Help Signal Strength

mistermojorizi · Dec 21, 2011

jkc120 said:
As I'm driving between my folks' house and my inlaws', I noticed my 3G signal showed zero bars. I'm in a 3G-only area. My wife's iPhone 4 had 4 out of 5 bars.

Is my nexus showing zero bars for 3G or 4G? data connection DID seem to die briefly. I'm guessing it's the 3G connection indicator or I'd have 0 bars constantly in my parents' house.

If accurate, the signal on this is pathetic. 4 bars on iPhone vs. 0 on the nexus

settings-->about-->status

look at the network type. I've seen 3 possibilities: Lte (4g), eHpre (sp?) (3g), and 1x (when i'm getting data through wifi, though somtimes i'm on wifi and it still shows 3g)

anyway, that's how you can tell which signal you're on.

jkc120 · Dec 21, 2011

mistermojorizi said:
settings-->about-->status

look at the network type. I've seen 3 possibilities: Lte (4g), eHpre (sp?) (3g), and 1x (when i'm getting data through wifi, though somtimes i'm on wifi and it still shows 3g)

anyway, that's how you can tell which signal you're on.

-83 dBm / 4 asu outside with 3G. toggled airport off/on and then it was -83/4 lte. walk inside and *bam* -93 / 2 asu 3g. lame.

Sports1131 · Dec 21, 2011

Have any of you with signal issues had significant improvement after exchanging your phone for another Nexus? I want to see if it's worthwhile.

mistermojorizi · Dec 21, 2011

jkc120 said:
-83 dBm / 4 asu outside with 3G. toggled airport off/on and then it was -83/4 lte. walk inside and *bam* -93 / 2 asu 3g. lame.

funny thing is mine get 93 on 3g also inside and from posts I've seen around lots of people get that exact 93 number. Of course I also get 4g I doors at -103.

just funny coincidence that people get the same number hmmmm......

Rons · Dec 21, 2011

rockokma said:
How many times has your wife said "When are you going to get off your phone!"

Now, are you in a 4g zone, or extended 4g zone?

Extended 4G Zones are not Verizon Cell towers, they are roaming 4g zones.

Has everyone made sure that they have checked Roaming Data in the data section? It made a little difference for me.

Would one get roaming charges?

rockokma · Dec 21, 2011

Rons said:
Would one get roaming charges?

A tech explained to me that you would not.

jroc · Dec 21, 2011

rushmore said:
It is not an issue about speed. When in a good to great coverage area and not a building, the GNex does as good as 4G should, The issue is reception in areas that do not have great signal. It is not just 4G either. The radios for whatever reason are weaker than other current devices- even the Charge.

Wifi included.

This is something ppl must realize. If we are all standing next to a tower, we would all have decent reception and speeds.

Reception, signal issues wont be noticed unless you are in a bad reception area.....just like the iPhone 4 antenna issue.

Samsung and weak reception has been following them since before Android was out. Things seemed to havent changed much. GPS is better tho, so thats good.

It seems like it will still be a con on the pro/con list for Samsung. Sometimes it is what it is. Moto is encrypted bootloader, Samsung is weak reception.

About 4G speeds....I think every other LTE phone on Verizon uses a higher category LTE chip than Moto. I learned the other day Moto uses Cat 2, the G Nex and Rezound use Cat 3. So even in great reception areas those 2 should post better LTE numbers than the Bionic and RAZR. So dont see amazing speeds with the G Nex and think that your reception is better, fine or fixed. There could still be an issue. I wonder tho... why does Moto use Cat 2....

Jay3 · Dec 21, 2011

rushmore said:
It is not an issue about speed. When in a good to great coverage area and not a building, the GNex does as good as 4G should, The issue is reception in areas that do not have great signal. It is not just 4G either. The radios for whatever reason are weaker than other current devices- even the Charge.

Wifi included.

It's the same radio. It's not a weak radio problem. It's some king of problem with Verizon LTE network dropping coverage for the phone sometimes. People are reporting total loss of coverage to almost nothing.

They'll get it addressed with the network. It's a swing from totally great to totally unacceptable. It's not just settled in at "disappointing."

AnotherHiggins · Dec 21, 2011

Not the topic I expected in this thread.

My 4G service has been pretty strong and fast since release day.

But I've missed about a dozen calls because my cell reception sucks so badly. I think I'm taking my phone back tonight to get a replacement.

But in the spirit of this thread:

jroc · Dec 21, 2011

One more thing I wanted to add...

Phone reception and data reception. In places I get no data or real weak data I can still make and receive calls with my phones.

