Database Users

[Q] Signal Strength

I am sitting right next to someone with an older Droid 1 and they have 4 bars of signal strength while my Fascinate blinks between 1 and 2 bars. Is this normal?

The signal strength is definitely weaker on the Fascinate that it was on my D1. Not happy about it... Moto has always had the best reception IMO.

Have you done any side by side speed test?
I have the DX and I'm having the 3g->1x problem, and even when I'm on 3g it's garbage compared to a co-workers Eris. I'm thinking about switching to the Fascinate... but idk if it's any better.
I'm kicking around the idea of adding a second line to test it out or something to give it a shot.

matthewsh said:
I am sitting right next to someone with an older Droid 1 and they have 4 bars of signal strength while my Fascinate blinks between 1 and 2 bars. Is this normal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The comparison is useless unless you're looking at numbers, not bars. Bar scaling can vary.
Sent from my Fascinate using XDA

Not all phones are created equal, and this is an instance. However if you want to look at it from the other point of view, the Fascinate is pumping much much less radiation into the side of your head when you are using it

I'm in the same boat as the OP, my wife has a droid 1. Her phone gets more bars than me, but our speed tests are identical.

You really need to compare actual signal levels, not bars.
Menu -> Settings -> About Phone -> Status.
Signal = Lower number is better (i.e. -78 is better than -95).

So you mean higher number is better...
NKT said:
You really need to compare actual signal levels, not bars.
Menu -> Settings -> About Phone -> Status.
Signal = Lower number is better (i.e. -78 is better than -95).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

Well yes. But you'd be surprised how many people are confused by negative numbers
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

In my case the DX is definitely the worse off the of the 2. I spent at least an hour testing speeds with the speedtest app and tethered, the Eris beat the DX every single time by a large margin, say 20%. The DX ALWAYS showed more bars but was still much slower.
Really starting to erk me...
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Edit: Did another side by side of the signal strength using the method posted above, DX is down by 3-4 db on average. No voyeur that is a big difference or not, then again in my case it is.

minr necro here
ive just got a fascinate, got the wife a d2
i noticed the sf will go from 91-106 and the d2 stays @ 93
side by side, not moving
can a software update fix this?
love the phone, but when i tether it loses connection because its unstable
the d2 does not, or hasnt yet

I have testest my dx against my girlfriends sf and the SF Always beat it.
I have not once dropped a call and the interwebs never fails , yet my phone is on 1-2 bars and then no bars.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

The DJ05 update fixes the signal strength reporting, and the changes will likely be in the Froyo update when it gets here. As far as I know, the only problems are with the display and reporting of the signal, not the actual connection.

imnuts said:
The DJ05 update fixes the signal strength reporting, and the changes will likely be in the Froyo update when it gets here. As far as I know, the only problems are with the display and reporting of the signal, not the actual connection.
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Click to collapse
+1 to the signal display being the only problem. I routinely make and receive calls with no bars, and my data connection RARELY goes to 1x. DJ05 seems to help, but I don't know that it fixes it completely. Coming from an iPhone (signal? what signal?) and then a Droid X (Droid 1x? Droid X Doesn't?) this phone is head and shoulders above either.

wifi - very poor - one Bar only 5 meters away from router

not feeling wifi on this phone at all compared to my old hd2, not getting any bars at all showing and connection is poor, anyone else seeing this?

stoolzo said:
not feeling wifi on this phone at all compared to my old hd2, not getting any bars at all showing and connection is poor, anyone else seeing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far no. Full bar for me. Weird..

This is why I hate when new devices get released.
Using the phone outside my 2 story townhouse(router upstairs) with 3bars. Vibrant and hd2 was either 0-1 bars.

Yes, I'm finding it really weak as well, in fact it just dropped back to 3G as I typed this.

I noticed it shows as weak, yea....

Mine seems to have a weaker signal strength on my top floor compared with my desire. Also when running speed tests it struggles to hit 3Mbps downstream on a 38Mbps BT infinity line.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Stronger signal for me .
jje

definitely a weaker signal for me compared to my desire.
i'm getting 2 bars out of 4 despite being in the very next room to my router. it's 4 bars on my desire.
:-(

Might I suggest that the difference may be in the amount of interference your Wifi is experiencing? Try switching to a different "channel" on the router or even from 2.4 to 5GHz band (not sure if the phone supports this but worth a shot). I used to have a problem with this when i first got my SGS1 and when i swapped my wifi router to a new channel the problem disappeared.
Good luck

huh, to me the signal is the same if not better than the hd2.

the same here european version! 5 meters away it shows 1 bar only.

