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[Q] Best rom for service ONLY all other variables aside?

First off I apologize if there is another thread about this but all I found when searching was a general "best rom", and one related to battery life.
Personally I would like to know opinions on best rom for connectivity only. I live in a strong 4G area but whenever I am in my basement I get spotty connectivity, drop calls and such. I have been on the CM10 nightlies crack flashing since the boot-loader was unlocked. I love CM10 just wondering for basic call quality, does someone have a different rom preference for call quality?
Again mods I apologize if this is out there... but i couldn't find one for call quality. I realize this all depends on the baseband and such which Samsung is infamous for theirs. I just feel like even a slight better signal would make a big difference for me considering generally it's good connection.
Also my office is in my basement and I make a lot of calls and I'd prefer to keep it that way if possible.
Any thoughts are appreciated.

I'd actually like to know this as well. I recently switched from using an iphone to a Samsung Galaxy S3 and the difference with this phone is there are so many different roms available, I don't know which one is the best whereas with the iphone there is usually 1 main jailbreak and everything else is provided by cydia.

Like you said, this mainly is based on the radio and not on the Rom, but i agree there could be some minor differences. Your best bet would be to try a couple out and see how they work in your office. I personally am running jellywiz and my signal is rock sold and i work in low signal areas a lot.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

magus15 said:
I'd actually like to know this as well. I recently switched from using an iphone to a Samsung Galaxy S3 and the difference with this phone is there are so many different roms available, I don't know which one is the best whereas with the iphone there is usually 1 main jailbreak and everything else is provided by cydia.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you search the forum there is actually a main thread for best rom overall which may help you more since it doesn't seem your only concern is call quality. Sorry I don't have the thread name but I think if you do a forum search for "best rom" you should be able to find that thread.
kintwofan said:
Like you said, this mainly is based on the radio and not on the Rom, but i agree there could be some minor differences. Your best bet would be to try a couple out and see how they work in your office. I personally am running jellywiz and my signal is rock sold and i work in low signal areas a lot.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually planned on doing that and testing them out on my own, I was just hoping someone may have some tips on one they have used in areas such as a basement or a place they know they haven't always gotten good service but have found a rom that works great for them as far as call quality. Such as your example of jellywiz, I will certainly give that a try and see if I can hold a higher consistency for call quality. Thanks for your input!

There are definetly differences between ROMs relative to battery life... different versions of the same ROM can be quite different.
I've been using Jellywiz as my DD and it's been great. I really liked RLS4. I've updated to RLS5 this morning but my battery life has declined greatly. I've also gotten one reboot. I'm sure the dev will have it fixed in the next release (the Devs on the Jellywiz project are top notch).
I also liked Synergy quite a lot... It's not Jelly Bean, but the battery life was great and very stable!
The best thing you can do is try several different ones... Let the ROM settle for a good day or two before coming to any conclusions...
Good luck...

Dirty13ear said:
First off I apologize if there is another thread about this but all I found when searching was a general "best rom", and one related to battery life.
Personally I would like to know opinions on best rom for connectivity only. I live in a strong 4G area but whenever I am in my basement I get spotty connectivity, drop calls and such. I have been on the CM10 nightlies crack flashing since the boot-loader was unlocked. I love CM10 just wondering for basic call quality, does someone have a different rom preference for call quality?
Again mods I apologize if this is out there... but i couldn't find one for call quality. I realize this all depends on the baseband and such which Samsung is infamous for theirs. I just feel like even a slight better signal would make a big difference for me considering generally it's good connection.
Also my office is in my basement and I make a lot of calls and I'd prefer to keep it that way if possible.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without getting too granular, stock based roms have the best reception. Rom's where the RIL has had to be tweaked, such as CM, MIUI, JellyBean ports, and cross carrier ports are more likely to have radio issues.
Then, there are different radios you could flash. In my experience with many devices, changing radios has never had much of an impact on radio reception. Different radio versions generally fix bugs, and things like 3g/4g switching. For instance the latest stock radio for our device (VRLG7) fixes the "no SIM" bug. I am using that and it has worked great for me.
Generally though, I don't think actual reception (mostly dependent on hardware) should vary too much. Usually it's reliability that can vary. "Bars" aren't always an accurate indicator of reception either, signal strength in dBm is.

bfs673 said:
There are definetly differences between ROMs relative to battery life... different versions of the same ROM can be quite different.
I've been using Jellywiz as my DD and it's been great. I really liked RLS4. I've updated to RLS5 this morning but my battery life has declined greatly. I've also gotten one reboot. I'm sure the dev will have it fixed in the next release (the Devs on the Jellywiz project are top notch).
I also liked Synergy quite a lot... It's not Jelly Bean, but the battery life was great and very stable!
The best thing you can do is try several different ones... Let the ROM settle for a good day or two before coming to any conclusions...
Good luck...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry... I got lost in an unrelated thought (battery life)....
The service side appears to be pretty sold from the ROMs that I've personally tried. Not sure you'll find a big difference here in real world performance.

