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On the fence between the N1/HD2/Droid/Waiting for this new Dell tablet thing.
The only thing thats really keeping me from pulling the trigger on a N1 is that I keep hearing that the radio sucks for 3g, and now also wifi.
Now I like to assume these people are just n00bs and don't know how to get the best out of their phones like us xda geeks do.
So how true are they? Any regrets here on the boards?
P.S I'm in London,UK.
ive yet to have a problem, and i think its more of a US based problem than a UK one and I am in the US... get the N1 and dont look back, its a solid phone... the droid is a step down in my opinion
just got mine
I was thinking the same thing you where, I just went for it and order one. I have no issues with the 3G. The N1 is fantastic, and it is very fast. I think the early issues people have complained about must have been from an earlier batch of phone in the beginning stages on the release.
PS: in NYC
Had no problems with 3G or wifi
I honestly think the 3G issues is exacerbated here in the U.S. on T-mobile's network where they don't have "deep" coverage. In larger cities, such as Chicago (where I've tested my theory), no amount of covering the lower back portion of the phone caused me to drop off 3G. I went from 4 bars to 3, and that's about it. Here in Toledo, Ohio, T-mobile hasn't saturated the area with 3G, and covering the phone while indoors drops me to Edge. Outdoors I'm still fine.
0 WiFi problems here. On ATT, so I can't comment on 3G, but reception has been strong for voice.
Had no problems with 3G or wifi for almost 2 months with this speedster!
galaxys said:
Had no problems with 3G or wifi for almost 2 months with this speedster!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Las Vegas = 3G saturation
Damn you big city dwellers...
uansari1 said:
Las Vegas = 3G saturation
Damn you big city dwellers...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a lucky roll af the dice
uansari1 said:
I honestly think the 3G issues is exacerbated here in the U.S. on T-mobile's network where they don't have "deep" coverage. In larger cities, such as Chicago (where I've tested my theory), no amount of covering the lower back portion of the phone caused me to drop off 3G. I went from 4 bars to 3, and that's about it. Here in Toledo, Ohio, T-mobile hasn't saturated the area with 3G, and covering the phone while indoors drops me to Edge. Outdoors I'm still fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha, toledo... i grew up in sylvania and all i can say is i am glad i am out of that **** hole of a city... and yes the 3g there is weaksauce... but that is a "verizon town"... i literally think 80% of the pop has verizon in toledo
silverkiller said:
Now I like to assume these people are just n00bs and don't know how to get the best out of their phones like us xda geeks do.
So how true are they? Any regrets here on the boards?
P.S I'm in London,UK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may be a junior member on this forum, but my 3G issues are legit. It's a design flaw, but as long as I'm in an area with strong 3G it never drops. At my house, my G1 will have stable 3G, but I can play the hand trick with the N1. Not a big deal, Wifi solves that. It only annoys me when it flip flops between 3G and EDGE, which you can fix. Really comes down to how good your coverage is.
Issues or not, no regrets here, I love my phone.
JHaste said:
haha, toledo... i grew up in sylvania and all i can say is i am glad i am out of that **** hole of a city... and yes the 3g there is weaksauce... but that is a "verizon town"... i literally think 80% of the pop has verizon in toledo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right about everything, lol... Verizon does have great coverage here. I'm only here for law school... originally from Cincinnati. I'm done in December and moving to Maryland/D.C.
HighTech216 said:
I may be a junior member on this forum, but my 3G issues are legit. It's a design flaw, but as long as I'm in an area with strong 3G it never drops. At my house, my G1 will have stable 3G, but I can play the hand trick with the N1. Not a big deal, Wifi solves that. It only annoys me when it flip flops between 3G and EDGE, which you can fix. Really comes down to how good your coverage is.
Issues or not, no regrets here, I love my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where in Ohio are you man? I completely believe you. But I put the blame on T-mo. I don't think they has really great coverage anywhere in the state, but I can only comment on Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo. When I visited my sis in Chicago a few weeks ago, I couldn't get the phone to drop below 3 bars of 3G. As I've said repeatedly in other threads, I think it's T-mo's greater level of 3G saturation in those cities. More towers, more overlap among those towers, etc. That's the logical conclusion. Sure HTC's antenna placement doesn't help, but with adequate data coverage, it would be a non-issue.
The 3G issue seems to be case-by-case. Sometimes I can't block signal no matter what I do, other times it's an obvious drop to edge when i hold my phone with my hand.
I've found in such situations, having the new cyanogen ROM with the 180˚ rotation helps a lot. Hold the phone upside down and I suddenly have full HSDPA
I don't have 3G where I live, but when I was down in San Luis Obispo where there's HSDPA, and when I went to a friend's house on the outskirts of 3G coverage, I had no problem dropping back to EDGE, then when I'd go outside or closer to downtown I'd get my 3G signal back.
I'm on CM5 as well in a small town in the Midwestern US. I don't really get 3G problems, but I DO see the phone switch back and forth between H and 3G while it manages the data connection. Sometimes this seems to make the data stall, but a reload of whatever I'm doing fixes it.
Good
I am on O2 & in London the 3G is very good, I downloaded an album from the Amazon MP3 store this morning & it was very quick. Coverage will depend on carrier, but the N1 seems to have a better connection than any of my previous WinMo devices, almost all HTC based.
At home I have an imperfect 3G signal, I get it about 75% of the time depending on where I am in the house. I don't think its an N1 issue, just poor coverage.
If I need speed at home and the 3G drop the Wifi is great, never had an issue with that.
I'm about 7 weeks into the N1 & I can't fault it.
I've never had a problem, here on the East Coast of the US.
i live in Houston, TX i would switch from edge, to 3g constantly...
thankfully my college i got accepted to sends every freshmen a new iphone3Gs and are required to use. so now i must be a AT&T fanboy lol
The things mentioned were all rumors, they keep trying to find a flaw to this device, even though it's so new, with such huge improvements, in my experience its a flawless device.
