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Hello,
I have my Nexus 5 on order and it's currently in route via UPS. For those of you that already have it in hand, whats your opinion about it's reception vs the Nexus 4's? The reason why I ask is because my nexus 4 has crap reception in my office and I can't get a signal while co-workers on the same network carrier can get a signal just fine (a weak but reliable one). It doesn't help I'm in a basement behind 3 feet of concrete and steal beams, but if I go to the stairs I get a signal right away.
If anyone who previously had "bad" reception in certain areas could test this with their new Nexus 5 and share the info that's be great!
Because of my bad circumstances and office location, I'm hoping I can get a basic signal for just talk/text. I'd be fine without data since I don't surf the web on my phone while at work.
Sooo.. got my N5 yesterday and I normally have bad signal at home. I had the same bad signal so assumed everything was the same.
Got to work this morning and previously where I had a great signal with my N4 where I sat I get literally no cellular signal on the N5. Tried forcing down to 3G/HSPA and still nothing. As soon as I walk out of my area and close to the front of our building my signal comes back almost full.
Anyone experiencing these same issues? Not too pleased with this but I'd feel better if other people are affected at least.
*edit*
So in a completely random way I turned data roaming on and off just for ****s and giggles and within 5 seconds of turning it off I all of a sudden had a full HSPA signal. ????? It appears to work flawlessly now.
A few users reported weak WiFi signal strength on N5. Good WiFi signal strength is very important for me and this is one of things I like on my current SGS, so Im wondering how good is Wlan strength on yours N5 ?
Also Androidizen posted video about WiFi problem:
I received my N5 yesterday and i am facing this weak WiFi signal problem.
I compared it with my Iphone 5.
i was 8 feet away having my back to router, iphone 5 showed full strength signals while N5 showed 3/4 signal strength.
Ive had my nexus 5 for a few days now, and the main thing that is annoying me is the wifi, the signal is so flaky one minute im on full bars, next minute its on 1 or 2, then back to full. this can be in line of sight with the router. Ive tried a few routers at home and at work, same issue. I have tried an iphone, nokia and samsung and they all have a much better range. I'm contemplating taking this back now and getting a refund, as i don't think its acceptable. does anyone else get this constant fluctuation?
I have also noticed when you put your hand over the top of the phone the signal can drop completely. Not taht i do this, but other phones i have do not suffer with this.
i take it not many people are seeing this issue, are others with the phone able to check the wifi range and fluctuations in comparison with other devices. How can it go from full bars to 2, then back to full constantly when other phones are solid. Trying to work out if its worth exchanging for another. Speeds just change from say 72mbs to like 19mbs non stop. Thanks
Side by side with my Nexus 4 I'm getting the same strength and speed.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2
mintume said:
I received my N5 yesterday and i am facing this weak WiFi signal problem.
I compared it with my Iphone 5.
i was 8 feet away having my back to router, iphone 5 showed full strength signals while N5 showed 3/4 signal strength.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do not use the bars when comparing signal.
Download an app that shows you the actual signal level in dbm. Bars can be set to whatever the developer wants. I could make you have full bars at -110 dbm which would be a useless connection, but still show full bars. For the most part, you should disregard them.
Would be possible to boost WiFi reception with a software tweak? Even if Google doesnt provide a fix, could be WiFi signal strength increased in custom roms? I hope some developer will know to answer this.
I have chance to get N5 32gb next week and I really want it, but since Im a lot in other countries, good WiFi signal strength is very important for me (to connect on WiFi hotspots)
Thanx
Is it an issue of signal strength only? Does it ever disconnect you completely? "Strength" would be much less of a concern than disconnects, now THAT would be annoying.
Spitfire said:
Is it an issue of signal strength only? Does it ever disconnect you completely? "Strength" would be much less of a concern than disconnects, now THAT would be annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have read that some N5 owners lost WiFi connection when they were about 10 m away from router. This is unacceptable IMO. I hope software tweak can boost WiFi reception.
I confirm the weak wifi too.
signal
i have nexus 5 16gb white, signal is very very weak!!! i have N4 and GN and have perfect signal!
the problem of weak wifi, is all about the nexus? we have to wait for a fix or should call google and give it back?
