"Admittedly, this isn't a problem that exists only for the iPhone 4 -- we've seen reports of the same behavior on previous generations (the 3G and 3GS), and there is a running thread about this problem with the Nexus One."
taken from http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/24/apple-responds-over-iphone-4-reception-issues-youre-holding-th/
So i decided to do a pathetic test on my Hero. I remebered from a YouTube vid on the Legend that the antenna was in the "chin" area.
Hero on desk: 4 bars of reception (full)
Wrapped hands around chin of Hero: 1 or 2 bar(s) of reception
Since noone has mentioned it b4, its probably a non-issue, but i do get quite a few dropped calls.
Just wondering if my dropped calls are connected to this? Or maybe T-Mo is just crap in my area.
Indeed the reception does drop considerably when holding the chin! .... I wish you hadn't told me now!!!
I'll have to see how it affects calls tomorrow. I'll report back.
my bars dont change =S
You have to really cover the chin with your hand. Just touching the chin with the lower side of the hand is not enough. Also you have to wait about 10 seconds.
Thething is though, that you have to want to do this on the Hero. On the iphone 4 it happens when you are simply touching the gap with naked skin... especially when damp. This just seems to me like bad engineering. And the stuff about the Legend or the iphone 2g having bad reception is just silly... also in the engadget article. That is a fact of physics which you have to deal with when you want a phone built like a tank. It a completely different story when saying this happened on a phone which has this design flaw on a component meant to strengthen the signal reception. This is just bad engineering.
Sent from my HTC Hero
Every phone will lose signal if you cover the area where the antenna is. I have never noticed any dropped calls etc on Orange UK and the signal is pretty crap around here
I noticed that I have much less reception on my new vibrant. I use to have full 3g in my house or outside my area with G1. Now I see zero bars to one bar and scattered throughout my area. I know this is a problem with other as well...
i guess my question is if there is any tips to increase the reception like the gps fix. Or if having wifi or gps on help with reception? Or just wait for a update.
Thanks
the vibrant shows less bars of reception than most other phones. However, this doesn't mean it is actually getting less reception. It's all how it displays the signal.
My vibrant is great at holding onto a signal in low coverage areas, much better than my last phone.
zumbahlenm said:
I noticed that I have much less reception on my new vibrant. I use to have full 3g in my house or outside my area with G1. Now I see zero bars to one bar and scattered throughout my area. I know this is a problem with other as well...
i guess my question is if there is any tips to increase the reception like the gps fix. Or if having wifi or gps on help with reception? Or just wait for a update.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i feel the same with my vibrant. i think this phone has the death grip syndrome like the iphone 4. maybe a hard case will help out.
b0ricuaguerrero said:
i feel the same with my vibrant. i think this phone has the death grip syndrome like the iphone 4. maybe a hard case will help out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No other phone has it's antenna made like the iPhone 4, use your brain. NO other phone with an internal antenna or otherwise COVERED antenna will have the same problem as the iPhone
Ok, but I'm with the guys that say their G1 had better reception. I had 2 bars 3g in my house with G1 and only get edge in my house on my Vibrant.
Sent from my Vibrant using the XDA app.
Shagman68 said:
Ok, but I'm with the guys that say their G1 had better reception. I had 2 bars 3g in my house with G1 and only get edge in my house on my Vibrant.
Sent from my Vibrant using the XDA app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The G1 doesn't have better reception, just better antenna placement. I'm sure if you moved your hand away from the antenna or put it in the same orientation as the G1 it would pick up 3G. The G1 has a medicre antenna, -101dBm at my house where there is no LOS with ANY cell tower. It would occasionally get worse. That's pathetic. My CLIQ got -91dBm even with my hand blocking the antenna. Not getting 3G doesn't mean the phone has poor reception, it's a number of things and most of them being a weak 3G signal to begin with. First thing to check would be the CID's for the 3G and 2G network around your house to see if they're coming from the same tower.
././. nevermind
well theres something screwy....
g1 def held better calls, i can barely have a phone call with the vibrant cutting out.
I guess i have to take my finger off the antenna?
I have recently purchased a Note 3 (SM-N9005), currently running it rooted with the Polish NB3, unfortunately knox triggered, but never had a faulty phone before, so I hope that continues!
One thing that has been bugging me in an otherwise great phone, is the wifi signal, quite weak to say the least, my Sony Xperia Z is roughly 2 bars stronger in the same place, in fact, so is my Q10 and various mobiles I have collected over time (Xiaomi Mi2s, Pantech 840s), annoying to say the least, tried all the tweaks and settings mentioned here and elsewhere and while they may help some, for me the signal is still very poor.......
Was watching an excellent tear down video here:
When he mentioned making sure the little contacts for the antennas were sufficiently bent upwards to make a good contact, very interesting!