I'm from new jersey, Edge, 3G, HSDPA, and Wifi all tested working flawlessly. From all the made up myths (screen, connectivity, you name it) the 1 thing that I disliked from this phone was the screens' ability to attract more fingerprints than a CSI show, and I fixed this issue by getting invisible shield (rubbery screen protector).
Rooted the N1, installed my trackball colors, got cyanogen 5+ with Kspec theme = 100% amazing phone, apps such as Gmote, google earth among so many more, make this thing so much more than a phone, I never drop from HSDPA to 3G or Edge unless I go to New York, I seem to be on 3G speeds at times, but in NJ HSDPA all day long. If you have any questions about the device, email me at [email protected] I'll link you to my youtube vids for information or questions. Take it from me and others that actually own the device, that its a well rounded cellphone and it's not even 3 months old. I've had a g1, mytouch, cliq, iphone 3gs, nothing comes close to this phone, btw check out tmobiles (even more plus) new plans, I pay 65 after taxes for all my needs, unlimited text, web, mobile to mobile, weeknights and weekends. They may charge you $30 to go to the cheaper plans. Take care.
- Gslick
silverkiller said:
On the fence between the N1/HD2/Droid/Waiting for this new Dell tablet thing.
The only thing thats really keeping me from pulling the trigger on a N1 is that I keep hearing that the radio sucks for 3g, and now also wifi.
Now I like to assume these people are just n00bs and don't know how to get the best out of their phones like us xda geeks do.
So how true are they? Any regrets here on the boards?
P.S I'm in London,UK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HSDPA sucks in the UK:
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On a more serious note, I don't seem to suffer crap wifi or mobile data (Vodafone contract), but you do read a lot about people with issues.
Do I regret it? Nope.
Whats your fastest 4g speed ?
I clocked mine in today at 637 on 4g and 1991 on 3g.... its disappointing....
please post yours
Around three our four mbs
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
I see you're in Vegas. WiMAX is inconsistent here. It's fast where & when aren't many using the network and you have a good signal, which in our suburbs isn't easy to come by.
Try the 4G out on Blue Diamond near Dean Martin, where it's mostly flatland and probably 500 houses+the shopping center. The WiMAX tower is in the parking lot.
If you had a T-Mobile 3G phone, it's going to be more consistent speed-wise with less fluctuation. Vegas is almost completely HSPA+
4g isnt working properly right now. Everyone around the US, even in 4g areas, are all reporting terrible 4g network speeds.
Try to call Sprint and ask what the problem is, if it really bothers you, make a big deal out of it and sprint will probably offer something to make you a little happier (maybe).
Jus10o said:
4g isnt working properly right now. Everyone around the US, even in 4g areas, are all reporting terrible 4g network speeds.
Try to call Sprint and ask what the problem is, if it really bothers you, make a big deal out of it and sprint will probably offer something to make you a little happier (maybe).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's either congestion or it really just is that slow, here it really is just that slow. The EVO might have slowed things down more, but the 4G network not working properly sounds like an excuse for the influx of data with the network not being able to handle it and not a real reason. There are probably tower outages and stuff occurring but nothing like that can affect the network nationwide. If it was nationwide no one would be able to use 4G.
heygrl said:
It's either congestion or it really just is that slow, here it really is just that slow. The EVO might have slowed things down more, but the 4G network not working properly sounds like an excuse for the influx of data with the network not being able to handle it and not a real reason. There are probably tower outages and stuff occurring but nothing like that can affect the network nationwide. If it was nationwide no one would be able to use 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasnt using that as an excuse why its not working. But there is something definitely going on. Could be from so many people trying to use it. But you would think sprint anticipated that.
I guess its just that slow. I thought 4g would be on the same page as clearwire since I was thinking that its also on the same network as Sprint. CLEARWIRE in my area is clocking in at 2700 to 3200 and correct me if I am wrong but isn't CLEARWIRE owned by Sprint and running on 4g WIMAX as well ?
-------------------------------------
sent via tapatalk on my EVO 4G
boomer30 said:
I guess its just that slow. I thought 4g would be on the same page as clearwire since I was thinking that its also on the same network as Sprint. CLEARWIRE in my area is clocking in at 2700 to 3200 and correct me if I am wrong but isn't CLEARWIRE owned by Sprint and running on 4g WIMAX as well ?
-------------------------------------
sent via tapatalk on my EVO 4G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's probably either a: poor signal quality with the Evo or b:Sprint is prioritizing the HTC Evo and giving it lower speed. If you're getting faster speed with your Clearwire stick that's really the only two things it could be. How many bars are you getting with your HTC Evo vs your Clearwire stick?
I'm getting full scale on my CLEARWIRE while I am getting 1 bar on 4g.
-------------------------------------
sent via tapatalk on my EVO 4G
boomer30 said:
I'm getting full scale on my CLEARWIRE while I am getting 1 bar on 4g.
-------------------------------------
sent via tapatalk on my EVO 4G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure I don't have to tell you that with WiMAX, if your signal is poor your speeds will slow too and that's likely to be the cause of your slow speed with the HTC Evo. So it's the phones reception and not the network in this case.
This is really disturbing. I did some extensive testing today in 3 areas roughly 20-30 miles apart. Two of the areas had 4G coverage and 1 did not.
For the carrier, I have both Sprint (recent) and TMobile (2 years). For the hardware I used the new Sprint Evo 4G and for Tmobile I used a 1 month old HTC HD2...so both top of the line phones.
The Tmobile phone (HD2) had consistent data rates no matter where I was or how many signal bars I had. I had flashed a stock rom back into the phone so both units are running stock. The stock rom only showed 3G as the data connection and not the "H" that 3rd party roms sometimes show for HSDPA. The HD2 consistently downloaded at anywhere between 1.3 and 1.8kbps. The uploads were also consistenly above 1.2kbps and never dropped below that point, although a few tests were slightly faster.
