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Has anyone read this article? Very informative.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5254/investigating-the-galaxy-nexus-lte-signal-issue
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
interesting read.
For a long time people have blamed their handsets for problems when the truth is there are always a lot of network issues out there at any given time.
Simply blaming your handset and assuming the network is 'great' because it has full bars or a good db is not the way to go.
Bars or db ultimately mean nothing, they do not mean you will get good speeds or in some cases to be able to make a call, in my experience its rare that the handset is to blame
True.
I had the RAZR before my phone. I would bet that the RAZR wasn't showing the correct signal strength and this is what a lot of people are comparing.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
aye it would be interesting if someone ran some speed tests on the two devices side by side to what what the speeds v coverage were like
edit
jimdurt said:
They still have some issues to work on. My OG Droid gave me a better signal at my house on 3g. At least measuring the db strength. I dont have 4g here so the measurement in db strength should be sufficient to accurately see which phone has better reception.
Give Google time. They have the right hardware. Just need to get the software tweaked a bit more.
My wifes DroidX consistantly shows -93dBm with 3 bars of 3g service, while my GNex bounces a little more between -120dBm(most of the time) to -93dBm(rarely)
Even with no bars and @-120dBm, i get 600kbps download. Thankfully i have 18mbps download service through ATT Uverse wifi.
I do have to mention, my service improved ALOT from 4.0.1 to 4.0.2 update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At -120 on 3g your lucky to anysort of dl
My 3g/4g signal has never been better. This phone is twice as good as my incredible.
WiFi signal strength does seem to be a little less strong but nothing horrible. Now I wish they would figure out why the OS won't go to sleep.
Well, Verizon resolved all my Nexus, CDMA, and LTE issues for me in one fell swoop. They called me yesterday and told me that they couldn't provide me service at my house and recommended I switch to a different carrier.
I was with them for less than three days. Brought my Galaxy Nexus and wife's temp phone back to the store, then went to the Apple Store to get my wife an iPhone 4S on AT&T with the plan to stop at an AT&T store to get myself a Skyrocket. While standing there playing with the 4S waiting for a sales associate, I got the warm fuzzies from back when I used the iPhone and decided to get one for myself as well.
It was a fun year with Android, but looking back at how I spent yesterday debating if I was going to keep the GN with all its issues, I think I made the right call for me.
I also forgot how much better GSM is than CDMA. I have full bars in my office, whereas on Sprint and Verizon the phones were struggling to hold onto a 3G connection. Amazing difference.
Anyway, sorry to hijack the thread for a moment. I truly hope that this is an issue that can be fixed with software; it seems like poor reception has become a hallmark of Samsung phones and I haven't seen a software update yet that makes a notable difference. We'll see what Sammy and Verizon come up with.
i can understand the signal strength display not being accurate but explain this...
for one, the signal strength on this Nexus is always 1/2(or more) then what i had on my Thunderbolt or Rezound at any given time/place.... which apparently is explained above.
what isntvexplained is this... my Thunderbolt was able to download fast, but not nearly as fast as my Rezound. on the R, i was able to download 1GB in roughly 5 minutes. ive tried downloading the same file(s) from same location various times(test) on this Nexus and it always takes 30 - 40 minutes.
so if the signal strength isnt being reported accurately i can accept that.... but what about the significant difference in data speed?
i also want to note that on my Reound, whenever i played a track in Google Music it started up right away and could jump/skip forward in a track without delay...
now on this Nexus, theres always a delay before the track starts & when you jump/skip to. buffering b.s.
Your Rezound probably already had the music cached.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
You guys also have to keep in mind that the LTE network slows down the more people that use it. When it was first intro a year ago, it was STUPID fast. Like 50mb DOWN. I remember my Droid Charge hitting low 40's in May. Now that there is a plethora of phones that have LTE and a lot of people using it, the network will be slowed. It still beats the hell out of any other network.
