ERIS and signal level

[dansjeep]

My Eris is just no longer working as a phone. The only place I get good signal strength is at the Verizon store. I think the radio is dying because the other 3 Eris droids in my house (wife and 2 kids) all show 15 - 20 dB higher (less negative) signal strength.
I went to VZW store for some help and all they could do was #228 option 1 and *228 option 2 and recommend that I get a task killer app and use it 3 times a day.

So, anybody know how to get past the sales side and get to somebody that can determine if the phone is broke?
BTW: Data and apps all work fine, I get 3G everywhere, and it's rooted (so is the wife's) using XTRROM 4.2(me) XTRSense 4.2 (wife) - kids not rooted.

 

[pkopalek]

My Eris is just no longer working as a phone. The only place I get good signal strength is at the Verizon store. I think the radio is dying because the other 3 Eris droids in my house (wife and 2 kids) all show 15 - 20 dB higher (less negative) signal strength.
I went to VZW store for some help and all they could do was #228 option 1 and *228 option 2 and recommend that I get a task killer app and use it 3 times a day.

So, anybody know how to get past the sales side and get to somebody that can determine if the phone is broke?
BTW: Data and apps all work fine, I get 3G everywhere, and it's rooted (so is the wife's) using XTRROM 4.2(me) XTRSense 4.2 (wife) - kids not rooted.

"You're holding it wrong." -Steve Jobs.

No, I'm kidding. Having it rooted most likely has nothing to do with it not functioning properly. Have you upgraded to the latest Radio on any of those?

Or, in other words, did the phone have the latest OTA updates from Verizon before you Rooted the phones?

Go home > menu > settings > About (at the bottom) > Software info > baseband version

What's your baseband?

Just curious. Even with an older baseband (like 2.40xxxx or 2.41xxxx) your reception should still be pretty similar to the other Eris's.

I'd flash the Verizon RUU and make sure you have the same problems (you will, I'm betting), then take it to Verizon again, and tell them, side by side, you're dropping calls and they're not, your 3g is having problems, and theirs isn't, and you did a HARD RESET (the ruu is equivalent), and the problems exist right from the first startup.

It has nothing to do with the tasks running on your phone.

When you can hit home > menu > settings > about > network, and see that you are getting 15dbm worse than the other Eris's in the house, eventually their customer service will help you. Either to get you another refurb'd eris or another phone. Be persistent. Call *611 and try there if they're not helping in the store.

 

[jsuh]

My Eris is just no longer working as a phone. The only place I get good signal strength is at the Verizon store. I think the radio is dying because the other 3 Eris droids in my house (wife and 2 kids) all show 15 - 20 dB higher (less negative) signal strength.
I went to VZW store for some help and all they could do was #228 option 1 and *228 option 2 and recommend that I get a task killer app and use it 3 times a day.

So, anybody know how to get past the sales side and get to somebody that can determine if the phone is broke?
BTW: Data and apps all work fine, I get 3G everywhere, and it's rooted (so is the wife's) using XTRROM 4.2(me) XTRSense 4.2 (wife) - kids not rooted.

Call Verizon support. Tell them you already went to a store, your phone is still non functional, and they should send you a replacement.

 

[refthemc]

So about a month ago I was sitting a McDonalds drive through and saw that my Eris only had 2 bars (mind you I usually always only have 2 bars, unless of course I'm a Verizon Wireless store). So I asked my friend sitting next to me, Hey how many bars do you have? He said, My Droid X has 4 bars. I laughed. So about 2 weeks a go I bought a Droid 1 from craigslist and Sold my Eris and ended up breaking even. Now I when I sit at the same McDonalds Drive through guess how many bars I have? 4

 

[dansjeep]

Yep, getting tech support on the phone went well. I'm getting a replacement phone - don't know what I'll get though.
I got a person who listened to me and didn't make me do a lot of crap before believing that the phone has a problem.
In the past, I was able to get satisfaction at the VZW store - instant replacement- but either I got the wrong person or VZW is changing the way they do business. I'd like to believe the former. Thanks for the help to all.
PS: Flashing the RUU from my Windows 7 PC got me unrooted with no problems at all

 

[erisuser1]

So about a month ago I was sitting a McDonalds drive through and saw that my Eris only had 2 bars (mind you I usually always only have 2 bars, unless of course I'm a Verizon Wireless store). So I asked my friend sitting next to me, Hey how many bars do you have? He said, My Droid X has 4 bars. I laughed. So about 2 weeks a go I bought a Droid 1 from craigslist and Sold my Eris and ended up breaking even. Now I when I sit at the same McDonalds Drive through guess how many bars I have? 4

There is no engineering definition of what a "Bar" is.