The Evo 4G was tested both with and without 4G being present. When 4G was present, the signal varied wildly between no actual bars showing (but the 4G icon present) to full bars (3). The speed when 4G was available was all over the place...from 450-1.8kbps. I believe that sprint has capped the uploads at 1.0kbps, but the 4G uploads never even made it close. The fastest upload speeds I showed with 3 full bars of 4G were only 700kbps, with most in the 400-600kbps range. When I switched off 4G (in a 4G area) or simply drove to an area with no 4G, my uploads remained at roughly the same speed, but my downloads plummeted to 400-600kbps.
I also verified that there was no ability to talk and use data at the same time if not in a 4G area and have 4G enabled. The most disturbing thing I found was that if I was on a phone call (in a 4G area) without the 4G enabled...then turned it on (while still on phone call), most times it could not find the 4G signal.
Please keep in mind that I also use Clear WiMax for home internet and some of these tests were run only a few feet away from my home receiver. I have 5 bars on my home receiver. There is a 4G wimax tower less than a mile to the south of me and another just over a mile to the east of me, so I am wedged between 2 fairly close towers and should have had excellent reception in that area. The Evo would switch between no bars and 3 bars simply by walking around my room or standing in one spot and rotating my body towards and away from the window. I performed the tests near a window and outside. When inside, I was standing near a window on a 2nd story, so I was above most other homes and obstacles. Should be a best case scenario for the phone...to say the least, I was NOT impressed. Hopefully this is simply a network or firmware issue and can be resolved before my 30 days elapse or this phone is going back. otherwise I can't fault it...love the hardware...hate the 4G hype if it can't be fixed.
IMHO, it's a handheld.. the antenna is not nearly as big as the one in your Home modem. So a new radio might help but it will never be close to what you get with your Moto Home Modem.... is your area one of the cities mentioned going HSPA+ for T-Mobile?
heygrl said:
IMHO, it's a handheld.. the antenna is not nearly as big as the one in your Home modem. So a new radio might help but it will never be close to what you get with your Moto Home Modem.... is your area one of the cities mentioned going HSPA+ for T-Mobile?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea if I'm in one of the areas for the HSPA+. I live in Dallas, TX. We have 4G coverage from Dallas to Mesquite to Garland, so a fairly large area. As for Tmobile, I also have a G1, Touchpro 2 and the HD2. All of those phones have a faster transfer rate (3G) than my Evo (in 4G mode). As for the home modem, I am aware that the unit has a much larger antenna and don't expect the phone to perform in the same class. I referenced that for comparison to anyone else having the same home internet service. Clear tells customers that they should get mostly full speeds with 3 bars present, so I was letting readers know that I am in a 5 bar area, so there was a very solid signal for my testing.
Antagonistt said:
I have no idea if it's one of the areas. I live in Dallas, TX. We have 4G coverage from Dallas to Mesquite to Garland, so a fairly large area. As for Tmobile, I also have a G1, Touchpro 2 and the HD2. All of those phones have a faster transfer rate (3G) than my Evo. As for the home modem, I am aware that the unit has a much larger antenna. I referenced that for comparison to anyone else having the same home internet service. Clear tells customers that they should get mostly full speeds with 3 bars present, so I was letting readers know that I am in a 5 bar area so should have a very solid signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right I understand, I experienced the same with the HTC Evo. Signal strength just isn't very strong with the phone right now, and 4G is extremely reliant on signal quality.
Lets hope that this is something that will be fixed since 4g is in its infant stages. It was just a disappointment when I clocked my Evo against my wifes Nexus 1, i was certain that I would blow her download speeds away and instead I was the one that was blown away. The wife laughed at me.
boomer30 said:
Lets hope that this is something that will be fixed since 4g is in its infant stages. It was just a disappointment when I clocked my Evo against my wifes Nexus 1, i was certain that I would blow her download speeds away and instead I was the one that was blown away. The wife laughed at me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's really not even the network from what it sounds, it sounds like it's the phone. I too get faster speeds with other 4G devices. 4G has been here for nearly a year.
Your wife has the N1 on T-Mobile? T-Mobile HSPA+ is active in most of Vegas, but the upgrade isn't complete yet. Either way the network is really fast here now. It used to be really slow.
its fine here in south jersey near philly. getting 3-4Mbps on 4g. not as good at my house... as soon as i get 1 minute from my house it drops back to 3g and only 400-650kbps. 3g a minute or so away from my house was getting 1-1.5Mbps. no complaints cause at my house i just turn on wifi
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I don't see any issues
Antagonistt said:
This is really disturbing. I did some extensive testing today in 3 areas roughly 20-30 miles apart. Two of the areas had 4G coverage and 1 did not.
For the carrier, I have both Sprint (recent) and TMobile (2 years). For the hardware I used the new Sprint Evo 4G and for Tmobile I used a 1 month old HTC HD2...so both top of the line phones.
The Tmobile phone (HD2) had consistent data rates no matter where I was or how many signal bars I had. I had flashed a stock rom back into the phone so both units are running stock. The stock rom only showed 3G as the data connection and not the "H" that 3rd party roms sometimes show for HSDPA. The HD2 consistently downloaded at anywhere between 1.3 and 1.8kbps. The uploads were also consistenly above 1.2kbps and never dropped below that point, although a few tests were slightly faster.
The Evo 4G was tested both with and without 4G being present. When 4G was present, the signal varied wildly between no actual bars showing (but the 4G icon present) to full bars (3). The speed when 4G was available was all over the place...from 450-1.8kbps. I believe that sprint has capped the uploads at 1.0kbps, but the 4G uploads never even made it close. The fastest upload speeds I showed with 3 full bars of 4G were only 700kbps, with most in the 400-600kbps range. When I switched off 4G (in a 4G area) or simply drove to an area with no 4G, my uploads remained at roughly the same speed, but my downloads plummeted to 400-600kbps.
