Network bars dropping - Desire General

Since i installed Froyo i only get 0-2 bars in my house. Was usually 5 bars pretty much all the time. I'm with T Mobile and it was fine for the last couple of months. Was with o2 before that and again was always 5 bars.
It could show 3 bars, then i pick it up and it instantly drops to 1.
Anyone else seeing this?

Did u flash also the new radio?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

What's that? All i did was install 2.2 from HTC.

i think the 2.2 (froyo) update will also automaticly update the Radio...
anyone else with that dropping radiosignal issue?
*i didnt recognize any difference @myhome*

DEATH GRIP!
Are you holding your phone right?
Sent from my HTC Desire

Took a quick video.

the signal bars on any phone are meaningless non standardised crap.
for comparisons always use signal strength in terms of dbm and asu. you can see this on your phone. go to menu > settings > about phone > network. that will show the readings in dbm and asu. for any meaningful comparison you need to use those readings as the bars on most phones are garbage non standardised depictions.
or there could be a network that developed recently in your area. there are various signal measuring and mapping apps available which might interest some people. not mentioning them to avoid confusing as it is not needed at most times but if interested then can name a few apps.
@ drew2d1
try not to hold the phone by covering the right bottom corner like you are holding the phone in the video it attenuates the signal more on the htc desire in my experience. seeing the network bars shown before you handled the phone, it looks like you are in a weak signal area and my guess is that the dbm is more than 100 with low asu of 5 or less and attenuation can differ in amounts based on how you hold the phone. i have written a long story about this elsewhere.

I'm right handed i can't use it any other way. I've had the phone for a couple of months i would of noticed it doing this before.
It's T Mobile and I'm in North London so fine on the coverage issue.
I can't send messages when it's showing 0 or 1 bar. It's not dropped a call yet though.
-105 dbm 4asu
-99 dbm 7asu
Stays around there. No idea what that means.
Edit: It drops which ever way i hold it. Even lying flat it goes from 1,2,3,2,3,2,1.

I had the same issue when updating to 2.2 and installing the latest radio. For a temp fix, change the data to gsm, using manual mode. This boosted my signal from 2 bars to all.bars. Not the best solution I know.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Already tried that. It's on GSM auto (PRL) now.
Recommendation from bubblesmoney on another forum actually

I'm on 3G and the signal has somewhat slightly improved

same here - signal strength has declined massively since my update. now i get 0-1 bars at home and have to switch on wifi for data when the signal was fine before.
in fact it's one of the reasons that i chose my network because the signal strength was good at home. :-(

