Verizon GS3 signal reception thread

[Skeeter125]

All other Verizon phones before the S3 were using a two radio design, the S3 is the first to use the S4 SOC that integrates cdma gsm and LTE in one chip. We cannot compare them. One of the expected outcomes is much better battery on the S3 because of this.

I do not buy the theory that Vz did this to somehow force people to use 3g or 4g. Those networks are congested (especially 3g) and the iPhone5 is just around the corner. All efforts right now are geared towards moving people off of the provider's network and onto wifi as much as possible.

There has to be a technical explanation for them to spend time customizing Samsung's design. You don't just spend time and money to annoy people. Wifi toggling was probably not working as expected and they had to quickly find a workaround before releasing the S3 to hundreds of thousands of customers.

Actually they want people on their lte network because it is much cheaper to maintain and also a lot more efficient which means more $$$ in their pockets.

 

[Skeeter125]

Trying to see if 3g will work without the sim card, sorry if it was not clear. Will the phone boot without it? Looks like there is no software switch to turn off 4g

It won't work. At least it wouldn't with previous lte devices even only being on 3g you needed the sim card or the phone wouldn't connect to data.

 

[otterbob]

*228 does not work with LTE devices. Especially the GS3.

Yes it does. You cant call the number directly. like i said, save *228 as a new contact. Call the contact directly. Screen pops up saying phone is being activated. Ive updated my prl on my nexus a couple of times this way. Although, i dont see a difference.

 

[treb1797]

Yes it does. You cant call the number directly. like i said, save *228 as a new contact. Call the contact directly. Screen pops up saying phone is being activated. Ive updated my prl on my nexus a couple of times this way. Although, i dont see a difference.

*228 DOES NOT WORK w/ Verizon 4G LTE devices. When you dial it your phone tells you it has a SIM card & roaming capabilities have already been updated.

 

[otterbob]

*228 DOES NOT WORK w/ Verizon 4G LTE devices. When you dial it your phone tells you it has a SIM card & roaming capabilities have already been updated.

For the third time. You cant dial *228 directly!!! Make a new contact. Call it prl update or whatever your heart desires. Make *228 the contacts number. Save the contact. Now go to the contact you named, and call it. Voila!! Keep it up and i am going to have to post a video of my nexus doin the update. Ive noted my prl before and after doing this, and it always goes to a higher number.

 

[dmaxfan]

I received my sgs 3 and here are my findings

My razr on the latest ics upgrade lost signal in places it never had before. It also had less in most places it had more prior to the update. My sgs 3 is no different.

My conclusion- ics has messed up the reception or vzw did when we went global

 

[techgeek32]

Well, after reading some of these threads, I just want to CRY! I know some of you said 4g is not an issue, and I suppose its not, but from my experience with the Galaxy Nexus, even 3g connection had issues. Now, my wifi thats a different story, as is the network extender, but sometimes the Nexus has issues with the extender in the same room.

I know, the nexus and the SIII are two different devices. Two different radios and such. To me, as was mentioned by another user previous here on this thread (I think?) I wonder if its verizons network. Seems like the GSM phones have far fewer issues. Sure, verizon has a large network and blazing speeds, but what good are they if you can't stay connected? Why does the droid and rezound not have the issues that the samsungs do? antenna design?

At any rate, I am about at my wits end with the nexus. There is NOTHING on verizon right now that I am interested in. AT&T seems to get a better selection of phones and at least I can import devices and use a prepaid sim card.

I really hope these reports on the VZW S3 are very few and far between, but... I don't know...

It is not just Verizon. Samsung devices always have weaker antennas. I have had Samsung smartphones on every carrier and compared to HTC, Blackberry or Motorola devices the Samsung devices always have poorer reception. It just comes down to what the end user can live with. Mine is no better than my Verizon GNex and much worse than my Maxx so I won't be keeping mine.