I'm facing the same issue. I'm few feets from AP and I'm getting weak and unstable signal. The worse thing is that it is not picking up signal from my main AP (Edimax) at home... It does not "see" the network at all even all other devices at home use it fine.
Very weak signal with this phone, I got full bars on my previous phones in my office but now only 2 bars. If you put your hand near the top of the phone the signal completely drops.
Same issue here, very weak reception. No issues with may tablet or laptops, but Nexus isnt getting good signal. White 32GB.
Yup weak signal. Initially it didn't want to connect to 3g but that was fixed with the service menu. And now I am noticing weak WiFi signal.
I'm guessing this has to do with the antenna.
Its easy to open the phone I'm going to crack it open and see what I find.
Have you folks tried going into your N5's WiFi settings & look under the Advanced submen (press the 3 dots on the lower right of screen)
Tried turning off 5 Ghz band if your router is on the typical 2.4 Ghz band - and if you have the newer dual band N router, enable your 5 Ghz band - could be interferences from other nearby devices or AP ??
Install the free app, Wifi Analayzer from Play Store & run it - take a look at your AP's signal strength, try switching to a less congested channel since the airwaves are shared, regardless which of the 11 channels you are defaulting to ...
Mine is running just fine, -60 to -50 dBm with the N home router behind 2 sheetrock walls.
Compared to my Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy SIII, I have superior Wifi Signal on my Nexus 5 to a very positive surprise...however network drop outs for Cellular connection is quite annoying...
guys try to disable the wifi optimization under advanced wifi setting and set the band to 2.4 . it worked with me :good:
I have to use my 2.4GHz connection because the phone didn't work at all on the 5GHz.
Sent from my Nexus 5
I have this problem too. Sometimes my signal is so weak that it disconnects with the router and falls back on 3G.
I tried everything. Just went into Safe Mode, but Wifi is still weak, it doesnt matter.
I tried to only use 2,4GHz and turned Wifi optimalisation off. Still the same weak signal.
I tested it with the app "Wifi Analyzer" If I stand next to the router it gets about -50dBm. Then I tested it with my brothers Galaxy S2, he got -40dBm. Thats a difference of 10dBm. -40dBm is a stronger signal.
We tried it at the 2nd floor, and he got a better signal again. So it's obviously my Nexus.
Android 4.4.2, stock, no root or something. Google come with a solution please. My previous phone had the same ****ty Wifi (HTC One X).
Received my 32GB Nexus 5 the other day and thought it was broke as I wasn't getting any mobile data in the house at all.
I've finally worked out that this seems to be an issue with the Home Signal Box that plugs into my broadband connection as I need one due to having no signal at all downstairs and a very weak signal upstairs.
The Nexus 5 connects to the box fine and I get full signal but no H on phone at all. If I want data I have to switch wifi on.
This is the only time I've ever seen this and i've tried my sim card in quite a few phones and in every other phone apart from this Nexus 5 I get both calls and data fine.
Does anyone else have both a Nexus 5 and Home Signal box and getting this issue?
chipxtreme said:
Received my 32GB Nexus 5 the other day and thought it was broke as I wasn't getting any mobile data in the house at all.
I've finally worked out that this seems to be an issue with the Home Signal Box that plugs into my broadband connection as I need one due to having no signal at all downstairs and a very weak signal upstairs.
The Nexus 5 connects to the box fine and I get full signal but no H on phone at all. If I want data I have to switch wifi on.
This is the only time I've ever seen this and i've tried my sim card in quite a few phones and in every other phone apart from this Nexus 5 I get both calls and data fine.
Does anyone else have both a Nexus 5 and Home Signal box and getting this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a similar problem with my iPhone 5. Data didn't work without Wi-Fi or at best, was patchy. Three even specify on their site that Wi-Fi should still be used for data.
I have noticed the exact same behaviour on my Nexus 5 with the Home Signal box. My Nexus 4 (now used by my wife), daughter's Samsung S4 and son's Sony Xperia Z all work with voice and data.
