't cost me anything and now I am happy with my Nexus 5. Good luck!
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Did you not get LTE at all, or really poor LTE signal/speed?
tcristy said:
Did you not get LTE at all, or really poor LTE signal/speed?
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I would get LTE eventually only to lose it when it reached 2 bars or lower. It was really weird. I would be in areas where one would get 5 bars of LTE and the phone would sit on HSPA until I would show the phone it was on LTE by switching to LTE Only under the secret dialer menu and then back to GSM/LTE (if you use LTE only, you will lose voice). Then it would hold LTE until it reached 1-2 bars and then go back to HSPA.
I hope this helps.
I am seeing strange readings of signal strength. I see a 10+ db difference between what is reported in the phone status and an app like rootmetrics.
I don't know which one is misrepresenting the signal strength but it seems the roometrics is more accurate because my nexus 4 the signal strength is roughly the same on lte.
Can anyone else confirm?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
My GS5 seems to have a very weak LTE signal. I disabled all bands except for band 25 because the phone was trying to signal hop killing the battery. My girlfriend has the Note 3 which can only pick up band 25. When my phone is right next to hers, she can have a very strong LTE signal and my GS5 will either have a very weak signal or drop down to 3G. The only LTE band in my area that's currently pretty strong is the 1900mhz band. I can barely connect to that. Anyone else having weak signal or connection issues?
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app
Eckono said:
My GS5 seems to have a very weak LTE signal. I disabled all bands except for band 25 because the phone was trying to signal hop killing the battery. My girlfriend has the Note 3 which can only pick up band 25. When my phone is right next to hers, she can have a very strong LTE signal and my GS5 will either have a very weak signal or drop down to 3G. The only LTE band in my area that's currently pretty strong is the 1900mhz band. I can barely connect to that. Anyone else having weak signal or connection issues?
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app
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I've noticed the same thing.... my girlfriend has the Galaxy S3 and has better signal then me all the time... WTF?!?!?!?!?!
I'm tempted to go to the Note 3. I can deal with alot of things, but signal issues isn't 1 of them.
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app
s13silviaguy said:
I've noticed the same thing.... my girlfriend has the Galaxy S3 and has better signal then me all the time... WTF?!?!?!?!?!
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Your phone is showing data signal hers is showing cdma 1x voice. .. please download signal check app and you will see true db of 1x 3g lte signal. .. so you can compare
Sent from my SM-G900P using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
Eckono said:
My GS5 seems to have a very weak LTE signal. I disabled all bands except for band 25 because the phone was trying to signal hop killing the battery. My girlfriend has the Note 3 which can only pick up band 25. When my phone is right next to hers, she can have a very strong LTE signal and my GS5 will either have a very weak signal or drop down to 3G. The only LTE band in my area that's currently pretty strong is the 1900mhz band. I can barely connect to that. Anyone else having weak signal or connection issues?
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Signal bars lie. Do this on both of your samsung phones:
Go in to your phone app, and dial ##DEBUG#
Enter 777468 for your lock code
Select LTE Engineering
Go down to RSRP. The number next to RSRP shown in dBm is your LTE signal strength.
Compare numbers.
I did this vs my wife's iPhone 5 and found that although her signal indicator was showing 3-4 more bars than my s5 we both actually had the same signal strength.
Thanks I'll do that asap. The only reason I'm thinking something is wrong is because in areas I had 4G all the time on my Note 3 and S4 I'm barely get 4G or I'll drop to 3G. Then when I'm watching YouTube, if I stop a video , fast forward, or rewind, if I'm on cellular I can never get the video to play back. I get the error tap to retry. But when on WiFi I can I can.
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Eckono said:
Thanks I'll do that asap. The only reason I'm thinking something is wrong is because in areas I had 4G all the time on my Note 3 and S4 I'm barely get 4G or I'll drop to 3G. Then when I'm watching YouTube, if I stop a video , fast forward, or rewind, if I'm on cellular I can never get the video to play back. I get the error tap to retry. But when on WiFi I can I can.
