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There have been a few reports that the One series has poor reception.
For example my HTC Desire constantly has about 7-9dB** lower signal than my old Nokia N79 - I was hoping that the new One S would have better reception, but the forums are complaining about fewer "bars" of signal strength. Unfortunately the latter is meaningless because "bars" are uncalibrated and signal level is highly dependent on exact position and whether the unit is held in the hand or not.
Rather than hearsay, I would like to know if One S owners could do a comparison with their old phone to see if it is much worse.
Using the *#*#4636#*#* code if you could report the signal level (dBm) and the connection mode (3G, 2G, GSM whatever) between your One S and old phone when lying in the same position on the desk*
*holding it in your hand, or putting it somewhere else in the room or changing the connection type or changing the carrier will all invalidate any meaningful comparison.
**
+3dB is a doubling in received power and +10dB is a 10x increase in received power, likewise -3dB and -10dB are halving and one tenth the power, so it's a significant difference.
OK, here's some evidence for you. HTC One S with Three UK monthly contract sim inserted and Motorola Defy+ with Three UK PAYG sim in. Both phones laid on desk in similar position with nothing to interfere with them.
HTC One S -105dBm (4ASU)
Motorola Defy+ -89dBm (12ASU)
This is pretty much what I've been getting with Network Signal app.
Incidentally, if I put the sim out the One S into the Defy+ then I still get -89dBm as you would expect as both sims use Three UK network. I can't put the PAYG sim into the One S as it's not a micro sim.
Pretty much damning evidence. Does mean the One S loses signal a lot faster when signal is marginal. Doesn't seem to be a great difference when signal is strong between the 2 which is a PITA when trying to show the problem in the Three shop If I go to York later I'll re run the test's and report back. I'm not sure where to go from here. I'll contact HTC support and see if they show any interest. Not overly hopeful of getting any where with Three customer support?
Richy101 said:
Pretty much damning evidence. Does mean the One S loses signal a lot faster when signal is marginal. Doesn't seem to be a great difference when signal is strong between the 2 which is a PITA when trying to show the problem in the Three shop If I go to York later I'll re run the test's and report back. I'm not sure where to go from here. I'll contact HTC support and see if they show any interest. Not overly hopeful of getting any where with Three customer support?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the data point. I'd say it's valid to take them to the Three shop, put them side by side and say look, there's a 16dB difference. (strictly speaking the noise figure of the receiver should also be known, but this is set in the GSM/UMTS specs and should be less than a dB or two difference).
It's been my belief that Nokia and Motorola have the best antenna engineers - all the Nokias I've owned have had great signal reception, despite the fact that the number of base stations was much lower in the late 90s early 2000s.
I cannot compare to old one, I got micro sim and dont have adapter yet (comming from ebay).
I found that I got alot lower signal, thought as I mvoed to micro sim I changed carrier...
Question - how much signal is needed for "OK", and at which point its to weak?
Stiflerlv said:
Question - how much signal is needed for "OK", and at which point its to weak?
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Click to collapse
According to OFCOM the mimum signal level is -110dBm (including some fading margin).
At that level you will get very slow data speeds - I consider anything less than -90dBm as pretty low.
I was in the Vodaphone store and they had SIMs in a One X, One S and Wildfire S - all of these were within a few dB of eachother - unfortunately my (roaming) HTC Desire would not connect to Vodaphone.de, so I couldn't get a 4th reference point.
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/3g_rollout/statement/statement.pdf
Currently I'm mostly interested in 3G reception - if this is poor then the phone will spend a lot of time (and battery) looking for signal, loosing contact, toggling back and forth between 2G and 3G etc. However, need to consider that 3G can exist on both 900 and 1800MHz in Europe. If poor antenna design is the culprit then this may only effect one of the bands, meaning that certain users have great signal, whereas others report poor reception.
aza314 said:
According to OFCOM the mimum signal level is -110dBm (including some fading margin).
At that level you will get very slow data speeds - I consider anything less than -90dBm as pretty low.
I was in the Vodaphone store and they had SIMs in a One X, One S and Wildfire S - all of these were within a few dB of eachother - unfortunately my (roaming) HTC Desire would not connect to Vodaphone.de, so I couldn't get a 4th reference point.
