• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help Signal Strength

TheXFactor said:
I call it like I see it, BS.

I was at the Verizon store about an hour ago. The Nexus, Rezound and Charge. All right next to each other in their respective stands. No hands. I checked the signal strength on each phone. The Nexus was at -100, the Rezound was -80 and the Charge was -79. Nexus 1 bar, Rezound 3 bars, Charge 4 bars.

All were on 4G. Heck, the 4G tower is right down the road. But, I have to say, I ran a very unscientific browser test (3 times) on all 3 at the same time. The Nexus loaded the page as fast or faster than the other 2 phones. In fact, the Rezound lost connectivity for about a minute, even though the 4G symbol was in the status bar.

And having owned the Rezound for a few weeks, I can say for a fact that I have had intermittent connectivity problems with the Rezound. On the way home the Rezound showed 4G, but I couldn't load a web page. It then dropped down to 1X. I had to reboot to get it back to 3G. So, it went from 4G, to nothing, to 1X. No 3G. I never had 1X in my area before.

I'm not sure what's going on with the Verizon network. Before the outage the Rezound was flawless. Now it seems to get stuck in 1X mode every so often.

And I'm betting that one of the reason why the Nexus is having battery draining issues is because the radio sucks.
Click to expand...

I performed a similar 'unscientific' test in a Nassau County Long Island store where we get very strong 4g signals being close to NYC. I held the GNex in one hand and the Rezound in the other tinkering with them for around 15 minutes. Rezound was showing full 4g coverage while the GNex was only showing half of its 4g indicator lit.

I went to several full version websites that contain many images to do a side by side and despite showing less signal strength, the GNex pulled all of the pages including images and banner ads just a little quicker than the Rezound.

Considering I have a GNex coming to me on Monday that was good to see but I'm hoping this signal 'issue' is only software related and hopefully the battery drain problem as well. **FYI..because I am still heavily considering the Rezound (screen doesnt seem to yellow out like GNex and I was overall impresed by the phone), the VZW Rep said that the restocking fee still applies even if you don't open up the Gnex box, because it is not sealed...but I think you can do one exchange.

Peace...can't wait til Monday
 
I live in a 3G oinly area. Singal at home with the ReZound was normally around -60 to -70 with 2 to 3 bars. Nexus is sitting at -120 right now with ZERO bars. Having said that, however, I can make calls.............??

I am assuming that it is the phone newness or the weak radio that is giving me such craptastic battery life right now, I sure hope so.....

Can a weak radio actually BE fixed via OTA, or is it flat out hardware?
 
Is the DB repoted by phone status for 4g or cellular or ?
-
When I was playing with the razr/rezound/gn at the store this morning; I was seeing 25 or so higher db reading for the gn (soemthing like 78 for the rezound and 102 for the gn)
 
I'm experiencing shoddy signal strength as well. Picked my phone up Thursday morning and was hoping the update would fix it but its still pretty bad.

I'm in Jacksonville Florida 32224 which according to the coverage map is drenched in 4G but I barely get signal in my house and office which has never been a problem and I'm constantly in 3G unless I'm outside then it manages to pick up the LTE signal.
 
I read that the Charge and Nexus have the same chipset for the radio. Which seems odd because when I did my comparison at the verizon store, the charge was showing -79, just as good as the rezound. The nexus was always at least 20-25dBm lower, it showed -100.

I made calls on the nexus, loaded web pages and I didn't notice any connectivity problems. But it can be deceiving if you are looking at the number of bars. What would concern me is if you are located in a heavily saturated 4G area (which I was) and the Nexus is only showing 1 bar. There is no way to tell if this is a software issue or if the Nexus has other issues.

Reading what others have wrote here about not being able to connect to the 4G network with the nexus, but could with another phone is definitely causing me to rethink about swapping out my rezound for the nexus.

I also seemed to be confused about this phone regarding verzion and how they supposedly test to make sure the phones are able to connect and stay connected on the network. I would be curious to see what the results were before the update on the nexus. Anyone have any idea how the phone performed before they updated?
 
it's not much better or worse than my old EnV Touch, which is fine. My condo is located between buildings and i've dropped calls on the EnV several times just moving a few feet inside.
 
I was able to compare my GNex to some coworkers phones. I mentioned in my earlier post that my building gets bad reception and here is the evidence. It's a three floor building with sides made up of windows. Using OpenSignal, the closest tower it shows is south/southeast of my building.

