I live less than 3 miles from Center city Philadelphia and I get terrible cell reception. My radio goes nuts constantly trying to keep a stable radio signal. It jumps from H to H+ to LTE constantly. I can stand in one place and watch it jump around all day. If I force LTE, LTE just drops out constantly. What is going on?
I have a few friends who all use the same carrier(T-Mobile) with different phones and don't report the same issue. I even have a buddy using a Gnex and he gets better reception than I do. Call quality is not very good either. I was making a call while walking home from class and had the other persons voice drop in and out when the wind started to blow. I dont believe that Wind was effecting my call. That makes no sense, but there was a correlation that went on for 20 minutes.
Anyone else having call quality/ signal strength issues? I am not talking about your data speeds, we have a thread for that. I am talking about tower connectivity and stability .
I don't use my phone for calling, but I'm trying out T-mobile in Janesville and Beloit Wisconsin and I notice that my signal bounces between GPRS, EDGE, 3g and H constantly as well. I have no other phone on T-Mobile to compare to though. Granted all signals have 1-2 bars in most places.
Use the app Sensorly to see what other users are reporting for signal coverage.
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My wife and I both received the mt4g today and enjoyed good reception at home (several bars with 'H' displayed). Out at dinner, we both fluctuated between no reception at all, and 2 bars with 'E' displayed...with these fluctuations occurring numerous times while the phone was just sitting on the table. I don't recall seeing 3G displayed at any time, including while leaving the area back to where we were getting more bars with 'H' again. Is it possible there's a default setting that's off (not allowing 3G or causing some other issue resulting in spotty/fluctuating reception), or is this just crappy t-mobile coverage?
Btw, we live in a metro area and were with AT&T prior to this, and had never experienced a complete lack of coverage like this anywhere near the areas we were in. T-mobile's coverage map (including data) also lists the area we were in as having very good coverage.
I haven't seen a reception issue. Mine gets just barely better reception than my Nexus One did.
I've I'm off of H, should I be seeing 3G more commonly than E?
netter123 said:
My wife and I both received the mt4g today and enjoyed good reception at home (several bars with 'H' displayed). Out at dinner, we both fluctuated between no reception at all, and 2 bars with 'E' displayed...with these fluctuations occurring numerous times while the phone was just sitting on the table. I don't recall seeing 3G displayed at any time, including while leaving the area back to where we were getting more bars with 'H' again. Is it possible there's a default setting that's off (not allowing 3G or causing some other issue resulting in spotty/fluctuating reception), or is this just crappy t-mobile coverage?
Btw, we live in a metro area and were with AT&T prior to this, and had never experienced a complete lack of coverage like this anywhere near the areas we were in. T-mobile's coverage map (including data) also lists the area we were in as having very good coverage.
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my internet acts slow at times as well and with my hd2 i didnt have the problem so im starting to think it has to do with the software for the mt4g. maybe they will update the software but idk
I know this is a question, but it's also the only Skyrocket forum. Sorry...
Does the Skyrocket get straight 3G reception? The AT&T Vivid does not. H+ and above work great, but in straight "H" areas the Vivid reverts to edge. I'm considering returning the Vivid and getting a Skyrocket because of this. Also, how's the battery life on the Skyrocket? The Vivid's is abysmal.
Thanks!!
Both the Vivid and Skyrocket work on 2G, 3G and LTE.
When the indicator says 4G without the LTE under it you are on 3G/UMTS/H/H+ whatever...
If you lose the 4G then you are on 2G/GSM/EDGE.
The LTE indicator only works for data. When you make a voice call the LTE will go away because the Ue falls back to 3G or even 2G if necessary. You can still talk and surf at the same time, but it will be at 2G or 3G speeds depending on where you fallback.
Thanks for the reply!
Unfortunately, that's not the way my Vivid is working. I have confirmed that my Vivid drops to Edge in several areas that my HD2 retains 3G. Plenty of bars, so good signal. It's just that the Vivid doesn't seem to stay on 3G in less than H+ areas. Lots of people reporting the same issue.
As far as talking and surfing simultaneously on edge/2G: Maybe it's different in your area, but getting an "E" ALWAYS coincides with failure to surf and talk and the same time here. I do believe you need 3G to do that.
What I'm looking for is a first hand report from a Skyrocket user about 3G reception in less than an H+ area.
Thanks!
Nakel said:
Thanks for the reply!
Unfortunately, that's not the way my Vivid is working. I have confirmed that my Vivid drops to Edge in several areas that my HD2 retains 3G. Plenty of bars, so good signal. It's just that the Vivid doesn't seem to stay on 3G in less than H+ areas. Lots of people reporting the same issue.
As far as talking and surfing simultaneously on edge/2G: Maybe it's different in your area, but getting an "E" ALWAYS coincides with failure to surf and talk and the same time here. I do believe you need 3G to do that.
What I'm looking for is a first hand report from a Skyrocket user about 3G reception in less than an H+ area.
Thanks!
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At the basement of our office for supplies, I revert to 4G on my Skyrocket. Once I go upstairs, LTE comes back. I can confirm making a phone call and surfing the web in the basement on pure 4G (3G+).
truciet said:
At the basement of our office for supplies, I revert to 4G on my Skyrocket. Once I go upstairs, LTE comes back. I can confirm making a phone call and surfing the web in the basement on pure 4G (3G+).
