NEX vs Razr dbm test with network extender

[The_Chief]

Well, I just held up my Darling Bride's OG Droid next to my Nexus. Same place, same time.

Her Droid has -70 dbm signal.
My Nexus has -86 dbm.

That's within tolerance (according to Verizon ), but still: a 16 dbm spread between two side-by-side phones seems to be a bit much. I certainly hope this is a software fix... but something in my gut tells me it's not.

 

[2003vstrom]

Well, I just held up my Darling Bride's OG Droid next to my Nexus. Same place, same time.

Her Droid has -70 dbm signal.
My Nexus has -86 dbm.

That's within tolerance (according to Verizon ), but still: a 16 dbm spread between two side-by-side phones seems to be a bit much. I certainly hope this is a software fix... but something in my gut tells me it's not.

yeah, that`s what I thought about, the 18dbm difference, I saw between my buddies Razr and my Nexus with the network extender.

 

[Sandroidfan]

I can care less about dBm reading as long as it's holding the data connection and fast enough. There is no point in direct dBm comparison when we know ICS is displaying it differently.

Losing data connection is more of network and software issue on 4G/3G hand-off in weak signal areas. I'm certain this will be addressed by improved 4G network and software updates.

 

[stupalmer36]

Well, I just held up my Darling Bride's OG Droid next to my Nexus. Same place, same time.

Her Droid has -70 dbm signal.
My Nexus has -86 dbm.

Wow...(-86 dbm) Does it fluctuate by a few or by a variable of 10 or more? I'm actually surprised to see a different dbm reading on a Gnex other than the only 5 readings I get. -120, -100, -93, -83, -75. I don't have 4g in my area so I just have it to CDMA.

I actually just got a replacement Gnex...and sorry to say it reads the same exact dbm readings as my previous Gnex. Hopefully

 

[milan03]

Well, I just held up my Darling Bride's OG Droid next to my Nexus. Same place, same time.

Her Droid has -70 dbm signal.
My Nexus has -86 dbm.

Wow...(-86 dbm) Does it fluctuate by a few or by a variable of 10 or more? I'm actually surprised to see a different dbm reading on a Gnex other than the only 5 readings I get. -120, -100, -93, -83, -75. I don't have 4g in my area so I just have it to CDMA.

I actually just got a replacement Gnex...and sorry to say it reads the same exact dbm readings as my previous Gnex. Hopefully

Just squeeze -113dBm and you're all correct. Leads me to believe they're representing bars...

-120 (0 bars), -113 (1 bar), -100 (2 bars), -93 (3 bars), -83 (4 bars), -75 (5 bars or better).

Can't wait to get the next OTA and hope this is being addressed.

 

[The_Chief]

Wow...(-86 dbm) Does it fluctuate by a few or by a variable of 10 or more? I'm actually surprised to see a different dbm reading on a Gnex other than the only 5 readings I get. -120, -100, -93, -83, -75. I don't have 4g in my area so I just have it to CDMA.

I actually just got a replacement Gnex...and sorry to say it reads the same exact dbm readings as my previous Gnex. Hopefully

I moved to a different place in the house and now have -75 dbm. Her Droid, in the exact same location, shows -76 dbm. Huh.

 

[PhilosoRaptor]

Just squeeze -113dBm and you're all correct. Leads me to believe they're representing bars...

-120 (0 bars), -100 (1 bar), -113 (2 bars), -93 (3 bars), -83 (4 bars), -75 (5 bars or better).

Can't wait to get the next OTA and hope this is being addressed.

Ahh good catch, I didn't even think of that. Sounds about right to me. Don't know why they wouldn't allow it to report more accurately and just let certain ranges correlate to a certain amount of bars (like every other phone). Very annoying.

 

[milan03]

Ahh good catch, I didn't even think of that. Sounds about right to me. Don't know why they wouldn't allow it to report more accurately and just let certain ranges correlate to a certain amount of bars (like every other phone). Very annoying.

dBm reading should be there to allow us to read the proper values not bars, so it's extremely odd that I'm looking at generically quantized values that represent the actual bars?! When did the bars become the technical measurement of signal levels lol?!

