Verizon GS3 signal reception thread

[bennybbc]

2. S-Voice is IMO absolutely worthless and Samsung are legal masochists for having the feature AND calling it S (Siri) Voice. The irony- it is resource hogging junk. Google search is better, IMO.

I haven't really played around with S-Voice yet too much but the little bit I did do worked ok. I don't see it being too useful for me even if it works perfectly though.

I've seen this comment before about the "S" being a copy of, or jab at "Siri". When I first heard of it I didn't think that at all. The first thing I associated the "S" with was the obvious connection...The "S" in Galaxy "S" 3. It's a lot more likely Samsung is referring to that rather than 'Siri" in my opinion. Makes more sense to me anyway.

Benny

 

[Member 536573]

Uh oh, is that 'pixie dust' I smell?

We all knew he would come around once he got it " in hand. " :lollypop:

 

[johnsonwcjw]

Since when do they charge restocking fees for warranty replacements?????

At any rate, this is one of those posts that seem to show there is quite a variation in individual S3 examples.

Well I went in for the warranty exchange but the representative wanted to give me a hard time about exchanging the phone saying that she and her manager tested the phone by making some calls and determined there was nothing wrong with it. After trying to explain to them that it only was a problem where the signal was in weaker areas not in the store where it had full bars I basically told them I was not leaving the store with that same phone. I told them I was within my 14 day window and was allowed 1 exchange so they wrote it up as not being a warranty exchange thus the 35$ fee.

I've had the phone now for TWO days without the first sputter or dropped call. The phone has been nothing short of just awesome. It's hard to believe the first phones reception was so different than this phone. It truly has been a night and day difference. All I can say Benny is don't give up and maybe exchange your daughters phone and hopefully u can be as lucky as I was.

Oh yea I called Verizon and they did credit me 40$ to my account for the restocking fee.

 

[NpgGirl]

I returned mine yesterday that I had since the 9th. My s3 was awful in signal quality from day one (Dropped calls, sputtering voices, data drops). After calling tech support I was told to go into the store and try a sim swap which I done but it did not fix the problem. Finally after receiving numerous calls with sputtering voices on the other end I'd had enough, went into the store and swapped my s3 out for another s3. The new s3 has been performing flawlessly in areas the old s3 was a nightmare. I'd rate it as good as or better than my rezound in signal quality. I did have to pay a 35 restocking fee in the end but thinking about calling Verizon and trying too get it credited back to my acct.

Really??
Hmmm, because my signal strength is horrible! Places I used to have 3-4 bars on my iP4s, I have one now...
The calls are in and out, gurgled...
I do not know what to do...
I love the phone otherwise, but this is annoying.

 

[rushmore]

I do feel some pixie dust in my eyes, or perhaps pollen. Yep, cute flat panda bear.

3G is still staying as fast as Droid 3 now. Go figure.

Npg, swap for another. It has apparently worked for some people.

 

[johnsonwcjw]

Really??
Hmmm, because my signal strength is horrible! Places I used to have 3-4 bars on my iP4s, I have one now...
The calls are in and out, gurgled...
I do not know what to do...
I love the phone otherwise, but this is annoying.

This was what I experienced also. I would definitely have it swapped out if I where u. It sure worked for me.

 

[you2]

But I thought I read that if you turn off wifi; the first of the two (data hogging pop up) went away; so that was really a non-issue. It is the second that is a verizon "added enjoyment" feature.

There are actually 2 annoying wifi notifications. This app removes the worst of the 2 that pops up when you open an app it thinks is a data hog. The other is the one in the notification tray that you can't swipe away like a normal notification. This one it appears requires rooting to remove.

 

[rushmore]

The three option wifi reminder stayed still came on for me, even wifi off.

 

[yorklab]

I took my SG and my wife's Razr out to test in a fringe area. I tried this before (posted it earlier) but had a hard time finding a fringe area. This time I went a different direction; both times out in the desert. Again I had a hard time finding a fringe area...Verizon is everywhere! This time I had my daughter drive so I could observe the changes as we traveled. So here's how it went.

I really only had one goal; to find a place where one of the phones had no service so I could compare to the other. I started by testing Wi-Fi on both phones while sitting in our car in front of the house. The S3 had no signal, the Razr had one to two bars.

I used Open Signal Maps as much as I could but it froze up a lot on both phones. Most times the Razr was stronger on 4G but not by much. For 3G, as we were traveling, the signal strength on the S3 would be 50% (for example) while the Razr would be at 70 or 80% (for example); though there were some points on our trip where they were even. There was one point, just for a moment in our drive, where the S3 lost connection and started "Roaming" but it lasted for about two seconds then found a signal again. The Razr's signal was weak but still held.

Open Signal points in the direction of the tower the phone is using. The odd part is the two phones were often looking at different towers. Mostly when the signal was weak (mostly 3G land here) but sometimes when there was a good signal too.

