Verizon GS3 signal reception thread

[JustinHEMI]

Well after playing with it for a few hours tonight, doing various tasks like surfing the net, downloading musics, updating apps, etc, I have to say the -100dbm I average in my home has no ill effect on my 4G data.

I'm very happy with this phone so far. Much better experience than I had with the nexus.

Justin

 

[dmaxfan]

I do not have the box around at moment. Will check later.

Under the battery also

 

[Travisimo]

After a few days of use now, the S3 is holding up well. I would call it noticeably better than the GNex, but not significantly so. In the normal places I've visited, I'm having less of that "lost data connection altogether" issue that I had on the GNex quite frequently. And most of the time, my signal strength on the S3 is about 10db better (for example, in my home the GNex is usually at -120 and my S3 is at -105).

The thing I notice the most though is that the S3 does not get hot like the GNex does when signal strength is low or when GPS is on. The GNex sometimes gets VERY hot and battery drains very quickly when in these situations, whereas the S3 seems to be better at power management.

 

[Sandroidfan]

I got my hands-on time with GS3 at verizon store today. GS3 seems to the fastest one in 4G data speed, slightly beating Razr. But its dbm was slightly lower than Razr by 2~3dbm.

 

[ChampD1012]

I am not getting LTE in my apartment. My wife has a razr maxx and she gets LTE all over the apartment. It seems that the s3 doesn't like walls. Bars were at a premium. The dBm on settings are in the 100s. OpenSignal shows the 80s. I might return it and go back to my iPhone. Verizon response was wait for an software update.

 

[Jbartu]

I love the features of this phone, but was a little concerned about the reception posts. I travel a lot and a consistent signal is important to me. I tried the Nexus when it first came out but ended up with the Maxx, for the better signal. This time around I have an unused line that expires in January, so I transferred an upgrade, and am trying the S3, while keeping the Maxx on my main number.

I picked up the S3 while in Milwaukee, and started my comparison in the VZW store. The Maxx showed a better signal, and faster data speeds, according to speed test.net, yet the S3 loaded web pages slightly faster.

While driving back to the west suburbs of Chicago, I tried some call comparisons. Both phones performed well, but the party on the other end felt the S3 actually minimized external noises better. I did notice, at one point, both phones dropped to 3G. The Maxx recovered 4G @ 30 seconds faster.

Back at my house, I tried both phones in my basement office and they performed similarly. I should note the Nexus, at first release, struggled to hold 4G at this location. Performance stayed fairly consistent to what I saw at the store. I will be testing the phones side by side at multiple locations, over the next few days, and will do some out of state travel next week.

I do like the look and features of the S3 over the Maxx. I read some poor reviews of the home button, but didn't think it would matter to me. I have to concede, I feel it does detract from the flow of the phone. Minor issue. It seems to me the Maxx does a better job of page layout when double tapping on a web page, but this may be due to my inexperience with Samsung settings. One issue I had with the Nexus was that the ringer was too soft. I am happy to say, this is not an issue with the S3. I expect I will have to carry a back up battery, but if the phone holds up on signal, I'm willing to keep a spare.

If anyone would like a specific comparison done, please let me know.

 

[Ken7]

I picked up the S3 while in Milwaukee, and started my comparison in the VZW store. The Maxx showed a better signal, and faster data speeds, according to speed test.net, yet the S3 loaded web pages slightly faster.

Nice review. It's funny you mention this. I've always noticed that there's not necessarily a correlation between speed tests and page loading with many phones I've owned. Sometimes I think we put much too much emphasis on the speed tests results and forget about real world tests like loading a complex web page.

My wife and son always laughed at me over the years when I'd run these tests, show how much faster my phone was than there's and then their pages would load quicker.

I haven't yet timed web page loading between my GNex and S3, but I'm hoping the S3's pages load quicker as the speed tests 'seem' to imply.

BTW, off-topic, but does anyone have problems with S-Voice's 'voice' sometimes not working? At times I get her voice and other times I just get the text response.

