Database Users

no stable 3g connection

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.

Batterylife, 3G vs. 4G

Okay, so WiFi is usually better than 3G when it comes to battery life; but what about WiMax? I don't have a stable signal yet so I can't reliably test the two. What are ya'll experiences (for those within a reliable 4G area)? Better, the same, worse, or a lot worse?

Award Tour said:
Okay, so WiFi is usually better than 3G when it comes to battery life; but what about WiMax? I don't have a stable signal yet so I can't reliably test the two. What are ya'll experiences (for those within a reliable 4G area)? Better, the same, worse, or a lot worse?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have reliable 4G in my area, but I notice that even turning on the wimax 4G radio dramatically drains my battery. Don't know if its becasue its constantly searching for signal or just becasue the radio is turned on. My 2 cents, but I know it's not very thorough..

Any time you have a radio turned on and do not have a signal it will drain the battery trying to find a signal.
If you go to an area with poor 3g service, your battery will drain crazy.
They are testing 4g in my area, so it is up and down a lot, so I cannot test.
From reading other posts, I believe 4g may take slightly more battery.

Since Froyo has been released, the 4G battery drain isn't nearly as bad as it was on 2.1. I've noticed that the speeds have substantially increased as well as better battery management as well.

infamousjax said:
Since Froyo has been released, the 4G battery drain isn't nearly as bad as it was on 2.1. I've noticed that the speeds have substantially increased as well as better battery management as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that's why I wanted to see how things are now. We all know how 4G got slammed by reviewers for killing the battery, but the new radio might have changed that. I'm just curious at how it compares to 3G now under ideal conditions (good signal).

I have full 4G coverage where I live and to be honest when 4G is on, the battery drainage difference is not much, when compared to 3G.

I have 4G in my area as well, but I leave it off because it goes back and forth from being connected to not being connected. I did notice last night that my battery went from 70% to 5% over night... Anyone know what could cause that?

pscalett said:
I have 4G in my area as well, but I leave it off because it goes back and forth from being connected to not being connected. I did notice last night that my battery went from 70% to 5% over night... Anyone know what could cause that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem. I'm in the Baltimore area and the 3G/4G switches back and forth. I figured out that when the phone isn't in 4G, it searches for a 4G connection, but you can put it to 3G only (with an app called Phone Info) until Verizon is done with their 4G coverage.

4G uses more power than 3g, which uses more power than wifi.
4g<3g<wifi.

it's significantly worse on 4G, so much so that I have an extended battery and I still don't use it.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

AvatarOfFrost said:
I have full 4G coverage where I live and to be honest when 4G is on, the battery drainage difference is not much, when compared to 3G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is something wrong with your phone then, maybe it's not sleeping. you should be noticing a huge difference.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

Anyone who has rooted and has slow 3G, try this please

I posted this in the PRI bounty thread but don't want it to get lost and I'm curious what other people's results will be with it.
I noticed something interesting today that may be an Evo bug... So I turned 4G on when I was in traffic on 6th Avenue to run some speed tests... got 8megs, no surprise there... but I left it on... later I was in Denver waiting for my group therapy class and was downloading and browsing and noticed it was flying. Did a speed test and I was getting 1.7-2.1Mbps consistently.
I shut off 4G and went to test later and was back to 500-900 speeds. Turned 4G back on and was immediately back to the 1.7-2.1Mbps levels.
I noticed when I turned on 4G that the 3G data arrows started moving like crazy each time, then stopped.
Can someone test this for me? To do this test you need to be on a tower that you KNOW can handle the faster speeds. I tried it all over the place today and even at home where I can't usually pass 300, I got 600. Turned off 4G and back down to 300. Turned it back on, back up to 5-600. Hit 900 at one point.
Just did a test in my room with 2 bars and got 750... turned off 4G and shut the phone on, turned it back on and got 500 consistently. Turned 4G back on and got 876, 1114, 1140, 865, and 974.
Maybe the PRI update fixed the link between 4G being turned off and slow 3G speeds? Try it and post your results...
Oh and use the Xtremelabs speedtest - speedtest.net is crap.
EDIT: By the way, previous to this, the fastest I ever saw my phone go was 1Mbps - in the same areas I was testing today.