drew2d1 said:
I'm right handed i can't use it any other way. I've had the phone for a couple of months i would of noticed it doing this before.
It's T Mobile and I'm in North London so fine on the coverage issue.
I can't send messages when it's showing 0 or 1 bar. It's not dropped a call yet though.
-105 dbm 4asu
-99 dbm 7asu
Stays around there. No idea what that means.
Edit: It drops which ever way i hold it. Even lying flat it goes from 1,2,3,2,3,2,1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-105dbm is crap and a weak signal. minimum attenuation i have ever found on the desire by holding the phone is 4dbm and max upto 20dbm but after earlier update it has never been more than 10-11dbm attenuation and now on froyo update a max of 14dbm attenuation. my phone does not have any case or cover etc so those readings are for such a phone.
you lose the signal at -113dbm as background radiation is same and not distinguishable from signal. hence if your attenuation is 14dbm then you would need a minimum of 99dbm (without holding phone) to have a signal while holding phone. if your attenuation is lesser then you can get away with weaker signal. attenuation differs in each persons hand as absorption will vary in each persons hand.
the following links with posts by me might interest you as i have explored this topic in detail and will explain dbm and asu and attenuation etc.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2523297
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2581437&highlight=
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=35179785#post35179785
also i have commented on the anandtech article on the iphone getting a signal till 120dbm. i think the anandtech article made a fundamental error and then said iphone4 antenna is very sensitive in sensing signals till 120dbm unlike other phones. i think that is bollocks due to a fundamental error they made. see page 15 of that article comments section for my comment on this link http://www.anandtech.com/show/3821/iphone-4-redux-analyzing-apples-ios-41-signal-fix see extract from my comment there
"On GSM or UMTS frequencies (between 870 MHz to 2170MHz around the world) used the noise signal floor is between -111 to -114dbm. The signal noise floor is that strength at which the signal cannot be distinguished from background radiation.
The signal noise floor depends on the frequency of broadcast and not the device as far as i am aware. So the iphone cannot have a different noise floor compared to other mobile phones, unless Jobs got the governments all over the world to beam a special signal on a different frequency purely for the iphones!!!!
Anandtech has made a basic error in this analysis i think and consequently this whole article is wrong and meant to favour the iphone either inadvertantly or deliberately.
see post number 57 on the thread in this link for my explanation why this anandtech article is wrong http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=35179785#post35179785
please note that -113dbm (some resources say -111 instead of -113) is the noise floor where signal is indistinguishible from background radiation. look it up in science webpages if you doubt what i say. so if the iphone shows signal to be -120dbm then that is an error. just because it shows a number does not mean that the -113 noise floor value does not exist in physics for gsm broadcast frequencies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson–Nyquist_noise
see gsm freq bands for the world here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands the freq bands (GSM AND UMTS) used in uk are between 870 to 2170MHz and for that the noise floor is between -111dbm and -113dbm and for the noise floor to be 120dbm the freq would have to be in 180kilohertz which is !!!! and bull as the freq bands used are in MHz so the anandtech numbers dont add up in the 120dbm small print, as there is no 180kilohtz band for gsm in usa or uk as far as i can tell!!!! and 180khz is the freq used for AM band radio and looks like the iphone4 is getting interference from 180khz AM band radio signals too as far i can tell from what anandtech says about 120dbm etc !!! yikes!
I would be happy to be proved wrong and to learn, but from what i have shown i am right! Noise floor depends on the frequency band of transmission rather than circuitry. In the UK Cellular mobile services operate within the frequency ranges 872-960 MHz, 1710-1875 MHz and 1920 - 2170 MHz so the noise floor would be between -114 to -111dbm.
It would be similar in the USA too.
see the rest of my detailed response elsewhere on other forums (post 57 of the thread on the link) http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=35179785#post35179785
I hope there is a response to this comment of mine, from this articles writers or some other RF engineers, as due to the reasons quoted in my ananlysis i think this article by anandtech is grossly wrong. I would be happy to stand corrected if my analysis is wrong.
yes the signals can be sensed at -120dbm but that wouldnt be signals from commercial GSM or UMTS signals, it would be some other signals sensed by the iphone4 sensors and giving a wrong reading of the signal strength. As i said earlier the signal noise floor depends on the broadcast frequency and not the handset, so this article is wrong and grossly so as it is making assumptions of the iphone4 being able to sense GSM / UMTS signals of the order of 120dbm which isnt possible for the frequencies broadcast as per the physics involved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson–Nyquist_noise that or Jobs and anandtech found some way to defy physics!"

It was fine before i installed Froyo.

Jobs doesn't need to defy physics, he's ok with his RDF

Tmobile, london here. Also experiencing 3g signal drop after update. At home on 2.1 i would have 3 to 4 bars, now on 3g its either zero or 1.

Have been contacting HTC with this problem and got the answer that it is because of the new setup of the cpu speed. They have lowered the cpu frequency and the radio is searching for a signal with the lower power. They have promissed me to fix it. They said that also for this issue they have stopped the froyo rollout and are now under fixing the issues. So expect the fox soon.
Sent from my ZX Spectrum using Froyo_zx81

Seems to be working fine now. Full bars, no drops, 64dbm 22 asu.

drew2d1 said:
Seems to be working fine now. Full bars, no drops, 64dbm 22 asu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What did you do to fix the issue? I'm on T-Mobile (UK) too and as other have noticed a significant drop in signal after the 2.2 update.

