Develop Bugs

[Q] Seems that Sprints 3G(EvdoRev.A) is too slow to stream HQ to EVO. Please advise

Seems to me that sprints network speeds are too slow to stream hq youtube vids to my device that i pay a 'premium data charge' for.
anyone else notice or have slow playback, constant buffering...it is very disheartening and i will move to at&t unless someone can convince me otherwise. and yes i know about the 2gb data cap but the speeds are available and consistent. if youtube plays w/out buffering on the inspire, Im in. If hq youtube vids play w/out buffering(interruption) on a moto droid x, ill take it. i need the speeds to be available when i am and consistent.
are you able to play hq youtube vids smoothly? what are your data settings, profile settings, advanced settings(in epst)? thank you thank you

tailsthecat3 said:
Seems to me that sprints network speeds are too slow to stream hq youtube vids to my device that i pay a 'premium data charge' for.
anyone else notice or have slow playback, constant buffering...it is very disheartening and i will move to at&t unless someone can convince me otherwise. and yes i know about the 2gb data cap but the speeds are available and consistent. if youtube plays w/out buffering on the inspire, Im in. If hq youtube vids play w/out buffering(interruption) on a moto droid x, ill take it. i need the speeds to be available when i am and consistent.
are you able to play hq youtube vids smoothly? what are your data settings, profile settings, advanced settings(in epst)? thank you thank you
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HQ youtube vids do take longer to load than regular. I do know what you mean. I just stop it as soon as it begins to play, and let it buffer for a little while. Once it buffers its fine tho, no stopping due to buffering. And as far as AT&T being consistent, its all about what coverage is like in your area, because I have def heard otherwise about AT&T's consistency. Is Sprint's coverage in your area good? I just loaded up an HQ video on my EVO, and it took slightly longer to start, but once it did, I had no interruptions. Are AT&T's expensive plans worth it to you? I personally wouldnt leave Sprint, or any phone company, over a phone alone. Have you tried the Data Speed fix yet? Are you experiencing slow browser speeds as well or only youtube? Are your other apps that require a data connection to work slow, or is it just when streaming HQ video on youtube? Is using HQ video on youtube that important to you? We cant really convince you to stay, b/c if you really want to leave you will do it regardless of what anyone says. So only you can convince yourself to stay.

There is a whole thread regarding slow data speeds:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=933900

As long as I'm in an area with good 3g or 4g coverage then YouTube hq plays fine. No companies 3g is going to handle hq without a little buffer. As others said its all about coverage where u are. Where I live 2 cans connected by a string is better than ATT
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Eat it iPhone said:
As long as I'm in an area with good 3g or 4g coverage then YouTube hq plays fine. No companies 3g is going to handle hq without a little buffer. As others said its all about coverage where u are. Where I live 2 cans connected by a string is better than ATT
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Funny you mention that. Where I'm at in the suburbs of Chicago, AT&T gets incredible speeds. On my Nexus One, I was getting 4-5Mbps on 3g (absolutely NO buffer problem there). I'm lucky if I can get that on 4G with Sprint. On 3G, I average about 500-600kbps. Youtube takes 4-5 tries minimum to play on 3G. Unfortunately, AT&T's building penetration was sort of crappy. So I left. But every day, it seems like I'm back and forth between kicking myself for switching and being glad I did. The bottom line (and the advantage to Android) is find the best carrier for your area by asking around, and THEN choose a phone from that carrier. Keep in mind, 3G from both Verizon and Sprint is GENERALLY slower than the GSM carriers, but often times is more reliable, depending on your location.

live2ride96 said:
Funny you mention that. Where I'm at in the suburbs of Chicago, AT&T gets incredible speeds. On my Nexus One, I was getting 4-5Mbps on 3g (absolutely NO buffer problem there). I'm lucky if I can get that on 4G with Sprint. On 3G, I average about 500-600kbps. Youtube takes 4-5 tries minimum to play on 3G. Unfortunately, AT&T's building penetration was sort of crappy. So I left. But every day, it seems like I'm back and forth between kicking myself for switching and being glad I did. The bottom line (and the advantage to Android) is find the best carrier for your area by asking around, and THEN choose a phone from that carrier. Keep in mind, 3G from both Verizon and Sprint is GENERALLY slower than the GSM carriers, but often times is more reliable, depending on your location.
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if you were getting speeds like that with at&t you were probably in a HSPA+ market then. at&t non HSPA+ usually gets like 1.5-2 down.

