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first step in resolving signal strength

O

opeets

Member
What is the first step I should take in trying to resolve my poor signal strength issue? I've had my Gnex since it was released on Day 1.

I can't take the fact that the phone can do some many neat things but it gets terrible data reception. I have to rely on WiFi most of the time.

As an example, I just had one grey 3G bar 2 minutes ago. After rebooting, I now have two blue 3G bars. WHY? I didn't move from my desk during or after the reboot.
 
I started a recent thread on this issue:

Support Poor Signal Strength - Galaxy Nexus

http://androidforums.com/samsung-ga...signal-strength-galaxy-nexus.html#post4141331


I suggest contacting Verizon support. Their first step was to send me a new sim card that did not help. A technician is supposed to be here tomorrow to determine if it is their network or my phone.

The more people that contact Verizon about this issue, the higher it will rise in their priorities.
 
JamesSJ said:
I started a recent thread on this issue:

Support Poor Signal Strength - Galaxy Nexus

http://androidforums.com/samsung-ga...signal-strength-galaxy-nexus.html#post4141331


I suggest contacting Verizon support. Their first step was to send me a new sim card that did not help. A technician is supposed to be here tomorrow to determine if it is their network or my phone.

The more people that contact Verizon about this issue, the higher it will rise in their priorities.
Click to expand...

there is not a whole lot verizon can do about it....other phones are perfectly fine in the same area.

THIS IS A SAMSUNG ISSUE. their radios are, and always have been, of the weak variety. why they choose these radios...who knows.

fact of the matter is, dotn pay attention to the signal bars...the Gnex shows signal bars differently
and while my gnex does in fact get worse signal than my previous phones (per the dbm reading) i still have never dropped a call, or been without signal.

the 4.0.4 update includes new radios which help out a bit. so either wait it out for the OTA, or unlock and root and flash the new radios now.

you can also boot your phone without the sim card installed, then put it back in and use it. this manually updates the PRL and i noticed i got good 4g reception where i normally would be on 3g. so it may help you out.

but again, this is not verizons fault, they can't do anything about it. once the OTA hits, i have a feeling there are going to be about 1/8th the amount of signal issue threads on the forums.
 
Turdbogls said:
there is not a whole lot verizon can do about it....other phones are perfectly fine in the same area.

THIS IS A SAMSUNG ISSUE. their radios are, and always have been, of the weak variety. why they choose these radios...who knows.

fact of the matter is, dotn pay attention to the signal bars...the Gnex shows signal bars differently
and while my gnex does in fact get worse signal than my previous phones (per the dbm reading) i still have never dropped a call, or been without signal.

the 4.0.4 update includes new radios which help out a bit. so either wait it out for the OTA, or unlock and root and flash the new radios now.

you can also boot your phone without the sim card installed, then put it back in and use it. this manually updates the PRL and i noticed i got good 4g reception where i normally would be on 3g. so it may help you out.

but again, this is not verizons fault, they can't do anything about it. once the OTA hits, i have a feeling there are going to be about 1/8th the amount of signal issue threads on the forums.
Click to expand...

Not to be argumentative, but I'm going to anyway. ;) :D

I wouldn't necessarily say that Samsung radios are bad, it is more of a problem with the firmware they have running the radios than anything else. Samsung flip phones were among the very best you could buy back in the day. The firmware they use on Android phones is just bad for some reason, but they usually update it and improve the overall quality. I also wouldn't say that Verizon is completely blameless in this. They were testing radio firmware that reported much better signal in dBms before the phone was even released. Why they haven't pushed those out in an OTA is anybodies guess.
 
I agree that Samsung android radio firmwares are somewhat weak and main culprit for data reception issues some of us are having. I used two samsung feature phones before android came, they were all excellent in call quality/reception.
 
i point the finger at Samsung and Verizon both. I think they share the blame here. Radio firmware is an integration event between the two parties. I can't imagine why they are taking so long. Sadly it is conveying a bad Android/Google experience to a lot of people that aren't geeks like us. Average joes and lady joes just look at it like "dang this android phone sucks". I really wish they would do something quick.
 
trophynuts said:
i point the finger at Samsung and Verizon both. I think they share the blame here. Radio firmware is an integration event between the two parties. I can't imagine why they are taking so long. Sadly it is conveying a bad Android/Google experience to a lot of people that aren't geeks like us. Average joes and lady joes just look at it like "dang this android phone sucks". I really wish they would do something quick.
Click to expand...