I'm currently 20m away from my router and behind a couple of walls and I get 2/4 bars on the Wifi and on the Speedtest app I get
Ping: 25ms
Download: 5946kbps
Upload: 3882kbps
In my opinion that qualifies as decent signal strength and quite a bit better than what I got with my N1.
edit:
And just to clarify, if I'm in the same room as the router I get full bars on Wifi.

I'm having no problems with WiFi. I get full signal in my living room (the same room as the router), and in my kitchen (which is about 10m away and has 2 stud partition walls and one masonry wall between it and my living room) I get 2 bars. So its as good as I'd expect, however I haven't tried checking my connection just outside my flat, but I live in an old school house with 2ft external walls, so I'm guessing I wont get much of a signal.
My laptops' WiFi behaves the very same. If your WiFi is worse than your previous phone....something wrong!

Wifi is fine on mine. I'm 2 floors away from the router and can get a two bar signal no problem.

Low also although it seems to perform ok.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

for me
2.4ghz band is stronger than my sgs 1
and 5ghz band is weaker than my sgs 2

I noticed on my s1, froyo showed more strength bars than when I installed gingerbread. Maybe it is just a display problem caused by gingerbread?

Wifi signal is more stable than in sgs1 or my HTC desire.
10m from router, 3 walls
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

I get slightly higher signal strength with the SGS2 than I do with my Nexus One (dBm as viewed in Wifi Analyzer).
However, I do have definite throughput issues -- can't get over 2mbps downstream on my SGS2 vs 6-8mbps downstream on my Nexus One at home. However, on my work network it's a different matter - the SGS2 is slightly faster than the N1. To me this suggests that either there is a compatibility issue between the SGS2 and certain APs, or the SGS2 is more prone to interference than the N1...

Hi, you could try wifi analyzer app, it will show you the strongest signal on channels.

Love my SGS2 but need your help

Hi Guys,
I have just moved from my iphone4 (well not completely) to an SGS2 which is my first dance with android.
Am quite happy with my purchase however am having some issues.
1) The phone gets warm at times. Sometimes too warm. Any of you facing that issue. Sometimes the screen is warm other times the area around the camera gets really warm.
2) I m not getting decent wireless coverage. In places around my house where I get 2 bars on my iphone, the SGS2 gets barely one. Which is very annoying considering the SGS2 is the best phone out there!
If anyone is facing the above issues and have been able to solve them, pls advise.
Thanks advance,
a2zt
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

I have come from an iPhone 4 too. Yes the phone does get very warm around the camera and screen in certain situations.
Wifi signal is pretty erratic, but speeds are the same as my iPhone. I just think the signal bars are not accurate.
You will also find that battery life is not as good either.
It's a great phone in all other respects and hopefully future updates will improve things

when its warm, i mean hot, the dual core cpu goes wild, no worries, its a safety feature built in, so you don't end up with a bunch of melted plastic in your hands
the wifi signal its strange, but not just on this phone, on every phone i have ever tested, ~250, i have seen this weirdness in action, in places where i get full signal on one phone, i get zero bars on another... so don't worry and try to connect to networks with at least 2 bars

simacca said:
I have come from an iPhone 4 too. Yes the phone does get very warm around the camera and screen in certain situations.
Wifi signal is pretty erratic, but speeds are the same as my iPhone. I just think the signal bars are not accurate.
You will also find that battery life is not as good either.
It's a great phone in all other respects and hopefully future updates will improve things
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
allthough theres this big op bug on the sgs ii some of it is fixed in new roms.
Hopefully soon samsung will fix this

Also when it gets warm for no reason wifi sharing may be running also eating up my battery.
androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s2/365603-ridiculous-wi-fi-sharing-bug.html
Without rooting I use "osmonitor" app to detect when it is eating up the CPU making the phone warm and then I have to kill wifisharing manually.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

a2zt said:
2) I m not getting decent wireless coverage. In places around my house where I get 2 bars on my iphone, the SGS2 gets barely one. Which is very annoying considering the SGS2 is the best phone out there!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From previous discussions, it seems the SGS2 and certain routers don't get along well. A couple of us with high-end Netgear's (N600/N750) seem to be getting excellent coverage. I get good signal through three stories of concrete with very little battery drain (one of the by-products of a weaker signal). I know you shouldn't have to replace your router to please your phone, but it's something to consider.

