Database Info

G2X Reception

I Live and work in areas that should be 4G according to T-Mobiles coverage map. At work, I'm lucking to even receive a 2g signal and never get a 4g signal at all. At home, I can only get 4g if I select WCDMA Only and don't touch my phone.
I've noticed that my 4g (WCDMA) signal seems to range from -70dBm to -109dBm. As far as GSM I don't know what a good signal is, but I know I loose my signal at about -98 dBm. Interestingly enough, it will go from -85 dBm to -101 dBm in GSM just from me picking it up.
I'm wondering if my phone is getting good reception and if exchanging it might help the problem, but I have no numbers to compare this to. Does anyone get a better WCDMA signal than -69 dBm or have a good signal strength over -109 dBm. Does anyone know what a good signal should be?
I have seen some threads on reception but there are never any numbers to quantify this. To see your signal strength go to phone settings; about phone; status; signal strength.
Any input is appreciated.

There is an app to test for towers and reception . I found I'm not close to one.
Figures.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

Thanks,
I have Open Signal Maps installed. Lots of good info. According to the app, I'm a 217 meters from a tower. It actually shows 3 towers within a quarter of a mile. Maybe it's signal overload....

snake8b said:
Thanks,
I have Open Signal Maps installed. Lots of good info. According to the app, I'm a 217 meters from a tower. It actually shows 3 towers within a quarter of a mile. Maybe it's signal overload....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would have to agree. This thing can get great to little signal. It seems to have trouble with the in between.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

I also have horrible reception with this phone.... my sga4g had a solid full bar 4g signal all the time.. I thought maybe having my g2x rooted and running a custom rom might have something to do with it so I unrooted and went back to stock... but still no good... my phone can sit in one spot and I watch the signal go up and down 4g 2g .... so I locked it to wcdma only .... It stayed on 4g bars still go up and down but now it will just lose network connection... I called Tmo support today and supposedly I'm in an area that has great 4g coverage .... so they say they put in a service order and to stay on 2g for 72 hours and then pull my battery, put it back in and see what happens... love the g2x but starting to regret giving the wife my sgs4g...
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

swuln said:
I also have horrible reception with this phone.... my sga4g had a solid full bar 4g signal all the time.. I thought maybe having my g2x rooted and running a custom rom might have something to do with it so I unrooted and went back to stock... but still no good... my phone can sit in one spot and I watch the signal go up and down 4g 2g .... so I locked it to wcdma only .... It stayed on 4g bars still go up and down but now it will just lose network connection... I called Tmo support today and supposedly I'm in an area that has great 4g coverage .... so they say they put in a service order and to stay on 2g for 72 hours and then pull my battery, put it back in and see what happens... love the g2x but starting to regret giving the wife my sgs4g...
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine does pretty much the exact same thing inside the house and I'm also in an area that should have good 4G coverage. I think the radio is just bugged and hopefully the update(s) will fix that. Good thing the phone has wifi calling.

Interesting. I was looking for a phone number today to call T-Mobile, but their site wasn't working (kept getting no connection). I wonder what staying on 2g is supposed to do. Let me know how it turns out.

I have the same issue! Constant switch between 4G, E and x!
I talked to T-Mobile and they worked on the towers or so they say! It's gotten a lil bit better signal, but not much and not sure if it's because a custom rom!
Thinking about doing an exchange!
Would an UPDATE FIX THE RADIO? Or is it faculty hardware?
.....

htc2364 said:
I have the same issue! Constant switch between 4G, E and x!
I talked to T-Mobile and they worked on the towers or so they say! It's gotten a lil bit better signal, but not much and not sure if it's because a custom rom!
Thinking about doing an exchange!
Would an UPDATE FIX THE RADIO? Or is it faculty hardware?
.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be faulty hardware, but it could just be a software glitch in the radio baseband/drivers. If a radio update doesn't come with the initial software fix, I'm pretty sure the Gingerbread update should include one.

I too have TERRIBLE reception with the G2x. I'm coming from the HTC G1 and in spots that I used to get great reception with that phone, my G2x bounces all over the place from 4G to NO signal. It's driving me insane that it doesn't stay constant. I thought maybe it was just the towers in my area so I put my SIM back in the G1 and it never lost signal. I put the SIM back in my G2x and set it in the same spot as the G1 and it lost signal twice and toggled back and forth from 2G to 4G within 5 minutes. Hopefully there will be a radio update to fix this issue and that it won't be faulty hardware.
I absolutely LOVE this phone even with the flaws.. i just hope they fix the flaws soon.

I get pretty good reception, though at work I tend to bounce back from 4g and E, but I'm in a building that kills reception. Personally, I think it's the modem. I bet once we start getting newer modems, it's will stop this, but probably at the cost of battery life. My old vibrant got about the same reception, so I don't think it's hardware.