I really hope I'm wrong with it, and can't wait for the OTA to hopefully fix it.

 

[jroc]

What I found doing some reading:

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/4450/DSC_0734.jpg

I think its a post by you milan on another site...lol. That pic of the Revolution is a great example, perfect example of how it should be done if phones wanna show the LTE readings right now. Verizon tested VoLTE with the Revolution too.

To me, how the Revolution is doing it is how it should be done. If not, I honestly feel phones should be showing the phone reception readings, not the LTE readings. At least until we can use LTE for voice...VoLTE. Or if it switches the readings on the fly based on the network you are on at the time...if not....IMO phone reception should always be the first priority.

The Revolution and using VoLTE got swept under the rug, quickly forgotten by many ppl. IF it can still do it after Verizon rolls out VoLTE, that phone might become a hot lil item. It will be even more cheaper this year to get one off contract somewhere.

 

[Sandroidfan]

What I found doing some reading:

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/4450/DSC_0734.jpg

I think its a post by you milan on another site...lol. That pic of the Revolution is a great example, perfect example of how it should be done if phones wanna show the LTE readings right now. Verizon tested VoLTE with the Revolution too.

To me, how the Revolution is doing it is how it should be done. If not, I honestly feel phones should be showing the phone reception readings, not the LTE readings. At least until we can use LTE for voice...VoLTE. Or if it switches the readings on the fly based on the network you are on at the time...if not....IMO phone reception should always be the first priority.

The Revolution and using VoLTE got swept under the rug, quickly forgotten by many ppl. IF it can still do it after Verizon rolls out VoLTE, that phone might become a hot lil item. It will be even more cheaper this year to get one off contract somewhere.

Thanks for pointing this out. I was interested in Revolution when it came out and boasted VoLTE. LG actually developed their own LTE chip to make this possible. But I lost interested in Revolution after seeing lackluster battery in 4G despite single core, numerous bug reports, etc. Probably it's doing better after GB update.

Unfortunately Revolution is already on the verizon's chopping block with Droid 3. So I'm curious if upcoming LG Spectrum will have the same functionality. It seems to have very similar hardware as Rezound using Qualcomm LTE radio, so I'm not sure.

 

[milan03]

What I found doing some reading:

http://images.anandtech.com/doci/4450/DSC_0734.jpg

I think its a post by you milan on another site...lol. That pic of the Revolution is a great example, perfect example of how it should be done if phones wanna show the LTE readings right now. Verizon tested VoLTE with the Revolution too.

Ya that's my post lol. See the thing is, 1x reading is, in most cases, gonna have bette SNR than LTE due to the cell density, since not all the sites actually have LTE overlay. So the way Revolution is displaying should've been the norm, and the end user can get the clear picture of the service reception.

LG Revolution initially was gonna be "upgradable" to VoLTE, but VoLTE portion of the baseband never got approved at the FCC, also, that first Gen Rel. 8, Cat. 3 LTE chipsets in general don't support VoLTE right out of the box. On top of all that, Verizon's LTE network hasn't been upgraded and optimized for VoLTE.
Next generation Qualcomm LTE chipsets, due in Q2 2012, will actually all support VoLTE out of the box, so 2012 should be full of excitement!!!

 

[syntrix]

I moved to a different place in the house and now have -75 dbm. Her Droid, in the exact same location, shows -76 dbm. Huh.

Guessing both are in 3G?

 

[kal326]

I got the following dropping the Nexus to CDMA only.
Razr 5/5 bars -88dBm 0 asu .90/.12Mbps
Nexus 2/4 bars -93dBm 2 asu .75/.10Mbps

Kicking the Nexus back to LTE/CMDA
Razr 3/5 bars -84dBm 0asu 10.30/1.76Mbps
Nexus 2/4 bars -105dBm 35 asu 7.85/.95Mbps

Not the fastest I have seen on my phone on LTE, but my house doesn't have the best signal to start with. WiMax on Sprint just started actually connecting when they pushed out some more towers in the last month or two.

