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VZW: How to diagnose and debug the radio issue!

I downloaded some app that shows you the tower you are connected to. I am not sure of the accuracy. However, the tower outside my house is not the tower it connects to.

1. I thought all towers were for multiple carriers.
2. The 2 towers within 1 mile of my house are not VZW towers
3. The tower it shows I lock into is about 4 miles away.

So, I was going out that way yesterday. I played with the phone as I got closer to the tower. The signal strength improved, had full bars for the first time, and slightly better connection speeds: I hit 26Mbps down and 11Mbps up. Second test waiting at the same light got 11M down/6 up. Very hit or miss still.

My concern is that I have a hideous looking tower outside my home (can't see it from my house) and another 1 mile away. Neither of which are VZW or enabled for VZW. :thinking::thinking::thinking:
 
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I downloaded some app that shows you the tower you are connected to. I am not sure of the accuracy. However, the tower outside my house is not the tower it connects to.

1. I thought all towers were for multiple carriers.
2. The 2 towers within 1 mile of my house are not VZW towers
3. The tower it shows I lock into is about 4 miles away.

So, I was going out that way yesterday. I played with the phone as I got closer to the tower. The signal strength improved, had full bars for the first time, and slightly better connection speeds: I hit 26Mbps down and 11Mbps up. Second test waiting at the same light got 11M down/6 up. Very hit or miss still.

My concern is that I have a hideous looking tower outside my home (can't see it from my house) and another 1 mile away. Neither of which are VZW or enabled for VZW. :thinking::thinking::thinking:


if you have multiple cell towers close to you, VZW(or any carrier), may not want to pay the leasing fees to put their equipment on every tower. Or its possible the app you downloaded is incorrect.
And just on another note here, speed tests in general can be very sporadic and unreliable. There is a wide range of factors that effect speed test results, many of which have nothing to do with the verizon newtwork. Even if it were possible to have two of the same exact phones sitting in the same exact location, you could very easily get two different speed test results. VZW states that 4g will only give you about 10mb download, so if you are ever getting anything above that, just consider it a bonus and not the norm. Now if you are getting drastically below that, then you have the right to complain.
 
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How long have you been using the Nexus for now?

Got it the day after launch... I'm not saying there aren't some phones with issues, there always will be... I'm just posting that I haven't had any problems with mine. My TBolt did have an issue with droping from LTE to 3G all the time. There were times I had to wait to listen to streaming music in the car because it would drop data completely. I haven't had any issues with that at all on this GNex.

If you want my honest opinion on this, and this is just that MY opinion, I think we have some phones with legit issues and some people with phones that think they have the issue because of the reporting thing. They might not be in a good LTE area, they see the phone drop to 3G and think it is an issue with the signal strength. Two issues, completely different, but being mistaken for the same thing. I hope that isn't too confussing it is hard to explain.

I have not heard anyone complaining yet of droped calls at all, which is what people were complaining about with the iPhone attenae problem.
 
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Got it the day after launch... I'm not saying there aren't some phones with issues, there always will be... I'm just posting that I haven't had any problems with mine. My TBolt did have an issue with droping from LTE to 3G all the time. There were times I had to wait to listen to streaming music in the car because it would drop data completely. I haven't had any issues with that at all on this GNex.

If you want my honest opinion on this, and this is just that MY opinion, I think we have some phones with legit issues and some people with phones that think they have the issue because of the reporting thing. They might not be in a good LTE area, they see the phone drop to 3G and think it is an issue with the signal strength. Two issues, completely different, but being mistaken for the same thing. I hope that isn't too confussing it is hard to explain.

I have not heard anyone complaining yet of droped calls at all, which is what people were complaining about with the iPhone attenae problem.

I think you hit the nail on it. I agree that there might be some lemon or bad one with legit issue, but I bet there are also some folks just seeing weak dBm reading and thinking reception is weak while it's working fine. No one likes to see low signal strength on their phone no matter how accurate it is. The folks with real or perceived issue are very vocal on forum like this and make it seem like majority when it's not in reality. The point is it's probably working fine as long as it doesn't drop signal altogether. I think this is really issue of software reading signal and threshold set for dropping to 3G, 1X.
 
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If you want my honest opinion on this, and this is just that MY opinion, I think we have some phones with legit issues and some people with phones that think they have the issue because of the reporting thing. They might not be in a good LTE area, they see the phone drop to 3G and think it is an issue with the signal strength. Two issues, completely different, but being mistaken for the same thing. I hope that isn't too confussing it is hard to explain.

I agree 100%.
 
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I would recommend sending an email to vzw and in it put your signal strength (dBm) so they can have concrete info. Twitter bombing alone may not be enough. The have to respond to emails and if enough emails with people submitting concrete numbers are sent then they will have that info to and realize the problem is bigger than "bars".