Also, and this may mean nothing, when I would "refresh" the signal on the Open Signal program. I would say the Razr was about three to five times faster in completing the refresh. I did this many times throughout the drive and it was the same every time.

It just seems like something else is going on here besides a "radio" or "antenna" issue.

Bottom line (in my case anyway): the Razr has better Wi-Fi and 3g strength.

 

[EarlyMon]

If you have two phones pointing to two different towers as a matter of course then either the PRLs (tower databases) don't match or there's congestion in the area and the phones are working for tower access.

Neither of which are phone problems but certainly would explain a lot for some (not all, some) of the results noted here.

 

[dmaxfan]

I do feel some pixie dust in my eyes, or perhaps pollen. Yep, cute flat panda bear.

3G is still staying as fast as Droid 3 now. Go figure.

Npg, swap for another. It has apparently worked for some people.

To be quite honest, I know you've said you're on the fence about trading for a bluple one since bb said you could, but I'd be overly cautious in doing so. I'd be afraid of getting a lemon. Jmho

 

[rushmore]

To be quite honest, I know you've said you're on the fence about trading for a bluple one since bb said you could, but I'd be overly cautious in doing so. I'd be afraid of getting a lemon. Jmho

That and apathy of not wanting to start from scratch again are persuasive points.

 

[snilloconator]

I finally had a chance to test the GS3 (verizon) vs. HTC Inspire (AT&T) at work. I'm getting pretty good coverage just thought that 4G LTE would get better coverage than what I'm getting atm. Seems ATT holds 4G better where I'm at however when Verison gets knocked down to 3G it still loads web faster than ATT. So I'm currently pretty happy with it I just thought I would see 4G LTE more consistent in my area.

Also could cases affect your reception... Has anyone experienced this?

 

[EarlyMon]

All of the cases I've seen have been leather, TPU, silicone and other similar synthetics - all are RF transparent.

 

[SamMax]

I finally had a chance to test the GS3 (verizon) vs. HTC Inspire (AT&T) at work. I'm getting pretty good coverage just thought that 4G LTE would get better coverage than what I'm getting atm. Seems ATT holds 4G better where I'm at however when Verison gets knocked down to 3G it still loads web faster than ATT. So I'm currently pretty happy with it I just thought I would see 4G LTE more consistent in my area.

Also could cases affect your reception... Has anyone experienced this?

I have heard the metal ones do. I am not 100% sure though.

 

[VegaLA]

Finally got to play with 4G LTE the other day. Was in Moorpark at my Boy's school and decided to give it a test while in the parking lott and this flew like nobody's business...was really impressed. Similar reslts in Costa Mesa and San Diego yesterday. Speedtest figures were very good, just hope VzW get over to my part of town soon!

 

[you2]

I played with the S3 in the store for about 15 minutes and again at a display in the city (actually a third time at the sprint store).

The phone is very snappy; 4g signal (at verizon store) was 79dbm vs 69dbm for my razr; rotation seem to have no impact for either device. Brightness seemed about the same (i'm curious if rush issue was that one device was set to power saving mode) and the razr was a tad louder on the external speaker (ringer, media).

The gs3 was way smoother and handled videos (youtube) way better. Couldn't take the g3 outside and the one at the demo booth I didn't think about taking it way from the shade (if they are still setup tomororw I'll do that)

 

[rushmore]

I think when they set the demo up a setting was on by accident, since there are a couple ways to get the dull look, and the one I have is brighter. The manager was aware of the dull demo, since he was comparing to his own Maxx.

Demo experience aside, the display is super fine and uses a good tech to provide better battery life. Images and videos look fantastic.

 

[mellojosh]

So I though I would post my findings about the galaxy s3 reception. I chose an area where the reception was weaker (moderate coverage) than surrounding areas for both CDMA/EVDO and LTE.

I would like to bring something up before giving my results about the open signal maps app and other dbm info. The dbm information reported by these apps and the system info is the dbm of only the cdma signal. I found this out when using *#*#4636#*#* on my rezound (or using the network app in market instead of the code for latest ICS for rezound) to change the network mode to LTE only. On HTC at least, this setting disables the CDMA radio and the signal bars go to 1 tiny bar, but 4g is still lit up. If you try to check the dbms or signal, its the same as you would see if there was no service. Calls also cant be made. I have not yet found any app that can monitor the LTE strength, its like its either on or off. With WIMAX, you had a separate 4g icon with wifi type signal indicator. If anyone knows of a monitoring tool (Or can make a MOD like the WIMAX reception indicator!) let me know.

I compared the S3 stock ICS, Incredible 4g stock ICS, Rezound 3.14.605.10 ICS, RAZR ICS

I measured dBm from the setings menu and used speedtest.net app and speakeasy.net/speedtest in stock browser.

dBm
S3=-117
Rezound=-80
Incred 4g=-75
RAZR=-95

Speed Test Avgs (3 app results+3 browser results=total/6=avg)
S3= 2.48 down 1.79 up
Rezound= 13.68 down 5.48 up
Incred 4g= 14.2 down 5.61 up
RAZR= 8.61 down 4.32 up

As far as the amount of bars, its not a great measurement tool, so I am just gonna rate it by volume of the bars filled.

