So I bought a Nexus 5 the other day, a used D821) and I am a little displeased with the reception. It's very, very bad. A lot worse than on my HTC One and the spare Gnex I borrowed for a while (my One's being repaired).
I've googled and searched like a madman but nothing helps me. I do not use 4G because it's not in my plan (don't want it and don't need it). I can hardly get 3G on this thing, mostly 2G and sometimes not even that. On other phones with this carrier I have awesome signal reception in my room at home but with the Nexus 5 it's hardly 1 bar. Also the wifi is kind of weakish and I didn't expect everything to be as good on a budget-ish phone as on a top price premium HTC One but the signal shouldn't be this bad.
When I'm out I hardly if ever get 3G signal. I have edge pretty much all the time and sometimes not even that. On my other phones I have awesome reception. I tried flashing an earlier modem (.17) that was said to work better but it didn't help.
No dust in my sim tray (I just cleaned it..) and my sim card's just fine.
Almost 100 views and nothing?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Not much to say I think. The signal is the signal.
I find my N5 nearly as good as moto x. And both far better than my S2.
Not much can be done about signal strength.
Sorry I couldn't help.
just a shot in the dark, but try this. add these lines to the end of your build.prop file, save them, then reboot for them to take affect.
ro.ril.hsxpa=3
ro.ril.gprsclass=12
ro.ril.hsdpa.category=27
ro.ril.hsupa.category=7
Try flashing a different modem. The .23 gets bad reception in my experience. A quick search for nexus 5 modems will bring you to the download page. .15 or .17 work good.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
simms22 said:
just a shot in the dark, but try this. add these lines to the end of your build.prop file, save them, then reboot for them to take affect.
ro.ril.hsxpa=3
ro.ril.gprsclass=12
ro.ril.hsdpa.category=27
ro.ril.hsupa.category=7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do, thanks.
MrObvious said:
Try flashing a different modem. The .23 gets bad reception in my experience. A quick search for nexus 5 modems will bring you to the download page. .15 or .17 work good.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please read the entire post. I've already tried changing modems
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
@simms22 Those lines seem to have improved my 3G signal. I seem to be getting H at home where I used to get E.
It's still not rock solid, though. It seems to be unstable. Same can be said for the GSM signals (calling/texting)
Theshawty said:
@simms22 Those lines seem to have improved my 3G signal. I seem to be getting H at home where I used to get E.
It's still not rock solid, though. It seems to be unstable. Same can be said for the GSM signals (calling/texting)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was actually hoping that it might make your 3g-h/h+ situation better. i get slightly better data speeds using those lines.
simms22 said:
i was actually hoping that it might make your 3g-h/h+ situation better. i get slightly better data speeds using those lines.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It did make it better, but only slightly. Around -95 dB now and before it was around -105dB
But this phone is weird signal-wise. Before I bought this I had borrowed a Gnex because my One is being repaired and the Gnex had full bars here or nigh full.
Maybe it's the hardware?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Compared to my coworkers, I generally get a better data signal in a tough area. That includes a Gnex, iphone and various samesungs.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
bblzd said:
Compared to my coworkers, I generally get a better data signal in a tough area. That includes a Gnex, iphone and various samesungs.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Gnex beats my N5 in signal reception
Then again, I live like 6362 km from Toronto
Related
I get horrible reception in my house.my old galaxy nexus and my girlfriends iphone 4s gets fine reception and voice calls are choppy. Is my phone bad or what's the deal?
Sent from Vzw Galaxy SIII running Cleanrom 1.3
I'm going to go get a new sim card see if that helps am I safe take my phone in if it's rooted?
Sent from Vzw Galaxy SIII running Cleanrom 1.3
Welcome to Samsung phones.
tonytownsend said:
I get horrible reception in my house.my old galaxy nexus and my girlfriends iphone 4s gets fine reception and voice calls are choppy. Is my phone bad or what's the deal?