CodefireX is getting me the best service I've ever had. Several other people in the thread seem to be experiencing the same thing.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

no 4g since flashing
turbosrrgood said:
Without getting too granular, stock based roms have the best reception. Rom's where the RIL has had to be tweaked, such as CM, MIUI, JellyBean ports, and cross carrier ports are more likely to have radio issues.
Then, there are different radios you could flash. In my experience with many devices, changing radios has never had much of an impact on radio reception. Different radio versions generally fix bugs, and things like 3g/4g switching. For instance the latest stock radio for our device (VRLG7) fixes the "no SIM" bug. I am using that and it has worked great for me.
Generally though, I don't think actual reception (mostly dependent on hardware) should vary too much. Usually it's reliability that can vary. "Bars" aren't always an accurate indicator of reception either, signal strength in dBm is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not seen the 4G indicator since flashing a week or more ago. I have tried aokp, cm10, and root66.
Not sure what to do. The phone works fine otherwise. All these are great but I would never have gone this route if I had any thought that wireless capabilities would be reduced. Any ideas on how to return to 4G would be greatly appreciated.

Out of all the 4.1 roms out there, JellyWiz's wifi/4G/3g is the most solid one. Very stable and good enough to be a DD.
Sent from my SCH-I585 using xda premium

Cm10 stable builds!

Alright so I just found out on android authority that cyanogen mod just released its stable builds for the galaxy s3 variants. Just scroll down and find d2vzw!
http://download.cyanogenmod.com/?type=stable
Download will be 160mb
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Hate to say it but TW Roms on the S3 FTW.
Nothing more stable then the TW Roms we have for the Verizon S3. AOSP is just not there yet and who knows if it will ever be. After coming from a GNEX, you really see AOSP was not meant for any other devices and is loaded with problems when using anything else then a Nexus device.
Would love to get another Nexus device but who knows if Verizon will ever see one again and no other network is really good enough to pull me away right now.
Also, Google's claim about no LTE on the Nexus 4 due to bad battery, did anyone at Google try the S3? I would hardly call 4 hours of on screen time over LTE bad battery. They need to look past the GNEX which for whatever reason was a disaster when it came to battery. My wife's Rezound with like a 1650mAh battery gets as much screen on time then my GNEX did with a 2100mAh battery. Knock knock, don't we think something was wrong there!

Actually, I used the Thunderbolt I had previous to the GS3 for over a year on AOSP and it was AT LEAST as stable as the stock rom...probably more so. It just took time for it to get there. Saying that AOSP will never be stable is just...well, hogwash...Right now it's questionable. The roms are stable, it's just data that has a bit of an issue. If you're in a great reception area, there's no reason to not use it. Fringe areas, well, there are pros and cons.

Chuckleb0ne said:
Alright so I just found out on android authority that cyanogen mod just released its stable builds for the galaxy s3 variants. Just scroll down and find d2vzw!
Download will be 160mb
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw this, this morning... Apparently people are still having issues with blue tooth audio, and NFC.. but hey its a stable build not a RC. Will be flashing this at lunch!

SubliminalME said:
Actually, I used the Thunderbolt I had previous to the GS3 for over a year on AOSP and it was AT LEAST as stable as the stock rom...probably more so. It just took time for it to get there. Saying that AOSP will never be stable is just...well, hogwash...Right now it's questionable. The roms are stable, it's just data that has a bit of an issue. If you're in a great reception area, there's no reason to not use it. Fringe areas, well, there are pros and cons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never said it will never be there I said who knows if it will get there. The Thunderbolt was never stable on stock so saying AOSP was just as stable is not saying much. lol
Signal is important to many people. If I was not worried about signals I would not be on Verizon paying their hight prices. I would be paying half the price for service running a Nexus 4 on a crappy GSM network. There are more issues then just signal and sure eventually they may all get worked out but so many people here jump devices so often we never get to see the final product if one is produced.
All I am saying is TW Roms have been so good on the S3 I cannot imagine sacrificing the stability at this point for an AOSP rom and trust me I would love to run AOSP. I never knew how good it felt until the GNEX which was my first Nexus device. Man, did AOKP rule on that phone.

I am currently using this rom. The only problems I seem to have are GPS locks, and the speaker phone echo. Supposedly some work was done on the echo, so perhaps a wipe is need to reap the benefits. At this point, once those two problems are fixed I would consider it a daily driver for anyone.
I don't use NFC or bluetooth, so I am unaware of problems related to those features.

Bass Issue
I'm not really sure if there is an exact stable build since the supposed stable build had Bluetooth issue by not giving the bass

[email protected] said:
I never said it will never be there I said who knows if it will get there. The Thunderbolt was never stable on stock so saying AOSP was just as stable is not saying much. lol
Signal is important to many people. If I was not worried about signals I would not be on Verizon paying their hight prices. I would be paying half the price for service running a Nexus 4 on a crappy GSM network. There are more issues then just signal and sure eventually they may all get worked out but so many people here jump devices so often we never get to see the final product if one is produced.
All I am saying is TW Roms have been so good on the S3 I cannot imagine sacrificing the stability at this point for an AOSP rom and trust me I would love to run AOSP. I never knew how good it felt until the GNEX which was my first Nexus device. Man, did AOKP rule on that phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If signal was so important people would only buy HTC and Motorola phones...just saying. I love my S3 but those two companies produce far better radios.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Has anyone found a workaround to get NFC to work in Cyanogen 10 Stable?

ghostofdavid said:
Has anyone found a workaround to get NFC to work in Cyanogen 10 Stable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NFC does work on cm10 stable

ddurandSGS3 said:
NFC does work on cm10 stable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't figure out why it isn't working for me. I go to Settings, Click on More, And Check the NFC box and it is light greyed out and it does not allow me to complete any NFC activities. I know my NFC works as I've used it this week on rooted Jellybean. Am I missing something very obvious?

