I briefly had a G2 and quickly returned it to T-Mo and stayed with Verizon due to the signal attenuation issues I had. Additionally, I saw numerous posts about this on AF, XDA, T-Mo Forums and a few other places I cannot remember. My question is, have the software updates that have been pushed through helped this problem any? I really liked this phone, aside from the signal problems and now with it being free through the 20th at T-Mo, I would like to give it another shot, but not if I am going to have more problems.
For those who are wondering what I am talking about, the G2 issues I (and many others) had were similar to the problems iPhone 4 users had where the signal dropped down to very low or nothing by simply holding the phone. I could sit at my desk and watch it go from an H with full bars, then drop to E, to no service, then it would gradually return when I placed it back on my desk.
Additionally, the reason I made a post about this is that the forum topics about this seem to just have stopped, nobody really seems to be screaming "it's fixed!!!" So just trying to get some input as to whether it really is fixed.
Thanks for your input!
ive noticed this as well. It usually happens when I surf the web. No idea? It is annoying but it won't cause me to send it back. I love it too much compared to all the others i've gone through. I'm sure they will isolate the problem and it will get better. (here's hoping)
Never had any places on the phone that I touch where signal will just drop, though out here in the middle of practically nowhere my signal will randomly drop sometimes regardless of what I'm doing with the phone.
I think I suffer from this as well. It constantly drops my data, especially at my house. If I set it on my desk with mobile hotspot it works great, and I'm not touching it so I may have issues with that
I've yet to have this happen. Constant h in my status bar and signal is strong.
Probably a defect phone?
Sent from my Pear phone.
It happens. It happens with every phone, including the G2. It just depends on where the antenna is and how it's held. You can play around with attenuation by enabling dBm signal strength in CM.
To enable it, go to Settings > CyanogenMod Settings > User interface > Status bar > Check Show dBm.
dBm is measured in negative numbers. A higher (less negative) number indicates higher signal strength.
-80dBm is stronger than -100dBm for example.
This is actually a non-issue.
Explanation:
The phone actually picks up signal BETTER than other phones... especially when the signal is weak. The effect that you are seeing is actually the reception returning to a *normal* level when you happen to be holding it in some particular way.
I have two phones; an HTC DREAM and an HTC VISION. Sitting on my desk at work, the DREAM will show 0-1 bars, but connected, the VISION will show 2-3 bars. Holding both in my hand, the DREAM will continue to show 0-1 bars, the VISION will drop to 0-1 bars and both will read the same dBm. Same signal when held, the VISION is just more sensitive (i.e. sensitive in terms of able to hang on to a weaker signal, not sensitive in terms of flakiness).
In contrast to apple junk, the apple junk actually has the antenna wrapped around the outside of the phone. When you hold it in your hand and the signal drops, it isn't suffering from attenuation, its being GROUNDED OUT.
dhkr123 said:
This is actually a non-issue.
Explanation:
The phone actually picks up signal BETTER than other phones... especially when the signal is weak. The effect that you are seeing is actually the reception returning to a *normal* level when you happen to be holding it in some particular way.
I have two phones; an HTC DREAM and an HTC VISION. Sitting on my desk at work, the DREAM will show 0-1 bars, but connected, the VISION will show 2-3 bars. Holding both in my hand, the DREAM will continue to show 0-1 bars, the VISION will drop to 0-1 bars and both will read the same dBm. Same signal when held, the VISION is just more sensitive (i.e. sensitive in terms of able to hang on to a weaker signal, not sensitive in terms of flakiness).
In contrast to apple junk, the apple junk actually has the antenna wrapped around the outside of the phone. When you hold it in your hand and the signal drops, it isn't suffering from attenuation, its being GROUNDED OUT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whatever the cause is, the phone was unusable when I held it in my hand normally. The only semi-fix was to hold the phone at the top near the earpiece, which was uncomfortable...or never touch it.
miller7796 said:
Whatever the cause is, the phone was unusable when I held it in my hand normally. The only semi-fix was to hold the phone at the top near the earpiece, which was uncomfortable...or never touch it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like you just have a poor signal or faulty phone to begin with. I don't have that issue at all. In fact this phone seems to hold a data connection in weak areas better than my previous android phone did. If yours was that bad then there was something horribly wrong that warrants replacement.
You may also try CM7, it seems to keep a signal even better than my current ROM does. Not sure why, maybe it's just a placebo effect.