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/3g_rollout/statement/statement.pdf
Currently I'm mostly interested in 3G reception - if this is poor then the phone will spend a lot of time (and battery) looking for signal, loosing contact, toggling back and forth between 2G and 3G etc. However, need to consider that 3G can exist on both 900 and 1800MHz in Europe. If poor antenna design is the culprit then this may only effect one of the bands, meaning that certain users have great signal, whereas others report poor reception.
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Click to collapse
I mainly need this for calls (not so much data) so till 110 Im still ok?
I often get 100+ :/ Lowest I have seen is 90. Returning the phone hoping its glitch
Stiflerlv said:
I mainly need this for calls (not so much data) so till 110 Im still ok?
I often get 100+ :/ Lowest I have seen is 90. Returning the phone hoping its glitch
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Click to collapse
At -110dBm you have very little margin. As long as you aren't walking around the house it should be ok.
But it really depends on the coverage in your area.
NB: the numbers are dBm and negative i.e. a -90dBm signal has a hundred times more power than a -110dBm signal:
10^((-90dBm-(-110dBm))/10) = 100
aza314 said:
At -110dBm you have very little margin. As long as you aren't walking around the house it should be ok.
But it really depends on the coverage in your area.
NB: the numbers are dBm and negative i.e. a -90dBm signal has a hundred times more power than a -110dBm signal:
10^((-90dBm-(-110dBm))/10) = 100
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Click to collapse
nice, comparing to my old HTC Tattoo and test simcard I got from carrier, Its around 15-20 dBm better signal for Tattoo...
Im gonna go for warranty I guess
Bump. Like to hear how it compares with other phones on the T-Mobile USA network.
Thanks in advance.
I was just going to create a new thread on this topic until I found this. I would have to say the reception on the one s is considerably worse than other tmobile phones. Today I traveled to an area with generally poor reception and my wife's blackberry bold 9900 had 1 bar of 4g while my one s had an "x" for not signal at all.
When I used my galaxy s2 in the same exact area i used to get at least 2 bars of 4g. It actually worries me that i get zero reception while our other phones were still on 4g, not even edge.
Can this be fixed with a radio software fix or is this a hardware issue? Im pretty pissed because I want to like this phone so much.
What are the experiences of others?
On tmo us, I'd have to say that my signal is the same as it was on my g2x. I'm either in an area with awesome signal (work), or an area with practically no signal (my 100 year old house).
I wouldn't call either situation dramatically different than the last few phones I've had.
Mike,
On one hand, I did some testing with a galaxy s2 and found ours to be comparable usually, but on the other, there are signal drops issues and the days switching so there still is something odd here.
I also hope to have it fixed by a radio update than a hardware one...
I also like this phone much except for its network issues.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA
Well, HTC wanted my phone back in for investigation. Duly sent it back and it was pretty much turned round within the day. All they have done is load the latest software version which in truth if I'd not packaged it up on Monday could have done myself. I believe Three UK released the update on Monday anyway?
Network connection seems to be slightly better but not by a great deal. I'm not sure what I expected from HTC. If it's hardware there seems to be little knowledge of a problem with them and firmware/software they'll only have the latest versions and hope for the best. I'll just have to see how it goes for the time being. I always have the option to sell it and look for something else.
Not right impressed with HTC's packaging back of phone. I stupidly wrapped it in bubble wrap and put it in a box to dispatch. They simply found a box and chucked it in it so it was free to rattle about all the way home. As a result it has picked up a chip of the coating on it's top edge - unless it was done on the work bench. Certainly wasn't like that when it went as use a Case-Mate Tough cover. Not overly upset about that but should I mention this to HTC? Seems a bit of a poor do
I finally get my HTC One S TODAY! As soon as I do, I will do a comparison. I work for T-Mobile (until my call center closes), so I have a bunch of phones to compare with and test against.
I don't have another (working) phone to compare, but my circumstances make that moot anyway. I have the international One S on AT&T, and since the phone lacks the UMTS 1900 I expected to get lower than usual signal compared to my Desire (A8182, RIP), but hoped that most areas have been upgraded to 850 by now.
