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Bad network signal / reception?

I was wondering how everyones experience with network signal is on their S6.
I upgraded from an S4 i9505 to the S6 SM-G920F and I notice that the signal to my network is about -5dBm worse on average. It means the phone isn't as good at keeping signal in a low signal area, and it drops from 4G to 3G much more often that the S4 in the same place.
Maybe my antenna is bad or does anyone else experience this?
Also, don't use the signal bars as a judge of your signal. Samsung has changed them, for example they now show 2 bars 4G when my S4 shows 1 bar. Both phones could have -105dBm and the S6 will show 2 bars but S4 1 bar. It makes it look as if the S6 signal is the same or better when in fact the true signal is worse on the S6.
If you want to see your true dBm signal on the S6, go to the dialer and type *#0011# and choose STACK 1. Your signal is the RSRP.
Screenshots attached of S4 and S6, you can see S6 shows 2 bars with -109dBm and S4 shows 1 bar with -106dBm. S4 has a better signal, so don't believe the bars.

Well, i have a couple of flagship cell phone, including 2 motorolas ( Turbo and X 2nd gen) , i thing it might have differences from region to region , but from my experience , Samsung and LG was the ones with bad reception from past experience, S3 , S4 and S5 they were always with a bar or two lower than other phones, and when motorola has only one bar , sammy was with no signal at all ,long time already .
Well, motorola are the best in signal strength for me, follow by HTC. This time sammy has improved, i guess it's the in-house chips or something. Still no Motorola tough .
I guess we notice those things because we live or work in a region that has weak signal so a little bit more or less makes huge difference.
Here is my screen shot right now. The signal bar seems to be accurate with the signal db.

Thanks for the screenshot Galinha1. That's interesting that you find Samsung has improved this time around. I notice that your screenshot has "Ant RSRP Diff" at a minus number (-26) but I've never seen mine in a minus, you can see mine is at 14. I don't know what Ant RSRP Diff means though, any ideas?
If you find that the S6 signal is better than the S4, maybe I have a faulty device?

mupet0000 said:
I upgraded from an S4 i9505 to the S6 SM-G920F and I notice that the signal to my network is about -5dBm worse on average. It means the phone isn't as good at keeping signal in a low signal area, and it drops from 4G to 3G much more often that the S4 in the same place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the exactly same experience. The S6 is more agressive drops to 3G. I'm coming from an HTC One M which in my everyday, according to OpenSignal, has 70-80% 4G connection 24/7, the rest 3G.
My S6 has around 30% 4G, 40% 3G and 30% Edge . Because of the great camera in the S6 I have decided to stick with it for now. Sadly. The great 4G signal in my area actually made me stay on 4G all day on the M8 and disregard wifi usage. On the S6 I've falled back to wifi which on my connection is a lot worse than 4G.
I'm really hoping for this issue to be in the Modem/radio firmware and not in the psycially device.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/help/lte-signal-indicator-issues-t3083001

mupet0000 said:
Thanks for the screenshot Galinha1. That's interesting that you find Samsung has improved this time around. I notice that your screenshot has "Ant RSRP Diff" at a minus number (-26) but I've never seen mine in a minus, you can see mine is at 14. I don't know what Ant RSRP Diff means though, any ideas?
If you find that the S6 signal is better than the S4, maybe I have a faulty device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, i don't know for sure if it's better than S5, it's been around 7 to 8 months i last used my S5 . But i remember that it was a really bad device for signal and call quality. Looks like it's better or is the placebo effect from a shiny new toy . About yours been faulty , well, before last week i would say no for sure, i would assume a firmware or modem software issue, not hardware, but i bought my S6e 2 weeks ago, and i had a lot of drop calls, random reboots , freezes ,and people complaining that they call me and the phone rings once or twice and hung up , and in my end i never saw that attempt of calling, so i tried a new firmware, updated, downgraded it.. still having issues. So i went to my carrier and they didn't even let me finish my complains and handed me a new device. I went back home , thinking that couldn't be hardware issue and this new one would have the same problems. But now it works as it supposed to do . So i guess they might have a lot of faulty devices and software issues for those initial batches . Although i still have some drop calls, and 3g or 4g drops , is not that noticeable like it was before.
I have no idead what ANt RSRP Diff means.
I hope you solve your problem, anything i can help you let me know.

better than my old nexus 6 and m7. plus it holds onto lte much longer

I also have issues with cell reception. I'm on att, and although in areas where signal is strong there are no issues, I have serious issues maintaining a cellular connection when the signal is mediocre. I'm at my wits end with this. The phone seems to run fine, no issues besides the fact that I don't get signal in many areas that my old Nokia lumina 930 had no issue getting reception. Also, ive compared with a few friends iphone 6's and they have signal while my s6 will have nothing. I will be bringing the phone in tomorrow, but if anyone has any other suggestions to fix this besides factory reset, which I've already done, I'd appreciate the help.

