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Help Weak signal with Nexus 4

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GeorgeBites1

Lurker
I've had my Nexus 4 for approximately four to five months. I use family Mobile for my service. I love the phone but I work in a concrete building I work with people that have Verizon and other services they seem to have a better signal than me. I pretty much do not have a signal unless I get close to an outside door. Are there any settings that can be changed to improve this? Do you think the Nexus 4 has a weak antenna compared to other phones such as the Galaxy S 2 ,S 3 or 4.
thanks for any help you can give me.
 
You can't compare phone signals unless they are all on the same network. Perhaps you need a network with better coverage rather than a "better" phone :-)
 
I've moved this to the Nexus 4 forum for better support.

To answer your question, Family Mobile run's off of T-Mobile's network. So you're weak signal in buildings can be caused by that. T-Mobile's frequencies are 1700 and 1900, while Verizon's are 700 & 800. Typically, the lower the frequency, the better the building penetration. I find the Nexus 4 antenna to be pretty decent, much better than my Gnex was. If signal in the building is an issue, try using AT&T or an MVNO that runs on AT&T's network. Straight Talk just started offering AT&T SIM cards again, so that would be a good option. AT&T runs on 850 & 700, so you'll likely see better signal with them.
 
The signal on my Nexus 4 is rubbish compared to my partners.It's frustrating enough for me to consider changing my phone again as it's useless without good reliable signal.
 
But i use to have a 2g phone and i upgraded to a 3g phone to be able to send photo's etc.
Surely that's a step backwards
 
I had a straight talk plan with an older samsung phone before I bought the Nexus 4. You are right ,the service was better inside my workplace.We have three phones on my family mobile plan it just $110 per month.I may try a Straight Talk card on the Nexus 4 to see if that would improve things.I know if I go to Settings under data usage choose more, mobile networks, access point names , I see several Proxy's , ports and server settings, not set.I didn't know if setting these will help things. I'll also investigate 2g network and see if that helps.Thanks for your reply
 
I've emailed google and they are sending me a replacement,if that has poor signal qualitites i will be looking for a different make of handset,i hope i don't have to go down that route
 
I got the replacement phone and gave it a try only to find the signal on that one was worse than the original so ive sent that one back and now looking for a replacement phone as a mobile with crap signal is a crap phone in my mind.
Any suggestions for a good phone witha good camera ans one that has good signal.
Shame really cos i love everything else about the phone :(
 
chukka63 said:
I got the replacement phone and gave it a try only to find the signal on that one was worse than the original so ive sent that one back and now looking for a replacement phone as a mobile with crap signal is a crap phone in my mind.
Any suggestions for a good phone witha good camera ans one that has good signal.
Shame really cos i love everything else about the phone :(
Click to expand...

How do you know it's the phone and not the carrier? Remember that the 3G frequency is different from the 2g frequency, and your carrier(Vodafone) might have shitty 3g coverage in your area.
 
My partner has the same carrier etc and her samdung S3 has better signal 99% of the time.

Do you know how frustrating that is ? lol
 
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