Thanks for the responses guys.
I am using Dlink E2000 router with an external antenna. Does that play nice with SGS2?
Any suggestions on which custom Rom I should try?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

a2zt said:
Hi Guys,
1) The phone gets warm at times. Sometimes too warm. Any of you facing that issue. Sometimes the screen is warm other times the area around the camera gets really warm.
Yes multiple posts on this topic dont worry its dual core .
2) I m not getting decent wireless coverage. In places around my house where I get 2 bars on my iphone, the SGS2 gets barely one
Bars do not measure signal strength use a proper measure like
http://www.appbrain.com/app/wifi-analyzer/com.farproc.wifi.analyzer
If anyone is facing the above issues and have been able to solve them, pls advise.
Again multiple posts on the forum .
Custom rom you choose but rooting and custom rom voids warranty .
Villain rom for me at present .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

a2zt said:
Any suggestions on which custom Rom I should try?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I updated to the new XEU KF3 official ROM last night and it improved Wi-Fi strength for me noticeably.

Nexus S wifi strength extremely low

Its usually only one bar several feet away from my router any ideas?

I'm not far from my router either and I find it hit or miss most days. The iPhone gets perfect wifi reception. Waiting and hoping for a fix.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App

Same here, wifi reception is terrible compared to other phones i've used.

I have the t-mobile version and I can just barely get the signal of a G router through a cinderblock building about 40 feet away....so I think mine is fine. I'm gonna assume all three of you have the NS4G?

Meh, it's the same for me coming from an EVO.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

Same here. Where I normally sit in my living room is no more than about 20 feet from the router and my phone will get 2 wifi bars at most then completely drops the signal for no reason. Even at work I'm about 3 feet from the router and I get 3 bars at best. I had more no reception areas with 2.3.4 but I notice a lot more 3 bars to no connection when sitting in the same spot with 2.3.5.
Going to go to the Sprint store after work and see if I can get a new phone. It will be interesting to see how they handle this being a new customer that bought one of their premium phones. I like the phone itself but this newish issue of good signal to none is annoying.

*update*
Took my phone to the local Sprint store and they duplicated my poor signal issue. They said they wanted to clean the wifi antenna which I knew wasn't going to do anything but I let them work on it. Come back to pick it up and they said no change after cleaning the antenna and would order a replacement phone that would be in by Friday. As much as I liked my phone rooted its issues like this when I'm glad its not and can drop in for service issues without having to restore my phone back to stock.

bmwjnky said:
*update*
Took my phone to the local Sprint store and they duplicated my poor signal issue. They said they wanted to clean the wifi antenna which I knew wasn't going to do anything but I let them work on it. Come back to pick it up and they said no change after cleaning the antenna and would order a replacement phone that would be in by Friday. As much as I liked my phone rooted its issues like this when I'm glad its not and can drop in for service issues without having to restore my phone back to stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let us know if the replacement has the same issues or not.
The wifi on my phone is fine.

MaxCarnage said:
Let us know if the replacement has the same issues or not.
The wifi on my phone is fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it will be better since the wifi reception slowly got worse over the last week and a half. Now its started to do the grey bars of reception so its seeing a signal but nothing is getting transferred and I am also getting "no connection" errors when going to the market and sometimes when using the browser. Hopefully the replacement will last till the next Nexus comes out. I don't see myself leaving the Samsung platform though because I've yet to use a phone with a display like this Nexus S.

I noticed this issue and it coincided to when I started to try new roms, now I am using blandroid, but I will try to flash other roms, maybe is a wifi module issue.

I get only the two lower "bars" being at 30cm from my router. :S kinda worries.

It is sad, my fiancees ipad gets 3/4 bars (sometimes a full 4) and while i'm in the bed next to her my ns4g get s 1 bar max... and we are one room away from the router in an apartment.

same deal here. my evo4g gets 2-3 bars. my nexus after 2.3.5 gets 0-2 bars in my bedroom only 20 ft and one wall away from the router.

I am inclined to think maybe is a module problem, as before it used to work perfectly.

I get crappy wifi too. I'm about 20ft from router and it struggles. My ps3 is fine though.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App

All of my devices have great reception as opposed to my nexus. These past 2 days have been awful

There is definitely some issue with wifi/3G reception of Nexus,as I see dozens of thread here yelling out its incapability.
I hope they will fix it soon.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

Weird reception issues?