shift_2win said:
HQ youtube vids do take longer to load than regular. I do know what you mean. I just stop it as soon as it begins to play, and let it buffer for a little while. Once it buffers its fine tho, no stopping due to buffering. And as far as AT&T being consistent, its all about what coverage is like in your area, because I have def heard otherwise about AT&T's consistency. Is Sprint's coverage in your area good? I just loaded up an HQ video on my EVO, and it took slightly longer to start, but once it did, I had no interruptions. Are AT&T's expensive plans worth it to you? I personally wouldnt leave Sprint, or any phone company, over a phone alone. Have you tried the Data Speed fix yet? Are you experiencing slow browser speeds as well or only youtube? Are your other apps that require a data connection to work slow, or is it just when streaming HQ video on youtube? Is using HQ video on youtube that important to you? We cant really convince you to stay, b/c if you really want to leave you will do it regardless of what anyone says. So only you can convince yourself to stay.
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Click to collapse
running speed tests show slow speeds. the only reasons i was thinking of switching was because im not under contract, the htc desire hd(aka inspire 4g) and that every time ive seen youtube vids play on at&t, they play w/out a buffer, the whole way through.
Right now i have one of the best devices available, with unlimited data on top of an excellent plan all with no contract. reasons why i am staying with sprint and my evo...because things can only get better come summer time(4g should be in the area i spend most of my time)...plus i love all the mods ive made to a stock evo.
i would always love to increase my speeds/bandwidth/priority. anyone know if the ip fix to 0.0.0.0 actually works?
edit: according to epst via ##3282# the ip is already at 0.0.0.0. although primary home agent is set to 255.255.255.255, secondary is 68.28.113.76
Eat it iPhone said:
As long as I'm in an area with good 3g or 4g coverage then YouTube hq plays fine. No companies 3g is going to handle hq without a little buffer. As others said its all about coverage where u are. Where I live 2 cans connected by a string is better than ATT
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
this is hilarious

tailsthecat3 said:
running speed tests show slow speeds. the only reasons i was thinking of switching was because im not under contract, the htc desire hd(aka inspire 4g) and that every time ive seen youtube vids play on at&t, they play w/out a buffer, the whole way through.
Right now i have one of the best devices available, with unlimited data on top of an excellent plan all with no contract. reasons why i am staying with sprint and my evo...because things can only get better come summer time(4g should be in the area i spend most of my time)...plus i love all the mods ive made to a stock evo.
i would always love to increase my speeds/bandwidth/priority. anyone know if the ip fix to 0.0.0.0 actually works?
edit: according to epst via ##3282# the ip is already at 0.0.0.0. although primary home agent is set to 255.255.255.255, secondary is 68.28.113.76
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What you see OTHERS get on youtube may not be the same experience YOU get. They probably arent in the same area you are, so what they get is irrelevant. If you know anyone with AT&T near where you live, ask them about their experience, maybe try out a few apps on their phone and see how it is.
The data speed fix did work for me. Try it for yourself and see if the speeds inprove.

I am pretty sure the guy bragging about AT&T doesn't understand that their HSPA+ network is a 4G network. Not a 3G network. Even AT&T calls it 4G. Doesn't matter that your phone probably still says 3G. That is because AT&T hasn't set the phone to tell you any different. I had an iPhone 4 in an HSPA+ network location, I was pulling 5-6 down and 1.5 up about 4 months ago. Before the HSPA+ network rollout i maybe got 1.5 down if I was lucky.
So please stop comparing apples and oranges and learn what you are talking about before coming in here talking crap.

shift_2win said:
What you see OTHERS get on youtube may not be the same experience YOU get. They probably arent in the same area you are, so what they get is irrelevant. If you know anyone with AT&T near where you live, ask them about their experience, maybe try out a few apps on their phone and see how it is.
The data speed fix did work for me. Try it for yourself and see if the speeds inprove.
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Click to collapse
im not comparing myself with users in other areas. im talking sitting right next to me, friends using youtube...why ever would i call a friend miles away and ask them how youtube viewing is on their at&t coverage? but i digress
fb, twitter etc load...youtube does not play videos in hq how it should.
as stated, my home ip is already at 0.0.0.0 via epst.

