Hello Friends,
I have been struggling with the poor performance of my Droid Charge. I like the Android operating system as a whole but as you will see from my previous posts on this forum I have been pulling out my hair trying to figure out why the Charge is performing so poorly. Anyway I am thinking of discontinuing my contract with Verizon and going to a new Samsung S3 from ATT which I will get from Amazon Wireless for $79. I do want decent network speed of around 5 mbps and I live in San Jose, CA. I was wondering if anyone had any idea of how the ATT network performed in the bay area. I understand it is still slower than Verizon but how much slower? Are there any other phones other than the S3 that I should consider. The main uses for my phone is texting, facebook, GPS(very important) and as a music player.
I have been using my nexus 5 on ATT since the Nexus 5 debuted. I just switched over to Tmobile for the $80 unlimited plan. I feel like I made a mistake. Since the switch, service has been less than stellar, I get maybe 3 bars of LTE in most places and even on the main interstate its still a bit dodgy.
the main gripe is that I now cant even go a day on a single charge with my nexus 5, when I was on ATT I could go almost 2 days with my GPS, wifi, Data all enabled and all apps greenified.
and Yes I did check the coverage map and every area I am in has full LTE coverage per their map. frommy Home, my route form home to work and even my work. all LTE yet i still only get a few bars and constant switching back and forth between 3G, HSPA and LTE. Many times my phone wont make it back to LTE from HSPA, I have to use airplane mode to toggle it back. when I was on ATT i had none of these problems.
I was wondering if anyone else in here has made the switch from AT&T to TMobile and how was their experience with service and battery life?
This is totally subjective. Completely depends on where you live and work and what the tmo signals are like vs att
sent from my hammerhead
I switched to T-Mobile back in the Beginning of April with a Galaxy S4 international. The 3G coverage sucked., and that model could not do LTE. Before May I ended up buying a Nexus. The default Google Kitkat ROM had kinda sucky battery from what I remember, but I only had it for a day. I switched to Cyanogenmod and have much better battery life. Depending on what I do on the phone, I can end up with 30-80% battery left. There is a bunch of variables to my usage such just checking emails to playing games and listening to music on the phone and playing Pandora or Stitcher in the car.. And I use a Live wallpaper.
LTE coverage is fair but not great, but I am saving over $25 a month.
ldubs said:
This is totally subjective. Completely depends on where you live and work and what the tmo signals are like vs att
sent from my hammerhead
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Where I live, the AT&T and Tmobile LTE coverage maps are virtually identical and I notice no difference in LTE signal strength just going by the bars in the phone screen.
even at home, i always only got 1 bar ot LTE with AT&T and its the same with Tmobile.. only 1 bar of LTE.
my battery drain stinks with Tmobile service on my nexus 5. i put in my wifes ATT SIM and tried it out for a day and battery life was much better with no other changes. so I know its the tmobile service thats doing it.
This is not meant to be scientific, however I am trying to get a gauge if this is a larger issue that what some have posted. I have a new Galaxy S6 that I activated on launch day. My previous 2 phones are and S4 and S5 most recently. I am fairly savvy in knowing my network strength locally and places I frequent. Since switching to the S6 from my S5 I have been on 3G in know very good 4G areas alot of the time. Not only that but I have seen the dreaded 1X more times in the last few days in areas I have had religiously great 4G coverage on for years. I have dropped 3 calls of which I havent done in probably 4 years as well. I have done tests with an S4 and S5 right next to my new S6 where I can pull 15-20Mbs on either of those two phones where my new S6 gets between 0.5Mbs and 1.5Mbs.
I have checked the signal strength between the two sitting right along side each other S5 (111DBs) - S6 (98DBs) I personally have no idea the order of magnitude between 1-10 DBs if that would make that much of a dramatic difference, but real world testing there is either something wrong with my specific unit or hoping its not extremely widespread. There is a thread in general that we have been posting to but the change has been so dramatic if it was more widespread i would think alot more folks would be posting. So in order to find out if this is specific to myself and a few others in that thread or more widespread hardware/software issue I am throwing up a poll. Please take a few seconds and vote.
i work in my basement in a major city area and all my previous phones would get 3 bars of LTE in my office here. my S6 Edge gets occasional 1 bar of LTE mixed with 1X very often.
i am connected to wifi here and it hasnt affected my using it for work but have noticed this and prefer it worked at least as well as my older devices.
i am generally not a "numbers" watcher on things like this or battery and more of a "as long as it works as i need it" user but i noticed the 1X because i am not use to seeing it.
also i should add that i noticed under battery that #1 for me is always "Cell Standby" and i have to assume they are related?
fletch33 said:
i work in my basement in a major city area and all my previous phones would get 3 bars of LTE in my office here. my S6 Edge gets occasional 1 bar of LTE mixed with 1X very often.
i am connected to wifi here and it hasnt affected my using it for work but have noticed this and prefer it worked at least as well as my older devices.
i am generally not a "numbers" watcher on things like this or battery and more of a "as long as it works as i need it" user but i noticed the 1X because i am not use to seeing it.
also i should add that i noticed under battery that #1 for me is always "Cell Standby" and i have to assume they are related?