I also would be interested in how you fixed the problem. I dropped an email to HTC today, so I will post the response when I hear back from them.

Related

True cause of "signal" issues

Has anyone read this article? Very informative.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5254/investigating-the-galaxy-nexus-lte-signal-issue
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
interesting read.
For a long time people have blamed their handsets for problems when the truth is there are always a lot of network issues out there at any given time.
Simply blaming your handset and assuming the network is 'great' because it has full bars or a good db is not the way to go.
Bars or db ultimately mean nothing, they do not mean you will get good speeds or in some cases to be able to make a call, in my experience its rare that the handset is to blame
True.
I had the RAZR before my phone. I would bet that the RAZR wasn't showing the correct signal strength and this is what a lot of people are comparing.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
aye it would be interesting if someone ran some speed tests on the two devices side by side to what what the speeds v coverage were like
edit
jimdurt said:
They still have some issues to work on. My OG Droid gave me a better signal at my house on 3g. At least measuring the db strength. I dont have 4g here so the measurement in db strength should be sufficient to accurately see which phone has better reception.
Give Google time. They have the right hardware. Just need to get the software tweaked a bit more.
My wifes DroidX consistantly shows -93dBm with 3 bars of 3g service, while my GNex bounces a little more between -120dBm(most of the time) to -93dBm(rarely)
Even with no bars and @-120dBm, i get 600kbps download. Thankfully i have 18mbps download service through ATT Uverse wifi.
I do have to mention, my service improved ALOT from 4.0.1 to 4.0.2 update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At -120 on 3g your lucky to anysort of dl
My 3g/4g signal has never been better. This phone is twice as good as my incredible.
WiFi signal strength does seem to be a little less strong but nothing horrible. Now I wish they would figure out why the OS won't go to sleep.
Well, Verizon resolved all my Nexus, CDMA, and LTE issues for me in one fell swoop. They called me yesterday and told me that they couldn't provide me service at my house and recommended I switch to a different carrier.
I was with them for less than three days. Brought my Galaxy Nexus and wife's temp phone back to the store, then went to the Apple Store to get my wife an iPhone 4S on AT&T with the plan to stop at an AT&T store to get myself a Skyrocket. While standing there playing with the 4S waiting for a sales associate, I got the warm fuzzies from back when I used the iPhone and decided to get one for myself as well.
It was a fun year with Android, but looking back at how I spent yesterday debating if I was going to keep the GN with all its issues, I think I made the right call for me.
I also forgot how much better GSM is than CDMA. I have full bars in my office, whereas on Sprint and Verizon the phones were struggling to hold onto a 3G connection. Amazing difference.
Anyway, sorry to hijack the thread for a moment. I truly hope that this is an issue that can be fixed with software; it seems like poor reception has become a hallmark of Samsung phones and I haven't seen a software update yet that makes a notable difference. We'll see what Sammy and Verizon come up with.
i can understand the signal strength display not being accurate but explain this...
for one, the signal strength on this Nexus is always 1/2(or more) then what i had on my Thunderbolt or Rezound at any given time/place.... which apparently is explained above.
what isntvexplained is this... my Thunderbolt was able to download fast, but not nearly as fast as my Rezound. on the R, i was able to download 1GB in roughly 5 minutes. ive tried downloading the same file(s) from same location various times(test) on this Nexus and it always takes 30 - 40 minutes.
