LTE Signal Problems Explained

[Keyan]

Nice little article that came out explaining what Verizon has done wrong, in a general sense. Makes me want to hang on to my phone in hopes they fix it some time in the near future!

This Is Why Your Verizon Galaxy Nexus (Or Other 4G LTE VZW Phone) Is Losing Its Data Connection

 

[syntrix]

This has been known for a while, but I disagree with the last statement in the article.

Nobody knows if their RADIUS system is the root cause. It could be fine, and there could be other issues.... maybe in planning and testing, the predefined authentication software worked great, but could be the root cause in real life.

There could even be routing issues caused by VZW core network router upgrades or other types of changes that could affect routing to the auth servers.

We do know there are the common "data stalls" in public as well as the outages of late, there's no denying that!

 

[Sandroidfan]

From what I see, signal reception on nexus is just fine, fast as long as it's holding onto 3G or 4G regardless of signal bar or dBm. It seems more stable in 3G only mode.

Problem is hand off between 4G and 3G in not so good 4G areas is not very smooth and could end up with loss of data connection. I guess some folks in weak signal areas are experiencing this connection loss more. So I guess it will be fixed with software update like Tbolt, Charge.

 

[jdavis37]

An interesting read though part of me wonders if it is moot or hopeful. I received my gnex Christmas day and 2 days later on a 2 hr drive eacy way round trip experienced the disconnects while the 3G Droid Global in the car was perfectly happy.

This article sheds some light as have many others on this forum. Add to that the recent Verizon outages and it also make sit difficult to tell what is at fault. When my gnex is connected via 4G it is fast. Reported signal strength averages -100 dbm or so whereas the other devices are in the -75 to -85 range. Again could be how the Gnex is reporting signal strength.

I'm not focused on number of bars displayed or even the signal strength number as I'm not sure they really matter much or that they are comparing apples to apples anyway. But losing the network completely is an issue ( data only). I'll be making the same 4 hr trip in next 8 days or so and will compare (perhaps was only the Verizon network). I have until Jan 15th to decide on this phone. Love the device, love the ICS, concerned about the radio. Things start off bad they often stay bad ( ie Thunderbolt).

The other aspect to this that may be hopeful is how the rezound and Razr seem more immune to this. radio or software, guess that will be the guessing game!

 

[Travisimo]

Problem is hand off between 4G and 3G in not so good 4G areas is not very smooth and could end up with loss of data connection. I guess some folks in weak signal areas are experiencing this connection loss more. So I guess it will be fixed with software update like Tbolt, Charge.

^ This. However, some have still reported lower signal strength in dbs when compared to other phones. I'm referring to forcing the phone into 3G mode and then comparing 3G signals. I am well aware that currently the Nexus reports differently than other 4G phones when in 4G mode.

Personally, I'm not convinced either way that it's a weak radio or simply a 3G/4G handoff problem. I've definitely experienced the latter, where I would lose data completely in a low signal area when it's trying to switch between 3G/4G. But there have also been times when I've put my Nexus in 3G mode manually and it still doesn't get enough signal for data, though my previous phones would.

 

[crankerchick]

I'm also reverting to CDMA to compare signal strength with other phones. It's the only way, since the other phones don't report LTE strength without installing apps on to them. On LTE, I simply can only compare whether the Nexus has 4G or not compared to the other phone, and if it does, then I compare data speeds.

Yesterday I discovered an app called Sensorly that will report both 3G and LTE on the Nexus at the same time, so now I can compare the 3G signal level to other phones without having to switch my phone to CDMA only.

Every phone I've ever compared to, which includes Charge, Droid, Thunderbolt, Razr, and Rezound all had comparable 3G signal strengths to my Nexus. This includes different signal areas ranging from no 4G to full 4G.

I also compared to all the 4G display phones in my VZW store (twice actually, I'm obsessed) and they were all similar in 3G signal strength reported and LTE data speeds. Of course, this is in one area though, where the 4G signal is "moderate" ie 2 bars on both my Nexus and the display Nexus (can't remember the signal level now).

The Rezound certainly holds the 4G signal better (the best, in my opinion) and seemingly handles 3G/4G handoff better. Sometimes my Nexus will gracefully switch with no interruption and other times I will lose data for a moment.

 

[Sandroidfan]

From what I researched, the Qualcomm MDM9600 LTE chip in Rezound is new improved one and it includes both 3G and LTE radios in one chip. That's probably why Rezound handles 4G/3G hand-off better than others. One issue with that radio chip is it only works with Snapdragon processor, so it must be all Qualcomm phone. I think there is room for improvement in 4G/3G hand-off on Nexus with updates.

But Sense UI doesn't fit my taste. Maybe new LG Spectrum with similar hardware with larger battery, no Sense will be more interesting to me.

 

[crankerchick]

From what I researched, the Qualcomm MDM9600 LTE chip in Rezound is new improved one and it includes both 3G and LTE radios in one chip. That's probably why Rezound handles 4G/3G hand-off better than others. One issue with that radio chip is it only works with Snapdragon processor, so it must be all Qualcomm phone. I think there is room for improvement in 4G/3G hand-off on Nexus with updates.

But Sense UI doesn't fit my taste. Maybe new LG Spectrum with similar hardware with larger battery, no Sense will be more interesting to me.

Yes I read that in a review somewhere, I think on maybe The Verge. The Rezound is clearly the king right now as far as I'm concerned when it comes to handling data on LTE and EV-DO, both in throughput, handling transitions, and holding on to a weak signal.

That said, it's a solid phone but is not without it's own quibbles. I also am not a fan of Sense. I thought I liked the features of Sense, but not the theme and look of it but I was mistaken. After having the Rezound for 5 weeks and now the the Galaxy Nexus for 2+, there isn't one thing about Sense that I miss--not one. It's just not my thing.

 

[jkc120]

Yes I read that in a review somewhere, I think on maybe The Verge. The Rezound is clearly the king right now as far as I'm concerned when it comes to handling data on LTE and EV-DO, both in throughput, handling transitions, and holding on to a weak signal.

That said, it's a solid phone but is not without it's own quibbles. I also am not a fan of Sense. I thought I liked the features of Sense, but not the theme and look of it but I was mistaken. After having the Rezound for 5 weeks and now the the Galaxy Nexus for 2+, there isn't one thing about Sense that I miss--not one. It's just not my thing.

Yeah, sense is definitely not my thing, either. I thought it was, but then I ran Cyanogenmod for the better part of a year on my dinc I miss ICS a lot and the aesthetics of the Nexus and a few other things, but I don't regret (yet) getting the Rezound. I probably will regret it if ICS or CM9 aren't available for the Rezound by mid-2012. I guess time will tell. I'm happy with the Rezound's radio performance, but not having had the opportunity to try both at home and in my office at work, it's impossible for me to say the radio performance would have mattered for me. I suspect it wouldn't have been an issue for me as I use wifi at home and mostly at work. Anyway, yeah, sense is not my thing. I replaced the launcher, but I miss the ICS notification pulldown a ton.

 

[Old Member]

America's Most Reliable Network.

 

[crackers8199]

But there have also been times when I've put my Nexus in 3G mode manually and it still doesn't get enough signal for data, though my previous phones would.

i'm still wondering if this is caused by the difference between evdo and ehrpd. even when you force the radio into cdma only mode, you're still on ehrpd if you're 3g. it'd be interesting to see if the issues disappeared if there was a way to force the phone into evdo instead...

i was thinking about trying the *#*#4636#*#* and using evdo only under set preferred network type, but i don't want to do something that might brick the phone (and never got a consensus on whether or not it could be done)...