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You also have to read about cfbs and triband phones ... which can cause the data issues
Sent from my SM-N900P using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
well if i dont remember note 3 and s3 dont use the spark network and the s5 does soo,.,.its prob a bad spark connection they are still upgrading the towers ..
The s5 signal bar shows data strength instead of voice strength
When you make a phone call, it switches to the voice signal strength, which is why it seems to get higher all of a sudden
-Sent from Tapatalk
Eckono said:
My GS5 seems to have a very weak LTE signal. I disabled all bands except for band 25 because the phone was trying to signal hop killing the battery. My girlfriend has the Note 3 which can only pick up band 25. When my phone is right next to hers, she can have a very strong LTE signal and my GS5 will either have a very weak signal or drop down to 3G. The only LTE band in my area that's currently pretty strong is the 1900mhz band. I can barely connect to that. Anyone else having weak signal or connection issues?
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda app-developers app
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How do you disable certain bands? I want to try it as well as something seems to be killing my battery. Thanks
Yea, in the last year I have had an iphone 5, Note2, and Note3. New Orleans is newly upgraded to LTE (not yet Spark), and coverage was great on those three phones. This S5, however, constantly switches from LTE to 3G in areas where the other three phones stayed on LTE. It also drops to no data at all way too often in areas where data is fine. (I play Ingress, so I am VERY familiar with the signal capabilities all over town)
Is there any hope of this phone's signal strength being improved with software updates? Will Spark make a difference when it hits New Orleans?
This piece of garbage is pretty pathetic signal-wise compared to my other devices I've recently used. I've got Sprint to agree to a phone swap, but if that's not going to make a difference, perhaps I should just go back to my Note3.
I have this phone it does drop lte alot plus I have spark. But I have an offer to trade for a note 3 idk if I want ..I like yhe fingerprint scanner but this signal is boo boo ....
gregg37 said:
Yea, in the last year I have had an iphone 5, Note2, and Note3. New Orleans is newly upgraded to LTE (not yet Spark), and coverage was great on those three phones. This S5, however, constantly switches from LTE to 3G in areas where the other three phones stayed on LTE. It also drops to no data at all way too often in areas where data is fine. (I play Ingress, so I am VERY familiar with the signal capabilities all over town)
Is there any hope of this phone's signal strength being improved with software updates? Will Spark make a difference when it hits New Orleans?
This piece of garbage is pretty pathetic signal-wise compared to my other devices I've recently used. I've got Sprint to agree to a phone swap, but if that's not going to make a difference, perhaps I should just go back to my Note3.
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I wouldnt worry about the phone swap. I skeptically did it to see if it would work and ended up wasting an hour in ths store. between my friends and family we have 4 GS5s that all have the same issues.
None of your previous phones were triband. They only could connect to 1900mhz LTE. The GS5 is a triband phone, aka spark, that can connect to 800/1900/2600mhz LTE. Unfortunately there are issues with the software on the towers (search eCSFB) that changes you between bands. I have turned off band 41 and it has helped a lot even tho my area is a "spark" area. I turn it back on once in a while to see if things are fixed.
There have been complaints that the GS5 has worse connectivity because of the water resistant design compared to phones such as the GS4. its really only a couple dbm from what i have seen when looking at actual signal values from engineering screens and when comparing the same band of LTE.
As far as shutting off bands, you will need your MSL code. you can either get it from a sprint rep (all i did was ask) or you can use the MSL reader here
tools.flashingtools.com
use dialer code ##3282# and go to edit. enter your MSL code and go to LTE. turn off B41 and restart your phone.
Shiftlock said:
As far as shutting off bands, you will need your MSL code. you can either get it from a sprint rep (all i did was ask) or you can use the MSL reader here
tools.flashingtools.com
use dialer code ##3282# and go to edit. enter your MSL code and go to LTE. turn off B41 and restart your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, Shiftlock! This is the kind of help I was hoping for. I'll give that a try!
:good:
Shiftlock said:
use dialer code ##3282# and go to edit. enter your MSL code and go to LTE. turn off B41 and restart your phone.
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Click to collapse
Ok I've got this turned off. Will it persist through resets and restarts? Or will I have to keep turning it off?
