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I was going to post this in the EVO Shift 4G thread, but since the EVO 4G thread gets more exposure, I decided to post it here.
The power port on my EVO 4G was failing, and began the process (arguing) with Sprint to get it replaced. The EVO was on back order, and they offered me the EVO Shift as a replacement. A few friends of mine have the Shift, and I was impressed with it, so I took the Shift as a replacement.
Well, I live out in the sticks where reception varies by sneezing, but every Sprint phone I have had here (Intercept, Transform, Moment, Hero, EVO, Epic), and I've always gotten 2 to 3 bars of 3G reception, without roaming whatsoever.
When I received my Shift and activated it, I quickly discovered that all my experiences with reception on other Sprint phones were vastly different than now. My phone always enters roaming, loses reception entirely, messages fail to send and calls are dropped. So I grabbed my Shift and took it into the Sprint store, which sent me to another Sprint store to have it run through "diagnostic computers," and when I arrived there, they had no idea what the other store was talking about.
In the end, they just said the antenna is worse than the EVO, my phone isn't defective, I just live in an area with **** for reception.
So XDA, I come to you for advice. I'm tired of network failure pop ups and **** like that. What can I do to improve reception? Anything? Is there something I can purchase to boost my signal?
Thanks guys.
If you have highspeed internet you can threaten to cancel until they give you an airrave... it helps but they arent without their issues either. I had one and it caused a lot of text issues, and people calling in couldnt call me all the time, had to try 2 or 3 times. But it was better than no service at all
sent from my supersonic evo .:CM7:.
infallibleapex said:
If you have highspeed internet you can threaten to cancel until they give you an airrave... it helps but they arent without their issues either. I had one and it caused a lot of text issues, and people calling in couldnt call me all the time, had to try 2 or 3 times. But it was better than no service at all
sent from my supersonic evo .:CM7:.
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Thanks for the quick response. I found out my friend has one he doesn't need anymore since he moved to an area with better service, so I'm getting one. I think I could deal with minor issues, but the ones I deal with are every few minutes.
or you can get verizon. LOL!
Yea, aside from getting a different model, the ONLY way to increase signal is with an airave.
You said your friend has one, I would get the serial numbers off it, and any other numbers on the back. You will need to call sprint and have it activated on your account first, otherwise it may not work, or it may charge your friend for use.
So yesterday I noticed I was constantly losing 4g connection on my Nexus. No problem, 4g has been horrible here for the past week on my Thunderbolt too...probably just a Verizon issue.
Since last night I have noticed that the signal dropping is not just 4g...I'm losing service in general. Dropped calls, failed SMS messages, everything. It happens about every half hour. I'm being told that a lot of calls to me are going straight to VM. I love this phone's features but this morning I'm ready to throw it against a wall. Is anyone else experiencing this? Time to return it to the store for a replacement?
I haven't been losing signal outright, but I am reverting to 3G more often. My Bionic would do this in roughly the same areas, but the more recent radio updates had kept me steady on 4G. Hopefully future updates to the Nexus will do the same!
I think this may have something to do with the radios used on Samsung phones. An update should fix it. Because I just switched from the rezound and I had excellent signal in my house and then I switched to this and there is about a fifteen dbm difference
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
i have reverted to 3G several times randomly.
also i noticed that coming off of wifi, it takes quite a bit of time for 4G to restore itself.
My TB has been doing so in my office for the past couple weeks at least. Noticeable 5-7db loss on CM7. Data loss and weak signal on GNex too. I just deal with it anymore. Ide go back to a damn flip phone if I could
My SGN has a very poor signal strength compared to my T-bolt. The phone was unusable - no data & no bars (-120dbm). When I had data (rarely) it was 1x. After an hour in the store & on the phone with Verizon tech support they have a ticket out on it. We tried different SIM cards & a different phone even. It might be a network thing on their end - for a while at least my phone wasn't showing up as activated & the Baseband I had was not what she showed in the system.
I will let you know what I learn. I want to keep my GSN but not as a paperweight...
same issue
I called verizon and said this is not common. So whenever a phone call is ended and it tries to reconnect to 4G, the phone loses all radio signal. This is completely frustrating.....i have reset to factory(no help). I have replaced the sim card(no help)....this sucks.
UPDATE:: 12/22/2011 went back to the store and swaped out to a new nexus galaxy. All problems are gone, and this phone is working great!!! seems to even have better battery life now. probably because it is not constatly dropping the signal.
