Did the update fix your 3G->1x swtiching and reception issues?

[colnago]

Inquiring minds (who returned their Droids for said reason) want to know...if you don't mind sharing. Just trying to not let this topic get lost in the shuffle(s).

TIA

 

[gcroberson]

Nope. That was one of the first things i noticed. I am still happy with the update overall.

 

[iamloco724]

signal hasnt seem to have improved havnt had the 1x switching yet but i expect to

 

[alostpacket]

No fix here either. Hope I don't have to take it back

 

[gcroberson]

My new droid will arrive at my home tomorrow. So I have to do it all over again but I couldn't wait. I'm hoping my new droid fixes my freezing and signal problems.

 

[gonzoguy24]

No signal problems yet...

 

[Suljin]

wait, so switching back and forth between 3g and 1x isn't supposed to happen? The house I live at gives me 1x but everywhere else its 3g, and then on occasion I get 3g inside the house, but it just goes back and forth between the two. Also ive had mine completely remove the 3g/1x part on the top and it still have full bars, but no messages are sent/received and If I make a call it wont connect (left it in call mode for 20 mins to see if it would) and it wont hang up, though it registers me hitting the button. I have to turn the phone off to get it to stop. This has happened several times now, only had it for 2 weeks or so

 

[Negativism]

I just thought that was normal for me living in the middle of nowhere. I was surprised I get 3 bars sometimes.

 

[Suljin]

Nope I live in a big city its just inside my house it does that. Though it drops the 3g/x several places now.

 

[colnago]

wait, so switching back and forth between 3g and 1x isn't supposed to happen? ...

I don't know. I was new to Verizon (since having a Motorola Star Tac from work back in the day) when I got my Droid(s). At my house, while sitting on my desk, I would get a 3g signal w/3-4 bars, and -78dBm signal. Only 2 miles away, at the intersection of 2 majour routes, I would get -52dBm...from what I understand, that's really good. That said, again, with the Droid on my desk at home, the 3G signal of 3-4 bars would arbitrarily drop to (0) bars, and stay there a few moments, then change to 1x and 2 bars. The 1x would gradually fade and I'd again have no signal, and it would eventually "fade" back to a decent 3G signal. I'm also within two miles away from (2) Verizon stores, and (2) blocks from a Verizon CO. All that to say that I "should" get decent signal where I am, and do at times, but whether the switching is more of a "status confirmation" (e.g. - yes your phone is within range of both 3G and 1x connection) vs. "status notification" (e.g. your 3G is weak, now switching to 1x), I couldn't tell you.

Speedtest.net results would vary from 200kb - 1.4Mb, all from the same spot. Just picking up the phone could alter the signal 10dBm in either direction...removing the battery cover would increase signal by 3-5dBm. Driving around town the switching was more active and in a few spots I'd get "no connection" messages. At mom's, also within that 2 miles, Droid just drops to 1x and 0-1 bars and stays there. Subsequently, my battery drained from full charge to 20% in just over 3 hours.

I was hoping that a firmware update would help the Droid manage signal better, but I think it just has a weak antenna. I made a homemade antenna mod which helped boost my signal to a stable -62dBm:

http://androidforums.com/motorola-d...rough-3g-1x-switching.html?highlight=homemade

...which leads me to believe its the Droid, and not the network.

 

[RvLeshrac]

I haven't seen any improvement. Fortunately, 3G on the droid is a bit more stable than 3G was on the Eris, but my voice signal is still hit-or-miss, and WiFi is just *terrible*

Update didn't improve anything. The upside, at least, is that it didn't *break* anything, either.

 

[nateo200]

My phone never switches to 1xRTT unless I'm in a thick building.that is up until now. Literally I sat under a cellphone tower that I knew was verizon (the building I was in had a cell tower on it) with like a crazy good signal like -40 dbm but it kept switching to 1xRTT even though my friend with a storm had 3G.....also wifi never stays connected like the iphone does.....

 

[bthoward]

Mine will switch from 3g to 1x at home only... It seems to do it less after the update (thus where I assume the battery life improvements are coming from). I've never had an issue with a wifi connection being anything other than perfect. Actually at work it just flat out works and in the same cube my iPod Touch actually drops its connection at times.

Edit: I should also note that this is at a company where we design wireless radios too... Thus there are a holy feck ton of bluetooth radios working properly and some with bugs in them. Some here and there that may be suped up beyond allowable limits for testing purposes and some with some good sized antennas on them. We've also got WiFi radios running around that have bugs and other issues we're working on ironing out... So when things perform well in this environment they are quite tolerant to other radios' jackassery and are doing a good job of passing the interoperability requirements...

