Podivin
Android Expert
That's a great idea - keep us posted on what you determine.
Out of idle curiosity, did you pay for both phones, or put them on your bill and will have one credited back later (less restocking fee I presume)?
-
After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.
VZW: How to diagnose and debug the radio issue!
- Thread starter BigRedNole
- Start date
-
- Tags
- galaxy nexus
That's a great idea - keep us posted on what you determine.
Out of idle curiosity, did you pay for both phones, or put them on your bill and will have one credited back later (less restocking fee I presume)?
syntrix
Android Expert
doesn't even open on my VZW SGN. Just a panel/logo and it's 1/4 screen size. Nothing after this. Uninstalling.
jkc120
Android Expert
Yes, I had the nexus set to CDMA only for all those measurements.
jkc120
Android Expert
Here you go!
http://androidforums.com/verizon-ga...al-twitter-campaign-real-fix.html#post3702139
Rather than drive to another VZW store, I decided to walk around the mall and check dBm/asu readings and run speed tests at various places. The results are all in that thread.
Another interesting tidbit: the nexus sitting 6 inches from the rezound was trouncing it on speed test results and the razr was on par with the nexus, but slightly slower. But it ALSO dropped data connection entirely and I had to toggle airport mode to get it back (maybe one of those bad sims?).
There is no problem (outside of the inevitable faulty phones that a subset of customers always receive), other than the bars on the Nexus reporting signal strength differently than other LTE phones:
AnandTech - Investigating the Galaxy Nexus LTE Signal Issue
The bars are low on my phone (only ever 1 or 2), but I also haven't had issues with my data connection. I think the AnandTech article explains the "issue" pretty clearly.
BlueBiker
Android Expert
First of all, we've discussed that article to death the last few days. Secondly, why don't you track down all of the people who can't connect on their phones and tell them their problems are imaginary. Just because YOU have no problem does not mean that NOBODY has problems. Is that so hard to understand?
But I will concede that jkc120's results above are eye-opening.
syntrix
Android Expert
First of all, we've discussed that article to death the last few days. Secondly, why don't you track down all of the people who can't connect on their phones and tell them their problems are imaginary. Just because YOU have no problem does not mean that NOBODY has problems. Is that so hard to understand?
But I will concede that jkc120's results above are eye-opening.
see the twitter hash link above. I posted how to contact VZW. Call 'em from a different phone and they can do some troubleshooting with you.
I can connect just fine, where my old charge or bionic would have issues. Not saying that people don't have a problem, but people are quick to come to assumptions on what the actual problem might be.
BlueBiker
Android Expert
That was good info. I'm not a Nexus owner, just someone annoyed at smug posts dismissing the misfortune of others.
True, and I hope people won't be returning or exchanging their phones based solely on bars in the absence of any actual problems they've experienced.
So syntrix, what do you make of jkc120's results? Representative of most Nexus in most locations?
Joshieca
Member
So I am wondering something....I own a Droid Razr and its pissing me off. I just updated it to the most current software that Verizon/Moto released and it was to fix the 4G/3G problem, but it hasn't. Here is what I am experiencing...
My phone will just switch from 4G to 3G to No G at random times even when the phone hasn't been moved (remaining on a desk or sofa). This causes a total loss of communication with the data radios -- missing data, email, text messages etc. Once I notice the phone has done this I have to either reboot or switch to airplane mode for a minute and switch back; this usually causes the data radios to reset.
I had this trouble on the Bionic as well and was looking to exchange the Razr for the Nexus...but it sounds like you guys/gals are having similar issues, or is this not the case?
My phone will just switch from 4G to 3G to No G at random times even when the phone hasn't been moved (remaining on a desk or sofa). This causes a total loss of communication with the data radios -- missing data, email, text messages etc. Once I notice the phone has done this I have to either reboot or switch to airplane mode for a minute and switch back; this usually causes the data radios to reset.
I had this trouble on the Bionic as well and was looking to exchange the Razr for the Nexus...but it sounds like you guys/gals are having similar issues, or is this not the case?
syntrix
Android Expert
I hear ya, this is a forum that attracts 'em all.
Personally, the razr and droid dropped out more, and got lower speeds. The bionic, I only had for a week while activated, but I heard that another engineer down the hall got one, so maybe I can convince him to test, too. (maybe I can make a microsim adapter and try my unactivated bionic, too!)
signal is the same between them all (SGN in forced 3G mode).
This is my location at the office, my region, and this one sample. I'm not saying that everyone should experience what we are seeing here. I don't have the data drops, I don't have data stalls (like with the several charge's I had).