[email protected] said:
Hate to say it but TW Roms on the S3 FTW.
Nothing more stable then the TW Roms we have for the Verizon S3. AOSP is just not there yet and who knows if it will ever be. After coming from a GNEX, you really see AOSP was not meant for any other devices and is loaded with problems when using anything else then a Nexus device.
Would love to get another Nexus device but who knows if Verizon will ever see one again and no other network is really good enough to pull me away right now.
Also, Google's claim about no LTE on the Nexus 4 due to bad battery, did anyone at Google try the S3? I would hardly call 4 hours of on screen time over LTE bad battery. They need to look past the GNEX which for whatever reason was a disaster when it came to battery. My wife's Rezound with like a 1650mAh battery gets as much screen on time then my GNEX did with a 2100mAh battery. Knock knock, don't we think something was wrong there!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to disagree. Liquid smooth rom is the first aosp I've seen that runs like butter.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
---------- Post added at 05:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:52 PM ----------
nosympathy said:
If signal was so important people would only buy HTC and Motorola phones...just saying. I love my S3 but those two companies produce far better radios.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've yet to see an HTC phone as light weight as the S3. Every HTC phone I've held feels like a brick.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

ghostofdavid said:
I can't figure out why it isn't working for me. I go to Settings, Click on More, And Check the NFC box and it is light greyed out and it does not allow me to complete any NFC activities. I know my NFC works as I've used it this week on rooted Jellybean. Am I missing something very obvious?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you search "nfc greyed out" in the question forum youll find pages of results and threads about this, and youll get your informatino much faster.
theres a zip youll find, as well as instructions.
nandroid
flash TW JB rom.
enable NFC (might as well get a GPS lock also)
restore nandroid
win

For the NFC issue, I believe that the CM10 thread includes a flashable zip or APK to fix the NFC: see this thread.
I do have a general question. I have been running CleanROM 5.6 but wanted to know how "stable" CM10 is in comparison to CleanROM. I understand that I'd be missing out on some Touchwiz features (motions, smartstay, powersave), but I am most concerned w/ battery life and data connection, particularly as I find myself never using the Touchwiz features anyway.
I am finding that reception on my S3 is inferior to my Razr M - for example, where I would get 3G or 4G signal on my M, I was getting 1x or no data on my S3. From what I've also read, data on the CM ROMs is inferior to the data on the TW ROMS. Can anyone confirm this?
Also, w/ battery life, I've also read that battery life on CM ROMS is inferior to that of Touchwiz. In any case, I am finding that the battery life on the S3 in general is inferior to that of the Razr M given my use. Specifically, I push my work email, read and respond to emails, browse the web a little bit, a few phone calls and text messages, and some FB use. On the Razr M, I was consistently getting about 36 hours of use, whereas, on the S3, I have been barely able to get 24 hours. If battery life on TW is already inferior to that of the Razr M, I am not willing to sacrifice battery life further by going with CM10.
In addition to battery and consistent data, are there any other bugs/issues w/ the CM10 stable that I should be aware of (tethering, BT connectivity, low call volume, speakerphone echo, etc.)?
Lastly, I assume that CM10 stable does not have the multitude of bugs that the present version of CM10.1 has?

Poor Signal Strength with Cyanogen 10 & 10.1

I live and work in an area that has poor signal for Verizon. I almost immediately flashed to CM 10 after I got the Verizon Galaxy S3 because I was running CM 10 on my previous Sprint Galaxy S3 without issue. I have been updating the radio and RPM with each leak (currently running K3) and things got a little better but I constantly dropped calls. I had to flash back to stock because I flashed to CM 10.1 and my radio got messed up. I ran the newest stock rom for the last week and noticed a huge difference. I still had low signal but my data dropped less frequently and I could actually make phone calls in areas I couldn't before.
I rooted, and flashed to CM 10.1 and noticed right away the signal is not where it should be. I can't make phone calls inside of buildings with low signal at all, where with stock I could without issue. I love CyanogenMod but I don't think I can deal with the poor signal.
Any ideas on what could be causing this problem and maybe a possible resolution?

fowen said:
I live and work in an area that has poor signal for Verizon. I almost immediately flashed to CM 10 after I got the Verizon Galaxy S3 because I was running CM 10 on my previous Sprint Galaxy S3 without issue. I have been updating the radio and RPM with each leak (currently running K3) and things got a little better but I constantly dropped calls. I had to flash back to stock because I flashed to CM 10.1 and my radio got messed up. I ran the newest stock rom for the last week and noticed a huge difference. I still had low signal but my data dropped less frequently and I could actually make phone calls in areas I couldn't before.
I rooted, and flashed to CM 10.1 and noticed right away the signal is not where it should be. I can't make phone calls inside of buildings with low signal at all, where with stock I could without issue. I love CyanogenMod but I don't think I can deal with the poor signal.
Any ideas on what could be causing this problem and maybe a possible resolution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on where ya live, your mileage may vary. I get within 1-2 -dBm between the two.
Technically since we don't have the source code the reason CM10 has data is by a work around.
There really is nothing you can do. It is what it is. I've run devices with CM that have provided better signal, and usually were on sprint lol and then run them where they provide the same or slightly worse quality.
Happens.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

This does not ha e anything to do with cm 10. This this to do with the the phone radio. This is the reason why I switched to the DNA now I have Full bars everywhere I go. On my s3 I used to drop calls all the time.
Sent from my HTC DROID DNA.