Anyway, at work (inside concrete block building with metal structure roof) I am getting between -107 and -88db, (with 10 asu?) depending on where in the building I am. In a larger city I usually get between -30 to -18db, But I do not live or work in a large city.
Even so, so far battery life is way over expectations. currently on 53 hours on a single charge, with 23% battery remaining.
I always get 3/4 bars like my Amaze.
mmceorange said:
I don't have another (working) phone to compare, but my circumstances make that moot anyway. I have the international One S on AT&T, and since the phone lacks the UMTS 1900 I expected to get lower than usual signal compared to my Desire (A8182, RIP), but hoped that most areas have been upgraded to 850 by now.
Anyway, at work (inside concrete block building with metal structure roof) I am getting between -107 and -88db, (with 10 asu?) depending on where in the building I am. In a larger city I usually get between -30 to -18db, But I do not live or work in a large city.
Even so, so far battery life is way over expectations. currently on 53 hours on a single charge, with 23% battery remaining.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In another thread the box of the tmobile version says it has the 1900 UMTS band. You may be better of with an unlocked tmobile version.
Just tried at a TmoUS store. My HD2 had about -63dB, HOS on display had only -75~-79dB. Disappointed.
motionUS said:
In another thread the box of the tmobile version says it has the 1900 UMTS band. You may be better of with an unlocked tmobile version.
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Click to collapse
I am sure you're right, but I like the look and feel of the "MAO" much much more than the gray/blue. If T-mobile (or better yet, Telus) gets the black version I will likely switch.
jjmai said:
Just tried at a TmoUS store. My HD2 had about -63dB, HOS on display had only -75~-79dB. Disappointed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That means absolutely nothing. You don't even know if they are connecting to the same cell site.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA
I have not done anything software wise to my phone, its still a factory rom and radio for ATT... now my issue is I'm struggling all the time with reception with this phone. I don't remember it being this bad when I first got it and now its just becoming a huge annoyance.
I'll have phone calls breaking up with a display showing 3-4 bars of service and also having troubles sending txt messages quite often.
I'm in an area that is labeled as HPSA coverage area and my "voice" coverage map for my area is not bad at all... for example where I work is listed as "BEST" coverage and if I walk outside I'll have 2 maybe 3 bars of service.
There is nothing visibly wrong with my antenna/sim cover but should I attempt to replace it and see if that could be causing the problem?
There is nothing out there on the web for improving reception on a Inspire 4G phone and there is now way to shut off the HPSA and revert to 3G, but at the same time I really should have to since my whole state is covered with blue for HPSA coverage.
Any input on things that I can try would be great.
Thanks.
BerettaFreak said:
I have not done anything software wise to my phone, its still a factory rom and radio for ATT... now my issue is I'm struggling all the time with reception with this phone. I don't remember it being this bad when I first got it and now its just becoming a huge annoyance.
I'll have phone calls breaking up with a display showing 3-4 bars of service and also having troubles sending txt messages quite often.
I'm in an area that is labeled as HPSA coverage area and my "voice" coverage map for my area is not bad at all... for example where I work is listed as "BEST" coverage and if I walk outside I'll have 2 maybe 3 bars of service.
There is nothing visibly wrong with my antenna/sim cover but should I attempt to replace it and see if that could be causing the problem?
There is nothing out there on the web for improving reception on a Inspire 4G phone and there is now way to shut off the HPSA and revert to 3G, but at the same time I really should have to since my whole state is covered with blue for HPSA coverage.
Any input on things that I can try would be great.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hpsa is basically 3g just optimized packet transmission. You can change your phone to run on edge network (which is why i personally do because then i can get a ton more battery life) Also it doesnt matter what your area is 'claimed' to be for coverage, there are a ton of outside factors that influence your signal. What you can do is take the bottom cover off and clean the gold contacts on the phone itself with alcohol and using something metal, lightly scrape the cover-side contacts to shine up the metal (but not removing the material itself)
Well aware of all the things you mentioned, as well as I've tried cleaning the contacts multiple times. Used an eraser on the cover side to polish the contacts and got no improvement with signal. I also can not find any way to shut off HPSA or 3G on this phone... and I've read that with the AT&T Inspire it's not possible. I'd love to switch to Edge when at work because as you said it would extend battery life immensely.