(have to remember to bookmark this so I remember how to turn it back on when Spark hits New Orleans, which I think is somewhat soon)
gregg37 said:
Ok I've got this turned off. Will it persist through resets and restarts? Or will I have to keep turning it off?
(have to remember to bookmark this so I remember how to turn it back on when Spark hits New Orleans, which I think is somewhat soon)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this will stay until you either change it back or do a system update. I noticed that nd2 changed it back. You may want to check it after clearing data/cache if you flash any mods or roms. Luckily the msl won't change so it's easy enough to fix if needed
I'm getting LTE coverage in places I wouldn't with my s4. The data is definitely better
-Sent from Tapatalk
eyecon82 said:
I'm getting LTE coverage in places I wouldn't with my s4. The data is definitely better
-Sent from Tapatalk
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Better because of turning off band 41 or just comparing the S5 to the S4?
CCallahan said:
Better because of turning off band 41 or just comparing the S5 to the S4?
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Click to collapse
Guess we'll never know....
(mine still sucks after trying that, btw)
I couldn't find anything strictly comparing the Note 7/5 signal strength and radios for Sprint users upgrading from the Note 5. What are your experiences so far? Are both phones equal? Or does the Note 5 have stronger signal capabilities than the 7, vice versa?
CarolinaPride said:
I couldn't find anything strictly comparing the Note 7/5 signal strength and radios for Sprint users upgrading from the Note 5. What are your experiences so far? Are both phones equal? Or does the Note 5 have stronger signal capabilities than the 7, vice versa?
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Click to collapse
I find the Note 7 signal strength to be very unreliable and inconsistent. It's probably my 3rd dislike of the phone. However the useless Bluetooth functionality and mediocre battery life really bother me more..
I have no issues with Bluetooth but your other 2 issues yes I do. They can be fixed in updates though so I'm keeping it
Sent from my SM-N930P using XDA-Developers mobile app
I've been with the s6 edge since launch and I can say at home I've never seen a 3g connection only LTE. Now with the note 7 it sporadically drops LTE to 3g more than a few times a day.
I really hope its just a lemon phone. Almost wonder if I should try to get sprint to swap it out
Sent from my SM-N930P using Tapatalk
Anybody else finding that the reception on this phone is not as good as your previous devices?
I am on Verizon and I already have bad reception inside and outside of my house.
Previously had a Nexus 6p and LGv10 . Both had a hard time locking on signal but not as bad as the Oneplus7pro.
Are there any tweaks I can make to improve the reception?
I am fully capable of editing/flashing anything as I am unlocked/rooted/TWRP'd etc.
Thanks
Master X said:
Anybody else finding that the reception on this phone is not as good as your previous devices?
I am on Verizon and I already have bad reception inside and outside of my house.
Previously had a Nexus 6p and LGv10 . Both had a hard time locking on signal but not as bad as the Oneplus7pro.
Are there any tweaks I can make to improve the reception?
I am fully capable of editing/flashing anything as I am unlocked/rooted/TWRP'd etc.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not having issues.
I'm on Verizon.
My unlocked GM1917 has very good coverage & reception on T-Mobile.
Working well here with Metro.
No issues with AT&T.
I'm on Tmobile and my 7Pro unlocked (not Tmobile branded) is getting at least 30% faster download and upload speeds then my OP 6 with the sim card and same areas. I just pop it out and put in the other phone. OP6 is downloading at 123mbps and my 7Pro 20 seconds later is pulling 161mbps. So the new modem on the SD855 is significantly better. Not sure about the other carriers but the 7Pro network speeds are insane.
My GM1915 has better reception, wifi, and bt than my note9
How exactly are you gauging the quality of the cellular reception?
I'm on Verizon and had the OnePlus 7 Pro working for about 2 days. I haven't noticed any signal issues that I didn't already have with my Galaxy S8+.
Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk
I have Verizon also and no problems but keep in mind if you are in a bad area that the 7pro has no cdma to fall back on and will have to struggle on a weak LTE signal.
It also has no vowifi on Verizon so Google voice with WiFi calling on would be the only rescue.