Database Users

Antenna Strength All over the place?

Is it just me or is anybody elses Antenna Strength all over the place. I almost feel like I purchased a new iPhone 4 with an antenna problem. I'm not sure if its my local tower or what. I can put the phone on the table and watch the strength max out then I can pick it up and watch it dance around from full to well nothing.
Take my fingers off the chrome outer ring and balance the phone on my palm and watch the strength climb.
It was delivered today, so I haven't really played with it a lot. I can tell you that my 3G signal is horrid, but was fine on my G1. Its almost like I gained an awesome screen and lost signal in the process.
I am inside, but never noticed that kind of activity at all with my G1.

Play around with it a little more and see if it has any effect on your calls. Don't judge purely on the signal bars.
The bad 3g reception you mention is concerning though.

kizer said:
Is it just me or is anybody elses Antenna Strength all over the place. I almost feel like I purchased a new iPhone 4 with an antenna problem. I'm not sure if its my local tower or what. I can put the phone on the table and watch the strength max out then I can pick it up and watch it dance around from full to well nothing.
Take my fingers off the chrome outer ring and balance the phone on my palm and watch the strength climb.
It was delivered today, so I haven't really played with it a lot. I can tell you that my 3G signal is horrid, but was fine on my G1. Its almost like I gained an awesome screen and lost signal in the process.
I am inside, but never noticed that kind of activity at all with my G1.
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The bars are -15dBm off to actual reception.

Yes, my signal strength seems to jump all over the place as well. Hope it can be fixed with a software update.

some thing here im about to get new one maybe tomorrow

of course were not 100% sure yet but we think the bars aren't reading correctly although covering the bottom of the phone were the antenna is there will naturally be signal loss does it on my tp2 as we'll...

i have the same problem its weird but manageable i tested my phone to the iphone 4 and my phone loads web pages faster streams videos from the internet faster and connects to youtube through the youtube app to play videos faster and seems to be faster all together only downside is the iphone 4 has the ffc and higher resolution but thats it i can deal without that

i always say forget the bars, can you make a call Lol

I have been making calls on mine while showing zero bars. No real reception issue. I just ignore the bars.

Yeah, don't go by the bars at all with this phone. Like above, I've had zero bars, and no issues here with calls or browsing the web.

I wouldn't ignore it completely...
I've had a few dropped calls now from the attenuation and frequently have my data freeze up on me when I hold the phone. The signal isn't terrible where I live, I never had dropped calls on my G1 or my Wizard in this location.
Unfortunately it isn't something that is fixable, it's just crummy placement of the antenna.

I held the phone in a death grip with my right hand until it displayed no bars, but it didn't seems affect my 3g. I did a speed test and I got 1.25mbps down and 0.3mbps up, which is pretty normal in my area. I did a second test holding it with my left hand and I got 0.99mbps down and 0.25mbps up. A third run while covering it up with both hands did have an affect, but who really does that? It showed 0.6mbps down and 0.15mbps up.
I haven't tried calling anyone under those same conditions, so I don't know if anything is going on there..

Signal

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
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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.
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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.
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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?

Antenna issue

Ive had spotty 3g at my house since i got my phone. Most ive seen is 2 bars. Noticed tonight i left my phone on table and came back and i had full bars with 3g.
Picked up phone like i always and hold with left hand it drops to 1 to no bars. So i hold the phone with right hand i get stronger signal, left hand weak...
Im guessing the antenna is on the left bottom side of the phone apparently covering it up drops my 3g signal significantly, going from full to no bars just by covering left corner ...anyone else?
Not really complaining because i still connect 3g fine but i do drop to edge allot if im in certain rooms and phone calls never drop just curious of maybe a solution or whatnot
I looked on youtube and found this but you dont have to hold phone like this. just palm it with left hand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefQ4I2wOXs
And sorry if posted already i could find anything on this here

Happens here too. Funny thing is that I have case on it. One thing those in the youtube comments are mixing up and not understanding is the signal strength. I wish they were more smart people in the world lol..
Anyway what I am getting at is that this happens with all Vibrants, it just depends on your current signal strength in dBm. For example, if I'm inside with around 4-5 bars, around -81dBm. Then when I grip it, the signal will go down by -20dBm or more resulting in two to three bar lost. Where as if I'm outside with around -51dBm and do the same thing. It will result in the same -20dBm but you won't notice it enough because the bars don't start to go down until around -89dBm or more.
* The lower the dBm, the better your signal.
* It was the same issue with Nexus One.
* The design of the phone is causing your hand to have more of an effect on it.
If anyone want to proove this case. Just get two Vibrants next to each other in the same area and do the hand thing.

