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Help Possible signal strength bug?

xliderider

xliderider

Android Expert
I believe there is a bug in the signal strength indication on the Fascinate, the one that shows the signal strength in -dBm.

You can see the signal strength of the cell signal on the Menu, Settings, About, Status screen. Or you can place a widget on your Home screen. There are several widgets available, I'm using Mobile Signal Widget.

I have a network extender, which basically creates a cell tower right in your home. With my Motorola Droid, I used to get signal strengths down to about -50 something and 60's in indicated signal strength. I can hold both of our Fascinates right next to the network extender's antenna and they will read no better than -86 dBm. So far I've seen signal strengths from -86 dBm to -106 dBm (terrible).

I believe there is a bug in the software (Baseband) on the Fascinate. Previously, I thought the hardware (antenna/radio) wasn't very good, but now it may be software related.

Has anyone seen a signal strength stronger than -86 dBm on the Fascinate?
 
Interestingly, when I first checked, it was also at -86 (4 bars shown). It alternates between [-86, 4 bars] and [-91, 3 bars] for me.
 
anyone know how to disable the notification sound and vibrate when you lose signal? its really loud and annoying in the middle of the night.
 
burningembers said:
What is this noise you speak of? I lose signal a lot in my basement, but I've never heard any weird noises...
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Kind a trilling sound. A double or triple tone that repeats every 10 seconds or so. It's not any of the Notification tones that are user selectable from the menu. Must be a system tone.
 
I have been wondering this for a few days now. I will have 5 bars and the lowest it will go is -86dbm. Something is definitely wrong in there. All day i bounce back and forth from -86 to -106 no matter what the signal strength in indicating.
 
I have sent an email to Verizon support. Hopefully it gets to the right people there.

I'm hoping that we can get a baseband update to address this issue.
 
Yeah, that's an ungodly low dBm strength compared to my previous phones. I mean, CDMA networks tend to be kind of on the low end in my experiences - but that seems a bit egregious.

However, I haven't had any issues with dropped calls or call quality...so maybe it is nothing.
 
I'm on my Fascinate now, or I would post in the actual email response I got from Verizon customer service.

Basically the response was that I should contact the developer of the Signal Strength Widget for the problems I am experiencing with the phone. :eek:

wtf?

I replied that he didn't understand, and that this needs to get this up to higher technical support personnel.
 
Yeah, the responder obviously didn't understand what you were talking about.

My signal has been fluctuating between -96 and -106db, however, I am in an area known for extremely poor signal strength. I'll have to check it when I go to work tomorrow and update it, as there is usually excellent signal there.
 
On a semi-related note, I'm wondering what everyone gets for the DL&UL speeds and how much their signal strength number affects this.
 
When we were in the Verizon store they had the Fascinate and the Incredible right next to each other and I pulled up the dBm on both and the Fascinate was way higher. I asked him about it and of course he tried to BS me so I just nodded ok. Just like the Eris, the bug will have no impact on actual reception, it is all about asthetics.
 
padrone00 said:
When we were in the Verizon store they had the Fascinate and the Incredible right next to each other and I pulled up the dBm on both and the Fascinate was way higher. I asked him about it and of course he tried to BS me so I just nodded ok. Just like the Eris, the bug will have no impact on actual reception, it is all about asthetics.
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Makes figuring out which phone has the better radio difficult though. ;)

One more thing I noticed the other day... the signal fluctuates quite a bit AND it moves in increments of 5's like this:

-96, -101, -106, -101, -96 dBm. WTF? :confused:
 
xliderider said:
Makes figuring out which phone has the better radio difficult though. ;)

One more thing I noticed the other day... the signal fluctuates quite a bit AND it moves in increments of 5's like this:

-96, -101, -106, -101, -96 dBm. WTF? :confused:
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Ditto of course my range is only -86 or -91dBm
 
Standing next to a known VZW tower.. and only reaching four bars when I'm within 100 feet.. I still only max out at -86dBm.

However.. when I have 'zero' bars (-106) at work.. I can still make and rec calls.
 
I put FAS and Droid 1 side by side and compared the signal strength; Droid 1 showed -55dBm while FAS showed -86dBm. Hope it's a bug.

I also noticed that WiFi signal strength is very different as well. It showed full Wifi bars when I was right next to the Wifi router, but when I went to a different room it lost all bars. (it's only about 20 feet from the Wifi router ... ) Droid 1 still showed 4 bars under the same condition though.

The problem was FAS actually lost the Wifi connection and changed the mode to 3G.
 
Its definitely a bug. Ill have 0 bars and be at -106 and my call is still clear and deosnt drop. As long as i still have reception and call clarity it can say whatever it wants. I love VZW's network.
 
Droidable said:
Its definitely a bug. Ill have 0 bars and be at -106 and my call is still clear and deosnt drop. As long as i still have reception and call clarity it can say whatever it wants. I love VZW's network.
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Yeah astute point there. My call quality is always spot on irregardless of what the numbers are reporting
 
I also have a Network Extender and range from about -86 to -91 while within about 100 FT of the extender. I have no issues with call quality, so tend to agree with the posts that call it a bug in how signal strength is measured.

One final note, my SF gets on the network extender almost instantly where my BB Storm 2 took up to 15 minutes to register > Progress!

Really liking this phone!
 
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