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Thanks! My Vivid works great on 4G too. My problem is that it drops to Edge in areas where my HD2 stays on 3G. I'm not sure why; some people are reporting the Vivid doesn't recieve pure 3G. I have no idea what--if any--the difference is between 3G and 3G+.
How's the battery lfe on your Skyrocket?
Yeah, my bad...you can't talk and surf at the same time on 2G/EDGE.
And sadly I have great coverage at my house. And I have not had my Samsung long enough to compare it to the Vivid for reception or battery life. But when you fire up these big screens and start hitting the LTE juice it can really drop.
I am not sure what people are saying about "pure 3G". All the H/H+ is just for data. I only know of 1 flavor of 3G that supports voice calls.
I checked, and to the best of my knowledge, Im under LTE coverage. But for some reason, I have yet to see any LTE icon or speeds. Anyone else having a similar issue at all? Might this be an APN issue or something?
EDIT: Nevermind, please delete.
I've noticed that this device really drops reception as hard as possible when in low reception areas, which seems to be done in order to save power.... because I put it in my pocket and reception is often E or no reception in my school (usually 0-2 bars of HSPA+ or EDGE), even though it is more than capable of staying at around 3 bars of reception of HSPA+ where my old device could maybe get 1-2. I know that's not a good comparison but it's clearly dropping down to 2G/no reception when not in use.
Hallo, Vodafone Italy still not offers LTE coverage in my city, but there are some cells that already have it enabled.
I noticed that when I'm under 4G, my signal never got past 2 notches.
So I ask to who is covered: is this right or do I need RMA?
Thanks...
I'm supposedly in a very strong LTE area and I usually see two bars. Occasionally there will be three bars holding steady but rarely do I expect to see four (out of five). My speeds rarely change from 16-18 up and down (downloads always faster. Zero packet loss on T-Mobile. My Nexus 4, on the other hand gets low speeds and between 2-4% packet loss.
gpvecchi said:
Hallo, Vodafone Italy still not offers LTE coverage in my city, but there are some cells that already have it enabled.
I noticed that when I'm under 4G, my signal never got past 2 notches.
So I ask to who is covered: is this right or do I need RMA?
Thanks...
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Are you talking about the signal bars in notification area as "notches"? Trying to see if thats what you said. If so, the signal bars do not dictate the LTE strength, just cellular call strength. The LTE download could still be great even in no signal bar areas as well, signal does not influence the data strength nor does data strength dictate the signal quality via the bars. Since the phone has to turn off LTE to "switch" to 3G in order to make calls, the "switch" may have something to do with the bars.
Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know! And, yes, Italians call signal bar "notches"...
Hi guys recently I bought an unlocked g955u1 from best buy and am on Verizon. I've noticed that my cell signal has been reading a bit off despite doing the Verizon software update. My phone is almost always stuck on 3 bars lte according to lte discovery and the range of dBm will average -100 to as low as -108 which realistically should be 1-2 bars not 3. In the past the only time I've really saw inaccurate readings like this is when I've been on gsm carriers. It's not as much as a problem as more of an annoyance as everything works fine. My question is anybody know why it's reading so inaccurate?
The bars are more or less just approximate visualizations of the network strength anyway. It varies from carrier to carrier, as well as phone manufacturer. You're better off sticking with the dB display if you want a truly accurate reading. Imho.
I have a T-Mobile variant and have noticed the my DL and UL speeds are a lot faster than any of the phone I've had in the past. We live out from town and even on the Nexus 6 it shows 3 bars and on the S8+ I get all the bars and the DL speed on the other phones at my house are around 5Mbps and on the S8+ I get 17-20Mbps at the house now. In town it has gone up from 40Mbps to 55Mbps.
My ATT S8+ reception
While I agree that the dBm is what you should be looking at, I have noticed some funky things going on with my ATT S8+ in terms of reception. Using the same SIM card, placing the phone in the exact same place, my S6 Active has a signal strength of -124 dBm /asu 16/"In service" on LTE. The S8+ gets a signal strength of -113 dBm/asu of 0/"Out of service." To me this seems like the S8+ is actually getting better reception than the 6S Active but the phone is out of service. I also tried this same test in another location using a different cell tower. Same results, the S8+ gets better reception...but the phone does not perform as well. In location number 2 I have also notice the S8+ fish for better signal and switch from LTE to HSPA where the signal strength is -99 dBm but the asu is only 7.
Since I live in a area with weak cell coverage the S8+ is driving me nuts...I contacted ATT about it last night, will see what happens.
Also somewhat related:
I'm using a US Unlocked on T-Mobile, and I've noticed my signal dropping out in areas where I previously had great signal on my Pixel XL. My buddy (also on T-Mo) just got an LG G6 and had full signal when mine dropped out.
Anyone else notice a weak signal? If I flash the T-Mo firmware, will that improve my signal? Did I get a bad unit? I hope not as everything else is perfect, screen included.
i notice (with TMobile) that if i am in 4g lte, then move to area with only edge for a few mins, then back to the 4g lte area...my phone doesn't connect back to the best signal
only a reboot let's me reconnect to 4g lte