No signal here.
Set to 3G only.... no dice. No 4G here, but still no dice with the dual setting.
Had made two calls yesterday after getting home.... both were lacking in call quality, but the calls were completed. I was connected to the extender on the first call, but not on the second (thought it might have injected the noise on the line). The second call wasn't perfect, but a considerable less amount of noise. I do live in a poor signal area and that is why the need for the extender.... I figured the noise on the second call was due to poor signal.
This morning..... no SMS, no voice, no nothing!
I have played with the extender on and off.... and later came to notice lots of posts on this not being a usable combo.
So.... my conclusion. GNex has a horrible radio and if you require an extender, forget it! My DX held a much better signal.
In the end... no matter how cool the SW and HW is, if you can't make a phone call, why have a phone!
This handset is a major FAIL! The fact that VZW screwed the pooch on it and turned a Nexus device into a carrier device sucks balls as well!
EDIT: and oh yeah.... vzw support was worthless on this.
Same exact issues. My wife and I both have the GNex. We can be right next to each other and when I call her it will go straight to VM. If I pick up her phone and call, mine will ring. Afterwards I will be able to call her and it will not go to vm. VERY frustrating! I've had to text her to ask if her phone was ringing and it wasn't, so she would call me.
^ I heard from many Verizon people that its common when phone does not ring and goes straight to voice mail on other devices. Is this really an issue ? If fact it was SO frustrating that they had to switch to Sprint.
Wasnt an issue with my OG Droid or Incredible.
I own a Rezound and side-by-side speed tests show the GN's ping times and speeds are horrible! My GN looses connection often and reconnects are slow, not as bad as the Bionic, but definitely noticeable. Hopefully the radio is software correctable.. Time will tell, hopefully this will happen within my 45 day return period..
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
I find my nexus to be going from 4g/3g every once in a while probably some verizon down time
if it doesn't get fixed, I will be going back to the rezound. I love this phone, but not having a good signal in my own house? killer...
I have heard this is a usual problem with samsung phones, but I can always hope it isn't the case as i love this phone.
nosympathy said:
if it doesn't get fixed, I will be going back to the rezound. I love this phone, but not having a good signal in my own house? killer...
I have heard this is a usual problem with samsung phones, but I can always hope it isn't the case as i love this phone.
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Yea Samsung has been known for poor signal strength I ran speed testing my Inc vs my fascinate and then the rezound vs the nexus and every time the HTC phones blew the Samsung phones away
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
I played with the GN at the VZW store today for less than 10 mintres, and it lost its connection while I was handling it. I tried to figure out the cause, as I had a full bar 4G signal on my TB.
I hope this is a quick and simple radio fix, as I really like this phone.
I am waiting a few more weeks to see how this is handled and to check on batt life before I jump over. Never been a Sammy fan, so i am a little cautious.
i have poor signal as well
double post
I turned in my rezound for the Gnex and I am having horrible service at my house as well. With the rezound I had 2-3 bars and with the nexus I go into extended service or no service. I really love this phone as well but if I cant get a signal at my house back to the rezound I go.
Data drops are significantly less on the GN versus the Droid Razr... I would lose data service for 30 minutes at a time on the phone.
In my bedroom, I have two bars of 3G coverage. My thunderbolt had 1 bar, and the Razr I returned had two bars. In general, for me, it has a similar signal to the Razr. HTC phones always have a terrible signal strength for me...
I don't have (or need) 4G coverage where I live. When I go to Austin or SA, I notice that the 4G coverage is less on the GN vs either the Razr or Thunderbolt. However, as I live in an area that won't get 4G anytime soon, this is fine for me...
Anyone else get bad reception and weak radio from the Galaxy Nexus. I have the new radio i think (1515.09 V.FA02/ 1515.FA02).. the changing between 3g and 4g is still terrible and sometimes its hard for the signal to even come back in.
Do you know if this is the best radio? i think soon I will just get a Motorola device because they have better signal strength even in weak coverage areas. Not happy with the galaxy nexus for that reason. I think htc may even be better at that. samsung isn't good with their signal stength with phones.
The only time I get bad reception is in my house for some odd reason. It's so fraustrating because when I had my thunderbolt or bionic I got 4G in my house. Any where else I am good with 4G. I almost switched somebody phones but then I realized I might as well stick to the nexus.
kidnice15 said:
The only time I get bad reception is in my house for some odd reason. It's so fraustrating because when I had my thunderbolt or bionic I got 4G in my house. Any where else I am good with 4G. I almost switched somebody phones but then I realized I might as well stick to the nexus.