so if the signal strength isnt being reported accurately i can accept that.... but what about the significant difference in data speed?
i also want to note that on my Reound, whenever i played a track in Google Music it started up right away and could jump/skip forward in a track without delay...
now on this Nexus, theres always a delay before the track starts & when you jump/skip to. buffering b.s.
Your Rezound probably already had the music cached.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
You guys also have to keep in mind that the LTE network slows down the more people that use it. When it was first intro a year ago, it was STUPID fast. Like 50mb DOWN. I remember my Droid Charge hitting low 40's in May. Now that there is a plethora of phones that have LTE and a lot of people using it, the network will be slowed. It still beats the hell out of any other network.
I’m glad somebody posted this.
I did a little experiment in my office this morning with three Verizon LTE phones:
1) Samsung Charge
2) HTC T-Bolt
3) Samsung Galaxy Nexus
With all three phones laying side by side, I opened up the same “Network Signal” app. All three phones we ranging in the -85 to -100 dB strength. There was no phone that clearly had a better or worse signal.
However, the Samsung Charge was showing 4 out of 5 “bars”, the T-bolt had 3 of 5 while the Nexus has a whopping 1 out of 5 bars. Amusing since they we all reading between -95 and -90 dB at that moment.
One thing I noticed different though, is that the Nexus requires at least -85dB before it will connect to LTE. Anything less, it switches to CDMA. I can’t speak for the T-bolt, but I could have sworn I saw the Charge at -95 / -100 dB and still reporting LTE Net. Type.
So, food for thought. Hopefully this “update” that Verizon is working on isn’t anything more than a recalibration of the “bars” indicator.
-Gp
Grannypotts said:
I’m glad somebody posted this.
I did a little experiment in my office this morning with three Verizon LTE phones:
1) Samsung Charge
2) HTC T-Bolt
3) Samsung Galaxy Nexus
With all three phones laying side by side, I opened up the same “Network Signal” app. All three phones we ranging in the -85 to -100 dB strength. There was no phone that clearly had a better or worse signal.
However, the Samsung Charge was showing 4 out of 5 “bars”, the T-bolt had 3 of 5 while the Nexus has a whopping 1 out of 5 bars. Amusing since they we all reading between -95 and -90 dB at that moment.
One thing I noticed different though, is that the Nexus requires at least -85dB before it will connect to LTE. Anything less, it switches to CDMA. I can’t speak for the T-bolt, but I could have sworn I saw the Charge at -95 / -100 dB and still reporting LTE Net. Type.
So, food for thought. Hopefully this “update” that Verizon is working on isn’t anything more than a recalibration of the “bars” indicator.
-Gp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There needs to be some kind of way to trick the OS into thinking it actually has the real signal so it will stop switching between 3G and 4G.
One thing I noticed different though, is that the Nexus requires at least -85dB before it will connect to LTE. Anything less, it switches to CDMA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have -86dB with 3 4G bars as I write this. I know that's not much of a difference from the -85dB, but I thought I would just mention it. Also, I've had -93dB with 4 4G bars (no picture of that though).
Syn Ack said:
There needs to be some kind of way to trick the OS into thinking it actually has the real signal so it will stop switching between 3G and 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My 30,000 foot uneducated view is simply that the calibrations for the Nexus require a stronger signal to both acquire and then maintain an LTE data connection. These calibrations probably could be tweaked, but at what cost? I suppose (assuming my theory is correct) the decision came down to a flaky 4G or a solid 3G... and Verizon chose the stronger connection over the faster one. Do you blame them?
However, when I do get a solid 4G connection... the speeds are stupid fast.
On my lunch break today:
30.6M down
15.7 up