But I guess the real issue is I never had these problems before with any of my phones or this one at first, granted I have some dead spots which I'm well aware of and accept since I do live in the hilly north east corner but to have this phone degrade with signal over the time I've had it just seems a bit odd.
I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced signal loss with an Inspire 4G over the life of the phone without having any physical damage done to it. As well as having much less signal strength in comparison to other phone models.
I'm contemplating getting a new phone but I want to ensure that whatever I get would have better reception. I'm close to my 2yr resign IIRC and when I do find out that date I will probably replace this.
Its just the whole antenna on the Inspire seems to be lacking and very small in my mind, and placed very badly.
*#*#4636#*#* dial this and get into your config menu. change network type to edge/gsm i think it is? been a while since ive used stock ui
fyi the antenna is supposed to be small as it has to be designed to receive certain frequency. antenna length has to do with what signal it is using. bigger is not better
theres an app on market called 2g/3g toggle. it will put a button on your screen to take u to that menu screen instantly
That worked but which network do you switch to, It was on WCDMA Preferred
Also that app only brings me to the network settings in the phone, not to this menu.
I selected "GSM Only" for now to see what it does.
BerettaFreak said:
That worked but which network do you switch to, It was on WCDMA Preferred
Also that app only brings me to the network settings in the phone, not to this menu.
I selected "GSM Only" for now to see what it does.
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Click to collapse
correct, gsm only will keep you on edge network. if you want your regular hspa+ setting just change it back to wcdma preferred
I'm all of a sudden having no service, i think at&t is having issues.
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
Read the Forum Rules Ref Posting
Thanks ✟
Moving to Q&A
This is a matter of interest to me as well. I've been looking at some videos for "fixing" the reception of other phone models by finding the gold contacts and extending the "antenna" by attaching a piece of aluminum foil to the antenna points. Now with the Inspire, the contact points are in the battery cover, but you'd have to open the unit itself to see anything more than that. I'm thinking that some reception problems may be due to worn contacts. I'd be interested in what kind of substance would be appropriate for "restoring" the contacts. Also I'd be interested if someone *has* opened up the unit and "extended" the antenna with something like aluminum foil.
From what I could gather the cell antenna is actually on the bottom cover for the SIM an SD cards. All I did was use an eraser on the contacts to clean them up and yes I did try to lay down foil to extend the antenna but from what I have read regarding radio's and such the antenna size and shape is specific to the signal its trying to pick up, so that could either work great or fail completely when you try to extend it. It did not help for my situation at all.
Lately the phone will not send txt's with one bar of HPSA or just on Edge which makes no sense to me and also I'm quite often only getting one bar unless I can see a tower right next to me which is a bit sad and I do not remember having this issue before.
Also changing the preferred network did not prevent it from using or wanting to go to HPSA while I'm at work. It would operate the same as before. Its impossible to get this phone to stick on regular 3g which I feel I have better coverage of that network in my area.
I'm contemplating rooting the phone and trying some different radio's on it to see if that will help me at all.
I never had this many signal issues with my 3Gs and I'm contemplating going back to that phone until I can upgrade again since this is just so aggravating... More so than having to have the same txt sounds as everyone else with an iPhone.
I think it us just AT&T having problems on their side. Some days I gave great reception, and others it struggles to maintain one bar all day. Its getting very annoying for me, and I probably won't be with them for much longer...Verizon looks much better right now.
I've read reports on the Internet of many users having issues with the Samsung Galaxy S3 such as small cracks appearing in the casing of the phone out of no where. Another thing is the weak signal strength this phone is known for. All the reports I could find were outdated and I really want to like this phone and purchase it.
I'd like to know if anyone knows if these problems have been fixed by Samsung.
Thanks in advance!
Touchpadnoob said:
I've read reports on the Internet of many users having issues with the Samsung Galaxy S3 such as small cracks appearing in the casing of the phone out of no where. Another thing is the weak signal strength this phone is known for. All the reports I could find were outdated and I really want to like this phone and purchase it.