 

[techgeek32]

For the third time. You cant dial *228 directly!!! Make a new contact. Call it prl update or whatever your heart desires. Make *228 the contacts number. Save the contact. Now go to the contact you named, and call it. Voila!! Keep it up and i am going to have to post a video of my nexus doin the update. Ive noted my prl before and after doing this, and it always goes to a higher number.

It does work on the Nexus because it is stock but not on the Maxx, Rezound or SIII. So your suggestion will not help SIII users.

 

[DILands]

It is not just Verizon. Samsung devices always have weaker antennas. I have had Samsung smartphones on every carrier and compared to HTC, Blackberry or Motorola devices the Samsung devices always have poorer reception. It just comes down to what the end user can live with. Mine is no better than my Verizon GNex and much worse than my Maxx so I won't be keeping mine.

Does your Maxx have ICS?

 

[otterbob]

It does work on the Nexus because it is stock but not on the Maxx, Rezound or SIII. So your suggestion will not help SIII users.

ok well i dont have any of those other phones. The statement said that it does not work on any 4G LTE phone, but i know it works on the Nexus at least.

 

[rushmore]

For the third time. You cant dial *228 directly!!! Make a new contact. Call it prl update or whatever your heart desires. Make *228 the contacts number. Save the contact. Now go to the contact you named, and call it. Voila!! Keep it up and i am going to have to post a video of my nexus doin the update. Ive noted my prl before and after doing this, and it always goes to a higher number.

I have that South Park episode on my Razr

 

[dfran1]

EDIT
Does not work

 

[Skeeter125]

*22899 is not *228 pretty sure you aren't dialing *228 because I had a nexus and that didn't work..

 

[techgeek32]

While it is true that we have to be careful when comparing reception levels of different phones, and 3G vs. 4G, remember that 3G is still always used for voice, even if you are in a 4G LTE area. LTE is currently only used for data by Verizon, it might change in the future with voLTE. Since 3G uses 800 and 1900 Mhz, and 4G uses 700 Mhz, they will behave completely differently (building penetration, etc...). Now given all this, 3G is CDMA and uses the MEID to activate, whereas 4G is GSM and uses the SIM card to activate and talk to the network. We really have two phones in one in order to transition to LTE and keep the compatibility with 3G until LTE can replace 3G for voice and data.

It seems to be very important to follow the activation process in order to activate both 3G and 4G. Some people jump too fast and seem to only end up with one or the other. Follow the "getting started" guide for activation.

The Verizon variant of the phone has to deal with this challenge on the data side: use LTE/GSM when available, if not switch completely to CDMA. I have a feeling that this is the reason why the WiFi toggle is not available on this SGS3 vs. all the other GSM carriers. On those phones, when you turn on WiFi the phone switches from GSM to WiFi for data. On Vz it is more complicated due to the fact that the phone uses CDMA and LTE/GSM for data, but needs to keep CDMA ON for voice all the time. So the standard Samsung WiFi toggle can't be used, otherwise it would probably turn off voice CDMA service if you are in a 3G only area. Makes sense?

Coming back to the thread subject of signal strength, I still think that it is a valid point to compare 3G phones with the SGS3, simply because that is the network that everyone uses for voice. Some will argue that they primarily use their phone for data, but most people want their phone to have great voice capabilities when they need to talk. For me, this is the #1 reason to choose Verizon over the other providers, I need voice coverage 100% of the time even though I might not use a lot of minutes. I just need the 3G to work. This is why I pay extra for the best network in the USA. If I can get 4G data speeds in more places than other providers then that's fantastic, and eventually get voice over 4G. But for now I am buying the renowned 3G nationwide coverage that no one else can provide.

In summary, 3G on the SGS3 should be compared with existing 3G devices in order to evaluate the quality of the voice service.

Obviously I did not receive my SGS3 yet, can the lucky owners tell us if it is possible to force 3G only, and if the dbm reading changes at all when you do that?

The WiFi toggle would work fine. I use a toggle on my GNex and Razr Maxx and there is no problem. Why Verizon decided to leave it off is anyone's guess, but it is not a Verizon LTE thing. Probably a hardware issue with the WiFi antenna on the SIII.

