Help Nexus One 3G problems

[AndroidsOfTara]

If anyone is having 3G issues on the Nexus One, the following may help:

Does the Nexus One Have 3G Problems? - Android - Gizmodo

Spotty 3g? - Google Mobile Help

I am unfortunately returning mine because of having nearly nonexistent 3G and 1 - 2 bars of voice where TMO says everything should be perfect.

I don't have time to wait for HTC and TMO to point fingers at each other. I'll wait for the VZW version.

 

[harrispo]

Just sell in on eBay for 1.5x the price

 

[sooper_droid12]

Welcome to having a great phone on a whack network, even if they're going to speed up to 7.2Mbps, they just don't have enough infrastructure for consistent coverage like VZW. It's not just that VZW gets coverage in Nowhere, Montana, but that even in San Diego, CA, where 3G coverage for all carriers should be good, it's not spotty like at&t or TMo.

 

[sooper_droid12]

I just read that HTC now stands for "Hard To Connect".

 

[nyfinest32]

Im having the same 3g problems. Can this problem be fixed without getting a new device?

 

[James Bell]

I have no 3G problems so far (North Florida) and better reception (like 1/2 a bar better) than my Samsung Galaxy got.

 

[rookie1082]

When driving home i usually have a full signal (i'm about 25-30 miles west of chicago) When i'm at work (in a warehouse/lab type environment) i usually have 1-2 bars of 3G service...

At home in my apartment i range from 1-3 bars, but never really lose signal.

 

[wmm]

My (EDGE) signal strength in my house (sitting in one place, not moving around) ranges from four bars down to "lost signal." :-( I just switched from AT&T; the signal strength was pretty variable with them, but nothing like this.

 

[dcdttu]

It's not fair to compare service with another carrier. Those of you that left AT&T or another carrier can't really tell if it's the phone or the carrier. The only way to really know is to put the N1 next to a G1 or other 3G T-Mobile phone and then look up the dBm in the settings. (about phone, status). That should give a good indication. The lower the # the better (disregarding that it's a negative #).

 

[wmm]

True. However, I don't have another Android phone to compare against, and I thought it might be useful to throw in some anecdotal experience (clearly there are environmental issues in my area that contribute to variable signal strength at my location, but the T-mobile/Nexus One pairing seems to be more sensitive to them).

 

[BacteriaEP]

My 3G has been perfect since I turned the phone on. I'm in the greater Los Angeles area.

 

[rramsdell]

So here goes...

South Florida Area ( Delray Beach )

1. Droid phone ( Verizon ) Always had 3G no matter even traveling through the remote parts of Ocala Area. Had a couple of 1x but it was rare.

2. Nexus One. Switches to Edge constantly. When this happens at work, I compare 2 G1s and another Tmobile Android phone and they show 3G. This has happened since I bought the phone and can be repeated easily. I compared a G1 and Nexus while traveling around general area near work and the Nexus will switch to EDGE more often than the G1 for sure.

Not sure what is going one here, but I will call Tmobile and will return the phone next week if it cannot be solved.

 

[AndroidsOfTara]

Welcome to having a great phone on a whack network

I'm starting to see the reason people stay with VZW despite the higher prices.

 

[AndroidsOfTara]

It's not fair to compare service with another carrier. Those of you that left AT&T or another carrier can't really tell if it's the phone or the carrier. The only way to really know is to put the N1 next to a G1 or other 3G T-Mobile phone and then look up the dBm in the settings. (about phone, status). That should give a good indication. The lower the # the better (disregarding that it's a negative #).

If you read some of the posts from the Google forum above, you'll notice people are doing exactly that and getting better service from their G1s than their N1s on TMO.

 

[sooper_droid12]

I'm starting to see the reason people stay with VZW despite the higher prices.

It's a bitter love-hate relationship. They don't always have the sexiest phones. Their prices and control seem to be pretty ridiculous. But they can do it because they simply have the best coverage. I was only in San Diego a week ago, trying to find a burger place called Hodads; my brother-in-law on his BB calling on at&t and me on VZW... he dropped his call three times in succession. Not only was I able to search the website for Hodads, get a phone number and address, but I was able to then pull maps and get navigation during the same time window.