So I've had the phone for 2 weeks now, and I finally activated it yesterday. To my dismay, I am not getting reception in the common areas of my house. I'm on T-Mobile and their coverage map says that I should be getting "Good" reception in my area. But it seems like the reception just goes in and out. If I am using my phone in my hands while sitting on the couch in my living room, I get no reception. However I left the phone sitting on the couch and went to get a drink, and when I came back I had received 2 texts. Wtf?
The same thing happens in my room. When I'm leaning against the stairs to my loft bed, I get no bars. However, if I move literally 6 inches to the left, I get 3 bars to full reception. What's the deal?
And when I say I get no reception, the phone is showing a "hollow" triangle, like with black as it's background. Is that normal? On my old phone that ran ICS (CM9), when I had no bars, it would show a gray triangle with a little X in it. I was getting this hollow triangle when I had no SIM card in it, so I thought it was odd that it shows the same thing when I have no reception.
Any ideas anyone?

I've noticed that the reception on this device can take a nosedive when it is held. And yes, when you have no reception it is normal to show the hollow triangle.

aron7awol said:
I've noticed that the reception on this device can take a nosedive when it is held. And yes, when you have no reception it is normal to show the hollow triangle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh, thanks for the reply. I'll try holding it differently. And thanks for letting me know, I wasn't sure.

I've been having the same problem. I drop signal a lot even when its just in my pocket. I'm starting to think the radios in the N4 just suck
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

lowrider262 said:
I've been having the same problem. I drop signal a lot even when its just in my pocket. I'm starting to think the radios in the N4 just suck
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
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I think I would have to agree with this. It's so weird. Like sitting in the same exact spot, I can go from full signal to no signal in a matter of seconds. It's really actually beginning to get in my nerves, and I'm wondering if I have a bad unit.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²

From past experience with TMo, 2 year subscriber from 2003-2005, and just signed up for the $30 Monthly plan, their coverage just plain sucks. I'm in a good coverage area according to their map too but I get 1 bar in my house, -109 dBm (measured with Network Signal Info) while my Verizon phone gets -60 dBm, and full bars. I took my phone outside and I had to walk half a block towards the main street before I got a decent signal, -90 dBm and was even up to 3g data speeds, no HSPA+. However, this is still an improvement from my previous experience with them as I used to have to take my phone a mile up to the Interstate to get a signal (I live in a medium sized city by the way mentioned in a TMo commercial). I'm looking at purchasing a signal booster but haven't decided if I want to go that route or just switch to StraightTalk running off AT&T's network and see if its any better.
I should also mention that at work, in a different town, inside my office I get crappy reception, 1-2 bars but if I go out into the hallway 5 feet away I get 4-5 bars. The signal strength fluctuates all the time so not sure what is going on, maybe a lot of interference from wireless devices.

kzoodroid said:
From past experience with TMo, 2 year subscriber from 2003-2005, and just signed up for the $30 Monthly plan, their coverage just plain sucks. I'm in a good coverage area according to their map too but I get 1 bar in my house, -109 dBm (measured with Network Signal Info) while my Verizon phone gets -60 dBm, and full bars. I took my phone outside and I had to walk half a block towards the main street before I got a decent signal, -90 dBm and was even up to 3g data speeds, no HSPA+. However, this is still an improvement from my previous experience with them as I used to have to take my phone a mile up to the Interstate to get a signal (I live in a medium sized city by the way mentioned in a TMo commercial). I'm looking at purchasing a signal booster but haven't decided if I want to go that route or just switch to StraightTalk running off AT&T's network and see if its any better.
I should also mention that at work, in a different town, inside my office I get crappy reception, 1-2 bars but if I go out into the hallway 5 feet away I get 4-5 bars. The signal strength fluctuates all the time so not sure what is going on, maybe a lot of interference from wireless devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
with my previous phones I never had an issue keeping a signal (s2, amaze, sensation, g2x, gnex) but with my N4 I can't even keep edge for too long without it dropping. and I get the gray signal bar thing a lot too. aside from that i love this phone its perfect but its just not worth it if im at risk of missing callsthinking about trying ST at&t or maybe trade someone on cl for a note 2.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Yeah I almost always get the gray signal bars. It seems like edge takes forever to kick in. When it finally does it's reasonably fast (at least compared to my old Virgin Mobile phone that averaged 10-15kbps on a good day) but it just takes absolutely forever.
But for example, right now I'm sitting in the dining room in my house. The signal bars are hollow. A couple of minutes ago, I went to the kitchen, set the phone down on the table, and when I came back, I had gotten a text message! I just can't comprehend this.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²

are all of you using tmobile? anyone on att straight talk have issues?