I’m glad somebody posted this.
I did a little experiment in my office this morning with three Verizon LTE phones:
1) Samsung Charge
2) HTC T-Bolt
3) Samsung Galaxy Nexus
With all three phones laying side by side, I opened up the same “Network Signal” app. All three phones we ranging in the -85 to -100 dB strength. There was no phone that clearly had a better or worse signal.
However, the Samsung Charge was showing 4 out of 5 “bars”, the T-bolt had 3 of 5 while the Nexus has a whopping 1 out of 5 bars. Amusing since they we all reading between -95 and -90 dB at that moment.
One thing I noticed different though, is that the Nexus requires at least -85dB before it will connect to LTE. Anything less, it switches to CDMA. I can’t speak for the T-bolt, but I could have sworn I saw the Charge at -95 / -100 dB and still reporting LTE Net. Type.
So, food for thought. Hopefully this “update” that Verizon is working on isn’t anything more than a recalibration of the “bars” indicator.
-Gp
Grannypotts said:
I’m glad somebody posted this.
I did a little experiment in my office this morning with three Verizon LTE phones:
1) Samsung Charge
2) HTC T-Bolt
3) Samsung Galaxy Nexus
With all three phones laying side by side, I opened up the same “Network Signal” app. All three phones we ranging in the -85 to -100 dB strength. There was no phone that clearly had a better or worse signal.
However, the Samsung Charge was showing 4 out of 5 “bars”, the T-bolt had 3 of 5 while the Nexus has a whopping 1 out of 5 bars. Amusing since they we all reading between -95 and -90 dB at that moment.
One thing I noticed different though, is that the Nexus requires at least -85dB before it will connect to LTE. Anything less, it switches to CDMA. I can’t speak for the T-bolt, but I could have sworn I saw the Charge at -95 / -100 dB and still reporting LTE Net. Type.
So, food for thought. Hopefully this “update” that Verizon is working on isn’t anything more than a recalibration of the “bars” indicator.
-Gp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There needs to be some kind of way to trick the OS into thinking it actually has the real signal so it will stop switching between 3G and 4G.
One thing I noticed different though, is that the Nexus requires at least -85dB before it will connect to LTE. Anything less, it switches to CDMA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have -86dB with 3 4G bars as I write this. I know that's not much of a difference from the -85dB, but I thought I would just mention it. Also, I've had -93dB with 4 4G bars (no picture of that though).
Syn Ack said:
There needs to be some kind of way to trick the OS into thinking it actually has the real signal so it will stop switching between 3G and 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My 30,000 foot uneducated view is simply that the calibrations for the Nexus require a stronger signal to both acquire and then maintain an LTE data connection. These calibrations probably could be tweaked, but at what cost? I suppose (assuming my theory is correct) the decision came down to a flaky 4G or a solid 3G... and Verizon chose the stronger connection over the faster one. Do you blame them?
However, when I do get a solid 4G connection... the speeds are stupid fast.
On my lunch break today:
30.6M down
15.7 up
Both phones set to CDMA EVDO only, no LTE radios active. Location is 3G EHRPD enabled, but does not have any 4G towers for miles. I held both phones the exact same way in the exact same location within 30 seconds of each other to record my results.
Signal Test:
Galaxy Nexus 3G Signal Strength: 0-1 bars, -120dbm 99 asu - -100dbm 1 asu
Thunderbolt 3G Signal Strength: 1-3 bars, -94dbm 2 asu - -85dbm 2 asu
Bandwidth Test:
Galaxy Nexus 3G Bandwidth: 0.86mbps down, 0.54mbps up
Thunderbolt 3G Bandwidth: 2.94mbps down, 0.56mbps up
Bandwidth test was the best of 3 runs using www.speakeasy.net/speedtest connecting to New York, NY. Current location is central NJ.
My Galaxy Nexus is running stock 4.0.4 with the newest radios and bootloader, along with Imo's kernel 2.4.1 exp2.