Itzvik said:
This does not ha e anything to do with cm 10. This this to do with the the phone radio. This is the reason why I switched to the DNA now I have Full bars everywhere I go. On my s3 I used to drop calls all the time.
Sent from my HTC DROID DNA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your wrong...read OP post and you realize your wrong.
You have your DNA now leave and stop trolling.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Ok I really hope I'm not beating the dead horse here but I have a similar problem on my verizon Galaxy s3 and I was hoping there might be a fix

My understanding is that the CM developers dont have the GS3 source for something (the RIL?) so they have to use a different RIL? I'm probably totally butchering that, because I dont understand the words I'm using, but from what I've gathered the signal is what it is on CM, and will not improve beyond where it is.
It is certainly usable for me, but there are many times my wife has 4g and I have 3g, or she has a 3g signal and I have nothing at all (she has a stock vzw gs3).

Restola said:
My understanding is that the CM developers dont have the GS3 source for something (the RIL?) so they have to use a different RIL? I'm probably totally butchering that, because I dont understand the words I'm using, but from what I've gathered the signal is what it is on CM, and will not improve beyond where it is.
It is certainly usable for me, but there are many times my wife has 4g and I have 3g, or she has a 3g signal and I have nothing at all (she has a stock vzw gs3).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're correct on the RIL part.
I had the same issue on 10.1. I switched to an older radio, and though it is not perfect, it did give me better reception and the switch from 3g to 4g is faster. My radio is VRLHE

Why not try a rom like beans. It is a touch wiz rom that looks like aosp and had a lot of aosp features. That way the radios will work fine you will still have aosp stuff and all the goodness of being rooted.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

Let's not get confused here. Tw rom's like beans are themed to look slightly aosp, but are far from it. Aosp has so many customization options that tw cannot come close to. (I'm an aosp guy, if you can't tell). That being said, signal strength will always be an issue on aosp based roms due to the Samsung ril only being licensed to samsung, hence only working on tw rom's. The official ril code will almost never be released as its how qualcom makes its money. Currently aosp rom's use a work around home brewed ril that is very effective, but not quite what stock rom will offer. So if your signal is poor where you are, aosp may not be the best choice for you, but for most the signal is just as good as tw, and imo the only way to run android.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

I'm not confused, that's why I said looks like (aka themed like). Also I said some aosp features like MMS, camera/gallery, lock screen to name a few. Its no where near the same but if they are having issues which I read a few people do have with signal and losing data its a nice alternative and has SOME similar features.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

Why is everyone still releasing 4.1.2 ROMs?

I just upgraded from a Samsung Galaxy Nexus to a Samsung Galaxy S3, and just curious why everyone is still making/releasing 4.1.2 based ROMs when 4.2.2 has been available for so long?
Having come from running 4.2.2 on my Nexus, I was used to it, so the first think I did was unlock, root and get AOKP 4.2.2 on here. It runs flawlessly and everything works, so just hoping to get some insight on why all the ROMs in the dev section are old.
Thank you

Because many of the roms in development are based off Samsung's touchwiz software, which itself is based on 4.1.2 still. For 4.2.2 roms based off AOSP, most of them can be found in original development.
Basically the difference in versions is due to
Touchwiz: Google -> Samsung -> verizon -> devs
AOSP: Google -> devs

And aosp roms camcorder has extremely low volume recording so having kids I unfortunately cant use aosp even though I really want to.

crobs808 said:
Having come from running 4.2.2 on my Nexus, I was used to it, so the first think I did was unlock, root and get AOKP 4.2.2 on here. It runs flawlessly and everything works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite everything works on an AOSP 4.2.x ROM. The radio interface layer (RIL) software for the GS3 has not been released by Samsung, the radio software used for all AOSP ROMs is reverse-engineered and is not quite as good as the original Samsung software. Your signal strength will not be quite as good using AOSP, though you may or may not notice a difference depending on coverage where you live.
More importantly, the GS3's world phone capabilities are not fully working with the AOSP RIL, I believe you can put a GSM SIM in the phone and make calls/texts, but not get data service. So if you travel internationally and want to use a local SIM to get data, you'll want to stick with a ROM based on the latest Samsung software, which unfortunately is still based on 4.1.2.
I'm happy to hear if either of those things have changed recently, it's been a little while since I looked into it. The only reason I don't use AOSP ROMs right now is because of the RIL issue, I need my phone to work as a phone first and foremost and that means going with something based on stock Samsung software. Of course, if neither of those things bother you, use what you like.

