Signal Stength - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshootin

I've noticed that the S4 seems to have very poor if not disappointing Signal Strength. This is Firmware independent as I have had the same results on 100% stock firmware, rooted stock firmware, and CM10.1.
At home I get HSPA+ service only via AT&T. On my iPhone 3G, 4, and 4S I used to get 3 or 4 bars, occasionally 2 bars of service in my room on a nightstand where I leave my phone at night. In fact I'd get pretty much 3 or 4 bars in the entire house. With the S4 I'm going between 0 bars, no service, and 1 bar. Occasionally I will manage to get 2 bars.
Likewise, in another area over the weekend I was going from no service to 1 bar of EDGE (2G service!) and occasionally 1 bar of HSPA+ where friends who also had AT&T with iPhone4's were getting 2 bars of HSPA+ 3G. Another friend with iphone5 and AT&T actually was getting 2-3 bars of LTE.
Anyone experiencing similar woes and disappointing service? If so, any way to improve it?

WoodburyMan said:
I've noticed that the S4 seems to have very poor if not disappointing Signal Strength. This is Firmware independent as I have had the same results on 100% stock firmware, rooted stock firmware, and CM10.1.
At home I get HSPA+ service only via AT&T. On my iPhone 3G, 4, and 4S I used to get 3 or 4 bars, occasionally 2 bars of service in my room on a nightstand where I leave my phone at night. In fact I'd get pretty much 3 or 4 bars in the entire house. With the S4 I'm going between 0 bars, no service, and 1 bar. Occasionally I will manage to get 2 bars.
Likewise, in another area over the weekend I was going from no service to 1 bar of EDGE (2G service!) and occasionally 1 bar of HSPA+ where friends who also had AT&T with iPhone4's were getting 2 bars of HSPA+ 3G. Another friend with iphone5 and AT&T actually was getting 2-3 bars of LTE.
Anyone experiencing similar woes and disappointing service? If so, any way to improve it?
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Click to collapse
I have noticed the same disappointing service from AT&T. I moved from Verizon to AT&T due to a work contract change. I went from 4G LTE to full bars of EDGE. This is pretty much unacceptable but there is nothing I can do about it. During the days I can manage to get 4G HSPA+ but its still not even close to what LTE was. Driving down some major highways I still drop calls on AT&T. Also up north at my cottage I can get no bars and with verizon (droid razr maxx) I could get 3 out of 5 bars and 3G coverage. AT&T does not even come near to what Verizon has been doing. They really need to step up their game...

WoodburyMan said:
I've noticed that the S4 seems to have very poor if not disappointing Signal Strength. This is Firmware independent as I have had the same results on 100% stock firmware, rooted stock firmware, and CM10.1.
At home I get HSPA+ service only via AT&T. On my iPhone 3G, 4, and 4S I used to get 3 or 4 bars, occasionally 2 bars of service in my room on a nightstand where I leave my phone at night. In fact I'd get pretty much 3 or 4 bars in the entire house. With the S4 I'm going between 0 bars, no service, and 1 bar. Occasionally I will manage to get 2 bars.
Likewise, in another area over the weekend I was going from no service to 1 bar of EDGE (2G service!) and occasionally 1 bar of HSPA+ where friends who also had AT&T with iPhone4's were getting 2 bars of HSPA+ 3G. Another friend with iphone5 and AT&T actually was getting 2-3 bars of LTE.
Anyone experiencing similar woes and disappointing service? If so, any way to improve it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fosser2 said:
I have noticed the same disappointing service from AT&T. I moved from Verizon to AT&T due to a work contract change. I went from 4G LTE to full bars of EDGE. This is pretty much unacceptable but there is nothing I can do about it. During the days I can manage to get 4G HSPA+ but its still not even close to what LTE was. Driving down some major highways I still drop calls on AT&T. Also up north at my cottage I can get no bars and with verizon (droid razr maxx) I could get 3 out of 5 bars and 3G coverage. AT&T does not even come near to what Verizon has been doing. They really need to step up their game...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guys, you are talking about two different issues.
The OP complains that his SGS4 gets fewer bars than his iPhone (I assume on same provider). I would not judge signal strength this way. 4 bars on iPhone could be equal to 1 bar on SGS4 in terms of pure measured signal strength. Go to system menus on both phones to check the signal strength value. Do not just compare the number of bars.
Fosser2 - you are in general complaining about AT&T. Yes AT&T sucks an has sucked for years. Nothing new there. Although there are areas where AT&T beats other providers.