Yea see i never noticed this with my N1 But yea what your saying makes scene.
Its not a big deal i still connect avr 1mbps with weak signal but found it odd

Yea same here. I do admit the signal is even more sensitive than my n1 was though. Oh well I guess this is just one thing we have live it until a better phone comes again.

Shouldn't 2.2 come with an updated radio and if so maybe it will help

It might make the radio use more power from my experience but this isn't a software issue. Though speaking of software, right now the dBm read out and bars are off by 5 or so dBm. So when we get the 2.2 update we should see the proper signal read out which will appear stronger and it should be more stable as well. Either way, our hands will still be able to affect the phone. Just like any other phone but more drastic with the Vibrant, N1 and iPhone 4.

The bars are generally useless and I don't think it's really an issue unless it's actually dropping the signal. I have zero bars of 3G all the time, and I still get full speed. The difference between zero bars and zero signal is rather large, IMO.
If the signal attenuation from holding it causes you to drop 3G altogether, well, I feel for you. It's never happened to me, and I've done all kinds of grip experiments to see if I could make the signal attenuate.
To go on, the Vibrant has the best radio of any phone I've ever used. The test for me is whether I can hold signal in my building's elevator. Virtually every phone I've owned (and most all my friends' phones) dropped signal as soon as the doors closed or shortly after. Prior to my Vibrant, the champ was my Blackberry 8820, which could hold signal for about two floors before cutting out. The Vibrant? It may drop to EDGE, but I still hold some kind of signal all the way down, which is amazing.

That something I notice the first day I got the Vibrant , did not have that issue with other previous phone in the same spot... if I put the phone in a table it gets full bars.. once I pick up the phone it goes back to 2 bars... the only way I get full bars is if a hold the phone just from the bottom.

I'm going to have a seizure if I see another one of these threads.
-81dBm is an obvious flaw and should be completely disregarded UNLESS you're off of JFD or anything based on JFD. This phones reported signal strength refreshes FAR more often than nearly all other Android phones on the market. Motorola on T-Mobile being the slowest to refresh any signal changes.
The bars are wrong and very inaccurate. Do a search. Update to JI2 or JI4.

heygrl said:
I'm going to have a seizure if I see another one of these threads.
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Another one of what threads?
Cut me some slack i rarely ask questions here and no one force you to click on this thread... but i do appreciate the info you gave.
Only thing i noticed when I went threw your post history is you replying to this question with threads with topic names not related to this problem.
And if you read my first post you would have seen
demo23019 said:
And sorry if posted already i could find anything on this here
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and
demo23019 said:
Not really complaining because i still connect 3g fine but i do drop to edge allot if im in certain rooms and phone calls never drop just curious of maybe a solution or whatnot
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Click to collapse
... thanks for the info guys

4G reliability - a few observations

I wanted to say a few words about my own experience with 4G reliability.
I have the good fortune (I think) to work in an office that's probably a quarter-mile from a 4G enabled Sprint tower (we can actually see it) So even when I go into the center of my building to pinch a loaf, I can get 4G.
Yet, when I was sitting by my desk, streaming internet radio apps--or even without using the connection deliberately at all, it would cut out and revert to 3G every hour, at least once an hour or more. Bad for streaming music continuity and sometimes flaky for other things too.
Needless to say after weeks of this, I was like WTF.
Then I tried an experiment. (Which is still in progress, but so far so good.)
I had the phone resting on top of my computer tower underneath the desk. Logical place, right, as it's wide, flat, and away from desktop clutter.
But I suspected something might have been being emitted from the computer to cause interference. (RF signals or whatever you engineer types care to call it.)
Sure enough, soon as I put it on the desk and away from that, 4G reliability became rock solid.
Microwave oven emissions too--it doesn't like those. (But why use it in the kitchen, right?) And of course with the patchwork quilt of 4G around any city, driving with it can cause interruptions. But I thought I'd let you know, in case you can make similar experiments/adjustments!

