I came over to the GS4 from a Motorola Photon 4G and the cellular signal antenna on the GS4 is nowhere even close to being as good as the Photon's. I am roaming almost all of the time at my house now where before with my Motorola I never had an issue. Is this a known problem with Samsung phones?? Is there anything that can be done about it?
Guess it all depends on perspective. I came from an Evo 3d, the S4 is hands down leaps and bounds better in reception than my 3d.
So from my perspective I have no gripes on the s4's reception.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app
No issues here either. I came from the GS3 though. Maybe NV is in full effect in your area?
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app
This phone has the best antennas on the market actually. Test the dbm levels not your signal bars. Signal bars show voice not data. Most likely your poor reception is the network not the phone although it could be a bad device but I doubt it. You could be getting a NV upgrade in your area which would be good. Update your prl and profile. Check out s4gru.com for network vision and lte info.
Brought to you by Sprint and the letters GS and the number 4
Same network, Sprint, that I was on a few weeks ago with the Photon. Nothing has changed but the device. Its clearly nowhere near as good as the Photon as far as signal reception goes. I love it though. Just wish the antenna was as good.
jbb2388 said:
Same network, Sprint, that I was on a few weeks ago with the Photon. Nothing has changed but the device. Its clearly nowhere near as good as the Photon as far as signal reception goes. I love it though. Just wish the antenna was as good.
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Click to collapse
Where do you live and do you know if Network Vision had been started in your area. If not it could very well have just started in the "few weeks" you claim you swapped from your other phone. In my area specifically Network Vision upgrades began literally overnight and signals dropped to zero for several days. Even more weeks after the upgrades began signal comes and goes as they turn towers on and off testing them.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app
jbb2388 said:
Same network, Sprint, that I was on a few weeks ago with the Photon. Nothing has changed but the device. Its clearly nowhere near as good as the Photon as far as signal reception goes. I love it though. Just wish the antenna was as good.
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Click to collapse
Same here, not even close to the Photon. In fact, sometimes I get the "no connection retry" messages on the s4 at work and home in Omaha and the only time I got that on the Photon was in Backbone State Park, IA! love the phone though!
It will be hard to beat a Motorola phone for signal strength. I had a Photon as well and it always had signal in places other phones didn't. However, with the S3 and S4 I have not had any issues with dropped calls or bad signal. It has been about average.
The Photon is known to get really good cellular reception. That was the case for me, although wifi on that phone is terrible. In my experience, my GS4 gets better voice, data, and wifi reception than any other phone I've had on Sprint. I guess YMMV.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda premium
I had the Photon as well until I upgraded to the S4. I haven't really noticed a difference, other than the S4>MoPho.
My wife and I both switched to the S4 from Photon 4Gs and we have both noticed how much better the RF reception was on the old Photons. The S4 is a great phone but it drops into roaming in areas that were never an issue for us before. I've heard a pot of anecdotal evidence, though, that Moto always makes strong RF phones.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Its the radio in these samsung phone u are right Motorola,iPhone have Better
radios
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda premium
smoke423 said:
Its the radio in these samsung phone u are right Motorola,iPhone have Better
radios
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Don't know about iPhones... My mom and bro both have the i5 and last week when we went to California (LA specifically) for a family trip, I had LTE in areas they didn't and every time they had LTE so did I. Same goes for areas of NYC, they will not have LTE in areas I do. And yes, all of us have Sprint.
My cellular signal is much better than the HTC One I traded for the S4, but my wifi signal is terrible. With my One, I was able to connect to both my 5GHz and 2.4GHz channels upstairs (although 5 had bad signal strength due to range), and 2.4GHz was pretty great.
On the S4, my 5GHz connection is about the same, but it barely registers the 2.4GHz at all. What's up with that?
I also came from the Photon to the G S4, it has huge difference in reception. I knew I would loose some signal when I decided never to buy another Moto again but this hurts! I can sit in my house in Lincoln NE and I'm lucky if I can keep a signal long enough for the phone to ring the other line. Most of the time I get the Sprint Error code.
Go back to the photon. Problem solved.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
Related
Im in the northern chicago area and I'm able to connect to 4g but the connection is slow and unstable...(even with 4 bars). Ive extended the idle time using ##data# but still I have the same issues??? Anybody with a solid connection care to share their ##data# settings? Im thinking the issue might in the settings......