I also verified that there was no ability to talk and use data at the same time if not in a 4G area and have 4G enabled. The most disturbing thing I found was that if I was on a phone call (in a 4G area) without the 4G enabled...then turned it on (while still on phone call), most times it could not find the 4G signal.
Please keep in mind that I also use Clear WiMax for home internet and some of these tests were run only a few feet away from my home receiver. I have 5 bars on my home receiver. There is a 4G wimax tower less than a mile to the south of me and another just over a mile to the east of me, so I am wedged between 2 fairly close towers and should have had excellent reception in that area. The Evo would switch between no bars and 3 bars simply by walking around my room or standing in one spot and rotating my body towards and away from the window. I performed the tests near a window and outside. When inside, I was standing near a window on a 2nd story, so I was above most other homes and obstacles. Should be a best case scenario for the phone...to say the least, I was NOT impressed. Hopefully this is simply a network or firmware issue and can be resolved before my 30 days elapse or this phone is going back. otherwise I can't fault it...love the hardware...hate the 4G hype if it can't be fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1 kbp/s? My phone line is 56 times faster
My note 3 has noticeably worse reception than my note 2 and thunderbolt did in the same location. The problem seems even worse when wifi is on. In my home I almost never have a signal unless I'm near a window. I noticed that when I turn wifi off I sometimes quickly get a signal back (usually just 1/2 bars of 1X) and my phone seems to have a much easier time maintaining that signal than when wifi is on.
Does this have something to do with the software/radio in the stock ROM? Perhaps for power saving purposes? Has anyone experienced a better signal after rooting and flashing a custom ROM? Not sure what to do as the phone is flawless otherwise but this problem has been incredibly frustrating. Thanks
It's definitely what Verizon did to the phone or their towers. we all have the same problem. ..and truth be told I called Verizon about this and no sufficient answer was given..next day I went to att go...I've been good and even saving $60 more...
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
ROMS have nothing to do with reception. Zero.
Radio firmware, maybe (but even the evidence for that is rather slim. Usually the only things radio firmware updates ever change are things that only the carrier can detect - obscure low level stuff.).
Reading between the lines, it sounds like your signal is weak to begin with (and somewhat worse for the N3 compared to other devices). Since you mention WiFi, I presume you have a separate (wired) ISP, so you would probably be a good candidate for a micro/femto cell range extender. (It gives you localized 3G service for voice & SMS service but actually passes both as VoIP to your carrier across your Internet connection.) You can add a bunch of devices to it if you have a family plan.
There is really only two ways that WiFi would cause interference with the cell radio: either the phone hardware is defective or your router hardware is defective (interference spurs outside it's normal frequency bands).
In contrast to the prior respondent, I don't make the claim that my experience must be identical to everyone else's ... but FYI I'm sitting 20' from my WiFi router, and I have 4 bars WiFi & 4 bars LTE service.
good luck
jr_718 said:
It's definitely what Verizon did to the phone or their towers. we all have the same problem. ..and truth be told I called Verizon about this and no sufficient answer was given..next day I went to att go...I've been good and even saving $60 more...
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response. Sadly Verizon is excellent in comparison to all other carriers in my area, especially in terms of 4g coverage by a large margin. I just happen to live in somewhat of a valley where service is poor. I can literally walk up the street 10 minutes and have 4 bars of 4g. Even outside of my house I usually have 2 bars of 3g. With my note 2 and thunderbolt I always had at least 1/2 bars of 1x or 3g indoors and rarely lost service. With my note 3 in the same indoor areas I almost never have service and typically have to go next to a window to get a signal.
bftb0 said:
ROMS have nothing to do with reception. Zero.
Radio firmware, maybe (but even the evidence for that is rather slim. Usually the only things radio firmware updates ever change are things that only the carrier can detect - obscure low level stuff.).
Reading between the lines, it sounds like your signal is weak to begin with (and somewhat worse for the N3 compared to other devices). Since you mention WiFi, I presume you have a separate (wired) ISP, so you would probably be a good candidate for a micro/femto cell range extender. (It gives you localized 3G service for voice & SMS service but actually passes both as VoIP to your carrier across your Internet connection.) You can add a bunch of devices to it if you have a family plan.
There is really only two ways that WiFi would cause interference with the cell radio: either the phone hardware is defective or your router hardware is defective (interference spurs outside it's normal frequency bands).
In contrast to the prior respondent, I don't make the claim that my experience must be identical to everyone else's ... but FYI I'm sitting 20' from my WiFi router, and I have 4 bars WiFi & 4 bars LTE service.
good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My signal is indeed weak in general. However, it is significantly worse than my previous note 2 and thunderbolt in the same areas. It seems to have a ton of trouble holding on to a signal, especially when I'm on wifi or not on a call. When I do have service I can usually make a decent quality phone call. The strange part is once I'm on the phone the call is rarely dropped. It's as if the phone is dedicating more power to the radio in these instances, similar with when wifi is on. As soon as I hang up my I seem to completely lose service again. If I attempt to make another call I get "mobile network not available" until I get a bar back. But once I'm on a call again it seems to lock on MUCH more effectively, and I can remain on the phone for over an hour without issues, leading me to believe software could be playing a large part in the inconsistencies.
bladerealm124 said:
Thanks for the response. Sadly Verizon is excellent in comparison to all other carriers in my area, especially in terms of 4g coverage by a large margin. I just happen to live in somewhat of a valley where service is poor. I can literally walk up the street 10 minutes and have 4 bars of 4g. Even outside of my house I usually have 2 bars of 3g. With my note 2 and thunderbolt I always had at least 1/2 bars of 1x or 3g indoors and rarely lost service. With my note 3 in the same indoor areas I almost never have service and typically have to go next to a window to get a signal.
