Develop Bugs

Best Radio In Canada? (Rogers Wireless)

Hi guys, I'm sure this type of question has been beat to death, but mine is a bit more specific. If I'm not mistaken, different radios will have different performances on different cellphone carrier networks, the one in question here is Rogers Wireless in Canada which I'm on.
I am currently using 1.00.25.05 which I read is pretty good in terms of battery life and everything else. However I'm not too content with this radio because it seems like I've experience a lot more dropped calls since switching to this radio. So my question is, which one is the best for the Rogers network? For me, best means excellent reception and battery life. Thanks in advance.

i have tried all of the latest ones but best by far has been:
1.09.25.23
it does depend on the ROM as well I think and maybe this should have been posted in radio thread

I find 1.09.25.23 to work very well too...I'm in Toronto. Signal is a little inconsistent in some parts of my house...but that's to be expected with lots of new condo buildings popping up in the area...I assume those buildings are affecting signal from the radio towers. Battery life is decent considering I am using the 1000mah Seideo...get's through a full day most of the time with my level of use...4-8 text messages...and about an hour voice.

To me, I tried many recent radio up to 1.12.xx, but I still find that 1.00.25.06 (the default Rogers radio) is the best in terms of reception bars Battery is decent as well.

BB88 said:
To me, I tried many recent radio up to 1.12.xx, but I still find that 1.00.25.06 (the default Rogers radio) is the best in terms of reception bars Battery is decent as well.
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Toronto area? Also...which ROM? Recently, I've had trouble holding signal with 1.00.25.06 and am not sure why.

I am in Toronto and have never really had a problem with default one either. Maybe I don't know what I am missing but since I have never really had a problem with it I have never changed it. So I am using 1.00.25.06 with the latest Energy ROM.

I just came back from a cruise to Alaska. 1.14. worked very well for me the whole trip. From San Francisco to Alaska then to Victoria. GPS pick up was very quick and phone reception was great even off shore.

65coupei6 said:
I just came back from a cruise to Alaska. 1.14. worked very well for me the whole trip. From San Francisco to Alaska then to Victoria. GPS pick up was very quick and phone reception was great even off shore.
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Which 1.14? There's 1.14.25.05 and 1.14.25.24...

hjlow said:
i have tried all of the latest ones but best by far has been:
1.09.25.23
it does depend on the ROM as well I think and maybe this should have been posted in radio thread
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Yes...I too realize this stuff could be posted in the radio thread...but consider that on this thread we have Roger's Wireless customers; unless it's not good thing to have a carrier-oriented thread. I understood that radio performance (signal and battery) is most likely influenced by carrier and location. It's difficult in the main radio thread to determine who is a Roger's customer. My 2 cents...

1.00.25.06
I am using the factory radio .. and I have never faced any problems with my calls, reception or GPS (somewhat)....
With GPS there have been times when the fix was delayed by 3-4 minutes. But everything else ... OK
I am sure some members would be able to shed some more light on the perfect combination of ROM + RADIO
CR

chgrbt said:
Toronto area? Also...which ROM? Recently, I've had trouble holding signal with 1.00.25.06 and am not sure why.
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I have been using Dutty's 3.6b and 4.0 for the longest time. Recently I have been trying EnergyRom 3, Gen.Y 1.2x, and Shaks 4.3. Not sure if it is ROM related, the signal bar at work is 1 bar less now. Though, it's still going pretty strong. I may try other radio with these new ROMs.

chgrbt said:
Which 1.14? There's 1.14.25.05 and 1.14.25.24...
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Sorry about that. 1.14.25.05 w/rll

I'm using BsB 6.5 I with 1.12.25.16 and the signal is good, no drop calls quick connects etc

daeshawn said:
I'm using BsB 6.5 I with 1.12.25.16 and the signal is good, no drop calls quick connects etc
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Let is know how it goes with 1.14.25.05.

chgrbt said:
Let is know how it goes with 1.14.25.05.
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To me it seems the same as 1.12.25.16...one thing i did kinda notice is my device getting a little hot (when using opera, as well as after a soft reset)...not sure if that is a result of the radio or the flashing i have been doin lately...will test a little longer

I've been using 1.00.25.05 but have notice loss of service in areas where I previously had service. I'm going back to the default Rogers radio of 1.00.25.06

How do I know if I need a New Radio?