Radio comparison - Verizon GN vs Thunderbolt

Both phones set to CDMA EVDO only, no LTE radios active. Location is 3G EHRPD enabled, but does not have any 4G towers for miles. I held both phones the exact same way in the exact same location within 30 seconds of each other to record my results.
Signal Test:
Galaxy Nexus 3G Signal Strength: 0-1 bars, -120dbm 99 asu - -100dbm 1 asu
Thunderbolt 3G Signal Strength: 1-3 bars, -94dbm 2 asu - -85dbm 2 asu
Bandwidth Test:
Galaxy Nexus 3G Bandwidth: 0.86mbps down, 0.54mbps up
Thunderbolt 3G Bandwidth: 2.94mbps down, 0.56mbps up
Bandwidth test was the best of 3 runs using www.speakeasy.net/speedtest connecting to New York, NY. Current location is central NJ.
My Galaxy Nexus is running stock 4.0.4 with the newest radios and bootloader, along with Imo's kernel 2.4.1 exp2.
Honestly, after having my Thunderbolt for 8 months, coming to this supposed better phone and having these kind of radio problems is just appalling. The Thunderbolt was always railed for being the pioneer of LTE radios, and for getting weak signal. Well after these tests I am not sure what to believe besides the truth that is sitting in front of me. My brand spanking new Google phone has by far the worst radio I've ever seen in a Verizon smartphone.
I'm going to be hopeful in getting an update that may resolve these radio issues, but the realist in me tells me this is 100% hardware.
I'd like to get some results from other Verizon Galaxy Nexus users running 3G to see what kind of dbm and bar signal, as well as what kind of bandwidth you guys are getting. I am very disappointed and want to know if it's a hardware defect or if this phones radios' really are this bad
Meh. The Qualcomm radios in both of these phones are in fact ****. I think the build of the Galaxy Nexus (whether it be physical or software) has something to do with it. Maybe Samsung herp derped the position of the radios or Google took a **** on the blobs.
Regardless, its a great phone and still gets better data speeds than every other carrier and phone. -coughs- iPhone users -coughs-
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Except it doesn't get the best data speeds of any other phones, as my test results conclude.
Even on 4G I've nabbed 40mbps down 15mbps up bandwidth tests on that same exact Thunderbolt when I was in a good signal 4G area. How much have most GN users hit on 4G? 30mbps down?
This phone is a great micro-tablet, but as a phone it is heavily lacking.
DaRkL3AD3R said:
Except it doesn't get the best data speeds of any other phones, as my test results conclude.
Even on 4G I've nabbed 40mbps down 15mbps up bandwidth tests on that same exact Thunderbolt when I was in a good signal 4G area. How much have most GN users hit on 4G? 30mbps down?
This phone is a great micro-tablet, but as a phone it is heavily lacking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really, cause I have seen people getting upwards of 50mb/s on the Nexus (seems like most of them live in NYC).
Not to mention I was talking about people on other carriers.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Other carriers is a given, but that really isn't what the point of this comparison is. The point is I'm holding two phones on the same carrier, at the same time, the same way, and one performs multitudes greater performance than the other. Has nothing to do with other carriers.
Fact is this phones radio is junk. You can have a quad core 1080p Super AMOLED Plus screen and 2GB of RAM, the best GPU on the market and 128GB of space, but if it can't hold a signal to save YOUR life, then what good is it at as a phone?
Samsung/Google needs to get on this right now and fix this phones radio. I'm just worried that it can't be fixed through a software OTA...
And I'd also like some speed comparisons, namely 3G, from other Verizon GN users if possible please.
On 3g i used to get about -75 at worst with thunderbolt at my house. Currently getting -93 at best with two different galaxy nexus. Usually worse. Used to have a stable 4g signal too. Now it drops after a few seconds
johnprevite said:
On 3g i used to get about -75 at worst with thunderbolt at my house. Currently getting -93 at best with two different galaxy nexus. Usually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds about right... very disappointed in these radios.
I get the same -120dbm, 99asu with my Nexus at home, where I would get around 95dbm on my old Tbolt. I think the antenna/radio gives up signal quicker at the fringe distances faster on the Nexus - if I go into a city I get the signal strength I am supposed to get. I have a theory that part of the problem may lie with Verizon's use of old Alltel towers (I'm on the VA/NC border) - The signal in my area is consistently weak, but I've gone to other rural areas & gotten good strength. Perhaps Samsung/VZW will give us a software update on the phones...and perhaps when they upgrade our towers around here for LTE it might straighten up the tower's overall firmware...But we probably wont get LTE here until 2020.
strongergravity said:
I get the same -120dbm, 99asu with my Nexus at home, where I would get around 95dbm on my old Tbolt. I think the antenna/radio gives up signal quicker at the fringe distances faster on the Nexus - if I go into a city I get the signal strength I am supposed to get. I have a theory that part of the problem may lie with Verizon's use of old Alltel towers (I'm on the VA/NC border) - The signal in my area is consistently weak, but I've gone to other rural areas & gotten good strength. Perhaps Samsung/VZW will give us a software update on the phones...and perhaps when they upgrade our towers around here for LTE it might straighten up the tower's overall firmware...But we probably wont get LTE here until 2020.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LTE will cover Verizon's current 3G footprint by the end of 2013, FYI.
Here's hoping!
Sent from my A500 using xda premium