GNex: -100 to -120 dBm, very rarely catching signal. I have my phone set to "CDMA only". I sit towards the south side of the second floor with no window in sight.

Droid X: -80 to -100, usually around -90 dBm, tested standing right next to me. Coworker said his signal strength was horrible. Sits near a window on the north side of the second floor.

DInc: -70 to -100, usually around -85 dBm. Said her connection was bad but not terrible. She does use her phone less then me or my other coworker, and sits on the third floor (so only the roof above her) not near a window.

There is a break area on the first floor, northwest side of the building, and even sitting next to a window I got no signal.

There are a couple people with OG Droids sitting near me too so I'll try to borrow their phones on Monday.

I work on the fringes of 'Extended 4G' according to Verizon but I was only able to get 4G once while outside, and it lost it before my speedtest was finished.

At home right now, I am getting between -75 and -100 dBm usually around ~85 dBm. That translates to between 100 and 1000kbps down, average around 300kbps. WiFi signal is decent, getting about 10kbps down. Going to borrow my girlfriends DInc when she gets home for more comparison.

It's interesting how different the results people are getting with this phone. Is it as simple as the people with good signal strength are just in areas with better reception? Are those of us with bad signal doomed from crappy radios in the phone? Is it possible we got bad phones or need to swap sim cards? Is there optimizations that can be made on the software/firmware side to adjust? Could it be a problem with Verizon's eHRPD migration?

For me, if nothing changes by Jan 15th this phone will be going back. I hope it is fixed because I really don't want to return it. I love everything else about the phone (again assuming the battery life will be better when the signal strength improves). But if the Rezound is getting noticeably better reception I may have to make the switch. Or just buy a used DInc and hold out for the Next Big Thing.
 
I see all of you posting about strength but that EVEN the db level is all relative information. The thing I see NONE of you posting is "I have slow speed and cant do things" or "I can't do things". I have not once lost a signal and been without a data connection. I think the reading is just off, much like most phones. None are ever consistent. That's factual. Just like battery meters and saying they are dead when they actually have 10% or so left. Since Thursday I have monitored this very heavily. I live in Winston-Salem, NC. Drove to Cary, Charlotte, Lexington, Greensboro, High Point, back to Winston and now I am in Charlotte as I post this. I have never lost signal or exeperienced a slow network. I have not dropped a call or done anything of the sort. So who cares if the bars move...as long as it's working. On 1 bar I got a 30 mb down 8 up test. Most of your home networks are likely around 12...so who cares? I really just don't get the obsession so can you enlighten me?

If it hindered your day, I would completely understand.
 
nerdstaz said:
I see all of you posting about strength but that EVEN the db level is all relative information. The thing I see NONE of you posting is "I have slow speed and cant do things" or "I can't do things". I have not once lost a signal and been without a data connection. I think the reading is just off, much like most phones. None are ever consistent. That's factual. Just like battery meters and saying they are dead when they actually have 10% or so left. Since Thursday I have monitored this very heavily. I live in Winston-Salem, NC. Drove to Cary, Charlotte, Lexington, Greensboro, High Point, back to Winston and now I am in Charlotte as I post this. I have never lost signal or exeperienced a slow network. I have not dropped a call or done anything of the sort. So who cares if the bars move...as long as it's working. On 1 bar I got a 30 mb down 8 up test. Most of your home networks are likely around 12...so who cares? I really just don't get the obsession so can you enlighten me?

If it hindered your day, I would completely understand.
Click to expand...

I think it depends on where you live. I live in an area where we have 4G all around us. Some parts of my city have it, and some don't. Traveling from one part to the other (sometimes street to street), the phone is always going from 4G to 3g to 1x. Luckily at home, I have a strong 4G signal but driving around the city it constantly changes. It can eat up the battery quickly.

This has made me hold off on the Nexus (it is killing me to do so because I love the phone and ICS) but service and battery life are the two most important things for me.
 
Here are my own data points with both Rezound and Nexus. I have a Network extender in my home and the Rezound and Thunderbolt connected to it right out of box with no problem. Right now in my home the Nexus has a dbm reading of -103 and the Rezound reads -45 dbm in the exact same spot. I've contacted support re: this and basically they had no advice. When I punch in the code to verify the phone is connected to the Extender it tells me it is. My Rezound and Thunderbolt seem to fluctuate between -39 and -62 inside the home with this Extender.