Sent from Vzw Galaxy SIII running Cleanrom 1.3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I'm reading on various threads, it seems to be varying as to who has good reception and who doesn't. My S3 gets better reception than my HTC Dinc did.
Man I hate when this happens. I think you should keep asking around. I don't think your question will be answered here. Keep searching. Maybe installing other radio versions on your device is the answer, if you are into tinkering.
I feel your pain. Coming from a bionic which had phenomenal signal my sgs3 is meh meh meh. But I still love it!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
rednukleus said:
Man I hate when this happens. I think you should keep asking around. I don't think your question will be answered here. Keep searching. Maybe installing other radio versions on your device is the answer, if you are into tinkering.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My signal also sucks.... can you direct me to where I can go about installing other radio versions?
in the mean time, I will look around here
Garrett67 said:
My signal also sucks.... can you direct me to where I can go about installing other radio versions?
in the mean time, I will look around here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1788313
signal quality seems to vary a lot on our GS3's.. many people complain about worse signal while others have decent signal. personally, my signal is pretty similar to what I got on my old Thunderbolt.
I was getting terrible signal at my house as well. I called on Sunday and asked if there was an update or something to correct the problem. I was issued a new SIM card and it came today. 2 hours in and I have only had data flicker once and ot used to happen every 5-10 minutes. It doesnt hirt to make the call.
Switched out the sim today still crap signal at the house. I'm not gonna be living here much longer I get strong data signal at the house but voice sucks. I'm moving soon or I'd say I would buy a signal booster for the house
Sent from Vzw Galaxy SIII running Cleanrom 1.3
I get one bar inside my house. If it ends up switching to 3G (which is rare), i get full bars. The moment I go outside, I get full bars on 4G.
We have two phones and they are about the same, so I don't think switching them will help. The 3G is better than I got on my old DINC.
I do hope there will be a software update to kick it up a notch, but I'm not hating it. I really am not having issues anywhere else but home and one day I had to run into Walmart and got no reception, but I normally don't go there, so I couldn't care less. Oddly, when I was in Target across the street, I had full 4G reception. :shrug:
dagnisaun said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1788313
signal quality seems to vary a lot on our GS3's.. many people complain about worse signal while others have decent signal. personally, my signal is pretty similar to what I got on my old Thunderbolt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One thing I have noticed is that the bars shown on the notification bar, and what it ACTUALLY is getting differ sometimes. It it like there is a dealy, and a strange averaging algorithm.
Unfortunately I have a similar issue. Admittedly I don't live in the greatest spot for cellular signal but it seems the S3's radio is "weaker" in my situation than my HTC Desire and my Droid MX2. The MX2 seems to rule them all (and I've always read the one thing Motorola does well is radios). Normally the Desire and MX2 will read 5-10 dB better than the S3, and voice quality tends to be way better with either and I rarely drop calls. I haven't tried any other radio / modem, right now I am on VRLG1 (which is what the phone came with), maybe I will try going back to VRLF2 to see if it makes any difference.
Love the Nexus 5. By far the perfect phone. But my question is does anyone get any drop signals? At times my data will just go completely blank then come back. Could be the my area. But just had to ask.
No problems with AT&T in SE Michigan.
Well it could just be the area that I am. The wife has a iphone 5s and she gets none of the drop calls.
No issues with me in STL.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
I definitely think that the signal is a bit worse than it was on my One X. It tends to drop completely in areas where my One X had marginal signal but still connected. I'm in Northeast Florida.
I've actually had this the last few days, a split second of no service and then back to normal. This is in thy southwest and west suburbs of Chicago.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I notice the signal strength shows low (2-3 bars lower) compared to my old S4 but when I make a call it jumps to max. Could this be a battery saving thing?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
android.gt said:
No issues with me in STL.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
STL REPRESENT
couldn't pass it up.