My signal is pretty bad and my wifi is too but I only deal with roms, not radios and people are constantly updating their radios. I have one of Josh's roms so what radio should I get, and if I were to get a new radio would it clear all the info on my device as if I were flashing to a new rom? Thanks

gabriel713281 said:
My signal is pretty bad and my wifi is too but I only deal with roms, not radios and people are constantly updating their radios. I have one of Josh's roms so what radio should I get, and if I were to get a new radio would it clear all the info on my device as if I were flashing to a new rom? Thanks
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You might do. Make a note of your current radio so you can go back if things get worse. Try the latest one for starters and see what results you get. You can Flash Radios from your SD Card and not lose any data. I used to keep all the Kaiser ones on my phone and keep flashing until I found a good one.
What radio is best for you? Well, there is no answer I can give. It depends on where you live, on what network, and what ROM you're using. From what I've read, latest is best (I'm not on the latest yet, but when mine was the latest it was the best I'd tried).
Dave

gabriel713281 said:
My signal is pretty bad and my wifi is too but I only deal with roms, not radios and people are constantly updating their radios. I have one of Josh's roms so what radio should I get, and if I were to get a new radio would it clear all the info on my device as if I were flashing to a new rom? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ALWAYS flash a new ROM, just search for the newest Radios in this TOUCH PRO2/TILT forum or the wiki. There are always newer updated radios. It takes minutes to flash a new radio from start to finish. THIS CANNOT BRICK YOUR PHONE!!
So, experiment. I did and found 2 radios that were better than a stock radio. I went from 2 bars in good areas and 1 bar in bad ones to 4 bars in good areas and 2-3 bars in the bad areas. It just depends on your region and carrier.
Check my sig for the radio I am using. It seems to work the best for T-Mobile, my gps, wi-fi, and phone signal dramatically improved after flashing a new radio. So, trust me, spend the time to flash a new radio and you'll most definitely see a difference from the stock radio. Let me know how this works out.

outerdepth said:
THIS CANNOT BRICK YOUR PHONE!!
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No, but if you flash untested radios you can have problems unless your device is security unlocked. Some buggy radios cannot be removed, and if they are poor quality, you're in a world of pain .
Moral of the story, always read the feedback, and don't flash untested radios unless you know and understand the risks .
Dave

I went from having No signal in the back corner of my first floor apartment to 1-2 bar 3G Thanks! (No sarcasam intended)

What radio did you flash? I have T-Mobile and only get 2 to 0 3G bars at work. It is really interfering with my music streaming. Would love to get mor bars.

Just want to subscribe to the thread.

Radio Version: 4.49.25.57 (HTC, T-Mobile)

gabriel713281 said:
Radio Version: 4.49.25.57 (HTC, T-Mobile)
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From where did you get the radio and have you noticed any improvement in your 3G number of bars?

thebrenda said:
From where did you get the radio and have you noticed any improvement in your 3G number of bars?
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Just search this Touch Pro 2 forum or the Rhodium wiki here and you will find all the radios available for download. If you use T-Mobile, the one in my signature below is the best I found and apparently Gabe here too! So just search, it only takes a couple minutes.

Radio fix GPS? Wtf is a radio?

What's a radio?

Well, maybe you need to flash a new radio more efficient than what you have. I have newer g2 radio ending in .27. Check out the radio threads in here.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

Radio, according to wikipedia, Radio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light.
lol sorry i had to do that
but I would like to know too, from what I've seen radio seems to fix many things like reception, GPS signal, battery life and maybe more?
so i assume its some type of firmware?? tho i think i'm very off so please correct me

Might be wrong here but radio for a cell phone if you think about how without it you have no gps, signal, wifi...radio equals cell phone for all the generic reasons lol
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA Premium App

I would also like a good answer to this.