I think they already know Gnex is reporting higher (weaker) dBm than others due to ICS reading LTE signal. That's what they officially stated. If all other 4G phones are with ICS, the signal bars (dBm) will be similar among them.

The solution for Gnex will be either setting 3G threshold further apart or rescaling the signal bar/dBm level to better match others to prevent data drops. Regardless of all this, data speed on Gnex seems to be comparable to other 4G phones.
 
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You're right. I should've disagreed without being snotty.

Sorry about that Feudal1. -BB

No worries. I know that some people are having very real issues with this phone, which is a shame, because it's really a pretty nice device if you are fortunate enough to have one that works well.

It stinks that these new devices always seem to get released with significant bugs still existing. However, when it comes to bugs, the advantage of the Nexus over other phones is that bug fixes and updates get pushed out a lot sooner, and don't have all the carrier spamware crap that seems to dominate other phones.
 
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Got it the day after launch... I'm not saying there aren't some phones with issues, there always will be... I'm just posting that I haven't had any problems with mine. My TBolt did have an issue with droping from LTE to 3G all the time. There were times I had to wait to listen to streaming music in the car because it would drop data completely. I haven't had any issues with that at all on this GNex.

If you want my honest opinion on this, and this is just that MY opinion, I think we have some phones with legit issues and some people with phones that think they have the issue because of the reporting thing. They might not be in a good LTE area, they see the phone drop to 3G and think it is an issue with the signal strength. Two issues, completely different, but being mistaken for the same thing. I hope that isn't too confussing it is hard to explain.

I have not heard anyone complaining yet of droped calls at all, which is what people were complaining about with the iPhone attenae problem.

My Thunderbolt as a release day purchase, and one that I quickly regretted. That phone never quite worked correctly for me, and the 4G connectivity was pretty terrible compared to these newer phones. The Nexus and Razr are much better in that regard.
 
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My Thunderbolt as a release day purchase, and one that I quickly regretted. That phone never quite worked correctly for me, and the 4G connectivity was pretty terrible compared to these newer phones. The Nexus and Razr are much better in that regard.

Mine was release day too, can't say I regretted it. I did at first but once I got it rooted and ROM'd it was more then ok. They only issue I had the entire time was the 4G issue...
 
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I will throw some input in here too.

I have had the nex since release. And from the minute I walked out of the mall im like why the heck am I only at 2 bars, so im watching it all day on launch day, bouncing at 1 to 2 bars, though I never had a call drop or cutting in and out or any call issues. It wasnt until later that day or the next i started comparing it with my OG droid. I had consistently noticed that the droid always gave me 1 bar or so more.. and at this point I didnt know about signal strength comparing in DB. so later that day I kept it on the db signal strength part of the phone. moto droid was always getting 10-20 db better signal strength. I then learned about switching to cdma only. this proved to not help me out at all as far as signal strength goes.

BTW 4g is not available in my area. I got 4G one time while working out west towards cleveland. and when i did get 4g it was 3-4 bars or about the best service I have ever gotten out of the phone.

One thing I will note is that I have only ever dropped 1 call, and that was inside my house.

I live right on lake erie and when traveling along the lake you pretty much lose signal on any phone, any company. when I was on my moto droid I would always get off the phone with someone when i got close or to travel that road. 2 times now I have continued my conversation all along that road without dropping or cutting in and out on the call.

so im not sure if even though it is a weaker radio if it holds the weak signal better? i know sounds weird or crazy but im just not sure.

not to jump around here but my moto droid was always dropping calls in my house.. which my house is 50 yrs old, un insulated with vinyl siding.

Right now i have my nex in cdma mode laying on the couch next to me and is sitting at -100 and ASU1. if i pick it up it goes to 120 and 99. if i stand in the door to outside and hold my arm out the phone drops to 93, if i bring it back in back to 100-120. im going to go get my droid and power that back up and compare in the house as I havent done that yet.

EDIT:

Powered up the Droid A855.

SIDE BY SIDE

Droid -87/0 ASU
GN -93 to -100 and 2/1 asu

IN MY HAND

Droid -100/0
GN -120/99

Droid showing 3-4 bars and GN showing 1-2

Outside my front door in my hand side by side

Droid -90/0 3 bar
GN -91/2 2 bar

My question is this though. Although I have the GN set to CDMA only the Mobile Network Types are both different

Droid is on CDMA-EVDO rev. A and the GN is the eHRP:13

Since the mobile networks are different could this still be a reason that the GN is getting a lower signal quality? I know moto radios are supposed to be among the best but just wondering if this could be an issue.
 