---------- Post added at 09:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:30 AM ----------
marcusva79 said:
Love the Nexus 5. By far the perfect phone. But my question is does anyone get any drop signals? At times my data will just go completely blank then come back. Could be the my area. But just had to ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to be clear you did not flash any custom roms with radios or anything right?
No issues here. I travel weekly for work and so far I can say no issues in the following areas:
Lexington, KY
College Station, TX
Atlanta, GA
Houston, TX
Knoxville, TN
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it is just AT&T and in your area. I carry a Verizon Galaxy S4 and my Nexus 5 on AT&T around. I can consistently get awesome coverage and 25-35mbit speeds on my Verizon phone. Sometimes I question if AT&T data is even working, and a speedtest will show only 5mbit down. I know its not the Nexus 5 because I can have other random people I am with on AT&T do speedtest on various phones and have the same issue.
marcusva79 said:
Love the Nexus 5. By far the perfect phone. But my question is does anyone get any drop signals? At times my data will just go completely blank then come back. Could be the my area. But just had to ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I work in central Mass, and the signal in my office is horrid... for LTE. If I force it to only use HSPA+ (Settings > More... > Mobile Networks > Network Mode > 3G) I have full service of HSPA+ and no dropped signals. Coming from an HTC One (where there are like... 25 bars to display signal) I'm thinking it's just an aesthetic change for me mostly.
coolguy949 said:
I notice the signal strength shows low (2-3 bars lower) compared to my old S4 but when I make a call it jumps to max. Could this be a battery saving thing?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 biggest battery drains are screen and radios. Newer radio chips are much better at conserving juice. And why turn up the radios if you don't need them. S800 soc has a lot of battery saving features, and newer lte chips use a lot less juice.
In other words, yes, that's a battery saving thing.
Coming from a gnex, this has great battery life, and has double the cores and clock speeds, and a graphics chip that compares to a lower end pc add in video card. Gotta love that technology!
How is the nexus 5 with signal and it's ability to hold hspa and our LTE and edge I'm curious because I see mixed results
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Signal is questionable at best. I got pm'Ed by a mod to tone down my btching about it. So all I'll say is that it's frustrating me most from this device. Everything else is great besides that.
Sent from my Nexus 5
Maybe its placebo, but I believe on my end my LTE is just a bit faster than it was on my i337. And it's a pretty constant/stable connection. I haven't been able to use an edge signal with any phone, might as well not even have data. And H+ with 2-3 bars in the sticks seem on par with the i337 as well. I'd probably say my connection is a smidge better on this, than the S4, maybe due to better hardware? Lack of touchwiz?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Any of you have this?
(I have one and wanted to hear from the group)
How did you get it to work?
(Mine was installed using instructions and followed as one should)
What's your thoughts?
(IMO it just doesn't work)
My signal is like a Gotdamn roller coaster, LTE forget about it, I have to swap to 3g/2g to get signal.
Sometimes I get full service but will lose it a minute or two later.
I frustrates the hell out of me.
Any suggestions?
I have an att account as well I know they offer a booster of their own do any of you have one and your thoughts on it?
Thanks for input guys.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
What is it? I never heard of it.
Its a tmo signal booster. I have one. I live up on the side of some mountains and get spotty signal. So I called to and asked for a free signal booster and got one two days later. Have to give it back of you cancel service of course. Its very nice. Went from two bars to 5
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Swapped unit out and still no go.
Having att to send one out, I believe the att is like sprints airwave.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
To xtrawho: AT&T and tmobile use similar cellphone frequencies and technologies. So getting an AT&T booster will do nothing for a Sprint signal.
(Sorry I can't quote anybody because xda app crashes every time I try to.)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
GGWC808 said:
To xtrawho: AT&T and tmobile use similar cellphone frequencies and technologies. So getting an AT&T booster will do nothing for a Sprint signal.
(Sorry I can't quote anybody because xda app crashes every time I try to.)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info with tmo and att being GSM and sprint being CDMA/iDEN it should work great.
