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Help Atrix reception issue

A

artmann

Newbie
Any of you having the phone show 3 or 4 bars and suddenly drops to 1 or no service for a second and goes back up to 3 or 4 bars. It seems to be worse depending on how I hold the phone.

I am in Houston and the AT&T signal in this area is pretty good. My wife has an iphone4 and she doesn't have this problem on her phone. At my house, the Atrix would go to Edge sometimes where the 3G is weak. On the iphone, it would usually stay on 3G without trouble.

Around town, most of the time the phone does not even show the full 5 bars, mostly 3 or 4 and occasionally 5.

Today, I was driving around town and talking on the phone and it dropped several calls. When I looked at the phone, it showed 1 or 2 bars.

Any thoughts?


Update (3/10/11): Got a replacement phone from AT&T and the second one is doing the same thing. Signal would drop out to no service for a second and goes back to several bars. Love the phone otherwise, but I am going to return it and get a refund.
 
I had the same exact problem. My phone would show 4 bars one second, and then a second later I would get a red circle with a line through it. This would happen in areas where I previously had no problems with multiple iphones, the captivate or the inspire.

I contacted AT&T a couple of times. They tried a new sim and when that didn't work, they sent signals out to my phone. Nothing worked, so I exchanged for a new Atrix. Same problems with the new phone, so I ended up returning the Atrix altogether.

Very frustrating.
 
I have been noticing the same thing. In areas where my Blackberry 9700 got perfect signal all around town, the Atrix will often be at 1 or 2 bars, sometimes none. Not so much an issue with dropped calls, so much as not even being able to receive calls and them going straight to VM and data not coming through.
 
Also want to mention I was using a Nokia E63 before and had no issues with reception at home or around town. This makes me to believe there is something strange going on with the Atrix.

I have a microcell at work and before the Atrix, I had no drop calls. With the Atrix, I noticed it started have some dropped calls and even went to voice mail once or twice when someone tried to call me.

:mad:
 
registered here just to post about this same issue.

came from an iphone 3g, which had excellent reception, both 3G and wifi. got the atrix a couple days ago and reception is simply AWFUL. constantly hovering at 1 bar, sometimes switching to Edge. meanwhile, my wife's iphone is usually at full bars. similar issue with wifi... the atrix often disconnects and says "obtaining IP address" over and over. meanwhile, wife's iphone (and our laptops) are connected perfectly fine.

already went to at&t to get a new SIM - no luck. will try exchanging for a new atrix, but if problem persists, i'm returning the phone. from what i can tell, it's a great phone. however, it could be most powerful device ever in the universe with the best features, but that's all POINTLESS if the thing can't even hold a decent signal. :mad:
 
cregal121 said:
registered here just to post about this same issue.

came from an iphone 3g, which had excellent reception, both 3G and wifi. got the atrix a couple days ago and reception is simply AWFUL. constantly hovering at 1 bar, sometimes switching to Edge. meanwhile, my wife's iphone is usually at full bars. similar issue with wifi... the atrix often disconnects and says "obtaining IP address" over and over. meanwhile, wife's iphone (and our laptops) are connected perfectly fine.

already went to at&t to get a new SIM - no luck. will try exchanging for a new atrix, but if problem persists, i'm returning the phone. from what i can tell, it's a great phone. however, it could be most powerful device ever in the universe with the best features, but that's all POINTLESS if the thing can't even hold a decent signal. :mad:
Click to expand...


I have similar wi-fi issue. Sometimes it would drop the wi-fi connection and goes back to cellular data for a second or two before it obtain IP again and back to wi-fi.
 
I wonder if the people having the issues are in areas with poor 3G support (relatively speaking), given the "handshake issue" with the Atrix and the various classes of HSPA/HSPA+. The phone may be struggling to determine which protocol to use.
 
I can tell you that I am in an area with fantastic 3G coverage where my Blackberry 9700 had full bars almost all of the time and was rarely, if ever on EDGE. So I would say no, it is not an issue of coverage.

I am going to go to the store today or tomorrow and exchange my Atrix for a new one and see if it makes any difference.
 
I cannot believe people are having such bad reception problems. I switched from an iPhones 3gs and a 4 and have such better reception . I am actually typing this in an area where I could barely get service with the iphones and I have 4 bars and H+ with the atrix.
 
ycrazyy said:
I can tell you that I am in an area with fantastic 3G coverage where my Blackberry 9700 had full bars almost all of the time and was rarely, if ever on EDGE. So I would say no, it is not an issue of coverage.

I am going to go to the store today or tomorrow and exchange my Atrix for a new one and see if it makes any difference.
Click to expand...

Fair enough however my Android phone reports "4 out of 5 bars", yet my signal strength is only -92dBm..."bars display" is relative, and one may still be in a marginal signal area. Some phones just may be better at signal management.
 
Ok, this might sound a bit fishy, but I tried something old school with my Atrix and it worked.

Back in the day of the blackberry pearl, putting a piece of silver foil behind the battery helped increase the signal strength. Just for S&G's I tried it with the Atrix and the reception went up 1 bar immediately from where it was before placed on my desk.

Of course, YMMV, but its harmless and inexpensive to try out.
 
I am having the same exact issue as artmann. Any update on this issue. I don't think exchanging the phone for a new one will solve the problem. I am from the NYC area. IS this a ATT network problem?
 
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