Help Reception Issues? Concerned about radio signal strength?

[ironbrewer]

I have to believe the sprint network should be robust enough at 1:30 in the morning to give pretty consistent data speeds. It wasn't in the middle of the city where bars are getting out.

And I have yet to get less than 36 mbps second down and 6 mbps up on my pc.

 

[EarlyMon]

I did these tests with OpenSignalmaps. I was able to do a screen save, but couldn't figure out how to post the screen. It seems very odd to me(not the screen save posting issues,but the signal variations). I'm wondering if my phone is seriously screwed.

Two ways - post the picture someplace public, like your Flickr account and then link the photo here (choose Actions, show sizes, choose a medium size (it'll be good enough), then right click the Download link, copy link, then in your post choose the tool that looks like a postcard next to the quote tool - paste your url in there.

Other way - hit the advanced button on a post widget, look for the thing that looks like a paper clip, it will bring up a tool to browse your PC for the image. You'll have to save to the PC first, and resize it as required. (NOTE - this tool is out of commission at this moment due to site maintenance we're doing, but will be available again shortly.)

 

[GODHOOD]

My problems started Friday when I was receiving my texts hours later, took it first to a Sprint store near me and the lady there couldn't figure out what the problem was. After an hour of her trying to fix my phone the 3G service suddenly got disconnected and it wouldn't go back on to 3G, she said to take it to a corporate Sprint store to get an exchange. Needless to say I was pretty pissed.

On Saturday went to the corporate store and told the tech guy my phone was not connecting to 3G. He said they've seen this problem before of reception problems/antenna issues and that I received a bad batch from the first shipment. Anyway he exchanged it for a new EVO LTE instead of a refurbished one. So now I'm on my second EVO, hopefully no problems arise.

 

[roccopewterss]

What's up everyone.

Mine is 10 days old and the reception issue has been there the entire time for me. It was at first sporadic wifi connections, then 3g issues, then a combination of both, and now I can no longer get on the network at all.

I get something called "data call failure" and "error code 97"

I did a factory reset to no avail...same issue

Mine is going back tomorrow. Gonna try once more with a new model before I jump ship.

 

[falconey]

Ok guys/gals, I need some testers to confirm something for me. I've run many many test on this for my device and it's been pretty consistent. I tested my speeds with some headphones in and got 1200kbps and then tested without and got 500kbps d/l. So I examined it more in different locations and it seems to be pretty consistent that adding my ear buds to the device increased data speeds. Example, sitting on couch I get 467kbps w/o headphones and a minute later I get 924kbp w/headphones. This would point to a hardware issue, but would like others to try before I pass judgement.

 

[ironbrewer]

OK so I just did a test for you falcony.

Without headphones

-93 dBm 1.2 Mbps down 414 kbps up
-92 1.1 0.5 Mbps
-90 1.4 0.7
-90 1.1 414 kbps

With headphones
-90 dBm 1.3 Mbps down 0.9 Mbps
-88 1.4 0.9
-90 1.3 0.9
-90 1.3 0.9

These tests were using root metrics, and were all within about 5 minutes at about 05:50 on a Monday morning. This is more what I would expect. They were very consistent. Not sure why the better results with the headphones. Maybe they are helping the Eltevo get a better signal??

 

[falconey]

I just did a test with open signal and I literally got a 5kbps d/l and -1kbps upload. How the hell do you get a negative upload speed? Oh and the ping was 2078 ms and signal strength was at 75%/-81dbm. Sprint needs to something about this, soon.

 

[dewey brunner]

Feel free to give these old time-tested Sprint tweaks a shot to see if this helps alleviate reception issues.

It won't hurt your signal anymore than it may already be, and your results may vary.

Mods: Delete if this is a repost w/i this thread please.

##DATA##
MSL

Advanced>EVRC-B (enable):

-Home Orig>EVRC-B
-Roam Orig>EVRC-B

-THEN-
RTSP/HTTP Setting:

-RTSP proxy IP to 0.0.0.0
-RTSP proxy port to 0.
-HTTP proxy IP to 0.0.0.0
-HTTP proxy IP to 0.0.0.0


**EDIT** - Also, go under Data Profile and make 255.255.255.255 your secondary HA rather than your primary, and make your previous secondary your new primary.