My brother pulls3.0mbps on his iPhone in a NON hspa+ area. That guy knows what he's talking about

tailsthecat3 said:
im not comparing myself with users in other areas. im talking sitting right next to me, friends using youtube...why ever would i call a friend miles away and ask them how youtube viewing is on their at&t coverage? but i digress
fb, twitter etc load...youtube does not play videos in hq how it should.
as stated, my home ip is already at 0.0.0.0 via epst.
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Oh I misunderstood, I thought you were watching youtube videos on your computer about ppl using phones on AT&T lol my bad. Well if it matters to you that much, the coverage is good and their plans are good for you, then go for it.

Also lets be honest, youtube is not exactly the most consistent service. Even on my home isp i can stream netflix in X-Hi-HD, download at 10+Mbs, but then ill have trouble buffering a 360p youtube video.
More often than not, when i have trouble with youtube i blame youtube.

so I am wrong. Well right from AT&T's mouth, reference here http://www.wireless.att.com/answer-...e=en_US&_dyncharset=UTF-8&solutionId=KB115947
AT&T's HSPA+ network is capable of 6 Mbps Download speeds. FINE PRINT SAYS WITH BACKHAUL ONLY!
They also claim their HSPA+ network is 4X faster than their regular network.
6/4=1.5!
SO HEY OMG AT&T EVEN SAYS THERE NON HSPA+ NETWORK CAN ONLY DO 1.5 Mbps DOWN?! NO WAY!
now please tell me how I don't know what I am talking about.
so please stop comparing youtube load times on a "4g" network, AKA HSPA+, to a 3g network, CMDA, when you should be comparing it to WiMax.
now we all know AT&T's 3G network can be faster than 1.5 down. Just like sprints 3g can be faster than the 1.2 down I usually get. It just needs to be during non peak hours. Hell I can get 8-9 down on 4G at 3 in the morning. Around noon I am lucky to hit over 5 down.
so if your getting 4-5 down on AT&T "all the time" it obviously isn't a non HSPA+ network, as they can barley do 6 Mbps during peak without extensive backhaul...
did I continue to waste your time educating you? MY BAD

Unusable 3G... Speeds are barely above dial-up.

I don't even know what to say here. I have a Epic 4G Touch and the speeds suck.
I can barely use the 3G data services. Things simply do not load when I'm on 3G.
An average speed test for me is roughly 900~1000 Ping, 7~13kbps down and maybe 40~70kbps upload.
4G is fine but we only have 4G in ONE small area of the city. When I'm on 4G, I see like 10~12Mbit easy.
I use my phone for work. I need to be able to tether or load pages on the phone when I'm on the go and this just doesn't work for me.
Normally when I'm running these tests, I have 4 or 5 bars. I also work about 45 minutes from home and I experience these speeds in BOTH areas and everywhere in between.
Would calling Sprint and complaining be worth while? Any fixes?

kdoggy said:
Normally when I'm running these tests, I have 4 or 5 bars. I also work about 45 minutes from home and I experience these speeds in BOTH areas and everywhere in between.
Would calling Sprint and complaining be worth while? Any fixes?
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Click to collapse
It is sad right?.....I been dealing with 50k-maybe break 100k for a long time in my area. That is just the way it is in "your area" at this time for 3G. Maybe when they start upgrading their tower things will get better. The reason I say it is their network "Area", is that I can go to San Antonio and 3g works great nice speed..etc., but every time I go back to my GF house in South Texas 4-5hrs away I can't break 100k download on 3g again that has been going on for 1yr or more.
There is a link floating around that will give you info on towers being upgraded.