But VZW knows they have a great network, so they charge accordingly. And until the DROID came out, they were sticklers about supporting their applications (e.g. VCast, etc.) With the DROID, they seemed to relax their stranglehold. The big surprise at CES was Google announcing that the N1 will be on the VZW network.

Honestly, I'm rooting for the other carriers to get their act together to topple VZW. VZW is still the only carrier I can use to get signal in the Metro Subway tunnels. Insane! C'mon TMo, Sprint and at&t, get it together!

 

[ZenShadow]

I am a disappointed early adopter as well. Very unhappy with the stonewalling and finger pointing that seems to be going on. Silence by Google, HTC and T Mo pointing fingers at each other (and still no answer). Jan 11th is a rumored OTA patch from HTC. If that fails to materialize I'm reluctantly going to return it for a refund and check out the Verizon Nexus or HD2 when they come out after making SURE it can deliver without issues! Very dissapointed but hoping it can be rectified soon ... I have my doubts in my particular case cause I think I am in a dead zone as well (although I am in nashville!) So, even if the phone has a bug that can be fixed, I think I won't get 3G at home since I never get 3G at all, only Edge - which isn't what others are reporting. If I didn't get WiFi here at home, I'd already have it shipped back. Here's hoping against hope the (Rumored) OTA fixes everything!

 

[nyfinest32]

I am a disappointed early adopter as well. Very unhappy with the stonewalling and finger pointing that seems to be going on. Silence by Google, HTC and T Mo pointing fingers at each other (and still no answer). Jan 11th is a rumored OTA patch from HTC. If that fails to materialize I'm reluctantly going to return it for a refund and check out the Verizon Nexus or HD2 when they come out after making SURE it can deliver without issues! Very dissapointed but hoping it can be rectified soon ... I have my doubts in my particular case cause I think I am in a dead zone as well (although I am in nashville!) So, even if the phone has a bug that can be fixed, I think I won't get 3G at home since I never get 3G at all, only Edge - which isn't what others are reporting. If I didn't get WiFi here at home, I'd already have it shipped back. Here's hoping against hope the (Rumored) OTA fixes everything!

Where did u hear about the ota patch?

 

[wmm]

I am a disappointed early adopter as well.

Lest anyone take my earlier posting as a final statement of discontent, I'm actually pretty happy now. I still occasionally lose the signal completely inside my house (which doesn't matter much because I have wifi); however, sitting in my car in my driveway, I'm getting 3 bars of 3G and speeds that average about 960 kbps up and 350 down. Just drove around my area a bit today testing the Google maps voice nav app, and I saw 3G nearly everyplace I was; the phone never had a problem keeping up with the data requirements for map redraws. I could wish for better, of course, but overall I think it's quite acceptable.

 

[ZenShadow]

Where did u hear about the ota patch?

I did say it was 'rumored' ... but it was from a poster to the Google Support Forum on the Spotty 3G? thread. He said:

I waw lucky enough to talk to two great reps from T-Mobile and HTC and after all the normal tests, use two phones swap sims, input codes, go outside, refresh network provider search, uncheck 2G, etc. I finally think I have an answer.....

1. Its not a HTC problem, but coverage/data is tmobile network issue with signal strength.
2. HTC big bosses down in Taiwan is woking with Tmobile to solve the issue.
3. Call HTC, 1-888-216-4736 on Monday January 11, 2010 and see the progress about an OTA update that should be pushing out on that day.

Conclusion - Both HTC and Tmobile screwed up and they know this, we all have to be patient/angry and wait until more news on Monday about the OTA update and if it does happen if it has fixed our problem.
Monday is still within our 14 day return policy so I'm going to wait for the OTA and if not by the end of that week I will be returning the phone for a full refund and hope everyone does also. If we all do this, the money will talk for us and maybe they will finally work overtime and fix this issue. Also maybe the price will drop by then also (I wish).