Interesting. I too have been annoyed by the unexplained reverts while using at my office. Phone's not sitting ON the computer tower, but it's pretty close. Think I'll give it a try on the other side of my desk.

And sometimes it'll take seconds to register your action, such as clicking on a link, it'll put the loading line, stall with the z's and after like 5-10 seconds it'll actually wake up and connect
4g is butt
The ping is butt
3g is butt
I want my hero's radio back
I got 3mb/s download using 3g on that phone! Ad the ping wasjust 30ms!!! On this phone, I get in the low hundreds kb/s (usually around 2-300) wit a ping of 200 ms!!!!
Samsung screwed up with the modem
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

That would explain why it keeps dropping the shoutcast radio stream when I am driving so often. Even my previous phone, Blackberry Tour, had a better connection. Still, Epic >>>>>> Tour. I would take Epic over it just for the ability to force roam on VZW

Of course microwaves will kill the 4G. Those things splatter 2.4ghz all over the place and I'm sure it bleeds over. That's the whole reason that "we" were given 2.4ghz for wireless since no one else wanted to share with microwaves.

Funny story, I don't get 4g in my apt building. I am on the first floor with lots of trees around me. I put my phone in a small metal bowl one night.....tada! I get 4g in my apt with it sitting inside of this lil metal bowl.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

1NfE5T said:
Funny story, I don't get 4g in my apt building. I am on the first floor with lots of trees around me. I put my phone in a small metal bowl one night.....tada! I get 4g in my apt with it sitting inside of this lil metal bowl.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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Seriously?? I only get it if I'm by a window or outside. Was ur meteal bowl aluminum or stainless steal?

nate13jp said:
Seriously?? I only get it if I'm by a window or outside. Was ur meteal bowl aluminum or stainless steal?
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When will we start seeing results from Sprint's Network Vision plan to improve in-building coverage?

Nice little experiment there lol. I hope we get 4G in our area soon!
----------------
Sent from my Epic 4G

You created a parabolic reflector. Kinda like the satellite dish, you know?
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

I live in Bmore and the 4G I've been getting here in many areas has been fantastic. It holds stronger on 4G than my Moment did on 3G. I actually have 3G turned off and toggle 4G when I need it. In my house and at work, the 4G holds and doesn't disconnect. (Except in the basement of my job)

Eazail70x7 said:
I live in Bmore and the 4G I've been getting here in many areas has been fantastic. It holds stronger on 4G than my Moment did on 3G. I actually have 3G turned off and toggle 4G when I need it. In my house and at work, the 4G holds and doesn't disconnect. (Except in the basement of my job)
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No offense but the whole state of Maryland is much smaller than most major metropolitan cities. I think one our two cell towers will pretty much cover you. I think the problem for me at least occurs when I am traveling in my car where coverage is extremely spotty.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

No offense taken. I too also go in and out of 4g coverage when traveling on the highway. But once I am in a 4g zone, my coverage is pretty strong, even indoors. Although in some places like wal mart, the mall, ect., I lose signal. I suppose there are benefits to Baltimore being first to have WiMax coverage?

smoothone said:
No offense but the whole state of Maryland is much smaller than most major metropolitan cities. I think one our two cell towers will pretty much cover you. I think the problem for me at least occurs when I am traveling in my car where coverage is extremely spotty.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
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Um? Maryland is 12,000 square miles. Baltimore is 90 square miles. So your telling me WIMAX which has an effective outdoor range of 4-5 miles is going to cover 12,000 square miles? I would think that even the small city size of the city of Baltimore is covered by several towers, however when I searched I got this:
"Baltimore has 180 WiMax towers in use, out of an expected total of 300 when the deployment is complete. "We have coverage of 70% of the city," explains Bin Shen, Xohm's vice president of product and partnership management."
edit: other cities Chicago 228 sqm, Los Angles 498 sqm, Dallas 385 sqm, NYC 468 sqm (including greater metro area)
edit: a little more research. Clear actually shows you exactly where each tower is and Baltimore has a couple dozen at a minimum that are listed on the coverage map. Many mush closer than 1mile apart from each other. In order to see the towers you need to be zoomed in on the map pretty closely.