Hmm, weird. I have no call issues, and am getting 20MB/10MB on 4G LTE for data speeds, same as I did on my Nexus running AOKP build 6 (Android 4.2.2). Even the number of bars is the same, and more bars near my office than before with my Nexus (may be due to better radio hardware though). Also, I tested audio on video recording, and hear no difference in the videos I took on my Nexus. I also have kids, and the test I did was whispering to full talking from 5ft away - hear everything.
Weird. Guess I'll just keep using it since it's working for me.

crobs808 said:
Hmm, weird. I have no call issues, and am getting 20MB/10MB on 4G LTE for data speeds, same as I did on my Nexus running AOKP build 6 (Android 4.2.2). Even the number of bars is the same, and more bars near my office than before with my Nexus (may be due to better radio hardware though). Also, I tested audio on video recording, and hear no difference in the videos I took on my Nexus. I also have kids, and the test I did was whispering to full talking from 5ft away - hear everything.
Weird. Guess I'll just keep using it since it's working for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Different strokes for different folks. Personally I like many of the features of Touchwiz (The samsung camera app among others) but hate the way it looks so I use beans 4.1.2 builds. I was on AOSP 4.2.2 for a while but had isseus with the gps not tracking my runs properly and the low recording volume really got to me.

I've found that most AOSP builds leave me wanting. AOKP has never disappointed me; across devices.

If you had good reception with the Nexus...well, that speaks volumes. You're not anywhere near a fringe area. If you have great 4g, the Nexus worked great and AOSP roms on GS3 work great.
Where I live, there are a bunch of fringe areas and a lot of handshaking between 4g and 3g. The Nexus....I had to return it immediately. TERRIBLE reception. The GS3 with AOSP was a little better...but not much. When I'm sitting beside my wife with a rooted GS3 running Cleanrom, and I'm running CM10.1 and I have no signal and she has 4g...well, it gets frustrating. lol.
But I'm glad it's working for you...wish I could run 4.2.2...stupid RIL.

For those having GPS problems, have you done this?: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2201668
I much prefer the pure Google experience. when I had an HTC I hated Sense. When I had a Motorola I hated Motoblur. I didn't see any reason to learn to like TouchWiz
Also, I think I am blessed with my geographical area. I can travel 45 minutes from one side of my home city to the other and still have 4-5 bars on LTE.

[Q] Which Rom for best signal Stock or AOSP, and other questions.

Greetings fellow current and former S3 owners.
Get ready, as Oggie said my posts are rather long and rambling. I've got a few questions mainly for opinions and your experiences.
I tried activating my old DX2 on BYOP tracfone because I don't really use a lot of minutes etc and because they rollover for at least 3 months. After investing a lot of time and money, I found out the hard way that the BYOP android tracfones won't roam on non-verizon towers. And as far as I know, neither do net10, regular Andy tracfones you buy from a store or online, or even prepaid verizon phones. This is a load of BS. So there's my background now for the meat and potatoes of this post.
I've since decided to go with selectel since they do roam but only Voice and text, not data, which is fine with me. Another reason I really wanted to use my S3 is the continued development and the development done on it thus far. I couldn't run Kitkat or even ICS on the DX2 without some kind of issues. Although I give the devs credit for trying. That phone just didn't get the love my old DX got and certainly not the love my S3 gets.
Since I'm in a low signal area I've been wondering if I should use a stock based rom to get an extra few DB/m of signal strength. I can't afford a repeater at the moment. I've looked at putting foil behind the battery and on the back of the battery cover on the inside to supposedly prevent the battery from interferring with the signal from the internal antenna. I've looked at holding it differently. I've looked that using a piece of wire or an actual plug to try an external antenna but I've read many posts on many sites including a very detailed one on XDA that says it works but could damage something inside that could disable the internal antenna permanently without taking the phone apart to fix it. I'd like to avoid that too. But many have done it with excellent results.
1. Has anyone used an external antenna or any other tricks to reliably increase signal strength without buying a repeater which again, I can't afford at the moment. If so, what did you do or could you provide a link to the method.
2. I prefer AOSP or CM based rom's 10 to 1 over TW based roms. Don't get me wrong. I like the TW based roms, Alliance, MOAR, Wicked, and Scott's roms are all excellent TW based roms that are very customizable. But they still use a lot of what I would consider un-necessary stuff from verizon. They are customizable to the point that I'm fairly satisfied with that aspect of those roms even without using Xposed to get the additional features I want. and I'd like to avoid Xposed even though I've found that it works really well. I just think the AOSP roms's seem to operate smoother and there are more kitkat's to choose from. I like most of them but I prefer Nameless since it includes all of what I want without a bunch of stuff I don't use like AOKP, Carbon, and others. I do like slim, as it used to be my DD for a long time. I like Beanstalk until it started including a lot of stuff I don't sue. Don't get me wrong I am not trying to start a war of the rom world. I appreciate them all. Without the development of all those roms, we wouldn't have some of the features and have the lovely roms we have today. So, again, I've used and appreciate them all. That's what's so great about Android. You can choose what works for you. So, Please don't think I'm putting those roms down just because I prefer one over another. I'm using Liquid on my DX. Liquid Kitkat at that. and it works great for me.
I guess my question is do you guys think I'd gain enough DB/m to make it worth using a TW based rom? I know the RIL's aren't perfect but they're pretty damn cloase. Again, living in an area with bad signal to begin with every few DB/m helps. So should i use a TW rom for better signal? I've tried measuring the DB/m but I can't honestly tell a huge difference in signal between the TW and AOSP based roms even though the TW roms should get better signal.
Are there any secret settings I can access in a TW or AOSP rom that I could change to get better signal?
My S3 thanks to the work of many dev's is still an awesome device but I don't believe it gets as good a signal as did my DX and the DX2 according to the DB/m measurements. It may just be that they're measured differently in the device. I don't know.
Could someone shed some light on this and or give me some recommendations.
I also don't want to lose the settings for selectel, I've done an NVbackup in the terminal, as well as made a nandroid of my working nameless rom in case something goes arry.
Any advice will be appreciated. I'd like to try out the new Lollipop roms but I think I'll wait until it's more ready with features to use as my DD. mastamoon's may already be there but I haven't tried it yet. I'm sure they'll all get there eventually. At least I hope so.
Thanks in advance for any input on these questions. Sorry for my long rambling post. Anyone who knows me know's I go into way too much detail.
I''m using the latest firmware with the latest NE1 modem. If that helps.
Thanks one more time for taking the time to read this extra extra long post. And thanks again to the remaing dev's and past dev's for making this phone what it is today. I'd love to buy a note two or three but can't afford that now. I'd also like to hae the Razor Maxx since the battery life on those is ridiculus. I don't know if I'll ever buy another samsung just because the signal doesn't seem to be on par with some of the other brands especially Moto. At lesat the old Moto's. i don't know how well they are now that google as acquired the mobile division of moto's phones.
Did I mention I'd especially love to own a Nexus 6, I just don't know if I could use it on a CDMA network and they have the best coverage out here in the boonies where I live.
Thanks again, and have a gerat new year to all XDA members

