Poor signal since 2.3.3 rooted update - EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I flashed the 2.3.3 rooted/deodexed stock rom the day it came out onto my Evo. I also did the radios update. Since then I've been having some poor signal strength issues. At my office I used to consistently have 4 to 5 bars (even with leaked gingerbread rom), now it will move between none but still connected to 4 or 5. Generally it stays lower though. At my apartment I always had somewhat low signal but never dropped calls. Now I have a hard time keeping calls connected unless I go to a certain spot in my apartment.
I didn't see a flood of complaints on this so I'm guessing it's more just me. Any suggestions?

Only thing I can think is to update your PRL. I haven't noticed any change in signal strength myself, still weak where it used to be weak and still strong where it used to be strong.

Related

Very bad WiFi connection?

I apologize if this has been asked before. I searched (possible that I didn't search hard enough) but couldn't find anything.
Anyway, is it normal for the EVO 4G to have pretty pitiful Wi-Fi? What I mean is that I get terrible reception. My girlfriend's blackberry and my two brother's 2nd gen iPod Touch's get great Wi-Fi throughout the whole house. Both of my parents have notebooks and they don't have any issues either. If I'm about an inch from the wireless router I get full bars and 12mbps down (it's a G router) 12mbps up (according to the speedtest.net app), but the connection speed and signal immediately drops a significant amount as soon as I leave the room. The other devices don't have this problem. They maintain most of the speed and only lose a little bit of signal strength.
I know Sprint released an OTA update prior to Froyo that was supposed to address WiFi issues, but I was never able to do it because I was rooted and running a custom ROM (not based on that OTA update) prior to that. Now I'm running the latest Cyanogen nightly and I still get pitiful Wi-Fi
Anyone else experiencing similar issues?
Thanks!
Have you flashed the latest radio's?
My wifi reception was mediocre at best on 2.1, and when I went to Fresh 3.1.0.1 Froyo it pretty much was the same. Funny thing is though, I had only flashed the most recent radio (.28), I hadn't flashed the wimax radio because I don't live in a 4g area and didn't see the need for it. A few days after I flashed the new rom and radio I decided that it would probably be good to keep everything up to date regardles of whether it was needed or not, so I flashed the latest wimax radio. All of a sudden I have excellent wifi reception, before I could barely get a working wifi signal 20 feet from the router, now I get the same signal I was getting at 20 feet from the router 75 feet away.
To tell you the truth, I have no idea why it did this after flashing the wimax radio, as I was under the impression that the wimax radio had nothing to do with wifi, could be a coincidence, but it worked for me. The highest I ever got before at 20 feet from the router was 2 bars, now at the same place I get full bars, and I now get 2-3 bars at the opposite end of the house from the router where I got no wifi signal at all before.
wfrandy said:
Have you flashed the latest radio's?
My wifi reception was mediocre at best on 2.1, and when I went to Fresh 3.1.0.1 Froyo it pretty much was the same. Funny thing is though, I had only flashed the most recent radio (.28), I hadn't flashed the wimax radio because I don't live in a 4g area and didn't see the need for it. A few days after I flashed the new rom and radio I decided that it would probably be good to keep everything up to date regardles of whether it was needed or not, so I flashed the latest wimax radio. All of a sudden I have excellent wifi reception, before I could barely get a working wifi signal 20 feet from the router, now I get the same signal I was getting at 20 feet from the router 75 feet away.
To tell you the truth, I have no idea why it did this after flashing the wimax radio, as I was under the impression that the wimax radio had nothing to do with wifi, could be a coincidence, but it worked for me. The highest I ever got before at 20 feet from the router was 2 bars, now at the same place I get full bars, and I now get 2-3 bars at the opposite end of the house from the router where I got no wifi signal at all before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome I'll give that a shot!
Yeah it makes no sense at all, and even if it was only a coincidence I'm still willing to try it. I too upgraded to the latest radio but skipped the 4G radio update because for 1, my area doesn't have 4G, and because the ROM I'm currently using doesn't support 4G yet
Thanks again! I'll report back with my updated findings!
Unfortunately I don't think I helped my wifi signal definitely worth a shot though. I'm going to Nandroid backup my cm6 and flash to a rom based of sprint's Froyo update to see if wifi signal strength increases.
Sent from my EVO 4G using the XDA app.

