Develop Bugs

Galaxy Nexus Signal Strength

Anyone else get bad reception and weak radio from the Galaxy Nexus. I have the new radio i think (1515.09 V.FA02/ 1515.FA02).. the changing between 3g and 4g is still terrible and sometimes its hard for the signal to even come back in.
Do you know if this is the best radio? i think soon I will just get a Motorola device because they have better signal strength even in weak coverage areas. Not happy with the galaxy nexus for that reason. I think htc may even be better at that. samsung isn't good with their signal stength with phones.

The only time I get bad reception is in my house for some odd reason. It's so fraustrating because when I had my thunderbolt or bionic I got 4G in my house. Any where else I am good with 4G. I almost switched somebody phones but then I realized I might as well stick to the nexus.

kidnice15 said:
The only time I get bad reception is in my house for some odd reason. It's so fraustrating because when I had my thunderbolt or bionic I got 4G in my house. Any where else I am good with 4G. I almost switched somebody phones but then I realized I might as well stick to the nexus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah.. just not willing to settle for a weak signal in a phone just because its a very nice phone. I pay for data and i want to have access to it completely.

I get 4G almost everywhere I go with the GNexus. Live about 25 minutes from Pittsburgh and can drive around pretty much everywhere and get good reception, at least on par with my Thunderbolt.

Significant problems as well, returning phone.
I have had the phone since 2/13. I'm in Rochester, NY and have had a significant number of dropped calls, times when the signal dropped, and extended re-connect times. I received a new SIM last night, which had no effect on the problem. I also tried the 4.0.4 update to the radios the OP has, with no significant improvement. VZW has said that a software update due in early march will alleviate the problem. I don't buy it. I've decided to return my phone within the 14 day "Worry-Free" period and go back to my OG Droid for the time being. I'm going to wait until the reports come back on this new "update", which is probably just 4.0.3. So i'm not feeling very confident.
-rs

I had the same problem...bad signal and wouldn't switch from 4g to 3g I returned mines and got another and now i'm very happy.the first one was a piece of junk but the second has been awesome..
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

stepinmyworld said:
Yeah.. just not willing to settle for a weak signal in a phone just because its a very nice phone. I pay for data and i want to have access to it completely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me ask you a question , how did you get to the conclusion of bad reception or bad radio strength ? I had my razr side by side with gnex a few days ago. GNex shows one bar less than razr . I guess many folks will then consider throwing their gnex to nearest wall after seeing this. Guess what ? Then I ran speed test on both of them side by side at same time for 20 times to test speed (yeah I was bored that day) . Every single run I observed about 1mb/s to 3mb/s faster in gnex than razr. Even at the same time gnex showing one fewer signal bar.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

jiwengang said:
Let me ask you a question , how did you get to the conclusion of bad reception or bad radio strength ? I had my razr side by side with gnex a few days ago. GNex shows one bar less than razr . I guess many folks will then consider throwing their gnex to nearest wall after seeing this. Guess what ? Then I ran speed test on both of them side by side at same time for 20 times to test speed (yeah I was bored that day) . Every single run I observed about 1mb/s to 3mb/s faster in gnex than razr. Even at the same time gnex showing one fewer signal bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bars are irrelevant...

Having both the nexus and the rezound, I can definitely say the rezound has better 4g radio strength. With my rezound I get 2-3 bars 4g easy anywhere in my house. Gnex barely gets 1 and most of the time is on 3g. Very frustrating.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

That's the problem. There are plenty of places I go that I lose 4G completely (on 4.0.4), while friends with the Razr or Rezound still have 2-3 bars of 4G and it's going strong.
I couldn't care less how many bars I have...I just care when I get dropped to 3G and other people don't.

My bionic held the 4G signal the best out of GN and Thunderbolt. But the browser on the GN is pretty darn fast that I hardly have any complaint when browsing on 3G. My GN holds that 3G with a death grip though. 4G is flaky at work and at home unfortunately...

Went thru 2 bad ones before I got one that worked properly.
If its giving issues, return it and try a replacement.
Seems Samsung's quality control is seriously lacking but they are a good phone when they work.

I think I get pretty good service on 3g. I don't have 4g in my area yet. I've had a droid x and iphone 4 and the nexus is best.

poor reception

guys .I have poor reception with htc onex .
The reception is exactly the same as sensation .
how is your reception ?could you please compare your reception with onex and your previous phone ?

