Related
I just switched from Galaxy S3 on ATT to Droid Turbo on Verizon.
Signal outside was fine (on par with ATT), but today I went to work, I work in office area that is located in the middle of one story warehouse/production line environment., with ATT I was getting 4G LTE with 3 to 5 bars, now with Verizon i'm getting 3G with 1-2 bars, but when you try to do anything, nothing works, from time to time it even switches to something called 1x. what the hell is 1x?
whats the point of droid turbo large battery when its draining fast because poor thing can't get signal.
People always assume that because Verizon is the biggest that it covers every square inch of the United States. This of course, is not true. There are going to be areas where you have crappy signal or no signal at all. There are quite a few places in California where I have no signal but someone with AT&T does. It's just the way it is. I would check with Verizon and make sure you're covered in that area. If you're not. You might want to consider going back to AT&T
Many things factor into signal, as well. Different carriers use different frequencies and wavelengths, and different things impact the reception of those frequencies differently. I worked in a building where Sprint signal was 100% all the time, but Verizon was crap. They had film on the windows (the help block sun and keep AC costs down) that didn't play well with VZW. When the company started moving to VZW for their company provided phones, it became a real issue (personal phones didn't really matter to them), and the film was changed.
Stucco/cement buildings aren't great for phone reception of any kind, but for all you know, there could have been an AT&T tower very near you, and the VZW tower is simply further away. Going inside the building further impedes that signal, so you get less of it on VZW.
To answer your other question, 1X is 2G service, and the slowest speed that Verizon has. 1X/2G, 3G and 4G LTE. It (usually) means that it is the best signal available and your phone is using it for a constant connection, vs. spotty 3G/4G. Again, this can be based on frequencies and bands within the VZW spectrum, and shouldn't really be compared to another phone on another carrier.
zathus said:
People always assume that because Verizon is the biggest that it covers every square inch of the United States. This of course, is not true. There are going to be areas where you have crappy signal or no signal at all. There are quite a few places in California where I have no signal but someone with AT&T does. It's just the way it is. I would check with Verizon and make sure you're covered in that area. If you're not. You might want to consider going back to AT&T
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verizon has by far the best and most uniform coverage nationwide, but no US carrier is excellent, and every carrier has their strong spots and their weak spots, necessitating - unfortunately - choosing a carrier based on your location.
It sounds like where you work is a Verizon weak spot, and an AT&T strong spot.
Essentially, if you were to choose a random spot - any spot - within the U.S., and do this a hundred to a thousand times, Verizon would - on average - perform better than anyone else, but in any given spot, Verizon could suck, and someone else could be better.
Not sure how it is these days, but back in the day of iPhone exclusivity on AT&T, AT&T was pretty much unusable in all of New York City.
I switched from AT&T to Verizon 2-3 years ago (giving up my unlimited data in the process) because here in Boston I was simply getting too many dropped calls on AT&T. Verizon was a clear improvement, but still not perfect.
generally around here in the greater Boston area the consensus is:
Verizon > AT&T >> TMobile > Sprint > those other nobodies.
nekrosoft13 said:
I just switched from Galaxy S3 on ATT to Droid Turbo on Verizon.
Signal outside was fine (on par with ATT), but today I went to work, I work in office area that is located in the middle of one story warehouse/production line environment., with ATT I was getting 4G LTE with 3 to 5 bars, now with Verizon i'm getting 3G with 1-2 bars, but when you try to do anything, nothing works, from time to time it even switches to something called 1x. what the hell is 1x?
whats the point of droid turbo large battery when its draining fast because poor thing can't get signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your title is a little mis-leading.
In any given location, any particular carrier may have more or less signal coverage than any of the other carriers. Sounds like you just happen to work in a place where AT&T coverage is better. That doesn't mean that Verizon's coverage is "horrible", because NO carrier can state that they work everywhere.
If it's that bad, you may want to consider returning the phone and switching back.
while I understand what all of you are saying.
but this is not one of those cases.
I stepped outside the back of the building, I stepped out the front of the building and I get 4-5 bars 4G LTE with 25-35Mbps transfer speed, sounds perfect...
I go back In the building I get 3G with 1-2 bars that don't work, or some 1x bull****.
Its not the "area" its the building, and this seems to fit with what some people (engineers/including people that are experts in RF and other radio frequencies) been telling me, CDMA has trouble travelling through thick walls.
ATT GSM didn't have that problem.
nekrosoft13 said:
while I understand what all of you are saying.
but this is not one of those cases.
I stepped outside the back of the building, I stepped out the front of the building and I get 4-5 bars 4G LTE with 25-35Mbps transfer speed, sounds perfect...
I go back In the building I get 3G with 1-2 bars that don't work, or some 1x bull****.
Its not the "area" its the building, and this seems to fit with what some people (engineers/including people that are experts in RF and other radio frequencies) been telling me, CDMA has trouble travelling through thick walls.