[Q] Poor cell signal- often roaming

I've had the E4GT for less than 24hrs, and biggest issue is the less than splendid cell reception. Sitting in my living room i used to get 2-3 bars- this thing constantly throws into roaming. I updated my PRL, Profile, and Firmware. Didn't know what the latest PRL was that was out.
I know this thing has only been out a few days, so i understand some bugs. Is anyone else having signal issues where they didn't before?
I'm really trying rock this for a couple days stock before i root the hell out of it, lol.
Thanks for any input. Link me to resources if you like, i have no issues reading up on my own if this is a common issue.
fattmann said:
I've had the E4GT for less than 24hrs, and biggest issue is the less than splendid cell reception. Sitting in my living room i used to get 2-3 bars- this thing constantly throws into roaming. I updated my PRL, Profile, and Firmware. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto! I even have an Air Rave and reception is poor.
I am running into the same situation. It keeps on switching between roaming and normal for no reason. I usually get pretty good reception in my room. It will sit there at about 2-3 bars reception, few minutes later its roaming. The phone hasn't been moved at all.
This happened to me 20 minutes after I got it on Friday but after a reboot it was fine. No problem since then. I assumed it was a network issue.
Same issue here, even with Airave (evo next to SG2 has better signal)
Huh, I'm getting better reception than my Evo 4G. The Epic Touch now works in my condo elevator at basement garage level where the Evo would consistently drop a call.
has anyone did a signal strength comparison instead of bars. they may have different values per bar on different phones.
Returns are warranted?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
I wonder if there is a difference in radios or something. My experience tells me that this radio is finicky as heck, and I don't know why.
Is there a way to find out if Samsung used different parts or suppliers to make the Epic Touch?
I remember HTC doing this with their phones, and some would be fine, and some would not (different issue each phone, lol)
Mine was doing the same i switched the phone to only go on sprints network and has been fine. I rarely need true roaming but it would go into roaming even when sprint service was available.
I think Sprint may be doing network upgrades/maintenance. The same phenomenon occurs on my Epic 4G Touch and multiple Nexus S 4G's. I'll see signal jump from -106 dBm to -76 dBm and in some places go into roaming. Nothing to worry about as long as it works. They may be upgrading equipment to support EVDO rev B hopefully.
I get much better 4G reception on the E4GT than the NS4G, FWIW.
My signal isn't as good as my photon was better then my evo 3d. I usually don't roam much. Trust me when I say this, reception could be worse lol ill deal with it!!
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
I hope the poor signal has to do with upgrading to EvDo RevB on Oct7
Thank God I am not alone. My cell reception too is finicky. In places my old evo (which my girl use now)have weak signal my epic touch would roam in and out. Sometimes it won't leave roaming even after I get to a known good reception area. Only a reboot would kick it back to sprint network. I read somewhere that calling sprint and having them reset my phone on their end might help. I am going to try this out as soon as I get home.

