dbm's explained?

[Sketchr]

I was just out picking up some things at Target and the Verizon corp store is just across the street. Showed full blue bars on 4G, dbm -63 and speed test 38 down, 13 up. I see numbers like that all over with my Rezound but not Nexus. I think it's fair to say they have a booster...

 

[jamesoja]

Sensorly is reporting -45 and --- (no signal) on the Maxx and -93 and -105 on the Nexus. I even tried going back in and forcing the Maxx in to LTE only and I get the big ugly red X.

Shocking the discrepancy in 3G signal readings. Is it possible the LTE antenna in the Maxx is dead? Do I send it back and test again or stick with the Nexus.

So much frustration, why have an LTE phone if you are unable to use it?

 

[jkc120]

Sensorly is reporting -45 and --- (no signal) on the Maxx and -93 and -105 on the Nexus. I even tried going back in and forcing the Maxx in to LTE only and I get the big ugly red X.

Shocking the discrepancy in 3G signal readings. Is it possible the LTE antenna in the Maxx is dead? Do I send it back and test again or stick with the Nexus.

So much frustration, why have an LTE phone if you are unable to use it?

hmm, sounds like it might not be reporting properly for 3G. That seems like a crazy difference, even given Moto's rep for great radios.

What if you use the dial trick to force the MAXX into LTE mode and then run sensorly? If it still shows --, I'd say it's most likely the app isn't compatible with the MAXX or perhaps the radio is dead.

What if you take both phones to somewhere with a strong LTE signal (e.g. near a VZW corporate store)?

 

[crankerchick]

What do you mean? Those are amazing speeds for 3G here. I normally get around 200 kbps-400 kbps. I would highly doubt it would have anything to do with congestion. The nearest town population was only 800. I know what you mean with the strength to data speed ratio, but that was nothing short of a miracle that I could achieve those speeds on 3G.

Well, I was speaking more on 4G than 3G (and just reread the post I was responding to, which was referencing 3G--whoops). In any case, I have seen strength and data speed not necessarily go hand and hand even on 3G. I think theoretically they should, but there are just other factors too (which I could probably note if I bothered to look it up). For example, I've pulled 3G speeds of as high as 1.5 Mpbs, but that need not be when I have the strongest signal level. My data speeds at my house are the strongest late at night up to early in the morning, yet my signal strength is pretty constant around -83 dBm on 3G and ~-100 dBm on LTE.

I'm a numbers geek so to speak and when I look down and see signal strength really strong, I'll run a few successive speed tests on 3G and LTE just to see how fast I can get, only to find that sometimes even with a strong signal, the speeds range from great to just average.

Network congestion definitely affects speeds, just ask anyone on AT&T in NYC with an iPhone a few years ago.