 

[techgeek32]

Does your Maxx have ICS?

Yes it does.

 

[dfran1]

*22899 is not *228 pretty sure you aren't dialing *228 because I had a nexus and that didn't work..

I dont have any 4g phone yet, all I am doing is reposting what I googled, I have read 3 times in different forums that it is *22899 and others have confirmed it worked, please no offense to anyone cause I do not own a 4g phone yet but by all means if *22899 does not work then just delete the 99 and try.

I do not know it it works or works on this phone but if I were going to get rid of the phone because of reception issues I would try it first if it works then hopefully it fixes the issue if not then your returning it anyway so ?

 

[Ken7]

Thanks so much for the update! I Wasn't sure how to respond to this...but the Charge when I briefly had it had pretty poor reception. I only had it for 2 days so I didn't give it a long trial...BUT I had heard that they updated the Charge and it helped quite a bit with reception.

That's my concern. I had the Charge and its reception was horrific...worse than my GNex. So I can't say I'm comforted by his post at this point. I'd hope someone would say it's much much better than the Charge.

 

[Ken7]

By the way nearly all have caved in for new devices and gone with the same radios. So that Razr HD is rumored to now have the same radio as the S3. CPU Testing numbers sent also show this. On the LTE side of the house there are a limited number of players in the multi core world. So many if not all have gone to Qualcomm.

Motorola DROID RAZR HD specs leaked on NenaMark site

Why Qualcomm

 

[Ken7]

I am beginning to think all these "signal issues" Is more with verizon's network and how it deals with sim cards more than the phones per say. Before lte I used various phones from various manufacturers and none had issues with reception, where as it seems every lte phone that comes out has some sort of reception at first( that 99% of the time gets fixed via an update) Just seems strange all the sudden these phones that had no issues before start all having reception/data issues.

Nope. Clear, undeniable differences in marginal areas when you look at the Samsung GNex & Charge and then compare those two to either the Razr or the Rezound. The latter two are clearly better in the same marginal areas on the same Verizon LTE. There is a phone difference, no doubt about it.

 

[Ken7]

post from another user different forum


"well just got mine and the signal is 118, my nexus was 120 and my rezound is 99 or less.

I just tried making 3 calls and all of them dropped, shame as this phone is very nice but typical samsung crap antennas. I will see how things shake out but if it doesnt improve mine is going up for sale. I did not take off the plastic yet as I wanted to test it"

It just seems that no matter what gen Sammy is released, it's always the same damn reception issues. They're phones are so nice in other ways, but I've resolved if there wasn't a big improvement in reception, I wouldn't care how great the phone was in other ways.

 

[DILands]

Yes it does.

Thank you!! Looks like I'll be waiting for the Fighter!

 

[SamMax]

Where are you seeing that Motorola is using the same radio as in the S3? That's the first I've heard of that. If true, we'll have to keep a close eye on the performance of the Razr HD. I'd much prefer if they stuck with what worked so well in the past.

Motorola evidently uses better antennas than Samsung. The radio is only half of the equation.

 

[Shockwave78]

I get mine on Monday and I remember all the Db reception numbers for my Gnex at my most common areas of being. I will compare gnex/iphone 4s and s3 once I get it.

 

[larry0071]

Looks like mine comes in Monday as well. Where I work, Midland PA., I get good 3G outside, and by the windows of the building, but in the bathroom the connection never shows bars and will come and go. If I hold the phone in the sweet spot I can normally text or check Tapatalk, but if you move just a bit from the toilet paper dispenser, it's no signal showing or working.

I'm interested in seeing if this S3 can work while on the pooper.

If not, I'll try and do a Razr Maxx swap I guess.

F me running if this doesn't blow.

Mine shipped any ways.

 

[rage151]

Motorola evidently uses better antennas than Samsung. The radio is only half of the equation.

The RIL is the power player in the equation. Moto codes a better interface between the processor and antenna. They started coding this 10yrs before anyone else.