Is the droid's 3g chip a piece of crap?

[potatolover1102]

So I have been having a LOT of problems with very spastic 3g. I have opened two trouble tickets and they say the network is fine and no one else I know has complaints so... So what my droid does is bounce around the towers and move bars like a techno music equalizer and it drives me nuts because things like Pandora always hang while it switches around and skips songs! To give an example I was in my room last night and on my bed , so not much space to move around to change it much, and I decided to fire up 3g speed test to see what was going on. So here are some results for you to see how stupid this is. Mind you these were all within the amount of time it took to restart the test. First I got 2221/675 so amazing! Then I got 1215/556 which is fine but not like before. Then I got 114/28 . Then 411/430 and lastly 1546/560 so WTH! Also I have a hybrid PRL and they just sent a new one yesterday which improved it about 50 percent being on the better towers but does anyone else have issues with 3g always changing around? Maybe people previously in an alltell area? I wonder if it is phone related or just prl software? I ruled out it being my individual phone because it works fine when I am home in Houston and I have no issues!

 

[CRPercodani]

I have heard of previous alltell customers having trouble. I was never one, my 3G coverage has been amazing, I almost never drop down to 1x unless I am on the backest of back roads.

 

[potatolover1102]

Well I am not a previous alltell customer I just happen to have come to college in an area that was only alltell so now they are transitioning. The prl does seem to have helped it is just frustrating to me that they signal is obviously here yet why would the droid pick the tower with one bar and horrible speeds over the one with full bars that is faster than what I get in Houston? I thought prl's made the towers have priority lists!

 

[Howie]

I had problems with my Motorola Droid and my HTC Droid Eris dropping to 1X in very strong 3G coverage areas.

 

[potatolover1102]

Ok so you all need to download the new prl and look at the new coverage map because they have done MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS. Just added full 3g coverage to an area that hasn't even had roaming service ever!!!!

 

[Crazy_J]

I have dropped to 1x in a few areas, I know its not my Droid. My wife has a blackberry, we share a plan and she loses service in the same places I do. The map shows 3g coverage through these areas however there isn't. Other providers have coverage in these locations. No these areas are not back roads in fact heavily traveled areas. Ive checked how long of an area the largest outage is, almost four miles of 1x....

 

[colnago]

I had reception issues with (2) different Droids in the DC/Baltimore corridor...feel free to your own opinions about the coverage map/area. I started thia thread in an effort to isolate the problem:

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

 

[hitdog042]

My droid has had no issues in Columbus. However, we had an Eris in the house for awhile and it always went to 1X. My droid has never left 3G.

 

[johnlgalt]

My DROID has gone to 1X once - and it was at a time when everyone around me, regardless of connection / carrier, all died - so obviously something happened around us that affected everyone.

Other than that, I am getting 2+ bars 3G every time I look - and my school is well off the beaten path, and even there I get good service (hence my move to VZW about 4 years ago from AT&T)

 

[Hegemony]

It depends where you are. In my area my 3G was only passable. It would always drop to 1x intermittently at my place of business (in a major city). My desk is under a skylight and it worked fine there. But other spots it would hit 1x pretty quick.

I took the Droid on vacation to Florida and it didn't drop to 1x once. VZW might have good coverage in a lot of places, but not everywhere. I actually find T-Mobile to be better in my area. I can actually walk around at work and stream audio.

 

[messenger13]

I am a previous Alltel customer and the main tower that I connect with is an Alltel tower. My 3G works great, all of the time. Don't know what else to tell ya...

 

[johnlgalt]

Didn't T-Mobile take over the old PowerTel networks? My first cell phone was with them, and I was getting coverage in areas with PowerTel that BellSouth never even attempted....

But I think it depends upon where you live - and what sorts of interference you have in your area....

 

[potatolover1102]

I am a previous Alltel customer and the main tower that I connect with is an Alltel tower. My 3G works great, all of the time. Don't know what else to tell ya...

There is the problem I think. I am not a previous alltell customer so my phone is weirding out I think because I am connecting to an alltell tower.

 

[get quad]

.

 

[potatolover1102]

Very nice lol. That would ensure seamless quality all over the house lol!! Well it looks like Verizon has as of yesterday acquired many new 3g areas. Look on their map and you can see the difference!! One place I go to every year has had no service at all for 4 years and now has full 3g!!!

 

[damstr]

Mine switches between full signal 1x and full signal 3G all the time. Very annoying.

 

[sooper_droid12]

Only at 1x when I'm in my building, behind several walls and under many floors. Even then, if I stand in a particular corner, the antennae will pull 3G through all of that stuff.

 

[stearic]

I have that annoying 1x/3g switching issue. I think it's partially due to the fact that the alltel towers around here haven't been fully integrated into the system yet. I just a few min ago updated my prl as i heard on here a new one was out. So we'll see if this fixes it or not.

 

[nycebo]

Wow, that is really spooky. I very often go from 3G to 1x at my office, and even sometimes at home (live in NYC). Based on this thread and another today, I updated my PRL and it has made a WORLD of difference. At the office where reception is usually pretty pathetic, I'm getting 3-4 bars of constant 3G. I hope it lasts and isn't an anomaly.

UPDATE: Alas, no joy. Dropped to 1x in the office just now. Darn!

 

[gotwillk]

hmm i'm also in NYC and my office is on the lower west side and i get really crappy 3G connection in the building. especially in my office its always switching to 1x and reception drops to like 1 bar or no bars constantly. it pretty much stays at 3G with 0 or 1 bar in my room.

i'll have to try this out on monday because i'm not at work today but do i have to be in a specific area to do it? like do i have to be at work first and then do the PRL update or can i do it now at home?

 

[potatolover1102]

They added another new prl this morning!! Try it out! They are definitely doing majorr network upgrades nationally which is exciting!

 

[potatolover1102]

hmm i'm also in NYC and my office is on the lower west side and i get really crappy 3G connection in the building. especially in my office its always switching to 1x and reception drops to like 1 bar or no bars constantly. it pretty much stays at 3G with 0 or 1 bar in my room.

i'll have to try this out on monday because i'm not at work today but do i have to be in a specific area to do it? like do i have to be at work first and then do the PRL update or can i do it now at home?

Do it now!

 

[sooper_droid12]

So I updated my PRL just for giggles, since I'm usually at 1-2 bars in my office (see post above). Now, I'm humming along at FULL BARS! Wow! I'm impressed.

 

[potatolover1102]

So I updated my PRL just for giggles, since I'm usually at 1-2 bars in my office (see post above). Now, I'm humming along at FULL BARS! Wow! I'm impressed.

Same here! Glad to hear more success. This is why I never switched for the stupid Iphone with that horrible carrier!!

 

[EAK128]

Just tried this on my phone since I got it back in Nov. Went from 2 or 3 bars max to full bars, and my 3g more then doubled in download speed.
Thanks guys.