I'm buckin with ya.
I know this I was saying att uses a booster like the one sprint uses (airwave) tmo uses the old 2 box method instead of the 1 box.
The tmo shiat just isn't cutting it.
Thanks for the reply man.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
XtraWho said:
Thanks for the info with tmo and att being GSM and sprint being CDMA/iDEN it should work great.
I'm buckin with ya.
I know this I was saying att uses a booster like the one sprint uses (airwave) tmo uses the old 2 box method instead of the 1 box.
The tmo shiat just isn't cutting it.
Thanks for the reply man.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did the CelFi really help your N5?
I have one, and it seems to do nothing for me... I found one link which suggested that it does not boost LTE... and since my N5 seems to prefer a crap LTE signal to an excellent non-LTE signal, it stays on LTE and makes having the CelFi rather worthless.
Or at least that's the only explanation I can think of. Can anyone confirm?
Hell no! It just collects dust, most worthless POS I've ever used. At least att and sprint offers a real booster.
As far as the LTE forget about it.
Hell I can force 3g only and still see no difference with that POS on for it being off, running signal strength in developer mode it doesn't change one bit.
Tried with N5 and 2 other T-Mobile iphones nothing, no boost at all.
BTW tested on KK and L, pushing 3g only, 2g only and LTE.
You can force by dialing
*#*#4636#*#*
If this is the older 1700/2100Mhz HSPA only booster it is a sucky device. I am swapping mine for the new LTE model.
Here are some tips on getting the old model working. You need to put the window unit in a spot that gets no more than 2 bars(If you get more bars the repeater will lower transmission power). Put the repeater unit as far as possible from the window unit. Window unit should be as high as possible( mine is in the kitchen on top of a cabinet). The repeater unit should be waist high or lower. If the repeater unit shows 6-9 on it's display that is good. Lower or higher is bad. The signal drop you see when using lots of data(ex. Speedtest) is because the booster has limited power output. Repositioning may be needed.
Also if you have 2 or more bars of signal throughout your house you don't need the booster. Your phone will constantly switch between the tower and your booster thus causing disconnects.
Sent from my Nexus 5
How are you getting a newer device? I did not know they offered one
Thanks
Tmonews.com
Great site for T-Mobile news.
T-Mobile announced the new LTE booster last week. $25 deposite. Mine is on the way.
Sent from my Nexus 5
Hey guys, I have a question. I have my nexus 5 and my wife has galaxy s 5. We are in a good LTE area.
We are in south jersey rite outside of philly. My wife and I
Can be rite next to each other and she gets better signal.
I have felt that the nexus 5 has some issue when it comes to data. Phone calls are the same.. Is this a nexus 5 thing.
If it matters I am running dirty unicorns ROM with code blue kernel. Any help would be great!!!
no issues here(NYC). if you are looking at signal bars, you can not. different companies use differing formulas for that. some even make it so that it shows a better connection than it actually is(apple got in trouble for that several years ago). if you do want to compare, look in the about phone in main settings, status, signal strength.
edshawn911 said:
Hey guys, I have a question. I have my nexus 5 and my wife has galaxy s 5. We are in a good LTE area.
We are in south jersey rite outside of philly. My wife and I
Can be rite next to each other and she gets better signal.
I have felt that the nexus 5 has some issue when it comes to data. Phone calls are the same.. Is this a nexus 5 thing.
If it matters I am running dirty unicorns ROM with code blue kernel. Any help would be great!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When it comes to data? What exactly have you tried to confirm a low data speed?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
As mentioned, bars are mostly useless and not comparable between any 2 devices. Compare the -dBm ratings from the settings for more accurate results.
I wouldn't be surprised if the N5 was a bit lower as every phone is using different antennas resulting in varying signal strengths, and you're comparing to a phone that costs twice as much after all. If it's not causing issues though I wouldn't worry about it.
Thanks guys.. I will look into what you guys said.
Thanks for reply..