The Tmo tech told me to stay on 2g because my phone seems to be keeping a good consistent 2g signal... its just in the 4g that it doesn't hold a good signal.... I also kept bringing up if she thought that maybe a software upgrade might fix the problem but she didn't even acknowledge that I said anything about it .... I also told her that I read somewhere that for some reason T-Mobile should have given me the sim card that came with the g2x and she said that wouldnt make a difference because i just switched sims when i bought the sgs4g a few months ago and she then gave me free wifi calling...
Sent from my LG-P999 "2G" using XDA Premium App

Replacement Phone
Just an update. I went ahead and got a replacement phone to see if it fixed the problem. The new phone behaves identically. Also, a Samsung 4G user just moved into my office building and he gets 3 bars, which is what i get till I pick the phone up. The thing that bothers me the most is that it will loose so many dBm (bars) when I pick it up.
Does anyone know if a phone cover will fix this issue.

Extremely Poor Wifi signal and Mobile data on Stock ROM. Should I return it ?

Hi All,
I got the samsung infuse by exchanging the HTC inspire which had a horrible battery life.
I love this phone and would like to keep it, but the very poor Data speeds and somewhat poor WIFI signal strength is bugging me.
Any suggestions ?

wasonamit said:
Hi All,
I got the samsung infuse by exchanging the HTC inspire which had a horrible battery life.
I love this phone and would like to keep it, but the very poor Data speeds and somewhat poor WIFI signal strength is bugging me.
Any suggestions ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
crappy wifi is normal... sorry. everyone has it

Crappy wifi is normal???? Mine is perfect on stock rom.

Yes, my wifi is also excellent since the baseband update. No problems. Great range, strong signal and throughput.

carhigh said:
Crappy wifi is normal???? Mine is perfect on stock rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what? Are you only 2 feet away from the router?

tankmorph said:
Yes, my wifi is also excellent since the baseband update. No problems. Great range, strong signal and throughput.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well this is aggrivating, should i return? I only have one line most of the time

tankmorph said:
Yes, my wifi is also excellent since the baseband update. No problems. Great range, strong signal and throughput.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
carhigh said:
Crappy wifi is normal???? Mine is perfect on stock rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you guys on g or n networks?

My wifi is fair to good. For me, it certainly isn't an issue were I would take the phone back. My main issue was the constant lock ups and reboots from the stock browser. But since that update last week the phone has been running really well and no lock ups.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA Premium App

Ok.. So now im sitting here with a new device, with the same crappy wifi... yay me

and i cant seem to get the ucke3 upgrade... hrmmm....

hoofadoo said:
Ok.. So now im sitting here with a new device, with the same crappy wifi... yay me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My wifi is average, at 30-40ft though 2-3 walls I get 2 bars but doing speedtest i get maximum download and upload. Maybe you should try wifi analyzer and see if you can connect to a better channel.

dh2225 said:
My wifi is average, at 30-40ft though 2-3 walls I get 2 bars but doing speedtest i get maximum download and upload. Maybe you should try wifi analyzer and see if you can connect to a better channel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting an extra bar now it seems... although the difference is not major, but its improved. Got the UCKE3 update, after contacting AT&T to push it to my phone

My WiFi gets good signal strength throughout my house, 50+ feet I still have 3-4 bars; however, sitting within ten feet I still only get 1.5Mb down MAX. My h+ speeds are the same... It is terrible. My Captivate is much faster on the same network.
Any ideas?

T-Mobile US One S data connectivity known issue

T-Mobile acknowledges a known issue with data connectivity on the One S:
http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-4288
I'm guessing this is the same issue others have reported on the EU One S(wherein the data indicator jumps back and forth between H and 3G and takes ages to load), but the T-Mobile US software, like on all their recent phones, is modded so the indicator will only ever say 4G.
Reviewer has also stated that using EU-based ROMs on the T-Mobile US One S will cause "data bugs," so I'm wondering if this is what he is referring to. If it is, the bug appears to exist in both the T-Mobile US ROM and the EU ROM.
Has anyone had this issue in their T-Mobile US One S? What are your experiences? I've mostly been at home and on wifi since I got the phone a few days ago.