ATT GSM didn't have that problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But you're not losing your CDMA signal, you're losing your LTE signal. It's just the tower, or the frequency Verizon has there. Maybe Verizon has high frequency at your location and therefore it can't penetrate the building. Use LTE discovery to find out which band you have.
current connection eHRPD/1x
is not even listing any LTE frequencies....
****ing verizon bull****....
on the signal tab, now its showing connecting...... 10 second later, connected, 5 seconds later connecting... great service!
nekrosoft13 said:
while I understand what all of you are saying.
but this is not one of those cases.
I stepped outside the back of the building, I stepped out the front of the building and I get 4-5 bars 4G LTE with 25-35Mbps transfer speed, sounds perfect...
I go back In the building I get 3G with 1-2 bars that don't work, or some 1x bull****.
Its not the "area" its the building, and this seems to fit with what some people (engineers/including people that are experts in RF and other radio frequencies) been telling me, CDMA has trouble travelling through thick walls.
ATT GSM didn't have that problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3g is CDMA. 4G which you say you lose is GSM
Jweimn said:
3g is CDMA. 4G which you say you lose is GSM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite, 4G is LTE. LTE is more similar to GSM than it is to CDMA, but it is not GSM.
Verizon uses 700, 850, 1700, and 2100MHz for LTE. ATT uses 700, 850, 1700, 1900, and 2100MHz for LTE. In the case of both carriers, there are generally not more than 1 or 2 of those frequencies in any given area and they are not always the same ones for both carries. Some areas have the lower frequencies which allows the signal to pass through buildings more easily, other areas have the higher frequencies which allows the signal to be bounced off of buildings which results in poorer building penetration, but can result in increased signal outside due to the signal being bounced off of surrounding surfaces. In your case you are almost definitely in a low frequency ATT and high frequency Verizon area. It is also possible that your work has a signal booster for ATT, but not for Verizon and that may be why you see dramatically better ATT signal there. No carrier is best everywhere, but Verizon is best in more places than any other US carrier. If you live/work in an area that ATT is better you should probably just go back to them.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
Verizon used to be better for me. I notice a pattern now where upon arrival to my house my signal goes from 3 to 5 bars of LTE to two or 1 or drops to 3g. Not only at my current residence but my last one as well. Like throttled down at home. I live in a flat city that should not have dead zones.
I live in a city with full coverage from all the carriers, but Verizon is the only carrier that keeps me connected from Philly to AC and back.
cstone1991 said:
Not quite, 4G is LTE. LTE is more similar to GSM than it is to CDMA, but it is not GSM.
Verizon uses 700, 850, 1700, and 2100MHz for LTE. ATT uses 700, 850, 1700, 1900, and 2100MHz for LTE. In the case of both carriers, there are generally not more than 1 or 2 of those frequencies in any given area and they are not always the same ones for both carries. Some areas have the lower frequencies which allows the signal to pass through buildings more easily, other areas have the higher frequencies which allows the signal to be bounced off of buildings which results in poorer building penetration, but can result in increased signal outside due to the signal being bounced off of surrounding surfaces. In your case you are almost definitely in a low frequency ATT and high frequency Verizon area. It is also possible that your work has a signal booster for ATT, but not for Verizon and that may be why you see dramatically better ATT signal there. No carrier is best everywhere, but Verizon is best in more places than any other US carrier. If you live/work in an area that ATT is better you should probably just go back to them.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its funny that you mention signal boosters, actually its opposite, my work has no boosters for ATT and has couple for Verizon.... the problem is that they boosters they have bought go thought internet connection, the internet connection is a standard T1 line shared by about 500-700 workers some with workstations and smartphones on wifi and some with both.
When I was outside work, I was on LTE band 4.
inside work I have 3G with one-two bars that every 20+ minutes disconnect and drop to 1x, the sucky thing is that even when those 1-2 bars are present data doesn't work.
and WiFi is so saturated and its useless too....
Before someone says that the trouble is caused by Verizon boosters, before the boosters were put in place, there was zero Verizon signal inside the building, again outside was fine.
nekrosoft13 said:
... from time to time it even switches to something called 1x. what the hell is 1x?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So this is what it's come to.... :'( In some remote way this makes me feel old.
nekrosoft13 said:
I just switched from Galaxy S3 on ATT to Droid Turbo on Verizon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not going to rehash all of what has been said, but there are two items you need to keep in mind.
First, you should check to see if you are in an XLTE area. XLTE makes use of the AWS spectrum and will do a better job of penetrating buildings.