So....what are ppl looking for with the signal? Data, phone or both? Me....I could care less about data reception. If I'm missing or cant make calls thats a bigger problem to me, for me.

jkc120 · Dec 21, 2011

Jay3 said:
It's the same radio. It's not a weak radio problem. It's some king of problem with Verizon LTE network dropping coverage for the phone sometimes. People are reporting total loss of coverage to almost nothing.

They'll get it addressed with the network. It's a swing from totally great to totally unacceptable. It's not just settled in at "disappointing."

Yes it is a weak radio problem. I go from a 70% signal according to openmaps to 47% the second I step into a house. This is 3G mind you. If I don't set it to cdma only, then I go from 4G to weak 3G. How is that not a signal problem?

Sandroidfan · Dec 21, 2011

If Gnex radio hardware is really that poor regardless of software, why most folks seem to be fine with reception? I don't think all users that reported high data speed and being happy are living next to the towers. Seems to me some folks got lemons or software bug in authentication causing data drops.

Trooper · Dec 21, 2011

Sandroidfan said:
If Gnex radio hardware is really that poor regardless of software, why most folks seem to be fine with reception? I don't think all users that reported high data speed and being happy are living next to the towers. Seems to me some folks got lemons or software bug in authentication causing data drops.

Or you know, Samsung's notorious weak radios.

Sandroidfan · Dec 21, 2011

jroc said:
One more thing I wanted to add...

Phone reception and data reception. In places I get no data or real weak data I can still make and receive calls with my phones.

So....what are ppl looking for with the signal? Data, phone or both? Me....I could care less about data reception. If I'm missing or cant make calls thats a bigger problem to me, for me.

From what I saw, it's mostly data signal issue not the phone signal. Most said they can make calls even when data signal drops.

But I wonder how much percentage of Gnex users are having real signal issues. Because only the people who got problems chime in here to complain on it and most happy others don't bother to write here much.

Karuk · Dec 21, 2011

I'm in the center of our 12 story building and have 2 bars on 4g.

jkc120 · Dec 21, 2011

Karuk said:
I'm in the center of our 12 story building and have 2 bars on 4g.

What dBm/asu there vs. outside though?

gapi · Dec 21, 2011

I take it the radios are Qualcomm 4G units?

There is a sticker by my USB port to that effect.

Germwise · Dec 21, 2011

At my window, 1 mile from nearest tower

I should mention this is in CDMA mode for both phones. I am lucky to be able to surf the net

Karuk · Dec 21, 2011

jkc120 said:
What dBm/asu there vs. outside though?

I don't look at dbm. I go based on usage. Speed test app tells me what I meet to know. 19 down. 12 up.

jkc120 · Dec 21, 2011

Karuk said:
I don't look at dbm. I go based on usage. Speed test app tells me what I meet to know. 19 down. 12 up.

So can I. I get like 800 kbps down inside, 8-9 mbps outside.

JustinHEMI · Dec 21, 2011

So just stopped in a vzw store and put my nexus next to rezound to compare signals. Both showed full 4G bars, but the nexus was showing -80ishdb while the rezound was showing -55ishdb.

And now, where im typing this, inside of a grocery store right next to the vzw store, my nexus is barely registering any connection at all, while ny thunderbolt was always full bars here.

And vzw is going to put its head in the sand and say there are no reception issues?

I love the phone, but if they arent going to even acknowledge the issue, then it must go back.

jkc120 · Dec 21, 2011

JustinHEMI said:
So just stopped in a vzw store and put my nexus next to rezound to compare signals. Both showed full 4G bars, but the nexus was showing -80ishdb while the rezound was showing -55ishdb.

And now, where im typing this, inside of a grocery store right next to the vzw store, my nexus is barely registering any connection at all, while ny thunderbolt was always full bars here.

And vzw is going to put its head in the sand and say there are no reception issues?

I love the phone, but if they arent going to even acknowledge the issue, then it must go back.

Yup, same here. I love the phone but if I'm going to drop my connection every time I walk in a building, no thanks.

JustinHEMI · Dec 21, 2011

Funny, as i posted that my connection timed out as all of my bars dropped out. Now im on one bar of 3 G.

Sandroidfan · Dec 21, 2011

Trooper said:
Or you know, Samsung's notorious weak radios.

Maybe, but I'm not convinced yet weak radio hardware is the main issue. If so, pretty much everyone should have poor reception. But that doesn't seem to be the case. Also GSM Nexus doesn't seem to suffer reception problem like this though it must be using the same antenna design with different radio chip only. Still seems like it's software or some lemon batch issue.

Jay3 · Dec 21, 2011

jkc120 said:
Yes it is a weak radio problem. I go from a 70% signal according to openmaps to 47% the second I step into a house. This is 3G mind you. If I don't set it to cdma only, then I go from 4G to weak 3G. How is that not a signal problem?

It is a signal problem. It's not a weak radio problem.

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