Menu>Commit>Reboot

Made all changes, however, never could get into data profile to change. Tried everything. thanks

 

[dewey brunner]

Made all proxy changes, however, could not find how to access data profile to change primary to secondary HA. Thanks

 

[EarlyMon]

I just did a test with open signal and I literally got a 5kbps d/l and -1kbps upload. How the hell do you get a negative upload speed? Oh and the ping was 2078 ms and signal strength was at 75%/-81dbm. Sprint needs to something about this, soon.

Have you taken that in to have it checked? Any other news on this?

 

[EarlyMon]

Made all proxy changes, however, could not find how to access data profile to change primary to secondary HA. Thanks

Those are tried and true tweaks for earlier phones, but changing proxy settings only changes how internet traffic is routed, vocoder settings only affect voice compression (and may not be right for the long run with the tower changes coming up) and the final one may not apply to this phone.

Sorry.

 

[falconey]

Have you taken that in to have it checked? Any other news on this?

I'm going to chalk it up to maintenance. Today in the exact same spot, I'm getting 1200kbps d/l and 600kps u/l through open signal. The d/l speed gets much higher in speedtest.net's app. Getting around 1800-1900 kbps d/l through speedtest.net.

 

[denise1768]

I exchanged my phone due to all these problems. 3g dropping, wifi dropping, etc.. as 3vodroid mentioned, it happened especially when using facebook. Don't know if the new phone is any different, but hope there's a fix soon.

 

[i.have.droid]

Ok I faced this issue today. I have always had some issues streaming spotify on my ogevo in certain areas of low reception, but never this bad. It simply was unusable. Furthermore, I faced the same issue where if I was near my wifi, even if it was super low signal, the LTE tries to connect to that instead of using the 3G. So obviously the stream cuts out again.

I literally never had a song stream without cutting out multiple times, and this was in many locations that had worked in the past.

Is there any way to fix this? Do any of the new ROMs released by rooters fix this issue?

 

[falconey]

Ok I faced this issue today. I have always had some issues streaming spotify on my ogevo in certain areas of low reception, but never this bad. It simply was unusable. Furthermore, I faced the same issue where if I was near my wifi, even if it was super low signal, the LTE tries to connect to that instead of using the 3G. So obviously the stream cuts out again.

I literally never had a song stream without cutting out multiple times, and this was in many locations that had worked in the past.

Is there any way to fix this? Do any of the new ROMs released by rooters fix this issue?

I believe CDMA workshop allows you to change the setttings for wifi scanning and signal connection. I vaguely remember doing that on my EVO 3D, but that might have just been wifi scan.

 

[omiller315]

The only place my OG Evo would roam was my dads house. I am back down here for the week and so far I have 1 to 2 bars where I use to roam. When I would roam my battery would last about 5 minutes down here. So far going strong. I do think I have text delays though even in a good area. Looking forward to that first OTA...

Of course I just had a brief roaming. Maybe I should have gotten the Wilson Sleek to play it safe

 

[bupolo]

Ok so I live in the Santa Monica area and the LTEvo gets AWFUL, AWFUL reception. Phone calls cut in and out, I can barely get navigation to work because the download rate is so bad. Sometimes I can't even send text messages. Thoughts on what to do? I've already updated PRL and Profile (in that order).

 

[EarlyMon]

Ok so I live in the Santa Monica area and the LTEvo gets AWFUL, AWFUL reception. Phone calls cut in and out, I can barely get navigation to work because the download rate is so bad. Sometimes I can't even send text messages. Thoughts on what to do? I've already updated PRL and Profile (in that order).

Take it in and have Sprint service do an RF test on your phone.

If it's bad RF hardware, no software fix will ever help.

 

[bupolo]

Take it in and have Sprint service do an RF test on your phone.

If it's bad RF hardware, no software fix will ever help.

Thanks EarlyMon, I'm probably just going to be replacing it, as it has some weird pinkish spots underneath the screen. Though I did drop it and leave a very tiny set of scratches on the bottom left of the phone, think Best Buy will give me a hard time with that?