I agree, in Chicago 3G speeds suck worse than my first internet computer in mid 1990's.
I have had the EVO 4G and now the Galaxy SII. Both get 50-75k/sec download. Searching web sites is insanely slow. YouTube is a joke buffering non stop.
4G. LOL. What a gimmick. Very spotty hard to hold a connection which always drops. And big baggy drainer. I never use 4G.
Sprint Galaxy S2 w/ Calk's 1.5a + ICS 1.6

Welcome to the club. I came from T-Mobile where I was enjoying download speeds that are 10x faster then I get now with Sprint's 3G.
4G in my area is not bad ~1MB/sec but I don't get it consistently..
3G upgrades are badly needed, the Sprint tower upgrade site says the towers in my area were already upgraded within the past 6 months, I'd hate to know what it was like before those upgrades..

Zorachus said:
I agree, in Chicago 3G speeds suck worse than my first internet computer in mid 1990's.
I have had the EVO 4G and now the Galaxy SII. Both get 50-75k/sec download. Searching web sites is insanely slow. YouTube is a joke buffering non stop.
4G. LOL. What a gimmick. Very spotty hard to hold a connection which always drops. And big baggy drainer. I never use 4G.
Sprint Galaxy S2 w/ Calk's 1.5a + ICS 1.6
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LOL, I visited Chicago for 4 days over Veteran's Day and thought to myself "Wow, these speeds are awesome!" I was getting >1 MBit on 3G and 5-8 MBit on 4G in the center of town.
I live in Vegas and thought Chicago was at least twice as fast as here...

I hear you!
I live in the SLC area of Utah and came from T-mobile. With T-mobile I could get 1-3MB with a low 3G signal on my Vibrant, now on Sprint I get much lower than that with full 3G bars and WiMax is a joke in UT still..

Memphis Tn and I am getting speeds like the OP is getting. I have tried three modems and they are all the same. I am hoping it is due to something with Sprint going on right now. Before this weekend I was getting some where near 900 down and 400 up going over 1000 at times. This is really BAD.

Yeah it does suck. We have such a nice phone but its pretty much all data driven. I don't even like to usr y phone unless I can connect to wifi cause 3g is so slow. Sprint needs to do something fast. I can't take it.
Sent From My Evo Killer!!!

kdoggy said:
I don't even know what to say here. I have a Epic 4G Touch and the speeds suck.
I can barely use the 3G data services. Things simply do not load when I'm on 3G.
An average speed test for me is roughly 900~1000 Ping, 7~13kbps down and maybe 40~70kbps upload.
4G is fine but we only have 4G in ONE small area of the city. When I'm on 4G, I see like 10~12Mbit easy.
I use my phone for work. I need to be able to tether or load pages on the phone when I'm on the go and this just doesn't work for me.
Normally when I'm running these tests, I have 4 or 5 bars. I also work about 45 minutes from home and I experience these speeds in BOTH areas and everywhere in between.
Would calling Sprint and complaining be worth while? Any fixes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It might be the towers.
network.sprint.com

Guess what me too lol. The tower I use from my house is less than 50 kbits anytime of the day no matter how close I am. And thats 3g not 1x.. Even better they say theres no tower upgrades planned and the tower functions just fine
Yet, everyone else with sprint here has the same results.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Just ran a speed test.net from around Allentown, PA. 5 bars, ping 86ms, 958kbps down, 701kbps up. Fairly typical for this area, however no 4G here. Generally I've had pretty good luck with 3G.