Humm, no issues with Wifi, H or G3 dropping, Bell network though, BUT when I switch from H/ G3 to wifi, if I am on bluetooth, it gets all garbled and I have to hangup call. I would think a location issue or some form of interference you guys are having.
KCRic said:
Seems like you just have a poor signal or faulty phone to begin with. I don't have that issue at all. In fact this phone seems to hold a data connection in weak areas better than my previous android phone did. If yours was that bad then there was something horribly wrong that warrants replacement.
You may also try CM7, it seems to keep a signal even better than my current ROM does. Not sure why, maybe it's just a placebo effect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, I'm positive that the sentiment is that the radio hardware does suck and there are definite attenuation challenges. I've now verified this through a myriad of different Desire Z's here.
At my work desk I get HSPA and HSPA+ speeds at times. However holding it drops it down so there are 0 bars and it stays on HSPA, drops to 3G with no bars, back up to HSPA, etc... lots of unnecessary band switching whereas other handsets will not do this. They'll get a lower signal/dB all together though. And their attenuation is a lot less.
If you hold the phone upright the reception is much better. Drop it down and hold it in landscape mode and there is an immediate drop and sometimes it begins switching bands depending on the service area you're in. It can be quite annoying being right on the cusp because that's a huge battery killer.
I really wish there was at least some modest software fixes to accommodate for this flaw. I know that much can't be done hardware wise at this point but I think some improvements should be attainable through updates and optimizations. Hears to hoping because I love my Desire Z!!
bongd said:
Nah, I'm positive that the sentiment is that the radio hardware does suck and there are definite attenuation challenges. I've now verified this through a myriad of different Desire Z's here.
At my work desk I get HSPA and HSPA+ speeds at times. However holding it drops it down so there are 0 bars and it stays on HSPA, drops to 3G with no bars, back up to HSPA, etc... lots of unnecessary band switching whereas other handsets will not do this. They'll get a lower signal/dB all together though. And their attenuation is a lot less.
If you hold the phone upright the reception is much better. Drop it down and hold it in landscape mode and there is an immediate drop and sometimes it begins switching bands depending on the service area you're in. It can be quite annoying being right on the cusp because that's a huge battery killer.
I really wish there was at least some modest software fixes to accommodate for this flaw. I know that much can't be done hardware wise at this point but I think some improvements should be attainable through updates and optimizations. Hears to hoping because I love my Desire Z!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. I experience this the most when I browse the web since I usually browse with the keyboard open.
There is a SIGNIFICANT amount of drop in Wi-Fi signal strenght whem the keyboard is open and your hand is covering the left side (top for portrait). However when the keyboard is closed and you cover the TOP again the signal drop is maybe by 1 bar....
As far as 3G/4G to EDGR drops are concerned.... that can be taken care of... if you go into radio diagnostics (*#*4636#*#* > Phone information) and selecting WCDMA ONLY...... this will prevent phone going into EDGE if minor fluctuations occur in the cell signal. Mind you, this option is only useful if you are in a GOOD 3G/HSPA+ coverage area....
Cheers
funkadesi said:
There is a SIGNIFICANT amount of drop in Wi-Fi signal strenght whem the keyboard is open and your hand is covering the left side (top for portrait). However when the keyboard is closed and you cover the TOP again the signal drop is maybe by 1 bar....
As far as 3G/4G to EDGR drops are concerned.... that can be taken care of... if you go into radio diagnostics (*#*4636#*#* > Phone information) and selecting WCDMA ONLY...... this will prevent phone going into EDGE if minor fluctuations occur in the cell signal. Mind you, this option is only useful if you are in a GOOD 3G/HSPA+ coverage area....
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just remember to change it back to allowing Edge if you are going to travel outside the 3G/HSPA area.
I have noticed this since day one. It was very obvious at weak signal locations such as were I work. Inside a steel building with 20 machines running on 480 volts. I have enabled 180 degree rotation in CM settings and have used it this way so much that I have no doubt that the signal is reduced when the phone is held the "normal" way, in either hand. If I hold it upside down, trackpade at top, then it is fine.... also if the H signal is strong, more than 2 bars.. then it doesn't matter how you hold it.
I have compared this to my G1, that I still own. And the problem is that the G2 seems to have trouble switching from weak H to weak E and I can replicate a loss of signal everytime. I mean that an"x" Is displayed over the signal strength meter. And I can not make calls. This never happened on the G1. I have even disabled the ability to use H and it solved the problem. So then I took the htclib_ril.so from the G1 and used it in the G2. This didn't seem to change much.... So I believe that it IS a problem with the radio, or a problem in the librilswitch.so that does not get referenced in the G1 build.prop. But is in the G2...