Honestly, after having my Thunderbolt for 8 months, coming to this supposed better phone and having these kind of radio problems is just appalling. The Thunderbolt was always railed for being the pioneer of LTE radios, and for getting weak signal. Well after these tests I am not sure what to believe besides the truth that is sitting in front of me. My brand spanking new Google phone has by far the worst radio I've ever seen in a Verizon smartphone.
I'm going to be hopeful in getting an update that may resolve these radio issues, but the realist in me tells me this is 100% hardware.
I'd like to get some results from other Verizon Galaxy Nexus users running 3G to see what kind of dbm and bar signal, as well as what kind of bandwidth you guys are getting. I am very disappointed and want to know if it's a hardware defect or if this phones radios' really are this bad
Meh. The Qualcomm radios in both of these phones are in fact ****. I think the build of the Galaxy Nexus (whether it be physical or software) has something to do with it. Maybe Samsung herp derped the position of the radios or Google took a **** on the blobs.
Regardless, its a great phone and still gets better data speeds than every other carrier and phone. -coughs- iPhone users -coughs-
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Except it doesn't get the best data speeds of any other phones, as my test results conclude.
Even on 4G I've nabbed 40mbps down 15mbps up bandwidth tests on that same exact Thunderbolt when I was in a good signal 4G area. How much have most GN users hit on 4G? 30mbps down?
This phone is a great micro-tablet, but as a phone it is heavily lacking.
DaRkL3AD3R said:
Except it doesn't get the best data speeds of any other phones, as my test results conclude.
Even on 4G I've nabbed 40mbps down 15mbps up bandwidth tests on that same exact Thunderbolt when I was in a good signal 4G area. How much have most GN users hit on 4G? 30mbps down?
This phone is a great micro-tablet, but as a phone it is heavily lacking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really, cause I have seen people getting upwards of 50mb/s on the Nexus (seems like most of them live in NYC).
Not to mention I was talking about people on other carriers.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Other carriers is a given, but that really isn't what the point of this comparison is. The point is I'm holding two phones on the same carrier, at the same time, the same way, and one performs multitudes greater performance than the other. Has nothing to do with other carriers.
Fact is this phones radio is junk. You can have a quad core 1080p Super AMOLED Plus screen and 2GB of RAM, the best GPU on the market and 128GB of space, but if it can't hold a signal to save YOUR life, then what good is it at as a phone?
Samsung/Google needs to get on this right now and fix this phones radio. I'm just worried that it can't be fixed through a software OTA...
And I'd also like some speed comparisons, namely 3G, from other Verizon GN users if possible please.
On 3g i used to get about -75 at worst with thunderbolt at my house. Currently getting -93 at best with two different galaxy nexus. Usually worse. Used to have a stable 4g signal too. Now it drops after a few seconds
johnprevite said:
On 3g i used to get about -75 at worst with thunderbolt at my house. Currently getting -93 at best with two different galaxy nexus. Usually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds about right... very disappointed in these radios.
I get the same -120dbm, 99asu with my Nexus at home, where I would get around 95dbm on my old Tbolt. I think the antenna/radio gives up signal quicker at the fringe distances faster on the Nexus - if I go into a city I get the signal strength I am supposed to get. I have a theory that part of the problem may lie with Verizon's use of old Alltel towers (I'm on the VA/NC border) - The signal in my area is consistently weak, but I've gone to other rural areas & gotten good strength. Perhaps Samsung/VZW will give us a software update on the phones...and perhaps when they upgrade our towers around here for LTE it might straighten up the tower's overall firmware...But we probably wont get LTE here until 2020.
strongergravity said:
I get the same -120dbm, 99asu with my Nexus at home, where I would get around 95dbm on my old Tbolt. I think the antenna/radio gives up signal quicker at the fringe distances faster on the Nexus - if I go into a city I get the signal strength I am supposed to get. I have a theory that part of the problem may lie with Verizon's use of old Alltel towers (I'm on the VA/NC border) - The signal in my area is consistently weak, but I've gone to other rural areas & gotten good strength. Perhaps Samsung/VZW will give us a software update on the phones...and perhaps when they upgrade our towers around here for LTE it might straighten up the tower's overall firmware...But we probably wont get LTE here until 2020.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LTE will cover Verizon's current 3G footprint by the end of 2013, FYI.