[Q] T-Mobile S4 Dropping calls and losing signal A LOT

Hi everyone,
My S4 drops a lot of calls and also if i walk in buildings like schools I lose service. It is not a hardware problem with my S4 because I have three S4s in the family and they all do this. It is not a problem with the place I live because I live in Chicago and almost anywhere I go I have these problems. Is there a kernel or something that I can do to fix or improve these problems?
Thank You
There's nothing you can do to fix it unless you want to modify T-Mobile's towers, it is a problem with where you live I've noticed poor signal strength and extreme signal attenuation (signal drops from -50 dbm when I'm right in front of a femto cell to -100 when I'm about a half mile away from it and inside my house) when switching to T-Mobile from VZW. I asked on here and apparently it's due to GSM requiring twice as many cells per area compared to CDMA, and also T-Mobile using higher frequencies which don't travel as far. Think of the difference between FM radio waves in the kHZ range (which can reach 50 miles) compared to WiFi radio waves in the gHZ range which only reach about a hundred feet or so. I'm regularly in -100 dbm service areas and I can make calls perfectly, signal drops occasionally but I can deal with it since I don't make calls that often.
This problem only really plagues areas which are still on EDGE/HSPA(+), once you get upgraded to LTE you won't have this problem anymore VoLTE will truly fix this problem though, but that's probably a year or two from now though.
brando56894 said:
There's nothing you can do to fix it unless you want to modify T-Mobile's towers I've noticed poor signal strength and extreme signal attenuation (signal drops from -50 dbm when I'm right in front of a femto cell to -100 when I'm about a half mile away from it and inside my house) when switching to T-Mobile from VZW. I asked on here and apparently it's due to GSM requiring twice as many cells per area compared to CDMA, and also T-Mobile using higher frequencies which don't travel as far. Think of the difference between FM radio waves in the kHZ range (which can reach 50 miles) compared to WiFi radio waves in the gHZ range which only reach about a hundred feet or so.
This problem only really plagues areas which are still on EDGE/HSPA(+), once you get upgraded to LTE you won't have this problem anymore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks of the great info!
When do you think we will be upgraded to LTE?
You're welcome, I have no idea. I don't work for T-Mobile lol I know they're on a roll with it and they wanted to have a bunch done by the end of the summer, I don't have LTE in my home (South-Central Jersey) but at work (50 miles away, right outside of Philadelphia but still in NJ) I have LTE. I'm going to take a guess that you may have it by the end of the year.
brando56894 said:
You're welcome, I have no idea. I don't work for T-Mobile lol I know they're on a roll with it and they wanted to have a bunch done by the end of the summer, I don't have LTE in my home (South-Central Jersey) but at work (50 miles away, right outside of Philadelphia but still in NJ) I have LTE. I'm going to take a guess that you may have it by the end of the year.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was editing it while you replied. I had an S2 and a HTC Sensation and I did not have calls dropped and I had service almost everywhere and they were on GSM, too. So I think it is a software problem.

