Poor radios?

gtixpress · Aug 4, 2012

I just upgraded my wife's and my phone to a Galaxy Nexus. One thing that I've noticed is that these phones seem to have poor radios in them. The first two phones couldn't hold a data connection (or get sufficient signal) long enough to even activate the phone. I then took them back and got two more phones. So far one of them has been working a whole lot better. But the other one had to go back again. So my wife is on her third phone now and it seems to be acting up as well. The phone just can't seem to hold a cell connection. It's constantly switching between 3G and 4G, then nothing (signal meter has a little "X" in it). Her old Samsung Fascinate (which she absolutely hated) worked better than the Nexus. The rest of the phone appears to work fine. The area that I live in is on the border of 3G/4G so I'd be happy if it just stayed at 3G. But it can't even seem to do that (I did change it to CDMA only).

Are these issues normal? Could it just be a bad batch of phones?

trophynuts · Aug 5, 2012

unfortunately this is very common with the LTE G nex. It's been a problem since day one and a lot of users are affected by it. The only sure way to fix it is to not own the G Nex.

colchiro · Aug 5, 2012

... or move.

I have great 4g in the upper Midwest.

trophynuts · Aug 5, 2012

or convince VZW to give you a Network Extender for free. Which is what happened in my case. However that only fixes the weak radios when i'm at home. Doesn't do anything for me when i'm in the other dozen places and get really really bad signal when i shouldn't.

I was at my father-in-law's house the other day. I was tinkering with his DroidX....i have almost zero signal -120dbm at his house on my Gnex.....even with 4G turned off....His DroidX....almost full signal. ....smh @ Samsung.

Demache · Aug 5, 2012

colchiro said:
... or move.

I have great 4g in the upper Midwest.

Ain't that the truth. Middle of nowhere? Don't worry! You still get at least a bar of 4G. As long as your not in the basement. Unless of course you have the misfortune of encountering an area that hasn't even upgraded to 3G yet and are stuck with 2G.

vandyman · Aug 5, 2012

I feel your pain, I live in a fringe area as well.
I only get a signal of 100-120 dBm at home.

4G is a mile away from me.

jhawkkw · Aug 5, 2012

The building I work in is a total dead zone for my nexus. -120dbm of 3g inside the building, while -83 to -90dbm of 4g as soon as I step outside. It's unfortunate to say the least.

AntimonyER · Aug 5, 2012

jhawkkw said:
The building I work in is a total dead zone for my nexus. -120dbm of 3g inside the building, while -83 to -90dbm of 4g as soon as I step outside. It's unfortunate to say the least.

Same here. It's quite annoying.

gtixpress · Aug 5, 2012

Are there any apps which can track your signal strength, or even just connectivity? I would like something which shows how often the phone is dropping its connection. My GNex appears to be behaving, although I did catch one noticeable drop this morning. But my wife's phone is just having a lot of issues. I came from a DroidX and I'm thinking I should have just stuck with it and kept my unlimited data plan (got shafted by having to switch to the share plan). I like the idea of the Nexus phones, but not if they are going to have this many problems.

gtixpress · Aug 5, 2012

Also, has anyone tried the Jelly Bean update yet? Does it help with these issues?

Thanks!

colchiro · Aug 5, 2012

Jelly bean doesn't update radios, but we don't know what Verizon has in mind yet.

gtixpress · Aug 5, 2012

I've decided to return the phones and just get something at a later time period. I may just stick with Motorola since they tend to have great radios in them. Oh well.

Thanks for the feedback!

trophynuts · Aug 5, 2012

gtixpress said:
I've decided to return the phones and just get something at a later time period. I may just stick with Motorola since they tend to have great radios in them. Oh well.

Thanks for the feedback!

smart decision.

UncleMike · Aug 5, 2012

trophynuts said:
unfortunately this is very common with the LTE G nex. It's been a problem since day one and a lot of users are affected by it. The only sure way to fix it is to not own the G Nex.

Or switch carriers and get a GSM Galaxy Nexus. Of course, that assumes your area has decent coverage from a GSM carrier.

quickaudi · Aug 5, 2012

trophynuts said:
smart decision.