Second, and most important .... If you have both a regular Verizon signal AND a Verizon Network Extender signal, the radios are designed to latch onto the Network Extender assuming that it will provide the best cell reception. The network extender is designed to make sure PHONE CALLS get through, and nothing more. The first and second generation Network Extenders provided only 1x data, while the latest generation Network Extenders provide 3G. There are no 4G LTE Network Extenders. As long as you are latching onto a network extender, you will NOT have good data. Period. You'll have great phone calls though. The "bars" reflect DATA coverage, not voice coverage. Phone calls will be fine even with zero bars. Data will be slow no matter what.
Again, the network extenders are meant to make certain people can make and receive PHONE CALLS (it is a cell phone after all) and not data.
Also, band 4 is the highest frequency that VZW uses for LTE and therefore the worst at penetrating buildings.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
cstone1991 said:
Also, band 4 is the highest frequency that VZW uses for LTE and therefore the worst at penetrating buildings.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so basically Verizon sucks In the area where my work is. why would they use a band that is worse at penetrating buildings since this is mostly industrial park with warehouse like buildings and buildings with thick concrete walls.
nekrosoft13 said:
so basically Verizon sucks In the area where my work is. why would they use a band that is worse at penetrating buildings since this is mostly industrial park with warehouse like buildings and buildings with thick concrete walls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically yeah. The boosters that your work uses aren't helping either when it comes to data, they actually probably make the problem even worse as another person pointed out. The carriers own licenses for different bands or spectrums in different areas. They can only use the ones that they own in the areas that they own them. There are many reasons why a carrier may purchase higher frequencies in some areas, but the main one is that they just have to buy what is available and that's probably what happened in that area. In some scenarios the higher frequencies do perform better, building penetration just isn't one of the things that they do well.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
cstone1991 said:
Basically yeah. The boosters that your work uses aren't helping either when it comes to data, they actually probably make the problem even worse as another person pointed out. The carriers own licenses for different bands or spectrums in different areas. They can only use the ones that they own in the areas that they own them. There are many reasons why a carrier may purchase higher frequencies in some areas, but the main one is that they just have to buy what is available and that's probably what happened in that area. In some scenarios the higher frequencies do perform better, building penetration just isn't one of the things that they do well.
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought that VZW had band 13 everywhere they have LTE. I thought they just started adding Band 4, so if you connect to Band 4 then 13 is present. Otherwise, all the old VZW phones would not get LTE at all.
there are other people in the office that have verizon and same ****ty service.
we are looking into purchasing this for work, http://www.wilsonamplifiers.com/wilson-ag-pro-4g-70db-amplifier-kit-461104/
just not sure how this will play with current 3G repeaters that are in the building.
Want to switch to T-Mobile from VZW at end of my Verizon billing cycle around Nov4 (anywhere before that maybe like 2-3 days)
How is signal treating you guys without band12?
I will be joining my friends plan he has 2 lines for 100 unlimited everything so my line will be +40
I understand on 5.1.1 there is no wifi calling on Moto X but that might change in 6.0 and maybe with 6.0 they will add band12?
One place I travel to frequently has very bad tmo signal inside the building nothing has changed since year ago when I tested tmobile otherwise everywhere I go signal is always great (while I tested)
I'm guessing that you're on the East Coast, in the NY area (based on the screenshot of your Speedtest results). I'm also there, and I recently switched from Verizon to Ting (which runs on the T-Mobile network).
What can I say? Verizon is king when it comes to coverage, signal strength, and network speed. Absolutely unbeatable anywhere along the Northeast Corridor (Boston to Washington DC). If you are highly mobile for work in remote areas (e.g. upstate New York), then you'll want to stick with Verizon purely for coverage reasons.
T-Mobile coverage and signal strength is going to be lower than Verizon in most areas, but will still retain acceptable signal strength in most areas that aren't rural. Network speeds on LTE are acceptable (around 8Mbps - 12Mbps downstream, and 1.0Mbps upstream).
If you spend most of the time on your smartphone near WiFi, you'll be fine switching to TMobile to save yourself some money.
kent1146 said:
I'm guessing that you're on the East Coast, in the NY area (based on the screenshot of your Speedtest results). I'm also there, and I recently switched from Verizon to Ting (which runs on the T-Mobile network).
What can I say? Verizon is king when it comes to coverage, signal strength, and network speed. Absolutely unbeatable anywhere along the Northeast Corridor (Boston to Washington DC). If you are highly mobile for work in remote areas (e.g. upstate New York), then you'll want to stick with Verizon purely for coverage reasons.
T-Mobile coverage and signal strength is going to be lower than Verizon in most areas, but will still retain acceptable signal strength in most areas that aren't rural. Network speeds on LTE are acceptable (around 8Mbps - 12Mbps downstream, and 1.0Mbps upstream).
If you spend most of the time on your smartphone near WiFi, you'll be fine switching to TMobile to save yourself some money.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am mostly in the city though and on Verizon I am out of contract but I am just sick of this company (Wireless part) right now around 45$ 30GB to share+2GB free for 3 months vs T-Mobile same price everything unlimited.
