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I believe there is a bug in the signal strength indication on the Fascinate, the one that shows the signal strength in -dBm.
You can see the signal strength of the cell signal on the Menu, Settings, About, Status screen. Or you can place a widget on your Home screen. There are several widgets available, I'm using Mobile Signal Widget.
I have a network extender, which basically creates a cell tower right in your home. With my Motorola Droid, I used to get signal strengths down to about -50 something and 60's in indicated signal strength. I can hold both of our Fascinates right next to the network extender's antenna and they will read no better than -86 dBm. So far I've seen signal strengths from -86 dBm to -106 dBm (terrible).
I believe there is a bug in the software (Baseband) on the Fascinate. Previously, I thought the hardware (antenna/radio) wasn't very good, but now it may be software related.
Has anyone seen a signal strength stronger than -86 dBm on the Fascinate?
That's a good point. Mine has never gone below -86dbm either. It fluctuates between -86 at it's best and -106 at it's worst.
Ill keep an eye on this with my phone
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I have no experience with cell phone radios so take this with the appropriate helping of salt.
Most radios have input protection that attenuates any signals greater than a set maximum level to prevent damage to the radio. I'm guessing the Fascinate reports it's receive signal level post input protection. It appears you just discovered this threshold for the Fascinate. Honestly, -86 dBm is plenty of signal, anything more is just for show
Again, I'm only speculating here.
Martian21
Interesting theory. I have emailed Verizon support as well. Hopefully, I will get a technical response and not a canned response from them.
With mine, it only fluctuates in -5dBm increments lol. I thought it was a litle wierd. I've seen -86, -91, -96, -101, and -106 lol.
As far as what the OP is talking about, my BB Tour (alltel) is the same way. It won't ever display anything lower than a -80.
Anyone else have a consistently high TWS(Time Without Signal) percentage? Mine almost never goes below 50%, and I've seen it up in the 80s. I think my battery life is really suffering from this. You can see yours in Settings > About Phone > Battery Use > Cell Standby. I've tried a few "fixes" that I've found through researching the issue on other android phones in general, but haven't seen any results.
shazbonk said:
Anyone else have a consistently high TWS(Time Without Signal) percentage? Mine almost never goes below 50%, and I've seen it up in the 80s. I think my battery life is really suffering from this. You can see yours in Settings > About Phone > Battery Use > Cell Standby. I've tried a few "fixes" that I've found through researching the issue on other android phones in general, but haven't seen any results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was thinking about this the other day. Is it possible "time without signal" is simply a poor translation? The reason I ask this is when taking my phone off the charger overnight, I went directly to this setting to see what it reported. The phone reported having been unplugged for 2 minutes and already showed 5% TWS. I had been looking at the phone the whole time and didn't see it drop at all. What I did see is it going from 3G w/ arrows to 3Gd. So maybe this percentage isn't time without signal but rather time not active (i.e. 3G d).
I agree w/ the 3g d, I did not update to DI01 yet and it said I have 20% TWS throughout the day, but the phone didnt make a no service sound.
On my drive home everday I pass a Verizon owned tower.
I've stopped at a liquor store about 200 yards away from it and they maximum signal my Fascinate would pull down was -86dBm (4 bars as well).
My Cell Standby is usually around 11%.
Battery life of my Fascinate is very good.
xliderider: Any news/word from Verizon on this? What kind of Network Extender do you have? Got a brand/model #? Been thinking of picking something up like this.
So it isn't just my phone. My Fascinate goes from -86 to -106 as well. I had my Droid and Fascinate sitting next to each other, both reporting 4 bars. I went into status, and my Droid's signal strength was -77. The Fascinate was at -86. It's gotta be capped.
You're holding it wrong.
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You are probably right. With 4 full bars I can't get better than -86
I've been having the same problem...I was told by Verizon that it just has a "weaker" antenna. I go throughout the day with about 20% TWS. Never had that with my other Verizon phones.
do you get dropped calls or otherwise poor service?
I am returning my incredible due to dropped calls (while at home) using Verizons network Extender. I have had the incredible since April 29th (I believe that was the first day it was released). I have had the signal boosted twice by Verizon but still can't get close to 40' without dropping. One thing I noticed on the incredible while in the same room with the Extender is it would read let's say a -86dbm before placing a call then when placed and on the Extender network the signal would automatically go to -56dbm (stronger signal than -86dbm) and then back up after my call. What I saw was the Extender wasn't active until you make a call... Having said that, I am hoping the Fascinate will be better than the inc was... I will let you know when the Fascinate gets to me Wed or Thursday.
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Got the Facinate a day early : )
So far it is defiantly working better than my Incredible on my verizon network extender!