Interestingly, I flashed the .27 radio and used it for some time .. Just today, I reverted back to the stock .26 radio, and now my GPS issue is resolved!!

No radio equals no reception.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

The radio is the part of your phone that interacts with cell towers. Without this software on your phone, it would not be a phone, rather a very small tablet computer. Changing or upgrading the radio to a newer version is just like updating any software; the newer version probably has some bug fixes, might be more efficient at doing things than the older versions, etc.
This is what you were asking, right?

Gwanatu said:
The radio is the part of your phone that interacts with cell towers. Without this software on your phone, it would not be a phone, rather a very small tablet computer. Changing or upgrading the radio to a newer version is just like updating any software; the newer version probably has some bug fixes, might be more efficient at doing things than the older versions, etc.
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He's pretty much described it. At its core, a cell phone is simply a type of microwave radio. It simply has been given a familiar interface similar to a landline phone (dial tones, number pad, etc.) since that is what people have been accustomed to for so long.
When "flashing a radio" is being discussed here, it refers to the software component, and there is also a hardware component as well, but you don't need to really worry about that.
The radio is also how your phone communicates with the GPS satellites.
If you are referring to the GPS issues some people have had with CM7 (not finding the satellites at all), its been found that flashing a different radio solves the problem for many people. But its been well discussed on the CM7 thread, and other threads.
But are you trolling? You seem to more than enough to have to ask such an elementary question.

convolution said:
What's a radio?
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A radio is that which causes or reads the vibrations of electrons in the air.
More specifically, your cell phone is actually two computers, which are somewhat interdependent. These two computers run two separate operating systems. The more "basic" computer runs the radio operating system and controls the air interface. The "user" computer runs ANDROID. The two computers pass data back and forth to each other.
There are different versions of the radio operating system available, which have different characteristics. Sometimes upgrading the radio OS will have benefits like improved reception.

[Q] Best Radio for CM7

What radio is everyone using or would recommend for CM7?
I can't post in the development forums yet even though i've been here awhile just a lurker though.

2.15.00.07.28 There is a newer one I believe but I haven't tried it.
This question wouldn't belong in the development forum anyways. Here or Q & A. That is exactly why they make people wait to post in there =)

Noticed a bit of a stronger signal when I flashed the 11.19 radio (newest). As I understand it all phones are different though, I would test each one and see what works best for you.

drynyks said:
This question wouldn't belong in the development forum anyways. Here or Q & A. That is exactly why they make people wait to post in there =)
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Yeah but i would have just posted in the CM7 thread, but i understand.
I have the 11.19 radio right now (flashed it and hboot 92 while running SR 3.5 athena and it killed my wifi...) seems to be doing fine. Took about 3 tries to get CM7 working correctly for me though. Kept getting a boot loop forcing me to reflash.

Give each radio a test drive yourself for a few days. Asking what radio you should use is like asking someone to tell you what your favorite color should be.
Baseband performance is extremely subjective based upon your individual variables. As such, someone else's experience isn't necessarily a reliable indicator of what you can expect on your own phone in your location.

I'm running 11.19 now on rooted 2.2 and I seem to be getting better signal now than I did before. I was at Camp Old Indian over the weekend and was getting 2 bars consistently while everyone else got "no service". Anyone in Scouting that knows the upstate area of South Carolina knows exactly what I'm talking about.

I'm using 7.28. I was using 11.19 for a about a month before going back. Cell reception is the same but 3g is faster on 7.28. Atleast for me it is. I never use gps so cant speak for that.

I just flashed 11.19 and I'll be trying it out for a few days. My work has some sort of issue inside the building -- there are "dead" places all over the building and it tends to eat my battery when I spend time in those areas. It's very predictable (on the old radio) so I'll know pretty quick if any difference has been made.
There is a thread in the development forums that is a must-read if you are considering a radio flash so you A)know what to do and B)don't permanently brick your phone.
Read it...

kenneu said:
I just flashed 11.19 and I'll be trying it out for a few days. My work has some sort of issue inside the building -- there are "dead" places all over the building and it tends to eat my battery when I spend time in those areas. It's very predictable (on the old radio) so I'll know pretty quick if any difference has been made.
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The next time you have to reboot your phone, go ahead and pull the battery too. It might help to completely power down the device. It may not help, but it can't hurt.

i have been using the 11.19 radio for a couple of months and it works well for me.