What the F, Batman!?! Definitely makes a big difference. From 75 kB/s to 139 kB/s in one test. Bars of service shot up from 0-1 to a solid 2, also.
Sent from my EVO, the true iPhone killer!

Sorry...cannot confirm. I had no discernible difference with 4G on or off. I have 5 or 6 bars with 500-1000 kbps download and 150-200 kbps upload. Get the same readings on Xtremelabs with 4G on and off. Sorry.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Seems to work on my end. That's an interesting find. Seems if you turn 4g on and its nor available where you are they boost the 3g speed. Very interesting.
Sent from my cursed EVO using 4g speed

I could be wrong but it seems like I get better data speeds with the 4G radio turned on in a non 4G area.
I'm not rooted. Running the latest software release.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Went back to the house where I have one or two bars of signal and I still do not see any difference except that my overall speed is about half what it was. But no difference between 4G on or off. I'm running Fresh 3.1.0.1 with stock kernel in a non-4G area.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I ran three speed tests with it off and three with it on and then averaged the max. While it was running, the sustained throughput was almost exactly the same. The averages were:
with 4g off: 1142 down 199 up
with 4g on: 1156 down 217 up
Not much difference.

I think that many people don't get that the 3g speeds are subject to change at any given time, that is why there can be drastic changes in speed. Too many people on this board are succumbing to the placebo effect. Just my observation.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

RTC88 said:
I think that many people don't get that the 3g speeds are subject to change at any given time, that is why there can be drastic changes in speed. Too many people on this board are succumbing to the placebo effect. Just my observation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed.
10 chars

Im just waiting for the fix to the PRI issue hoping that when it comes out people find their 3G speeds remains the same. Now how eventful would that be. Cause maybe its is just a matter of towers cause I'm on 1.34 pri and 3G test still hits 1016 down and 200 up.

im0rtalz said:
Im just waiting for the fix to the PRI issue hoping that when it comes out people find their 3G speeds remains the same. Now how eventful would that be. Cause maybe its is just a matter of towers cause I'm on 1.34 pri and 3G test still hits 1016 down and 200 up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then they will just say that the pri fix is broken!

Sorry it didn't have positive effects for everyone.
In the Denver area, at the very least, I've confirmed it on my Evo and a coworkers Evo. We regularly are getting two megs now... if we shut off the 4G, it takes about 10 or 15 minutes but we will drop back to 900 and stay there. Turn it back on, back to 2megs.

Just for grins I tried turning on the 4G to test my results.
I'm not rooted and running 2.2
3G alone = 1296kbit/s
4G on (no 4G service) = 1102kbit/s
So, it didn't do anything for me.

As I said, this is for SLOW 3G speeds, meaning >600kbps - with those speeds, you're probably not being affected by any sort of a bug. I had never seen 1Mbps much less 2 on this phone until that fix.

I still doubt the PRI has much of an effect, but perhaps there is hope that you can go back to 1.40 soon and find out.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7602569&postcount=70

[POLL] Nexus S 4G Connectivity

Haven't yet seen a poll on this and I am curious to see if this is really affecting as many as it seems, here on XDA.
Edit: It would appear that it is indeed an issue for 9/10 NS4G owners.

I have poor WiFi reception. I had a Hero and Evo, and my GF has a Shift, and all those devices have gotten good Wifi in the bedroom. A desktop and laptop have good reception there too. The NS is hopeless unless I stand near the door and hold it gingerly with two fingers. I ended up adding another AP in another part of the house just to cover the NS.
3G signal acquisition is a little below the average set by the above devices, but not too bad. I have to be in a pretty marginal area not to get 3G, and the Evo and Shift last only a little bit past the NS' range.

I have only just recently acknowledged this as a problem. Since day one my WiFi cuts out and my time without a signal is always high. Not sure if 3G is just poor because of Sprint, but it has also been a huge battery drain.