3g and 4g in SoCal..
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

I Get 2-3mbps on the down and 1-2mbps on the up here in Salem, NH and its a heavily populated area....Might just be your towers

I remember back when I was using an HTC Mogul and they first turned on EvDO Rev. A. I was getting maybe 600-800k/sec down and honestly that was fine. I would *still* be fine if I could get 600-800k down on 3g. The problem is that my speeds are now somewhere around 10-20k/sec down if speedtest.net is to be trusted. I broke my launch day Evo and upgraded to the e4gt about a week and a half ago. I hoped that would fix things but so far it's just as bad. I think the highest I've gotten on any speed test this past week is still under 50k/sec with more typical speeds around the 15-20k mark.
I just did a backup so I can restore this phone back to stock and stop by the Sprint store tonight. I'm curious as to their explanation. I'd also like to see if their demo units and personal units have this issue. Honestly if they can show me that it's a defective phone I will be thrilled because I am still in my 14 days and can have it swapped out. If it turns out to be a software bug endemic to the phone then I'm in a less pleasant spot. I could wait to see if the rumors of the new ICS build pan out and fix anything but by then I am past my 14-day window.
If I'm stuck waiting around for a newer phone down the line I might just have to suck it up and swap for an iPhone since I can sell it for more in 6-8 months. I just don't really want an iPhone. I use my girlfriend's and it's pretty well built but the screen is so tiny and I hate losing built in Google Talk, Nav, etc.
Freaking annoying.

I live in Aurora, CO and work in Broomfield, CO (approx 50 miles away). Between the two, I'm lucky if I'm able to get 350kbps down. Worst of all is the inconsistency. Connections drop constantly, making it impossible to stream music.
I remember when I first came to Sprint, I could stream music almost non-stop on my 700wx from the time I left my house till I got back home. Those days are loooooong gone.

I don't understand how Sprint stays in business with such a low speed 3G network. I also get VERY slow data in my area and was very close to leaving Sprint, but they offered me an airave, so I can now use my phone in my house. 90% of the time, the data speed is terrible anywhere I travel. I like to stream some music (foreign radios) on my way to and from work and it is terrible: constant buffering. I was tempted to switch to T-Mobile since they have great coverage in my area, still thinking about it...
Very frustrating!

Welcome to Sprint, the Now Our 3G is SCREWED Network.

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
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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.
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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

[Q] Help understanding if radio performance is normal

I have recently upgraded from an old Moto Droid 2 to the Gnex on Verizon. I wanted to upgrade before the new cut went into effect so I could retain my unlimited data. I stream all my music from a music server at home, and stream netflix, and hulu plus alot as well. I have had the phone for about 5 days, and have unlocked, and roote dit but have left the Vanilla 4.0.2 as is for now so I could get a solid baseline for battery life and radio performance before tweaking anything in the future.
Today was the fist time I had to commute to and from work with the phone, and I am very upset with the coverage I got. I take the train and am constantly switching cell towers, and usually experiance spoty coverage because of it, however when using my Droid2 on 3g it was still good enough to stream music throughout my commute.
I have noticed that the majority of the time, the phone shows absolutely no data connection now, and when it does connect it never goes above 1 bar. How is this possible when the Droid 2 had a better signal? I have read that some people get "lemons" and that the Gnex has been known to have radio issues, I apologize in advance if I am spamming the forum, but I wanted to get some feedback from some of the advanced Gnex owners here.
IS this normal? How can I test my phone's radio or know if I have a "lemon". IS this scenario easily remedied through flashing a radio? I still have 11 days to test it out, if I want to return the phone to Verizon.
As much as I really wanted to have a Nexus device, I won't pay for a smartphone that can't maintain a data connection. According to Verizon's coverage maps, much of my commute is LTE territory but yet I can not even maintain a 3g connection.
FWIW, the only thing I have done thus far was toggled the radio to CDMA only in attempts to get a data connection, it did seem to help out, but overall it seemed that my connection was slower than when I was using my Droid2. I will try getting speedtests when I can to compare to ones from my Droid 2 as well, not sure what else to do.