Figured this one out the hard way. It doesn't really matter at least in my area which modem or rom. The S3 or at least my sch-i535 sucks compared to the dx2 I'm using now. I miss my s3 but Damm the signal is weak. I've heard it's better with the note 2.
Sent from my MB870 using Tapatalk 2

griz.droidx said:
Figured this one out the hard way. It doesn't really matter at least in my area which modem or rom. The S3 or at least my sch-i535 sucks compared to the dx2 I'm using now. I miss my s3 but Damm the signal is weak. I've heard it's better with the note 2.
Sent from my MB870 using Tapatalk 2
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I don't know what you tried of course, but FYI the reception on a Touchwiz ROM on the S3 is always going to be better than an AOSP ROM because Samsung never released the RIL for this phone. All AOSP ROMs run a reverse engineered RIL that isn't quite as good as the Samsung one, and you can only get the Samsung one if you are on a Touchwiz ROM. So if you never tested a Touchwiz ROM, you were never seeing the better signal. However, "the S3 signal is weak" is a legitimate complaint about this phone. In my experience, even with a TW ROM its reception is below average compared to other phones of its day.

Jacquestrapp said:
I don't know what you tried of course, but FYI the reception on a Touchwiz ROM on the S3 is always going to be better than an AOSP ROM because Samsung never released the RIL for this phone. All AOSP ROMs run a reverse engineered RIL that isn't quite as good as the Samsung one, and you can only get the Samsung one if you are on a Touchwiz ROM. So if you never tested a Touchwiz ROM, you were never seeing the better signal. However, "the S3 signal is weak" is a legitimate complaint about this phone. In my experience, even with a TW ROM its reception is below average compared to other phones of its day.
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Click to collapse
No matter the rom on my old S3 I never had a signal issue. It didn't matter if it was TouchWiz or not
Sent from my Nexus 6

ShapesBlue said:
No matter the rom on my old S3 I never had a signal issue. It didn't matter if it was TouchWiz or not
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Click to collapse
The AOSP RIL was pretty good, some people never noticed the difference but others (like me) did, I guess it depended on the tower coverage or maybe some phones just weren't as good as others. For me, it was mainly an issue inside buildings. In a few stores I frequent, if I was on a TW ROM, I'd get dropped down to 3G or even 1XRTT sometimes, while on AOSP I'd get no signal at all.