kreoXDA said:
Guys, you are talking about two different issues.
The OP complains that his SGS4 gets fewer bars than his iPhone (I assume on same provider). I would not judge signal strength this way. 4 bars on iPhone could be equal to 1 bar on SGS4 in terms of pure measured signal strength. Go to system menus on both phones to check the signal strength value. Do not just compare the number of bars.
Fosser2 - you are in general complaining about AT&T. Yes AT&T sucks an has sucked for years. Nothing new there. Although there are areas where AT&T beats other providers.
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Click to collapse
Yea. I can see the DB stength in setting on the S4, the only thing is on iOS raw signal data is not available. At least unjailbroken. I did have my 4S jailbroken on OS 6.1.2. However I already reflashed it back to stock with 6.1.3 in preparations for selling it so I cannot rejailbreak it currently, nor even get onto it since there is no SIM. They may have different metering for signal stength. I actually had a patch installed on my old iPhone 3G at one point because original metering on it was completely off and would display 3 bars then drop to 1 when youd go to make a call. However I am for certain getting more "No Signal" messages on the S4 than the iPhone. And standing next to two iPhone users on the same network with 1-3 bars each while I have "no signal" shows something about the S4.
Exactly. I was on AT&T before and I am still on AT&T. Same locations as well, and comparing it to other AT&T users with other phones in same location. Throwing a Carrier Change and different location into the mix along with a new phone makes it impossible to compare. Fosser you're bound to have different dealings with providers in different areas' Around here where I am AT&T is king for signal and Verizon is very sketchy.(AT&T has two towers in town, Verizon only has one) So its hard to tell if its the phone in your case or just location or carrier that has the issue.

kreoXDA said:
Guys, you are talking about two different issues.
...
Yes AT&T sucks an has sucked for years. Nothing new there. Although there are areas where AT&T beats other providers.
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Click to collapse
I lol'd at this - because it's really true. In many (most?) areas in my state, AT&T is the absolute worst. In my county, it's the absolute best, especially in terms of data speeds.
But since my S4, I have noticed rare (once every several days? maybe once a week?) cases where I will have 1 bar and seemingly no data coverage at work for a period of probably 5 minutes, where I normally easily get 4-5 bars. It's probably just a tower thing - perhaps the nearest tower is going offline and it's using one from across town for a brief period or something.
Otherwise, I've had about the same coverage on my S4 as my S2, if not better. I would recommend calling AT&T repeatedly. At work, I deal with our cell phones all the time, all 110 of them on AT&T. We get duds, it seems. The best way I've found to correct the situation is:
Call AT&T, explaining that we've done a factory reset on the device. They will "reset something on their end" (afaik, they are simply clearing a cache of your device on the network, letting it re-associate itself) and have you reboot the phone again.
9/10 times, this temporarily fixes the intermittant problems we have with the device, because, it is in-fact intermittent. :/
Call again the next time you have coverage issue. They might do the same thing again for a couple calls. For enterprise accounts, they seem to be willing to move forward on the 2nd call.
After calling a few times about the issue, ask if you can get a replacement device under warranty. Now that they have you documented that you have a recurring problem, they are usually more than happy to replace the device under warranty.
If you have a local AT&T corporate store, perform the last step in the store to get the warranty replacement. No need to wait for shipping, plus the risk of them sending you a crappy refurbished phone.

Related

T-Mobile

How is T-Mobile for you?
1. Excellent, I get coverage everywhere i go, HSDPA+, 3G
2. Great, I get coverage most of the time, 3G and EDGE
3. Good, I get coverage, but calls are dropped.
4. Fair, I drop calls, and switch from 3G to EDGE frequently, mostly get coverage
5. Poor, Dropped calls, 1-2 bars, 3G and EDGE switching constantly, not good.
6. Horrible, It's basically the worst network
Wish I could say 1... but its a solid 2 where I live... though if I switched back to the G1, it would probably be 1.
mattyboy247 said:
Wish I could say 1... but its a solid 2 where I live... though if I switched back to the G1, it would probably be 1.
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Click to collapse
devices matter? why do you think that is?
My N1 just doesn't hold 3g as well as my g1 did. Thats the only issue I have. Otherwise 3g in my area has been great. I really don't know who to blame for the 3g being bad on the Nexus... so I just blame it on all parties involved...
I have H to 3g mostly H in austin texas since the last radio I have not seen any edge.
You should run this as a poll. I pick answer #2. My understanding is that HSPA+ won't rollout to the Midwest until later, so I hope I can say #1 very soon.
I would like to say 1 too, but since T mobile just turned on their 3g service here, i have to go with 2. There is also some dead spot on my school campus, but i can't really complaint, since i'm like all the way in the middle of a huge building.
1 in San Diego.
Somewhere between 2 and 3 in Gainesville, FL. Never drop calls, but there are areas of no service, though not many. I get 3G and sometimes H in many parts, but frequently switch back to E (like inside my apartment >_<). My understanding is that the city makes it quite hard for providers to set up new towers, because they want to keep as many trees in the city as possible, which limit & block cell towers. Bah.
Also, even when I get 3G/H, I've never got xfer speeds above ~ 600Kbps (using Speedtest.net's test). Gah.

Verizon Network Performance...