So I carefully popped off the back after taking out all the twelve little screws, and proceeded to gently bend upwards the two connectors for GPS and wifi, I also ever so slightly roughed the silver connector with a fine needle, all done in theory to aid signal.....
As for the results, well, with the same ROM, and no router reboot etc.... the wifi that used to hover at one signal pip, maybe two, now moves between two and three, it even went full bar briefly, which it had never done before from the spot I used! And there are a few more SSID's in the list too
I am now as you would expect, very happy, the wifi still isn't fantastic, but it's a damn sight better now!! :good:
Please don't try this and then blame me if you mess up your phone, I take no responsibility if you do, posted this just because I was quite surprised with the results!
No one the least interested, thought with all the threads about the poor wifi this find may have been of interest? Unless I'm late to the show and this is already been done and dusted
no one is interested because its a high risk low reward scenario.
Happy you had good results, but most people dont want to risk destroying their beloved note for a potential (minute) signal increase.
nakedtime said:
no one is interested because its a high risk low reward scenario.
Happy you had good results, but most people dont want to risk destroying their beloved note for a potential (minute) signal increase.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldn't say minute, having SSID's that weren't there before and one to two bars better signal is the exact opposite of that!
As for how difficult it is, unscrewing 12 screws and lifting off the back cover is a piece of cake, in fact you don't even need to remove it, just lift one corner away, watch the first few mins of the video, it's petty simple....
My phone didn't have the warranty sticker over one of the screws either, and the phone was brand new and sealed from the provider, weird
I've never had issues with the signal on my Note 3.
The (admittedly many) times I do get a lousy signal, the fault lies with the provider, not my phone. (I know exactly where each tower is and what its range is. And I'm usually outside of it.)
As for WiFi, once I moved the Router out of the reinforced concrete cupboard, I always get a full signal...
to the OP , very useful thread dont be put off because theres been little responce, like the guy said few would dare to unscrew there beloved Note but still useful to know.
Yeah the 3G and 4G signal seems strong, just poor wifi when compared to multiple phones in the same spot, at least that was the case
I guess I trust my hands more than most, bad flashes are more of a concern for me than a few dozen screws lol
Thanks
I gave my phone for repairs once and the wifi reception has been below par since. Had tried what you have posted before but was not quite sure if I had the wifi pin right. Also I had only tinkered with the raised connector on the board and hadn't roughed up the connector on the back panel like you did.
Well your post gave me some courage and with the help of the video that you linked I tried it. Unfortunately, I broke the connector and that obviously made my problem much worse!
But then out of desperation I thought I would get some common copper wire to try and connect the board with the antenna and it actually worked Looks extremely ugly but my note 3 now connects to wifi routers even better than my note 1. I am attaching screenshots of the two phones with the wifi analyzer app. There is also a picture of the copper wire mesh that i put below the wifi antenna connector on the panel before I put it all back together.
Definitely do not recommend that anybody try what I did. It was an extremely foolish thing to do for someone as clumsy as me.
Thanks still OP. My Note 3 is in top form again thanks to you
I did that and it fixed my poor GPS signal and it worked really well. I'll do it again for wifi pin
I did that and it fixed my poor WIFI signal. Thanks man.
I had slight water damage to my old Note 3. Since then my GSM signal has been really poor. I replaced the USB flex cable, as the phone wasn't charging as well - replacing it obviously did the job, but GSM signal issue remained.
Cleaned the GSM connectors and lifted the pins - that didn't help. When using o2 SIM inside the building it connects to o2 network straight away (signal not very good btw). When using other (Virgin in this case) SIM it doesn't connect at all and displays "Emergency calls only" message.
I think it might be the MoBo fault now, isn't it?
O2 OK but no VM reads as no CSC or wrong CSC .
Phone firmware has no knowledge of VM settings .
I'm sure some people have reported on this, but ever since one of my latest updates to lollipop, my network signal strength has been abysmal. Transferring my sim card to my spare Moto G would give me about -85 dbm (full bar), while putting it in my Note 4, signals could get as low as -120 to -138dbm (one to zero bar)
Interestingly, I thought it was just a contact issue with the antenna on the body, so I tore my phone apart, only to find out that the amount of signal I was getting with the board alone was about the same as with the frame.
Anyone else facing similar issues?
I've been noticing that my s7e has significantly lower reception although still functional, compared to my old plastic s5. I'm with a small carrier (mobilecity in toronto) because they have unlimited data but I heard that they have bad reception, even though it's been OK on my s5.
Now with the new phone, while I haven't had any dropouts, I often see my reception drop to two or one bar.
WiFi I think is also slightly lower, there are some places where my old phone can barely get a signal and the s7e cannot.
Is this just a difference in design? Like plastic phones having the freedom to make their antenna in whatever shape and not be limited to the shape of the metal frame?