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Yeah.. just not willing to settle for a weak signal in a phone just because its a very nice phone. I pay for data and i want to have access to it completely.
I get 4G almost everywhere I go with the GNexus. Live about 25 minutes from Pittsburgh and can drive around pretty much everywhere and get good reception, at least on par with my Thunderbolt.
Significant problems as well, returning phone.
I have had the phone since 2/13. I'm in Rochester, NY and have had a significant number of dropped calls, times when the signal dropped, and extended re-connect times. I received a new SIM last night, which had no effect on the problem. I also tried the 4.0.4 update to the radios the OP has, with no significant improvement. VZW has said that a software update due in early march will alleviate the problem. I don't buy it. I've decided to return my phone within the 14 day "Worry-Free" period and go back to my OG Droid for the time being. I'm going to wait until the reports come back on this new "update", which is probably just 4.0.3. So i'm not feeling very confident.
-rs
I had the same problem...bad signal and wouldn't switch from 4g to 3g I returned mines and got another and now i'm very happy.the first one was a piece of junk but the second has been awesome..
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
stepinmyworld said:
Yeah.. just not willing to settle for a weak signal in a phone just because its a very nice phone. I pay for data and i want to have access to it completely.
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Let me ask you a question , how did you get to the conclusion of bad reception or bad radio strength ? I had my razr side by side with gnex a few days ago. GNex shows one bar less than razr . I guess many folks will then consider throwing their gnex to nearest wall after seeing this. Guess what ? Then I ran speed test on both of them side by side at same time for 20 times to test speed (yeah I was bored that day) . Every single run I observed about 1mb/s to 3mb/s faster in gnex than razr. Even at the same time gnex showing one fewer signal bar.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
jiwengang said:
Let me ask you a question , how did you get to the conclusion of bad reception or bad radio strength ? I had my razr side by side with gnex a few days ago. GNex shows one bar less than razr . I guess many folks will then consider throwing their gnex to nearest wall after seeing this. Guess what ? Then I ran speed test on both of them side by side at same time for 20 times to test speed (yeah I was bored that day) . Every single run I observed about 1mb/s to 3mb/s faster in gnex than razr. Even at the same time gnex showing one fewer signal bar.
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Bars are irrelevant...
Having both the nexus and the rezound, I can definitely say the rezound has better 4g radio strength. With my rezound I get 2-3 bars 4g easy anywhere in my house. Gnex barely gets 1 and most of the time is on 3g. Very frustrating.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
That's the problem. There are plenty of places I go that I lose 4G completely (on 4.0.4), while friends with the Razr or Rezound still have 2-3 bars of 4G and it's going strong.
I couldn't care less how many bars I have...I just care when I get dropped to 3G and other people don't.
My bionic held the 4G signal the best out of GN and Thunderbolt. But the browser on the GN is pretty darn fast that I hardly have any complaint when browsing on 3G. My GN holds that 3G with a death grip though. 4G is flaky at work and at home unfortunately...
Went thru 2 bad ones before I got one that worked properly.
If its giving issues, return it and try a replacement.
Seems Samsung's quality control is seriously lacking but they are a good phone when they work.
I think I get pretty good service on 3g. I don't have 4g in my area yet. I've had a droid x and iphone 4 and the nexus is best.
Been a power user of smart phones since they've existed, unlocking modding, etc.
I have never had a phone with worse data reception period.
Owned the GS2 since launch. Tried everything. Every combination known to man to get signal consistency that even comes close to an HTC phone or even my original pocket pc from UT Starcomm...
I once streamed a broadcast of the CUSA BBall tourney in the mountains in Co in like 2003 or 4 on one of those bad boys ...
No way I could do it on this galaxy s2. Not unless I was sitting still with no other devices at sea level in a giant grassland.
The phone is gorgeous, screen near perfect, feels great in hand, great durability, best phone I've ever had in almost every area...
BUT when you can barely browse the web, or use banking apps because timeouts and disconnects and 4g sleeping/searching won't stop...
It may as well be a paper weight. Will never buy a Samsung again; never should have left HTC. Tried as hard as I could to believe and prove that this was the best phone you could buy. Signal issues kill it in a long term use review.
Buy HTC. Radio is most important thing on a phone period.