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I'm in Seattle and see similar 4G behavior. Usually 2 bars or so and not great performance (marginally better than 3G). I'd be interested to see if this can be improved by tweaking the settings also.
the 4G antenna in the EVO is half the size of the USB one, I don't even get signal at my house on my EVO, yet I get 1.5MBs on my USB stick. Size matters.
Idk about 4G but i just moved into a new house and i have TERRRIBLE reception no matter where i am. If im not outside, it sucks. Its funny though, as soon as i step out the door, 5-6 bars. Im keeping the phone in hopes that as soon as they get 4G around here (Elmont, NY... Long Island), things will change. =\
sprints 4g is in a horrible part of the spectrum. it's frequency is too high to pass through anything
This thread does not belong here. Take this drivel to the appropriate subforum.
unless you are a running a stock rom with the latest updates, i don't think you can make any of these complaints that you all are unless 4g isn't fully up and running in your city. My girlfriend just got the white evo and we installed the latest updates and she gets a very good 4g signal, i have the black evo running fresh 0.5.3 and i get a pretty good signal myself. Not to mention we live in mpls and 4g isn't even officially here yet. A lot of these problems people are having are user errors, flashing things with no knowledge of what they are doing. I would say go back to stock do to ota update with the new radio and wimax enhancements then tell me what type of 4g coverage you are getting. otherwise you are just trusting the chef that everything is set up right which i would take with a grain of salt because non of them seem to understand exactly how the wimax radio works as of yet. Proof of this is all the problems people are having after trying numerous roms
BB15 said:
I'm in Seattle and see similar 4G behavior. Usually 2 bars or so and not great performance (marginally better than 3G). I'd be interested to see if this can be improved by tweaking the settings also.
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Click to collapse
That's not very encouraging, I am very disappointed by Sprint's 3g speeds. I have yet to see over 1mbs, and over the 4th of July weekended saw .2-.7 mbs. Yes, .2 as in 192kbs. This was in Miami.
vespoli said:
This thread does not belong here. Take this drivel to the appropriate subforum.
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I started this thread with the intentions of looking into the settings of the wimax ##data# menu....not too rant about the service. I believe with the good signal I'm getting and the fact that I do connect shows that there's an issue with either the roms were flashing or the setting mentioned above. Anybody care to post their settings?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Changing the wimax idle sleep time from 10 secs to 300 secs could help. My 4G stays on pretty much constantly now instead of switching back and forth between 4G and 3G. You would need your MSL to edit the settings though.
I have similar issues in the chicago land area as well. Very frustrating. I am using a stock rooted rom, but I am using an older OTA update. When I'm outside I always have a strong 4G signal. However, as soon as I go in doors I either loose the signal or have a very weak one. Before you say anything about updating, my GF's EVO is completely stock with the newest OTA update and her 4G behaves very similarly. I actually pick up a better signal at times. It just sucks because if the signal was just a LITTLE bit stronger I would be really happy.
Thats just due to the spectrum used for wimax is at such a high frequency that it does not penetrate walls very well. I'm not sure how sprint will try to remedy this problem, I'm not sure but I get strong signals at my work office and thats inside a building. At home I can get 4G if I am outside once inside I cant seem to get it at all.
What's "##data#" ? I would search it but haven't quite figured it out yet on the app. Google didn't help either (surprisingly).
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
jrpointer said:
Im in the northern chicago area and I'm able to connect to 4g but the connection is slow and unstable...(even with 4 bars). Ive extended the idle time using ##data# but still I have the same issues??? Anybody with a solid connection care to share their ##data# settings? Im thinking the issue might in the settings......
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jr - I am in Gold Coast and recently noticed the 4G signal was junk. It used ot be great inside my 13th floor apartment. I went to the sprint store and they said one of the towers was being serviced (they called a tech. and he said this while I was there). They said end of this week it would be fixed. I was going to give them another week or so and see what the deal is then.
IMO it kind of defeats the purpose of having 4G then. 90% of the time that I want to surf the internet or use 4G I'm indoors, and I would imagine that goes for pretty much everybody. I know this isn't a problem for everybody so it seems, but I think for a lot of people it is.
interesting you say 4 bars of 4g. when i look at my phone i can get up to 6 vertical bars for 3g's signal strength, but with 4g on, and outside i can get 3 "bars" more like "upper wifi arcs" above the 4g signal. and inside my 4g doesn't even register anything, it just shows 4g with no arcs...
however my technique is to put the phone right next to the window and run my micro usb cable from there to my computer. and i then get great data connection...
still experimenting, (had the phone for less than a week) but i think it might work better to go to menu/settings/wirless&networks/ and uncheck mobile network so the phone doesn't use the 3g for data connection when 4g isn't there...
thus if the 4g signal is low, it doesn't drop it to grab the higher signal 3g...
lastly. i'm heading to the store to try to pick up a 2 buck plastic soap dish with a suction cup for the "high tech holding station" on my window. that and a 10 foot micro usb cable i think that will help even more...
best of luck.