If anyone knows how to make adjustments to when the phone switches from H to 3G to G to E I would really like to know. I think it could be the solution we need....
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
When I check my phone it always say HSPA and never HSPA+ whats up when will I know if I'm on 4G I'm in a 4G market Philly!!
I received my G2 yesterday, and it is a lot better at handling a signal when you hold it in your hand. There's still a slight drop in reception when you hold the phone, but more of what you should expect to happen rather than a complete drop down to the dreaded X. Still testing it out a for a few days before deciding to drop Verizon, but I sure do like that I can talk and use data at the same time on the G2.
I've had this problem with my new G2. With either the stock ROM or CM 6.1.1 when I hold it the signal drops. This is a non-issue in areas where there's good coverage, but at my house where the signal is quite weak this usually means the difference between signal and no signal. If I don't hold it the signal improves. My Cliq gets better signal here than my G2 does. Also, the Cliq doesn't suffer any noticeable signal issues when I'm holding it.
It's funny, as I go about my daily routine with my G2 instead of my Cliq, I notice these things. I get much weaker signal in certain areas with my G2 where I got acceptable signal with my Cliq.
trees247 said:
When I check my phone it always say HSPA and never HSPA+ whats up when will I know if I'm on 4G I'm in a 4G market Philly!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't believe there's an HSPA+ icon. Just H.
Try using the Speedtest.net app to check your speeds. There's no HSPA+ on my network but I still get decent speeds. I just wish coverage was better so I wouldn't switch bands and lose signal all the time. The radio hardware on the G2/DZ sucks!
dhilberg said:
I've had this problem with my new G2. With either the stock ROM or CM 6.1.1 when I hold it the signal drops. This is a non-issue in areas where there's good coverage, but at my house where the signal is quite weak this usually means the difference between signal and no signal. If I don't hold it the signal improves. My Cliq gets better signal here than my G2 does. Also, the Cliq doesn't suffer any noticeable signal issues when I'm holding it.
It's funny, as I go about my daily routine with my G2 instead of my Cliq, I notice these things. I get much weaker signal in certain areas with my G2 where I got acceptable signal with my Cliq.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only option I have found yet,(limited time to tinker) is to turn on 180 degree rotation and hold the phone "upside down" it seems to work every time.... So when I am in a place that has weak signal and I need to use data, I flip it around, and it works fine.... I know this is lame considering I paid so much for the phone but.... it does work.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Related
any1 els having this problem where it constantly switches from 3g and edge my g1 has a stable 3g but the nexus jus keeps losing it
Once mine locked on to 3G it has stayed on 3G. T-Mobile just launched 3G in my town before Christmas, not that it matters.
However, it is not as fast as AT&T 3G here.
I too have problem with 3G here the signal strength seems too low like 2 bars but on Nokia n900 i get like 4 bars even n1 seems switching back n forth between edge and 3g. while n900 stays 3G all the time at same place..
I will try this device for week and see if the problem is everywhere or something with tmobile network or else i have it send back.
theres a huge thread going on now on google about this issue. Hopefully they address this soon. http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=0bd8ccd4799040c2&hl=en
This happened all the time on my G1.
Perhaps it is Tmo.
As a comparison, what are peoples experiences in the UK with 3G?
This might help determine if it is a phone or network issue.
I'm having the same problem. I have a T-Mobile Touch Pro2 and a nexus one. the Touch pro2 holds on two bars of 3G while the N1 switches to EDGE. Sometimes it starts to hesitate between EDGE and 3G causing apps to say "connection problems". It seems that in order to feature a long battery life, it favors EDGE over 3G and the threshold for 3G is too high.
Where there's strong 3G footprint, the N1 shows full bar, but somehow it doesn't seem as fast as it should be (7.2 Mbps) although the fast processor and rendering compensates for that.
Hope they fix that soon. It's most likely a software problem. I recall the iPhone 3G suffered from a very similar issue when it was first released.
Im having this issue.
at 1st i thought it was only me, until i saw the post on Gizmodo. and looking at this link " http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=0bd8ccd4799040c2&hl=en&fid=0bd8ccd4799040c200047c99c44ddfe6"
it looks like alot of ppl are experiencing this issue. Im at work and ive always had full 3g bars with my MT3G, and my Nexus One keeps going in and out of it.. for the most part it stays on EDGE.. GRRRRR hope it gets fixed with a firmware update.