What does your usage look like (minutes, text, data GB) per month, as a typical month of usage on VZW?
kent1146 said:
What does your usage look like (minutes, text, data GB) per month, as a typical month of usage on VZW?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Last month was a round 5k texts 5.6GB and around 500 min just for my line.
I like to watch soccer games on my phone and always have to watch it in lowest quality instead of HD and listen to spotify everyday at highes quality as well.
So many reasons to want tmobile lol
Wow. That's a whole lot of usage.
So yeah, go with T-Mobile's unlimited plan. You'll be better off with that.
kent1146 said:
Wow. That's a whole lot of usage.
So yeah, go with T-Mobile's unlimited plan. You'll be better off with that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea man that's what the plan is. The one place I spend a lot of time has weak service otherwise everywhere I am is great signal so I am silently hoping that either 6.0 or moto releases new radio fast with band12 support so I can dump Verizon forever and ever lol
By the way were you receiving calls from winback team from Verizon? just wondering I don't have contract anymore so it wouldn't matter and they would not be able to offer me anything anyway but for people who were on contract they would cancel your contract if you came back and all that sort of stuff
I moved from Verizon to T-Mobile a few years back with no issues. I would double check if the location your referring to has any type of WiFi close by. Keep in mind Motorola has really good antennas so if you tested it a year ago on a different phone (Samsung or Nexus 5) it might hold a signal better. At one point I had a Nexus 5 and MotoX 2013 and one of the main reasons I kept the MotoX was due to significantly better signals in the same place.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app
SymbioticGenius said:
I moved from Verizon to T-Mobile a few years back with no issues. I would double check if the location your referring to has any type of WiFi close by. Keep in mind Motorola has really good antennas so if you tested it a year ago on a different phone (Samsung or Nexus 5) it might hold a signal better. At one point I had a Nexus 5 and MotoX 2013 and one of the main reasons I kept the MotoX was due to significantly better signals in the same place.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested few weeks ago AS well but on droid turbo not moto x, and yeah they have time Warner and soon fios so fast internet is not an issue. Are you able to use Wi-Fi calling AS IF now ?
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
I've never had to use WiFi for anything lol
Nexus 6 has had it for a while, I remember testing it, didn't care for it, haven't had a need to use it yet. It's not available yet for the MotoX but it's expected (not sure if confirmed) to be activated with marshmallow. I will state that marshmallow has a new toggle for it so I wouldn't be surprised if every phone has it at some point.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app
SymbioticGenius said:
I've never had to use WiFi for anything lol
Nexus 6 has had it for a while, I remember testing it, didn't care for it, haven't had a need to use it yet. It's not available yet for the MotoX but it's expected (not sure if confirmed) to be activated with marshmallow. I will state that marshmallow has a new toggle for it so I wouldn't be surprised if every phone has it at some point.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea there is only one place with bad signal where i spent a lot of time but band12 is in this area just not yet with moto hopefully soak test will add it.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
You can see if Band 12 is in a particular area with this: http://www.spectrumgateway.com/t-mobile-700a-spectrum . Combined with T-Mobile official coverage map, you should be able to get a good idea of the T-Mobile coverage of an area.
It looks like T-Mobile is using Band 12 to fill out national coverage gaps. That's a good thing IMO, if Band 12 has reach/penetration like they say it does. (I live where there is no Band 12 yet, so I haven't tested it.) There are maps floating around (see tmonews.com for example) of the national coverage that T-Mobile plans by end of the year, this planned coverage looks like a blanket similar to Verizon, I think much of this will be the added Band 12 areas. Based on T-Mobile track record, I believe they will get there, if not by end of year then not long after that.
I bought the MXPE counting on Motorola to update it with Band 12 /VoLTE support in the near future, with the idea that it will support it by the time Band 12 is deployed where I need it. The LTE Discovery app is a good tool to see what LTE Band (or other) the phone is using in a particular area, too.
There are still gaps in the T-Mobile national coverage where Verizon has decent coverage while T-Mobile does not. I traveled through one a few days ago, in a rural area about 15 miles from my house. Verizon phone had decent signal, but T-Mobile phones (MXPE and iPhone 6s) had no signal. Since iPhone 6s has robust wireless support including Band 12 /VoLTE, the fact that it had no signal there means there was no T-Mobile signal.
So you just have to look at the maps and see if T-Mobile has coverage where you want coverage. That and actual testing. (If I was on Verizon considering T-Mobile, I would probably buy a month of prepaid T-Mobile or MetroPCS service, pop the T-Mobile SIM in the XT1575, and just try it. "One proper test is worth a thousand expert opinions".)
One thing adding even more wrinkles to all this is the increasing number of LTE roaming arrangements between the tier 1 carriers...