I'd like to know if anyone knows if these problems have been fixed by Samsung.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
easily the best phone ive ever owned.
no problems yet
Touchpadnoob said:
I've read reports on the Internet of many users having issues with the Samsung Galaxy S3 such as small cracks appearing in the casing of the phone out of no where. Another thing is the weak signal strength this phone is known for. All the reports I could find were outdated and I really want to like this phone and purchase it.
I'd like to know if anyone knows if these problems have been fixed by Samsung.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Signal has been top notch on mine.....Just as good as my wife's Rezound. Much much better then my GNEX!
Below 40% battery the signal becomes progressively weaker, noticably so, but no issues with calls, mostly manifests itself in data.
Otherwise, though, great signal. As I sit here in the middle of a state park far from anything. I travel a lot, neighborhood of a thousand interstate miles a week, and haven't dropped a call yet.
Device rocks, and haven't noticed any physical deterioration. As a smartphone you can't do any better on the market today in terms of quality, performance or features.
Worth getting the 32 gig model and slapping a 64 gig card in it. Nothing like having nearly 100 gigs of immediately available interactive storage.
4g lte is impressively fast.
one thing to remember is somebody will always have something to gripe about no matter what. that being said the s3 is by far the most solid device i have ever owned!
I've had two different Galaxy S3's on Verizon, and both have horrible data issues. Disconnects from data, and not gaining data back until reboot, slow data speeds when I have it, and signal bars constantly going from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 3 to 2 to 3 to 4 etc....
The second phone has never been rooted or modified, and the first one I tried everything I could think of. So many ROMs, modems, and flashes, and nothing worked. Other Verizon phones nearby work just fine. Just my experience though.
Thread is called issues with this phone
Let's keep other phones out of it
Thanks
Thread cleaned
FNM
kennyglass123 said:
Thread is called issues with this phone
Let's keep other phones out of it
Thanks
Thread cleaned
FNM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are referring to me then I was talking about the Galaxy S3. The OP was talking about the Galaxy S3 too.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I only got 2 bars where I am at, but looking at my family's other phones, they are about the same in reception (razr droid) . Now my dad who lives out of state, is telling me that when he calls me, it goes straight to voice mail (i dont see any indication that he called) , so this is an issue im trying to figure out, but I have a custom rom and kernal. So hard to say what the issue is for me ( I also got a crack on the screen already from slippage the 2nd day I owned the phone, but its very minimal), happened because I didn't have a case at the time.
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/s720x720/386262_10151093476528557_832449593_n.jpg
The phone otherwise is awesome, Get some good protection for it, it is a must! I carry it in my pocket,but I do feel like if someone bumps up against my thigh that it could break.
I think people are to caught up in the bars. I never look at the bars. If my phone has 4G and I don't drop calls then there is no problems with the radio. I even get 4G in fringe areas where my GNEX did not.
Also, my wife's rezound can say she has 3 bars is a fringe areas but it still takes 10 minutes to
load a webpage.
Bars are a bunch of BS. Usage is what really counts.
Signal strength is what matters. I'm actually considering I might have a bad phone since it constantly loses data or drops to 1x in my apt, where the map shows full 4G coverage and my previous phone (Sprint) never had a single issue. Tested a friends Nexus and it had slow speeds but never lost a connection, and the Nexus is said to have really poor reception.
ECrispy said:
Signal strength is what matters. I'm actually considering I might have a bad phone since it constantly loses data or drops to 1x in my apt, where the map shows full 4G coverage and my previous phone (Sprint) never had a single issue. Tested a friends Nexus and it had slow speeds but never lost a connection, and the Nexus is said to have really poor reception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First question are you rooted? if not you should get an update from Verizon with a new modem. If so go to the modem link and down the newest modem and flash it via Odin. I flashed mine and it seems to help with the single problem I was having. Also when you look at the bars I was told that if your data is on the bars you see is for your data when it is off the bars you see is for your voice.
silver1882 said:
First question are you rooted? if not you should get an update from Verizon with a new modem. If so go to the modem link and down the newest modem and flash it via Odin. I flashed mine and it seems to help with the single problem I was having. Also when you look at the bars I was told that if your data is on the bars you see is for your data when it is off the bars you see is for your voice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am a bit confused by this advice going around. I am rooted, and unlocked. I checked for root access a few times before posting this, and I can still do everything I could before. I have manually received the OTA update, and don't notice a difference in my root capabilities. Are you saying something was supposed to break once I updated?