Anyone in UK with this issue?
I to am experiencing this issue in Florida
When I do tests from speedtest app I can get decent downloads anywhere from 500-900kbps, but upload somtimes is pitiful..often less than 100kbps.
I have also noticed that when I check my phone status and look at the network connection, it fluctuates between UTMS and HSDPA.
I have found that when I plug my N1 into the wall charger it seems to hold onto 3G much better along with better speeds. Not a solution, but maybe a clue to understanding cause?
saint327 said:
I have found that when I plug my N1 into the wall charger it seems to hold onto 3G much better along with better speeds. Not a solution, but maybe a clue to understanding cause?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tested plugging it in in various parts of your house or where ever you are plugging it into to see if it helps the reception situation?
I really hope they get this figured out soon. I am holding off on hitting that Place order button until it's all ironed out. It's definitely a test of my will power. I was going to order it last night until I started seeing this issue crop up all over the place...
elkavayo said:
I'm having the same problem. I have a T-Mobile Touch Pro2 and a nexus one. the Touch pro2 holds on two bars of 3G while the N1 switches to EDGE. Sometimes it starts to hesitate between EDGE and 3G causing apps to say "connection problems". It seems that in order to feature a long battery life, it favors EDGE over 3G and the threshold for 3G is too high.
Where there's strong 3G footprint, the N1 shows full bar, but somehow it doesn't seem as fast as it should be (7.2 Mbps) although the fast processor and rendering compensates for that.
Hope they fix that soon. It's most likely a software problem. I recall the iPhone 3G suffered from a very similar issue when it was first released.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find that the threshold for 3g is better balanced than on my htc magic. On the magic it was all too often to have one bar of 3g and not be able to download anything, timing out with connection errors. Nexus one works much better at low bars but also switches to edge/gprs when it's needed. I am on voda in uk from a house with fairly spotty 3g. So, for me I get a more consistent connection than with my magic.
vas41 said:
I find that the threashhold for 3g is better balanced than on my htc magic. On the magic it was all too often to have one bar of 3g and not be able to download anything, timing out with connection errors. Nexus one works much better at low bars but also switches to edge/gprs when it's needed. I am on voda in uk from a house with fairly spotty 3g. So, for me I get a more consistent connection than with my magic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps this is true, but I have also been reading about people with G1s (and one guy with a TP2) that consistently get better reception with their old phones over that of the nexus. This is the part that disturbs me the most.
Maybe it's a power management issue which may be highlighted by the fact that plugging it in seemed to help?
rossiscatch said:
Have you tested plugging it in in various parts of your house or where ever you are plugging it into to see if it helps the reception situation?
I really hope they get this figured out soon. I am holding off on hitting that Place order button until it's all ironed out. It's definitely a test of my will power. I was going to order it last night until I started seeing this issue crop up all over the place...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've tried it both unplugged and plugged in in the same location. Haven't tried other power outlets/locations in home. I fall into the category of those who had a G1 and got solid 3G at the same location.
Anyone tried it plugged into a wall socket with one eye closed standing on a chair with the phone up your arse? Works like a dream.
vas41 said:
I find that the threshold for 3g is better balanced than on my htc magic. On the magic it was all too often to have one bar of 3g and not be able to download anything, timing out with connection errors. Nexus one works much better at low bars but also switches to edge/gprs when it's needed. I am on voda in uk from a house with fairly spotty 3g. So, for me I get a more consistent connection than with my magic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on my experience, I'd have to disagree with you with respect to the Nexus, although you compare it to a phone that I do not have. More often than not, when Nexus has 1 or even 2 bard of 3G the link is totally unreliable and in most cases the application ends up showing a message box that says "no connection available: retry" (not exact wording), unless it switches to EDGE, there's no guarantee data will be exchanged with the cloud. On the very same spot, at the very same time, Touch Pro2 is able to maintain at least 2 bars of 3G and download speeds of 600 Kbps, while the Nexus is forced to 130 Kbs.
I drove today 25 miles (office to home) checking the nexus behavior, and only in very rare instances was able to keep full bars of 3G, in places where I know the 3G is strong.
I have also not seen the Nexus connecting through HSPA, only EDGE or UMTS, but I don't blame Nexus for that. It could be that this area has not been upgraded, in spite of T-Mo announcement that 100% of its network was HSPA.
rossiscatch said:
Perhaps this is true, but I have also been reading about people with G1s (and one guy with a TP2) that consistently get better reception with their old phones over that of the nexus. This is the part that disturbs me the most.