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So far every time a Verizon user has had Cell Standby at the top, it's been with wifi on. After your next full charge, leave wifi turned off completely for awhile and see if Cell Standby shows up at the top again.
What makes this a major problem is the fact that Verizon's VoLTE is fully dependent on a decent LTE signal.
jntdroid said:
So far every time a Verizon user has had Cell Standby at the top, it's been with wifi on. After your next full charge, leave wifi turned off completely for awhile and see if Cell Standby shows up at the top again.
What makes this a major problem is the fact that Verizon's VoLTE is fully dependent on a decent LTE signal.
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i have read that as well and i guess i could do that but i really need Wifi on when my office signal is so often on 1X
Yes testing it today, it is very bad. Getting about 1Mbps when not using Wi-Fi.
Sent from my SM-G920V using XDA Premium HD app
Our new S6 is doing this same thing. Jumps from a strong 4G signal to 1X with no signal the second you make a call. :crying:
Is there a fix for this besides returning the phone?
Enable advanced calling on your account and on your phone. Also switch from Global to LTE/CDMA
Sent from my LG-VS985 using Tapatalk
bkuhl said:
Enable advanced calling on your account and on your phone. Also switch from Global to LTE/CDMA
Sent from my LG-VS985 using Tapatalk
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OK, But than I loose my Caller ID / Name / Number. I need the caller ID.
Then buy the Caller ID feature. Your phone is switching to 1X when making a phone call because the S6 doesn't support voice and data simultaneously unless you have Advanced Calling on and enabled and are in LTE coverage area. The S6 only has a dual band modem.
Sent from my LG-VS985 using Tapatalk
HD Voice feature needs to be turned on, but don't!
Hey guys I've talked about this in different forums and sites, I'll copy and paste it here and hopefully it will help you understand why you can't place calls using the 4G LTE without having the Advance calling feature turned on under the Verizon network.
"Verizon is aware of the HD voice/video feature being the culprit of the dropped calls, they are blaming Samsung for not pushing an update to correct the problem. Meanwhile Samsung has said that the feature is a Verizon software. I was told by their tech support that it has been reported that there's a 50% dropped call increase using the galaxy S6 while having the HD voice/video feature on, this was 2 weeks ago. The agent said they have a search tool like Google search, this is internal and that's where he found this information.
You can not make calls and surf the web without the HD voice/video feature on, but turning this feature off will STOP THE DROPPED calls. Verizon's software side for galaxy S6 does not allow you to make calls on the 4G LTE network when the HD voice/video feature off, instead is shows 1x.
I have been in touch with Verizon wireless tech support for the last 3 weeks now, this past week Verizon has been sending me texts to update me on the progress of my ticket. I've had Samsung tech support in conference call with Verizon tech support; during this call that lasted more than 3 hours Verizon admitted that it wasn't a Samsung problem but Verizon's. As soon as the tech from Samsung hanged up the call because we were told that I would have to call their engineering department to further assist us. Before the Samsung tech agent hung up the call we had asked if I could make calls using the 4G LTE and was told to hold up while he researched this question. As soon as the Samsung tech agent left the conference call the Verizon tech answered no, and proceeded to make a complete 360 on answers he gave prior to the Samsung agent leaving the call, saying that the problem was not a Verizon but Samsung problem, even though moments before he said that it wasn't a Samsung problem to me and the Samsung tech support agent but Verizon's. I was also advised by the Verizon tech agent that if I wanted to, I could JAIL BRAKE my Galaxy S6 and download a software to disable the HD voice/video feature without losing the 4G LTE but that it probably still won't work properly. I told this agent that I've never jail broken a device and don't plan on because this is clearly a Verizon feature not working properly.