 

[JSD_NJ]

Yea, my buddy has a Razr and I have a GN.

The other day I wouldnt see a single bar of 4g and he had 2 bars. Same comparison with my friend with a bionic.

At one point my GN got 1 bar of 4g and was reading -111dbm, and my buddy with the Razr was reading -86.

Subsequent speed tests proved that the Razr was indeed getting a better signal.

Time to face the facts. The radio sucks.

 

[jkc120]

Yea, my buddy has a Razr and I have a GN.

The other day I wouldnt see a single bar of 4g and he had 2 bars. Same comparison with my friend with a bionic.

At one point my GN got 1 bar of 4g and was reading -111dbm, and my buddy with the Razr was reading -86.

Based on what? The settings info? If so, you sir are comparing apples and oranges. The Razr and every other 4G phone except I think one LG phone all display the 3G signal level. So yes, the phone may have been in 4G, but the signal level (and the bars) were reflections of 3G not 4G signal.

Subsequent speed tests proved that the Razr was indeed getting a better signal.

Were you a) using the same speed test sites, b) testing at least 3 times to avoid statistical anomalies and such? I have a friend at work with a Razr and his phone is no better at holding onto the weak 4G signal than my Nexus. Even when I had a Rezound in the same location, speed tests showed similar speeds to what I get on the Nexus. I.e. it's a placebo effect in many (no, I'm not saying all) cases.

Time to face the facts. The radio sucks.

No, I disagree. The radio is average (which most VZW LTE phones are). The Rezound has probably the best radio of all VZW phones now (which is ironic, given the Thunderbolt fiasco), and unless your point of reference is the Rezound I definitely wouldn't say the Nexus' radio sucks. Is it top-of-the-line, best-radio-evar? No. But no other phone is either. The Rezound is king in that department. But let's not exaggerate and call the radio sucky when it's not like other 4G phones are leaps and bounds better (once you look at the real LTE signal dBm and compare speed tests).

 

[Tim K]

I have to concur with what others are reporting. My GN (with the 4.0.4 radios) only ever seems to report -83, -93, -103dbm. My OG Droid reports signal in -1dbm increments. Sitting here holding them side by side (CDMA only on the GN), the GN reported a stable -83 dbm almost the entire time with a brief period at -93dbm. The droid signal varied significantly during that period, ranging anywhere from -76dbm to 91dbm.

A 5dbm differential is meaningless when we are talking about a device that only reports in increments of 10dbm. -93dbm could actually be -88 or -98 or anywhere in between.

Its kind of annoying that they would report it that way.

 

[crankerchick]

No, I disagree. The radio is average (which most VZW LTE phones are). The Rezound has probably the best radio of all VZW phones now (which is ironic, given the Thunderbolt fiasco), and unless your point of reference is the Rezound I definitely wouldn't say the Nexus' radio sucks. Is it top-of-the-line, best-radio-evar? No. But no other phone is either. The Rezound is king in that department. But let's not exaggerate and call the radio sucky when it's not like other 4G phones are leaps and bounds better (once you look at the real LTE signal dBm and compare speed tests).

This.

 

[crankerchick]

A 5dbm differential is meaningless when we are talking about a device that only reports in increments of 10dbm. -93dbm could actually be -88 or -98 or anywhere in between.

And this.

 

[Crashumbc]

Its not a beam antenna, shouldn't make a difference

Actually, being too close to the transmitter and even having 2 devices that close, CAN affect reception greatly.

 

[dhworph]

One thing I've found is that the dBm values won't change until the number of bars change. So to really compare phone signal readings, you'd have to let the Gnex drop a bar (put it in a metal box or something) and then quickly put it into the test location before the bars change back.