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Mines 0%
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Sounds like it could have the same problem that affected the Vibrant. It NEVER showed higher than -81dBm, and would often reflect no signal (-0dBm is spectacular but it really means no signal within the Android system). Now with the update it reflects up to -51dBm like it should for GSM/WCDMA with Android and doesn't drop to -0dBm anymore. This of course effected the bars, often dropping to no bars or 1. Now after it's been fixed, plenty of bars and proper -dBm readings.
ok so, i bought the vibrant about a month ago, i always had good signal on every other phone i have ever had at both my work as well as home, i called tmobile, they said they had not heard of such problem and sent me a replacement.. still no signal, im constantly dropping calls and basically cant use my phone anywhere. i am new to this forum thing, any ideas? please advise, my phone is not rooted..
Do you live close to Tempe by any chance?
close to tempe
i actually do llive close to tempe, im in mesa..
Mesa? AZ? I don't live in Mesa, but live close by. I have had some dropped calls but typically I get great signal. Even when I have 0-1 bar, I have 3G ~1 Mbps speeds; otherwise I drop to EDGE and I can still use my phone.
I am especially surprised you are having the issue in Mesa - I get ~5 Mbps speeds there so it is safe to say I get great signal.
Update your phone to one of the JI series of firmware. I'm on JI6 and it has been the best for reception..
There is a bar display issue in JFD. Updating to JIx will fix this and improve reception a small bit.
I just picked my new Fascinate yesterday and have been noticing something strange. I routinely have a very low signal with 3G and WiFi in places I've always had a great signal (or so I thought). Just to get it out of the way, I am not using any kind of case and I have already done a *228 update.
For example, tonight I put my Fascinate, a friend's Continuum, and a friend's original Droid in front of me on a table to compare their 3G signals. The Droid reported 4 bars, the Continuum 2 bars, and my flickered between 0 and 1.
At home, my "old" Omnia 2 routinely got 3-4 bars (still does even though it's deactivated) and my gf's LG Ally gets the same. However my Fascinate gets 1-2, sometimes dipping to 0.
Oddly, I have the same issue with my WiFi signal. At home my PC and laptop have a full strength signal while the phone is lucky to have a that first dot and maybe a bar. At work, I can walk within 4 feet of my Wireless-N router and still not have a full signal
Now everything *seems* to work so I'm hoping it's just an algorithmic display issue, but I have gotten a "Network Error" message a few times. For good measure, I'll probably pop into Verizon to compare my signal to the various displays there.
My question is: Is this a general Fascinate issue? Do I have a lemon? Should I just hope 2.2 is magic?
Thanks
same problem here.
I'm really hoping this gets fixed with 2.2.
I've had two fascinates now, and they've both had really poor signal strength compared to any other phone I've used or seen. Was at lunch the other day with a friend with a Droid 1, and I was getting 1 bar, he was getting 4. At home, it's consistently 1 to 2 bars at best, and I live less than a mile and a half from the nearest tower.
While I don't drop calls, I think it's pretty clear that the phone has a particularly week antennae design.
Since you say you just got the phone, I assume you haven't rooted and played with other roms yet. But in case you have, I noticed a significant drop in signal strength, both cellular and wifi, using JT's DJ05 rom. And it was more than just a display issue, since the wifi connection would repeatedly drop - even in the same room as my router. Switched to the stock DJ05 and I was back to normal (if you consider 1 to 2 bars normal).
Just wanted to follow-up on this. After a week of comparing signals to every smartphone I ran into, I came to the conclusion I either had a lemon or the Fascinate had serious engineering issues.
I went back to my local Verizon store and compared my phone's signal strength to all the Android phones in there, including the other Fascinates. Every phone was between -73 and -86. My phone never got any better than -101. So they swapped phones for me (new one out of the box) and this one performed like all their other phones in the store. I am now enjoying my old, normal, strong signal strength and my battery is still at healthy 80% after several hours of use, even a little wifi usage.
Moral of the Story: Check your signal strength (on any phone) against the phones in the store before you leave and don't be afraid to demand a new phone if you have that sort of concrete data to back it up!
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DI01 has a signal reporting bug that is fixed in DJ05/DL09. With DI01, the best I got was -86dBm, and the jumps did not really seem to make sense. After going to DJ05, the reported signal goes up to -50dBm or so and moves in a logical direction (go inside, signal goes down) where before it would just move randomly. It is possible that there was also bad hardware, but I'd guess that it had more to do with the crappy software Samsung provided.
Interesting. I've not had any ambition to root/flash my Fascinate (I swear I did it weekly with my old Omnia 2) so for whatever it's worth, my experience was always with the stock DI01.
Hopefully you won't have similar problems after we get the maintenance update, whenever that may be.
Anyone else noticing a lower signal reception with this phone?
I am coming from an iPhone 4. Previously at my house I was at 4-5 bars, now 2-3.
At my work I usually had 2-3 bars, now I get no signal to 1 bar.