Low signal on hox

Today I noticed that the signal on my hox is worse than on my old desire. On places where my desire got constand hsdpa the hox switches constantly from hsdpa to 3g with less signal bars. Anyone else with this problem ?
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
Same here, I now have to go outside my office to be able to make calls that dont drop. With my SG2 would get full bar in my office, but with HOX only get 2bars
Yup mine seems the same, stumbled upon this thread looking for a solution so hopefully someone who has some success resolving the issue will be able to help.
I'm having this issue too, hopefully when s off has been achieved we will be able to flash different radios it has fixed this issue on all of my previous phones.
My phone also seems to have a somewhat weaker 3G reception than my SGS-2, although they both act in the same way in regards to switching between 3G and H+ all the time. I think this can be corrected partly via software updates since the wifi reception is much stronger on the HOX than any unit I ever had before. It is the same "antenna" the receives both signals isnt it?
Mine seems to get faster 3G speeds than my Gnex and GS2 (unless my network has improved in the past 2 week)
But phone signal is far worse, especially since the 1.28 update... I'm not getting signal now in places where I used to always get signal
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
My data speeds have dramatically decreased after the latest 1.28 update - quite dissapointing! I have no use for better signal if the data is worse lol
Have been lurking on here for a while now and noticed a few threads and comments about reception on the One X
I am in the same boat, was using a Desire S and now a One x and noticed there is a distinct difference in signal level between the two. Not just the signal bars (desire s has 4, One x has 5) but the dBm levels too.
I would say that 80% of those that have had the update and posted about signal have said that it has improved, regardless of carrier they use.
I went into the store where I bought mine from (ThreeUk Retail shop) and they were going to swap it out there and then for me but the handset on display (working demo) had a similar level to mine, so seemed pointless as Im guessing that all/most of the units are like this, it isnt an isolated case.
So, im not sure what to do now. I have just swapped my main number to Three (and its now my only number). Im without coverage far more than I used to be with Voda, or with Three using the Desire S.
Three shop says they have a 28 day policy for faulty handsets, I hope that the update is out before that so I can see for myself.
Brilliant handset though…. screen is lush, using the phone is a pleasure…. just brilliant.
Steve
I am noticing far worse signal on my handset than previous handsets , an awful lot of the time my handset switches between t-mobile and orange , whereas previous handsets were solid t-mobile all day , and also the data speeds are worse. I am not very impressed as the 1.28 update appears to have made this worse, and its an unlocked generic variant in the uk if thats of any help
cheers
james
My signal is loads better.
Before the update I couldn't sit on the sofa and make a call I would get 3bars then nothing.
Now I'm a fairly constant 4 bars sat on the sofa.
I'm on Tesco (so O2) I was going to take the handset back before the update.
Battery seems twice as good on a completely different note.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
I have had a similar experience as descb600f. Prior to 1.28 my signal would drop regularly. After 1.28 I am finding it is far better, regularly seeing 3 bars, where before it would continually switch between 0 and 2 bars.
WiFi reception is great, puts my Desire to shame!
So which is it, does 1.28 make signal alot better or not? And what about actual call quality, its one thing getting 3 bars but another if calls are choppy
I do have to agree with the signal/Wifi issues on this device.. I came from a Nexus S (GSM model) and I used to get good HSPA/UMTS signals on that device, I also have a Wifi network setup in my house, it covers most of the house and some of the backyard.. However when out in the backyard the One X seems to drop the connection to the Wifi network, however my old Nexus S still has atleast 2-3 bars of Wifi connectivity and constantly keeps the signal/connection.
Has anyone else had issues like this with Home Wifi networks not getting as great a signal as other devices?
If I hold the One X in one hand and the Nexus S in the other and move away from the Wifi Access Point, the One X drops signal strength a lot quicker and the Nexus S keeps connection/signal a lot further away..
Bit dissapointed with that, and hope it's some how able to be fixed with software/firmware upgrades in the future?
Also I noticed the One X seems to switch between H/3G (HSPA/UMTS etc) quite a lot more than the Nexus S does, same network, holding both in same spot..
Apart from these minor issues and the screen flickering issue I'm more than happy with the One X..
Tondern said:
I think this can be corrected partly via software updates since the wifi reception is much stronger on the HOX than any unit I ever had before. It is the same "antenna" the receives both signals isnt it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WiFi and 2G/3G are two different chipsets and different antennas.
I have also notices dropsin the last 3 days, including hours with no reception at all
Need to switch from 1.26 to 1.28 soon to try it...
I should say I live in an area with only 2G reception and we sit in a dip partially hidden from the transmitters.
We can only get O2/Voda (orange/TMob if I just want to live upstairs in a corner of the house) and since the update I now have no issues with reception just like I used to.
1.28 has resolved my issues.
On the wifi front
I live in an old stone cottage with timber frame extension (wifi b/g can't make it thru our internal walls in the old part of the house), I have the N wifi router upstairs in the extension and have no issues with losing WiFi either (didn't have issues before 1.28).
Hope this helps people, I realise some may say it has got worse but for me the difference is night and day making the phone completely fine.
I just found an old 3 SIM (from a dongle) and popped it into my desire s and placed both by the window running Network Signal App for 30 minutes.
Both were attached to the same tower and the HOX was getting between -89 and -91 dbm, the Desire a consistent -75dbm.
Just hope that Three shake their touche's and get the update approved ASAP…. im quite a technical guy, but the idea of rooting and doing the update myself gives me the shakes…..
Steve