That means that if they want to do so, Moto can make anything better than -90 dBm "4 bars", and another vendor can choose to make "4 bars" a really strong signal, e.g. -65 dBm.

If you had made the comparison in dBm, then you would have apples-to-apples (maybe).

There can be significant differences between handsets - but probably not more than 6 dBm due to specifics of handset geometry, antenna design, antenna match conditions to the RF front end, etc.

eu1

 

[GLDLOX]

When people ask if they updated their Radio, what exactly does that mean?

Mine says -89 to -98 dBm. I have no idea if that's good or bad.

Only one tiny bar shows and I'm having trouble getting 3G, especially when I try to stream audio from an app. It was working fine until late last week.

 

[dansjeep]

When people ask if they updated their Radio, what exactly does that mean?

Mine says -89 to -98 dBm. I have no idea if that's good or bad.

Only one tiny bar shows and I'm having trouble getting 3G, especially when I try to stream audio from an app. It was working fine until late last week.

The way I got tech support to understand the problem is by letting him know that the signal level on my Eris is 15-20 dB worse than my wife's Eris when we are both in the same place.

Your signal level will change depending on where in the coverage area you are. My phone had a great signal level in the Verizon store, but I'm guessing they have a signal booster so they don't get embarrassed.

 

[Demache]

When people ask if they updated their Radio, what exactly does that mean?

Mine says -89 to -98 dBm. I have no idea if that's good or bad.

Only one tiny bar shows and I'm having trouble getting 3G, especially when I try to stream audio from an app. It was working fine until late last week.

Updating the radio means that your upgrading the baseband software. All you need to know is that it handles the lower level connection to the cellular network, and offloads the task of encoding/decoding phone calls, changing towers, and such from the main CPU and communicates with the phone's main operating system (ex: Android). Updating it can get you better signal by using improved algoritms, and optimized software.

In other words, its essentially a driver update.

 

[heaha]

Rooting will boost your signal levels,

Rooting, will double your signal strength, maybe even triple.

Measure your signal strength before you Root, then after you Root. You will see, Rooting will have made your signal levels "Feels" twice as strong!

 

[Demache]

Rooting will boost your signal levels,

Rooting, will double your signal strength, maybe even triple.

Measure your signal strength before you Root, then after you Root. You will see, Rooting will have made your signal levels "Feels" twice as strong!

Har har. You so funny. You make me laugh long time.

 

[dansjeep]

Anyone know if FROYO has any improvement in radio?
I may want to check it out anyway to see difference.

 

[homer169]

Flashing roms doesn't change the radio.

 

[ekyle]

I only call national support. *611 from a VZW cell or (800) 922-0204 from a landline. They have always helped me out. In-store tech support has always been rather lackluster.

 

[nyccharlie]

i usually have 2 bars, until i make a call, then it shoots up to 4 bars and doesn't go down. explain that one. lol

 

[Demache]

i usually have 2 bars, until i make a call, then it shoots up to 4 bars and doesn't go down. explain that one. lol

2G CDMA vs 3G EVDO. Verizon's 3G network isn't capable of handling normal voice calls. The 4 bars is your 2G connection. It displays that one in phone calls because that's the current network its connected to.

 

[ivybiznatch]

I wasn't getting any reception on my Eris (husband's droid would have 4 bars when I had none), so they sent me a refurb this week. This one likes to ring half a ring, then send the call to voice mail. Huge problem when I have doctor's calling my phone because my work Nexthell has no reception in the area I work in. Guess I'll be calling tech support again.