Tinkerer_ said:
You can see if Band 12 is in a particular area with this: http://www.spectrumgateway.com/t-mobile-700a-spectrum . Combined with T-Mobile official coverage map, you should be able to get a good idea of the T-Mobile coverage of an area.
It looks like T-Mobile is using Band 12 to fill out national coverage gaps. That's a good thing IMO, if Band 12 has reach/penetration like they say it does. (I live where there is no Band 12 yet, so I haven't tested it.) There are maps floating around (see tmonews.com for example) of the national coverage that T-Mobile plans by end of the year, this planned coverage looks like a blanket similar to Verizon, I think much of this will be the added Band 12 areas. Based on T-Mobile track record, I believe they will get there, if not by end of year then not long after that.
I bought the MXPE counting on Motorola to update it with Band 12 /VoLTE support in the near future, with the idea that it will support it by the time Band 12 is deployed where I need it. The LTE Discovery app is a good tool to see what LTE Band (or other) the phone is using in a particular area, too.
There are still gaps in the T-Mobile national coverage where Verizon has decent coverage while T-Mobile does not. I traveled through one a few days ago, in a rural area about 15 miles from my house. Verizon phone had decent signal, but T-Mobile phones (MXPE and iPhone 6s) had no signal. Since iPhone 6s has robust wireless support including Band 12 /VoLTE, the fact that it had no signal there means there was no T-Mobile signal.
So you just have to look at the maps and see if T-Mobile has coverage where you want coverage. That and actual testing. (If I was on Verizon considering T-Mobile, I would probably buy a month of prepaid T-Mobile or MetroPCS service, pop the T-Mobile SIM in the XT1575, and just try it. "One proper test is worth a thousand expert opinions".)
One thing adding even more wrinkles to all this is the increasing number of LTE roaming arrangements between the tier 1 carriers...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually have a friend who works at tmo he even typed the address and showed me all types of signal available to me and band12 was all over it. I hope that soak test brings b12.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
T-Mobile for data hogs like me is great. Unlimited data for $30, I used around 10GB a month alone. But that is the only reason I use T-Mobile. Coverage pretty much sucks. If I am in the Bay Area CA its fine great signal. As soon as I leave the area I'm lucky if I get 3G speeds let alone a signal. Indoors is even worse. Went to the movies the other day, phone was dead inside no signal at all. My friend who is on At&t got a full 4 bars of LTE. T-Mobile is great for data and coverage in the cities, you leave those cities and you'll be lucky to even get a signal...
falcon26 said:
T-Mobile for data hogs like me is great. Unlimited data for $30, I used around 10GB a month alone. But that is the only reason I use T-Mobile. Coverage pretty much sucks. If I am in the Bay Area CA its fine great signal. As soon as I leave the area I'm lucky if I get 3G speeds let alone a signal. Indoors is even worse. Went to the movies the other day, phone was dead inside no signal at all. My friend who is on At&t got a full 4 bars of LTE. T-Mobile is great for data and coverage in the cities, you leave those cities and you'll be lucky to even get a signal...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mainly spend time in the city Brookyln & Queens so I don't think it should be an issue but one place where I spend a lot of time otherwise everywhere else it's pretty good when I tested it.
Cell Spot
If there is one place you work or live with poor coverage, T-Mobile also has a couple of options that are basically either a range extended or an internal "tower" so you can use your phone inside where you don't get coverage.
https://support.t-mobile.com/community/coverage/personal-cellspot/4g-lte-signal-booster
Ugh. In principle, I'm not a fan of that at all.
T-Mobilr is basically telling cuatomers to buy hardware, install it themselves, possibly connect it to their home internet networks (and use your bandwidth), for potentially multiple people that don't live in your household.
All of this, because T-Mobile didn't invest in building out network infrastructure like Verizon did.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
ExDis said:
If there is one place you work or live with poor coverage, T-Mobile also has a couple of options that are basically either a range extended or an internal "tower" so you can use your phone inside where you don't get coverage.
https://support.t-mobile.com/community/coverage/personal-cellspot/4g-lte-signal-booster
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea I am still staying with VZW for now. But there are 2 places that I spend time that have weak service one has no cable internet so that won't do any good even verizon there has weak service 3G and 1 weak bar of lte.
So I am testing tmobile in some place I mainly spend 2 time in 2 places , 1 there is edge and weak LTE -116 around that,I just can't do anthing for the phone to pick up band12 signal. I am running true-pure-x MM
always band4 or HSPA/+ or EDGE.
I have a love/hate relationship with Verizon . My Note 3 is soon to be long in the tooth when marshmallow is more imperative than it is now, i'll likely buy a 6P. So , I am planning for a few months in the future. I l,ike the idea of buying a 6P to see if the stronger radio end my problems with verizon at home-- and if not i will move to t-moble or Fi.
1. are there any major advances hi tech verizon service that do not easily function on the 6p?
