jkc120
Android Expert
Aluminum siding. But I'm sitting in front of a 10'x5' window in the front of the house, literally like 3' from the spot where I got -83 dBm / 4 asu on LTE. Here where I sit now, I have a -93 dBm / 2 asu eHRPD (3G) connection.
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VZW: How to diagnose and debug the radio issue!
- Thread starter BigRedNole
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- galaxy nexus
Aluminum siding. But I'm sitting in front of a 10'x5' window in the front of the house, literally like 3' from the spot where I got -83 dBm / 4 asu on LTE. Here where I sit now, I have a -93 dBm / 2 asu eHRPD (3G) connection.
Dubbin1
Android Expert
Aluminum siding. But I'm sitting in front of a 10'x5' window in the front of the house, literally like 3' from the spot where I got -83 dBm / 4 asu on LTE. Here where I sit now, I have a -93 dBm / 2 asu eHRPD (3G) connection.
Maybe the tower is on the other side of your house. Being by a window doesn't mean anything
Just be happy you're not getting the -117 where I'm sitting at as I type this. Funny thing is that I still get 2 bars of 4g.
This is definitely not going to help your reception.
Dubbin1
Android Expert
That's what I was getting at
I know that's part of my problem, and that's why I haven't been complaining about the signal strength. My OG Droid didn't get a much better signal.
I think a lot of people here are confusing the issues
1. The Nexus is the ONLY phone that displays proper LTE signal anywhere in the OS. Android 2.3 does NOT support reporting LTE signal. All other phones JUST show the 4G icon when connected to 4G, but nothing else. Their signal strength bars are displaying CDMA strength. The Nexus is NOT displaying CDMA strength.
2. Unless you are ripping logcats from two Verizon devices, you do not have an accurate representation or understanding of comparative signal level. Just because you witness bars moving and dBM changing doesn't mean you have an accurate representation of what is going on.
3. The dropping 4G and being knocked down to 3G issue sounds exactly like the SIM authentication issues, and guess what, everybody is having them as every device succumbs to this every now and again. Yes, some more than others, and like the RAZR, this will have to be tweaked.
4. Verizon isn't giving you the "run around for a crappy radio". The radio is fine as far as 4G performance goes. CDMA/3G will probably need a little tweaking. Actually what everyone SHOULD be angry about is that, as of right now, the Nexus is MORE ACCURATELY displaying signal than every other LTE device, which is a GOOD thing. Verizon is going to change the bars to make them LESS accurate in order to compensate for other device's shortcomings.
Sigh...here we go with everyone hating Verizon again.
Now my thing about all this is phone reception. Dont show me LTE signals when I have a phone that uses CDMA for phone reception. Show me CDMA, like my Droid 1 and Droid X.
If/when 3G is ever phased out all the way and its all LTE only, when we are using VoIP with LTE....thats another story.
Until then...show me readings for phone reception, not data.
jkc120
Android Expert
Maybe the tower is on the other side of your house. Being by a window doesn't mean anything
Just be happy you're not getting the -117 where I'm sitting at as I type this. Funny thing is that I still get 2 bars of 4g.
I get -115 on 4G, then it just gives up on 4G and drops to 3G.
jkc120
Android Expert
If you set it to CDMA only in the network settings, it does show you the 3G signal.
callmeox
Android Enthusiast
Yeah, I put the thing into WiFi mode and it couldn't find my router... three feet from the phone: UNINSTALLED.
Good news is I tried going into and out of airplane mode, and my Rez now does 4G inside the house. Didn't know it could do that. Yayyyyy!
In order to locate something like a wireless router, the receiver needs to correlate signal strength with a known point many times over. There is no way to pinpoint location with one reading.
In ham radio, we do "fox hunting" with directional antennas to locate a radio transmitter hidden for the purpose. Standing still and pointing the antenna toward the transmitter gives you the direction and signal stenght from one point. Each time you take a strength and direction reading from a different point, you gain accuracy.
With GPS, the more satellites that your unit can see, the more accurate the location reading.
With that in mind...
If you move around outside with the locator app running and your GPS on, does it do a better job finding towers?
I'm in a metal Bldg. Today I had 3 bars 4g, pulling 17k down on the speed test. A guy standing next to me w/ a T-bolt couldn't get a 4g signal, only 3G. I don't know wha that means, but I also had 4G today in a small town near the middle of nowhere.
I didn't even think the area HAD 4g yet.
I didn't even think the area HAD 4g yet.
Dubbin1
Android Expert
Man I haven't done that in YEARS.
BlueBiker
Android Expert
jkc120
Android Expert
jkc120's house:
Correction: jkc120's in-laws' house.
If it were just my in-laws' house, I would agree. However, every building I have walked into in the last few days with my wife has had the signal drop from 4G to 3G (if I had 4G at all) and in many cases I lost 3G entirely while my wife's iPhone was operating fine.
callmeox
Android Enthusiast
I'm a young guy compared to the old school ham radio geeks, but it is fun to learn the old tech. So much of it is still great to know info.
A far as my Gnex goes, I get no 4g in the half of my house away from the tower and decent signal on the other half. I don't have lead lined walls, but the LTE penetration seems awful for something in the 700 MHz band.
One assumption that everyone seems to be making is that the radios are calbrated properly so that a dbm reading on one model is the same as then others and this may not be the case. The digital dbm readout is a software calculation, just like the bars. If the meter software is buggy, it could cause the thrashing between 3g and 4g modes.