Here's hoping!
Sent from my A500 using xda premium
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?
Click to expand...
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.
My phone can barely keep 4g at home. Usually I have 2 bars, but soon after holding it it will go down to 3g. My wife's droid charge stays in 4g with 2 bars and her sister's og razr keeps between 2 and 3 bars in 4g. Yesterday my phone was firmly stuck in 3g, today I have 2 bars of 4g.
Crap like this makes new want to return it. What do you think? Should I wait or should I throw in a towel on this one?
Sent from my Droid RAZR M using Tapatalk.
My two cents, if the phone isn't working right for you, return it now. I wouldn't bank on a software update to fix anything.
Right after I wrote this post I read the CNET article about Motorola pissing off customers for not providing updates. Called amazon and the phone is boxed up and ready to be shipped back Monday. Don't need the headaches. I'll see how the hd is like when it comes out.
Sent from my ADR6330VW using Tapatalk 2
dandar said:
Right after I wrote this post I read the CNET article about Motorola pissing off customers for not providing updates. Called amazon and the phone is boxed up and ready to be shipped back Monday. Don't need the headaches. I'll see how the hd is like when it comes out.
Sent from my ADR6330VW using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will be pretty hilarious if Motorola continues to suck with updates even though it's now owned by Google.
-Sent from my Razr i on AT&T.-
I'm gonna have to talk my father into returning his, too. I get 4G reception fine on my Bionic, and his is only on 4G for a couple of minutes after a restart at best. That's just laying on the table, never mind picking it up. He doesn't seem to even care, but he paid for a 4G phone, so I have to convince him that he should be getting 4G if I am! It's a beautiful phone, but......
dandar said:
My phone can barely keep 4g at home. Usually I have 2 bars, but soon after holding it it will go down to 3g. My wife's droid charge stays in 4g with 2 bars and her sister's og razr keeps between 2 and 3 bars in 4g. Yesterday my phone was firmly stuck in 3g, today I have 2 bars of 4g.
Crap like this makes new want to return it. What do you think? Should I wait or should I throw in a towel on this one?
Sent from my Droid RAZR M using Tapatalk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally don't have any issues with 4G overall on my RAZR M. My room and whole house overall don't like any cell signal since the place is from the 50's. But when I'm outside its perfect. Maybe its a flub unit. Could try getting a replacement. Wouldn't hurt.
There are a couple of threads about this in the Motorola forums. I'm really surprised about it as Motorola has more experience with radios than any other manufacturer.
https://forums.motorola.com/posts/5fb46833c0?page=3
As for the updates, I think this is more a Verizon than a Motorola issue. Verizon is even stalling Nexus updates directly from Google. Motorola continues to lose market share but it seems to me they're focusing on Verizon and not the cell phone market. Maybe that will start to change.
I have a large territory and regularly drive 1000+ miles in a week. Drove 1500+ miles last week, which was my first trip with the M. No issues with LTE signal whatsoever. Was actually rather impressed with how much LTE coverage Verizon has. First LTE phone for me. I noticed that going back and forth from LTE to 3G causes a momentary loss of data as the phone is switching between networks. Which makes sense, doesn't take long and is not an issue. But I'm not sure if it would drop your call or not. Never could confirm that was happening while on the phone.
The right hand "death grip" only affects the Wi-Fi signal. At least enough to see a difference in data speeds.
My personal opinion is that software tweaks can help it.