I've realised that the signal strength in Phone Status (in dBm) does not seem to work correctly when on LTE. Very often, it'll show that my signal is -113 dBm, which is an extremely weak signal, while showing 2 or 3 signal bars. Something is obviously wrong as 3 out of 4 bars should NEVER be as weak a signal as -113 dBm. Is anyone else experiencing this?
G920F (bought from Germany) on 3 UK.
Japultra said:
I've realised that the signal strength in Phone Status (in dBm) does not seem to work correctly when on LTE. Very often, it'll show that my signal is -113 dBm, which is an extremely weak signal, while showing 2 or 3 signal bars. Something is obviously wrong as 3 out of 4 bars should NEVER be as weak a signal as -113 dBm. Is anyone else experiencing this?
G920F (bought from Germany) on 3 UK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LTE dBm are calculated differently. 113 is good around 140 is bad.
SmiLey497 said:
LTE dBm work different. 113 is good around 140 is bad.
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Click to collapse
I've read that signal drops off at -120, so -113 is pretty close to the edge, but either way, that signal indicator is wrong. If I go into the service menu (*#0011#) the RSRP (dBm) it shows fluctuates from -91 to -98, which seems to be the more appropriate dBm for 3 bars of signal. The dBm in my phone status still stays static at -113 (it doesn't fluctuate at all)
As per your request in the other topic here are my findings.
I live in Amsterdam and I work in the harbour area (a lot of open spaces). I work next to a 4 x 3 meter window. With every device I've owned I would get full reception. Though under settings > device > status it would always say -113. My reception bar is always near empty.
When I go outside, even in the middle of a park in the middle of the city with nobody around, I will still get the same result. In my apartmentbuilding, on the 7th floor outside on my balcony, same result.
I'm currently in the office so I thought I'd send a screenshot of what the *#0011# screen looks like.
(Apologies for the big image)
In my parking garage I would even get reception with my OnePlus One, which isn't really great when it comes to reception. It would be only a sliver, but at least I would get something. The S6 doesn't get anything. When I leave the bigger urban area I'm immediately knocked off 4G and 3G and I'm pretty much left to calling and texting. The Netherlands isn't really like the outback of Australia, I had expected better
I can live with not having reception in my parking garage, but I'm more concerned with the fact that I've never seen more reception than you can see in that screenshot and that I have close to no reception when I go out of town. I'm using T-Mobile which I know only uses the higher frequencies. In the Netherlands they use 900 MHz, 1800, 2600 MHz. I don't know if that comes into play much. I had a bit better reception when I was still at Vodafone, but that was a few years back. With a top of the line device like the S6 I had expected better. Much better.
Maybe I should have the device swapped?
Thijsvr said:
As per your request in the other topic here are my findings.
I live in Amsterdam and I work in the harbour area (a lot of open spaces). I work next to a 4 x 3 meter window. With every device I've owned I would get full reception. Though under settings > device > status it would always say -113. My reception bar is always near empty.
When I go outside, even in the middle of a park in the middle of the city with nobody around, I will still get the same result. In my apartmentbuilding, on the 7th floor outside on my balcony, same result.
I'm currently in the office so I thought I'd send a screenshot of what the *#0011# screen looks like.
(Apologies for the big image)
In my parking garage I would even get reception with my OnePlus One, which isn't really great when it comes to reception. It would be only a sliver, but at least I would get something. The S6 doesn't get anything. When I leave the bigger urban area I'm immediately knocked off 4G and 3G and I'm pretty much left to calling and texting. The Netherlands isn't really like the outback of Australia, I had expected better
I can live with not having reception in my parking garage, but I'm more concerned with the fact that I've never seen more reception than you can see in that screenshot and that I have close to no reception when I go out of town. I'm using T-Mobile which I know only uses the higher frequencies. In the Netherlands they use 900 MHz, 1800, 2600 MHz. I don't know if that comes into play much. I had a bit better reception when I was still at Vodafone, but that was a few years back. With a top of the line device like the S6 I had expected better. Much better.
