lowdown on whole signal issue from anandtech.

[Premium1]

AnandTech - Investigating the Galaxy Nexus LTE Signal Issue

 

[Dubbin1]

AnandTech - Investigating the Galaxy Nexus LTE Signal Issue

Just skimming through that a bit and getting to the bottom I see him claim there isn't a problem and blames it on the mapping of the signal bars. Does he not see that all across the board the dBm is much higher on the GN compared to other phones. That tells me there is more of a problem that the signals bars not being correct.

Of course because I just skimmed through it I may have missed something.

 

[Premium1]

Just skimming through that a bit and getting to the bottom I see him claim there isn't a problem and blames it on the mapping of the signal bars. Does he not see that all across the board the dBm is much higher on the GN compared to other phones. That tells me there is more of a problem that the signals bars not being correct.

Of course because I just skimmed through it I may have missed something.

He says the other phones display evdo where as the nexus is displaying the lte signal. He also says if you switch nexus to 3g it is very similar to other 3g/ lte devices.

 

[1080p]

ZOMG! Antennagate part II

 

[trophynuts]

He also says if you switch nexus to 3g it is very similar to other 3g/ lte devices.

i would tell him that he is wrong in that regard. It not only gets horrible 4G it gets horrible 3G as well.

 

[zerocool79346]

i would tell him that he is wrong in that regard. It not only gets horrible 4G it gets horrible 3G as well.

I think you're one of the few I know who has this issue. It's been amazing on 3G for me, and by amazing I mean it surpassed my Eris and Inc.

 

[algs26]

// quoting the article
The issue that most people talk about centers around signal strength, and this is where a few misconceptions kick in. I’ve gotten a few emails and tweets and read pages on forums where people are implicitly comparing CDMA2000 1x/EVDO field strength to LTE field strength. The issue here is that on basically all of the LTE/CDMA Verizon handsets, the field under “Signal Strength” in about refers to EVDO signal strength, and not LTE signal strength.

...
I have a Bionic kicking around which has to go back very soon, but fired up logcat and put the Galaxy Nexus next to it. The Bionic reports signal strength pretty constantly whereas in Android 4.0 the number has some hysteresis, but here the numbers are pretty darn close, with the Bionic hovering between -91 and -95 dBm, and the Galaxy Nexus reporting an average of -92 dBm.

// quote off

Anandtech had a good explanation of the antennagate issue when the 4 was released.

 

[Dubbin1]

He says the other phones display evdo where as the nexus is displaying the lte signal. He also says if you switch nexus to 3g it is very similar to other 3g/ lte devices.

Thanks for explaining that!!! I am seeing it now when I switch back and forth from 3g to 4g. 3g I am at -93 to -100dBm, 4g it shoots up to -109 to -120dBm. My OG droid sitting next to it is at -93dBm.

Now how is he going to explain how people are not getting 4g with the GN while at the same time and place someone with another phone are getting 4g.

 

[JSD_NJ]

I just turned off LTE on my Nexus and tested the signal vs my GFs Droid 2.

Her phone is seeing -74 and mine is -83. FWIW

 

[jroc]

How a phone reports signal strength is one thing...how it actually works as far as reception in real world use is another.

I might as well just get one and use it for a week just to see some things.

 

[ebe3692]

i would tell him that he is wrong in that regard. It not only gets horrible 4G it gets horrible 3G as well.

no offense but the guys and AnandTech are pretty reputable so I'm going to go with them on this one - unless you have an equally detailed analysis to offer.
also my 3g signal quality seems to be about the same as my OG Droid so my personal experience seems to contradict yours.

 

[zerocool79346]

.

Now how is he going to explain how people are not getting 4g with the GN while at the same time and place someone with another phone are getting 4g.

Software glitch related to the hysteresis he was seeing I would bet. My phone reports that I have no signal 90%+ of the time even though I'm still getting texts and calls in time. I think the radio isn't very optimized at all software wise and if the OS is reading the radio inaccurately, I could see why it would force the switch to 3G.

 

[Sandroidfan]

Software glitch related to the hysteresis he was seeing I would bet. My phone reports that I have no signal 90%+ of the time even though I'm still getting texts and calls in time. I think the radio isn't very optimized at all software wise and if the OS is reading the radio inaccurately, I could see why it would force the switch to 3G.

