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2.1v3 - 50% Time Without

Rubik76

Android Enthusiast
Feb 10, 2010
546
158
I assume this is already documented (if so, bury this), but just in case it isn't...

I just took a look at my old Eris (aka the Wife's New Phone), which I loaded 2.1v3 on the other day. The battery was almost dead. I looked and... sure enough, 50% Time Without Signal.

Bummer. I assume the fix is the same?

Thanks
 
I assume this is already documented (if so, bury this), but just in case it isn't...

I just took a look at my old Eris (aka the Wife's New Phone), which I loaded 2.1v3 on the other day. The battery was almost dead. I looked and... sure enough, 50% Time Without Signal.

Bummer. I assume the fix is the same?

Thanks

Yep, same fix.
 
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For those reading this thread and don't know what the fix is, simply put your phone into airplane mode for a few seconds, then return it to normal operation. The 50% without a signal will drop.

This needs to be done after every reboot.


Is there another method if this doesn't work? I'm currently searching the forums but the airplane mode is the only fix I can see.
 
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Is there another method if this doesn't work? I'm currently searching the forums but the airplane mode is the only fix I can see.

It typically isn't an instant drop in the percentage, but it should start to go down. Also are you looking at the cell usage or time without signal? It doesn't do anything for cell usage.
 
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Thank you. You're exactly right, it slowly began to drop. It was still at like 30%, then I did the *228 roaming update and also changed the slot cycle index to 1. I know the latter two things are probably not connected, but since I just got to 2.1v3 I needed to do it anyway. After both of those reboots and the airplane mode thing it's now at 0%.

It is bizarre, though.. I used to have 4-5 bars of service at my house at all times and 2-3 bars of 3g service. I now have 1-2 bars of service or 1 bar of 3g service. I remember reading about a lot of different people having issues with the bars/service but I don't know if that was some kind of bug or if it's a strange coincidence that I "lost" signal strength with the upgrade.
 
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Thank you. You're exactly right, it slowly began to drop. It was still at like 30%, then I did the *228 roaming update and also changed the slot cycle index to 1. I know the latter two things are probably not connected, but since I just got to 2.1v3 I needed to do it anyway. After both of those reboots and the airplane mode thing it's now at 0%.

It is bizarre, though.. I used to have 4-5 bars of service at my house at all times and 2-3 bars of 3g service. I now have 1-2 bars of service or 1 bar of 3g service. I remember reading about a lot of different people having issues with the bars/service but I don't know if that was some kind of bug or if it's a strange coincidence that I "lost" signal strength with the upgrade.

The bars aren't accurate. If you want to look at your signal strength you can go to Settings > About phone > Network and look at the Signal strength from there. It will show it as -XX dBm. I have -65 dBm right now and half the time I only show 2 or 3 bars. If you want to check your 3G speeds you can download Speedtest from the market. I have no idea how really accurate it is though.
 
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Thanks again for all your help OfTheDamned! I feel slightly stupid when it comes to cell phones. I consider myself pretty adept at most electronics and computers, but I'm just learning the inner workings of these lovely mobile devices.

My signal strength shows -80 dBm to -86 dBm. I did some research on how the dBm was calculated and apparently most manufacturer algorithms for the "bars" calculation is set to show full around 60-70, give or take depending. So I'll take that to mean that my phone probably really has 3 or 4 out of 5 "bars."

I'm going to download the app you mentioned and see how it works. Thanks again, you're quite helpful :)


Edit: Whoops, didn't know a word would be starred out. I suppose I shouldn't use a word implying mentally handicapped or slow to mean stupid anyway.
 
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How does that 50% bug effect the phone anyway? It says it on my phone but it does not seem to be an issue. On 2.1 v3 leak

I'm not sure if it affects the signal functionality, because that didn't seem to be an issue when I had the bug either. It does seem to drain a lot of battery. If you go to your settings -> about phone -> battery, you can check what's using the battery. When I had this bug, the cell standby was using 73% on average. Once I got rid of the bug, that 73% dropped to about 13%.
 