[VZW] GN Weak radio bugging me

I don't know whether this is in my mind but since I have upgraded to JB, I seem to be getting weaker signal reception.
I live in a major LTE market and signal is usually pretty good outside on the street. Once I am a few feet from the street, say in a restaurant--even with big plate glass windows--or a house or a backyard, the signal drops to unusable.
This weakness was most graphic this past weekend when I found myself at a backyard BBQ. I couldn't get enough 3G signal to use the internet. Friends (running GB) with the Bionic or Thunderbolt, also on Verizon, standing right next to me were able to get a bar or two and reach the internet.
I'm not holding out hope that a radio release will miraculously fix our signal reception problems.
Wow! same problem here. When I flashed JB 4.1.1 I noticed a big difference in my reception. In rural areas The Galaxy Nexus has horrible reception anyways and We, I say we don't need to be getting weaker signals after flashing this really fast Jelly Bean rom...lol
dynamicpda said:
I don't know whether this is in my mind but since I have upgraded to JB, I seem to be getting weaker signal reception.
I live in a major LTE market and signal is usually pretty good outside on the street. Once I am a few feet from the street, say in a restaurant--even with big plate glass windows--or a house or a backyard, the signal drops to unusable.
This weakness was most graphic this past weekend when I found myself at a backyard BBQ. I couldn't get enough 3G signal to use the internet. Friends (running GB) with the Bionic or Thunderbolt, also on Verizon, standing right next to me were able to get a bar or two and reach the internet.
I'm not holding out hope that a radio release will miraculously fix our signal reception problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Verizon JB roms do not have any new radio's in them so I am not sure why you would be getting a worse signal then before. You should still get the same crappy signal you were getting on ICS.
dynamicpda said:
I don't know whether this is in my mind but since I have upgraded to JB, I seem to be getting weaker signal reception.
I live in a major LTE market and signal is usually pretty good outside on the street. Once I am a few feet from the street, say in a restaurant--even with big plate glass windows--or a house or a backyard, the signal drops to unusable.
This weakness was most graphic this past weekend when I found myself at a backyard BBQ. I couldn't get enough 3G signal to use the internet. Friends (running GB) with the Bionic or Thunderbolt, also on Verizon, standing right next to me were able to get a bar or two and reach the internet.
I'm not holding out hope that a radio release will miraculously fix our signal reception problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issue with my nexus. What I did to correct it was flash other radios that seem to help a lot more.
Here just search for vzw galaxy nexus radio and you should get a search with androidcentral. You will have all ur radios there.
ilpleasu said:
Wow! same problem here. When I flashed JB 4.1.1 I noticed a big difference in my reception. In rural areas The Galaxy Nexus has horrible reception anyways and We, I say we don't need to be getting weaker signals after flashing this really fast Jelly Bean rom...lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
TheGman125 said:
I had the same issue with my nexus. What I did to correct it was flash other radios that seem to help a lot more.
Here just search for vzw galaxy nexus radio and you should get a search with androidcentral. You will have all ur radios there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which radios are you running? FA02?
There's a thread on rootzwiki that has all of the historic radios for Verizon. Reading through it, some people have run a hybrid FA02/FC05 radio setup and say that's pretty good for them.
All I know is that I've got to figure something out. I went to a movie over the weekend and had my GNex in my pocket. I went through 50% battery during the movie because it couldn't find signal... and I wasn't really in a rural area.
I had generally bad service across the board 2G,3G,4G since getting the phone from Verizon. After flashing jellybean and keeping the stock FC04/FC05 radios cell service is pretty similar as expected. I cant really compalin given the area I live in but my old LG Env touch had stronger cell service. The most frustrating part was last week when I was with my friend in the hills of New Jersey where I could not get a single bar of service to even make a phone call and he was getting enough 3G on his iPhone to get on the internet. Rage.
Complete repository of all the radios:
http://goo.im/stock/toro/radios
I flashed FA02 from the command line and everything seemed to go okay but I still see FC04.
Hmmm...
Edit:
I redownloaded FA02 from the link I provided and the flash worked fine. (I had FA02 sitting on my drive from a previous download.)
I'll report back my experiences with the hybrid.
Are you trying an FA02/FC05 hybrid? I was tempted to do a flash-a-thon tomorrow night (busy tonight) and try each radio back to EK01/EK02 to see which seems best.
[email protected] said:
The Verizon JB roms do not have any new radio's in them so I am not sure why you would be getting a worse signal then before. You should still get the same crappy signal you were getting on ICS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope its worse. I went froma -61dbm signal at home to -75. To make things worse, I lose data in rural areas now and my wifi sucks.