Flashed 11.19 and things didn't seem any different in terms of call quality, battery life, or signal strength. I flashed the 9.xx version and it didn't seem any different, either. I'm going to put all three on the phone and record signal strength in the same place at the same time of the day and do various d/l speed tests and see if I can find a definitive radio that meets my needs. If anyone has any suggestions for a testing methodology, please let me know....

U
kenneu said:
Flashed 11.19 and things didn't seem any different in terms of call quality, battery life, or signal strength. I flashed the 9.xx version and it didn't seem any different, either. I'm going to put all three on the phone and record signal strength in the same place at the same time of the day and do various d/l speed tests and see if I can find a definitive radio that meets my needs. If anyone has any suggestions for a testing methodology, please let me know....
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That sounds great actually. I am usin the new evo 4.08 radio n went from -85 on 11.10 to -78. All from my house, i tested right b4 i flashed new radio.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Ok, so I ran 10 trials each for the three kernels about 1 minute apart and measured dBm and kbps UL and DL speeds using speedtest from the market....
Having testing it and reflecting on the data, it's impossible to test meaningfully with just one phone.
The upload and download speeds vary too much from moment to moment and within an hour apart, 11.19 went from an average DL speed of 480kbps to 1150kbps. This is clearly just a function of who is currently sucking up bandwidth and unless I have three phones with the three versions of the radio side by side running the tests, I don't know how I can make it meaningful.
I did compare the dBm on each kernel and they were within -1 dBm of each other consistently. The phone was placed in the exact same location and I watched for changes in the number until the screen blanked. I then opened it again and monitored it again until it timed out and so on... 10 times for each radio version. The difference was so small it would have to be considered insignificant.

donnyp1 said:
U
That sounds great actually. I am usin the new evo 4.08 radio n went from -85 on 11.10 to -78. All from my house, i tested right b4 i flashed new radio.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
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Flashed 4.08 about an hour ago. *228 afterward even though it has never made a difference locally. No difference. I place my phone in the EXACT same spot facing the exact same direction and monitor the dBm level. The best I've seen from that spot is -93 dBM and worst is -99dBm. Each radio has displayed that range and pinned right at -94 to -95.
I'm beginning to believe that the radio itself has a "fixed" send/receive strength and that no amount of software can change a hardware limitation. Maybe it can change rules like how long a GPS waits to lock based on number of acceptable satellite grabs or something like that, but I'm not seeing one bit of difference in radios.

The new 4.08 radio is working good for me.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1035955

kenneu said:
Flashed 4.08 about an hour ago. *228 afterward even though it has never made a difference locally. No difference. I place my phone in the EXACT same spot facing the exact same direction and monitor the dBm level. The best I've seen from that spot is -93 dBM and worst is -99dBm. Each radio has displayed that range and pinned right at -94 to -95.
I'm beginning to believe that the radio itself has a "fixed" send/receive strength and that no amount of software can change a hardware limitation. Maybe it can change rules like how long a GPS waits to lock based on number of acceptable satellite grabs or something like that, but I'm not seeing one bit of difference in radios.
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As far as receiver sensitivity goes...I was an electronics technician at one time in my life, and I too believe the hardware is the limiting factor. E.g: My phone is setting in the exact same spot, facing the same direction, and I updated from 11.19 to 04.08, and only noticed -1db difference. I am using the Real Signal app. And it shows the relative strength of both signals that our CDMA phones use.

[ CDMA / Verizon ] question on bad signal issues..