My signal is indeed weak in general. However, it is significantly worse than my previous note 2 and thunderbolt in the same areas. It seems to have a ton of trouble holding on to a signal, especially when I'm on wifi or not on a call. When I do have service I can usually make a decent quality phone call. The strange part is once I'm on the phone the call is rarely dropped. It's as if the phone is dedicating more power to the radio in these instances, similar with when wifi is on. As soon as I hang up my I seem to completely lose service again. If I attempt to make another call I get "mobile network not available" until I get a bar back. But once I'm on a call again it seems to lock on MUCH more effectively, and I can remain on the phone for over an hour without issues, leading me to believe software could be playing a large part in the inconsistencies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its either a dud device, or placebo. I've had all the Verizon phones (I switch every 2 months) including Note 2 and Thunderbolt, and my Note 3 destroys them with signal reception. In the same location as the other two, got 1 bar with TBolt, 2 bars Note 2, and 3 bars Note 3. Gets progressively better with newer phones for the most part (or they have been upgrading towers near my location, but not likely as my wife has had same signal the whole time). It does make me wonder about placebo when you say you only get decent reception near a window (unless you live in a steel/concrete house). Is it better when you stand on your car and hold your phone up in the air too?
TechSavvy2 said:
Its either a dud device, or placebo. I've had all the Verizon phones (I switch every 2 months) including Note 2 and Thunderbolt, and my Note 3 destroys them with signal reception. In the same location as the other two, got 1 bar with TBolt, 2 bars Note 2, and 3 bars Note 3. Gets progressively better with newer phones for the most part (or they have been upgrading towers near my location, but not likely as my wife has had same signal the whole time). It does make me wonder about placebo when you say you only get decent reception near a window (unless you live in a steel/concrete house). Is it better when you stand on your car and hold your phone up in the air too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol definitely not placebo. In fact, it's typically the only way I can make phonecalls. It doesn't take concrete to cause signal loss. Just as an example I'm currently about 7 feet away from one window and 12 feet from another. I have NO signal (no bars, warning symbol). Just took a screenshot, now I'll walk to the window and set my phone on the windowsill. Just took a second screenshot. See below:
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Windowsill:
Just lost my signal again after moving back away from the window. As I stated earlier it seems to be a software problem since once I'm locked into a phone call I can have service for over an hour but as soon as I end the call I will lose it again. Also, you are one of the first people I have read to have better service with this phone than other devices(especially the note 2). Like myself, I have heard tons of complaints about the service with this device. But as you can see in my case it is a bit strange. I'm hoping someone has some information as to why this could be. Obviously not a placebo when I currently can't make a phonecall (denied due to no service). However, once I get a random bar and get the call connected I can stay on the phone for long periods of time without any dropped calls. Only to lose service again the second I'm off the phone.
I've had the same issues with the n3. My thunderbolt use to keep 2-3 bars of 4G around the house and at work. With the N3 I am lucky to stay at 1-2 and most of the time it is downshifting to 3g. On 3g the speed is good but when it jumps back up to 4G with 1 bar the phone becomes useless.
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
You can read 10 or even 100 people on the internet that have the problem..... That still means you're seeing 9,999,900 people NOT reporting a problem. What you google search, you WILL find. I can search for people who have BETTER signal, and WILL find many many people in the same circumstance as I. There is something wrong with your phone. Re-flash odin image. If that does not fix, then exchange it as a defective device. WIFI or phone call status should NOT affect your signal.
TechSavvy2 said:
Its either a dud device, or placebo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I must have a dud Note 3 also then because I have worse reception on my Note 3 than my Note 2 that's sitting right next to me. And sometimes the signal strength on my Note 3 starts going down over time to where I have to turn airplane mode on and then back off to get good bars and signal back.
Is because you squeeze it too hard when you are holding it.
Sent from my Galaxy Note III; Previous owner/hacker of Galaxy S III, Galaxy Nexus, Droid X, HTC HD2, HTC Touch Pro 2, HTC Tilt, HTC 8525, O2 XDA II, O2 XDA.
I really don't think you have a dud. I actually believe its the latest MJE update. My reception was noticeably better before that update and I believe that update had updates to the radio as well. Since then it has gone down. I've been keeping my fingers crossed hoping the upcoming kitkat update will resolve this but alas verizon is taking it's time with the update.
Both me and my friend have the note 3 and we both have noticed the same thing. We both drive trucks and the same area where we had service with a rezound and DROID we don't have service with the n3. I read somewhere the note 3 uses an "envelope" or something like that for power management for cell reception. Instead of stepping up or down power for the antenna is supposed to keep power as low as possible to conserve battery life. I've also heard someone else say that the previous radios were also better. Would love to find a solution, on a bad day I can drop 30-40 calls where it was only 5 or so with the rezound.
Sent from my SM-N900V using XDA Premium HD app
My Note 3's reception is equally as bad. It's terrible compared to my old Droid Razr Maxx and that's ridiculous. I'm really considering going to some other phone as this one has multiple problems including volume that goes up and down playing music, mute that doesn't stay muted, that stupid 'processing' nonsense with the camera when using stability, nanny nonsense with 'loud music can damage ears, turning down' and auto dimming the screen when no available setting can stop it, only a app can and worse yet, three times so far the friggin clock can't keep time and freezes!! Not happy with this phone at all!
I wont have time to try anything for a while but I was looking at some things on the phone and wondering if anyone knows what these values are or if anyone has tried to change them. Tired to do some research but I don't have much time during the week to do anything phone related.
android.telephony.apn-restore
persist.radio.add_power_save
persist.radio.jbims
Really hoping something can be figured out, me and a fellow truck driver talked yesterday and today and I had to have dropped the call 40+ times each day.