If you need LTE, your best bet is to upgrade to 4.0.4 radios and see if that helps. If it doesn't, return the phone to 4.0.2 and exchange it for a new one.
You have a lemon if the data connection drops out completely, which is what it sounds like it is doing.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I find that enabling 'Use only 2G networks' helps out with most signal issues, depending on where I am. For example, in central London I leave the option unchecked (ie, use all networks), and the speeds are great. Then when i leave London and the faster networks dissipate, the speeds decrease to little or no cover. Then I enable the 2G only option and streaming/reception is back to good. This is in the UK on GSM though...

ed.j said:
I find that enabling 'Use only 2G networks' helps out with most signal issues, depending on where I am. For example, in central London I leave the option unchecked (ie, use all networks), and the speeds are great. Then when i leave London and the faster networks dissipate, the speeds decrease to little or no cover. Then I enable the 2G only option and streaming/reception is back to good. This is in the UK on GSM though...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Verizon version doesn't have this feature.

I will try my commute home using only female no Ltd and see if any data connections can be made and will keep reading up on radios to flash this week
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Well I must say there was a noticeable difference with the phone on CDMA only, so I am truly hoping I did not get a lemon! I also read this interesting thread here which calmed my nerves:
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/25921-this-is-why-your-verizon-nexus-signal-sucks/
Often times, it is easy to jump to conclusions based on hunches, and I compared data fron a few speedtests while I was tethering on #g and they were indeed comparible to my previous phone.
I also went ahead and manually flashed the IMM76K Android 4.0.4 update before I got it OTA, I have read a few people's comments about 4.0.4 having better LTE performance, SO I will continue to try it out some more. I guess next stop is trying various radios/kernels, but I am a bit rusty. I havent done anything besides a one stop custom rom, since my HTC Dream days.

I have noticed a great improvement with 4.0.4 update.. actually in most cases, LTE has been more consistent than 3g... the handoff between the two seems to be the problem still, once it transitions from 4g to 3g it often craps out, but nothing an airplane mode toggle doesn't fix.
Does any one by chance know if it is possible to try mixing LTE/CDMA radios?

My take on Galaxy Nexus problems (VZW)

I've had this phone now for less than a month. I know it's not a long time, but I think I've got a pretty good idea of how this phone performs. I have not rooted this phone, I am on 4.02 and PRL 15119.
1. The signal problem:
Coming from a Droid2, the first thing I noticed was one or no bars where I used to have full! I was losing data all the time, until I switched to CDMA only. My phone kept switching to LTE and back again, I spent more time in hand offs than connected!
I had the opportunity to have my Nexus, a TBolt, and a Maxx all in my basement together and did a few tests. All three phones had trouble holding LTE here when I was able to run a speed test, they all performed similarly, between 1 and 2 Mbps. When all three switched to CDMA, they displayed one more bar on and off than my Nexus, but showed similar pings and speeds.
I spend a lot of time in my basement and have never had troubles losing data (CDMA only) even though it displays 0-1 bars all the time.
Now, I do occasionally have problems with data, but it's nothing new to me. My Droid2 would show full signal and just not load a page or drop to 1x in locations known to be strong service.
I have not had this problem with the WiFi hand off back to cellular data. This phone switches faster than my Droid2 ever did. Like, by a lot. I work in no service building. Every morning I turn my WiFi on and just turn it off when I get in my car to go home. Usually I have cellular service before I can even turn off the WiFi.
I read a lot of reports where someones Nexus would be outperformed in a 4G speed test by another Verizon 4G device. Not the case here. My tests were constantly the same when comparing between the Nexus, TBolt, and Maxx.
I stopped in the Verizon store and two of the sales dudes had 4G phones, a Razr and another Galaxy Nexus. The Nexus guy was rooted on 4.04 and couldn't break 10Mbps while Razer guy and myself were fighting for 40Mbps.. Maybe there are some lemons out there
All in all, I may have gotten a good device (made in China, go figure), but I do not believe there is a real problem here. If this is your first android on Verizon, I can see where you'd think there are problems. Whenever I pick up my phone, I just ignore the bars and use it. It always works. Even in 3G, this phone loads pages WAY faster than my Droid2.
2. Battery life: I am not a real heavy user. There are times when I'll spend 20 minutes in the bathroom playing angry birds or reading threads, but that's about it. I got the Verizon extended battery before leaving the store with my new phone. This battery has 200mah more juice than the extended battery in my old Droid2.
I think this phone get's great stand by time, I got it to go 3 days off charger with a few calls and texts every day and a little bit of angry birds
On a whole, I'd have to say it get's as good or better life than my last phone.
3. Random reboots: I was constantly pulling my phone out of my pocket to find that it was off. I had gotten quite concerned after reading all the posts about crash reboots. It wasn't until I set the phone down while booting it up that I saw the screen shut off. I knew something wasn't right here and reproduced the shut down by smacking the phone in my palm while it was booting it up.
After looking closely, I noticed the battery would move up and down in its compartment. I solved this by taking some folded paper and taping it to the bottom edge of the battery. Pushing the battery up into the contacts on the phone. I also added some tape/paper to the top of the battery so the cover is pushing it down into the compartment.
Obviously I can't speak for everyone, but I haven't had a single crash/reboot. Just this battery connection problem.
4. Slow screen rotation: I have noticed this, it is VERY annoying when you first get the phone. Habit is to flip it landscape BEFORE launching the app you want to use. This is why you think it's so slow, because the home screen will not flip, it just refuses to. In any app, it flips just like you're used to. A non problem that I'm sure will get fixed.
5. Screen banding: I tried looking at the blank grey screen on any brightness, I could not get the bands I kept reading about. I guess I got lucky!
6. Overheating: I read this phone will try to use 2.4 and 5GHz spectrum's while on WiFi. The first thing I did was set it to 2.4 only and have not had any issues. I use WiFi 8 hours a day every day with out the phone getting hot. I also use the hot spot almost every night, as I don't have a land line internet at home. Never an issue, once again, to the touch this phone was not as hot as my Droid2.
I really like ICS and this phone seems like a keeper. I hope this inspires someone to go out and buy the Nexus!!