So to answer your question... I don't have access to most nexuses in most locations
jkc120
Android Expert
I personally haven't experienced a drop from 4G to 3G except when entering a building that I assume has an architecture/composition that nukes the 4G signal. I dropped off of 3G 4-5 times for brief periods in driving through rural NE PA (between Washington Crossing, PA and Scranton, PA), but other than that I have not observed the behavior you describe.
But, coincidentally, I was just at the local mall and the razr they had on display was showing 4G/LTE and 4/5 bars (I know, the bars are 3G, just being thorough with my description). I went to run the speedtest.net app on it, and it was hung on "finding nearest server" or whatever. A few seconds later, the 4G/LTE icon went away and was replaced by a light gray bar image with a red x or line through it or something like that. I had to toggle airplane mode on/off to get data back...sounds similar to what you're describing.
syntrix
Android Expert
It just said improved 3g/4g connectivity, didn't mention switching.
DROID RAZR Update Rolling Out Now – Droid Life
I've had the bionic, even with the 1.5 week old update, and the bionic still had the data drops, etc.
RAZR girls at the office (no man has a RAZR, just girls with small hands, weird huh?) get the data drops, too.
Will a SGN be better? Don't know. What I learned from the Droid Charge was that basically everything is out the window, could be region, could be date sticker under the battery, could be solar spots, really could be anything. Or just luck of the draw!
BlueBiker
Android Expert
I remember reading an article that says the reason why so many people have an issue with the constant switch between 3g/4g is because they use two different technologies. Something about authentication on them and what not and sometimes the phones just will not re-authenticate and thats when you guys are switching to Air Plane mode and it fixes it. Its not the devices its VZW.
As for receive signal on the Nexus I havent really noticed an issue. It shows about the same as my old TB and my wifes TB. There isn't much they can do to change that other than show you a different number to make you feel better. The sensitivity can be adjusted so it will accept a lower signal and call it good enough to call from or maybe if there is a pre-amplifier in there they can adjust it slightly. That could come with the unwanted effect of added noise though too.
As for receive signal on the Nexus I havent really noticed an issue. It shows about the same as my old TB and my wifes TB. There isn't much they can do to change that other than show you a different number to make you feel better. The sensitivity can be adjusted so it will accept a lower signal and call it good enough to call from or maybe if there is a pre-amplifier in there they can adjust it slightly. That could come with the unwanted effect of added noise though too.
First of all, we've discussed that article to death the last few days. Secondly, why don't you track down all of the people who can't connect on their phones and tell them their problems are imaginary. Just because YOU have no problem does not mean that NOBODY has problems. Is that so hard to understand?
But I will concede that jkc120's results above are eye-opening.
Which is why I said "outside of the inevitable faulty phones that a subset of customers always receive".
Anyway, no need to be so touchy about the situation - if you are having a problem with your phone, exchange or return it.
Anyway, good luck with getting your phone sorted out.
I had (and still have, after today's OTA update) this exact issue with my Razr. I have found the GNex to be a lot better in this respect. The only issue I have seen on my GNex so far, is the built-in weather widget not updating when using current location (says something like weather not available). Hope that gets updated, but there are better weather widgets out there, so it's not a critical issue - more an annoyance than anything else.
Right. And not saying there's no problem here, and no doubt there are a number of defective GNexs floating around out there. However, I haven't seen evidence that this is a systemic issue with all GNexs.
Nonetheless, the issue has been raised, and the VZW techs are undoubtedly still looking at other aspects of this that may or may not be a problem.
ska.t73
Android Expert
^^^^This
It happened on my TBolt all the time, have yet to have it happen on my GNex (except of course when they had the huge data outage)...
ska.t73
Android Expert
Unfortunately that is one of the few drawbacks of our internet culture. You have a few people with an issue posting in a forum or a blog and they seem like a majority, when in actually they are a very very minute representation of the whole. Then you have some people that will troll (not saying that is anyone here) just to troll and post that they have the same issue, or that phone A sucks and has nothing but problems.
While it is good to get the real issues out there, it is hard sometimes to sift through.
sdrawkcab25
Extreme Android User
Eastern pa. Cell companies will basically put their equipment on anything that is high up including the roofs of high rise buildings. And like others have said, if you get too close to a tower you will lose signal. ( i work for a Telecom company and have been inside quite a few cell towers) Although cell signals bounce they still rely highly on line of sight.
ska.t73
Android Expert
Not sure, all I can tell you is that it happened all the time on my TBolt... I have yet to have it happen on the GNex...
BubbaNexus
Android Enthusiast
LOL! Yeah, I am sitting back and laughing at these posts. Everyone is crying about 4G. BOO HOO.
I can only get 3G where I am at and the best data transfer was 400 kbps.
^^^^Snails around here move faster.LOL.
this and the posts about the live wallpaper being buggy make me laugh
BlueBiker
Android Expert
You're right. I should've disagreed without being snotty.
Sorry about that Feudal1. -BB