Just an update on my end. I called verizon several times regarding the reception issues I've been having. They sent me a new SIM which was no help. They sent a tech out who concluded the angle of the tower to my house causes a dead spot. Long story short I got them to send me a range extender at no cost. Works good in my home office but my Note 3 still has sub par reception everywhere else compared to my droid maxx and wife's S4. I still believe this latest update caused the radio to perform so poor.
Interesting information from everyone. Thanks for the input. The power management for cell reception sounds like the biggest potential culprit as my signal changes significantly when switching wifi off(usually gaining a signal or a stronger signal instantly). It is also strange that I will typically not have service 90% of the time and cannot make a call from my house. But if I acquire service for a few seconds(long enough to make the call) I can easily stay on the phone for over an hour in the same location where I do not have service. It's as if it "locks on" as a result of boosting my signal(reception power). I plan on rooting soon if this problem is not solved to see if any custom ROM's help with the issue, especially if the Kitkat update does not fix it.
The problem is the locked bootloader. Without a custom kernel none of the drivers or anything like that can be changed to improve anything major. Also I did try and disabled the radio power save and noticed an improvement (not much but it's a start) I think I'll try and flash the previous radios and see if that helps. Won't be able to test it until Monday. I get good service at my house but not much once I get away from a larger city
Sent from my SM-N900V using XDA Premium HD app
czach5932 said:
The problem is the locked bootloader. Without a custom kernel none of the drivers or anything like that can be changed to improve anything major. Also I did try and disabled the radio power save and noticed an improvement (not much but it's a start) I think I'll try and flash the previous radios and see if that helps. Won't be able to test it until Monday. I get good service at my house but not much once I get away from a larger city
Sent from my SM-N900V using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, forgot about that. I'm looking forward to your results. How did you disable the radio power save? Are you rooted?
I use rom toolbox pro but any build prop editor works. It's about 2/3 the way down. And I didn't have a chance to do any exact comparisons but even my friend said it seemed like I dropped calls less often
Sent from my SM-N900V using XDA Premium HD app
Worst phone ever
Horrible Reception
Locked bootloader
Last Samsung device
Htc One M8 here I come
Htcs RF is top notch
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
Put simply, the Note 4 has the worst signal strength of any phone ive ever had. I use 3 UK. Signal is weak inside house especially downstairs. Recently i have had the blackberry passport which was amazing signal wise. I currently have an iphone 6 plus too. The 6 Plus can make calls downstairs just about. The Note 4 has no reception.
In fact i have noticed the signal is weaker wherever i am...
Anybody else notice this. .
I really like the Note 4 but the weak radio is going to give me a problem. Maybe samsung can improve the radio with a firmware?
gavinfabl said:
Put simply, the Note 4 has the worst signal strength of any phone ive ever had. I use 3 UK. Signal is weak inside house especially downstairs. Recently i have had the blackberry passport which was amazing signal wise. I currently have an iphone 6 plus too. The 6 Plus can make calls downstairs just about. The Note 4 has no reception.
In fact i have noticed the signal is weaker wherever i am...
Anybody else notice this. .
I really like the Note 4 but the weak radio is going to give me a problem. Maybe samsung can improve the radio with a firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note 4 N910C, Mexico.
I'm having the same issues, WiFi signal is excellent, no problems whatsoever, but the cellular signal is really low.
Take a look at the screenshot, I'm in the city downtown, where usually I have really good signal using another phone (Xperia Z1)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8wLXzMtrTkRS3ZzRU5uUlBZOHc/view?usp=sharing
I agree n910u australia very poor signal
same here
It depends on the phone signal gaining hardware.i too have a sony which has excellent signal strength always.
Sent from my D2005
This is not good. Maybe we should not have asked Samsung to build a phone using metal! I also have the Gear S which is great. But I need the Note 4 to use the Gear S. I also need a phone to make phone calls so this seems like a design issue. Sad.
Here, in downtown Amsterdam I have bad 4G/LTE signal inside my apartment too, but it's even worse with my Galaxy S5. On the other hand 3G is full bars. In the elevator of my apartment building the S5 loses his signal completely (no network) while the Note 4 survives with a very weak signal. But overall both the Note 4 and Galaxy S5 suck at cell reception. You will have to learn to live with it.
Check if you have the latest firmware or baseband installed?
if not, try to update it.
Unlocked N910C Useless as a phone
My reception ANYWHERE is crap. I'm using AT&T's network and I have a Galaxy Tab S unlocked that has a phone and that has 3 or 4 bars to the GSNote 4 having maybe 1. I'm wondering if this happened because I rooted with CF Autoroot, as it seemed to appear after that, but I have no idea. I unrooted and flashed the latest firmware (NK5) and I still has the same crappy phone reception problem.
I too have ****ty reception.. wifi is good. but cell reception is bad..
Same here, N910C
Baseband: ANJ4
Same here , like my old phone m8. It must be metal case problem?
I have the same problem with Note 4 as with 3.
One of the reasons I changed to was the problem with calls was shut down in poor reception areas.
The problem is not there at all with my daughters iphone.
We can drive in to bad areas and mine is cut off and she's not.
Sent from my SM-N910F using XDA Free mobile app
gavinfabl said:
Put simply, the Note 4 has the worst signal strength of any phone ive ever had. I use 3 UK. Signal is weak inside house especially downstairs. Recently i have had the blackberry passport which was amazing signal wise. I currently have an iphone 6 plus too. The 6 Plus can make calls downstairs just about. The Note 4 has no reception.
In fact i have noticed the signal is weaker wherever i am...
Anybody else notice this. .
I really like the Note 4 but the weak radio is going to give me a problem. Maybe samsung can improve the radio with a firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My NZ version note 4 got the same problem. The WiFi is suprisingly good, but the cell reception is **** as f**k and when I use 4G or 3G it got disconnected easily.