Lol. If we only knew then what we know now...

trophynuts · Aug 6, 2012

quickaudi said:
Lol. If we only knew then what we know now...

for sure. But i know now i'll not be giving samsung another chance anytime soon.

VolsMcFalls · Aug 6, 2012

Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but I believe OP was referring to the phone dropping the signal completely, not having a poor 4G signal.

My phone does this as well. My original one did not, but it crapped out on me and I'm on replacement #4 (#5 coming today) and ALL of them are dropping the 4G.

It's not a poor signal issue, so I don't see how a range extender would help. I will have a great 4G signal, and for no reason it just drops. My wife's does not, my brother in law's does not, the ones on display at the store do not. Only mine. It is worth noting that mine is I515.10 where the others are I515.09. There is CLEARLY something wrong with the .10 versions.

I thought this was the problem the OP was having.

FramCire · Aug 6, 2012

VolsMcFalls said:
It is worth noting that mine is I515.10 where the others are I515.09. There is CLEARLY something wrong with the .10 ver.

Is this true? Mine is .10 and has this problem. I was going to wait to see if update fixed before getting replacement.

Demache · Aug 6, 2012

FramCire said:
Is this true? Mine is .10 and has this problem. I was going to wait to see if update fixed before getting replacement.

Mine's a .09 and I don't have these issues. I guess we will need to come to a consensus.

Sandroidfan · Aug 6, 2012

Mine is I515.10 and I don't have issue of data dropping frequently. It happens sometimes like couple of times a week and I need to toggle airplane to get blue connection back.

I think the main issue with VZW Gnex radio is its Via telecom CDMA modem chip is performing quite subpar in fringe areas though LTE radio seems decent. Sammy switched to qualcomm S4 chip in GS3 for this reason. 4.04 update helped immensely with random data drop, 3G/4G switch over, but not so much for weak 3G reception. So I think Gnex is not good choice for those in weak 3G areas. Fortunately 3G in my area is not that bad, though it's not great either.

Rdjr74 · Aug 7, 2012

Return it and get the SIII. I don't miss my g nexus at all. This phone is hands down the best phone I've ever owned. The battery life is really good and the signal switching is just about instant. It was so annoying siting and waiting on the phone while the battery drained constantly. You have time to exchange.

pwrmedia · Aug 7, 2012

Demache said:
Mine's a .09 and I don't have these issues. I guess we will need to come to a consensus.

After trying a number of radios (including a few hybrids), I can safely say that the 4G handoff/drop issue isn't related to the radio.

I've had this phone (VZW) since the 3rd, and when left on CDMA only, 3G works like a charm, though battery life is horrid. 4G signal is great where I'm at (metro Columbus, OH), but will drop data and radio entirely once every 2-3 minutes.

When on WiFi, battery life rocks (both stock and rooted w/ custom kernels), but the 4G drop and battery drain is definitely going to be a deal breaker on this phone for me. I've read that others have had success w/ their GNex, but I'm not sure I'm willing to continually swap phones to find the diamond in the rough.

VolsMcFalls · Aug 7, 2012

Demache said:
Mine's a .09 and I don't have these issues. I guess we will need to come to a consensus.

From what I've been able to compile from the various forum sites, VERY few (if any) .09's have this issue. Almost ALL of the ones with the issue are .10's, though there are a few .10's that do not have the problem.

I am not in a "fringe area." I'm in Knoxville, TN. Other people in my circle of friends have this phone and do not have the issue (.09's BTW). So it is definitely not because of poor 4G signal.

SBCT · Aug 9, 2012

I have a .10 with no signal / connection issues. Can keep 4 bars of 4g all day long no problem. I do have the one way calling mute problem though. I am on my 5th nexus.

WA_Bob · Aug 9, 2012

It seems like the GNex was a "teachable moment" for Samsung. The Note and the SGS 3 work great in terms of 3G/ 4G reception so, if they do end up making the next Nexus, I would hope the radio would be vastly improved as well.

Regardless, I'll wait until the next one comes out!

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