HI there, I've seen some stuff in other forums and couldn't find anything through search on this forum (apologies in advance if it's there).
Big fan of the S6, especially since it supports the 700mhz band 12 for T-Mobile here in the states. Had a S6 Edge, but bought a 920F on Amazon for the cost savings. S6 Edge had amazing reception, especially in locations where previously I would have to rely on wi-fi. However, the 920F has horrible signal, often 2-3 bars less than other phones. To verify, I went to the tmobile store and got a new SIM card, and then when compared to other phone in the store my signal was 2-3 bars less than other Galaxy S6's there.
A quick google search found 1-2 threads on how AT&T restricts access to certain bands if not a registered IMEI. So, I called T-mobile and asked them to put a dummy IMEI, but that didn't change anything.
Any ideas if there is a way to improve signal on the 920F for T-Mobile via root + some flash?
Thanks!
When i use my G920i on T-mobile, it had same issue. When i stayed at home use lte, the frequency always stayed on Band 12, the speed is very slowly.
Related
I haven't seen any real comparisons that actually made sense to me.. So I am posting this information up to help others that might be thinking the same thing I was..
WOW and unlocked Samsung Note 3 The advert says 4G LTE... Well, that is not the case.. AT least with about 30hrs of searching I haven't found a way to make a 9005 LTE compliant since most LTE is 700 band 4, or 1700 Band 7?.. Anyhow here's my run down or take away..
Both of the following phones are Kitkat 4.4.2 One unlocked Model ATL (Spain Vodafone) 9005 and one ATT 900.
So I Bought an unlocked Samsung Note 3 9005 (SM-N9005ZKEATL).. This was before I did the research on LTE.. I've spent numerous hours pouring over info looking for LTE and the phones antenna just don't jive with ATT's or Tmobiles LTE service.. Of course this was after I bought the phone and used if for a couple of days only to find no ATT LTE
Now I can tell you on the 9005 that with ATT's sim I was getting a consistent HSPA+ signal and the UP/down times were decent but only 3G though the phone if used in Europe would be 4GLTE from what I have read..
Since I wanted to have an informed opinion I also bought a SM-N900 from ATT to see if there really is a difference between the 2 models with LTE and such..
The 900 when in active 4G LTE if all the stars align will offer speeds of up to 35mbps or even 50mbps but this is rare since I live out in the country. (I get a 4G signal 99% of the time) And in some cases like on the highway or such downloading music it would be handy.. But for Waze, internet searches, it's over kill since you don't need the bandwidth but if you are all ready paying for it.. It's nice to have..
The best I could get with the local area on the 900 is right around 5mbps to 7mbps.. The 900 4G LTE not offering any better signal or speeds vs the 9005 on HSPA+.
I did go to Tmobile in Worcester MA and had them install a sim to see what kind of network signal would be happening in case I switched to Tmobile.. It was very sad, after sim installed the APN information was setup: (the 9005 found the network just about right away after the sim was inserted) and then all the settings were verified. The best it would do is E.. This was in the Tmobile store.. I switched back over to my ATT sim and had instant HSPA+ back in the store..
As a side note.. The Samsung Note i717 ATT model always screamed at me for a Mobile Data toggle. Since I turn the function on/off often to conserve battery life while out Cycling. What a pleasant surprise it was to find the 9005 had a toggle with all the other ones as well as a few others the 900 doesn't have so back to the 3 button scroll functions just to turn it off.. vs the 1 on the 9005.
The other nice feature I like about the 9005 is when you hit the power button it brings up Device options for: Power off, Data network mode, Airplane mode, and Restart mode.. The 900 only has Power off, airplane mode and restart mode..
Battery life on the 9005 is much better than the 900.. 5 hr trip with Waze on, Data on, and a Triplog GPS mileage tracker app on and when I got back still had 87% battery life.. Very Impressive.
Today on the 900 2.5hrs with Waze on and the battery was at 75%.
Okay onto apps: 9005 no bloatware other than the standard Google apps and factory installed Samsung apps.
900 All ATT's bloatware and then some why they continue to put this stuff on the their phones if beyond me..
ON the Note 3's you can deactivate most apps now and even some of the google apps you can lock away.. Yeah...
Other thing is Samsung Kies 3 won't read the 9005 easily vs the 900 which backed up all the info that was in the phone when I tried it.. The 9005 when connected will only backup contacts and then times out..
As for Warranty info and registering the 9005 vs the 900:
I have a user account with Samsung and it recognized I had a 9005 and listed model # and serial number but offers no information.. It does offer some tags/links for manual, software and such but when I click it I am brought to a page that just says error with no working content..
As soon as I connected the 900, Samsung site recognized it and added it to my list of registered products and also had the correct info with Warranty, downloads, Updates and the usual stuff.. When I clicked the links I was immediately brought to the proper page with working content..