Maybe it's a power management issue which may be highlighted by the fact that plugging it in seemed to help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might be the guys with teh TP2 ;-) and I can confirm that.
Honestly, it's frustratig for all of us that jumped into the Nexus bandwagon after all the hype and big expectations, but I'm not too concerned about it. The iPhone 3GS went through almost the same situation verbatim when it was launched. I'm pretty sure this is a software issue and can be upgraded with an OTA patch. I'd say that it's in the best interest of all the parties involved (Google, HTC, T-Mo) to resolve the issue quickly and avoid the media backslash.
Now I may be wrong, and it could be a hardware issue, and then I guess Google will be seeing a lot of returns.
elkavayo said:
Based on my experience, I'd have to disagree with you with respect to the Nexus, although you compare it to a phone that I do not have. More often than not, when Nexus has 1 or even 2 bard of 3G the link is totally unreliable and in most cases the application ends up showing a message box that says "no connection available: retry" (not exact wording), unless it switches to EDGE, there's no guarantee data will be exchanged with the cloud. On the very same spot, at the very same time, Touch Pro2 is able to maintain at least 2 bars of 3G and download speeds of 600 Kbps, while the Nexus is forced to 130 Kbs.
I drove today 25 miles (office to home) checking the nexus behavior, and only in very rare instances was able to keep full bars of 3G, in places where I know the 3G is strong.
I have also not seen the Nexus connecting through HSPA, only EDGE or UMTS, but I don't blame Nexus for that. It could be that this area has not been upgraded, in spite of T-Mo announcement that 100% of its network was HSPA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does not indicate on the notification bar when it connects to hsdpa, but if you go to settings, about phone, status you will see it show any one of the following: gprs, edge, umts, hsdpa. BTW my htc magic never showed hsdpa, always stayed on umts (when in 3g), not sure if this is because of the difference in notification between 1.6 and 2.1 or whether the nexus one really does connect at higher speeds than magic. I also have another phone on the same network in my household, which is a blackberry bold 9700 and it gets similar reception to nexus one, alternating between gprs/edge/3g in my house.
I am having this 3g/edge problem aswell, i am also not able to be on wifi and 3g at the same time.
Blueman101 said:
I am having this 3g/edge problem aswell, i am also not able to be on wifi and 3g at the same time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you connect over wifi the phone disconnects from the mobile network (gprs/3g) and instead uses wifi connection. It is not possible to be connected to both.
I hate to say it but I am having 3g issues. By that I mean no 3g and one to two bars. Usually I have perfect reception.
Sent from my ADR6300 using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
i've noticed on the incredible that my displayed signal strength isn't as strong as it is on my droid. haven't noticed a difference in call reception or data speeds though...yet.
Eris users have noticed the same thing as you bzbz when compared to the Droid. Could be the cpu or something else HTC vs Motorola.
i've noticed on the incredible that my displayed signal strength isn't as strong as it is on my droid. haven't noticed a difference in call reception or data speeds though...yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed the same thing but my download/upload speeds are just as fast if not faster. I gave my Droid to my mom and took her upgrade so I have both side by side, off WiFi downloading a movie and the Incredible is actually 20-50kbs faster than my old Droid and yes the Droid is over clocked with petes 1ghz kernel.
I have had the Incredible for a couple of days, and I've noticed a lower displayed signal strength than I'd see on my Droid in the same locations.
But I've not experienced any reception issues, and my internet speed seems the same or faster.
This is what I expected. We all know that you can't count on those reception bars to compare different phones, and also that Moto tends to have better radios/reception than everyone else anyway. As long as you're phone's radio is close to Moto's in the ability to make/receive calls, then normally you're not doing bad.
well it's good to know that the signal strength concern may be more of a "cosmetic" issue than a legitimate performance issue.
daftlush said:
I hate to say it but I am having 3g issues. By that I mean no 3g and one to two bars. Usually I have perfect reception.
Sent from my ADR6300 using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how is the quality on said reception? Other people's replies seem to indicate good quality even with less bars.
BzBz said:
well it's good to know that the signal strength concern may be more of a "cosmetic" issue than a legitimate performance issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This...