Its qualcom varients problem. My exinos one was just fine. Common problem for me too.
fahad2mail said:
Its qualcom varients problem. My exinos one was just fine. Common problem for me too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is not just the qualacam. I have the n910C and it too has a very bad signal. I have tried every baseband to date and they have no effect. It is only the 3G and LTE that are bad. GSM is OK.
I sometime cannot even get the 3G while my iPhone has a full signal. I too noticed it after rooting. I just don't remember it being this bad when I first bought it.
gavinfabl said:
This is not good. Maybe we should not have asked Samsung to build a phone using metal! I also have the Gear S which is great. But I need the Note 4 to use the Gear S. I also need a phone to make phone calls so this seems like a design issue. Sad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The frame metal has nothing to do with reception (see the placement of the main antenna relative to the body on page 8). I cannot comment on other models but I've got the Canadian N910W8 and my signal is EXACTLY the same as my other 2 Galaxy S4's.
In your cases, I believe it's rather a software issue/mismatch (CSC/modem/RILJ, etc), especially If you bought it from a different country/region, you should probably start with the phone's CSC, matching it against your residential location...
Also, try choosing a non LTE network connections under More Networks > Mobile Networks > Network Mode. If the signal improves considerably, you're living in a poor LTE area. As of right now, since VoLTE is not yet widely supported, only your download speeds would be affected by leaving your phone connected to a non LTE network.
Same problem with my brother's note 4 bought from UAE. Its an exynos version. Turning LTE off does not improve the signal strength. On the other hand my note 1 (exynos) and lumia 1020 have excellent reception in the same room.
sixline said:
Same problem with my brother's note 4 bought from UAE. Its an exynos version. Turning LTE off does not improve the signal strength. On the other hand my note 1 (exynos) and lumia 1020 have excellent reception in the same room.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, you bought the phone from UAE, but where are you located/using the phone? If you're using it in a region/location other than UAE, then you should probably consider installing the modem for the region you're currently living in, and also changing the CSC.
Mine is from Slovenia and using in Greece. Signal is crap. I have nexus 7 2013 and has far superior coverage with the same network. So no network different there.
We know how much you like to stream, ahem, "videos", and so cellular data is mega-important. Rate this thread to express how you think the OnePlus 6's LTE performs. A higher rating indicates that it's fantastic: throughput is excellent and signal strength is top-notch.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add.
Signal strength is excellent. I am on TMobile.
toanau said:
Signal strength is excellent. I am on TMobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's nice to hear. The one downside of my Essential PH-1 on T-Mobile is that I can't get a signal anywhere, or that it is choppy, even when I'm standing in the center of a major US city.
Though I hear that is a complaint across the board with the PH-1, not just T-Mobile. Leads me to think that it is not picking up one of the bands that T-Mobile broadcasts.
Thunder_47 said:
That's nice to hear. The one downside of my Essential PH-1 on T-Mobile is that I can't get a signal anywhere, or that it is choppy, even when I'm standing in the center of a major US city.
Though I hear that is a complaint across the board with the PH-1, not just T-Mobile. Leads me to think that it is not picking up one of the bands that T-Mobile broadcasts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it's just got poor antenna design that blocks a lot of the signal. I have an essential and can already tell you OP6 is drastically better, signal wise than the PH-1. And I'm also on Tmobile.
just wondering, what is the max Speed-test achieved? on my oneplus5 i achived about 190Mbps on 4G+
care share screens?
Speeds are okay I guess, downloading offline maps went fast at least
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Unfortunately, I had to rate a 2. I'm getting about 1/3 bars where my OP3 would get full bars. Speed is slow, while I haven't done an actual test yet, it took something like 5 minutes for a 1.53MB download.
EDIT: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/3947531527
EDIT 2: Noticed it doesn't say on that page, but that was LTE.
i am positively overwhelmed by the signal strenght here. LTE and 3G on T-Mobile as well as WiFi are exceptional. Coming from a S8, this is a huge step forwards. I barely had any significant improvements when changing between 3G and LTE with the S8, now downloading stuff with the OP6 in the same area is fast as hell
Signal is excellent here, LTE speed tests over 100mbps and I can even pull off 40-50mbps with 1-2 bars LTE in outlying areas.
This phone has the absolute best receiving and bluetooth antennas I've ever had in any phone by a mile. I can get a GPS lock inside in under a second nowhere near a window. 5GHz wifi works great about 150 feet away from my house even with tons of EM pollution in the area. I get 50-75% LTE signal where I used to only get one bar of non-working HSPA on other phones.
In my house, the back area in my sun room where my PC is I get the weakest reception (assuming from he Monitor and other equipment) on my OP5 at around 8mbps down. My OP6 is getting 20mbps down. In the living room at the front of my house I get the best signal and fastest speeds. My OP5 would get anywhere from 40-65mbps down speeds. I tested the OP6 in the same area and the 2 tests I did 2 days apart were 135mbps down and 128mbps down (same time I got 135 my OP5 got only 48mbps down).
I rarely use WiFi at home since I'm on T-Mobile with unlimited data. but my reception is certainly improved thanks to the 4x4 MIMO. And no I'm not in an area that has activated the 600mHz band 71.
Forgot my speed test screenshot.
Orito said:
Unfortunately, I had to rate a 2. I'm getting about 1/3 bars where my OP3 would get full bars. Speed is slow, while I haven't done an actual test yet, it took something like 5 minutes for a 1.53MB download.
EDIT: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/3947531527
EDIT 2: Noticed it doesn't say on that page, but that was LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had that same issue with my OP5 and I had to make a new APN and play around with it based on settings I found online. The APN is maybe your issue. after a couple of OS updates I didn't have to worry about the APN's anymore, they were good with the new updates.