 

[jasondhsd]

Ok my LTE signal is -117dbm but I don't seem to have any issues connecting to anything apps load up right away, google voicemail playback is fast, and speedtest app shows I'm getting close to 7mb download speed. I installed "phone info" and switch my phone to CDMA Auto mode (3G), in 3G mode I was getting -93-96dbm. I only made a few phone calls but they all connected and seemed clear but they were only short 1min calls.

By comparison my DroidX in the same location got -89dbm and my old Blackberry Tour and Curve were both around -91-95dbm those were 3G obviously. So not sure what to make of the high dbm but as long as it works and I don't miss or drop calls because if it I guess its ok. The concern now is how fast will my battery drain from such a low signal.

 

[JBH]

I can relate to this post. In the old days of BBs and Incredibles Verizon 3G service was powerful. THEN............

THEN.... I got a gnex on Verizon and signal reception on 2 different units has sucked. Period. Have the fortune of sharing a razr with gnex so can do side by side comparisons simultaneously. Have had the gnex show no service while the razr will have a good signal (good = -88 to -100 dbm, voice calls are clear). I hate the gnex phone with a white-hot burning passion. I hate that mofo pos.

When I travel to semi-rural areas where reception has never been a problem, the gnex will have intermittent service. Normally I spend 90% of my time in a major city with excellent VZW signal penetration on 3G/4G. As long as I don't leave a booming signal area the gnex is fine. Leave the city and it sucks.

So I'm most interested in the GS3 reception qualities. Unfortunately it's nearly impossible to glean this information without trying a phone out in real life. Too many variables and much lack of understanding of "signal".

For me, this is the #1 reason to choose Verizon over the other providers, I need voice coverage 100% of the time even though I might not use a lot of minutes.

 

[ylexot]

Unscientifically, I can definitely say that the radio is worse than my Droid X's. At my desk at work, the S3 is constantly switching between 4G, 3G, and occasionally 1X (ouch!). My DX never had a signal issue here.

 

[rmcf]

Bah, looks like i will have to exchange my s3 for another s3. The phone simply cannot connect to the mobile network anymore. 4G works like a champ. But i can't even check my voicemail. Open Signal says i have 0 signal strength.

 

[Jbartu]

Quick update...

I dropped into Walmart, this morning, and headed to the electronics section. This area usually has the worst reception. Interestingly, the Maxx dropped to 3G and S3 stayed with 4G. Although, when actually loading pages they were almost identical in speed. I did find one spot where the Maxx was loading video files, from reuters.com, @ 25 seconds faster than the S3. Again, the S3 showed 4G while the Maxx showed 3G.

More to come...

 

[kgeier82]

All,

here are some good comparisons at three locations in my apt between the S3White, and my GNEx on 4.0.4/LiquidSmooth. All 4g.

Location 1: Office
S3-90dbm/50asu
nex-83/4

Location 2: Bedroom
S3-86/52
nex-83/57

Location 3: Living Room
S3-88/50
nex-92/48


As you can see they are about dead even. The wifi is wonky on the S3, but other than that no major issues so far. I wish the camera was a little better on the nex, because I would take the S3 back in a heartbeat. Although, I havent been extremely impressed with the camera yet on the s3 in my little bit of testing, Im going to dive deeper into it today.

 

[ylexot]

Interesting...I used the "Phone info" app to disable 4G and now my 3G reception is much better and more stable at work. I guess I'll have to see if I can set up Tasker to turn off 4G when I'm at work.

 

[Deleted User]

All,

here are some good comparisons at three locations in my apt between the S3White, and my GNEx on 4.0.4/LiquidSmooth. All 4g.

Location 1: Office
S3-90dbm/50asu
nex-83/4

Location 2: Bedroom
S3-86/52
nex-83/57

Location 3: Living Room
S3-88/50
nex-92/48


As you can see they are about dead even. The wifi is wonky on the S3, but other than that no major issues so far. I wish the camera was a little better on the nex, because I would take the S3 back in a heartbeat. Although, I havent been extremely impressed with the camera yet on the s3 in my little bit of testing, Im going to dive deeper into it today.