I have figured out where in my neighborhood I can get a 4G signal (and I too keep my phone near the window when I want to use it at home). However since the OTA, I noticed that if my 4G signal drops it won't come back unless I toggle the 4G radio. It will just sit in "scanning" and use 3G.
Anyone else noticing this problem?
I would assume that one of the settings/timers need to be tweaked, but I have no idea what my those values were before the OTA.
oreoOozZz said:
Idk about 4G but i just moved into a new house and i have TERRRIBLE reception no matter where i am. If im not outside, it sucks. Its funny though, as soon as i step out the door, 5-6 bars. Im keeping the phone in hopes that as soon as they get 4G around here (Elmont, NY... Long Island), things will change. =\
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4G has nothing to do with 3G. Clearwire maintains the 4G network and Ericsson maintains the 3G/1X network do if your 3G is bad now, it won't be any different when 4G launches unless Ericsson improves the situation.
If I'd got this device predominantly for 4G...Id've returned it in day one...(IN Chicago also). In fact wouldn't have bought it going in knowing what I knew about the spottiness of tapping into 4G frequency wirelessly.
that makes absolutely no sense.
per your words, 4G has nothing to do with 3G as in Clearwire has nothing to do with Ericsson so what would it matter if Ericsson decided to step its game up if Clearwire is the 4G company?
4G is on a whole different frequency not to mention a whole different tower technology and tower location possibly so there's definetly a good chance that I can maintain a great 4G signal once it arrives in my area compared to the terrible 3G coverage I get.
well see what happens... my luck they will never put 4G by me lol.
Coming from a Motorola RAZR, I had LTE and 4G in a lot more locations than the Note3 is getting. Sometimes I even lose signal completely while it's switching towers. My RAZR never had this issue.
Is the antenna just weaker in the Samsungs?
19psi said:
Coming from a Motorola RAZR, I had LTE and 4G in a lot more locations than the Note3 is getting. Sometimes I even lose signal completely while it's switching towers. My RAZR never had this issue.
Is the antenna just weaker in the Samsungs?
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Click to collapse
Motorola has always had great radios samsung not so good unfortunately
Sent from my SM-N900V using xda app-developers app
That's disappointing to hear. I love this phone but if it can't do basic things that i'm accustomed to, it's frustrating. what good is it if i'm in 1x or 3G when my 2 year old RAZR was 4G in the same locations.
+1 for moto radios. I was spoiled and didn't even know it.
ManOfBusiness said:
+1 for moto radios. I was spoiled and didn't even know it.
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Click to collapse
Had a Razr Maxx about 8 months ago, beginning to miss that part too. Can't use wifi because of the unsolvable multicast packet wakelock/drain. In buildings where I used to get 2 bars 4G with the Note 2 its now either 2 bars 3G or 1 bar 1X if I hold the phone at the bottom (where I think the radios might be). Needless to say I pay attention during the entire class period now.
Does anyone know of a good app to refresh the network. I used to use fresh network on my rezound but it force closes on my note 3.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 3
changt34x said:
Had a Razr Maxx about 8 months ago, beginning to miss that part too. Can't use wifi because of the unsolvable multicast packet wakelock/drain. In buildings where I used to get 2 bars 4G with the Note 2 its now either 2 bars 3G or 1 bar 1X if I hold the phone at the bottom (where I think the radios might be). Needless to say I pay attention during the entire class period now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tellnfo might work a simple turn off radios and then back on could help
Sent from my SM-N900V using xda app-developers app
My reception was so bad I called n complained 3 times to Verizon... Finally they called Samsung n Samsung said I could have a bad antenna so they shipped me a new n3....i still have the same issues
Sent from my SM-N900V using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2
I got a Samsung and I get horrible service at my house. 3 quarters of the time I have no signal but if step one foot outside I get good service 3 quarters of the time so it is a win lose situation
Sent from my SCH-S738C using xda app-developers app
corpat said:
I got a Samsung and I get horrible service at my house. 3 quarters of the time I have no signal but if step one foot outside I get good service 3 quarters of the time so it is a win lose situation
Sent from my SCH-S738C using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Living on the edge of 3G coverage...when I say edge I mean 5 ft behind my house I would drop signal on most phones. 2 bars and no dropped calls or failed to send texts I would get with the old S4. So im getting great reception.