I had totally forgot about this post until going through some of the posts I'd made in the list of participated posts.. Thanks for the info, but I am well aware that the RIL was one of those deals where the dev's did the best they could with what they had. In fact, I couldn't really tell much difference if any between the TW based ROMs and the AOSP baased ones. A testament to the quality of dev's we have around here.
I am certainly very grateful for the work they've done for this phone. I was always blaming the signal loss on a lack of towers in my very rural and mountainous home. Not to mention the fact that we'd installed a metal roof on the house, and put up a metal shed to part a couple cars under. I was thinking both of those probably acted kind of like shielding of sorts. Like shielding in an electric guitar (bass in my case), or shielding in different types of wiring. I could be wrong about that but it just seemed like after that my signal went downhill whether on a TW rom or AOSP. And I was on an AOSP rom like SLIMROMS, AOKP, Liquid, Nameless (which became one of my favorites), and later on AICP, another favorite of mine with active development during the time mine was working.
I've read that the note 2's signal was much better than that of the S3. I don't know about any of the newer "S" or "Note" models. I loved my S3, it was put through the wringer. I sometimes cut weeds with it without a case, getting bits of weed and dirt all over it There were a lot of really awesome TW roms out there, but I always used something AOSP based.
Have said all that, it was a good phone for about 3.5 years. And performed very well, probably due to the 2GB of built in ram. I even dropped my phone in the shower once with no case. The back came off the battery came out, and it got wet. It was actually underwater for a few seconds. Not wanting to wait long, I can't remember if I took it apart and blowed it dry with a hair dryer which would have be the smart thing to do, or if I just put the battery back in and after wiping it off rebooted it. Either way, it survived that and lasted another couple years before the digitizer died. A very nice member on here named Master Cylinder sent several PM's with ideas on how to possibly get it going after the digiitizer died. The screen remained flawless, even after I ran out of screen protectors, and as I said I used it while mowing grass, and cutting copious amounts of weeds around the house. It'd get weeds stuck to it, but again, I'd take a damp rag and wipe it off. To this day I can't believe the digitizer failed. considering the phone worked very well up until that happened.
I'd owned a DX as my first android phone, but wanted the s3 because of the following it had. Many members who'd I'd got to know on forums went with the S3 and I followed because I felt as if I knew the dev's and how good they were. When I buy a phone, that's one of the main deciding factors in my purchase; whether or not development is strong for the device.
But once it died and I activated the DX2 that I bought for 20 dollarss mainly to use as a remote for my XBMC/Kodi computer hooked up to my TV, (before the raspberry pi's came along) and for the 16 GB sd card it contained, I decided to use it instead of my DX because of the Tegra dual core, and my love for Nvidia products. I really it could have been developed half as much as what my DX and S3 were but no such luck.
I don't know if the newer motorolas have signal receeption as good as my old DX and DX2 but I just don't like the fact that many new phones can't accept SD cards, and many do not have replaceable batteries.
In a nutshell, And I know I'm way off topic, but for those members who know my they know I'm long winded anyway. I still wish the very best to all who still own their s3, but in my low signal area, it's just a night and day difference between the S3's reception and the moto's I've owned.
I'll close by saying a BIG THANK YOU to all dev's and the commmunity who made the S3 the device I loved. I just wish it had better reception, and I wish I could fix it cheaper than it would cost me to buy one from swappa. The digitizer alone costs as much as a mint/good condition S3 on swappa. But it is old now. If I'd lived in an area with better reception maybe I'd never noticed the difference. But I don't and the difference is rreadily apparent. Shutting up now, I've rambled enough. I'd have no problem buying another samsung if and only if receptoin is at least comparable to the old moto's I own.
Again, Not *****ing, just a surprising observation to me once I started used the DX2. What sucks is this device while CM10 and CM9 are available, many have reported that they are much less reliable and stable as CM7 and Blur based GB roms. Mainly from what I understand due to either Moto's or Nvidia's lack of support which is a friggin shame.
Going back to my tags again, I personally could tell no difference signal wise from between ROMs. I think it's great that development is continuing somewhat on the S3. A testtament to the love of the phone. I miss it all the time. Except when I have to make a call that is. And isn't that why we buy cell phones. Maybe not as much as it once was, My whole reasoning in getting a smart phone in the first place was that I didn't own a MP3 player, A tablet, a Navigaion system, or e-reader.
Good luck guys and sorry I've got so far off topic. Enjoy your phones. Above all have fun. And if possible support the dev's. At least let them know how much they're appreciated. I know I don't have to tell many of you this. But, I for one (being laid off due to the closure of my engineering firrm) can't afford to even buy a beer for someone (or pop/soda). As far as appreciate goes though, I can guarantee the dev's and community won't find someone who appreciated them more. They make our devices the extra awesome that they can be. To use a phrase from one of the Armed Forces of the US, The Dev's and community who support the Dev's and us mortals, They make sure the device can be all they can be.
Cheers everyone and have fun. Can't wait until I can afford a new (probably used) phone. But as i mentioned I've shopped around mainly on swappa, and I don't even know what I'd buy, I'd like another moto unless the reception is better with the "Note" line. Again, I don't own a tablet, so a 5.5 inch to 6 inch phone is what I'll be looking for as long as it supports a SD Card, and has a removable battery. Battery Tech as came a long way, and maybe it's not the big deal it used to be, but I just think it's crazy that you can't add storage and buy a replacement battery for a phone you buy. I like the Nexus 6 and the multiple notes, but again, I don't believe you can replace the battery in the nexus nor is there expansion available in the form of an SD slot for things like Gigabytes worth of music, books, TIBU backups, and entire sets of maps for use offline. If you're readiing this and own an S3 do just like everyone recommends, don't be afraid to experiment with both ROMs and Modems, because as long as you do some reading you can always fix things back. So far I haven't hardbricked anything due to the help and hard work of the Dev's and Community at large who take time out of their life to do write ups / how to's and are usually more than willing to help.
If there's anything I can help anyone with. Just let me know. But keep in mind just like mechanic work, cooking, or computer/networking work. No one knows it all. But with enough opinions you can make educated choices. Reallly, I know some awesome mechanics who can't paint worth a nickel, and body / paint people who can't do much when it comes to hard core mechanic work. I'm in IT / GIS/ Permit Tech by trade, and while I'm pretty good at fixing things, I tell people who seem to think I know it all, that no one knows everything.
As for my recommendations, on JB I liked SLIM, KK I liked Nameless, and for POP/MM AICP. For TW Allicance, MOAR, and Wicked Sensations, not to mention Scotts work and the work of Old N Slow. This small list is not all inclusive. I've tried almost every rom out there for the S3.
I know Too Long will probably never be read.