kcls said:
Yeah I almost always get the gray signal bars. It seems like edge takes forever to kick in. When it finally does it's reasonably fast (at least compared to my old Virgin Mobile phone that averaged 10-15kbps on a good day) but it just takes absolutely forever.
But for example, right now I'm sitting in the dining room in my house. The signal bars are hollow. A couple of minutes ago, I went to the kitchen, set the phone down on the table, and when I came back, I had gotten a text message! I just can't comprehend this.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²
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Click to collapse
are u on stock? i recently flashed project cold fusion (cm10 based) and i immediately noticed my signal both WiFi and data/voice were stronger (or showing more bars anyway). i wont be able to fully test this theory till tomorrow at work, where my signal has been dropping like crazy on stock ROM. but its something to consider trying if u havent already
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

I've noticed these issues in areas with low Tmo reception. One minute the phone will have 3 bars and the next it will be the hollow triangle. I don't have any of these issues at my house because I get a very strong edge signal.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T

Mine is strong wherever I go. From my college to home I get no less than 2 bars. I live in a small town in NC.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

lowrider262 said:
are u on stock? i recently flashed project cold fusion (cm10 based) and i immediately noticed my signal both WiFi and data/voice were stronger (or showing more bars anyway). i wont be able to fully test this theory till tomorrow at work, where my signal has been dropping like crazy on stock ROM. but its something to consider trying if u havent already
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I'm on stock. I was planning on flashing ParanoidAndroid this weekend though, I'm REALLY hoping that improves things. This is just so frustrating.
sporez said:
I've noticed these issues in areas with low Tmo reception. One minute the phone will have 3 bars and the next it will be the hollow triangle. I don't have any of these issues at my house because I get a very strong edge signal.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm new to GSM. Is E or H better in the statusbar?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²

kcls said:
I'm new to GSM. Is E or H better in the statusbar?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
H is better. E means you're on edge (2g) which is slow. When you're on H you should be getting at least 3g speeds and sometimes much more.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Ugh. I've only seen H for a short time last night. I get E pretty much all the time. Just another reason to hate T-Mobile and this phone now.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²

I'm on AT&T, using a MEdia Net plan and have been getting weird connection drops on HSPA+. I haven't ever seen the phone go on EDGE, so I can't comment about 2G connections.
It's seems like the phone just drops a connection randomly and frequently. I can't even stream NPR anymore. On WiFi, the connection is flawless. I didn't have his issue a week ago, and I've flash many different ROMs since then. I not sure if this is a modem issue or an AT&T network issue. My account still shows that the N4 is recognized as a plain old dumb phone, so I don't think that they've restricted my access, but knowing AT&T, any annoyance is possible.

kcls said:
Ugh. I've only seen H for a short time last night. I get E pretty much all the time. Just another reason to hate T-Mobile and this phone now.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk²
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Click to collapse
T-Mobile does suck when it comes to hspa coverage. They have soooooo much edge coverage. Unless you are in a city you're quite likely to be on edge.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

My connection isn't great inside my house, but is LTE quality a hundred yards from my house. Still get better in house reception than the ATT iPhone 5 living here. If there are a lot of tall buildings around and you live in a solid structure your signal will suffer.

MrSmileyJr said:
are all of you using tmobile? anyone on att straight talk have issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to have T-Mobile but switched to straight talk and don't have any issue. According to T-Mobile coverage map, I should have sorry voice coverage and excellent data coverage yet it was the other way around. I dried then the other day and love having a constant signal now! T-Mobile just sucked where I lived, AT&T/straight talk is awesome
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

I'm definitely getting worse reception on the Nexus 4 in my home than I did with my Nexus One. I have a weak signal at home, but the Nexus One was able to hold onto it. The Nexus 4 goes in and out. The Nexus 4 is also worse in other places that I regularly go, which have weak signal. I've missed quite a few calls, in the couple weeks I've had the phone. That pretty much never happened with the Nexus One.