#1 - Most of the issues I've seen seem like the software simply giving up on 4G too quickly, not that the phone can't hold onto it "physically".
#2 - There do seem to be some attenuation issues, but it seems inconsistent depending on location / tower. So while software might not fix this, some tweaks to the algorithms could help.
#3 - The phone, while switching back to 3G at times where I didn't think it should, has never dropped data completely, and the transition between 3G/4G has been seamless and instant.
#4 - The Galaxy Nexus was acting VERY similar to this prior to 4.0.4. While 4.0.4's radios didn't resolve it 100%, it GREATLY improved the phone's ability to hold onto 4G. So software CAN help.
Maybe I'm just being idealistic (I hope not!), but given Moto's track record, I do believe software can improve this situation. Not 100%, but hopefully by a good margin.
It takes quite a bit more power for a device (your Razr M) to hold on to a poor LTE signal than it does to switch to a stronger 3G signal. So if you want better battery life then you want your phone switching to 3G when it has a very poor LTE signal. I prefer my phone behave this way as 90% of the time I don't need my phone consumer power searching for and holding a signal when I'm not using my phone. Other manufacturers sacrifice battery life by pouring more juice in to the searching and holding of LTE signals.
Compare the battery life of your Razr M to the other devices mentioned and you will see a difference.
Its about perspectives, do you need to have LTE showing when its sitting around or do you want it when you need it?
jimmydafish said:
It takes quite a bit more power for a device (your Razr M) to hold on to a poor LTE signal than it does to switch to a stronger 3G signal. So if you want better battery life then you want your phone switching to 3G when it has a very poor LTE signal. I prefer my phone behave this way as 90% of the time I don't need my phone consumer power searching for and holding a signal when I'm not using my phone. Other manufacturers sacrifice battery life by pouring more juice in to the searching and holding of LTE signals.
Compare the battery life of your Razr M to the other devices mentioned and you will see a difference.
Its about perspectives, do you need to have LTE showing when its sitting around or do you want it when you need it?
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I think you're exactly right, and mentioned that possibility in a post over on the Moto support forums. And honestly, if that's the case, great.
But for those of us in areas where LTE signals are strong, it shouldn't be switching, and even that is happening occasionally. I can understand if I go into a mall (just as a large "inside" example) and my Inc 4G is fighting the whole time just to keep that 4G/LTE in the notification bar - it's a waste of battery, and honestly the connection will probably struggle even when I do try and use it. So in that scenario, 3G would be better all the way around.
But if I'm at home, 150 yards from a tower, where LTE is extremely strong (even when I had the Thunderbolt upon it's initial release), I shouldn't pick up my phone and see 3G, and have to toggle AP mode just to get 4G back. That's happened to me a handful of times. It immediately grabs 4G with full bars and -70's on the dbm side, but doesn't seem to want to grab it back on its own.
If that's some sort of feature built into the software (i.e. inactivity > drop to 3G) then that's awesome. But the flipside isn't working quite right - where it should be switching back to 4G again.
edit: I have an Inc 4G alongside my M for comparison purposes... didn't know if I had mentioned that before in this thread or not! And for what it's worth, the battery life on both phones is extremely similar - not a noticeable difference anyway. And the Inc 4G has a 1700mah.
Well I'm coming from a thunderbork so I'm definitely not a stranger to network issues. Confirming, it (the M) has no issues holding onto 3G, right? I don't even have 4G in my area yet so I am just praying this won't be another thunderbrick (which can't even switch from wifi to data without needing a toggle)
afunyun said:
Well I'm coming from a thunderbork so I'm definitely not a stranger to network issues. Confirming, it (the M) has no issues holding onto 3G, right? I don't even have 4G in my area yet so I am just praying this won't be another thunderbrick (which can't even switch from wifi to data without needing a toggle)
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I've had no issues with data dropping, even when it switches, which has been nice. But I have great coverage, both 4g and 3g, in my area.
Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2
I agree with the others who brought up the issue of battery conservation... but also remember, the RAZR M is one of the (physically) smallest LTE phones on the market. Antenna placement was tight, and it is very different from the Bionic, Photon Q, and RAZR. They cannot be compared to one another. If you look at the FCC records for the M vs the Bionic, HD, OG RAZR, etc you'll see the difference.
While I agree as well that LTE "stickiness" can be improved, I also believe it is a matter of strong signal coverage. I live in a Verizon LTE mecca, and I also have an AT&T LTE phone. In areas where I have LTE on one device, I have it on both. In areas where my AT&T device has NO signal, I drop down to 3G on the RAZR M.
All in all I am quite satisfied but as can be said with anything, there is room for improvement.
Honestly, before people go on a bender returning their phones, first, get a new SIM card. Second, turn off Smart Actions. Third, call Verizon and make sure there is in fact LTE coverage for your specific address (the coverage map means nothing). Fourth, you can ask Verizon for a signal study where a tech will come to your area and test the actual signal strength.
I can absolutely attest to the fact that when you are in a proper LTE zone, the RAZR M latches, and stays connected (even with one bar) quite well.
mk1151 said:
I can absolutely attest to the fact that when you are in a proper LTE zone, the RAZR M latches, and stays connected (even with one bar) quite well.
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until you pick the phone up and hold it in your hand?
It is good most of the time (I'm also in a LTE mecca), but it's inconsistent when compared to other LTE devices, even my Gnex on the latest radios. I love the phone, but it's annoying when it acts that way.
And yes, I've done your suggestions, and then some (less the tech... but I live within 200 yards of a tower and have/had multiple devices to test against over a long enough period of time).
The S4 chipset was supposed to handle LTE/CDMA better and more efficiently, and so far the Incredible 4G is the only device I'm seeing actually live up to that.
mk1151 said:
...Second, turn off Smart Actions..
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Why do you suggest turning off Smart Actions for 4G drops?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
scottjb said:
Why do you suggest turning off Smart Actions for 4G drops?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
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Smart actions can effect how your phone uses radio power, and what processes run in the background. While I don't have any issues with Smart Actions running in the default setup, I've heard others indicate that it has impacted signal strength. It's really more of a troubleshooting step than a prescribed fix.
I'm in NYC Metro and the 4G signal is good but I do notice my phone on 3G. I decided to use an app to see if I'd get a noticeable improvement in battery life if I keep 4G off. Just used my phone normally for a couple of days but the battery life was the same.
Seems that my Radios on my Verizon GNex are getting worse. I can set the phone down on the table in my house and watch the signal go from 2 bars 4g to 1 bar 3g to no signal then to 1 bar 4g. My wife's Motorola RAZR has 3 bars 4g solid. I am really getting tired of this. The luster has faded. Don't really want to go to a RAZR and wondering if a S4 is any better.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Wasn't there a big debate on this before and signal bars mean nothing.
If you compare actual -db, you might find they aren't that different. Motorola has strong radios though I've heard.
This was a big ordeal back in the day where Verizon and At&t actually increase the bars display and also display 4G all the time, even when not.
So basically your phone may be accurate and your wife's is lying. Check -db and play with upgrading your radios.
Also you are supposed to update your roaming profiles on Verizon occasionally. I think its like **2424 or something. It downloads all the most recent tower information. Could be a new tower that your phone doesn't know about.
Lots to think about.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
^^^ Excellent reply!
Agreed, the only way to find the best radio for YOU is to play with them. Not everyone has the same experience with a particular one. It depends on the market you are in.
When we say play, we mean test it for a couple of days in routine situations not a 30 minute test to see if both your phone and your wife's phone retain the same amount of "bars". But even then, as player911 stated, bars are just a graphical representation of signal quality. Different phones have different thresholds for different representations. Inspect the Signal strength in About Phone -> Status. The lower the "dBm" the better your signal quality.