There is another symptom of the Nexus 5 and Home Signal box I have just noticed, it's killing my battery! The Phone application is continuously causing a wakelock when the Nexus 5 is connected to the Home Signal box, if I unplug the Home Signal the wakelock stops and battery lasts a lot longer.
Hope Three are aware of this and can provide a fix.
I left a message on the 3 facebook site and their response was just to switch my wifi on when I'm in house. Well I do that whenever I intend to use any amount of data but when my phone is just sat there waiting for something to do i'd prefer it to be only using battery on phone signal and not wireless as well.
I've devised a workaround using Tasker to switch on Wi-Fi and switch off Mobile Data while at home and vice versa when I leave. Battery life is back to normal. Phone app isn't even showing on battery usage screen and having Wi-Fi on all the time I'm at home isn't using as much battery as the Phone app was with Mobile Data on even though there was no data connection. I think the problem is that the Home Signal box is not allowing the phone to establish a data connection and the Phone app continuously keeps trying thus running the battery down. I'll work with this for now but I do hope Three come up with a fix.
My Nexus 5 arrived today, seems to be working happily with our Home Signal box. Weird. Potential defect or something?
chipxtreme said:
I left a message on the 3 facebook site and their response was just to switch my wifi on when I'm in house. Well I do that whenever I intend to use any amount of data but when my phone is just sat there waiting for something to do i'd prefer it to be only using battery on phone signal and not wireless as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you turn your mobile data off in the house too? Because the WiFi battery use replaces the mobile data battery use... and should actually use less.
Voice Radio uses batttery, then mobile data uses further battery on top of that. So unless you're turning off mobile data completely, you should find that WiFi on all the time is a better solution.
This isn't really relevant to the thread though, so sorry about that.
chipxtreme said:
Received my 32GB Nexus 5 the other day and thought it was broke as I wasn't getting any mobile data in the house at all.
I've finally worked out that this seems to be an issue with the Home Signal Box that plugs into my broadband connection as I need one due to having no signal at all downstairs and a very weak signal upstairs.
The Nexus 5 connects to the box fine and I get full signal but no H on phone at all. If I want data I have to switch wifi on.
This is the only time I've ever seen this and i've tried my sim card in quite a few phones and in every other phone apart from this Nexus 5 I get both calls and data fine.
Does anyone else have both a Nexus 5 and Home Signal box and getting this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same issue with a white Nexus 5, Baseband version M8974A-1.0.25.0.17 and the 3UK black home signal box.
Feels like that whilst 'Data enabled' is ticked in 'Mobile network settings', the phone keeps reattempting the data connection, even though i have WiFi enabled.. ??
The same SIM does NOT have any issue in my GalaxyNexus.
1st and 3rd line tech support at 3UK have confirmed that data is getting though the SIM thus the handset itself is seemingly the issue. 3UK are recommending that I take this up with Google...
Same problem here, N5 + Black Home Signal = No data. Works fine on my other phones and iPad. Also when used with a Vodafone Sure Signal my Nexus gets data fine.
esskayy said:
I had a similar problem with my iPhone 5. Data didn't work without Wi-Fi or at best, was patchy. Three even specify on their site that Wi-Fi should still be used for data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Means no mms though.
rootSU said:
So you turn your mobile data off in the house too? Because the WiFi battery use replaces the mobile data battery use... and should actually use less.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wifi uses much more power than data.
awilson3000 said:
I'm having the same issue with a white Nexus 5, Baseband version M8974A-1.0.25.0.17 and the 3UK black home signal box.
Feels like that whilst 'Data enabled' is ticked in 'Mobile network settings', the phone keeps reattempting the data connection, even though i have WiFi enabled.. ??
The same SIM does NOT have any issue in my GalaxyNexus.
