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Signal strength issues? Post your signal strength here.

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phositadc

Well-Known Member
A few people on other forums are reporting that the Razr M has a signal strength approximately 20 dBm lower than other Motorola phones on Verizon. See, for example:

[Q] Signal / attenuation issue on the M? - xda-developers

https://forums.motorola.com/posts/5fb46833c0

Razr M Antennagate?

Razr M. I returned it

If this is more than a few isolated incidents, it is potentially a pretty serious concern for potential buyers. If you have a Razr M and if you have access to any other Verizon phones (especially Motorola, but I would also be interested in seeing comparisons to any other Verizon phone), please compare their signal strength while sitting side by side and report back. You can see signal strength by going to Settings -> About -> Network (or something similar). Please report signal strength in dBm, not in "bars" showing on your screen, because bars is not consistent across phones.

I would greatly appreciate it if people could respond and let us know whether their Razr M has better, worse, or comparable signal to other phones on Verizon to which they have access. If possible, please report both LTE and 3G signal strengths.

I've posted parallel threads on Androidcentral and XDA. No need to reply in multiple threads. I'm just trying to collect as much data as possible and I know that not everybody visits all forums.
 
logicalsteve said:
Are you having troble making telephone calls?
Click to expand...

I don't even own the phone yet. I'm just trying to learn whether there is a signal problem or not, which I think other potential buyers would benefit from knowing too. Dropped calls or not, a 20 dBm worse signal is not something to take lightly and is indicative of a problem. Initial reports I've read suggest dropped 4g connections are more common than dropped calls though.
 
I haven't look into those links on this issue. But about 20dbm difference is quite normal between 3G phone with GB and 4G/LTE phone with ICS. This is because ICS reads RSRP signal vs GB reading RSSI voice signal.

But If M is 20dbm worse than like OG Razr, Rezound (after ICS), then it's something to be concerned.
 
Sandroidfan said:
I haven't look into those links on this issue. But about 20dbm difference is quite normal between 3G phone with GB and 4G/LTE phone with ICS. This is because ICS reads RSRP signal vs GB reading RSSI voice signal.

But If M is 20dbm worse than like OG Razr, Rezound (after ICS), then it's something to be concerned.
Click to expand...

The reports have been comparing the M to the razr maxx and the droid 4.
 
I just started using my Razor M today. At work in NJ getting 79-84dbm 4G.
No issues at all. Wife called a few times, clear voice, etc
I'll check tonight at home. I know I was only getting 3G on the train this morning commuting in.
 
phositadc said:
The reports have been comparing the M to the razr maxx and the droid 4.
Click to expand...

Hmm, then it's pretty bad. Even VZW Gnex is not like 20dbm worse than Razr with ICS. Usually within 10dbm from Razr reading on ICS.

When I played with M at my local verizon store it was reading about -78dbm, SIII at -72dbm and Maxx at around -68dbm. So max spread in dbm on three phones were 10 with Maxx being best, M being worst and GSIII in the middle. However in actual web browsing and speed test, all three performed almost the same and I couldn't feel noticeable signal quality difference between them.

I saw some data signal issue reports on VZW GS3, Evo LTE, Dinc4G, mostly in weak areas. Interesting thing is they are all powered by qualcomm S4 chip with integrated LTE modem. So I wonder if phone makers still didn't perfect radio firmwares for S4 chip yet.
 
Sandroidfan said:
Hmm, then it's pretty bad. Even VZW Gnex is not like 20dbm worse than Razr with ICS. Usually within 10dbm from Razr reading on ICS.

When I played with M at my local verizon store it was reading about -78dbm, SIII at -72dbm and Maxx at around -68dbm. So max spread in dbm on three phones were 10 with Maxx being best, M being worst and GSIII in the middle. However in actual web browsing and speed test, all three performed almost the same and I couldn't feel noticeable signal quality difference between them.

I saw some data signal issue reports on VZW GS3, Evo LTE, Dinc4G, mostly in weak areas. Interesting thing is they are all powered by qualcomm S4 chip with integrated LTE modem. So I wonder if phone makers still didn't perfect radio firmwares for S4 chip yet.
Click to expand...

Even if the phones act about the same I find a double digit difference in signal strength to be cause for concern. 5-6 dBm I could overlook. 10+ is pushing the bounds of over lookable.
 
I haven't done a signal strength comparison, but my wife's phone will get a 4G signal in the house, where my GNex won't. I haven't seen anything that has told me there is a signal issue.
 
I just started using my Razr M a few hours ago. At work I'm getting 90-95dBm 1x and 110-114dBm 4G. I haven't had a issue at all yet.

I'll check in about an hour when I get home, as my 4G is usually better.
 
lmarsh21 said:
I just started using my Razr M a few hours ago. At work I'm getting 90-95dBm 1x and 110-114dBm 4G. I haven't had a issue at all yet.

I'll check in about an hour when I get home, as my 4G is usually better.
Click to expand...

Any idea how that compares to your old og razr?
 
Just an update, for whatever reason, they had just gone live with the 4G, and my phone wasn't connecting, but now it is getting 3-4 bars of 4G... I will check tonight the signal strength for you compared to my wife's M
 
AntimonyER said:
Just an update, for whatever reason, they had just gone live with the 4G, and my phone wasn't connecting, but now it is getting 3-4 bars of 4G... I will check tonight the signal strength for you compared to my wife's M
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm gonna go to a Verizon store today to see the iPhone 5. While I'm there I'll take a peak at signal strength of the M compared to the other lte phones on display. (No don't worry I'm not planning to get an iPhone... I just want to see how terrible Apple maps is ;)).
 