What are the forum's opinions on Verizon's network? Especially those of you who changed to Verizon from another network for the Incredible.
I'll be honest. The network has not been bad, I have service most places and 3g is decently reliable and fast. Not really digging that antenna indicator that makes up the bars on it's own, but performance was pretty good.
However, I didn't expect 'ok.' I expected 'The Network.' I expected moving from tmobile, the smallest carrier, and the n1, a phone with horrible antenna problems for alot of people, to get reception anywhere other people had reception. But in my area [suburb of Dallas TX] ATT seems to actually have more reliable coverage. In my house Tmo gets no reception [my house is a dead zone apparently.] ATT gets full reception. So in changing to verizon I checked their coverage map.... full 3g everywhere in my area. 1 bar in my house. 3g in my garage. Better than Tmo but ATT is 5 bars 3g!
And as far cities or major areas... never had a probl with Tmo there, always good HSPA. But leave a city and roll the dice.
Overall I rate Verizons network a 4 for North Texas Area. Tmo 3 Sprint 2 Att 5.
For Boston, my TMobile phones had much better call quality/clarity. I have not dropped any Verizon calls yet, but it is sometimes hard to understand what the other person is saying on the far side of the line.
On the other hand, the 3g speed and coverage has seemed good.
I have noticed the greater 3G coverage. I came from AT&T and this weekend I traveled across the country and spent some time in 6 different states, CA, IL, TX, NY, NJ, PA. Some were just driving through, others were airports. Never once did I notice a lack of 3G coverage. However most of the time I was at 1 or 2 bars, although that didn't seem to effect my experience.
It even worked in the plane at 30k feet, but only when I was above a major city. Gave me enough time to download an app. (yeah I know they don't want you to do that, I'm bad)
Coming from AT&T I do miss one thing, Data+Voice at the same time. More than a few times I was on a call with the hotel or car rental and they asked me for information I did not have handy. It was in my emails, but I couldn't access data to get them while on the phone. So I was put in a position where I had to anticipate what information I needed before a call and pull it up first. Another time I was talking to a friend about where we were going to meet, and I couldnt access Google Maps. It's kinda annoying.
I switched from T-mobile and while I'm gonna be missing my nexus once that 2.2 update comes out, my coverage is amazingly better, and my service overall wasn't that bad to begin with. Verizon has far surpassed my expectations.
Verizon user here who left Big Red, went to Big Orange, and then back to Verizon.
In my experience (here in central and western Pennsylvania), AT&T is hands down faster. This is simply the case with GSM as opposed to CDMA. However, 3G coverage with AT&T is spotty, whereas Verizon is awesome.
I have also noticed a misconception that # of bars is best indicator of performance. A better measuring tool is to check the following:
Menu > Settings > About Phone > Network
Take note of the Signal Strength. Somewhere around 50 dBm is almost excellent coverage while the closer you get to 100 dBm is borderline questionable coverage.
I am back with Verizon after less than a year with Sprint, and I am glad to be back. I had left VZW because of their crippled phones (reduced memory - disabled features - etc.), and not because of their service, which was fine.
I was quickly reminded that no matter how good a phone is, it's not worth a damn when paired with lousy service. Obviously YMMV, but where I live, near the edge of town but supposedly in a perfectly normal coverage area, Sprint is seriously lacking.
Average signal at my desk with Sprint was -95db or worse, and maybe as good as -92 if I went upstairs. Calls would drop fairly often, but even worse were the ones that *didn't* drop completely, and instead just went all flaky with audio cut-outs (with both phones I had on Sprint, the Touch Pro & the Hero). I was always running upstairs anytime an important call came in, just for the few db less signal loss, in the hopes that Sprint wouldn't ruin the call and make an ass out of me again (I can do that just fine on my own, thanks). Data throughput was also pretty inconsistent on Sprint. Sometimes it would work great while I was at some other location such as onsite with a client, but that just wasn't good enough. I need my phone to work where I live.
Anyways, back with Verizon things seem pretty steady for me. I get an average of -90db or better at my desk, sometimes as good as -85db, and if I go upstairs I have seen signals as good as -78db hold for a while. I have only had a single dropped call, and I saw no sign that it was a signal issue at the time. All of my calls have been clear, with no detected or reported audio cut-outs. Real-world data throughput is also much better for me than it was with Sprint. Web pages load consistently where they used to be sporadic, downloads don't stall anymore, and videos buffer just fine that I couldn't even touch on Sprint. No complaints about service here.
I wish Sprint all the best, but they won't be getting any more $$$ from me anytime soon. As for Verizon...well...what can I say except "Hey baby, thanks for taking me back! I missed you."
trevorwhopkins said:
Overall I rate Verizons network a 4 for North Texas Area. Tmo 3 Sprint 2 Att 5.
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Click to collapse
Att 5, lmao