2. t-mobile's band 12, wifi calling and hi def will they are ultimately work well on the 6p?
when everything is a fixed as it will get, i will figure out what to do
i would appreciate thoughts and suggestion from those more knowledgeable then i am.
I'm currently on T-Mobile and band 12, WiFi calling, and HD voice all work on my Nexus 6P after the most recent 6.0.1 update. I can't comment on Verizon though since I'm not on that network.
I'm on verizon. I don't use visual voicemail, but I've read that people have had trouble with it. So if you use it, you might want to look into that. Otherwise, VOLTE (having LTE active while on a call) works great. I used to have a Note 3 and hated the signal strength that i had. With the 6p, signal's been great. I used to switch to 3g all the time at work and even at home sometimes. With the 6p, i've not had a single instance of it switching to 3g.
pipnmike said:
I'm on verizon. I don't use visual voicemail, but I've read that people have had trouble with it. So if you use it, you might want to look into that. Otherwise, VOLTE (having LTE active while on a call) works great. I used to have a Note 3 and hated the signal strength that i had. With the 6p, signal's been great. I used to switch to 3g all the time at work and even at home sometimes. With the 6p, i've not had a single instance of it switching to 3g.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been using the 6P on Verizon for over a month now. Below are my thoughts:
1) Visual voicemail does not work, but you can use youmail or Google Voice without issues.
2) Signal has been outstanding. I came from the 6s plus which would drop to 3G all the time. This has not been an issue on the 6P.
3) VoLTE works flawlessly.
slimc84 said:
I have been using the 6P on Verizon for over a month now. Below are my thoughts:
1) Visual voicemail does not work, but you can use youmail or Google Voice without issues.
2) Signal has been outstanding. I came from the 6s plus which would drop to 3G all the time. This has not been an issue on the 6P.
3) VoLTE works flawlessly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a iPhone 6 Plus for work, also on Verizon. My 6p has been much better for signal strength.
Thanks.......
Bob in miami, fl
I have both a Verizon and T-Mobile SIM that I swap between my 6P and have no problems. I get band 13 and 4 on Verizon and bands 2, 4, and 12 on T-Mobile. I easily get around 100Mbps on both carriers. I don't use WiFi calling however.
does wifi calling on t-moble work with:
-t-mobile; or
-project Fi
----------------------------------
do t-mobile advanced features and band 12 work with project Fi?
i travel by car from miami, fl to orlando
-verizon has good coverage in the rural ares
-does t-mobile or project Fi have good coverage from pt st lucie to south of orlando eg yee haw junction[this is a real town]???
So far I have been using T-mobile and it has been outstanding (Actually T-mobile is better than AT&T's coverage) and when it hits, it switches to a different network with the roaming stuff. For the voicemail, there is an excellent app called youmail, which is better than the normal voice mail because you can customize a lot of stuff in it.
I am one of the folks seeing terrible signal issues with my phone. It drop service in areas where no other TMobile phone has. I have an open ticket with essential and have not heard back.
Some folks seem to have no issues with TMobile and the phone. I am wondering if it is related to what TMobile bands they are using.
I am using band 4.
Are folks that are not having signal issues on different bands? I know it is a long shot but would be curious to know if those that don't have problems are on different frequencies.
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
How do you check which band you're on?
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Download the LTE Discovery app from the Play Store. You will see your connected LTE band in the top left box. You can download it from here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.simplyadvanced.ltediscovery
Sent from my SM-G955U using XDA-Developers Legacy app
I'm on band 12. My TMobile LTE+ data connection throughput sucks.
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
knome said:
I'm on band 12. My TMobile LTE+ data connection throughput sucks.
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What phone are you coming from and how did it compare. I was really hoping that those on the lower mhz frequencies would be doing better than those on the higher frequencies.
This was based on the fact that folks on Verizon and ATT seem to have less signal issues and they generally use the lower frequencies where TMobile still has a ton of Band 4 higher frequency coverage.
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
This phone doesn't work for $#1t on T-Mobile. I tried to cancel before they sent, they ignored me, and now trying to get anyone to respond to return the damn thing. They've been ignoring requests to communicate. I hate this company. Worse experience than buying a no name Chinese phone.
My phone is working perfectly on T-Mobile band 4, I have no problems with either data or signal. Phone calls, internet, display, everything is perfect. This phone is one of the best experiences I have so far this year, and believe me I got several phones during this year. One plus 3T, one plus 5, Huawei 9 Pro, Xiaomi Mi Mix, galaxy S8 Plus, HTC U11 international version, pixel XL, Huawei P10 plus, I have my note 8 still in the package because this phone is so good. And this phone is in my top 4 so far.
Sent from my PH-1 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
I'm on band 12 and have a slightly better connection than with my old HTC 10. And overall it's been a tiny bit better for me everywhere.
Lucky people on band 12, I'm rarely on that band. Always always on band 4 on Tmo even though the Cali bay area is supposed to be blanketed in band 12...