It is definitely cosmetic, the newest radio i have installed on my eris does the same. The reception on my eris is better then my friends with the older radio, but he has more 3G bars.
designerfx said:
how is the quality on said reception? Other people's replies seem to indicate good quality even with less bars.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It may just be the way HTC displays the signal. I know on the Touch Pro 2 and Touch Pro, the signal indicator frequently shows incorrect (lower) signal strength but works fine.
I compared signal strength between my BB Curve 8330 and my new Incredible.
In spite of the indicated signal strength being lower on the Incredible, the dBm was the same. It's only one location and one user, but I suspect it's not an actual signal strength issue.
i used my incredible all day. i work in a downtown area with many tall building surrounded and i still got a good 3g signal and speed.
from Boston.
the 3G speeds on my incredible are slower that my 2G G1 running on AT&T. i get les than 200 kbps downstream. My friend with a droid standing in the same room will get aound 1100 Kbps. What gives??
if you are haveing a tough time with a signal.. I update my roaming towers... I had an issue today where I couldn't get much.. I did *228 option 2 and it updated my roaming towers and have had no problems since... sometimes you need to do that with a new phone so it knows exactly what towers to look for
tried the *228 to update. Update was successful but no improvment. still have very slow data speeds and terrible call quality. reception stays about around -100 dBm
I'm also noticing what appears to be poor reception. I was getting better reception with my Droid than I am with Incredible. I've tried the *228 last night and this morning but that hasn't helped. Hopefully there will eventually be some kind of software fix for this. I'm seeing other threads on other sites with the same kind of complaints so I don't think it's a select few who are experiencing this issue.
hoop762 said:
the 3G speeds on my incredible are slower that my 2G G1 running on AT&T. i get les than 200 kbps downstream. My friend with a droid standing in the same room will get aound 1100 Kbps. What gives??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your speed will depend on what tower your connected to. on my Eris, I've gone from 1mbps/0.70mbps in New York, NY to 2mbps/2mbps in West Haven, CT. It's not the phone. The newer radio on the Incredible will show less bars, but your signal strength will be fine .(dBm)
My phone keeps dropping 3G my droid never has done this in the location the incredible is. I will go into airplane mode then back out and I will have 3g again
Over at Androidforums there is a thread going regarding reception issues. On page 2 is some help in running a debug on the phone that will give you dbm levels and some other info. I'm not sure how to use the info the debug gives but perhaps it may be of some use to someone here.
The link is http://androidforums.com/htc-incredible/70223-weak-signal-strength.html
rckeystone said:
Over at Androidforums there is a thread going regarding reception issues. On page 2 is some help in running a debug on the phone that will give you dbm levels and some other info. I'm not sure how to use the info the debug gives but perhaps it may be of some use to someone here.
The link is http://androidforums.com/htc-incredible/70223-weak-signal-strength.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to go into field test mode like this guy said, all you need to do is from the home screen > menu > setting > about phone > network.
Here you will see signal strength (typical between -100 to -80dBm) the closer to 0 you are the better your signal is (ie: 80dBm > 90dBm)
Hope that clears up some confusion. I've tested both the motodroid and the incredible side by side in a location with low signal and can say that my incredible gets better signal than the droid, even though the "bars" don't indicate as such.
my signal always stays at -81, is that a good thing?
im a new android and 3g user
So I just recently took a trip from northern California to Tennessee and had some interesting results with the Froyo radio. For reference I own the ATT-version Nexus One and have data roaming enabled.
When I used the phone before Froyo radio I had many problems with the 3G switching to Edge and back when needed which caused random data dropouts. Even turning the phone off and back wouldn't force the phone to switch connections to Edge when needed which would make me very frustrated in times of need.
On my trip I found something very interesting, not only did 3G and Edge switch almost perfectly, but Edge performed MUCH faster than before. While it isn't as important now in a world of 3G coverage, when I was on the "edge" of civilization I still got surfing speeds that were not far behind that of 3G speeds. My browsing, and most importantly Google Maps usage rarely suffered a performance hit despite where I was or what type of connection was available to my phone.
There was a difference between performance; 3G would act like Comcast and Edge would be a little behind, but in terms of actually surfing the Internet the extra 2-5 seconds it took to load up a desktop webpage didn't make a difference.
Technically the bandwidth speeds were much different. 3G performed from 1 to a max of 2 megabits down and .3-1 megabits up, while Edge showed speeds of 300-500 kbps down and 100-200 up.
One thing I did notice throughout the trip is the Nexus One's signal meter did not report correctly, there were times where it showed no signal and I had super fast connection, and also times when it would show full or near-full bars and there was no connection.