Signal fluctuation

Noticed this on my note 4 since I got it. I will be sitting on the couch and watch as the signal goes up and down. Bars go from 1-4-1-4 as well as both LTE signal going from mid-80s to -115. I had never noticed this living closer to city. Is this a tower or capacity issue? I have already called Verizon to report the issue and they seem aware of this areas coverage being moderate, even though their map says excellent coverage lol.
Instead of creating another thread I'll ask this too. I've noticed crsditatials for apps being forgotten randomly. I thought it was switching to ultra pwr mode and back but it's not. Any one else? Apps like Pandora, mint, etc.
kgeier82 said:
Noticed this on my note 4 since I got it. I will be sitting on the couch and watch as the signal goes up and down. Bars go from 1-4-1-4 as well as both LTE signal going from mid-80s to -115. I had never noticed this living closer to city. Is this a tower or capacity issue? I have already called Verizon to report the issue and they seem aware of this areas coverage being moderate, even though their map says excellent coverage lol.
Instead of creating another thread I'll ask this too. I've noticed crsditatials for apps being forgotten randomly. I thought it was switching to ultra pwr mode and back but it's not. Any one else? Apps like Pandora, mint, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was experiencing similar fluctuations, so I downloaded lte discovery app. Turns out, usually when I had 4 or 5 bars, I was on band 13, when it dropped down to 2 to 3 bars it'd switch to band 4 aws XLTE. The higher frequency of band 4 doesn't penetrate as well as band 13, providing me with the fluctuation of bars around my house anyways. It doesn't happen as much outside.
Justinphxaz said:
I was experiencing similar fluctuations, so I downloaded lte discovery app. Turns out, usually when I had 4 or 5 bars, I was on band 13, when it dropped down to 2 to 3 bars it'd switch to band 4 aws XLTE. The higher frequency of band 4 doesn't penetrate as well as band 13, providing me with the fluctuation of bars around my house anyways. It doesn't happen as much outside.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exact same result here. Wonder if I can limit to band 13 as band 4 signal is damn near holding indoors at -118. Kills the battery. Band 13 has around -87db