I'm not one to be able to offer any insights as to performance or screen info as I'm not schooled in these things.. But performance wise they seem about the same with Beach buggy blitz the 9005 seems to move faster as I crash more vs the 900 but it simply could be a placebo effect.
These screen shots of from the 900.
follow up screen shot: 3G
From the 9005.
Hey Guys, first post for me here!
I recently purchased a Galaxy S6 SM-G920F through Amazon. I travel and need a phone that is able to support whatever SIM I put in it, plus the benefits of tethering are excellent! I am on AT&T family plan with unlimited data. I was upgrading from a SM-G900A Galaxy S5.
I've been seeing extremely poor reception, regardless of where I am, I'll get -101dBm on my phone, holding it right next to a new phone at an AT&T store that gets -89dBm. AT&T gave me a new SIM, and refreshed a bunch of stuff on their end, no change. I talked to Samsung and went through a bunch of troubleshooting steps, no change. They told me that the phone likely had a bad modem and suggested that I exchange it for a new one. I just received the new one today and I'm seeing the same signal issues! I'm unable to make a call without complaints of poor sound quality from the other end, Waze and Google Maps don't work at all, the phone receives GPS location.
Am I doing something wrong here? My understanding is that this phone should work flawlessly on AT&T network, according to the Samsung tech specs, it supports all the necessary bands for AT&T including B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B7, B8, B12, B17, B18, B19, B20, B26.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I really love the new phone, but it not getting reception or GPS really makes it useless.
I am having similar issues.
My reception stays for 10 minutes and then Its pretty much dead. No reception at all. I have to reboot my phone and then it will get signal. That doesnt stay for long and then It just disconnects.
Do you have any solution ?
I have the same variant and I've noticed that the signal is about 5dBm worse than my s4 in all situations on average. I suppose it's because it's glass and metal rather than plastic.
The signal gets stupidly erratic when I move around though it can jump up 10dBm and go straight back down. I wonder if the phone has an antenna at the top and bottom and switches between whichever one has a better signal. I don't think they've done a great job with the antennas in the s6 tbh.
same here. got the 920F from breed on eBay and I am having crappy reception at home, where as my iPhone 6 have 4 bars.
Same problem on edge version.
I think is software related because did same process with my vendor and nothing changed.
Today received an ota update and one change was the modem making it less Hot and "better" reception.
Before -103 now -93/-96
Maesedroid said:
Same problem on edge version.
I think is software related because did same process with my vendor and nothing changed.
Today received an ota update and one change was the modem making it less Hot and "better" reception.
Before -103 now -93/-96
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which OTA update was this? can you advise? Thanks!
Maesedroid said:
Same problem on edge version.
I think is software related because did same process with my vendor and nothing changed.
Today received an ota update and one change was the modem making it less Hot and "better" reception.
Before -103 now -93/-96
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very interesting, please can you post more information such as your Build number and Baseband version in your phone settings/about device.
Hi, guys. I'm from the Philippines, and I also own the same S6 version as you guys do. Sadly, I'm also suffering from the same problems of my phone. Brought it to the nearest Samsung Service Center, and all they did was to re-software it. Same problem.
How are your phones now?
I'm getting -77 dBm and 18 asu as we speak, is that good?
I thought the G920F was the EU handset? Could explain the below-par signal in the US
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
Hi
I bought a Samsung Galaxy S10 from Verizon and have completely paid it off. We are switching to AT&T soon and I want to know how my phone will be affected by this. We live in a somewhat remote area, 1 bar is normal 2 bars is the maximum I have seen at home. I am concerned that the phone I have bought from Verizon does not have all of the bands that AT&T uses which will leave my phone even less operable.
Thank you to anyone who helps I really appreciate it
Hi,
I am not sure whether is this Andorid-related, Samsung modem HW related, or even my ISP host related. Well, let me describe and then move on.
I notice when I am abroad, roaming, that when I go into low signal area and ROAMING (foreign operator) signal is lost, then my phone does not recover back ONLINE when I get back to area with excellent signal. In such situations my phone number will be unavailable even for whole day, if I do not notice. Very annoying, because I need to constantly pull out my glasses to see that tiny signal icon, check signal, whether I ma online or not, and if not, reset. Or use workaround instead of reset, to turn airplane mode ON then back OFF to reset signal, and voila, I am accessible again for calls and messaging.
What I tired already:
first, I checked with my wife, she has LG G7 smartphone AND she is subscribed with another ISP, and she does NOT have any similar problems. we are traveling together to those areas without signal and back to civilization.
then I sent my Samsung Galaxy S10 to service, and of course, they did not find any problems
then I changed my SIM card for new one, but no difference
then I got angry and bought new Samsung S21 Ultra...but first trip abroad, roaming + to areas without singal, same issue again, only me, my wife no problems
So... any idea?
Is it Samsung, my ISP operator (like, maybe they have some weird roaming algos?), or Andorid 10 and 11 bug?
S21 ultra is a terrible phone, it does take nice photos though
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