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I did the same thing. I put myself in airplane mode and back out and I got amazing signal (2 bars instead of 1 or none) and my 4g is at least 6mbs instead of 500kbs. My upload still sucks tho. *shrug.

And by the way I'm at 13hours 28minutes and 37s on my battery with 41% remaining.

Yeah, I put the thing into WiFi mode and it couldn't find my router... three feet from the phone: UNINSTALLED.

Good news is I tried going into and out of airplane mode, and my Rez now does 4G inside the house. Didn't know it could do that. Yayyyyy! :cool:
 
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You can come to my house, walk over to the Verizon Tower 500' away, connect your analyzers to my phone, and use what ever other equipment you need. There is no worry about recreating the problem because it is consistent. It is always poor at best. Your engineers can quickly determine the cause, determine if it is hardware or software, publicly acknowledge you know the issue, and offer a course of action.

1. Hardware issue: Offer free upgrade to a new phone that works
2. Software issue: Offer free upgrade to a new phone or promise a release date for the fix.

Do not leave us waiting with a return window of January 14th with a defective phone.

Verizon isn't going to offer you a free upgrade. You have the return period, if the phone does not work for you return it. I doubt it is a hardware issue because if it was, everyone would be experiencing the issues you have which are not the case....
 
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I hadn't experienced total loss of signal until today. Went to visit family today like we do every year. The last two years we've went there, me and my wife (who had/have Moto Droids) have never had signal issues or data loss. Well when I got there today I had bars, but no 1X/3G/4G next to them. Checked the wifes Droid and it's got 3 bars with 3G. No amount of toggling airplane mode, mobile data, data roaming (which we weren't roaming), restarting or even leaving the SIM card out for a moment before booting made a difference whatsoever :mad:. Meanwhile, everyone else there with Verizon smartphones (iPhones, Droid X, Droid), had solid 3G connections. I was frustrated to say the least. I even called *611 to see if a Vision tech could help me out or at least explain it. I told them everything I tried and that's pretty much everything they were going to tell me to do. Gave them my area code and they said I was in a weak area, but couldn't explain why every other phone has data signal and mine doesn't.

Wifes phone was on CDMA EVDO Rev. A and my Nexus said eHRPD:13. I've never seen a smart phone have strong signal (was in the 80s for dBm), but not at least have a 1x or some type of data signal. I could call and text fine. So WTF.. explain that..:thinking:
 
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LOL! Yeah, I am sitting back and laughing at these posts. Everyone is crying about 4G. BOO HOO.:p

I can only get 3G where I am at and the best data transfer was 400 kbps.
^^^^Snails around here move faster.LOL.:rolleyes:
Well, I can't even get the damned Gnex to get 3g. Sitting here the GNEX has dropped to 1xRTT:6 Signal Strength -93 db. While my old Fascinate shows CDMA Evdo at -83 db.
So Damned Right BOOO HOOOO!!!!
BTW try WiFi and you'll get excellent speeds. 'course we don't need a Gnex to do that, do we. ;)
 
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there is no problem (outside of the inevitable faulty phones that a subset of customers always receive), other than the bars on the nexus reporting signal strength differently than other lte phones:

anandtech - investigating the galaxy nexus lte signal issue

the bars are low on my phone (only ever 1 or 2), but i also haven't had issues with my data connection. I think the anandtech article explains the "issue" pretty clearly.
b s;)
 
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My concern isn't with dropped calls, its with loss of data...my Razr will just drop the data radios like no tomorrow causing me to loose data connections, email push, and text messaging.

Sounds like all of the Nexus issues are with signal strength and not with loss of data connectivity.

How are the 4G radios on the Nexus? If you are in an area with good to strong 4G towers are you maintaining your 4G connections or are they dropping down to 3G?
 
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you guys should know by now that verizon doesn't know shit about software problems with their phones and any info verizon provides, whether it's from phone reps or on their website, is usually incorrect.

the manufacturers take care of the updates, don't worry about what verizon claims. i'm sure samsung will take care of the bugs. :)
 
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you guys should know by now that verizon doesn't know shit about software problems with their phones and any info verizon provides, whether it's from phone reps or on their website, is usually incorrect.

the manufacturers take care of the updates, don't worry about what verizon claims. i'm sure samsung will take care of the bugs. :)

Samsung has known about it for over a month on the Note. They have done nothing about it. I don't think it's going to get fixed. :(
 
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I have the GN next to my Rezound and I'm getting -90 to -85 dbm while my GN is getting -110 to -120 dbm. Speed test is also better on the Rezound while the GN sometimes can't even connect to the server to perform the test.

This has been adressed over and over. The rezound (gingerbread) displays the 3g signal level, while the nexus shows lte/4g signal.
 
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