Phonearena commented that ICS might have issue correctly recognizing 4G LTE signal strength. If that's true I think it might have the same issue with 3G CDMA too. According to Anandtech, the CMC221 radio chip in verizon Nexus is improved version over the one in Charge and gets faster data speed. So my guess is this is mainly ICS issue with verizon data network. Looks like this can be addressed by software updates.

 

[Dubbin1]

So the real story is there isn't any issues with the reception of the phone and a software update "should" set things straight?

 

[zerocool79346]

So the real story is there isn't any issues with the reception of the phone and a software update "should" set things straight?

This is my theory. Could be wrong but given how well this phone has performed on 3g only for me, I have a hard time believe this is a hardware issue at all. Would explain why team black hat said 4.1 was so much better.

 

[Sandroidfan]

So the real story is there isn't any issues with the reception of the phone and a software update "should" set things straight?

Since there is no other ICS/LTE phone yet, it's hard to tell for sure. My bet is it's probably software, be it either ICS or radio firmware. Also it's possible that some folks got lemons as majority seems to be happy with it. Anyway I will take mine through signal test soon and report back here.

 

[Proph]

same for me. It may report 109dbm and the thunderbolt next to it says 93dbm but running a speed test and general webpage loading the nexus is a tick faster. Speed test numbers are nexus 14.3 down 8.1 up thunderbolt 14.1 down and 7.8 up.
I have yet to drop a call with the nexus, neither has my wifes thunderbolt. For me despite what the numbers say the performance has not been an issue.

 

[wysilverado]

My Nexus was -120 and not pulling 3G only 1X when My IP4 was under -90 on 3G.No 4G anywhere close to us....... I do have a replacement coming tomorrow (I bought at full price) If anyone want to buy one out right for about $400 in a few days watch My posts......It may be for sale ! LOL!

 

[Proph]

same for me. It may report 109dbm and the thunderbolt next to it says 93dbm but running a speed test and general webpage loading the nexus is a tick faster. Speed test numbers are nexus 14.3 down 8.1 up thunderbolt 14.1 down and 7.8 up.
I have yet to drop a call with the nexus, neither has my wifes thunderbolt. For me despite what the numbers say the performance has not been an issue.

Funny enough my nexus just dropped to 93dbm. Oh also the thunderbolt reports 2 bars of 4g the nexus 1 but they pull similar speed test numbers.

 

[Premium1]

Seems like ics just not optimized to read lte right and something a software patch can fix. Especially since many are still getting good speeds even with it showing poor signal.

 

[x25064]

Why does everyone ignore the fact that this phone gets bad reception woth EVERYTHING, not just the 4g. Its ridiculous how so many people are overlooking such critical problems with this phone. Its A LOT more than just my phone "displaying the wrong symbol." Im getting really sick of these articles and of people basically sticking their fingers in their ears and going " LA LA LA GNEX IS AWESOME I CANT HEAR YOU". I mean this is probably why the phone was released the way it was.

 

[BigRedNole]

I am not sure the location of that test, but if it is local to Anand, I disagree with the results. He is a mere few miles from me and I have not seen 20Mbps ever.

I place a lot of trust in what comes out of Anandtech. It is possible Brian performed this test elsewhere than the Raleigh area.

 

[Dubbin1]

I am not sure the location of that test, but if it is local to Anand, I disagree with the results. He is a mere few miles from me and I have not seen 20Mbps ever.

That few miles can make a HUGE difference.

 

[kg2128]

Why does everyone ignore the fact that this phone gets bad reception woth EVERYTHING, not just the 4g. Its ridiculous how so many people are overlooking such critical problems with this phone. Its A LOT more than just my phone "displaying the wrong symbol." Im getting really sick of these articles and of people basically sticking their fingers in their ears and going " LA LA LA GNEX IS AWESOME I CANT HEAR YOU". I mean this is probably why the phone was released the way it was.

Says the person sticking their fingers in their ears and going "LA LA LA GNEX SUCKS I CANT HEAR YOU"

The nexus is not a perfect phone and yes there are people like you with reception issues, that does not mean everyone is having issues or the phone is fundamentally flawed. Get over yourself.

 

[Justincase]

There is definitely an issue with the device's reception. I live in an area with full LTE coverage and when I had a bionic I had zero issues getting 4g anywhere I went. With the Nexus I'm lucky to get a bar or two of 3g. I have a friend who also has the Nexus with the exact same issues.