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Verizon GS3 signal reception thread

data issues related to dbm #'s?

  • high dbm, data works fine

    Votes: 53 68.8%
  • high dbm, data does not work

    Votes: 17 22.1%
  • other: explain in comments

    Votes: 7 9.1%

  • Total voters
    77
No, higher is better, or less negative. -80 is better than -83. Once a signal drops below -110 dBm or so, the receiver in the phone cannot differentiate the actual signal from noise. All receivers have noise. The "intelligence" or signal must be stronger than the noise, usually by about 10db.

On a side note: If the S3 truly has a horrible radio, would we be able to swap to a different phone AND keep our unlimited data?

doubtful that they would allow you to do that since the new contract would start when you went with the new phone.
 
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subscribed to this, primarily because I <3 rushmore :)

I was all siked for the new Inc, but i see now it is sub-par and outdated before launch. I got excited to hear about this phone even though im not stoked to get a huge screen ... only to see now not only is it not released yet, but it also has issues.

after all these years, all these devices, hundreds of millions of users giving feedback .. can they not just build the sh*t right??
 
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No, higher is better, or less negative. -80 is better than -83. Once a signal drops below -110 dBm or so, the receiver in the phone cannot differentiate the actual signal from noise. All receivers have noise. The "intelligence" or signal must be stronger than the noise, usually by about 10db.

On a side note: If the S3 truly has a horrible radio, would we be able to swap to a different phone AND keep our unlimited data?

ahh I didnt notice the negative. I would have said higher is better if I put the negative into the equation lol. Pretty much what I was trying to say is the a dBm of 70 is better than a dBm of 100, right?

I still have my droid eris and the dBm is jumping between -77 & -85. Is that pretty decent?
 
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Ok, here's my story...

Activated online per instructions and everything went fine. Popped 4G SIM in add fired it up and it took a while, but completed the activation process. Checked My Verizon and it showed the S3 instead of the DX, no issues with my unlimited plan.

The phone auto-detected my wifi and connected fine. It had already started downloading apps over 3G, but switched over to wifi. Ever since then it will not connect to mobile data (3G)... It popped on to 1X for a little bit, but no 3G since 1st start up.

The real kicker is I have 4-5 bars of service with 70-75 dBm. Called my landline and left a message and the call was crystal clear from both ends. A couple of text messages came through fine too.

Right now I have no data connection. No clue about 4G since it's not available in my area yet.

One weird thing with the connection though. Just for the heck of it, I did a manual check for software updates. The 3G symbol popped up in the notification bar briefly, then disappeared.

Guess I'll be heading to the VZN store tomorrow to see if there are any tech bulletins by then...

might be a bit off topic, but if you have unlimited data...what is the point of connecting to wifi?
 
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ahh I didnt notice the negative. I would have said higher is better if I put the negative into the equation lol. Pretty much what I was trying to say is the a dBm of 70 is better than a dBm of 100, right?

I still have my droid eris and the dBm is jumping between -77 & -85. Is that pretty decent?

+70dbm is worse than +100dbm if we're talking positive numbers. +70 dBm would be 10,000 watts! -70 is better than -100 dBm.
 
Upvote 0
subscribed to this, primarily because I <3 rushmore :)

I was all siked for the new Inc, but i see now it is sub-par and outdated before launch. I got excited to hear about this phone even though im not stoked to get a huge screen ... only to see now not only is it not released yet, but it also has issues.

after all these years, all these devices, hundreds of millions of users giving feedback .. can they not just build the sh*t right??

Why should they build the perfect geeks phone? If they did they know we'd never upgrade. ;)
 
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Folks, unless comparing 3g to 3g, or 4g to 4g, not a good comparison.

If comparing 4g to 4g, but both not ICS, not a good comparison.

If you are in known weak areas and you compare if holds signal or not, good comparison.

If you are in any area and one device works and the other does not, good comparison.

The results here and other places combined so far are all over the place, so no real sense of trend yet. Of course, the real thing that matters is your own results. Friendly advice: If in doubt and not happy with signal, it is likely not to improve much if any, so "hoping" will not make it better.

Samsung historically for some reason SUCKS with antenna design and coupling that with the radio chip as a strong series system. Does the GS3 suck as well? Not sure in either direction yet, but the fact that results are varied so far and Samsung's awful history as well, not the best of trends.

Please keep testing and I look forward to joining next week :) ...... I hope I still have a smile face next week... My Razr since the ICS update has become a battery sucking demon and has to go. 4G mode went from bad to criminally awful. Nice smooth OS, but 4G is unusable for me now, unless near a power socket. Games and Flash run a lot hotter too. I should not have to deal with this with a stock device, so will bail from the Razr.

The GS3 was supposed to be my parachute!
 
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Like pointed out by some of us, you can't directly compare dbm of 3G GB phone to 4G ICS phone as OS reads signal differently and kind of signal is different. I think it only makes sense to compare SIII on verizon to Gnex, Razr (with ICS) and Dinc 4G just released.

I get it and made sure to note that it is a 3G only phone. Sorry I don't have anything else but a 3G phone to post. Frankly, numbers are just numbers anyhow. Real world is what matters.

Whenever I get my S3 I'll post the numbers and let everyone know that direct comparisons can't be made...my own disclaimer. Cool?

If not, tell a mod to delete.
 
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Please share how you resolved your problem.

Just let it sit with wifi turned off and it eventually connected. It was probably an hour or so. I am wondering if the built in auto wifi connect interfered with the SIM talking to the network, and it took longer than it should have.

So far my signal is holding in the -70 to -85 dBm range and 3G is staying connected.
 
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