Over the weekend I went to the Verizon store to compare the vz nexus signal. Turns out every device with lte read -60 and then nexus -80. But there was one lg phone that displayed both signals at the same time, 1x and lte read -60 and -80. So I wonder does Verizon lte phones actually never show lte signal and always show cdma even when connected to lte?

Just earlier today I compared my Galaxy Nexus at -110 to my dad's Rezound at -80. Side by side at the exact same time. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture.
I'm unrooted stock 4.0.2 right now.

Silly question but did the salesman with the Nexus have LTE on?

How in the world could you go 3 days on a 2100mah? The most i can get is maybe a day or day and a half. Usually its under a day as i use my phone alot.

Dan76 said:
Just earlier today I compared my Galaxy Nexus at -110 to my dad's Rezound at -80. Side by side at the exact same time. I'm sorry I didn't take a picture.
I'm unrooted stock 4.0.2 right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lost the link but basically non ics phones show 3g signal instead of 4g or something like that. Its a different signal type that's why the gnex always shows less because its showing its actual signal
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

i honestly think its a hardware issue, but i have read all the threads and there is nothing concrete... my phone works perfect on 3g but i switch it to 4g and it just looses signal i could have 3 bars and then all of sudden it just looses all signal, it does not switch to 3g..im in a good 4g coverage area as well. im really angry and i dont want any other phone but the one i have . I hate blur so forget motorola

davidadavila said:
i honestly think its a hardware issue, but i have read all the threads and there is nothing concrete... my phone works perfect on 3g but i switch it to 4g and it just looses signal i could have 3 bars and then all of sudden it just looses all signal, it does not switch to 3g..im in a good 4g coverage area as well. im really angry and i dont want any other phone but the one i have . I hate blur so forget motorola
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That shouldn't happen doesn't to me at all. Call Verizon. Get a new phone lol
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

RogerPodacter said:
Over the weekend I went to the Verizon store to compare the vz nexus signal. Turns out every device with lte read -60 and then nexus -80. But there was one lg phone that displayed both signals at the same time, 1x and lte read -60 and -80. So I wonder does Verizon lte phones actually never show lte signal and always show cdma even when connected to lte?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is generally the case.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

RogerPodacter said:
Over the weekend I went to the Verizon store to compare the vz nexus signal. Turns out every device with lte read -60 and then nexus -80. But there was one lg phone that displayed both signals at the same time, 1x and lte read -60 and -80. So I wonder does Verizon lte phones actually never show lte signal and always show cdma even when connected to lte?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If they are not ICS devices, they do not show the LTE signal.