For example, mine was at -83 dBm 57 asu at 4 bars near my office window, I walked around the office and the signal strength reading didn't change at all until it dropped to 3 bars, and then it was at -93 dBm 47 asu. I quickly put it back by the windows and once the fourth bar reappeared, the signal jumped to -70 dBm 70 asu --- which incidentally is the lowest dBm I've ever seen on the phone! --- and just in case anyone doesn't know: 140 + dBm = asu for LTE on GNex, that's how you know its a 4G signal reading.

So I wouldn't read into these dBm values too much... and ya, 3G signal only reads 4 discrete values, but 4G signal will read anything.

It would be more meaningful to compare the phones performance, say tether them and download some big files, or do a few consecutive speedtests on each --- probably better to compare real world tests like downloading or webpage loading...

 

[jroc]

Based on what? The settings info? If so, you sir are comparing apples and oranges. The Razr and every other 4G phone except I think one LG phone all display the 3G signal level. So yes, the phone may have been in 4G, but the signal level (and the bars) were reflections of 3G not 4G signal.

Were you a) using the same speed test sites, b) testing at least 3 times to avoid statistical anomalies and such? I have a friend at work with a Razr and his phone is no better at holding onto the weak 4G signal than my Nexus. Even when I had a Rezound in the same location, speed tests showed similar speeds to what I get on the Nexus. I.e. it's a placebo effect in many (no, I'm not saying all) cases.

No, I disagree. The radio is average (which most VZW LTE phones are). The Rezound has probably the best radio of all VZW phones now (which is ironic, given the Thunderbolt fiasco), and unless your point of reference is the Rezound I definitely wouldn't say the Nexus' radio sucks. Is it top-of-the-line, best-radio-evar? No. But no other phone is either. The Rezound is king in that department. But let's not exaggerate and call the radio sucky when it's not like other 4G phones are leaps and bounds better (once you look at the real LTE signal dBm and compare speed tests).

Thats the funny thing about each of our experiences...cuz as of right now...I would rate my RAZR as least annoying...and having a better overall LTE experience than my Rezound. It doesnt get stuck in 1x in weak areas like my Rezound...and updates to the RAZR made its 4G reception on par...maybe even better than the Rezounds. I agree when they launched the Rezound was king in the LTE dept for reception. In my experience...not anymore. It has competition now. And the Rezound update didnt fix my 1x problem.

Samsung must need better quality control...cuz my G Nex never saw 4G in my apt...my RAZR and Rezound did. So for reception I would rate the G Nex 3rd after those other 2. What might be overlooked by some of us...most of us...all of us... is what happens when a phone tries to get or hold a signal, what happens after the fact if it drops the signal. In that dept my RAZR is king as of right now as being least annoying. .

Recently I had both phones (someone has my RAZR and is holding it hostage...lol) and when my Rezound got stuck in 1x....my RAZR was humming along on 4G. Both in a weak reception area. Its wild that out of all 3 phones....I would have to do exchanges to maybe get a better working one for reception....except for my RAZR.

Another wild thing is as of right now I dont know which was more annoying...my G Nex and weak reception or my Rezound getting stuck in 1x. I always have to reboot it to fix it too.

 

[Trooper]

Thats the funny thing about each of our experiences...cuz as of right now...I would rate my RAZR as least annoying...and having a better overall LTE experience than my Rezound. It doesnt get stuck in 1x in weak areas like my Rezound...and updates to the RAZR made its 4G reception on par...maybe even better than the Rezounds. I agree when they launched the Rezound was king in the LTE dept for reception. In my experience...not anymore. It has competition now. And the Rezound update didnt fix my 1x problem.

Samsung must need better quality control...cuz my G Nex never saw 4G in my apt...my RAZR and Rezound did. So for reception I would rate the G Nex 3rd after those other 2. What might be overlooked by some of us...most of us...all of us... is what happens when a phone tries to get or hold a signal, what happens after the fact if it drops the signal. In that dept my RAZR is king as of right now as being least annoying. .

Recently I had both phones (someone has my RAZR and is holding it hostage...lol) and when my Rezound got stuck in 1x....my RAZR was humming along on 4G. Both in a weak reception area. Its wild that out of all 3 phones....I would have to do exchanges to maybe get a better working one for reception....except for my RAZR.