griz.droidx said:
Greetings fellow current and former S3 owners.
Get ready, as Oggie said my posts are rather long and rambling. I've got a few questions mainly for opinions and your experiences.
I tried activating my old DX2 on BYOP tracfone because I don't really use a lot of minutes etc and because they rollover for at least 3 months. After investing a lot of time and money, I found out the hard way that the BYOP android tracfones won't roam on non-verizon towers. And as far as I know, neither do net10, regular Andy tracfones you buy from a store or online, or even prepaid verizon phones. This is a load of BS. So there's my background now for the meat and potatoes of this post.
I've since decided to go with selectel since they do roam but only Voice and text, not data, which is fine with me. Another reason I really wanted to use my S3 is the continued development and the development done on it thus far. I couldn't run Kitkat or even ICS on the DX2 without some kind of issues. Although I give the devs credit for trying. That phone just didn't get the love my old DX got and certainly not the love my S3 gets.
Since I'm in a low signal area I've been wondering if I should use a stock based rom to get an extra few DB/m of signal strength. I can't afford a repeater at the moment. I've looked at putting foil behind the battery and on the back of the battery cover on the inside to supposedly prevent the battery from interferring with the signal from the internal antenna. I've looked at holding it differently. I've looked that using a piece of wire or an actual plug to try an external antenna but I've read many posts on many sites including a very detailed one on XDA that says it works but could damage something inside that could disable the internal antenna permanently without taking the phone apart to fix it. I'd like to avoid that too. But many have done it with excellent results.
1. Has anyone used an external antenna or any other tricks to reliably increase signal strength without buying a repeater which again, I can't afford at the moment. If so, what did you do or could you provide a link to the method.
2. I prefer AOSP or CM based rom's 10 to 1 over TW based roms. Don't get me wrong. I like the TW based roms, Alliance, MOAR, Wicked, and Scott's roms are all excellent TW based roms that are very customizable. But they still use a lot of what I would consider un-necessary stuff from verizon. They are customizable to the point that I'm fairly satisfied with that aspect of those roms even without using Xposed to get the additional features I want. and I'd like to avoid Xposed even though I've found that it works really well. I just think the AOSP roms's seem to operate smoother and there are more kitkat's to choose from. I like most of them but I prefer Nameless since it includes all of what I want without a bunch of stuff I don't use like AOKP, Carbon, and others. I do like slim, as it used to be my DD for a long time. I like Beanstalk until it started including a lot of stuff I don't sue. Don't get me wrong I am not trying to start a war of the rom world. I appreciate them all. Without the development of all those roms, we wouldn't have some of the features and have the lovely roms we have today. So, again, I've used and appreciate them all. That's what's so great about Android. You can choose what works for you. So, Please don't think I'm putting those roms down just because I prefer one over another. I'm using Liquid on my DX. Liquid Kitkat at that. and it works great for me.
I guess my question is do you guys think I'd gain enough DB/m to make it worth using a TW based rom? I know the RIL's aren't perfect but they're pretty damn cloase. Again, living in an area with bad signal to begin with every few DB/m helps. So should i use a TW rom for better signal? I've tried measuring the DB/m but I can't honestly tell a huge difference in signal between the TW and AOSP based roms even though the TW roms should get better signal.
Are there any secret settings I can access in a TW or AOSP rom that I could change to get better signal?
My S3 thanks to the work of many dev's is still an awesome device but I don't believe it gets as good a signal as did my DX and the DX2 according to the DB/m measurements. It may just be that they're measured differently in the device. I don't know.
Could someone shed some light on this and or give me some recommendations.
I also don't want to lose the settings for selectel, I've done an NVbackup in the terminal, as well as made a nandroid of my working nameless rom in case something goes arry.
Any advice will be appreciated. I'd like to try out the new Lollipop roms but I think I'll wait until it's more ready with features to use as my DD. mastamoon's may already be there but I haven't tried it yet. I'm sure they'll all get there eventually. At least I hope so.
Thanks in advance for any input on these questions. Sorry for my long rambling post. Anyone who knows me know's I go into way too much detail.
I''m using the latest firmware with the latest NE1 modem. If that helps.
Thanks one more time for taking the time to read this extra extra long post. And thanks again to the remaing dev's and past dev's for making this phone what it is today. I'd love to buy a note two or three but can't afford that now. I'd also like to hae the Razor Maxx since the battery life on those is ridiculus. I don't know if I'll ever buy another samsung just because the signal doesn't seem to be on par with some of the other brands especially Moto. At lesat the old Moto's. i don't know how well they are now that google as acquired the mobile division of moto's phones.
Did I mention I'd especially love to own a Nexus 6, I just don't know if I could use it on a CDMA network and they have the best coverage out here in the boonies where I live.
Thanks again, and have a gerat new year to all XDA members
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Don't think that no one read this in its entirety because I did. I want to say thank you for posting this. I'm glad to see posts like this because too often we post something very short and to the point and it gets kind of mundane after awhile.
I thankfully don't live in a tin can (just being funny) and I'm not rural by any means but I've been in many places where there is no signal or non existent. I've still got my S3 laying around and by far to date it's been my favorite phone to mess around with and change roms, kernels and so forth. While I love my Nexus 5 and 6 I miss the external storage badly.
Thanks again man for just being a member and for your post it is much appreciated