Cellular strength and throughput

We know how much you like to stream, ahem, "videos", and so cellular data is mega-important. Rate this thread to express how you think the Samsung Galaxy S8+'s LTE performs. A higher rating indicates that it's fantastic: throughput is excellent and signal strength is top-notch.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add.
I get a low 4g signal at work whereas on my s7 edge I didn't get anything
Mine is a lot better than any phone I've had before. Usually at home on all my other phones I have 1-2 bars and on the S8+ I have at least 4 bars.
Bars are no indication of true signal strength. My S8+ doesn't get nearly as strong of a signal as my Pixel XL. I drop signal a lot more often now. I was rather disappointed with the performance of the cell radio actually.
For me, the signal is about the same at home. But at work, the S8+ performs much better than the Note5 that I had... Must be an extra band or something. The Note5 would hang on to an unusable LTE signal or drop to 3G/1x inside my job. The S8+ stays on on LTE with a usable signal.
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
It's worst Then S8 as I used that before shifting to S8 plus. But download speed is great.
My S7 was better. The S7 ised a new duel antenna tech, I am not sure the S8 used it or not.
My AT&T Note 4 and my new S8+ get about the same signal, which is really disappointing
I generally see around 5-8dbm better then I did with my pixel xl at home..notice the s8+ does drop signal little easier tho then my pixel in fringe areas
Tested right outside my house. Never had these speeds on my Note 5.
Comming from a S6, the signals and speeds are far better, also my s6 was missing a few bands so never ever got speeds like this on my Jio 4G Network in India
At work on LTE Im getting 31 Mbps down and 6 Mbps up. Not bad! Faster than our company wifi!
webtech9 said:
At work on LTE Im getting 31 Mbps down and 6 Mbps up. Not bad! Faster than our company wifi!
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I used to get 54Mbps which WAS faster than the company wifi. Then we bumped up to 500Mb.
Poor Reception in Canada on Bell Mobility
I just got an unlocked S8+ that was apparently originally from Sprint (because that is where the home page goes in Samsung Internet).
I do not get very good reception on it – even in urban/suburban areas. Sometimes, when I am inside a building, it disappears altogether. I often get 1 or 2 bars on the reception indicator. If I check the “Sim Card Status” screen under settings I get -105 dBm 3 asu. I don’t really know what those numbers mean.
Is there anything I can do to improve reception? Should I be calling Bell and maybe they need to know what kind of phone I have? Should I expect an S8+ purchased directly from Bell (they also carry this phone) to have better reception? Or is the reception of “105 dBm 3 asu” fine and it’s just the indicator showing low levels?
As much as I like this phone I cannot be missing calls randomly. I have a business to run.
Thanks.
The Fish
thefish123 said:
I just got an unlocked S8+ that was apparently originally from Sprint (because that is where the home page goes in Samsung Internet).
I do not get very good reception on it – even in urban/suburban areas. Sometimes, when I am inside a building, it disappears altogether. I often get 1 or 2 bars on the reception indicator. If I check the “Sim Card Status” screen under settings I get -105 dBm 3 asu. I don’t really know what those numbers mean.
Is there anything I can do to improve reception? Should I be calling Bell and maybe they need to know what kind of phone I have? Should I expect an S8+ purchased directly from Bell (they also carry this phone) to have better reception? Or is the reception of “105 dBm 3 asu” fine and it’s just the indicator showing low levels?
As much as I like this phone I cannot be missing calls randomly. I have a business to run.
Thanks.
The Fish
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Hey fish you want it down, the dBm i mean. Here's a quote "-50 dBm is great signal or full bars. -120 dBm is very poor signal or a dead zone." you at 105 dBm is garbage, no wonder your missing calls.. Since you are experiencing network issues, you could get a replacement, but i don’t think it will make much difference. as it's all same hardware. Why not get a Google Pixel XL i heard they got awesome reception! Or if you’re at home a lot, purchase an lte repeater booster ? Problem Solved!
Drop in signal & Block sign
Im living in UAE - and my service provider is etisalat, and my 4G signal is dropping and sometimes i get block sign, i tried my sim in different device it working.
i have started a thread on the subject if anyone could help me please.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...block-sign-t3851575/post77823171#post77823171
N1NJATH3ORY said:
Hey fish you want it down, the dBm i mean. Here's a quote "-50 dBm is great signal or full bars. -120 dBm is very poor signal or a dead zone." you at 105 dBm is garbage, no wonder your missing calls.. Since you are experiencing network issues, you could get a replacement, but i don’t think it will make much difference. as it's all same hardware. Why not get a Google Pixel XL i heard they got awesome reception! Or if you’re at home a lot, purchase an lte repeater booster ? Problem Solved!
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Click to collapse
I went through a whole “carrier switching” routine (details found somewhere on these forums) and after changing the CSC to Canadian I flashed Bell Mobility's firmware. The phone now shows that it’s an SM-G955W which is the Canadian model. And apparently now supports additional LTE bands 29(700) and 30(2300) which were missing from the SM-G955U (I determined this by dialing *#2263#).
I have no idea if it *really* supports these bands or just *says* that it does but my gut tells me that it really does support them. I suspect that the hardware for the SM-G955U and SM-G955W is 100% identical and any differences are controlled through software only.
And I seem to have better reception now. I am getting 4 to 5 bars in most places and under -100 dBm in most places. Plus Wi-Fi calling works now so I have reception in my basement at my house.
The true test will be when we go camping next summer.
The Fish
thefish123 said:
I went through a whole “carrier switching” routine (details found somewhere on these forums) and after changing the CSC to Canadian I flashed Bell Mobility's firmware. The phone now shows that it’s an SM-G955W which is the Canadian model. And apparently now supports additional LTE bands 29(700) and 30(2300) which were missing from the SM-G955U (I determined this by dialing *#2263#).
I have no idea if it *really* supports these bands or just *says* that it does but my gut tells me that it really does support them. I suspect that the hardware for the SM-G955U and SM-G955W is 100% identical and any differences are controlled through software only.
And I seem to have better reception now. I am getting 4 to 5 bars in most places and under -100 dBm in most places. Plus Wi-Fi calling works now so I have reception in my basement at my house.
The true test will be when we go camping next summer.
The Fish
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Happy days for you i do suffer poor signal in my house:crying: i'll see if i can flash the CSC to fix it, thanks for the update!
s7 does lot better than 8+ in the same room

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