I tired to search but unsure if I pulled CDMA 100% or not..
None the less, Im going to move over to Verizon and Im after the Nexus. I see people say the signal is bad etc etc. Im coming from the HTC evo and Ive always prety much ran AOSP roms. As we know ( or us Evo users ) the AOSP roms dont show " full " signal. But it shows actual signal. Is this the issue people are ***** about? IS this what they are talking about, in terms of bad radios etc?
AOSP roms show the true signal, but not a masked/boosted signal similar to HTC phones done, right?
The bad radio rumor isnt a bad radio, just the way AOSP roms show the signal... right?

The bar reading was jacked up a notch in 4.0.4 (2 bars of signal in 4.0.1/2 will show up as 3 or even 4), but the db reading in Settings is still correct (though, read issue #2 below). The phone is fine hardware wise. What confuses (or convinces) people are three things:
1) Some people got duds. This will be very obvious because you won't get signal even in areas where other people on VZ can connect. You need to get the phone swapped.
2) The GN has a weird way of reporting signal strength. They completely over-do the hysteresis, so if you test/compare with another phone, you have to keep the GN in one spot for 10-20 seconds before you get the same reading.
3) Software bugs in the baseband which will crash the radio interface and leave you without data for up to a minute. There also appears to be some hand-off issues that may keep you on 3G when you should be on 4G.
The GN has no worse reception than any other Verizon handset, aside from the fixable bugs in the baseband, which really aren't "reception" issues anyway.

So with what you said, all the apparent issues that are there, are fixable in terms of ROMs or official fixes? I like to tinker with my phone, but not to keep it running correctly, ya know?
Is this issue still reported on the current batch of Gnex's?

I just got my Nexus a week ago, but it has worked perfect in terms of signal and data. No dropouts. My radio is whatever it came with, but my ROM is BAMF Paradigm

mroneeyedboh said:
So with what you said, all the apparent issues that are there, are fixable in terms of ROMs or official fixes? I like to tinker with my phone, but not to keep it running correctly, ya know?
Is this issue still reported on the current batch of Gnex's?
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Personally, I've had fewer issues with the Galaxy Nexus than I did with the Nexus One (that phone DID have bad reception. Great call quality though) or the WinMo phone I had before that. Whenever I have connection issues, I just turn on and off airplane mode and the phone will come back and reconnect to 4G in ~15 seconds. Nothing serious beyond that.
Some people have had more serious issues, and I can't say if it was their phone or the network equipment used in their area or what. Only way to be sure is to try one out. I have little doubt that ~99% of GN users have little/no issue, but the ~1% that do have problems are vocal about them (they should be, this thing isn't cheap).
EniGmA1987 said:
I just got my Nexus a week ago, but it has worked perfect in terms of signal and data. No dropouts. My radio is whatever it came with, but my ROM is BAMF Paradigm
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ROM has nothing to do with signal. Only the baseband matters.

ATnTdude said:
ROM has nothing to do with signal. Only the baseband matters.
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Actually, if they have updated telephony, it can. For example, there are signal improvements in 4.0.4, but you must run the rom and the radios.
That said, Paradigm has made no telephony changes from aosp 4.0.3.

adrynalyne said:
Actually, if they have updated telephony, it can. For example, there are signal improvements in 4.0.4, but you must run the rom and the radios.
That said, Paradigm has made no telephony changes from aosp 4.0.3.
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I was really simplifying things since this was a non-technical question. If you go from 4.0.2 to 4.0.3+, you may have more hooks into the kernel and from there into the baseband, but jumping randomly from ROM to ROM isn't the best way to solve a signal problem. Changing the baseband is the best way, kernel the next, and finally the Android version. Basically go in order of distance from the hardware, noting that each level is significantly less likely to cure you.

ATnTdude said:
I was really simplifying things since this was a non-technical question. If you go from 4.0.2 to 4.0.3+, you may have more hooks into the kernel and from there into the baseband, but jumping randomly from ROM to ROM isn't the best way to solve a signal problem. Changing the baseband is the best way, kernel the next, and finally the Android version. Basically go in order of distance from the hardware, noting that each level is significantly less likely to cure you.
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After reading hundreds of posts on connectivity issues, yours is the first to bring some lucidity and sanity to the hardware issue. Now someone needs to focus on the BS from the carriers and the inadequacy of their distribution systems.