Try this get speedtest from the market, have your friend get speedtest from the app store, whenever you have the chance post run the test 3 times simultaneously and see how bad att network is. att network is like a ford fiesta, nobody wants it, but some are forced to endure it.
my conclusion on vzw is i am ususlayy getting 1.5-1.75 Mbps down and 600-1000Kbps up all the time at different locations. My friends iphone has never hit more than 1.2 , usually its 400-800Kbps down and up 200-500Kbps
i know different areas have different speeds, but in my area and most areas i have been to, mostly west coast, these results seem to be the norm
VZW coverage has always been great for me. Everywhere I go I ubersexual great reception in voice and 3g. I work in the Nevada desert sometimes and had data coverage where I wouldn't have expected it. And voice coverage was nearly always there. Can't wait for LTE.
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Sent from HTC Incredible via XDA Tapatalk App
Once I exchanged my phone for another because of something unrelated to signal I have noticed a difference. Before my phone would stick on 1x but now sitting in the exactly the same spot I only get as low as Rev-A. So there was an obvious problem with the radio on my last Incredible.
I've seen a few places where ATT could get out and VZW can't. Usually on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Having said that VZW is always crystal clear where ATT is garbled. I drop a VZW call about every 6 months.
I don't know what the Incredible's deal is with bars for the signal indicator, hut its not accurate. With the MOTO Droid sitting side by side, the DI always have less bars but is you watch the actual dbm, its the same or slightly better. I given on using bars at all. I just check that I have signal. I've done a lot of travelling and I have not lost service yet. some of my travel is in rural Mississippi.
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I had to go with a 4. VZW service is the best I've ever had, but coming from T-Mo, I got spoiled by the voice+data simultaneously. If that somehow became possible on CDMA networks, VZW would be perfect in my eyes.
I live 20 miles out in the suburbs in SC and I get 2 bars and 3G all day long. VZW has the coverage.
I came from AT&T to Verizon last month in NJ. It's one of the states where it's just blanketed in every cell service. Verizon is the best network I have ever seen. AT&T's network was unusable at times. Their data network was complete and utter garbage. I browse faster with Verizon on one bar than I ever did with AT&T with full bars. I'll never, ever go back.
I to am in NJ (NY Metro Area) Signal strength at home is a constant -71dbm, and at work a phenomenal -64dbm, had Sprint(my work),ATT(wifes work),TMobile (Son's current) all were "ok" but data by far is much faster with VZ, and I don't recall any dropped calls.
Super fast 3G outside...Tmobile's was MUCH slower. But seems like T-mobile signal in Atlanta could penetrate any building and the second I walk indoors with Verizon I am jumping around on 1x all the time. Cant get a 3G signal at work and spend 9 hours of my day there. T-mobile full bars of 3G goodness. 1 dropped call so far in 3 weeks so thats really good.
Verizon network is good here in Washington D.C. Metro area and surrounding areas. Ive only seen one dead zone while riding VRE train, its between stafford and quantico. Ive never had dropped calls or bad call quality. Only complaint i have is 3g speeds seem to be a lot slower in the city dunno if its maintenance or just too many people on the towers or w/e. Not even able to stream internet radio sometimes while in the city. speedtest.net app shows between 80kbps and 200kbps while in city. I get up to 4000kbps at my house outside the city in Fredericksburg.
Cycling from 3G to 1X
Data service will not lock into 3g but every few minutes jumps between 1X and 3g with attendant decrease and increase in data rates: 1x - 60 to 90 kbps down, 40 to 80 kbps up, 3g - 240 to 400 kbps down, 180 to 320 kbps up, all are average and sometimes much better on 3G during non peak periods. VZ reports no data problems at location and said to contact HTC.
Not a signal strength or reception problem and does not happen on two other phones sitting side by side with INC. INC: -87 to -89 db, Samsung Omnia II: -86 to -88 db, BB 8330: -87 to -89 db. All other phones have solid 3g signal and data rates all the time.
I really hesitate to exchange this phone because everything else appears to be working fine after doing the EVRC-B change to improve voice quality and I don't want to get another one with some other problem. Guess I'll wait as long as possible in the 30 day trial in hopes that either a fix is put out or a later batch of phones won't have the problem.
Re: Cycling from 3G to 1X
Replying to my own message: I now know why I am seeing this behavior. I got a free app "Real Signal" from the Market which displays the CDMA and EVDO signals in db separately. If this app is accurate my INC has a 10 to 20 db difference between the two with the CDMA -87 to -89 and the EVDO -95 to -118. So it looks like my INC has an antenna problem or a radio front end problem for the 1900 MHz band.
Also it seems that the change from EVRC to EVRC-B has not improved my voice quality as much as I thought as all day yesterday I had several calls that were muffled and dropping syllables. I do wish that HTC would get its act together as this is a great device otherwise.
I had iPhone 3G on AT&T in northern VA now with Incredible on Verizon I see huge upgrade in terms of speed and covarage. Its great!! also incredible is far better phone than iPhone.