You have problems?
Cool story bro. This isn't a support site.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

fix-this! said:
How in the world could you go 3 days on a 2100mah? The most i can get is maybe a day or day and a half. Usually its under a day as i use my phone alot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was achieved over a weekend in a strong service area on cdma only. I was at a solid 3/⁴ bars the whole time. I was at a buddys house for a lan, so i was doing my surfing on the computer. I was doing most of my texting in google voice on my pc, so the only use the phone saw was calls and bathroom browsing lol.
Yes, the nexus measures signal differently and this is why it cant hold 4g, it thinks the signal is too weak and lets go before it should. If you had a vzw droid before and know where the strong 3g is, set it to cdma only and see how it performs compared to the old phone. If your getting data drops and dropped calls where you didnt before, then exchange your phone.
Ive read there is a way to force lte only, this would be the best test. But i cant remember how to do it.
Want to add, the ics keyboard is the best one ive ever used. Also, speaker volume on this phone is plenty loud. I have had problems with call quality when i have no bars. Just does not sound good and hard to unserstand people. When i have a bar or more, sounds great. Like theyre in the room.

chancy319 said:
Silly question but did the salesman with the Nexus have LTE on?
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Click to collapse
Definitely lte. I am not sure what vzws theoretical max speed is on 3g, but in our area, max is about 1.7Mbps. I know theoretical is no where near 10Mbps.

teeBOMB said:
Definitely lte. I am not sure what vzws theoretical max speed is on 3g, but in our area, max is about 1.7Mbps. I know theoretical is no where near 10Mbps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could the differences have been due to your radios? I'm on 4.0.4 with the new radios and I don't break 10Mpbs.
The speed is fast enough for me and I don't remember exactly the speeds I had on the earlier radios. I vaguely remember breaking 10Mpbs at times. I might reflash the older radios and do speed tests.

I'm happy to report I have zero problems with my VZW GNex since day 1
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

dynamicpda said:
Could the differences have been due to your radios? I'm on 4.0.4 with the new radios and I don't break 10Mpbs.
The speed is fast enough for me and I don't remember exactly the speeds I had on the earlier radios. I vaguely remember breaking 10Mpbs at times. I might reflash the older radios and do speed tests.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now i didnt see these guys screens, i dont know what they were using for testing or what server they were connecting to. He told me hes never been able to break 10 megs. For all i know he rooted and flashed on day one. I cant imagine the members of xda would overlook something so obvious, but who knows. Give it a try eh? For reference all my mentions have been using the official speedtest.net app and chicago servers. Im tempted to root, but im waiting for 4.05 ota and have no idea how to do it. Ill get there eventually

I've found that LTE can vary wildly in speeds. You really need multiple tests with multiple phones at the same location/time.
That said, I saw a huge difference between FC05 and FA02. I found that the best combination for my phone was FC04 on the CDMA radio and FA02 on the LTE radio. It's a good 2mbits faster and much more stable. Signal in my house is borderline, so you really see the difference.

tspderek said:
I've found that LTE can vary wildly in speeds. You really need multiple tests with multiple phones at the same location/time.
That said, I saw a huge difference between FC05 and FA02. I found that the best combination for my phone was FC04 on the CDMA radio and FA02 on the LTE radio. It's a good 2mbits faster and much more stable. Signal in my house is borderline, so you really see the difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestion.
I flash the FC04/FA02 combo and in the spot near my house where I am disappointed, 4.5Mpbs down / 2.5 up, I got pretty much the same results. One difference I did notice is that the hybrid combo is slower to switch from 3G than FC05/FC05. I toggled LTE to force 4G connect.
I flashed back. Eager to see what 4.05 brings and also if the latest official IMM76K brings new radios.

Smokeey said:
You have problems?
Cool story bro. This isn't a support site.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, it kind of is since most of us come here for help.
Also, if your read the OP he was not complaining about issues as much as addressing them.