Now here's the thing. We've done tests with both phones in the same spot where these varied readings take place and the Nexus has a slight advantage in call quality made in and out. So, despite the reading difference, the Nexus isn't lacking. I've not lost a call yet with Nexus, it sounds great.

So, I'm thinking this is a software problem ,not hardware. That the signal is actually better than the reading.
 
I knew I really wanted to give this phone a go. The 4G issue isn't as important to me as the other issues. I knew that there were gonna be things about the phone part of this device I wasn't gonna like, just because it's a Samsung.

The people who can deal with dropped calls, connectivity issues, low speaker levels probably don't depend on this device as their sole means of communicating, like I do.

I just find the whole situation strange that verizon would allow this device to be released with these issues, software related or not.
 
nerdstaz said:
I see all of you posting about strength but that EVEN the db level is all relative information. The thing I see NONE of you posting is "I have slow speed and cant do things" or "I can't do things"...
Click to expand...

Then let me clarify: "I have slow speed and cant do things" and "I can't do things".

It varies between the two. Usually at no connectivity at all, and on the rare times where it does make a connection, it is very slow and usually ends up getting cut off.

I'd say at work its without signal 95% of the time, and 5% with nearly unusable speeds. I work in a 4G area but wouldn't know it from my phone.

In places other than work its about 40% without signal, 40% with low signal/slow speed, and 20% with strong signal/acceptable 3G speeds.

I know its the phone because I had Verizon on my HTC Droid Eris which was a garbage phone even when it came out, and I still pulled better signal. I don't have the numbers from it but objectively I had more connectivity and faster speeds. And believe me, I hated that phone and would like nothing more then to say how much better the GNex is, but as far as signal goes its unfortunately not true.

I'm not looking to find flaws in the GNex, as I was one of the people waiting for months for it and would prefer it over any other phone out there now. The radio/signal strength is a real issue. Even though not everyone is experiencing problems, it would seem there are enough remove observer error or bias as causes.
 
nerdstaz said:
I see all of you posting about strength but that EVEN the db level is all relative information. The thing I see NONE of you posting is "I have slow speed and cant do things" or "I can't do things". I have not once lost a signal and been without a data connection. I think the reading is just off, much like most phones. None are ever consistent. That's factual. Just like battery meters and saying they are dead when they actually have 10% or so left. Since Thursday I have monitored this very heavily. I live in Winston-Salem, NC. Drove to Cary, Charlotte, Lexington, Greensboro, High Point, back to Winston and now I am in Charlotte as I post this. I have never lost signal or exeperienced a slow network. I have not dropped a call or done anything of the sort. So who cares if the bars move...as long as it's working. On 1 bar I got a 30 mb down 8 up test. Most of your home networks are likely around 12...so who cares? I really just don't get the obsession so can you enlighten me?

If it hindered your day, I would completely understand.
Click to expand...




I just lost data connectivity earlier today whole browsing the amazon app. I had 2 bars of 3g and it was not loading anything.

Then the signal indicator went grey still with 2 bars then it showed 3g but still grey and the 3g indicator was flashing. Then it came back and I had connectivity, still in my house where I've never had signal issues.

I used to be on sprint and had a wimax signal in my office and home with no issue so I'm assuming the issue is with the phone because Vzw's network has better coverage in my area.
 
quaff1976 said:
I think the GNex is using the actual signal strength of LTE now with support for it in ICS. Previously, the signal strength on 4G phones was actually displaying 1X. My thunderbolt would slow down in some areas where I had full bars and be very fast in other areas where I had 1-2 bars.

Remember that LTE on 700mhz travels further and is more efficient so Verizon can space the towers further apart. That is why we are seeing low signal strengths. There are 3 different radios (1X, EVDO, LTE) each with their own Signal strengths. They can only display 1 and I think for the first time, we are seeing the actual LTE signal.

That said, that doesn't mean that there aren't issues with the radio or improvements that could be made, but may explain why we are seeing such differing signal strengths.

Try turning LTE off and comparing signal strength. It should be capturing the 1X or EVDO signal at that point.
Click to expand...