Signal Problems: is it Sprint or the EVO?

I switched over from Verizon and I have had my EVO since the 4th of June. I like the phone, however I get very poor reception. At my house inside, I get 1 bar, sometimes it will be no bars or 2 bars. I used to get excellent reception in my house with Verizon (usually full bars). My wife is on T-Mobile and even she gets 3-4 bars (out of 5 bars) and never has dropped calls. I always get dropped calls.
I used to be able to ride in the elevator in my office and talk on the phone. Quality would drop and i would lose bars (down to 1 or 2) but I would almost never actually drop a call (this is on Verizon). Today, in two elevator rides on the phone, they both dropped.
Now my question is.... is this Sprint or is it the phone?
If it's the phone are there certain ROMs I should try that improve the reception?
Thanks!
You should try to do the little hack to get on verizon towers without being classified as roaming. Check it out, if its sprint then you will see once you try it.
wildcard said:
I switched over from Verizon and I have had my EVO since the 4th of June. I like the phone, however I get very poor reception. At my house inside, I get 1 bar, sometimes it will be no bars or 2 bars. I used to get excellent reception in my house with Verizon (usually full bars). My wife is on T-Mobile and even she gets 3-4 bars (out of 5 bars) and never has dropped calls. I always get dropped calls.
I used to be able to ride in the elevator in my office and talk on the phone. Quality would drop and i would lose bars (down to 1 or 2) but I would almost never actually drop a call (this is on Verizon). Today, in two elevator rides on the phone, they both dropped.
Now my question is.... is this Sprint or is it the phone?
If it's the phone are there certain ROMs I should try that improve the reception?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Different radios might work. For the last 4 years I've been an AT&T customer. I understand that CDMA apparently isn't as good at signal building penetration compared to GSM, so that might be a limitation.
However, both Verizon and Sprint utilize CDMA, so I find it odd that someone with Verizon could have a better signal than Sprint, since I'm also told that (assuming your phone has the "roaming towers" option or whatever it's called enabled, and it is by default, at least on my phone) they use the same towers, so why on earth would there be a disparity?
I'm guessing it's the EVO, or something to do with its casing, because some places I get excellent reception indoors, and others, like Sam's Club, is a complete dead zone except for the front third of the store closest to the exit.
That being said, my wifi reception (or at least indicator) totally blows. I hope a firmware update address that and the 30 fps cap, as well as reception (if it's the phone).
Try the *techknowfile's* - Hack the HTC EVO - 3G w/o Sprint EVDO coverage!
It worked for me. From having no bars went to full at home because of Sprint coverage. And the EVO does not have the option of roaming, just the automatic roaming and never worked for me.
About Verizon and Sprint they are both CDMA but they have their own towers. Is not the phone. And at Walmart almost every phone loose signal. I have friends w all carriers and they all get poor signal.
gatorran said:
Try the *techknowfile's* - Hack the HTC EVO - 3G w/o Sprint EVDO coverage!
It worked for me. From having no bars went to full at home because of Sprint coverage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you please explain what exactly you did? I'm having similar no signal problem and my MotoQ worked perfectly fine.
kvictar said:
can you please explain what exactly you did? I'm having similar no signal problem and my MotoQ worked perfectly fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obtain your MSL (aka Master Subsidy Lock / Password. SIX DIGIT NUMBER)
Dial ##775#, a password prompt should appear. Enter your MSL into this box->hit OK->tap on the "Update PRL" button. Make sure "All Folders" and "Type: prl files" are selected. You should see the downloaded PRL (00001.prl) on the list; Select the PRL->Press Menu->Commit.
Search the forum for Hack the HTC EVO - 3G w/o Sprint EVDO coverage! under "EVO 4G Android Development"
the tutorial is on the first post by Techknowfile.
try a different radio, or maybe its just the area u are in? on ATT, my friend has an iphone, and i had the fuze, and he always got signals where i didnt, so it could be the phone...
You can't go by bars on CDMA... You can have ZERO bars and still be able to make crystal clear calls and send and receive data on CDMA whereas on GSM you hit 3 bars and your calls start cutting out.
Anyway, I've noticed that the EVO is really crappy with data speeds - but voice quality it is bar none the highest quality cell phone I have ever used.
Well, if the Evo simply has poor reception the Verizon hack shouldn't make a difference.
I like you have poor service in my home, always have. I got an Airave to solve that problem, it works well so long as I also am connected to Wifi otherwise it tends to hop between 1 bar of 3G and full bars of 1xRTT.
I tried the Verizon PRL hack. The signal was a little stronger, inline with what my roommates on Verizon got, but it wouldn't connect to the Airave at all. Did seem to have a hard time maintaining a 3G connection. I wasn't losing the signal, it just seemed to drop the data connection, but I still had a voice connection. Because of that and the airave issue I switched back.