 

[falconey]

I do think some people confuse bad reception with a bad network. I wouldn't attribute poor data speeds to reception unless I have another device to perform a proper comparison.

@bupolo, if you didn't get their insurance I'd guess they would give you a hard time in regards to replacing a dropped phone. If you have the insurance I'd guess they'd replace it in accordance to the insurance terms.

 

[bupolo]

I do think some people confuse bad reception with a bad network. I wouldn't attribute poor data speeds to reception unless I have another device to perform a proper comparison.

I walk to work. One week, using the OG Evo, data was fine on 3G, next week I'm using the LTEvo, and I can barely download one song off youtube while walking to work. It's awful data download/upload rate, and unless Sprint just did something drastic in the past 3 weeks, it's the phone. I can't even get internet connection in some parts of Santa Monica, it's awful.

 

[falconey]

I walk to work. One week, using the OG Evo, data was fine on 3G, next week I'm using the LTEvo, and I can barely download one song off youtube while walking to work. It's awful data download/upload rate, and unless Sprint just did something drastic in the past 3 weeks, it's the phone. I can't even get internet connection in some parts of Santa Monica, it's awful.

I hear you, but I've had some issues with data speeds as well. I really do think it's a maintenance issue though. I've tested an EVO 3d, EVO shift and my LTEVO all in the same spots and the results have been similar on all. I think the network is just sucking right now. Until the 15th comes and they flip the LTE/Network vision switch I think the jury is still out on LTEVO reception and data speeds.

As an example last week I did a speed test and got sub 60kbps and then a few days later in the same spot I got above 1mbps. Just an FYI, I called Sprint and requested a credit due to the poor speeds and they obliged.

 

[PyroSporker]

I can't even get internet connection in some parts of Santa Monica, it's awful.

While the network all around California there is generally pretty bad all the time I have heard, this might be the source of your current frustration and hopefully future happiness? Maybe this accounts for some of your troubles.
Los Angeles Network Vision/LTE Deployment schedule update - Sprint 4G Rollout Updates

Hopefully their intel proves itself in the long run, since it is the best info we have to go by as Sprint is keeping mum...

Examine all avenues though. Hit up Sprint for an RF test, and ask around the store about local network troubles or tower enhancements because on the off chance, some associate might have some info.

 

[bupolo]

While the network all around California there is generally pretty bad all the time I have heard, this might be the source of your current frustration and hopefully future happiness? Maybe this accounts for some of your troubles.
Los Angeles Network Vision/LTE Deployment schedule update - Sprint 4G Rollout Updates

Hopefully their intel proves itself in the long run, since it is the best info we have to go by as Sprint is keeping mum...

Examine all avenues though. Hit up Sprint for an RF test, and ask around the store about local network troubles or tower enhancements because on the off chance, some associate might have some info.

Thanks, I think I will try that if I'm unable to return my phone. I've been following that site, last I recall I thought it was at like 6% completion (back in mid-June) and wasn't rolling out until October (for the LA area)?

 

[PattiCakeUS]

I hear you, but I've had some issues with data speeds as well. I really do think it's a maintenance issue though. I've tested an EVO 3d, EVO shift and my LTEVO all in the same spots and the results have been similar on all. I think the network is just sucking right now. Until the 15th comes and they flip the LTE/Network vision switch I think the jury is still out on LTEVO reception and data speeds.

As an example last week I did a speed test and got sub 60kbps and then a few days later in the same spot I got above 1mbps. Just an FYI, I called Sprint and requested a credit due to the poor speeds and they obliged.

I really think it's something going on with the network, whether it's maintenance or upgrades or whatever... I talked to my brother yesterday who has a GS2 on Sprint and he complained of missing calls & they go direct to voicemail... and I talked to my daughter today who has an iphone on Sprint and she's been having texts not send or take forever sometimes, been missing calls, & intermittently losing her internet connection. After talking with her I called Sprint and their outgoing first message basically says they're having issues and are trying to fix them. It's not a huge sample base but it sure sounds like a network issue to me since it's affecting multiple phones.