That's very good point. Since LTE phones have three radios, I'm not sure what radio the signal bar or dBm reading represents. Gnex I tested downloaded web pages faster than Razr despite 20~25 higher dBm.
 
nerdstaz said:
I see all of you posting about strength but that EVEN the db level is all relative information. The thing I see NONE of you posting is "I have slow speed and cant do things" or "I can't do things". I have not once lost a signal and been without a data connection. I think the reading is just off, much like most phones. None are ever consistent. That's factual. Just like battery meters and saying they are dead when they actually have 10% or so left. Since Thursday I have monitored this very heavily. I live in Winston-Salem, NC. Drove to Cary, Charlotte, Lexington, Greensboro, High Point, back to Winston and now I am in Charlotte as I post this. I have never lost signal or exeperienced a slow network. I have not dropped a call or done anything of the sort. So who cares if the bars move...as long as it's working. On 1 bar I got a 30 mb down 8 up test. Most of your home networks are likely around 12...so who cares? I really just don't get the obsession so can you enlighten me?

If it hindered your day, I would completely understand.
Click to expand...

Ok, so I'llll post it. I frequently drop coverage in places where i bever have had issues before. I frequently get the "connection to server not foilund on my email" and get the loading indicator spinning and spinning while loading forum software and Facebook.

Very noticable and very frustrating.
 
This is getting worse. There is a 4G LTE tower literally 500 feet from my house. I am getting <1Mbps down and <0.2Mbps up.

I am not going to wait for an update. I can get faster speeds through open wireless networks and my own at home.
 
With my DX and GNex sitting close to each other:

DX: -81 to -83 dBm.

GNex: -93 dBm.


I'll wait another week or so to see if an update will fix the radio (highly doubt it). If not, I'll take my GNex back and switch to the RAZR.


I've also had data connectivity issues with my GNex that I never had with my DX in the same places.
 
I tested signals on Nexus and my Razr side by side at the store with surprising results:

4g test showed Nexus at 109dbm and Razr -80dbm

I then jumped on both browsers and the Nexus proved to be just as fast as my Razr if not a little faster at loading web pages. I also streamed the same video from youtube on both and found no noticable difference even tho the Nexus showed to have a weaker signal.

The real interesting part is when I turned both phones to 3g only the Nexus showed -75 dbm while my Razr Showed -77dbm essentially a wash.

So although the LTE signal shows to be much weaker, in real world test the NExus appears just as fast if not slightly faster even with the weaker signal.

Only other thing I noticed is the screen on the Nexus although larger which is one of the reasons I have an interest in it, does appear to be more washed out compared to my Razr. Just my observatiosn based on my not so scientific tests
 
Bonez said:
With my DX and GNex sitting close to each other:

DX: -81 to -83 dBm.

GNex: -93 dBm.


I'll wait another week or so to see if an update will fix the radio (highly doubt it). If not, I'll take my GNex back and switch to the RAZR.


I've also had data connectivity issues with my GNex that I never had with my DX in the same places.
Click to expand...

I think comparing dBm of 4G phone to 3G phone is moot point. As someone pointed out, the way it's detected is probably different.
 
Sandroidfan said:
I think comparing dBm of 4G phone to 3G phone is moot point. As someone pointed out, the way it's detected is probably different.
Click to expand...
I have my GNex in 3G-only mode right now since I got tired of it switching back and forth, and the atrocious battery drain.

Both phones were tested in 3G, not 4G.
 
willis1 said:
I tested signals on Nexus and my Razr side by side at the store with surprising results:

4g test showed Nexus at 109dbm and Razr -80dbm

I then jumped on both browsers and the Nexus proved to be just as fast as my Razr if not a little faster at loading web pages. I also streamed the same video from youtube on both and found no noticable difference even tho the Nexus showed to have a weaker signal.

The real interesting part is when I turned both phones to 3g only the Nexus showed -75 dbm while my Razr Showed -77dbm essentially a wash.

So although the LTE signal shows to be much weaker, in real world test the NExus appears just as fast if not slightly faster even with the weaker signal.
Click to expand...

That's what I noticed with Gnex, Razr in my local store too. Gnex was just as fast or faster than Razr on data despite higher dBm reading.

But I haven't tested them on 3G and that seems like good finding. I think this probably means that ICS is reading signal dBm with LTE when it's on, but GB doesn't. If that's the case, higher dBm on Gnex is not really concern for me.
 
I am seeing -76 to -85 dBm, which seems to equate to full bars on the indicator and 6500 up and download on speedtest.net. everything seems to be working fine.

Question, when I connect to my home wifi, does the 4g radio automatically shut off or keep running? Being new to android I don't know how to read the status bar glyphs yet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom