Help 4G LTE Problems

I started a thread a few days ago after I picked up my Nexus about connectivity issues. Verizon could see my sim card bit not the phone. The tech did some fiddling around, battery pull, reboot, etc. When she was done everything worked great. I'm getting 30mbps down and almost 5 up. Not one dropped call. Had data issues inside this old bank building we were shooting in but voice worked fine - the bldg. was built over 100 years ago, pracitically chiseled out of solid rock. I can drive through tunnels and not lose my calls. So far, I'm loving this phone and Verizon service.

I hate to say after 24 hours with the GNex my LTE and 3G connectivity is horrendous. I am completely depressed. I really bagged on my TBolt, but it kicks my GNex's butt all day long in data connectivity. I am in Clearwater, FL. Any Pinellas or Hillsborogh County folks care to weigh in? I thought about calling my VZ store but I'll probably learn more here.

Sandroidfan said:

AC is reporting that verizon Gnex has Qualcomm LTE radio, not CMC LTE chip used in Charge. This contracts what anandtech reported. So who is correct?

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It does have a little sticker near the usb charge port that says "Qualcomm 4G" so that would imply it is using a qualcomm chipset for LTE.

red66charger said:

I hate to say after 24 hours with the GNex my LTE and 3G connectivity is horrendous. I am completely depressed. I really bagged on my TBolt, but it kicks my GNex's butt all day long in data connectivity. I am in Clearwater, FL. Any Pinellas or Hillsborogh County folks care to weigh in? I thought about calling my VZ store but I'll probably learn more here.

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Like I stated a few posts up, I have always had spotty connection with my TB. I don't make it out to Pinellas unless I'm going to a Rays game and I'm primarily in Tampa and parts of Pasco county. I don't have a Gnex yet as my upgrade is not until late January.

As stated in other posts I think we are talking about several issues here...

If you get no data at all (ever) you have a bad sim card and need to go back to a vzw store to get a new one activated.. You could also call support and they will overnight one to you.


Now if you are in an area that has 4g and you move into an area with no 4g (in my case it is in the center of my building where I lose all data and voice signal) when an lte device tries to switch back it seems to cut out of all data... this has happend to me on my (Thunderbolt, chrage, bionic, razr, and gnex) all in the same area... I have a friend in phoenix who has had the same exact issues with the same list of phones.. ( yes we have a problem with phones i am sure it is some type of addiction )

now ... some phones are worse than others.. my RAZR and the GNex seem to be the worst so far.... my tbolt and charge have countless upgrades... and I returned the bionic after a week of use... (btw the razr just went back too)...

now for those who want to go to ATT or T-mobile

ATT better 3g/4glite coverage however unlike the verizon signal I get dropped in the middle of calls while this almost never happens on verizon... dropped calls on att in the 5% range not often but if i am on a call more than about 45min I have more like a 50% chance i will drop the call...

tmobile 3g/4g(hspa+) on my nexus s 4g I get dropped calls and major probelms with data not working at all in my building. walk outside the building and it is pretty stable .... again dropped call rates in the 10% and if I am moving around in a car I am pretty much gaurantied a dropped call in some areas it is just a dead zone( quantico VA)

I have not used sprint since they sold me a PCS phone in 2000 that worked in only a few areas.. I am much sure they are better now but I have no compelling reason to use them. I use att/tmobile because I travel and use those phones in other countries.


all in all I will stick with my gnex for verizon not as perfect a phone people had hoped it would be, however if compared to the razr it is a large step up in my opinion.

and i have no problem telling people to buy an iphone either that way if they start to complain i can just claim ignorance since that is not what I use...

also 4g speeds are subject to relative use.. if you are in a new market and there is only a few users you should see super fast speeds 30/15 however in larger markets with established users speeds start to slow down... I started with 30down 15up in dc on my tbolt now i get 12down and 3up... and if i am in a sweet spot with my tmo nexus i get 18down and 2up... but lte is far more available in the dc area than hspa+

I am having very high speeds at home in Norman OK. Lows in the 20s highs in the upper 30s now.

Jayson

I'm also having a lot of trouble with this today.

From home last night I was between 2-3 bars of 4G, but at work I'm getting one bar of 3G and sometimes no connectivity at all. I'm not interested in swapping this for any other phone that Verizon offers but I need at least decent service...

only had a problem once. i walked into a subway type store to get lunch and it dropped dead, no service. never had the problem before so will keep an eye on it. been working great most of the time.

in denver over 4 tests in different areas...

highest down was 7914 kbps
lowest down was 6567kbps

highest up was 8228 kbps
lowest up was 7416 kbps

DucatiDude said:

I started a thread a few days ago after I picked up my Nexus about connectivity issues. Verizon could see my sim card bit not the phone. The tech did some fiddling around, battery pull, reboot, etc. When she was done everything worked great. I'm getting 30mbps down and almost 5 up. Not one dropped call. Had data issues inside this old bank building we were shooting in but voice worked fine - the bldg. was built over 100 years ago, pracitically chiseled out of solid rock. I can drive through tunnels and not lose my calls. So far, I'm loving this phone and Verizon service.

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Shooting in a bank is usually frowned-upon..

OnTopic: Ive had my Rez for over a week, and haven't had any data problems (Columbus,Oh), constant 4g on mine and the wife's and call have been crystal clear. Coming from Sprint, I am amazed at the coverage and quality. I REALLY want the Gnex though... decisions, decisions.

mattheis said:

Shooting in a bank is usually frowned-upon..

OnTopic: Ive had my Rez for over a week, and haven't had any data problems (Columbus,Oh), constant 4g on mine and the wife's and call have been crystal clear. Coming from Sprint, I am amazed at the coverage and quality. I REALLY want the Gnex though... decisions, decisions.

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I am hoping some people will be jumping from the rezound to the gnex so I can pick up a used one for $300 i don't need one for any more than that though... I would love to compare them at my office however I went the bionic route due to the ability of root and ways around the locked bootloader... no such luck on the rezound though... still I am really curious to see just how much better the battery is or isnt.

anyone else in new haven, CT area experiencing issues? I've only used mine so far at work in west haven, getting around 7000kbps down and 2000kbps up on 4g..however at home im not getting any 4g signal at all...

The 4g radio blows. Plain and simple.

Sitting at a restraunt im on 3g. Two rezounds at the table are on 4g full signal.

How good is the phone if you cant use it?

I'll be going back to the store after work. I rarely have a data connection. For now I'm forcing 3G because 4G has only worked once and it was in the store.

Can a software update REALLY improve the reception on LTE??

Dubbin1 said:

It takes a few presses but its not "hard" to do.

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Is there an app or widget to do this quickly yet?

red66charger said:

I hate to say after 24 hours with the GNex my LTE and 3G connectivity is horrendous. I am completely depressed. I really bagged on my TBolt, but it kicks my GNex's butt all day long in data connectivity. I am in Clearwater, FL. Any Pinellas or Hillsborogh County folks care to weigh in? I thought about calling my VZ store but I'll probably learn more here.

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What's up? I'm in North Hillsborough/South Pasco and have a GNex. My coverage has been fairly crappy in my apt. Yesterday it was switching between 1-2 bars in 4g and mostly staying at around 1-2 bars in 3g. Today it has been more consistently staying at 1-2 bars of 4g. I've been wondering if I should go to the VZW store myself also and see if there is something wrong with the SIM. According to the map on their site, I'm in "4g coverage" and close to the "4g extended coverage" area, but I have to drive several miles south into "4g coverage" before I start seeing a strong 4g signal.

Coppercobra said:

What's up? I'm in North Hillsborough/South Pasco and have a GNex. My coverage has been fairly crappy in my apt. Yesterday it was switching between 1-2 bars in 4g and mostly staying at around 1-2 bars in 3g. Today it has been more consistently staying at 1-2 bars of 4g. I've been wondering if I should go to the VZW store myself also and see if there is something wrong with the SIM. According to the map on their site, I'm in "4g coverage" and close to the "4g extended coverage" area, but I have to drive several miles south into "4g coverage" before I start seeing a strong 4g signal.

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I live in LOL and even though my house is supposedly in 4g coverage I have never gotten 4G in or outside my house. Typically As I either drive south toward Tampa or head towards the Suncoast Parkway I begin to pick up 4G. I think the map is wrong.

Just upgraded from thunderbolt 4 to 5 bars of 4g this thing is flying

Ken7 said:

IMO it makes absolutely no difference which radio is in it, it doesn't work nearly as well as those in other phones. What's worse is the fact that Samsung has still not demonstrated they can build an LTE phone with data reception nearly as good as others.

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Well, if it's not radio chip or software issue, then only possibility is poor antenna design by Samsung. But I doubt it. These days antenna design is pretty much well established in cell phone design and they do quite thorough lab testing and simulation before release though some exception like iPhone4 happens.

So I believe it's radio firmware that matters more. I read somewhere that samsung uses firmwares that aggressively controls power consumption on radio. So this in conjunction with whatever verizon network issue can cause poor reception in some areas I think. Also samsung phones are typically very conservative on signal bar display.

Ken7 said:

Don't believe this for ONE SECOND. Do you have any idea of how many Charge owners were told the same thing? Time after time we were told 'it would be fixed'. There is no fix for bad hardware short of replacing the hardware.

I'd bet the bank this is NOT a software issue. How is that my Bionic is not having this problem? How is the Rezound I returned did not have this problem? How is it the Samsung Charge has this issue as well as the Samsung GNex. Sorry, this is hardware and I sure as hell am not waiting past my return period to find out that's what it was all along. Samsung radios are just crap and I was a fool to think it would be any different in the GNex.

Been there done that.

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I'm with you all day long on this. VZW is telling people what they want to hear so devices aren't getting returned. I had a Gnex for a few wks to try out and it had nothing but issues with data. And mind you is got updates to the radio even and still got no better. and if other LTE devices are not haivng issues I find it hard to believe they can do anything about it. My personal opinion is its a poor design with a crappy samsung radio like they always use.

I have had a couple of dropouts, but in places where 3g used to drop as well. Overall, I am impressed with the 4g coverage in my area.

I finally got my GNEX this morning and have to say I am extremely surprised and happy with the 4G coverage so far. I work close to the 50th floor in downtown LA and my T-Bolt never got reception in my office on 4G (barely 3G), but this thing has locked in a 4G signal and getting over 6Mbs - downstairs and outside it was flying at 18Mbs in an area my T-Bolt usually had trouble getting a good signal - very pleased so far in this limited area test - we'll see what happens when I get home.

Yeah, not getting 4G even though VZ map shows I'm in 4G area, barely getting 3G (Newport Beach, CA). Maybe that's what killing my battery, it's constantly searching for a signal that it can't find.

Rippin508 said:

Just a quick update:

I called VZW Tech Support again and was transferred to second tier tech support. She put a ticket in for my problem of no data connection. It is a "Priority 1" ticket now, because there are a lot of other people experiencing this problem.

Bottom line, some people will experience very little or no data connection on 3G or 4G LTE.

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4G is great in the Bay Area

Test Date: Dec 16, 2011 2:51:54 pm
Connection Type: Lte
Server: San Francisco, CA
Download: 16942 kbps
Upload: 6667 kbps
Ping: 38 ms

External IP: 166.250.......
Internal IP: 10.164.......
Latitude: ....
Longitude: ....

Mr. blurrycam strikes...
Mine not only gets hot, but I get around 5-6 hours of battery life.
from -66 dBm on my wife's rezound to -106 dBm on my nexus is complete insanity.

Something is VERY wrong with this radio.....

Imageshack - 201112161903521.jpg