Is not dbm a log scale in that 89 is twice as weak as 86? I.e. double every 3 db pretty sure.

 

[kgeier82]

Is not dbm a log scale in that 89 is twice as weak as 86? I.e. double every 3 db pretty sure.

Pretty similar to me though for two different phones. I will test in low signal areas monday.

 

[rushmore]

Reception comments:

1. Need more testing, but seems the G3 is currently a better 4G phone than a 3G one. I get great 3G dBm signal at home (-60s to -80s), but the actual data connection is hit & miss. Hoping I am wrong like with everything (almost) else Update: I have better dBm at work than I did with the Inc, Droid 3 and Razr, but need to test and see if spotty connection again. 3G seems to be about the same as those devices at work (good, not great). ADDED: This has been the case it seems since we got 4G in the area I work. 3G is not that good now as a result, so good I guess for the G3 working pretty good in spite of this. I have been crying about the 3G network (in my area) in the Razr forum for a few months.

2. Wifi is flaky for me- so far (there is a fix). I have a very common Netgear router that works with a 3DXL, a bunch of phones and tablets, PS3, 360, WII, laptops, desktops, etc. This is the first device that seems to connect fine and then stop all of the sudden and not reconnect very well afterwards. When it does stay connected, it is FAST. ADDED: Apparently wifi is a known issue by Samsung: http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/566171-wifi-issues-disconnects-etc-fixed-me.html The wifi fix makes sense and I should have figured it out last night.

Is there an on-the-fly 3G/4G switch that works with the G3 and VZW? ylexot might be on to something as far as 3G/4G. Update: The "Phone info" app IS an on-the-fly switch- nice.

The device rocks, so hoping these issues are bad luck, or a software fix. REALLY liking the the g3.

ADDED: Whatever the case, 4G is a LOT faster than the Razr.

 

[jgigs]

My dbm is worse on my S3 (-96) than it was on my HTC DINC (-83) at the same location, but I don't care what the numbers say. The S3 sounds clearer, the 4g is blazing fast & even the speeds on wifi are vastly improved. So, as far as I'm concerned those numbers don't mean jack...

 

[rushmore]

Interesting...I used the "Phone info" app to disable 4G and now my 3G reception is much better and more stable at work. I guess I'll have to see if I can set up Tasker to turn off 4G when I'm at work.

Okay! So this is a working version of the LTE On Off (like the TB version) for the G3. It works!! On the fly 3G/4G switching

Will test both ways if makes a difference.

 

[yorklab]

Reception comments:

1. Need more testing, but seems the G3 is currently a better 4G phone than a 3G one. I get great 3G dBm signal at home (-60s to -80s), but the actual data connection is hit & miss. Hoping I am wrong like with everything (almost) else

2. Wifi is flaky for me- so far. I have a very common Netgear router that works with a 3DXL, a bunch of phones and tablets, PS3, 360, WII, laptops, desktops, etc. This is the first device that seems to connect fine and then stop all of the sudden and not reconnect very well afterwards. When it does stay connected, it is FAST.

Is there an on-the-fly 3G/4G switch that works with the G3 and VZW? ylexot might be on to something as far as 3G/4G. Update: The "Phone info" app IS an on-the-fly switch- nice.

The device rocks, so hoping these issues are bad luck, or a software fix. REALLY liking the the g3.

ADDED: I have been in 4G areas all day, so no further test of 3G, since do not know a simple on the fly way to swtich 3G & 4G off and on (without restart). The 4G seems better than my Razr. Whatever the case, 4G is a LOT faster than the Razr.

I noticed that also when comparing to my co-worker's Razr, the S3 has better 4G connection. So as I mentioned before, I do wonder if this is a software issue; especially after the "Phone Info" app is able to increase 3G strength by turning off 4G.