I've been noticing the same thing with the signal reception. If this phone had a better radio it would honestly be the best phone. I will never buy HTC again because of the lack of updates and the piss poor battery life. Also HTC sense is garbage. But yet again these are just my opinions. If HTC comes out with a good phone that's not a brick maybe I'll try it.
Agree, they are big bricks and die quick, but the reason may be that they lock onto that signal like the fat guy that lucked into the insecure 8 or 9.
Big time web browser. Trying to justify switch to evo lte. Long term phone user and I get big time value mod, etc because of the price. Hard to dump something less than a year in for me.
Don't worry both Samsung and Sprint has the fix for you. They will release the fix in the near future.
Its called the Galaxy S3
LOL
Signal Strength on FD24, FD26 & FE07 Is Erratic. Yeppppppppp!
I cant remember it being this bad on GB...but my memory is horrible. This signal bullsh*t on ICS is KILLING my battery, and i cannot charge my phone where i work. I have to walk with an extra battery and a charging case for that battery.
Sprint & Samsung have until the OTA to fix this issue...if this OTA fails to make the phone live up to a reasonable use of its potential...im jumping to Verizon & the Droid Maxx.
Between the GPS...signal stability & 3G speeds....ive just about f*cking had it.
it took you this long to realize this? when i had my samsung moment replaced 4 times due to data loss and modem issues, i told myself i would never buy another samsung phone. look how that turned out.
samsung has terrible radio support. it's not just the phone radio, it's their GPS and wifi too.
I read these threads all the time... Never really post in them a lot though....
From what I've read its all about the area you live in. I live and work in Center City Philadelphia and get ok to good 3G & 4G signals and never really have any of these issue of timing out, slow downloads or issues with browsing.
I do count myself lucky though cause when I go to visit my family (they live in the sticks) its wifi only for me... So I do feel your guys pain.
Sent From My Galaxy Class StarFighter
SouthPhilly said:
I read these threads all the time... Never really post in them a lot though....
From what I've read its all about the area you live in. I live and work in Center City Philadelphia and get ok to good 3G & 4G signals and never really have any of these issue of timing out, slow downloads or issues with browsing.
I do count myself lucky though cause when I go to visit my family (they live in the sticks) its wifi only for me... So I do feel your guys pain.
Sent From My Galaxy Class StarFighter
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nope it's not the area you live in. having traveled to just about every major city in the US in the last 5-6 years, my moment and the e4gt have always lost signal completely multiple times. while travelling, my htc evo never once experienced those problems, and gps lock was always instant.
i dont believe it's an area/location problem at all. i think it's more like samsung has terrible cdma support. you dont hear much about their gsm phones having these issues.
cnstarz said:
nope it's not the area you live in. having traveled to just about every major city in the US in the last 5-6 years, my moment and the e4gt have always lost signal completely multiple times. while travelling, my htc evo never once experienced those problems, and gps lock was always instant.
i dont believe it's an area/location problem at all. i think it's more like samsung has terrible cdma support. you dont hear much about their gsm phones having these issues.
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Yea its my job to travel weekly to multiple cities....and my HTC NEVER had such issues with the radio.
Yep never had a issue with any signal or gps on ANY of my HTC phones.
Samsung wireless radios are POS!
Waiting on user reviews to see if I'll get the EVO 4G LTE
Sent from my EPIC TOUCH!
I live in Houston, TX the #1 coverage city for Sprint. First Samsung I've owned. Hardware was just so killer vs the then market leading (regardless of whether or not you liked the gimmick) evo 3d it wasn't close. Never knew signal issues could be crippling because I owned HTCs, so I never had issues.
The issues I did have... Build quality, shaky early sense, camera quality, screen quality... ALL don't even matter if you can't load a webpage, upload a photo, etc.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
Dose anyone even know if the S3 will carry the same radio the S2 has? many times the phone manufacture will use same hardware ie gps Bluetooth to same money.
Wow I must be really lucky. I live in Reno and I have never ever had any signal issues. sure it goes from full to 2 bars from time to time but I have never lost signal.
rujelus22 said:
Wow I must be really lucky. I live in Reno and I have never ever had any signal issues. sure it goes from full to 2 bars from time to time but I have never lost signal.
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Same here and I live in Alabama, nowhere near the areas that will see 4G or LTE first.
The OG evo has one of the best antennas on a cell phone, ever. You can't make a blanket statement that HTC is awesome when plenty of their phones have ****ty antennas. Have you used an Evo 3D or design? You would be complaining there too. God forbid you get an iPhone, which has the worst antenna I've ever seen. My store is literally across the street from a tower, and iPhones get 2 bars and horrible data speeda where my ET is pegged and gets 1.5mbit down on 3g.