I also had problems with cell reception. (no signal, drop calls)
As suggested on several forums I changed the network mode in settings to WCDMA/GSM and this seems to solve the reception problems. This way I am not be able to use 4G but at least I can make calls now XD

hnos said:
I also had problems with cell reception. (no signal, drop calls)
As suggested on several forums I changed the network mode in settings to WCDMA/GSM and this seems to solve the reception problems. This way I am not be able to use 4G but at least I can make calls now XD
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Click to collapse
Well looks like it's many more of us than I thought... I am on EE and reception is a joke ( joke anyway on EE) but with S6 reception is much weaker than on any previous phones I've had. What firmware r u running

misiokicio said:
Well looks like it's many more of us than I thought... I am on EE and reception is a joke ( joke anyway on EE) but with S6 reception is much weaker than on any previous phones I've had. What firmware r u running
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on stock 5.1.1 G925FXXU2BOFJ
I believe the version is the same for the G920F

Just came back to Verizon after being with T-Mobile for a year. Signal is pretty much the same at the house as I has always been.
click for larger image
Around town it is normally pretty good. At work, it is much better than T-Mobile ever was.

S4 has better 4G signal then S6
This seems to be a problem world wide. Looks like Galaxy S6 is having issues with 4G. I compared it with my old S4 and it's way worse.
Here are the results.
S4- 4G inside the house signal: -109dBm 31asu
S4 - 4G outside the house signal: -102dBm 35asu
S6 - 4G inside the house signal: NO SIGNAL
S6 - 4G outside the house signal: -113dBm 0asu
On my S4 I'm getting a better signal inside the house than what I get on the S6 outside the house.
Does anyone know the reason for this and is there a fix?

4G is calculated differently than a 3G signal
4G: (113 is good, 140 is bad)

question about cell radio signal

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

phone randomly alternating between 5G/LTE

I'm on T-Mobile and I've noticed my phone alternating between 5G and LTE at random intervals. Both 5G and LTE are at 4 bars and I'm stationary. It's not really an issue because I didn't get this phone for 5G and the connection isn't dropping when it switches. Is anyone else experiencing this?

wvufankevin1991 said:
I'm on T-Mobile and I've noticed my phone alternating between 5G and LTE at random intervals. Both 5G and LTE are at 4 bars and I'm stationary. It's not really an issue because I didn't get this phone for 5G and the connection isn't dropping when it switches. Is anyone else experiencing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually mine has shown 5g constantly since I got it. Even though it's not using 5g. Mine is fully converted to TMobile

Mine is doing the same..... it must depend on signal strength or something. What concerns me about it is that 5g and 5g mwav is suppose to have less issues with walls, so why are the phones not staying on 5g? something is causing the 5g signal to go in and out.... I noticed less of an issue outside than inside which would be normal I guess, but should not be an issue for Tmobile's 5g service.

I live in NYC and don't have this issue with my phone. Could it be a problem with your location/city?
Have you called t-mobile about it yet?
Maybe do a speed test when it switches to see if you get lower speeds on LTE, maybe that would show if it is really actually switching or just an icon issue as both have the same amount of bars.

How are y'all determining that you are actually connected to a 5G carrier ? For AT&T, they have put the 5G icon on the man screen for awhile so I was looking at the Mobile data network setting under SIM card status but have only seen LTE. Having said that, I have done speed test where I am getting 20ms latency and 60Mbps download speeds.
Here is where the old Nokia Field Test Mode would be useful.

petraviva said:
How are y'all determining that you are actually connected to a 5G carrier ? For AT&T, they have put the 5G icon on the man screen for awhile so I was looking at the Mobile data network setting under SIM card status but have only seen LTE. Having said that, I have done speed test where I am getting 20ms latency and 60Mbps download speeds.
Here is where the old Nokia Field Test Mode would be useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because, up were you have the bars that show how strong your signal is, it actually tells me when I am on 4G, 4G LTE or 5G, and at least one Tmob, do don't need a 5G enabled SIM, it should "Just work" if you have 5G service in your area and you are within range of a 5G equipt tower..... I also checked with apps like Open Signal and others to see what towers I am connecting to, etc.
5G download and upload speeds are crappy though....lol..... Should be broadband speeds and it is no were near that...

Question Cellular network

How is your cellular network connection? I have noticed i miss connection some times.

Mine has been fine, same as my previous Pixel 5

johnny8910 said:
Mine has been fine, same as my previous Pixel 5
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Click to collapse
Do you live in a larger City? No problems with my op6 here i live, somewhat spread 4g.
Concerned if i need to deliver it in, or if it can be fixed with an sw update.

No. I live on the edge of a large town.

My S21 on T-Mobile has been a damned disaster. Can't hold a 5G signal to save its life, and I have 4 other 5G phones next to it locked onto 5G, getting 4x faster speed tests. I'm hoping the Flip performs better.

I believe the S21 has the same modem as the Flip 3.

ken1337 said:
How is your cellular network connection? I have noticed i miss connection some times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Me too!!! I'm finding that I have no connection or I am roaming in places that I had coverage on my S9. My wife's iPhone SE was staying on Spectrum while I was roaming. Thinking about sending it back.

Yes i am going to deliver it in, cant check bank app when in stores. Only have edge coverage where i usually have 4g.

Question S22 Ultra signal problems

do you guys have signal problems?
i think my S22 ultra has signal issues. signal bar is always with two bars, even sometimes one bar
in same place, same operator, and same sim card, i have full signal bar with other phones and internet is 4G
another problem is, for example, we're outside of city with friends, my friends have 4G internet with their normal phones, but my flagship s22ultra goes to H+ or E internet
can anyone please confirm these problems with signals in s22 ultra?
mine is snapdragon

See my post here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/ultrawide-band-antenna-failing.4480749/#post-87292505
It may be this. I assume the issue is bigger than currently reported and people assume its their carrier.

we are not wizards
what state\city?
att or tmobile?
airport or power station near your home?
whats your case?
firmware?