[Q] Why do I have terrible phone signal but constant 3G/4G?

I work in downtown Houston and, while I am always connected to either 3G or 4G, I consistently have terrible phone signal. It'll only ever range from zero to 3 bars and I don't even think I've seen a full signal since I've owned this phone. Now, this isn't too much of a deal as I can always text and make calls (although it takes a while to connect sometimes.), but I'm left wondering if this is a cell tower issue or if something may have updated incorrectly. I'm rooted and unlocked and have only ever flashed the last 6 or so Lifeless ROM updates, so I don't really think I could have messed it up myself, but I find it hard to believe that downtown Houston would have such bad phone signal. Any insight?
mrdrprofjeremy said:
I work in downtown Houston and, while I am always connected to either 3G or 4G, I consistently have terrible phone signal. It'll only ever range from zero to 3 bars and I don't even think I've seen a full signal since I've owned this phone. Now, this isn't too much of a deal as I can always text and make calls (although it takes a while to connect sometimes.), but I'm left wondering if this is a cell tower issue or if something may have updated incorrectly. I'm rooted and unlocked and have only ever flashed the last 6 or so Lifeless ROM updates, so I don't really think I could have messed it up myself, but I find it hard to believe that downtown Houston would have such bad phone signal. Any insight?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I work in Downtown Denver and have a very similar problem downtown, but not out in the suburbs. My Sprint store has given me a couple of explanations.
1) The buildings block the signal. There are areas of downtown, particularly by the tallest buildings, where occasionally I will drop my cell signal completely
2) In a higher concentration area signal is reduced due to more people using that signal (I don't understand how this one affects signal strength, but that's what I was told)
How is your signal outside of the downtown area? Did you update Profile and PRL after flashing? Ever dropped the phone?
Xiutehcuhtli said:
I work in Downtown Denver and have a very similar problem downtown, but not out in the suburbs. My Sprint store has given me a couple of explanations.
1) The buildings block the signal. There are areas of downtown, particularly by the tallest buildings, where occasionally I will drop my cell signal completely
2) In a higher concentration area signal is reduced due to more people using that signal (I don't understand how this one affects signal strength, but that's what I was told)
How is your signal outside of the downtown area? Did you update Profile and PRL after flashing? Ever dropped the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I live about 14 miles west of downtown, and even there, I don't get full strength signal. As I said, I don't ever remember seeing more than 3 bars of signal. I update the PRL and Profile after every flash, and just today I dialled ##72786# to see if the hands free activation would do anything but no luck. I've also encountered moments where I'll be at home (again, I normally have data coverage and a few signal bars) and suddenly, I'll get an alert notifying me that I'm roaming.
mrdrprofjeremy said:
Well, I live about 14 miles west of downtown, and even there, I don't get full strength signal. As I said, I don't ever remember seeing more than 3 bars of signal. I update the PRL and Profile after every flash, and just today I dialled ##72786# to see if the hands free activation would do anything but no luck. I've also encountered moments where I'll be at home (again, I normally have data coverage and a few signal bars) and suddenly, I'll get an alert notifying me that I'm roaming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That happened to me the other day. I was at work and I got roaming pop up. Really weird since that never happened before and because my 4G is so strong. 36168kbps Down and 6304kbps up.