The funny thing is, the EVO has better signal reception than my TP2... it just has crappy data speeds.
really? i get amazing data speeds on 3g, also i found out today that wifi speeds and signals are being fixed via software update from HTC, just got an e-mail from there. something like 700 down and 700 or so up.
eck0728 said:
really? i get amazing data speeds on 3g, also i found out today that wifi speeds and signals are being fixed via software update from HTC, just got an e-mail from there. something like 700 down and 700 or so up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I get on speed.
wildcard said:
I switched over from Verizon and I have had my EVO since the 4th of June. I like the phone, however I get very poor reception. At my house inside, I get 1 bar, sometimes it will be no bars or 2 bars. I used to get excellent reception in my house with Verizon (usually full bars). My wife is on T-Mobile and even she gets 3-4 bars (out of 5 bars) and never has dropped calls. I always get dropped calls.
I used to be able to ride in the elevator in my office and talk on the phone. Quality would drop and i would lose bars (down to 1 or 2) but I would almost never actually drop a call (this is on Verizon). Today, in two elevator rides on the phone, they both dropped.
Now my question is.... is this Sprint or is it the phone?
If it's the phone are there certain ROMs I should try that improve the reception?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it helps, everybody in NYC knows that Verizon is the best in signal. You can get signal with them where ATT and Sprint can't. ATT has the worst signal in the city of the 3 of them. So it might be the carrier. I don't know if this is true somewhere else.
gatorran said:
This is what I get on speed.
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Click to collapse
Absolutely horrible. I don't know how you live with that
Albaholic said:
Absolutely horrible. I don't know how you live with that
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Click to collapse
It's Horrible!!!! hehe I've been having nightmares because of that. It was really slow on the sprint network, and the airave was getting my phone crazy changing between connections.
wildcard said:
I switched over from Verizon and I have had my EVO since the 4th of June. I like the phone, however I get very poor reception. At my house inside, I get 1 bar, sometimes it will be no bars or 2 bars. I used to get excellent reception in my house with Verizon (usually full bars). My wife is on T-Mobile and even she gets 3-4 bars (out of 5 bars) and never has dropped calls. I always get dropped calls.
I used to be able to ride in the elevator in my office and talk on the phone. Quality would drop and i would lose bars (down to 1 or 2) but I would almost never actually drop a call (this is on Verizon). Today, in two elevator rides on the phone, they both dropped.
Now my question is.... is this Sprint or is it the phone?
If it's the phone are there certain ROMs I should try that improve the reception?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a simular issue, so I called sprint today and the tech found that the tower nearest me (about 1 mile away) was "out" so that was my problem so he generated a ticket to fix the tower. The funny thing is that he indicated that in general thier system can not tell them when a tower is out, customers generally call and indicate a service issue then they can remotely check the towers in question for issues . Man that is not the best way to check towers . Oh well the tower I need should be fixed in about 24 hours based on the tech I talked to.......he also said good thing I called Man they have a nutty system
Verizon's method of checking towers isn't much better if all they have is one guy walking around asking "can you hear me now?"
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Sent via this here phone thingy on the interweb.
i've found it to be the opposite in my city. verizon is terrible and sprint is awesome. maybe in your area, sprint just isn't as good as verizon? don't think it's the evo.
This is easy to check.
Go to a different area and see if the signal gets better.
My own evo is better than my old TP2, much better reception (I don't roam at work, on the basement floor, whereas TP2 used to constantly) and 2-2.2 down / 0.6 up Mbps.
acrh2 said:
This is easy to check.
Go to a different area and see if the signal gets better.
My own evo is better than my old TP2, much better reception (I don't roam at work, on the basement floor, whereas TP2 used to constantly) and 2-2.2 down / 0.6 up Mbps.
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I just switched from a TP2 to the Evo and I found things to be quite the opposite. Constantly 1 - 2 bars less of service with the evo dropping to 'no service' where the TP2 at least had 1 or 2 bars. After many years with HTC products, Fuze, Tilt2 on ATT and the TP2 and EVO with Sprint I have found that its really hit or miss with their products. Some phones of even the same make and model are just better then others. The first Fuze I got had horrible horrible service. Went to the ATT store and they agreed, warranty replacement phone worked beautiful. Now with that said the EVO does seem to have consistently faster data speeds then the TP2 did. Between 600 - 900 with the TP2 and up wards of 1480 on a test I did yesterday with the evo. Still no where near the 2000 - 2500 the ATT network provided but they ticked me off with their two week tower outage in this area... what good is speed if the phone doesn't work?