I was trying really hard to enjoy the phone but now that I have seen the signal at my work I think it's going to have to go back
I wonder if the Inspire would get a better signal.
Update: It's not just the bars, I make calls and texts regularly at work with my iPhone and have never had a problem. With the Atrix it is dropping to no service and I can not make a call or text.
I was just noticing this same thin as well, i'm coming a captivate and where i normally have full service, the atrix gives me 2-3 bars. That said however, i don't notice much of a difference, if any at all, in the speed of things
Signal bars are different from phone to phone. I wouldn't trust those to much. However I find this behavior odd as I get better reception on this phone vs my old one. A lot better as in 2 - 3 bars better. Were you able to make calls on you iphone when it actually had the 1 - 2 bars at your office?
Vaires from phone to phone, remember when iPhone 4 showed higher signal then it was supposed to? then apple pushed the update
Yeah I made calls and texted regularly in my office, with the Atrix it drops service enitrely (says no service) and I can't make a call or send a text
I wouldnt care about the bar difference if it wasn't for the actual no service vs never having a problem.
That is interesting , my captivate had 0 to no service in my office, while the atrix has atleast 3 bars of edge.
crawlgsx said:
Anyone else noticing a lower signal reception with this phone?
I am coming from an iPhone 4. Previously at my house I was at 4-5 bars, now 2-3.
At my work I usually had 2-3 bars, now I get no signal to 1 bar.
I was trying really hard to enjoy the phone but now that I have seen the signal at my work I think it's going to have to go back
I wonder if the Inspire would get a better signal.
Update: It's not just the bars, I make calls and texts regularly at work with my iPhone and have never had a problem. With the Atrix it is dropping to no service and I can not make a call or text.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Comparing using the bars is not going to work across different phones, besides the iPhone 4 was known for reporting more bars then other phones.
In Android go to Menu > Settings > About Phone > Status and note the signal strength.
On Verizon you could update what they call "roaming capabilities". It's not really roaming, its more like manually updating or sync'ing tower or geographic locations. It's supposed to help some issues with signal strength.
Does ATT have a method to manually re-sync in this fashion?
HAROLDS Did u even read the bottom of my post?
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tbae2 said:
That is interesting , my captivate had 0 to no service in my office, while the atrix has atleast 3 bars of edge.
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Click to collapse
i think that means your Captivate still tries to look for a 3G signal but the Atrix is so weak that it cannot find any 3G signal and therefore it automatically starts looking for the Edge signal.
I am saying this because I also noticed the same behavior inside my apt building elevator.
This is interesting. I guess I'll find out tomorrow, but several of my friends and I have been noticing that deadspots with our N1's and Captivates. Like no signal, no voice, no text, no data. In the same locations iPhone 4's are good to go on everything. I volunteered to be the guy that gets an Atrix to see how it does. This thread has me worried.
i know with my droidx, i got fabulous cell reception and signal. Motorola is known for it. when i had my samsung with the same provider, i had crappy signal..
what do you think? good cell signal?
Mine is fantastic. One dropped call, and I was in a tunnel.
-95 dBm instead of -110 on my HTC Hero (I live in a terrible signal area)
For me the signal is terrible when go to my office. Most of time no signal.
I'd changed from telco companies and all they worked perfectly I got no complains about it.
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I've noticed a small increase in reception from my iPhone 3G, but not that much of a difference. In some of my classrooms, I used to get no signal on my iPhone, but I get one to two bars on my Atrix. I haven't been reverted to EDGE yet, though, so I'm not complaining.
Works fine for me
Works well for me. Got crappy reception in my office, but that has been consistent between phones, so no biggie.
No dropped calls and I lose signal in one building I rarely go into but it has a sheet metal roof and walls and no one gets reception in it.
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I'm quite satisfied, I've been in a road trip with a guy whose phone was an iphone and our reception was the same or even better
I've been getting better signal on my Atrix then I got on my iPhone 4 especially in areas with weaker signal.
Im haven't had a single dropped call since I got my atrix compared to the lg expo I had previously. I must say that I've had such good reception I'm impressed!
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Signal is great everywhere than my office building. I'm very happy with the call quality, which beats my nexus one's.
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I am very impressed with the reception I get with this phone. I too live in a terrible area when it comes to cell coverage and this phone seems to be doing a better job than the past 4-5 devices I've used.
Most samsungs were close to unusable where I live.
At work I have a very poor signal indoors (-100 to no signal). With my BB 8900 if I walked out to the door I could make a voice call. However with my Atrix I kept dropping calls after 30 sec or so. I got a microcell to fix that problem.
I am having a reception issue. My Motorola Atrix shows 3 or 4 bars and suddenly drops to 1 or no service for a second and goes back up to 3 or 4 bars.
I live in NYC and never had this problem with my Samsung Captivate. Most of the time the phone does not even show the full 5 bars, mostly 3 or 4 and occasionally 5