mrdrprofjeremy said:
I work in downtown Houston and, while I am always connected to either 3G or 4G, I consistently have terrible phone signal. It'll only ever range from zero to 3 bars and I don't even think I've seen a full signal since I've owned this phone. Now, this isn't too much of a deal as I can always text and make calls (although it takes a while to connect sometimes.), but I'm left wondering if this is a cell tower issue or if something may have updated incorrectly. I'm rooted and unlocked and have only ever flashed the last 6 or so Lifeless ROM updates, so I don't really think I could have messed it up myself, but I find it hard to believe that downtown Houston would have such bad phone signal. Any insight?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has been an issue on every LG Sprint phone with Android I have used. I am not sure what causes it but the bars on the screen never show full strength. That doesn't mean it isn't working though. I have heard it is just how LG worked the rom to show signal.
jonny4 said:
That doesn't mean it isn't working though. I have heard it is just how LG worked the rom to show signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me first start off by saying this is the furthest from the truth. If it shows a weak signal its because this phone has a weak signal.
This is my 3rd day with this phone and as much as I raved about it on a couple of threads, weak signal is definitely one of the negatives.
Sent from my LG-LS970 using XDA Premium HD app
shook187 said:
Let me first start off by saying this is the furthest from the truth. If it shows a weak signal its because this phone has a weak signal.
This is my 3rd day with this phone and as much as I raved about it on a couple of threads, weak signal is definitely one of the negatives.
Sent from my LG-LS970 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can it have weak signal if when I get this I am getting 36168kbps Down and 6304kbps up?
Dr. Mark said:
How can it have weak signal if when I get this I am getting 36168kbps Down and 6304kbps up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude the LTE radio has nothing to do with the phone signal. Two separate radios.
This phone just has weak radios. Now the question is, is it a software or hardware issue? my bet is software but then again I'm not an engineer
Edit
Funny thing is open signal maps gives me an 85dbm reading yet in settings it shows 94 dbm
bizzshow26 said:
This phone just has weak radios. Now the question is, is it a software or hardware issue? my bet is software but then again I'm not an engineer
Edit
Funny thing is open signal maps gives me an 85dbm reading yet in settings it shows 94 dbm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just discovered if you switch the network setting from LTE/CDMA to CDMA my signal bar gets full.
Sent from my LG-LS970 using XDA Premium HD app
I don't have an issue with 3g I get great 3g signal my issue is with lte. Lte has bed in my area since late August early September and I've had the s3 evo lte and the iPhone none of them have had an issue picking up or holding lte the lgog does.and I think it all boils down to the phone not recognizing the correct signal and thinking its weaker than it truly is. In my house and through my town I would never drop lte On the others this phone barely holds it. I've been 100 yards from a cell tower and the phone won't go below 84dbm when I know the signal strength is stronger
I installed the Network Signal Info app on several phones in my store and the LGOG registered about 9db worse consistently compared to the SGS3 or Evo LTE
About the same thing I've seen with this phone I'm hoping its a quick fix for lg with the next update. I was really hoping that zv9 would come with a new radio

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