4g in Boston has been nothing but great. I get excellent signal indoors and out, while I drive too. I also get 4g, 35 miles north of Boston in Haverhill MA (where I live). I always keep my 3g off cause I have no need for it. I make sure I get the most out of that $10 permium charge.

nate13jp said:
Seriously?? I only get it if I'm by a window or outside. Was ur meteal bowl aluminum or stainless steal?
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Stainless steel bowl...I sit it on top of my desk. But if I still get disconnects on 4g I move it by the window. Steady 4g connection ;-)
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

3G signal strength on MT4G

Hi all,
I'm going to try bidding on a MT4G on ebay within 3 hrs, so I hope I can get a few replies before that!
Could anybody tell me how the 3G signal strength is on this phone? When I had an HTC HD2, when holding it normally from the bottom I would lose a massive ~20dB in signal. This was often enough to knock the phone from having a couple of bars down to no signal.
3G signal is very important to me, since my provider does not have a GSM/EDGE network. So, if I lose 3G reception I'm totally disconnected.
If anybody could post some numbers here on their signal strength in dBm while resting on a table and while held in the hand naturally from the bottom, I'd appreciate it! Does the phone lose more than about ~10dB when held?
Thanks,
Faruk

Faruk88 said:
Hi all,
I'm going to try bidding on a MT4G on ebay within 3 hrs, so I hope I can get a few replies before that!
Could anybody tell me how the 3G signal strength is on this phone? When I had an HTC HD2, when holding it normally from the bottom I would lose a massive ~20dB in signal. This was often enough to knock the phone from having a couple of bars down to no signal.
3G signal is very important to me, since my provider does not have a GSM/EDGE network. So, if I lose 3G reception I'm totally disconnected.
If anybody could post some numbers here on their signal strength in dBm while resting on a table and while held in the hand naturally from the bottom, I'd appreciate it! Does the phone lose more than about ~10dB when held?
Thanks,
Faruk
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4G+3G strength are based on the coverage for your area, if 3G is bad in you area then chances are 4G will be bad too. Check the coverage map for where you live, for me I always get 3G/4G/2G anywhere.

don't know if this helps but i get jumps from -75 to -85 when laying device on couch than holding in hand or just touching while on couch, but i don't have the stock radio either.

tjlawson09 said:
don't know if this helps but i get jumps from -75 to -85 when laying device on couch than holding in hand or just touching while on couch, but i don't have the stock radio either.
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Thanks for taking the time to test it out for me, I appreciate it
Ace42: Yeah of course, signal strength will depend on coverage. But with my HD2 I had a major "death grip" issue where at home I have great signal strength (about -80dBm) but when I held the phone it would drop below -100 dBm. You'll notice if you search google and youtube that a lot of people have the same issue with the HD7 and Desire HD since they share the same design. In comparison, I don't have any such problem with my Blackberry 9700... It basically sucks in most respects except for signal strength

Well my current reading is -75, it seems to stay in this range when held.

Thanks man!
Well, I lost the auction... Dunno if I should spend more effort and find another one with the good screen, or if I should just tolerate my Bold 9700 for now and wait for the new wave of handsets coming out within the next few weeks...

Faruk88 said:
Thanks man!
Well, I lost the auction... Dunno if I should spend more effort and find another one with the good screen, or if I should just tolerate my Bold 9700 for now and wait for the new wave of handsets coming out within the next few weeks...
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Wait for Sensation next month, thing has "2X" 1.2Giga dragons under the hood and qHD res and other goodies(Maybe Adreno 220?).