 

[RvLeshrac]

I think I could jam a Verizon tower up me arse and *still* not get -40dbm. My cell reception sits on -80dbm constantly, and I'm right next to a 100' tower.

My WiFi reception is -50dbm, and that's *minimum,* literally. On-top-of-the-antenna minimum. It just gets worse as I get further and further away, never ceasing to cut out on me. When the WiFi signal drops, I have to go toggle wireless before it will pick up *any* wifi signal again.

-------------
*edit*

bthoward - Yeah, I noticed that the battery life improved a bit along with my 3G not switching at work. I haven't been home yet, but I imagine it will still be bad there. (can't really improve on *no* signal)

My issue is that I can't do much over 3G. Streaming music gobbles bandwidth - easily 1gb/day for last.fm, so I *need* the wifi to work.

 

[cdd543]

I'm still switching..heck even switched in my house for an hour and I've never had it switch here before. My 3g signal is great in the -60's.

 

[alostpacket]

What is considered a good dbm and what is considered a bad one?

 

[patrick3002]

wait, so switching back and forth between 3g and 1x isn't supposed to happen? The house I live at gives me 1x but everywhere else its 3g, and then on occasion I get 3g inside the house, but it just goes back and forth between the two. Also ive had mine completely remove the 3g/1x part on the top and it still have full bars, but no messages are sent/received and If I make a call it wont connect (left it in call mode for 20 mins to see if it would) and it wont hang up, though it registers me hitting the button. I have to turn the phone off to get it to stop. This has happened several times now, only had it for 2 weeks or so

no this isn't supposed to happen? It should be common sense that odd things shouldn't be happening to a brand new phone... wow

 

[RvLeshrac]

What is considered a good dbm and what is considered a bad one?

Really, the dbm doesn't matter much for quality. -100dbm is fine, as long as the device stays connected - it will just be a slower data rate. It *does* matter for battery life, if that's a concern. -70dbm is probably a good target for a cell signal, -60dbm for good 3G speed.

When the phone can't stay connected, however, it doesn't really matter much where the signal strength lies (unless you're looking for a warranty claim).

 

[alostpacket]

Really, the dbm doesn't matter much for quality. -100dbm is fine, as long as the device stays connected - it will just be a slower data rate. It *does* matter for battery life, if that's a concern. -70dbm is probably a good target for a cell signal, -60dbm for good 3G speed.

When the phone can't stay connected, however, it doesn't really matter much where the signal strength lies (unless you're looking for a warranty claim).

I'm just not sure how much of a problem this is for me or if I should consider returning it. For me the problem is in my house but I seem to get decent 3G otherwise but haven't tested it enough outside my house for sure. Additionally when I'm home, I'm connected via a wireless router and those speeds are great so *shrug* not sure what to do.

 

[Chugworth]

I occasionally see mine switch to 1x, but I really don't think it's a problem with the DROID itself. My Omnia used to do the same thing.

 

[alostpacket]

Ok just tested it, outside in front of my house I get around -80dBm inside around -90dBm. However outside I get 1-3 bars of 3G, inside switches to 1-2 bars of 1x.

Is this a problem? I suppose I could call customer service but would like opinions from the experts here first

 

[stearic]

I've yet to noticed it switching, but that doesn't mean it hasn't done it yet. I'll keep my eye out to see if it does this to me.

 

[mwolf]

I'm constantly on 1x & 1-bar in my house and I'm hoping the update helps a bit.

 

[vincentp]

Nope, I'm still getting it, maybe even more so than before. It's hard to tell because I never checked that much before the update. I've been watching it all day to see how it's going. I did notice that when it goes to 1x, it switches back to 3g relatively quickly and doesn't cause any real interference in what I'm doing, but I have to imagine it has an effect on my battery.

I think the phone just has a lousy antenna. I was using a BB Curve before on the same network, in the same places, and my coverage almost never dropped to 1x.

 

[Gunner]

There is definitely something flaky w/ the Droid's antenna. I have lived and worked in the same area w/ strong 3G signal for years. Never had this kind of signal issue w/ my old WinMo phone. Always had solid 3G signal indoors and out. Have the same problem others have described w/ 3G -> 1x switching when in my house and in my office w/ my Droid. Seems to be at random, and it'll sometimes go from 3 or 4 bars of 'good' signal to 0 then 1x. I'm afraid this may be a hardware issue.