Another wild thing is as of right now I dont know which was more annoying...my G Nex and weak reception or my Rezound getting stuck in 1x. I always have to reboot it to fix it too.

Completely agree with your entire post. I had a Razr, now have a Gnex, and have a Razr Maxx on the way. Gnex is up for sale. Will try to post it here this weekend. My wife has the Rezound.

You're post is spot on my friend. Of all three phones, the Razr is the least annoying, has the best reception, and is the smoothest overall experience. I am talking stock here. Not rooting and roming away etc. Out of the box, Razr is smooth, no lag, and just flat out works. Reception (especially with the updates) is the best of the bunch.

I understand everyone here is gonna be a fan of the Gnex and try to negate this, but after having all three phones hands down, the Razr wins.

 

[jkc120]

Completely agree with your entire post. I had a Razr, now have a Gnex, and have a Razr Maxx on the way. Gnex is up for sale. Will try to post it here this weekend. My wife has the Rezound.

You're post is spot on my friend. Of all three phones, the Razr is the least annoying, has the best reception, and is the smoothest overall experience. I am talking stock here. Not rooting and roming away etc. Out of the box, Razr is smooth, no lag, and just flat out works. Reception (especially with the updates) is the best of the bunch.

I understand everyone here is gonna be a fan of the Gnex and try to negate this, but after having all three phones hands down, the Razr wins.

I haven't used the razr, so I can't speak to that. However, the Rezound "stuck in 1x" thing WAS quite annoying. And it happened in 3G-only areas, too (at my folks' house over Christmas). It's sad that it's all about a lesser of evils. I guess it speaks to the immaturity (despite what VZW would like us to think) of their 4G network. I think a lot of the issue is the need for 4G/LTE auth via 4G-sim in conjunction with CDMA (no sim/auth). They obviously have some server/tower-side things to fix, and it seems different 4G devices react differently.

I will say that a lot of the flak the Nexus gets for 4G is accounted for by weak 4G areas and how the 4.0.2 radio/software doesn't handle it very gracefully. This may explain the leaked 4.0.4 that has never come to the masses, etc. VZW may be pushing samsung/google for a more robust handling of fringe or weak 4G areas. Who knows...once an official VZW OTA drops, perhaps some/many of these issues may be an issue of the past.

For me, the pure google/AOSP experience vastly outweighed the downsides of the Nexus and I was NOT willing to live with sense (or blur) for at least 6 months. To each his/her own.

 

[crankerchick]

I understand everyone here is gonna be a fan of the Gnex and try to negate this, but after having all three phones hands down, the Razr wins.

Considering the last few posts above yours have been praising other phones above the GNex, I would say that isn't a fair statement.

Those that have experience with multiple phones and those that aren't being blinded by our own purchases pretty much all agree that the Nexus is just average.

 

[crankerchick]

Recently I had both phones (someone has my RAZR and is holding it hostage...lol) and when my Rezound got stuck in 1x....my RAZR was humming along on 4G. Both in a weak reception area. Its wild that out of all 3 phones....I would have to do exchanges to maybe get a better working one for reception....except for my RAZR.

Ooh good point, I forgot about being stuck in 1X on my Rezound, but it actually happened quite a bit to me. I never see 1X on my Nexus and at first wondered if something was wrong with it.

In a nutshell, each of the phones all have strengths and weaknesses. I didn't own the Razr, so will only submit my experience with it via my friend who had it for a while prior to the Nexus (he had a Bionic which VZW would not replace with a Rezound but made him take a Razr instead). He and I compared phones a lot during that time as it was right around when the Nexus first came out and I was paranoid about signal and he was totally jonesing for the Nexus but had to wait a few more weeks for his upgrade date. I had just returned the Rezound for the GNex.

We pretty much always had right around the same signal levels in 3G in a variety of service areas but my LTE speeds tended to best his in the same locations with the same server. I would have loved to see his Razr in action at my job where the Nexus won't keep 4G but the Rezound held it like a champ.