1st and 3rd line tech support at 3UK have confirmed that data is getting though the SIM thus the handset itself is seemingly the issue. 3UK are recommending that I take this up with Google...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
£5 says they're lying.
noodles2k said:
Wifi uses much more power than data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not usually the case (edit: In my experience). Unless the Nexus 5 has some special radio hardware I am not yet aware of? The additional fluctuation in signal strength makes that even less true IMO
There are arguments on both sides of the fence if you google it, but I sit on the "WiFi is better" side.
rootSU said:
This is not usually the case (edit: In my experience). Unless the Nexus 5 has some special radio hardware I am not yet aware of? The additional fluctuation in signal strength makes that even less true IMO
There are arguments on both sides of the fence if you google it, but I sit on the "WiFi is better" side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just install JuiceDefender and it sorts this out for you, or seems to for me anyway. It disables data if you have a wifi connection i.e. whilst you are in the house. Upshot is good battery life and I don't need to do anything to the phone - juicedefender does it for you.
rootSU said:
This is not usually the case (edit: In my experience). Unless the Nexus 5 has some special radio hardware I am not yet aware of? The additional fluctuation in signal strength makes that even less true IMO
There are arguments on both sides of the fence if you google it, but I sit on the "WiFi is better" side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I didn't mean that as a generalisation. When using femtocells for data my battery lasts longer than with wifi.
noodles2k said:
Sorry, I didn't mean that as a generalisation. When using femtocells for data my battery lasts longer than with wifi.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah ok. I stand corrected. I have no experience of that. I took your comment generally
Has anyone spoken to Three about this since?
This is very annoying.
I just sent my Nexus 5 back and got a Note 3, I'd prefer the Nexus 5 though. If its fixed I might get another one. My home signal box hasn't worked since yesterday either so no signal in my house
Seems to be fixed now. I am now getting a data connection through my Home Signal box. I have not changed anything on my Nexus 5 so can only assume that Three have made some change in the background to how the Home Signal works with the Nexus 5.
Hi,
Some users on a Dutch forum reported a loss of signal strength (both Wifi and phone) when the back of the Moto G is covered by your hand. I checked and I can repeat the problem. If I cover the lower half of the back, my carrier signal goes down by two bars. When you cover the upper half, the Wifi signal drops substantially.
To test if this was a real loss of signal instead of an issue with extremely sensitive bar display, I have installed Wifi Analyzer. It shows a drop of 5 - 10 dB on the Wifi signal so its a real issue.
Do others have the same problem or are there some faulty units around?
I cannot reproduce this. XT1032 8GB retail GB version.
16GB UK - I can get WiFi to drop by covering the back.
Mobile signal does not drop though.
Doesn't worry me as I don't press my hand on the back when holding the phone.
I can also get the signal to drop wrap my hand around my routers antenna.
I would think it's quite normal for a signal to drop if you cover the antenna or receiver. The phone has to have the receiver somewhere and wherever they put it you will be able to cover it if you try hard enough.
scott_doyland said:
16GB UK - I can get WiFi to drop by covering the back.
Mobile signal does not drop though.
Doesn't worry me as I don't press my hand on the back when holding the phone.
I can also get the signal to drop wrap my hand around my routers antenna.
I would think it's quite normal for a signal to drop if you cover the antenna or receiver. The phone has to have the receiver somewhere and wherever they put it you will be able to cover it if you try hard enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember the 'you're holding it wrong' defense of Steve Jobs when the iPhone dropped its signal?
I don't need to press, just by holding the phone in a natural way to take a call the signal will drop. And like I said covering only half of the back is sufficient.
That Debaj can't reproduce it, suggest it's not in all Moto G's
Moto G 8GB German, left-handed (in case it makes a difference) and it occurs most often when the signal is at 4 instead of 5 bars to begin with.
DroidLov said:
Hi,
Some users on a Dutch forum reported a loss of signal strength (both Wifi and phone) when the back of the Moto G is covered by your hand. I checked and I can repeat the problem. If I cover the lower half of the back, my carrier signal goes down by two bars. When you cover the upper half, the Wifi signal drops substantially.
To test if this was a real loss of signal instead of an issue with extremely sensitive bar display, I have installed Wifi Analyzer. It shows a drop of 5 - 10 dB on the Wifi signal so its a real issue.
Do others have the same problem or are there some faulty units around?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine does the same to an extent but not nearly as bad as my old phone. Two bars missing sounds quite serious, though. Have you tried taking the rear cover off and checking to see what it does?