What's funny is the OTA announcement does not seem to state that they are working on 3g issues. It is a little unclear, but that 5th bullet point seems to say they are addressing 4g radio issues only!
re:

Hopefully they increase its stability as a result of fixing other areas of the radio? Longshot, I know.

Wifi is the suck. I have had less than full strength 1ft away from the router.
Not sure if it is this phone or Sprints cup and string network but I constantly get random periods of no internet/data throughput. Mainly on 4g. Going through one right now. 4g connects but there is just zero data tranfered. All webpages time out etc. Now on Sprints totally awesome dialup on vitamins 3g network.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

For me, all the above. Call me pessimistic but I'm kinda doubting that software will fix a poor radio. Has anyone ever actually experienced an update solving a bad radio? I was actually considering getting a new evo 4g with the extended battery and call it a day. As more days pass by, it seems my network performance gets worse. The times where I'm not getting any data throughput are getting longer. It was annoying for awhile but now this really pissing me off! Cycling airplane mode and rebooting the phone is getting to the point where it doesn't fix anything. Its a waste of time. Like many other people are saying, I love the phone but using it for its main purpose, a phone, it is utterly horrible! Most of the time I have very little signal on the tower, if any at all. I keep saying I'm not going to buy Samsung phones anymore but I still do and continue to get burned by them.

Weird. Now that you mention it I thought the same thing. It just gets worse.
When I first got this phone I could sit on 4g all day long and the internet was just there. 3g too. 100% reliable network activity. Then about a month ago the random periods of no data throughput started happening. First it was both 3g and 4g, now it is just 4g. The 3g speeds are a joke. You can't stream **** with this phone on 3g without skipping and buffering. 4g streams fine but you still have to worry about the data throughput hitting a 2hr or longer brick wall of uselessness.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

Luckily i keep my galaxy tab with me because my nexus will show no bars and no data when my tab will be close to full. I just end up using my tab for most of my data use.
Sent from my SPH-P100 using XDA App

If the next update comes and it doesn't fix anything, then we should be allowed to have the device replaced.

My guess is that it is a combination of our crappy radios and sprint is still having wide spread data issues. My gf has my epic and even though she gets more signal and less data loss than I do, she's still experiencing network issues. About an hour ago, I just got a bunch of responses from her that were morning and afternoon and they came in all at once. I sent an email and a text in both stock SMS and Google voice a little while ago and haven't heard anything back yet. Sprint must know they're having network issues. It seems like it has been going on for three weeks now and today is really bad. There are times that I think dial up is faster than the speeds I'm getting when it does work.

Woohoo. Just got 4g data throughput back. Only down for 4 and 1/2 hours today. All good till tomorrows outage. *eyeroll*
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

I noticed I just got 3g back.

3G and 4G are great! only WiFi needs to be touched up. I use 3G at the home (averaging 2,000 kbps DL) so WiFi isn't needed unless I'm downloading huge ROMs or other files.
Still, I prefer having a working WiFi for friend's houses and other locations.

LTE Instability

I've had my opt for a couple weeks now and generally I really do like the phone. One issue that I'm having, that I haven't really read about is with my LTE signal. I have tmobile (usa) and admittedly I have relatively poor signal at home (-109dBm to -114dBm). I notice that every so often my LTE signal drops out completely and I get no data. At my work where I have excellent signal I don't have any issues. I've had several phones including the Oneplus One and I've never had problems with the signal dropping completely out like it does with the opt. Does anyone else have this issue? Are there any radios to try yet? or maybe just wait for a future update that might stabilize the radio? It's not a huge issue as I'm just using wifi at home most the time.

My receptiin seems bad. im in uk. Always 2 bars at house. Op2 always shows 0 99% of time in the indicator. however a signal app always says 28-35% signal. Wifi poor as well - massive drop of speed every couple of steps away from router

Are you using any apps to verify LTE signal and band?
I use LTE discovery.

useranonymous said:
Are you using any apps to verify LTE signal and band?
I use LTE discovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does your device allow LTE Discovery to continuously update it's signal data? I have to kill the app for it to change what it displays.
Hastily spouted for your befuddlement