I'm in the Foothills area of North Carolina and almost always using Band 4. I have had terrible service with this phone similar to you. No other phone I have has struggled to connect to the cell towers like this one does. It either loses signal completely or the signal is so weak the phone doesn't work. This is happening in areas where my iPhone 7 Plus, Axon 7, and Pixel XL work fine. I've had to resort to WiFi calling for it to be reliable. I started a support ticket last week and after trading emails with them and waiting an average of 30 hours for each response after 3 days I got fed up and I filed a complaint with the BBB. The very next day I received an email stating they had "initiated your return request" claiming I will receive a package within 5-7 business days. They are exchanging it for a new one. We'll see. That was Friday 09/08/17 and so far I have not seen any kind of a shipping notice. I may not get one however so I'll just have to wait the number of days and see what happens. The email said I will receive a package from their partners at Asurion so they may not send tracking info. Essential the company is very hard to deal with. I was never able to talk to someone over the phone. When I called I basically was told by a voice message to send in an email "for faster service". Boy that's a joke. I'm hoping I will receive a new phone and not just a box and label to send the original one back in.
Anyway, my signal strength varies from 3 bars to no bars in the areas where other phones have 3-4 bars with reliable service.Using a signal strength app it reports an average of -10 dBm weaker signal than all those other phones.
I just got my phone today and it's working beautifully on TMO Band 2. Not having any issues at all!
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
foopy said:
I'm in the Foothills area of North Carolina and almost always using Band 4. I have had terrible service with this phone similar to you. No other phone I have has struggled to connect to the cell towers like this one does. It either loses signal completely or the signal is so weak the phone doesn't work. This is happening in areas where my iPhone 7 Plus, Axon 7, and Pixel XL work fine. I've had to resort to WiFi calling for it to be reliable. I started a support ticket last week and after trading emails with them and waiting an average of 30 hours for each response after 3 days I got fed up and I filed a complaint with the BBB. The very next day I received an email stating they had "initiated your return request" claiming I will receive a package within 5-7 business days. They are exchanging it for a new one. We'll see. That was Friday 09/08/17 and so far I have not seen any kind of a shipping notice. I may not get one however so I'll just have to wait the number of days and see what happens. The email said I will receive a package from their partners at Asurion so they may not send tracking info. Essential the company is very hard to deal with. I was never able to talk to someone over the phone. When I called I basically was told by a voice message to send in an email "for faster service". Boy that's a joke. I'm hoping I will receive a new phone and not just a box and label to send the original one back in.
Anyway, my signal strength varies from 3 bars to no bars in the areas where other phones have 3-4 bars with reliable service.Using a signal strength app it reports an average of -10 dBm weaker signal than all those other phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in Raleigh NC and have mostly band 4 and connection issues. I still have not heard back from Essential service on a replacement.
It almost seems as if they are trying to wait me out for the return period and not respond.
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
In West L.A. and currently on Band 2 and getting about 50Mbs down.
I know his might sound bad,but I had the same connection issues and tried to reach out to support with no luck. Ended up selling the device for more than I paid on a reputable site which I won’t name..... within about ten minutes also?
I've tried the phone all over LA and being on band 12 Tmobile, I've basically noticed that the phone really flies when the signal is good, but when the cell signal is slightly sub-optimal, the data throughput goes into the toilet. I don't know if the antennas just suck, if I'm holding it wrong, or if the design just hinders the performance, but compared to my pixel XL, the slower speed is extremely noticeable.
I have a guess as to why the antennas struggle though, they might just be too small or obstructed for anything but strong/clear signals because even though the back is ceramic, signals are not able to go through it. At the essential launch event in LA. they showed how the ceramic was laminated over a solid titanium backing on the frame. There aint no antennas under there
All I know is, this made the phone unusable for me, which sucked because I loved the design.
I finally got my replacement phone and the reception is no better. I have never had an issue with reception except for this phone. The essential phone is the first phone that can not hang onto a signal in my house.
I agree with the above this is an antenna issue and no software can fix it. The phone is unusable unless you have perfect signal.
Sent from my LON-L29 using Tapatalk
Yeah I gave up on using Tmo on this phone. Swapped it back to my Verizon sim and the service works well enough.
I live in Philadelphia northern suburbs and the PH-1 phone either hop on Band 12 (700 MHz) or Band 4 (1700/2100 MHz or AWS). When my phone is on Band 12, the speed test is in no more than 25 Mbps down/8 Mbps up at best. On Band 4, I get anywhere from 40-90 Mbps down/15-45 Mbps up. I thought that it was odd when I first got the Essential PH-1 phone but then I checked against "old" HTC 10, HTC A9 and Axon 7 mini. They all behaved the same, the signal strength was about the same and the same features, like VoLTE, HD Voice, etc. worked the same. The place where I work is a black hole for any mobile signal due to how the building is constructed so I have been relying on Wi-Fi Calling with all of my phones, including PH-1, for many years now. At home, the T-Mobile tower is about 500 ft. away but most of the time it is on Band 12 in my area so BW is no too high.