Wifi signal drops 1 bar (from 4 to 3) when covering top of the back. Not a big deal to me
Mobile signal doesn't drop when covering the bottom of the back.
Moto G 8GB, British retail version running US global 4.4.2
EDIT: Holding the phone in the left hand drops the signal by about 5dBm. Holding the phone in the right hand leads to no loss in signal. The only way I can get my Moto G to lose some signal (from 4 bars to 3) is to hold the phone in my left hand AND cover the bottom bezel with the right hand. It drops about 15dBm.
Thanks chowy993, scott_doyland, WabbitKiLR and Debaj for your feedback.
I guess there is something wrong with my Moto as I have an 8-15 dBm drop on the carrier signal just by holding my hand it in the normal 'telephone position' (but not next to my head). I measured it with an app called Network Signal. It drops into the red zone at over a -100 dBm so its a serious problem which will cost me battery life and loss of connectivity in some places .
I tried this with my wifes Moto G and the wifi drops one bar if I put my hand over the back. The mobile signal remains the same. Then I tried it with my Galaxy S3 and got exactly the same result.
I posted a thread about this a short while ago on the 31st December: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2592673
I can confirm I have this issue too! I cannot do any video or voice calls over WiFi if I hold my phone in my hand. The connection repeatedly drops until I put the phone down.
As soon as I hold it, I completely lose all WiFi signal (I have full bars at the time), and can also lose all 2G signal too (from full bars to Emergency Calls Only). My only solution was to simply leave the phone on a surface.
Mine is being sent in for a repair tomorrow for this reason. But sadly it appears even if the phone is replaced/repaired, that this is simply a issue with the Moto G in general?!
Never experienced such poor problems like this on a phone before.
I have the exact same problem on my 8 retail UK version I posted about this here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588286
And people were saying its the way I was holding my device. It isn't I can completely make my device lose signal just by being in a call. And cover the the bottom of device. It seems like there is a bad batch and Motorola needs to sort it. I'm on my 3rd device now and its still doing it. Gutted really because its a brilliant device. It seems to be the 8gig version having these problems I got told.
Sent from Motorola G.
XT1033 Dual Sim.
Cannot reproduce the issue at all, neither mobile nor wi-fi drops even with the back fully covered by both my hands. Held it like that for five minutes and no sign of it.
AluKed said:
XT1033 Dual Sim.
Cannot reproduce the issue at all, neither mobile nor wi-fi drops even with the back fully covered by both my hands. Held it like that for five minutes and no sign of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Count yourself as a lucky then I think I'm going to replace my 8gig for the 16gig.
Sent from Motorola G.
UK 16 gig model and I can get my WiFi to drop by one bar but mobile signal is unchanged no matter how I hold the handset. Bad news for u mate, sorry.
I looked into this problem.
Believe it or not, it seems to be down to the use of spray deoderant.
Most spray on deoderant using aluminium oxide. When it get's on your hands, and you hold the phone, the light metal coating causes a charge differential with the phone's antenna (basically your hand and the phone act as a single film capacitor).
This is different from the issue with the iphone, this was because the metal bezel of the phone actually changed resistivity when held directly with the hand, effectively changing the length, and therefore effectiveness of the iphones antenna.
I suggest washing your hands thoroughly. You can also use a multimeter on your hand, set to milli Ohms to see if you have an unusual resistivity (probably due to aluminium oxide).
Roll on deoderant is another good option.. Or just be smelly of course. I never wash, shower or using any cleaning products and my phone has perfect signal all the time.
mranonymous1 and maccboy2010 can you check if it's identical to my problem: holding the lower end is a drop in carrier signal, upper half of the phone: wifi drop ?
DroidLov said:
mranonymous1 and maccboy2010 can you check if it's identical to my problem: holding the lower end is a drop in carrier signal, upper half of the phone: wifi drop ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I no longer have my phone as it's in for repair. I can tell you though that for the week or so of use that it was awful. Mine was extremely sensitive that a video/voice call over WiFi would instantly end the second I even went near the phone/picked it up.