I was upset about the numbers at first, but after using it for several days now, and having no connection issues (except the Razr's WiFi was better in my test), I'm really liking this phone and it's performance.

 

[StinkyTofu]

This is my first time owning a 4G LTE phone. It seems like the only trouble i'm having is at home where the data is dropping every time it switches between LTE and 3G which is frustrating at times since it won't hold a connection (i'd rather it just hold 3G instead of trying to switch to a weak LTE connection). Wherever else I go it seems to be working fine and I'm wondering if I should try to get a replacement for my phone or if this is normal activity. As far as phone reception goes, I haven't had any trouble at my home and it is on par with my old iPhone4. Even when the data switches between 3G and LTE while talking on the phone, I don't get any dropped calls.

 

[Travisimo]

Nice review. It's funny you mention this. I've always noticed that there's not necessarily a correlation between speed tests and page loading with many phones I've owned. Sometimes I think we put much too much emphasis on the speed tests results and forget about real world tests like loading a complex web page.

My wife and son always laughed at me over the years when I'd run these tests, show how much faster my phone was than there's and then their pages would load quicker.

I haven't yet timed web page loading between my GNex and S3, but I'm hoping the S3's pages load quicker as the speed tests 'seem' to imply.

BTW, off-topic, but does anyone have problems with S-Voice's 'voice' sometimes not working? At times I get her voice and other times I just get the text response.

Web page loading times are dependent of a lot of variables, including:

- Specific web page servers. Remember, every site you contact is in a different physical location, and the line of traffic from here to there can greatly affect loading speeds. In addition, many servers handle traffic differently and can actually limit the bandwidth to individual contacts.

- Web browser. Each web browser also loads pages differently and can vary greatly between phones/computers. Having Adobe Flash installed will also increase the amount of time web pages load.

- Phone Hardware. Aside from the software itself, web page loading is also greatly affected by the phone's hardware. A faster CPU will load a web page faster (all other things equal). And of course, there's the network speed, which is certainly a major factor but not always THE deciding factor.

So it should not be surprising to see a newer phone load web pages faster than an older phone, even if the latter is on a faster network (or better connection).

That's why we use the Speed Test to compare pure network speeds. It doesn't eliminate all variables, but it's at least a closer approximation of which phone is loading network traffic faster.

 

[darkestred]

I noticed that also when comparing to my co-worker's Razr, the S3 has better 4G connection. So as I mentioned before, I do wonder if this is a software issue; especially after the "Phone Info" app is able to increase 3G strength by turning off 4G.

I was upset about the numbers at first, but after using it for several days now, and having no connection issues (except the Razr's WiFi was better in my test), I'm really liking this phone and it's performance.

My thoughts, exactly. I think an update/software fix with clear it up. It will seem logical if dropping down to 3g makes for a great reception phone. In time. In time. Still love mine.

 

[darkestred]

Is not dbm a log scale in that 89 is twice as weak as 86? I.e. double every 3 db pretty sure.

double the power...what that really means? dunno.

 

[rushmore]

I noticed that also when comparing to my co-worker's Razr, the S3 has better 4G connection. So as I mentioned before, I do wonder if this is a software issue; especially after the "Phone Info" app is able to increase 3G strength by turning off 4G.

I was upset about the numbers at first, but after using it for several days now, and having no connection issues (except the Razr's WiFi was better in my test), I'm really liking this phone and it's performance.

First of all, I was trying to avoid a bunch of seperate posts and REALLY changed the post use are quoting

I can say that 3G dBm is better at work than my other devices and works as good as my Inc, Droid 3 or Razr did with 3G. The 4G update in my area seems to have come at an expense of 3G quality. Prior to 4G, signal was great in the area and at work.

When I get home, I will test the 3G using the Phone info app switched to 3G-only to see if helps. dBm was great, so maybe something odd happened...

As far as wifi, I am not alone with the connection stopping and Samsung knows about it. http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s3/566171-wifi-issues-disconnects-etc-fixed-me.html

I feel stupid, since the wifi settings fix makes sense (duh).