I went to a Verizon store today to compare signals myself. The razr M was right next to the og droid razr. 1x and 3g signals were nearly identical. The M's seemed to bounce around between -60 and -70 whereas the og razr's was more consistent at about -65 dBm, but overall both seemed to average mid-60s. This is consistent with many of the posts on forums I have seen suggesting the M gets a solid 3g signal.

4g was unfortunately a different story. The M couldn't pick up a 4g signal at all. I even tried to force lte only, and rather than picking up a 4g signal, it had no signal of any kind.

The og razr, in stark contrast, had a solid and consistent 4g signal of about -75 dBm.

This comparison also seems consistent with reports that the M gets a weak or even no 4g signal at all where other Verizon devices get 4g.

Honestly I was a bit surprised and disappointed that the M was getting nothing where the og razr was getting strong 4g. Maybe it was attributable to a bad SIM or something, but that was my unfortunate experience.

Would still appreciate if people could post comparisons, especially if 4g lte signal strength.
 
I get horrible reception also. With my Rezound i got about 4-5 bars at home, reading about -70-75 dBm. With my razr m i get one bar at around -110 dBm and most of the time it goes into weak 3g.

Also at work, where we have Verizon repeaters... My rezound regularly got in the -50s and almost NEVER went less than 5 bars anywhere in the building. Friends with the droid razr average 4 bars, not sure on dBms. But hey have 4g everywhere. But my razr m gets only about 2, sometimes 3 bars at about -95dBm -100dBm and i'm constantly losing 4g and going into 3g where i also have very weak signal.

I can say that i have never lost reception altogether, but i pay for 4g and i want it. Unfortunately i bought this phone from a friend who works at VZW who had an extra upgrade. He let me use his upgrade. Otherwise this phone would be going back. But since it switched phone numbers, it's now considered "used" and non-returnable.


P.S. I have been using a low profile case since i got it, so i'm not touching the antenna in any way
 
x005968 said:
I just started using my Razor M today. At work in NJ getting 79-84dbm 4G.
No issues at all. Wife called a few times, clear voice, etc
I'll check tonight at home. I know I was only getting 3G on the train this morning commuting in.
Click to expand...

After a few weeks still getting 4-5 bars -80dbm 4G at work (North NJ). Back at home (Central NJ) getting 4g when away from wireless. No dropped issues, however I did notice getting slightly better wireless reception with my Droid OG.
Did a test side by side. The M's S4 speed prob masks the slight drop in wireless reception, however.
 
Ive noticed this issue too. My MAXX always had about 3 bars of 4G at my house (fringe area), while the M gets between 1 and 2 bars. At work, the MAXX always had 5 bars, but the M bounced between 3G, and 2 to 3 bars of 4G. I went to a verizon store, and they replaced the SIM card, and that hasnt done much in the way of improvement. I'll give it a couple more days.
 
Well....Just got back from returning it back to the store. Signal at my house was completely lost. It would say I was 3G and 3 o 4 bars, but have no data service. Then, it would drop to 1x service, and so on. Anyway, At he store, I took my MAXX to the M display, and showed the manager, that the MAXX and other phones held a solid 4 to 5 bars of signal, whereas the M was fluctuating between 2 and 3 bars. Also, Level 2 tech support mentioned last night that the M has a bunch of "Blogs" about bad signal on Moto's site. I hope they fix the issue soon.
 
I'm finding that when I lay my phone on the table I get between 80-85 dBm and when I pick it up it drops to 100-105 dBm

In both cases I can make a call without any issues, but I would think this might be an issue.
 
bad signal seems to be plaguing some android devices lately (gnex has been the worst IMHO) but moto is very good about supplying great quality devices. I am sure a fix will be implemented soon.
 
I'm having 4G issues with my dad's new M also. His phone seems to go on 4G for about 2 seconds when you turn the phone on, and then goes right to 3G. I did some tests with my Bionic and his M side by side. My phone always shows 4G LTE here at home, and I get 1 or 2 bars. His is always on 3G. Bionic says -87 dbm 0 asu. RAZR M says 1x -90 dbm, 3G -88 dbm. Turned off wifi on both for the heck of it....Bionic said -94 dbm 0 asu, RAZR M said 1x -88 dbm, 3G -89 dbm. I then disabled LTE on my Bionic, got -88 dbm, 0 asu. RAZR M said 1x -92 dbm, 3G -88 dbm.

I downloaded the speedtest.net app. Bionic took about 5 seconds on 4G, RAZR M took 1 min. 20 seconds on 3G. I ran tests on both, sitting next to each other 2 times, 1st with data on, wifi off -

Bionic - Ping 360 ms, 3427 kbps down, 705 kbps up. Ping 247ms, 3096 kbps down, 491 kbps up

RAZR M - Ping 131 ms, 159 kbps down, 385 kbps up. Ping 124ms, 581 kbps down, 221 kbps up



Then I did the test with the phones next to each other, using wifi instead of data -

Bionic - Ping 63 ms, 9172 kbps down, 3338 kbps up. Ping 46 ms, 12327 kbps down, 2391 kbps up

RAZR M - Ping 39 ms, 3504 kbps down, 2066 kbps up. Ping 29 ms, 2384 kbps down, 1972 kbps up

I also tried changing the M's mode from the default of Global to CDMA/LTE....didn't help. Dad said he got a 4G signal when he was out of town earlier tonight, but didn't actually try it.

The M is a beautiful phone, and I was kinda jealous because I love new toys, but I'm really starting to like my Bionic a lot more now! I have more screen real estate because my buttons aren't part of the main screen, and I actually have 4G and fast downloads.
 
i think your dad should take the M back to a verizon store and duplicate the problem for the sales reps there, he should be able to walk out with a new M
 
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