It was the WiFi dropping that was more of the issue for me than mobile network signal (I struggle to get 2G signal anyway where I live). But I could easily lose all mobile network signal from holding normally too.
Ok, I checked again and the problem only occurs if the signal level is not that good to begin with. It then drops enormously making calls impossible. Handsfree calling in the same circumstances is no problem.
When I am at a place with a strong carrier signal my hand hardly influences the level. So it's sort of a worst case scenario but it explains why others don't notice the drop.
DroidLov said:
mranonymous1 and maccboy2010 can you check if it's identical to my problem: holding the lower end is a drop in carrier signal, upper half of the phone: wifi drop ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes mine is the same as yours if I hold a the bottom signal drastically drops.
Sent from Motorola G.
I can confirm covering the bottom drops my signal.
Sent from my XT1032 using xda app-developers app
Also happens with my moto g. Covering the top indeed affects wifi and the bottom affects signal.
Hey Guys,
i am on drei.at (3-AT) and since i upgraded from CM11 to the lollipop factory image (currently without root) my signal is much weaker than before. My new baseband version is M8974A-2.0.50.2.21, reverting back does not make a difference. I had the same problem with my Nexus 4 which i dumped for the Nexus 5.
The months before i updated the phone everything worked normal and as it should but now if i move the phone from one room to another or even take a walk outside it will loose the connection to the carrier and changes to roaming. The real problem is that it get stuck in roaming and cant get back to 3-AT, the only way to fix it is to restart the phone or search manually for the net.
After that it works till it drops the connection and the whole process starts from the beginning.
I can only compare the signal strength with the normal signal strength icon.
Work before 2-4 bars (maximum one connection drop per day)
Work after 1-2 bars (connection drop around every 10 minutes or if i change the room)
Home before: 3-5 bars (no connection drop)
Home after: 1-3 bars (many connection drops depending on position)
I hope you can give me some ideas to fix this. Thank you for your input!
Greetings
Bergmensch said:
Hey Guys,
i am on drei.at (3-AT) and since i upgraded from CM11 to the lollipop factory image (currently without root) my signal is much weaker than before. My new baseband version is M8974A-2.0.50.2.21, reverting back does not make a difference. I had the same problem with my Nexus 4 which i dumped for the Nexus 5.
The months before i updated the phone everything worked normal and as it should but now if i move the phone from one room to another or even take a walk outside it will loose the connection to the carrier and changes to roaming. The real problem is that it get stuck in roaming and cant get back to 3-AT, the only way to fix it is to restart the phone or search manually for the net.
After that it works till it drops the connection and the whole process starts from the beginning.
I can only compare the signal strength with the normal signal strength icon.
Work before 2-4 bars (maximum one connection drop per day)
Work after 1-2 bars (connection drop around every 10 minutes or if i change the room)
Home before: 3-5 bars (no connection drop)
Home after: 1-3 bars (many connection drops depending on position)
I hope you can give me some ideas to fix this. Thank you for your input!
Greetings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash the old baseband. http://forum.xda-developers.com/goo...t/modem-nexus-5-flashable-modems-efs-t2514095
As written i tried a bunch of older Modems but had no luck. I tried one of the later modems and now i'm two days on M8974A-2.0.50.1.17. For now eveything works normal again!
Thank You!
I was having problems with the modem that comes with the Nexus 5 factory Android 5 image and flashed to baseband m8974a-2.0.50.1.16 (Android 4.4.4 radio). That improved my signal strength some but I'm still getting signal drops, just less frequent when the phone is just sitting on its charger in a fixed location. I'm in the USA on AT&T's network. Do you suggest I try the baseband radio M8974A-2.0.50.1.17, even though that is only included with a version of Android listed for certain countries?
I had similar problem although im in Europe and problem was in APN settings....after days or tying to set my APN it worked finally and i was able to catch LTE that disappeared after upgrade to 5.0 along with poor signal and dropouts off the network completely.
cause my carrier support was bad even they provided me half correct information..
about flashing another baseband they are total noobs and dont even know what the baseband is...
Any way connection is still poor but at least constant even with LTE with 5.0 baseband.
Sent from my Nexus 5