I spend time in a remote part of north Idaho. I get 1 bar of signal, no 4G, and limited 3G (instead of 1G) when I am lucky. I previously have chosen Moto phones because of the weak signal in that area. I bought a Note 3 fully prepared to return the phone in my 14 day window and swap for the Droid Maxx if necessary. I have been pleasantly surprised with the quality of the radio reception. It is on par with my previous Droid Razr. I have no complaints.
I've noticed my N3 gets poor or no 4g reception where my Note 2 got great 4G. I also noticed it would be on 3g when I know there's 4g in the area I'm in (e.g. highway), and I also found that if I disconnected data manually or made a call and disconnected (which also disconnects 3g), sometimes it would find and connect to 4G.
I hope this gets fixed in a radio update
Samzebian said:
I've noticed my N3 gets poor or no 4g reception where my Note 2 got great 4G. I also noticed it would be on 3g when I know there's 4g in the area I'm in (e.g. highway), and I also found that if I disconnected data manually or made a call and disconnected (which also disconnects 3g), sometimes it would find and connect to 4G.
I hope this gets fixed in a radio update
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly my experience!
Sent from my SM-N900V using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Anyone have a flashable zip of the new radio? We now have official release of SS to flash it
We have SS now?! Sweet!
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
19psi said:
We have SS now?! Sweet!
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup look here but still not 100% justttt yet http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2517610
Signal strength horrible
Just bought a note 3 coming from a droid Bionic and original droid before that. The signal in my building is not great but my Bionic rarely had a problem with 4g. The note 3 is dropping to 3g and I have even seen 1x (haven't seen that in years). Data doesn't work half the time at work and that is an issue. Since I haven't had a Samsung before does anyone think this will be fixed? I did the update yesterday and was hoping that was this fix but nope. I was tossed between the note 3 and the droid maxx( for battery life). I still have a week to switch (for a fee of course) but the phone is awesome. However I can't live with bad reception. Does anyone have a comparison with the droid maxx for reception?
Thanks for the help.
lmike6453 said:
Anyone have a flashable zip of the new radio? We now have official release of SS to flash it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Id like to see a flashable zip of the new radios as well...anyone?
Sent from my SM-N900V using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Compared to other phones you have had? Im tired of samsung and their crappy radios that cant hold a good 4g connection. On verizon btw
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2
Cowbell_Guy said:
Compared to other phones you have had? Im tired of samsung and their crappy radios that cant hold a good 4g connection. On verizon btw
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on Verizon. My signal strength is above what my lg g2 was. Pulled 61 down where I never could with g2 in same area.
Sent from my Kick A$$ MOTO X
That's why i don't buy Samsung phones. One guy stated in another thread he was keeping 4g in his basement and never had on previous phones. Sounds good to me.
Sent from my VK810 4G using Tapatalk
We have similiar thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-x-style/help/signal-issues-t3199760
Anyway, good to know there are no real issues about it.
I'm having horrible LTE speeds
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
i currently have the note 4 and i get crappy signals even at my school which is in downtown miami
My signal is better on X Pure than my Galaxy S6. Call quality is much better sounding to me also.
I had a S5 two weeks ago, I sold it and bought the nexus 6 when it went on sale at best buy for $350 a week ago.
My S5 would get lte in my house, 2 signal bars and -112dbm. The nexus 6 had a signal bug where it would go from 2 bars to no signal at all and it raped my battery, it wouldn't get lte in the basement either. The signal bug killed my battery, I always had time without signal between 12-20%
I took the nexus 6 back today and got the moto x pure 16gb at best buy it was the only phone they had in stock so I bought it. Signal is great in the basement, -100dbm, 2-3 signal bars all the time and lte works great.
All the phones were on the Verizon network in northeast ohio
I didn't have any official measurements running but all I know is that tonight at a concert inside Key Arena, I had almost full bars of LTE service on my MPX and my girlfriend had barely one bar of edge on her G4
Bootup said:
I didn't have any official measurements running but all I know is that tonight at a concert inside Key Arena, I had almost full bars of LTE service on my MPX and my girlfriend had barely one bar of edge on her G4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just curious, who's your provider?
MOTO X PURE EDITION!