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How does that 50% bug effect the phone anyway? It says it on my phone but it does not seem to be an issue. On 2.1 v3 leak

I'm not sure if it affects the signal functionality, because that didn't seem to be an issue when I had the bug either. It does seem to drain a lot of battery. If you go to your settings -> about phone -> battery, you can check what's using the battery. When I had this bug, the cell standby was using 73% on average. Once I got rid of the bug, that 73% dropped to about 13%.

That is the general belief on the subject. However, to be honest none of us really know if it has a true negative effect on the phone, since battery performance can be very subjective. Most of us figure that if the time with out signal shows up the phone is going to put in overtime trying to improve the signal and end up using more battery. I still don't think anyone has really put this theory to the test though.....we are all far too busy playing with our phones. ;)
 
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I did not use my phone much either yesterday or today...a couple of short calls, checking email, etc. Yesterday, I didn't do the airplane mode trick and had 80% battery after about 9 hours. Today, I did the airplane mode and my battery life now is the same as yesterday.

As far as the bars of service, there seems to be almost no correlation between the bars and actual signal on my phone.
 
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I ran a week or so with leaving the 50% signal and noticed no change in battery life.

There is also a thread on xda forums, under the Hero, for a fix for this. It has to do with changing the PRL codes. If you do a search for Hero 50% TWS you can probably find it. Not sure if this will work on the Eris or not though, I didn't try it.
 
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The bars aren't accurate. If you want to look at your signal strength you can go to Settings > About phone > Network and look at the Signal strength from there. It will show it as -XX dBm. I have -65 dBm right now and half the time I only show 2 or 3 bars. If you want to check your 3G speeds you can download Speedtest from the market. I have no idea how really accurate it is though.


Sorry late to the party, just been so pissed with my eris since the update that I have not been even interested in this brick, but I have 10 month left so....


Anyways so if I go to Settings > About phone > Network and look at the Signal strength and it says -91dBm do I have 4-5 bars signal strength really even though I only show 1 or NO bars ?

thanks
PS
I have the 50% bug, do I need to do anything about it?
 
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if youre showing -91dBm and getting 1 or no bars then thats pretty accurate......... -80 to -90 is the general operating range for cell signal....... you can probably still be getting enough signal to be useful up to about -95 but beyond that its roaming or nothing typically.........

you should be seeing 3-4 bars as you hover around or below -80 and obviously the lower it gets the better signal youll have

as far as the 50% bug goes...... its a reporting error only....... Ive done a test on my phone using the following method:

for 3 days: normal use, no airplane mode, 50% without signal bug, put on and took off charger at specific times, noted amount of battery left when placing on charger......

for 3 days: normal use, using airplane mode trick, 0% without signal, put on and took off charger at same specific times, noted amount of battery left when placing on charger

the 50% bug had absolutely zero effect on my battery....... its strictly a reporting error in the coding

and though youre late to the thread its still relative...... especially since there have been 2 other threads just started in the past couple of days on the same topic
 
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if youre showing -91dBm and getting 1 or no bars then thats pretty accurate......... -80 to -90 is the general operating range for cell signal....... you can probably still be getting enough signal to be useful up to about -95 but beyond that its roaming or nothing typically.........

you should be seeing 3-4 bars as you hover around or below -80 and obviously the lower it gets the better signal youll have

as far as the 50% bug goes...... its a reporting error only....... Ive done a test on my phone using the following method:

for 3 days: normal use, no airplane mode, 50% without signal bug, put on and took off charger at specific times, noted amount of battery left when placing on charger......

for 3 days: normal use, using airplane mode trick, 0% without signal, put on and took off charger at same specific times, noted amount of battery left when placing on charger

the 50% bug had absolutely zero effect on my battery....... its strictly a reporting error in the coding

and though youre late to the thread its still relative...... especially since there have been 2 other threads just started in the past couple of days on the same topic

thanks
At -91 I have 1 bar and the 3g icon is sitting there meaning I must be in a strong signal area to have 3g right?

I see 1 bar in my house where before 2.1, I was 3-4 bars.(like my wifes LG dare still has) So is this just the bar signal meter not being accurate because of (a bug with the bar meter) in the 2.1 upgrade.
 
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