I read somewhere that in general T-Mobile only owns a small, 5x5 MHz chunk of bandwidth on Band 12 in most places in the US and probably cannot do 10x10, 15x15 or 20x20 MHz aggregations on Band 12. That is why T-Mobile went aggressively after Band 71 (600 MHz) and is doing Band 2 (1900 MHz or PCS) refarming and adding Band 66 (1700/2100 MHz or AWS-3) support. A lot of issues that I am experiencing with signal strength may be attributed to the T-Mobile tinkering with towers or doing some weird crap with their network. Simply not having enough bandwidth (i.e. 5x5 MHz vs. 15x15 MHz) could be a big factor. Here is the link to check how much bandwidth T-Mobile has in your corner of the US - http://www.spectrumgateway.com/t-mobile-spectrum-holdings. Pop your zip code in and you'll exactly what you have to play with.
Another factor that I can think of that separates this phone from the others is that it has 6 magnets crammed too close to other components and how they may affect an RF signal reception no one knows?
Hmm if it's all the Tmobile network shortcomings and them experimenting with weird configurations, I would assume that would affect my Pixel XL reception... but the pixel XL usually has 2x to 10x the speed of my PH-1. Maybe it's the magnets, or the titanium laminated ceramic back doesn't allow for enough antenna to be exposed to get a good signal when reception is not optimal...
How do you change lte bands on essential phone?
Hello, hope everyone is safe. Question: how many of you use the 5g in the US. Is it reliable? Since i got my mclaren back in December, i only used it once, wasnt happy with it and i have been using lte ever since.
albaniandroid said:
Hello, hope everyone is safe. Question: how many of you use the 5g in the US. Is it reliable? Since i got my mclaren back in December, i only used it once, wasnt happy with it and i have been using lte ever since.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using it in an area that was pretty weak, and it is working pretty good. It should get much better as the Sprint mid-range frequencies are turned on.
I thought the one plus mclerean was a low band phone not a mid band
last update added band n41, it's even listed on t-mobile site
I came to correct my post. I see that it can handle it just not mmwave or whatever they call it. Which I heard you can't get that through buildings. I only use my phone when I'm indoors
cgrimm9 said:
I thought the one plus mclerean was a low band phone not a mid band
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is, Sprint has the midband that will be used by Tmo for 5G.
Its good when it works. Theres one spot in town where it says its full bars but internet doesnt want to work until i swtich to lte. Im guessing its just an issue with that tower.
ErickF said:
Its good when it works. Theres one spot in town where it says its full bars but internet doesnt want to work until i swtich to lte. Im guessing its just an issue with that tower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
T-Mobile's 5G implementation is still pretty new and I've noticed that 5 g can sometimes be slower than LTE. That being said, I suspect that T-Mobile will improve this with time. What is nice is that 5G networks are exclusive to 5G capable phones, meaning congestion can sometimes be better, at least from my understanding. I'm glad to see US carriers finally embracing 5G, despite the fact that it may not be as capable as international variants. Time will tell if we see any significant improvements with 5G coverage.
I have noticed significant improvements in coverage when traveling. My job requires I travel around a lot, since I do electrical work for cell phone towers. Historically,4G LTE coverage with T-Mobile has been spotty in certain parts of the country, but comparing my Pixel 3a XL with LTE coverage versus my McLaren 5G has shown a huge improvement and overall coverage and speed!there have been times where my pixel will get around 5 mbps vs my OP7T Pro McLaren 5G will be hitting well into 80+!
I have seen improvement also. I had to use a TMo booster in my house it was so bad. I have turned it off now.
I sometimes turn off 5G and get better speeds on LTE. But I checked a spectrum map, TMobile doesn't have enough low band spectrum in my specific geographic region. Completing the Sprint merger should help with that, and the 7t McLaren can support the Sprint frequencies with just a software update.
Fortunately I spend almost no time in cities where mmWave would matter, that's the only thing this phone can't do that other 5g phones can.
I have 5g in my rural town but the past two days the network has been acting up they might be working on the towers or something. Even my 4glte kicks of and on including my 5g.....
In my geography 5g is slower than 4g, but I checked a spectrum map and Tmo only has the minimum possible low band spectrum in my city and region. I've heard 5g works better if Tmo has 20mhz or more, and the addition of Dish licencing deals and Sprint spectrum is supposed to help later in 2020.
Anyway I'm usually just staying home using WiFi so it doesn't matter that much at the moment.
I get 110 mbs a second wear side of town and 30 mbs middle of town with 5g but I have a constant connection with 5g with 4g lte I sometimes have to reload pages cause of congestion