I had an issue with using an EU rom and the data switching back and forth from H and 3G. I reverted to stock nandroid (provided by reviewer) and haven't had an issue with switching between 3G and 4G while at work. As with you I am on Wi-Fi at home so I'm not too sure if I am affected. But I do know that while I was on the EU rom I had drastic drops in signal and network speeds as compared to the stock rom.
Sent from H1S using xda Prem

shinkinrui said:
T-Mobile acknowledges a known issue with data connectivity on the One S:
http://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-4288
I'm guessing this is the same issue others have reported on the EU One S(wherein the data indicator jumps back and forth between H and 3G and takes ages to load), but the T-Mobile US software, like on all their recent phones, is modded so the indicator will only ever say 4G.
Reviewer has also stated that using EU-based ROMs on the T-Mobile US One S will cause "data bugs," so I'm wondering if this is what he is referring to. If it is, the bug appears to exist in both the T-Mobile US ROM and the EU ROM.
Has anyone had this issue in their T-Mobile US One S? What are your experiences? I've mostly been at home and on wifi since I got the phone a few days ago.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. I am using stock US T-mobile, as of yet unrooted because I might take it back. Connectivity is soo spotty. I have not contacted t-mobile yet because I want to collect as much info as possible. It's either 4g or nothing, that's true. And often, it's nothing. My old 3g phone would drop to edge and stay connected. This one will just drop the connection and that happens to often.

I've been using the One S for about a week and zero issues. My residence is only covered by edge but Park City and Salt Lake City I get solid 4g with zero drops or hiccups.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using XDA

No issues here. I drop from HSPA to Edge in a fringe area but data never stops.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium

I don't have any data problems only time I see it low is when I turn it on it goes from 2g 3g to 4g. I haven't encountered any problems yet other then WiFi dropping then reboots when I try to reconnect
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA

I'm affected. Many times when I open the browser to search for something, I'll get the No Data Connection window pop up, even though status bar shows 3G or 4G. I close that, reload the screen, try again and it usually works. It's as though it fails to hook up to the network until it tries a few times.

I dont really have data drop issues. My 2 issues are that it switches from hspda to umts periodically, but that doesnt affect data.
I have a concern though that I feel like reception is poorer on this phone. my gs2 would hold a better signal. In fact on the gs2 i never dropped calls, whereas on the one s i had a few.
Can a radio update fix this?

mikea3000 said:
I dont really have data drop issues. My 2 issues are that it switches from hspda to umts periodically, but that doesnt affect data.
I have a concern though that I feel like reception is poorer on this phone. my gs2 would hold a better signal. In fact on the gs2 i never dropped calls, whereas on the one s i had a few.
Can a radio update fix this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite possibly.

u think a radio fix can correct an issue with one handset getting a stronger signal than another? isnt that a hw issue?

mikea3000 said:
u think a radio fix can correct an issue with one handset getting a stronger signal than another? isnt that a hw issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What? You're comparing two different devices. A radio issue can cause lower signal so a radio update can give you more signal.

seangprice said:
I've been using the One S for about a week and zero issues. My residence is only covered by edge but Park City and Salt Lake City I get solid 4g with zero drops or hiccups.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, also in the Salt Lake area... maybe this a regional issue?

Same issue here in Boston. I don't get dropped but the signal goes up and down most of the time.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium

I'm not having any issues and I'm getting great data speed
I'm in Louisville ky
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium

Good god, praise Heysoose H Christ. Finally SOMEBODY acknowledges there's an issue.
---------- Post added at 03:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:53 PM ----------
strker45 said:
I'm not having any issues and I'm getting great data speed
I'm in Louisville ky
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just performed one, and got the delay/interrupt, my results were:
Download: 110kbps
Upload: 710kbps
A previous attempt last week netted 9102 down, 2065 up....that was obviously WITHOUT the bug.

I am near Chicago First let me just say for some reason my reception really never goes past 3 bars and sometimes I have none at all in places the sgs2 would have plenty dont know if this is just me...but man when data is good its phenomenal I have got up to 25mb down and 3 up but the interruptions in reception and data kill that pretty bad..so I am very torn about this phone I hope it isn't hardware related because the EU version has the same bug..

Same here most of the time I only have a max of 3 bars and I noticed sometime when I have all bars when i pick it up I lose a bar or two

Yes, phone does have connectivity issues. I live in New York and my previous phone would never go down one single bar on 4G, except in my job where my 4G goes down to 2 bars.
Now my bars go up and down like waves and jumps from 4G to 3G constantly, and in my job I just get 2G. It really sucks. Let's hope it's fixed with a hardware update and that it's not the actual chip.

Experience is exactly as you specify. Stock Rom always displayed 4g....custom Roms flip between 3g, h and I even saw an e today?!
Although time with stock was limited...I do believe, whether just a label or not, seemed data was faster with stock. Regardless....no complaints.
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium

I don't think I have ever had a phone with Tmous where this wasn't a problem. I just figured it was T-mobile's network kicking me off so I wouldn't hog all the bandwidth. In other words, every smartphone I have had with tmobile has had this issue.

[Q] Network Signal Booster

What exactly does the signal booster change and does it really improve signal? As far as I know the strength of the signal depends on the carrier and the satellites positions, nothing to do with the phone software, or does it?