I'm hoping for the sake of people with reception issues that the reason Verizon has not pushed a 4.0.4 OTA yet (when many other devices already have gotten it!) is they are still tweaking the radio firmware with Samsung. Hopefully the 4.0.4 OTA includes something other than the FA02 radios that were part of the leaked Verizon 4.0.4 OTA that never rolled out, as people with reception issues have reported it does NOT help with their issues. It does, however, drastically improve 3G<->4G and wifi handoffs.
 
I love the phone except for signal strength and battery. I will continue with Verizon support for now. I am beginning to think that the RAZR Maxx is the only solution.
 
Yeah, I am anxious to see if the 4.0.5 update improves the signal strength more than the 4.0.4 radios. The holy grail of updates in my opinion is the one that gives me 4G at my desk. Verizon has been working to improve the signal on their part, and my two friends with thunderbolts now get pretty solid connections (Before I got my Nexus, my Thunderbolt would cycle 1x,3G,4G,no signal all day). And the guy with the Rezound gets a good connection as well. But me, nothing.
 
jkc120 said:
I'm hoping for the sake of people with reception issues that the reason Verizon has not pushed a 4.0.4 OTA yet (when many other devices already have gotten it!) is they are still tweaking the radio firmware with Samsung. Hopefully the 4.0.4 OTA includes something other than the FA02 radios that were part of the leaked Verizon 4.0.4 OTA that never rolled out, as people with reception issues have reported it does NOT help with their issues. It does, however, drastically improve 3G<->4G and wifi handoffs.
Click to expand...



you can forget about 4.0.4 for the G nex. it will be a higher version number.
 
jkc120 said:
I'm hoping for the sake of people with reception issues that the reason Verizon has not pushed a 4.0.4 OTA yet (when many other devices already have gotten it!) is they are still tweaking the radio firmware with Samsung. Hopefully the 4.0.4 OTA includes something other than the FA02 radios that were part of the leaked Verizon 4.0.4 OTA that never rolled out, as people with reception issues have reported it does NOT help with their issues. It does, however, drastically improve 3G<->4G and wifi handoffs.
Click to expand...

I don't know if I'd say that. Verizon just improved the signal in my area about 2 weeks ago. I'm getting a much better dBm signal in most areas and faster speeds as well. That said, I just came from a Verizon corporate store (picked up the extended battery) and I compared my signal to the stock 4.0.2 display model. Mine was -67 dBm and the display was -78 dBm. Now, there could be other things causing the differences in signal, but I consider an 11 dBM difference as pretty significant.
 
finn5975 said:
Signal issues arrive after Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich update | Android Community

Looks the the update that was just pushed to the GSM version not only neglects to fix the signal issues.....but is causing them as well. That is lovely. My signal isn't the greatest (live in a solid 3G area) but it isn't the worst either. My Rezound outperformed my Nexus religiously. But, I liked everything else (minus the camera) about the Nexus better.
Click to expand...

I don't see how that's relevant for us CDMA folks, unless it's an issue in AOSP 4.0.4 causing the OS to improperly talk to the radio(s). Which I doubt since I've had no such problem with AOKP b29 which is AOSP 4.0.4 based.

Verizon+Samsung bless the radios that are included in the OTA, so we can't glean anything about the radios from the GSM release IMHO.
 
Searching for apps under "signal" I found 2 that I downloaded:

1) Network Signal Info
2) No Signal Alert (the one in the article)
 
Using the app "Network Signal Info", I found something odd:

The app shows my 4G signal as -85 dbm.

My phone itself shows a signal of -107 dbm.

Why the difference???
 
JamesSJ said:
Using the app &quot;Network Signal Info&quot;, I found something odd:

The app shows my 4G signal as -85 dbm.

My phone itself shows a signal of -107 dbm.

Why the difference???
Click to expand...


It is probably showing 3g instead of 4g. Most signal strength apps and widgets don't work that great with Verizon LTE.
 
OfTheDamned said:
It is probably showing 3g instead of 4g. Most signal strength apps and widgets don't work that great with Verizon LTE.
Click to expand...

The display shows 4G on the app. When I first started the app there was a notice about a problem working with the Galaxy. I wonder if the app does not work with the GNex?
 
jkc120 said:
I don't see how that's relevant for us CDMA folks, unless it's an issue in AOSP 4.0.4 causing the OS to improperly talk to the radio(s). Which I doubt since I've had no such problem with AOKP b29 which is AOSP 4.0.4 based.

Verizon+Samsung bless the radios that are included in the OTA, so we can't glean anything about the radios from the GSM release IMHO.
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to imply it had any bearing on what cdma will receive. I just found it interesting that the GSM version is having signal issues seemingly due to their update. On a side note, I have been running 4.0.
4 (rooted) since release and found zero reception or signal bar improvements. I'm putting faith in 4.0.5 to provide a fix to some degree.
 
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