Maybe I should have the device swapped?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see that your RSRP is the same as what it states in the phone status menu. Does this number ever change? For me, I (mostly) always see -113 (such as right now in my office) but my RSRP actually fluctuates. Screenshot of my RSRP attached.
Japultra said:
I see that your RSRP is the same as what it states in the phone status menu. Does this number ever change? For me, I (mostly) always see -113 (such as right now in my office) but my RSRP actually fluctuates. Screenshot of my RSRP attached.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my phone status window I've never seen it change. In the RSRP it does vary a little bit, from -115 to -110.
I actually just got it working properly for the first time. I went to the rooftop of my office, as far away from anything that could interfere and I got -77. Bars actually went up too which I haven't seen before. So I guess the device really does just have poor reception. Strange that not more people are reporting on this though.
Edit. These guys are also reporting on low signal stuff: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/04/08/samsung_galaxy_s6/
Thijsvr said:
In my phone status window I've never seen it change. In the RSRP it does vary a little bit, from -115 to -110.
I actually just got it working properly for the first time. I went to the rooftop of my office, as far away from anything that could interfere and I got -77. Bars actually went up too which I haven't seen before. So I guess the device really does just have poor reception. Strange that not more people are reporting on this though.
Edit. These guys are also reporting on low signal stuff: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/04/08/samsung_galaxy_s6/
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Unfortunately, I've noticed the same thing, though not nearly as bad as what The Register is experiencing. For me, it is only slightly worse than my G3.
Japultra said:
Unfortunately, I've noticed the same thing, though not nearly as bad as what The Register is experiencing. For me, it is only slightly worse than my G3.
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The review sounds pretty accurate to me, but others are reporting their device has connectivity as good as HTC's M9. Luckily I've got an M9 lying around, so I'll put my sim in that and see if it too gives me poor reception.
---------- Post added at 02:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:36 PM ----------
Haha, I guess I have to blame T-Mobile and not Samsung. The M9 I have gets -112 dBm at the same location where the S6 has -113 dBm. Seems the problem is with the network and not with the device. Not sure yet if that's good news or not
Thijsvr said:
The review sounds pretty accurate to me, but others are reporting their device has connectivity as good as HTC's M9. Luckily I've got an M9 lying around, so I'll put my sim in that and see if it too gives me poor reception.
---------- Post added at 02:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:36 PM ----------
Haha, I guess I have to blame T-Mobile and not Samsung. The M9 I have gets -112 dBm at the same location where the S6 has -113 dBm. Seems the problem is with the network and not with the device. Not sure yet if that's good news or not
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Well, it's good that you know it's not your S6! I was actually walking along a street where I got horrible reception with the G3 (after I posted the last comment) and realised I was actually holding onto a signal when the G3 would lose signal completely. Guess it's not as bad as I thought!
Japultra said:
Well, it's good that you know it's not your S6! I was actually walking along a street where I got horrible reception with the G3 (after I posted the last comment) and realised I was actually holding onto a signal when the G3 would lose signal completely. Guess it's not as bad as I thought!
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We're just too critical Glad we got it solved, haha. Back to fully enjoying the device!
I have this issue also.
I had a nexus 5 before on EE and pretty much always had 3-4 bars if not full signal. On the GS6 still with EE i rarely see it go above 1 bar.
I am still within my 14 day return time but i am stuck now with what to do. Do i risk waiting to see if this is fixed with a software update or return it. If i wait and its not fixed them im stuck with a phone that gets very little signal. If i return it i have no idea what else i would get as i love this phone. I have also tried another GS6 in store but same issue so makes me wonder is this a software or hardware issue. Seems several people on varying networks have this issue.
I have the same experience. -113 dBm at home inside our house.
1 max 2 bars on the signal indicator. Lots of places where I had 4-5 bars on my One M8 I now have these -113 dBm on S6 4G, or only 3G connection (-79 dBm - 4 bars, the max on S6). Sitting here with my SIM card placed in my M8 I get -98 dBm 39 asu inside our house. Thats 4 out of 5 bars on the HTC indicator. It's the same with other 4G handsets we have in the house. I have a cheap company Nokia 4G phone that also have 4 bars inside the house. I've had a Z3 compact that also had great reception on 4G. I think I have data enough to conclude:
Conclusion: S6 have bad LTE/4G reception. Very very sorry about this. This is a real stepdown from what I otherwise think of the S6 handset. Other than that, I don't know wether this can be made better by software, but I doubt it..