Hope someone finds this info useful!!! I'm very happy with the coverage my Nexus One gets with the Froyo radio now!
I have always found that my nexus holds calls and has fast data showing zero bars. One reason I've always loved the nexus
Just a point of clarification, EDGE has a maximum theoretical bandwidth of 473.6 kbits/s for 8 timeslots.
In real world conditions EDGE should have throughput of 236.8kbit/s with 4 timeslots(which is what most carriers employ).
Dan
Wonder if there's and app/mod to replace the signal bar with the actual signal #s?
Hey Sellitus, what else did you find working/not working on that trip?
I am considering a longer drive (SF to NY) and want to know about battery life, apps that were really handy, and which weren't.
SiNJiN76 said:
Wonder if there's and app/mod to replace the signal bar with the actual signal #s?
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hey that would be nice. just like how cyanogen puts the battery percentage, it would be nice to have the dBm level of signal overtop of the signal meter.
RogerPodacter said:
hey that would be nice. just like how cyanogen puts the battery percentage, it would be nice to have the dBm level of signal overtop of the signal meter.
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The dBm and signal bar IMO opinion are rather pointless in regards to data. Having a very poor 3G signal will always be faster than a full GPRS signal.
Also, a signal meter in terms of DB would jump around quite a bit...
sprinkles said:
Hey Sellitus, what else did you find working/not working on that trip?
I am considering a longer drive (SF to NY) and want to know about battery life, apps that were really handy, and which weren't.
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Click to collapse
Well for ATT I hit data roaming quite a few times, and although it worked on edge pretty quickly during those times it would randomly drop when the R was showing randomly. I think what happened a lot on the trip is when I was out in the middle of nowhere bouncing between towers would cause random dropouts, but they were usually no more than a few seconds.
I don't remember which apps specifically though a few also did not like the trip, but most would hang and resume in a few seconds after data was reconnected even if the signal strength showed it was connected the entire time with signal. Sometimes Google Maps hung, though it was rare and I noticed it more because I used it near constantly on the trip.
If I were to give advice to anyone looking at a cross country trip, buy a map or get offline GPS maps to help. We bought a map and it proved valuable at times, though we rarely needed it.
I wonder if the "enable data while roaming" setting had anything to do with that. Maybe an internal bug.
torchedlh said:
Also, a signal meter in terms of DB would jump around quite a bit...
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I don't know how a number jumping around would be any different than a graphical signal meter jumping around. The iPhone has had this hack for a long time where you can replace the signal meter with the dBm reading. Though I've never owned the iPhone, but seen it on friend's iPhone before.
I know I'm often going into the android settings to look at my dBm reading, didn't jump around too much for me to see.
I've been having some reception issue lately with AT&T around my hometown (usually its quite good),so I did some googling, and found plenty of info on radio signal, and how to interpret -dBm, but I'm still baffled by the ASU. I really couldn't find much, just some random post on a random forum that left me with some questions:
In a 3G network your cell phone tries to open three channels to three radios so they can locate you and hand you off properly.
Those three channels make up you ACTIVE SET.
ASU is ACTIVE SET UPDATES or the rate at which your phone is able to update its location to the towers/radios.
This rate is affected by signal strength, load, and probably a lot of other factors that I haven't puzzled out yet.
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Can anyone shed some more light on this? Usually at home I have 2 bars of HSDPA, somehwere in the -90s dBm, and anywhere from 4-8 asu.
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
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk
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.
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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.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
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.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Got the Facinate a day early : )
So far it is defiantly working better than my Incredible on my verizon network extender!
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Mines 0%
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
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.
I live in lakewood, CA and the coverage map of T-mo says my place is Excellent. However, the signal strength is -82dbm on a desk near window. Today, I was driving to Fullerton. Every time I stopped at a red light, i checked the signal strength and it was at most -78dbm.
I found some posts of nexus one owners saying the signal strength is around -57 to -70 dbm when not holding.
does G2 have a weak receiver or is it just mine?
I wish I had signal strength as good as yours. I've never seen mine go above -90dBm!
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
I think its gotta be yours. I live in sammamish (washington state) and at one time I got to -50. I probably average -75.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
I've gotten to -59 before and quickly decided to do a speed test. Using the speed test app, I get crazy numbers, I did a web based speed test and I got speeds (don't remember) but on a scale it said I was much faster than Sprints 4G network. Loving it.