You probably got your gs2 at about the same time the iPhone came out, when the 3g network got saturated with all the morons "upgrading" front 4g android phones or poor souls upgrading from blackberries with 1x. This phone has performed exactly as I expected it to.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Wow......no "Cool Story Bro" posts yet? I'm proud of you guys.
Let's hope it stays like this.
jayharper08 said:
Wow......no "Cool Story Bro" posts yet? I'm proud of you guys.
Let's hope it stays like this.
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Stool Corey Bro /runs
PS: As much as i hate to admit this, its all true. I was playing with a friends photon the other day....this was getting amazing reception where as i get NONE at my house :\
Well first off I do agree that the E4GT does have a horrible modem/radio. The worst i have ever had on a smartphone. Don't get me wrong this is the best phone I have ever had but I get a GPS lock half the time I try and after a minute or 2. Its just pathetic. Ya I know some people say my GPS works great but my dad and 2 friends have this same phone and all have the same GPS and poor signal problems. So if your GPS works great you are very lucky. As for the data speeds I have ran speedtest side by side on the E4GT OG EVo and 4s side by side. E4GT>4s>OG Evo by not to much though(at least that is the results I got).
I think the biggest culprit here though with data speeds is sprints ****tastic network. I usually average 300kbs. I'm sorry but im not paying $180 a month for those kinds of speeds when VZW and ATT 3g speeds are 6-8 times better than that(not to even mention 4g and lte). Also VZW and ATT are not even more expensive. For the same thing Im getting on sprint I can get at ATT(3gb monthly data) for the SAME price. On VZW(4 gb monthly data) its 10 bucks more. I realized unlimited data means nothing if you have crappy speeds. If you alive in a sprint area were your lucky to get 4g or lte soon more power to ya.
As for buying a samsung phone? Its possible but not until 1) They stop making there phones ugly (not the sII but the sIII is butt ugly IMO) 2)get better modem/radio/GPS 3) change from pentile display. At least in online pictures the sIII's display looks worse than our phone.
HTC One X here I come!!! (sooo excited)
/end rant lol sorry/
I live on LI Ny, and the coverage is horrible here, I work in Queens, it's the only time I can actually brows the Web, besides wifi.. And no 4G on LI..
Bobby O's Epic Touch..
I have noticed that if you have your bluetooth connected and then enable gps, I don't get a gps lock until I disable gps, then bluetooth, and then enable gps. It's been like that on every ICS rom I have tried.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk 2
Where I live (and work for that matter) I have little to no signal , there is one spot in the house that I have found that I can actually make a phone call and stay connected. I was thinking about switching to the GS3 , but , I have seen horrible reviews regarding operation in weak signal areas , but , they were mostly from 6 months ago. Does anyone have any real world experience with these phones (I currently have the EVO 3D). Switching carriers probably wont make much difference as I am in the proverbial "Dead Zone" especially at home. Do not know if it makes much difference but there basically is no 4G in this area either...
also are there any phones out there that excel in weak signal areas ?
TIA
Dan
Blackberrys have always been very reliable for me when it comes to past devices and having great reception.
Ultimately these devices come off assembly lines so my device might pick up signal well and someone else might get a slightly weaker signal.
Id recommend finding someone with a GS3 and invite them over for some RF comparisons.. Wouldnt hurt to get an EVO LTE in there as well.
Real world testing is the only way to know for sure in your situation..
I always thought the same thing having always been an HTC phone person until I actually got the GS3. I get far better reception with it than I did with my 3D.
brownhornet said:
I always thought the same thing having always been an HTC phone person until I actually got the GS3. I get far better reception with it than I did with my 3D.
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are you on Sprint ?
I go back and forth. When i got my EVO LTE it had issues getting stuck on 1x after being on LTE or eHRPD.
So i got a GS3. Worked great till recently. After the JB update i started to get high cpu usage due to the media bug. Then i started to get stuck with no data service. My device was having problems switching from LTE to 3G.. So i am back on my EVO LTE and its performing better then my GS3. Battery life is twice as good with my normal usage then on my GS3..
I get better reception on my gs3 than I did with my evo 3d, at work on my 3d sometimes it'd take 15-20 seconds to even get the call to start dialing when try a make calls and would sometimes have problems with people hearing me, my gs3 holds a consistent signal