From what I gather it has a larger/better antenna that can pick up more of the network and it distributes it to the nearby area so your phone can pick up signal off the booster.

No no, i am talking about the network booster app for android

I don't know about the app but I have the network signal booster boxes
At home now. They work wonderfully! They amplify the signal and send to my device.it's called cel fi. You can look it up online. Honestly it really helps a lot! As for the applications they never really did much for me personally. They didn't work at all.I'm unsure of the concept of the application but you can check on the applications site and see if it's explained .hope this helps some. Signal problems are no fun. I used to have issues until I got the booster. Good luck to you
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium

Okay, I know what you're talking about now. All those apps do is check to see if there's a closer tower that you're not connected to and switches to that one.

sshede said:
Okay, I know what you're talking about now. All those apps do is check to see if there's a closer tower that you're not connected to and switches to that one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, now i understand why its cutting my signal and then turns back on.
Sent from my Sensation Z710e

[Q] crappy cell service

I spend a lot of time in a convention center, aka concrete box, for work. This phone gets really bad reception when I am at work. I can connect to wi-fi so data is not a problem. But i miss so many calls it is ridiculous. And to add to the pain I do not get good reception at my house. I have talked to Sprint and they look at the coverage map, then tell me my home and work have great cell coverage. Might as well talk to a wall. At my house I have an Airave, still drop calls left and right. I am rooted, debloated, but not running any custom rom. Is there something I am missing? Like the phone, actually love having a physical keyboard, but am going nuts with the poor cell reception. Do other phones, Galaxy S4, have any better cell reception? Or do all Sprint phones have similar antennaes in them? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

I think the phone's antenna is a really bad one. I live in germany and I've got a sim-modded one from cornholio. when other phones get weak reception my phone gets "no service" (same provider). inside buildings it can get really annoying. I'm so glad I live in a major city xD
Sent from my XT897 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

comstyle said:
I think the phone's antenna is a really bad one. I live in germany and I've got a sim-modded one from cornholio. when other phones get weak reception my phone gets "no service" (same provider). inside buildings it can get really annoying. I'm so glad I live in a major city xD
Sent from my XT897 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've noticed this phone always wants to connect @ 3G. Try switching to 2G. It doesn't matter for calls so why not use it as a workaround? When I need fast internet I just toggle back to 3G.

I've got an automatic 2g/3g toggling app installed. so I talk about bad 2g reception xD
thanks for the recommendation anyway
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

comstyle said:
I've got an automatic 2g/3g toggling app installed. so I talk about bad 2g reception xD
thanks for the recommendation anyway
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have that same issue, and when im on 2G and lost signal phone never catch signal back, best and only option is keep turn on 3G but area where we use phone must be with good coverage.
But ... i have second photon moded in PL in diffrent way and this phone dont have this issue with signal 2G and also have better 3G signal.. but realization not looks so good its uglier (and slot for sim is not push-to-push )

Welcome to Sprint. I've gone through 4 different phones they all can't be Bad.
Sent from my PHOTON Q using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

its sprint service, I live In michigan near detroit and out here sprint blowz I modded my photon with The aid of Cornholios Mod, and currently using it on straight talk with an AT&T sim service is nearly as good as Verizons, save for the CM10.2.1 3G handshaking Problem and the Buggy CM everyday issues, but the Cell service couldnt be better under AT&T, Id say stick to a reseller of their service and u will see a vast service improvement

Why start a new thread?
I had one of these back in October when I moved to Colorado. I don't quite recall, but I'm pretty sure my service was okay. I am now on my second Q since the first one started having pixelated display issues, and nothing I could do would fix it...I eventually took the thing apart trying to get to the connections, and while successful, I still ended up with crappy display so I am thinking there was an issue with something on the board.
Now i have a 'new' one and for the life of me I get 3g service maybe once or twice a day. I was thinking about bootloader unlock and flashing to a different ROM. I'd also like to find a way to see 'real-time' what the different radios are doing/not doing.
So what do you all think? New ROM?

I have had this issue with a few of my phones over the years. Especially the HTC Touch Pro 2 (Rhodium).
In the Sim Modding Process it is possible that a few of the connectors on the mother board to get slightly bent and loose contact with the (black brass stick on ribbons that are stuck to the outside of the phone body. If you take the phone back panel off you will see these ribbons, they are stuck on the case around the battery.
I have some photo's of where the aerials are on the Photon but need to get to 10 posts before I can post them.
There is four different sets of aerials (Data Main, Voice Main, Bluetooth Wifi and GPS) pull your phone apart and make sure the contact on the mother board are in full contact with the ribbons. Do this by bending them up, when you put the phone back together they should be pushing hard on the contacts again.