S3=less than 1/4 full to a 1/4 full
Rezound=Half to slightly over half full
Incredible=Half to slightly over half full
RAZR=Half to slightly under half full

Im not sure whats up the the S3, but may be able to be fixd with an update I hope. I think the HTCs just have a benefit with the antenna being in the back cover. The original incredible had TERRIBLE reception, but since the Tbolt, its been much more improved. I would think the S3 should at least be on par with the Razr.

 

[Ken7]

I've always felt the Rezound was the King of reception. But your S3 numbers are really horrific. Not sure what's up with that.

 

[snilloconator]

I've always felt the Rezound was the King of reception. But your S3 numbers are really horrific. Not sure what's up with that.

So I though I would post my findings about the galaxy s3 reception. I chose an area where the reception was weaker (moderate coverage) than surrounding areas for both CDMA/EVDO and LTE.

I would like to bring something up before giving my results about the open signal maps app and other dbm info. The dbm information reported by these apps and the system info is the dbm of only the cdma signal. I found this out when using *#*#4636#*#* on my rezound (or using the network app in market instead of the code for latest ICS for rezound) to change the network mode to LTE only. On HTC at least, this setting disables the CDMA radio and the signal bars go to 1 tiny bar, but 4g is still lit up. If you try to check the dbms or signal, its the same as you would see if there was no service. Calls also cant be made. I have not yet found any app that can monitor the LTE strength, its like its either on or off. With WIMAX, you had a separate 4g icon with wifi type signal indicator. If anyone knows of a monitoring tool (Or can make a MOD like the WIMAX reception indicator!) let me know.

I compared the S3 stock ICS, Incredible 4g stock ICS, Rezound 3.14.605.10 ICS, RAZR ICS

I measured dBm from the setings menu and used speedtest.net app and speakeasy.net/speedtest in stock browser.

dBm
S3=-117
Rezound=-80
Incred 4g=-75
RAZR=-95

Speed Test Avgs (3 app results+3 browser results=total/6=avg)
S3= 2.48 down 1.79 up
Rezound= 13.68 down 5.48 up
Incred 4g= 14.2 down 5.61 up
RAZR= 8.61 down 4.32 up

As far as the amount of bars, its not a great measurement tool, so I am just gonna rate it by volume of the bars filled.

S3=less than 1/4 full to a 1/4 full
Rezound=Half to slightly over half full
Incredible=Half to slightly over half full
RAZR=Half to slightly under half full

Im not sure whats up the the S3, but may be able to be fixd with an update I hope. I think the HTCs just have a benefit with the antenna being in the back cover. The original incredible had TERRIBLE reception, but since the Tbolt, its been much more improved. I would think the S3 should at least be on par with the Razr.

My GS3 is on par with the testing above... Pretty dissapointed looking at the numbers. I'm going to compare it to my friends rzr maxx tomorrow and see what the deal is. Other than the below average reception/connection I'm happy with the phone.

-106 dbm ...

 

[Deleted User]

This review makes the phone appear to have excellent reception. Almost too good as if a network extender is in the house. There is no signal fluctuation at all...strange.



I DO have a network extender and am STILL getting only 2-3 bars

 

[sorka]

After two days with the phone I'm getting better 3g reception than my droid x. So far I've traved through 2 fringe areas that I never got reception on my x with and the S3 didn't drop even once. Plus the 3g speeds are twice as fast as the x was. 4g speeds have ranged anywhere from 6 to 30 MBs.

My concern about signal data and call quality are completely aleviated. I haven't had a single dropped call and voice quality is outstanding.

The one thing that is hard to get over though is the fact that the phone is plastic. I'm really going to miss the heavy metal glass industrial built like a brick DX. If I could have the features and abilities of the S3 in the dx body, I'd buy that in a heartbeat.

 

[Member 536573]

After looking at the poll on this thread Ron Burgundy says, " The Galaxy S3 works 75% of the time.....everytime." So tell your friends James Westfall & Dr. Kenneth Noisewater that this phone is a o.k. Whammmmmy!!!

 

[bennybbc]

I have heard the metal ones do. I am not 100% sure though.

I would love to see some actual links to posts of people with first hand knowledge of, or hear directly from someone who has used a metal case and experienced a loss of signal. I've heard people say, "They've heard of..." and "It probably will..." but I've yet to see an actual post of someone who has actually tried one and could compare it to a non-metal case.

SamMax, I'm not doubting your claim, I'd just like to see what was actually said and if it was said by someone who can actually make a real comparison between metal and non-metal. I've seen a few of the aluminum cases on Ebay as well as an aluminum back cover replacement that looked pretty cool. They were fairly inexpensive but not so cheap that I would just throw my money away if they were pretty much guaranteed to attenuate the signal.

Benny