EDIT: Just tried by wifes Samsung A5, which sees -97 dBm on my SIM card.
Different carrier roms seem to deal with the signal differently, but essentially it's a cosmetic issue. I'm using the Three UK (H3G) rom and my signal bars work fine but my dBm signal level in settings is always stuck at -113dBm.
I took these 2 screenshots at the same time standing in a great 4G signal area:
http://i.imgur.com/n6eUmaS.png
http://i.imgur.com/v5KsmgH.png
As you can see, the settings shows -113dBm but the service menu (*#0011# in dialer) shows -84dBm.
Maybe this thread is really about that - the signal interpretation internally. But nevertheless my S6 handset is 'downscaling' to 3G all the time (and staying there), hente twice the roundtrip and less bandwidth for me.
duckstardeluxe said:
Maybe this thread is really about that - the signal interpretation internally. But nevertheless my S6 handset is 'downscaling' to 3G all the time (and staying there), hente twice the roundtrip and less bandwidth for me.
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It sounds like you have a different issue. Have you tried checking what your signal is in the service menu using *#0011#?
I'm getting an error dialing the service menu (OSSD code) stating N/A.
duckstardeluxe said:
I'm getting an error dialing the service menu (OSSD code) stating N/A.
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Are you typing it in exactly like this: *#0011# ?
Here in Italy very bad signal with TIM also with 3g. Where my Iphone and Note 4 get full signal only 2 bars on my GS6. What the hell Samsung always release buggy phone!!!
I forgot to mention that I was running the Lite version of the stock rom found here on XDA. The service code don't work on that rom, which made me downgrade to my backup of the stock rom.
I'm getting RSRP:-98 RSRQ:-6 RSSI:-71
duckstardeluxe said:
I forgot to mention that I was running the Lite version of the stock rom found here on XDA. The service code don't work on that rom, which made me downgrade to my backup of the stock rom.
I'm getting RSRP:-98 RSRQ:-6 RSSI:-71
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That matches your M8.
Anyone else face this issue? I live in an area with little to no signal, but my phone still captures around 1-2 bars of signal. However, when I install ANY custom ROM (CyanogenMod, Optimized ROMs, etc...) , I go down to no bars visible unless I change my data to 3G. This also brings my standby time after unplugging the charger from 3 days to about 22 hours or less. The kernel installed doesn't make a difference. I don't know why a custom ROM would even change how much signal my phone captures, but stock just seems the best. Perhaps one more incentive for Motorola to provide official Nougat, though that likely won't happen sadly.
i also face the same and this gave me same doubt STOCK rom will be giving us Good Signals , but CM14 is not giving me proper signals when using LTE
same issue here
In theory, it shouldn't matter the ROM because the stock radio firmware is the same regardless of the ROM... what is different is how the signal level is interpreted and displayed to you. Remember that "bars" means nothing, it is just to comfort your mind and soul, and is often purposely exaggerated by OEMs over the recommendations by AOSP.
To really tell your signal level, use an app like Network Signal Info or LTE Discovery to see your true signal strength in decibel-milliwatts (dbm) and/or Arbitrary Strength Unit (ASU), but make sure you do some reading and understand these values because they mean different things on different network types (2G, 3G, LTE, etc). A good place to start understanding them is here.
acejavelin said:
In theory, it shouldn't matter the ROM because the stock radio firmware is the same regardless of the ROM... what is different is how the signal level is interpreted and displayed to you. Remember that "bars" means nothing, it is just to comfort your mind and soul, and is often purposely exaggerated by OEMs over the recommendations by AOSP.
To really tell your signal level, use an app like Network Signal Info or LTE Discovery to see your true signal strength in decibel-milliwatts (dbm) and/or Arbitrary Strength Unit (ASU), but make sure you do some reading and understand these values because they mean different things on different network types (2G, 3G, LTE, etc). A good place to start understanding them is here.
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ur rocking
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