---------- Post added at 06:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:03 PM ----------
Chris123NT said:
Signal is excellent here, LTE speed tests over 100mbps and I can even pull off 40-50mbps with 1-2 bars LTE in outlying areas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, with e 4x4 MIMO and the glass back (so much for why the hell is there a glass back and no wireless charging) the signal strength is amazing.
Here is a PC Mag article shedding some light on the cellular capabilities of the OnePlus 6: https://www.pcmag.com/news/361428/testing-shows-oneplus-6-has-top-notch-radio
Check out this photo I took comparing the OP6, Sony Xperia XZ S, and the Essential.
Note that the OnePlus doesn't have a Sim Card in it yet (it was still in the Essential) in the first pic
In the second pic it was being compared against a 1st-Gen Sony Xperia Z and the XZ S from the earlier pic.
Looks like the dbm is the same between the Essential and the OP6, but as any user of the Essential knows, that changes very fast.
I seem to be struggling a lot on ATT. My pixel 2 didn't have this problem.
tranemonk said:
I seem to be struggling a lot on ATT. My pixel 2 didn't have this problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Struggling as in how? Signal seems to be very good for other users in this thread. Maybe you have faulty unit?
milan03 said:
Here is a PC Mag article shedding some light on the cellular capabilities of the OnePlus 6:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The article is a great start and a quick overview of it. The cellular capabilities of this phone are the SOLE reason I've purchased it, they are extremely impressive. It doesn't appear to have the LAA capabilities to reach the 1.2 Gbps theoretical peak but I don't even know where that's implemented (think I saw a report of in NY somewhere).
Looking through the fcc filing, one of the more interesting documents covers the carrier aggregation capabilities (the pcmag article doesn't cover these well or correctly?).
I'm hoping to get B2+B4+B12 as I used my old OP3 to verify these three bands were present at home.
I'd share the link but per a new xda account I can't..... somehow I've gone from when the galaxy nexus was released to now without creating an actual xda account? Lol....ultra lurker.
From the fcc document:
"Support following CA Bandwidth, and follow 3GPP V14.3.0
2DL CA:
B2C,B3C,B7C,B66B,B66C,B38C,B39C, B41C,
B2+B2,B3+B3,B4+B4,B7+B7,B66+B66,B41+B41,
B1+B3,B1+B5,B1+B7,B1+B18,B1+B19,B1+B20,B1+B26,B1+B32,B1+B41,
B2+B4,B2+B5,B2+B7,B2+B12,B2+B29,B2+B30,B2+B66,B2+B71,
B3+B5,B3+B7,B3+B8,B3+B19,B3+B20,B3+B26,B3+B28,B3+32,B3+B38, B3+B41,
B4+B5,B4+B7,B4+B12,B4+B17,B4+B29,B4+B30,B4+B71,B5+B30,B5+B66,
B7+B8,B7+B12,B7+B20,B7+B28,B7+B32,B12+B30,B12+B66,B20+B32,B20+B38,
B25+B26,B29+B30,B66+B71,B39+B41
3DL CA:
B41D,B66A+B66C,B41A+B41C,
B1+B3C,B1+B3+B5,B1+B3+B7,B1+B3+B19,B1+B3+B20,B1+B3+B26,B1+B3+B28,
B1+B3+B41,B1+B7+B8,B1+B7+20,B1+B20+B32,B1+B41C,
B2+B2+B4,B2+B2+B12,B2+B2+B66,B2+B2+B71,B2+B4+B4,B2+B4+B5,B2+B4+B7,
B2+B4+B12,B2+B4+B29,B2+B4+B71,B2+B5+B30,B2+B5+B66,B2+B7+B7,B2+B12+B30,
B2+B12+B66,B2+B66C,B2+B66+B71,
B3C+B5,B3+B3+B7,B3C+B7,B3+B3+B8,B3C+B20,B3C+B32, B3+B7C,
B3+B7+B7,B3+B7+B8,B3+B7+B20,B3+B7+B28,B3+B7+B32,B3+B7+38,B3+B20+B32,
B3+B20+B38,
B4+B4+B5,B4+B4+B7,B4+B4+B12,B4+B4+B71,B4+B5+B30,B4+B7+B7,B4+B7+B12,
B4+B12+B30,B4+B29+B30,B5+B30+B66,B5+B66+B66,B5+B66C,B7+B20+B32,
B7+B20+B38,B12+B30+B66,B12+B66+B66,B12+B66C,B20+B38C,B66+B66+B71,
B66C+B71,B39C+B41,B39+B41C,
4DL CA:
B1+B3+B7+B20,B1+B7+B20+B32,B1+B3C+B7,B2+B2+B5+B30,B2+B2+B12+B30,
B2+B2+B12+B66,B2+B2+B66+B66,B2+B2+B66C,B2+B4+B7+B7,B2+B5+B30+B66,
B2+B5+B66+B66,B2+B12+B30+B66,B2+B12+B66+B66,B2+B12+B66C,B3C+B7C,
B3+B7+B20+B32,B3+B7+B20+B38,B5+B30+B66+B66
UL CA:
B3C,B7C,B39C, B41C/ UL 64QAM(B41/B7)/DL 256QAM"
effmsee said:
The article is a great start and a quick overview of it. The cellular capabilities of this phone are the SOLE reason I've purchased it, they are extremely impressive. It doesn't appear to have the LAA capabilities to reach the 1.2 Gbps theoretical peak but I don't even know where that's implemented (think I saw a report of in NY somewhere).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a Cat 15 (8-stream, 800Mbps) limitation when the North American SIM is inserted. Still that should be more than enough for most of the existing deployments.
milan03 said:
There is a Cat 15 (8-stream, 800Mbps) limitation when the North American SIM is inserted. Still that should be more than enough for most of the existing deployments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aw darn, I missed that. Where did you find that information?
(yes, as you say more than enough for most deployments lol, still darn)