Not even 5 minutes after ending the call with Verizon's tech support, a supervisor from Verizon called me to tell me again that this is a Samsung issue not Verizon, he said that Samsung needs to push a SW version update to fix the problem with the HD voice calls dropping. He asked what I wanted, I said to get the Galaxy S5 and return this phone, but that I was told by 2 different stores (Rockville Centre NY, and Merrick NY both in Long Island) that if I wanted to return this phone or exchange for a different one I would be charged a 40% restocking fee even though I was within my 14 days. I was told by the tech before the supervisor called that it was at each store's discretion whether they charged you a restocking fee or not. I was told to consider this mater resolved by the supervisor, that they will get in touch with the store so I can return the phone and if in fact there are any fees I would be refunded in some sort of credit; but all I've received all of last week is text messages letting me know they are still working on my ticket."
ok i know this will sound crazy BUT i cracked the screen on my S6 Edge and got sent a new replacement (after deductible) and i swear in the same basement office i was using my original release day S6 my reception is much better.
i cant say if i just needed to do a reset on the original or what may be at play here but i can say with certainty that using the new one all day today i have not seen a single 1X or even gone below 2 bars where my original was often on 1X sitting in the same chair and location. no doubt its better but cant say why for sure except i am using a new device.
sidenote - the screen on my 1st one had much whiter whites and this new one has a slight more of a yellowish tint to it but this is not an area i am over concerned about and just something i noticed right away and then held them side by side before i shipped the cracked original back
fletch33 said:
ok i know this will sound crazy BUT i cracked the screen on my S6 Edge and got sent a new replacement (after deductible) and i swear in the same basement office i was using my original release day S6 my reception is much better.
i cant say if i just needed to do a reset on the original or what may be at play here but i can say with certainty that using the new one all day today i have not seen a single 1X or even gone below 2 bars where my original was often on 1X sitting in the same chair and location. no doubt its better but cant say why for sure except i am using a new device.
sidenote - the screen on my 1st one had much whiter whites and this new one has a slight more of a yellowish tint to it but this is not an area i am over concerned about and just something i noticed right away and then held them side by side before i shipped the cracked original back
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Interesting. Unfortunately I've had three S6's and all behaved similarly with weaker LTE signal and more frequent drops to 3G.
Also, the screen thing is the one thing that bugs me about amoled, and qhd amoled at that. On my third device and all three have had some variation of the pink hue, and while quite subtle, once you see it you can't unsee it.
jntdroid said:
Interesting. Unfortunately I've had three S6's and all behaved similarly with weaker LTE signal and more frequent drops to 3G.
Also, the screen thing is the one thing that bugs me about amoled, and qhd amoled at that. On my third device and all three have had some variation of the pink hue, and while quite subtle, once you see it you can't unsee it.
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Don't know if people are still watching this thread but my signal is awful! I have an international variant here in Alaska SM-G920I... The firmware is from February! Did an update fix your issues with poor signal?
fletch33 said:
i work in my basement in a major city area and all my previous phones would get 3 bars of LTE in my office here. my S6 Edge gets occasional 1 bar of LTE mixed with 1X very often.
i am connected to wifi here and it hasnt affected my using it for work but have noticed this and prefer it worked at least as well as my older devices.
i am generally not a "numbers" watcher on things like this or battery and more of a "as long as it works as i need it" user but i noticed the 1X because i am not use to seeing it.
also i should add that i noticed under battery that #1 for me is always "Cell Standby" and i have to assume they are related?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exact same situation here. Work in the basement at my house in a major area; down here I get 3G or 1X. Upstairs i'm getting 3G or 1bar LTE and it flips a lot. Battery seems to drain like crazy when this is happening, and I'm on WiFi the entire time. I had a total of 2.2 hours SOT yesterday and was at 14% when I plugged it back in. Cell standby was around 35% at that time.
I've noticed lately my S6 keeps locking onto 3G only even though the BRV T1114 running my home internet stays on LTE without issue. I had to ODIN my S6 cuz I messed it up then like a bonehead applied the OF1 update without thinking now I can't root it. If I could, would it be a good idea to lock it to band 13 all the time? That's what the T1114 Router uses and stays connected all the time. Sigh.....
I've noticed that if I leave it sitting on the table/bed for a while, it locks to LTE then when I start using it again after a minute or so it goes back to 3G only. Damn.
I saw 1x quite frequent with an s6 and a black screen that only recovery booting would get me powered on. Before and after rooting. But I unrooted and return and exchanged it and now all is well no more 1x or black screen issue knock on wood
Sent from my SCH-I535 using XDA Free mobile app
My Samsung rep at work said its due to the S6 only having one antenna vs. the S5 having two antennae(s).
DeathAngel66669 said:
My Samsung rep at work said its due to the S6 only having one antenna vs. the S5 having two antennae(s).
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That technically shouldn't matter because one was dedicated to voice only, but who knows at this point... I'm kinda tired of Verizon's inability, 4 years after the fact, to handle the LTE/3G handoff and "hold onto" issues.
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.
I bought a refurbished phone from Amazon and it works great aside from an absolutely terrible data signal. My old phone (Galaxy S6) had 4G almost everywhere in my house, this one I was able to get a very weak 3G signal outside. Someone on another forum suggested that I could flash my phone to Verizon and that might help. Would that actually fix the problem? If so how do I do that?