Anyone getting very poor reception?

I have had my G2 purchased off contract for 3 days now and other than the hinge issue and the 4g internal issue I find that my device just does not want to hold a signal other than E or G. What little time it spends on H is a small percentage of operation time. In the exact same location and time my Vibrant will hold 3 G at two bars and My Nexus One also at 1 or 2 bars the G2 stays on E at 3 or 4 bars or less and when I attempt to dl something it either hangs and goes to G or stays on E and I get the "trouble connecting with server try again and downland unsuccessful. This is the worst reception I have ever had on a phone in this same exact location. I think the G2 is a wonderful phone having the potential to be a super phone. I am hoping that this is just a defect with this unit and I have arranged to have a replacement. Anyone else having this issue?
may be a defect.. I get the same amount of 3G bars that I got on my Blackberry 9700 which is usually around full the areas I frequent.
To the OP I get the same exact problem. Unable to connect to Market even on Edge.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
I spoke with a TMO rep who stated it's a known issue with their network, only effecting 10% of users. I don't believe them.
Data Issue Thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=800322
ddgarcia05 said:
I spoke with a TMO rep who stated it's a known issue with their network, only effecting 10% of users. I don't believe them.
Data Issue Thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=800322
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Click to collapse
I got off of the phone with a Rep from T Mobile and they claimed they had to change my web plan to suit the G2. They claimed different connections.They did give it to me at the same price as before but they also claimed it would completely change what has been happening to the device and my other phones(Vibrant and Nexus One) would see an improvement as well. So far after about 5 hours no change whatsoever except for slightly poorer reception. I am beginning to wonder if this G2 is star crossed and was not ready for prime time. I am starting to doubt anything TMobile says at this point.
i get poor reception unless im completely out in the open. i get no reception at all in house vs my iphone 2g, which got solid reception.
I get little to no reception in my basement, whereas with my BB 8900 the reception was poorer but still workable. At least the data works over Wifi.
getting the same problem with both of the G2`s i purchased data service drops and then comes back but thats been happening for about a month even on my touch pro 2
Happened to me also
My first G2 would randomly go from full bars to absolutely no service at all and I would have to turn it off and on to get service again. Since my vibrant wasn't having and problems like that I went and exchanged it for another G2. I haven't dropped signal but I frequently go from full bars 3g to edge or g and back and my data connection seems to hang every once and a while
I have great reception. Just a good as any other device I have had.
I got a replacement G2 yesterday afternoon and it is worse than the first one. The reception or I should say lack of reception is ludicrous. This is after T Mobile supposedly put me on a different connection type (whatever that is ) they could not explain it but did not increase my bill. The radio reception is much worse. The hinges are much looser than the first one and overall I am not a happy camper with this device. I go from 3 bars of H immediately to G than to 2 bars E and then no signal. It just fluctuates. Connecting to market is about a ten or 20 minute affair if it actually finally does connect. Downloading is sporadic at best. Phone has great potential IMO but it is flawed as released.
I get full bars of (H) a majority of the places I am. I'm out in jersey.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
I'm having the opposite issue as most; my cell connection is solid, but as soon as I hold the phone in landscape mode (or press my palm along the 'top' in portrait mode) I lose wifi connectivity instantly. Wifi Analyzer shows between a 20 and 30 dBa drop with either a G or N AP... apparently enough to go from four bars to zero, when I'm standing ten feet from my AP, and even more if I'm in the next room. I've tried the same thing with my G1, and I get at most a 5 dBa drop no matter which way I hold it.
Anyone else having this issue? TMo said that I was the first to call in with it, and to try returning/exchanging the phone under the 'buyer's remorse' period.
...I'll have to find another store though; the PFY manager at my local couldn't seem to understand why I would want to use wifi when I get solid HSPA+ signal, and insisted on redirecting me to the TMo Support phone number. He also seemed to be under the impression that wifi was slower than HSPA. Which might be true, if I didn't pay for a 28mbit connection at home. Or hadn't already hit the TMo 10GB/mo throttle cap.. which drops the data connection speed to 50kbps maximum. With no alternate 'truly unlimited' plan or way to buy even another 10GB.
I have had nothing but "H" yes i am in Boston, yes, yes.
Going to Maine this weekend, will let you know what it does.
H for Hysterically Hyperspeed
Add me to the list because I'm experiencing the same problems where I will be 3 or 4 bars into H and it'll drop down to to G and then back up to E, just sitting there on the desk. I'm on my 3rd G2 and they've all been like this. I was starting to think it's the network then I remembered my N900 was 100% solid 3-3.5G in my house although it did fluctuate quite a bit in between the two.
Fresno, CA G2 very poor data connections though hspa+
Very bad speeds in Fresno, CA that is HSPA+. Usually less than 1Mb down. Often see less than 500k. At a TMobile store with "a cell tower across the street pointing right at us" my G2 and the stores G2 demo phone only got a 3mb down.
I also see a weird pattern of less than 300k down with above 1.2M up often. There is a YouTube video showed some similar Speedtest.net hi/lo combo results called:
T-mobile G1 vs G2 "the face off"
same issue
i am having the same issue and i am bout 20 miles north of charlotte nc there has to be a problem with the antenna or something but who knows.
Atlant, Signal much better with G2 than with Vibrant. Thats about all I can say about it.
Mines is great if im not @ home. Dl are fast and full 4 bars. But we moved to another house which the signal sucks bad. I normaly get 1bar and edge but hell the g1 did the samething. So I dont see a probelm with the phone just tmobile network
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Du22ty said:
Add me to the list because I'm experiencing the same problems where I will be 3 or 4 bars into H and it'll drop down to to G and then back up to E, just sitting there on the desk. I'm on my 3rd G2 and they've all been like this. I was starting to think it's the network then I remembered my N900 was 100% solid 3-3.5G in my house although it did fluctuate quite a bit in between the two.
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Click to collapse
Same here. About to take this bad boy back

Blown away by how great signal is on this device in low signal areas!.