I just went into settings > more > cellular networks > and hit network operators. It'll search for a while and then populate a list of providers ... I selected mine (T-Mobile) in lieu of "choose automatically" and noticed when I backed out of that screen my "preferred network type" had changed. Instead of simply saying "LTE" it shows a bunch more modes (assuming those specific to T-Mo). Of course it's too early to tell the impact of this, but it seems I have more bars (and a slightly better dBm). We'll see what happens
Just wondering if could be faulty unit or Sprint signal problems but i've been getting dropping signals randomly inside of my house, and also friend telling me that they called me but i never them calls, if more ppl like me?
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
I'm on Sprint JC and I've gotten slightly lower speeds in my living room than my Note 3 ,but still very solid 4G , But my city has strong Sprint LTE..
I've had no interruptions no sputters.
ttkyles said:
I'm on Sprint JC and I've gotten slightly lower speeds in my living room than my Note 3 ,but still very solid 4G , But my city has strong Sprint LTE..
I've had no interruptions no sputters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you think should I request an RMA for my phone? Or maybe is Sprint side
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Just helped my girlfriend's mom with her new phone today (she's not had a smartphone before). I was very pleasantly surprised and happy for her that her phone registered 10-12 dBm better signal than my S6 (S6 and MXP both on Sprint right next to each other on the countertop).
Edit: I don't know that it would make a difference, but maybe just verify as an easy check, see if it is set to LTE. Her phone was initially set to Global, for some reason (it worked either way, but I didn't pay attention to signal before switching it to LTE).
I think Global is for aloud the phone to be selecting either LTE, 3G or 1x based on the signal, so if we switch to LTE only as soon I move to LTE ill be losing data
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
Any of you guys on Verizon any info on signal strength? Does the phone connect up to LTE and hold on to it in the tough spots?
wooddale said:
Any of you guys on Verizon any info on signal strength? Does the phone connect up to LTE and hold on to it in the tough spots?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, from my experience, the phone connects up to LTE and holds onto it in tough spots. It is pretty good at holding on to 3G as well.
Also, the Nexus 6P supports VoLTE on Verizon (as long as you have the "Advanced Calling" feature added to your account.
quitepossibly said:
Yes, from my experience, the phone connects up to LTE and holds onto it in tough spots. It is pretty good at holding on to 3G as well.
Also, the Nexus 6P supports VoLTE on Verizon (as long as you have the "Advanced Calling" feature added to your account.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks got a few more days before mine gets here the antisapation is killing me. I was a little Leary of the radios.
wooddale said:
Thanks got a few more days before mine gets here the antisapation is killing me. I was a little Leary of the radios.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Our house is a pretty bad spot for signal strength, data and call quality in general, GSM signal seems to be better than CDMA according to my informal surveys. We have Verizon (obviously) with contracts ending in December and have been thinking of switching to T-Mobile or Fi for call quality at home among other things (like money ).
Anyway, the 6P is holding onto LTE signal in the house, and I just called my wife from the house and the call quality was excellent. She on her HTC One M7 (soon to be a 6P, most likely) and me on my 6P. I'm very impressed.
TheloniousMunch said:
Our house is a pretty bad spot for signal strength, data and call quality in general, GSM signal seems to be better than CDMA according to my informal surveys. We have Verizon (obviously) with contracts ending in December and have been thinking of switching to T-Mobile or Fi for call quality at home among other things (like money ).
Anyway, the 6P is holding onto LTE signal in the house, and I just called my wife from the house and the call quality was excellent. She on her HTC One M7 (soon to be a 6P, most likely) and me on my 6P. I'm very impressed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks been on Verizon forever I'm north in Wi and TMobile gets voice here but no data.Verizon and USCell are the only 4G here and I have to be on a network extender here in the cabin to get calls. Once I get on the main roads I get an assortment of 1X 3G 4G and no signal. Verizon is the best by far though. I have went through a lot of phones because some just did not work. Although they have been getting better I have been sticking with Moto because of the good radios. I'm on a Nexus 6 now which is good but I couldn't control myself p6 came out had to get it. Got about another week to wait kicking myself in the butt for not ordering sooner its killing me lol. Thanks again
Better than the N6, which I had previously.
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hsj1906 said:
Better than the N6, which I had previously.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
WOO now that's what I'm talking about I also have Nexus 6 second best phone I have had here for signal best was Note 4. Great signal but no development I ended up selling it for $800 couldn't pass that up.
I seem to be hold LTE at my house much better than my G3 or iPhone 6. Usually I drop down to 3G in most parts of my house, but LTE holds everywhere except the basement now.
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