Here's a link to the Support Forum: Spotty 3g? - Google Mobile Help

 

[FreshPrince]

This is exactly why I haven't ordered one yet. I'm going to wait until there's a patch or something and see how that works. Otherwise I'll patiently wait for the third generation iPhone.

 

[rookie1082]

This is exactly why I haven't ordered one yet. I'm going to wait until there's a patch or something and see how that works. Otherwise I'll patiently wait for the third generation iPhone.

Why wait for the 3GS? Get it now!

 

[nyfinest32]

This is exactly why I haven't ordered one yet. I'm going to wait until there's a patch or something and see how that works. Otherwise I'll patiently wait for the third generation iPhone.

u mean 4th gen

 

[nyfinest32]

I did say it was 'rumored' ... but it was from a poster to the Google Support Forum on the Spotty 3G? thread. He said:

I waw lucky enough to talk to two great reps from T-Mobile and HTC and after all the normal tests, use two phones swap sims, input codes, go outside, refresh network provider search, uncheck 2G, etc. I finally think I have an answer.....

1. Its not a HTC problem, but coverage/data is tmobile network issue with signal strength.
2. HTC big bosses down in Taiwan is woking with Tmobile to solve the issue.
3. Call HTC, 1-888-216-4736 on Monday January 11, 2010 and see the progress about an OTA update that should be pushing out on that day.

Conclusion - Both HTC and Tmobile screwed up and they know this, we all have to be patient/angry and wait until more news on Monday about the OTA update and if it does happen if it has fixed our problem.
Monday is still within our 14 day return policy so I'm going to wait for the OTA and if not by the end of that week I will be returning the phone for a full refund and hope everyone does also. If we all do this, the money will talk for us and maybe they will finally work overtime and fix this issue. Also maybe the price will drop by then also (I wish).

Here's a link to the Support Forum: Spotty 3g? - Google Mobile Help

i really hope this is true

 

[Winvent]

The problem is NOT related to signal strength. The connection switches randomly between 3G and Edge at ANY signal strength.

You can access Signal Strength at Settings/About Phone/Status

The following conditions were observed by moving to different locations (NOT chronological order) in and out of the house:

dBm / ASU / Network / Bars
-63 25 3G 4
-63 25 Edge 4
-77 18 3G 4
-77 18 Edge 4
-89 12 3G 3
-89 12 Edge 3
-101 6 3G 2
-101 6 Edge 2
-109 2 3G 1
-109 2 Edge 1

dBm and ASU are the two signal strength readings on the phone. Bars is the signal "bar" readout in the top indicator bar.

Even with the STRONGEST signal, the phone is unable to reliably connect to the 3G network. Furthermore, the phone clearly DEFAULTS TO BE ON EDGE under even ideal conditions. Had a friend over yesterday with their G1 on Tmobile and they had constant 3G while I had Edge 90% of the time. This was everywhere in the house. Over the last 2 days I find I get 3G about 10% of the time. I'm in clear sight of a T-mobile tower and am supposedly smack dab in the 3G coverage.

This appears to be a software problem- either a complete design failure on the part of T-Mobile/HTC or a designed "dumming down" of the phone to reduce network congestion.

THIS MUST BE FIXED, or my phone is going BACK within the 30 day (by law in CA) return period unless T-mobile fixes this COMPLETE DISASTER. HUNDREDS of posts here about this problem:

Spotty 3g? - Google Mobile Help...

LOCATION:
San Leandro, CA near 580 in an elevated location with clear shot to at least one T-mobile tower.

------------------

Follow-up regarding DOWNLOAD SPEEDS

Download test speeds under -63dBm (4 bars) conditions have been observed as follows:

Edge (4 bars / -63 dBm) from 24kbps to 180 kbps
3G (4 bars / -63 dBm) from 100kbps to 820 kbps

Not even CLOSE to the "lightning fast" speeds promised by HSDPA7.2 !!!!!!!!

 

[omeyga]

Spotty 3g? - Google Mobile Help...

Why is this listed as "Answered" in Google Mobile Help? I thought that's what they put when problem had been resolved.