Somewhere along the way code has to tell the CPU how to parse the wave based signal. If that code is hosed, there's your SW problem.
jkc120
Android Expert
You're absolutely right, though. Stood right outside the back door and re-ran my speed tests. Also, the server it defaulted to for the tests in the front yard was garbage. I pointed to the NY, NY server and am getting much better results. I'll go edit my post in the other thread to reflect that.
So out back on the steps, I had "2/4 bars" of 4G and my speed results were:
16971/2873
15137/2784
15579/2346
Walked in the back door, closed the door and stood about 1' from it. Re-ran test (4G was still on and showed 1 bar). Speed tests there show:
9165/1069
7578/759
And I just noticed I sat down where I was at 3G before (on the couch by the front window) and that I still have 1 bar of 4G. Running tests there, I get:
4887/81
Upload was very erratic and paused about 41% into the test and finished up at 81 kbps after starting around 280-290 kbps.
And after that last test, it dropped back down to 3G in my couch/window location.
So yeah, this house definitely interferes with the signal. So did my building at work, my parents house in PA (only 3G there, but still affected signal significantly) and the signal in a xmas store/nursery near my parents house (also affected 3G only, since it was a 3G only area).
Let us remember too that higher freqs travel further than lower ones and lower freqs penetrate buildings better than higher ones. If memory serves doesnt VZW use a lower freq for LTE? Would explain why you can walk in your house and your signal drop then switch to 3g. Even though it switched to 3G and only went up by 15dBm its a different freq and youre still in doors.
Dubbin1
Android Expert
jkc120
Android Expert
I certainly hope you're right. I really do. But Verizon's initial response is not promising. There is obviously some sort of problem. I don't buy the "it's displaying wrong" thing for one minute. For them to not ack there is a problem and instead blame it on the bars' display just doesn't give me much hope they will do anything about it. Time will tell I guess.
crackers8199
Android Enthusiast
as for the 3g radio being crappy...my nexus and dinc are sitting on the table right now, right next to each other.
dinc says -81. nexus says -83.
if i move them less than 6 inches to the edge of the table, the dinc drops to -88 while the nexus stays at -83.
i'm 3g only...no 4g here, and this is on the leaked radio.
dinc says -81. nexus says -83.
if i move them less than 6 inches to the edge of the table, the dinc drops to -88 while the nexus stays at -83.
i'm 3g only...no 4g here, and this is on the leaked radio.
BubbaNexus
Android Enthusiast
What signal issue? Swap your phone or move out of the boonies if you want stronger signal strength.
My gn is as good as any other phone ive had where signs is concerned.
My gn is as good as any other phone ive had where signs is concerned.
civicsisedan
Android Expert
I dont understand why people are saying its displaying true 4g signal like it mattera.
What matters is i go inside and it drops to 3g speeds. I dont care how good my wifes rezound signal is, i care that she is able to still get 4g speeds inside.
Blaming it on reading true 4g signal is irrelevant because its saying theres no true 4g signal inside so it drops to 3g.
But a rezound and sratosphere also made by samsung magicallu get fake 4g signal and 4g speeds
What matters is i go inside and it drops to 3g speeds. I dont care how good my wifes rezound signal is, i care that she is able to still get 4g speeds inside.
Blaming it on reading true 4g signal is irrelevant because its saying theres no true 4g signal inside so it drops to 3g.
But a rezound and sratosphere also made by samsung magicallu get fake 4g signal and 4g speeds
jkc120
Android Expert
This address (my in-laws') is well within the 4G coverage area/map. I get a decent signal outside, but as I've come to learn I'm sitting in a 1000+ sq. ft. faraday cage hahahha. Not much you can do about that...
Unfortunately, even my modern (like only 6 years old) home in California also seems to kill the 4G signal where I am. I can't test it at the moment, but I was dropping from 3 bars to 1 bar of 4G and it was much slower than my 22/5 comcast cable connection so I just used wifi at home.
There's no way to get the dBm of the 3G signal on an iPhone 4 (VZW) right? I did a bit of googling, and it didn't seem to be possible without hackery. I'd love to compare my wife's iPhone 4 and my nexus side by side. Come to think of it, I do have my dinc with me. Will it still show the signal settings even though it's not activated on a line? I could do some surveying with the two side by side around my in-laws' house outside as well as inside (we'll call it "fardayville" from now on) and compare the two in a number of locations.
jkc120
Android Expert
I wish I had a rezound to bring into my in-laws' house (faradayville) and see if it also dropped 4G. I have a feeling it wouldn't, but I'm not willing to spend $35 and then get stuck with one to test it out.
not sure if someone pointed this out, if you were directly under the tower you would get no signal. The way the signal goes is out and flat (donut shaped) and not spherical from the tower. This gives great spread but means the sweet spot is not as close to the tower as you would think.
civicsisedan
Android Expert
I wish I had a rezound to bring into my in-laws' house (faradayville) and see if it also dropped 4G. I have a feeling it wouldn't, but I'm not willing to spend $35 and then get stuck with one to test it out.
If the rezound had ics... itd be better.
The rezound radio is amazing. Plain and simple.
Could always return the nexus get a refund. Then purchase rezound and still have the exchange.
Or exchange for rezound and return it for refund and buy nexus.