What the... I'm at -89dBm with a full five bars. This is my second g2 and the first one was the same.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Same.. -85 dbm full five bars.. -113 dbm at 1-2 bars.
From my very unscientific experiments
I fired up my G1 tonight and installed the Mobile Signal Widget (handy widget, free on the market).
G1:
Sitting on my desk or being held in my hand, the signal reads -99 on UMTS. Very solid reading.
G2:
Signal reads -91 to -93 on HSDPA, then occasionally 'drops' to UMTS. Signal tends to show around -93 to -99.
These readings fly out the door when I pick it up and hold it like I did the G1. Within seconds, the signal drops to -101, shows no signal, then drops to either EDGE, or at an extreme, down to GPRS then goes back to EDGE, usually leveling out from -95 to -101.
Putting it down almost instantly sees the signal strength go back up to -97 and reestablish the UMTS or HSDPA connection.
I don't have the internal pictures or design plans for the phone, but it almost seems like HTC did the Apple iPhone 4 antenna treatment to the Vision/G2 and is using the casing as part of the antenna.
EDIT: ...Or put it in a bad place. I noticed that the signal drops mainly when the lower left hand of the phone is held/covered. Holding it by just the sides and making sure the bottom of the phone (area that has the trackpad) is not covered or being touched causes a much smaller drop in signal. Holding it by the top corners results in next to no signal drop.
Allegedly, TMo is having nation wide issues with the HSDPA side of the network according to the report of someone in the TMo forums (claims to have been told this by a CS rep, so take it with a grain of salt).
So while I don't think the G2 has a worse receiver, it does appear to suffer from bad antenna placement, which can look like a bad receiver. This may or may not be an issue for someone as YMMV depending on usage patterns, bluetooth headset usage, and so on.
As for the main status bar indicator, don't be fooled. TMo tweaked the signal display to show only H, E and G. Install that widget and watch it, I bet your phone switches between HSDPA and UMTS a lot, and the main display never changes from H.
I call this a bit of weasel marketing. They make this big deal about the new network and speeds and their flagship phone supporting it, but configure it so that it only reports the HSDPA side of the network when it's connected at anything faster than EDGE. Makes me wish for a way to track over time just how much time it spends using the UMTS protocol vs HSDPA.
I hate to say it, but returning this phone is looking like a better idea more and more...
You're retarded. HSPDA is 3G.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
joebobjoe said:
You're retarded. HSPDA is 3G.
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Fine, if you want to split hairs, I've corrected my post to reflect the correct terminology (UMTS vs 3G).
It doesn't change the fact that the Froyo install has been modified
It doesn't change the fact that it's verifiable with the free utilities on the market
I can't think of a single reason that the '3G' indicator in the OS would be removed except to 'hide' the fact that the phone isn't always using the HDSPA protocol, which is being bandied about by TMo marketing as one of the reasons to buy a G2. I don't expect a phone to have a rock solid connection 100% of the time, it's next to impossible. But I also don't expect a device to have been modified in a way that is misleading and doesn't show the actual protocol the phone is using.
My post was to add my findings about the subject of the phone having a poorer receiver than earlier phones, such as the G1 and the N1, and along the way I found something I thought was interesting enough to add to the post. Pardon me for not being specific enough at 3 in the bleeding morning.
Next time, try responding without the personal attack or apparently not even trying to reproduce what I have found to see if I'm making things up, OK?
jdc said:
Fine, if you want to split hairs, I've corrected my post to reflect the correct terminology (UMTS vs 3G).
It doesn't change the fact that the Froyo install has been modified
It doesn't change the fact that it's verifiable with the free utilities on the market
I can't think of a single reason that the '3G' indicator in the OS would be removed except to 'hide' the fact that the phone isn't always using the HDSPA protocol, which is being bandied about by TMo marketing as one of the reasons to buy a G2. I don't expect a phone to have a rock solid connection 100% of the time, it's next to impossible. But I also don't expect a device to have been modified in a way that is misleading and doesn't show the actual protocol the phone is using.
My post was to add my findings about the subject of the phone having a poorer receiver than earlier phones, such as the G1 and the N1, and along the way I found something I thought was interesting enough to add to the post. Pardon me for not being specific enough at 3 in the bleeding morning.
Next time, try responding without the personal attack or apparently not even trying to reproduce what I have found to see if I'm making things up, OK?
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I'm sorry.
joebobjoe said:
I'm sorry.
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Accepted, mentally listing this as water under the bridge and moving on.