Just got my N4 last night, I have been driving the same commute for years now and i know every deadspot along the way.
Last night on my way home I was streaming the Anthonycumia show audio feed via Chrome, and I was holding 3-4 bars of LTE
when I got zero service historically. Unreal! not 1 time did the stream cut out when I was constantly having issues with all my older devices,
Droid x
Galaxy nexus,
Note 3
LG G2
Those older devices would all drop signal to 0 up in the sticks, where the Note 4 holds 2-4 bars consistently.
In the house, I would get 1 (2 if lucky) bars of 3g and could barely every hold a phone conversation.
Now, again 2-3 bars LTE and I can even use download booster.
Impressed to say the least. Anyone else noticing amazing signal?
Samsung finally has a great radio!
I'm with you, signal has been great.
I concur...i work in a lot of dead spot areas where the rich live and since they dont need cell coverage because of wifi they dont allow towers around. Note 3 was dead inside the house im working...now its mostly on 4g most of the time except for a few random outages...big improvement overall, at least if i walk out i get excellent coverage now
Sent from my SM-N910V using XDA Free mobile app
you guys are lucky...
The cell coverage at my house has always been atrocious, but I'm actually consistently getting a decent signal at my house with the Note 4. I'm really happy about it.
mlee0921 said:
you guys are lucky...
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Click to collapse
verizon just sucks in general, but there's hope. call and complain about your awful speeds numerous times.
my speeds, when LTE first came out, were like 10-15mbps. then as more people got phones, especially the dumbass iphone, the speeds were horrendous and for 2.5 years, i would get 0.5mbps. yeah, not even 1mbps. 3g was faster.
so once a week, i called to complain to verizon over and over, and basically every time had them put in a service ticket because their tower was obviously unable to handle the amount of phones around here.
months later, all of a sudden my speeds jump...and now i'm getting a constant 25-30mbps every day in the same exact area.
honestly, i'd say complain and have atech goto the tower itself.
jayochs said:
verizon just sucks in general, but there's hope. call and complain about your awful speeds numerous times.
my speeds, when LTE first came out, were like 10-15mbps. then as more people got phones, especially the dumbass iphone, the speeds were horrendous and for 2.5 years, i would get 0.5mbps. yeah, not even 1mbps. 3g was faster.
so once a week, i called to complain to verizon over and over, and basically every time had them put in a service ticket because their tower was obviously unable to handle the amount of phones around here.
months later, all of a sudden my speeds jump...and now i'm getting a constant 25-30mbps every day in the same exact area.
honestly, i'd say complain and have atech goto the tower itself.
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Click to collapse
Not to say your complains didn't work, but what probably happened was that they installed and enabled AWS (XLTE in marketing speak) in your area. Something that Verizon was going to do anyways.
oilfighter said:
Not to say your complains didn't work, but what probably happened was that they installed and enabled AWS (XLTE in marketing speak) in your area. Something that Verizon was going to do anyways.
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Click to collapse
they claimed there's no XLTE over here. the only place in NJ that has it right now is atlantic city, and that's over an hour south of me.
i honestly think the tower was overloaded and maybe they worked on it. i'm in an area that was hit hard by Sandy 2 years ago, and since then, the LTE has sucked. apparently a lot of VZW fiber lines in the area were damaged bad during the storm, which is why we had little to no data service during the storm down here.
the voice quality during calls, sounds crystal clear. much nicer than the note 2!
I agree totally. Reception on this phone is unmatched by any Verizon phone ive had to date and ive had plenty. Its so good im hoping root comes in a hurry so i can freeze the update packages in titanium backup so the phone will not take an update and ruin the experience like KitKrap done to the note 3.
concur...at my desk right now, on my N3, I would barely get a signal. had to set my phone on the very edge of the desk near the window.
with this beautiful beast, I'm getting 4 of 5 bars.
I wasn't very hopeful after reading comments here but the signal strength for data has been WWWWAAAAYYYY better than my old GS3. I'd drop in and out going in and out of buildings and I go into a lot of concrete construction buildings and skyscrapers for work and usually I'd kick back to 3G. So far it hasn't dropped back and is chuggin' along.
Im coming from Motorolas and they have excellent signal strength. I dont see a difference in signal so it is a great improvement from the previous samsung phones ive had (S3 and Note3).
Both my wifes Note 4 and mine have had calls dropped and signal issues in our house. We just switched to Verizon for the first time. We came from US cellular and Straight talk and never had a single reception issue at our house. We live just north of Milwaukee in a town of 30k people. We called Verizon to complain and they started a ticket to have it checked out. The technician emailed me back a few days later and said everything is fine at the tower and in our area. He said there are several factors that can contribute to poor reception like building material of the house, tree/leaves foliage especially in summer months (ah its November and every leaf is on the ground now) and other RF in the area. Again, I never had a dropped call with any of my phones with US cellular in the 8 years I was with them. Needless to say, we were about to cancel our service with them and they offered to give us a free signal booster for our house. Hopefully this will fix our problems at our house, from what I have read, those signal boosters make a world of difference.
Whats weird is the signal strength is usually about -103dbm which is about the same when I checked with some of my old US cellular phones in our house. Because its happening with both my note 4 and my wifes, I don't think its the phone.
Sounds like the note 4 has good radio in it so hopefully my house is just in the cellular Bermuda triangle for Verizon and the booster will solve our issues at home.
This phone really impress me too with its signal power even in low signal areas it has really good signal.
Have to agree. I work at 2 locations and at the second spot there is horrible reception with my old Note 3 and iPhone 6 (when I had it). But when I came in with my Note 4 I was pleasantly surprised to see that my 4G icon was on with data. And my battery life is better because it's not working overtime for a signal.
No complaints here
Sent from my SM-N910V using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
my iPhone 5s (expectedly) got terrible signal at my school, so did my DROID Razr M. Now i'm rocking 2 bars of 4g. No complaints here.
Same here!
Noticed it while driving to work. My hour commute was hell with my note 2 if I didnt have music pre-downloaded to my phone. When I streamed music, I'd lose signal half of the trip (which is normal for any phone before the N4).
Last couple days I've noticed that I can stream music with little to no pause for streaming.
I live in bumfk... phone has a good radio regardless

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