I have a DHD as well as the One X. Both get poor reception in my house, so I have a Vodafone Sure Signal to boost it. But without the SS, I would say that the One X is very similar to the DHD, both vary from "no signal" to 3 bars out of 5. The signal fluctuates so rapidly that it's hard to do decent comparison, even with the phones side by side, but neither goes above 3 bars, and most of the time I have 1.
Worth bearing in mind, though, that the DHD is 18 months old and has had several radio updates in that time. I can't be sure now, but I think reception in the house was worse when I first got it. Hopefully the One X will see radio improvements as well in future firmware updates.

Thanks for reply.so its not only me with poor receptions

Well, I live in a bit of a mobile black spot. There's good signal just up the road, on very slightly higher ground. I've tried sim cards from all the main UK networks and they're all about as bad as each other. So it's not really the phone's fault - my brother's iPhone has the same problems when he's here.
But to answer your original question about comparing this to my old phone, the One X is about the same as my DHD, and I have hopes it may improve as HTC release newer radio software.
I'm lucky that work provided a Sure Signal (femtocell) device to get round the problem, as I'm sometimes on call and need to be reached on my work mobile.

mine is much worse than my DHD on T-Mobile (UK - 1800Mhz)

Low signal on hox

Today I noticed that the signal on my hox is worse than on my old desire. On places where my desire got constand hsdpa the hox switches constantly from hsdpa to 3g with less signal bars. Anyone else with this problem ?
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

Same here, I now have to go outside my office to be able to make calls that dont drop. With my SG2 would get full bar in my office, but with HOX only get 2bars

Yup mine seems the same, stumbled upon this thread looking for a solution so hopefully someone who has some success resolving the issue will be able to help.

I'm having this issue too, hopefully when s off has been achieved we will be able to flash different radios it has fixed this issue on all of my previous phones.

My phone also seems to have a somewhat weaker 3G reception than my SGS-2, although they both act in the same way in regards to switching between 3G and H+ all the time. I think this can be corrected partly via software updates since the wifi reception is much stronger on the HOX than any unit I ever had before. It is the same "antenna" the receives both signals isnt it?

Mine seems to get faster 3G speeds than my Gnex and GS2 (unless my network has improved in the past 2 week)
But phone signal is far worse, especially since the 1.28 update... I'm not getting signal now in places where I used to always get signal
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

My data speeds have dramatically decreased after the latest 1.28 update - quite dissapointing! I have no use for better signal if the data is worse lol

Have been lurking on here for a while now and noticed a few threads and comments about reception on the One X
I am in the same boat, was using a Desire S and now a One x and noticed there is a distinct difference in signal level between the two. Not just the signal bars (desire s has 4, One x has 5) but the dBm levels too.
I would say that 80% of those that have had the update and posted about signal have said that it has improved, regardless of carrier they use.
I went into the store where I bought mine from (ThreeUk Retail shop) and they were going to swap it out there and then for me but the handset on display (working demo) had a similar level to mine, so seemed pointless as Im guessing that all/most of the units are like this, it isnt an isolated case.
So, im not sure what to do now. I have just swapped my main number to Three (and its now my only number). Im without coverage far more than I used to be with Voda, or with Three using the Desire S.
Three shop says they have a 28 day policy for faulty handsets, I hope that the update is out before that so I can see for myself.
Brilliant handset though…. screen is lush, using the phone is a pleasure…. just brilliant.
Steve

I am noticing far worse signal on my handset than previous handsets , an awful lot of the time my handset switches between t-mobile and orange , whereas previous handsets were solid t-mobile all day , and also the data speeds are worse. I am not very impressed as the 1.28 update appears to have made this worse, and its an unlocked generic variant in the uk if thats of any help
cheers
james

My signal is loads better.
Before the update I couldn't sit on the sofa and make a call I would get 3bars then nothing.
Now I'm a fairly constant 4 bars sat on the sofa.
I'm on Tesco (so O2) I was going to take the handset back before the update.
Battery seems twice as good on a completely different note.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

I have had a similar experience as descb600f. Prior to 1.28 my signal would drop regularly. After 1.28 I am finding it is far better, regularly seeing 3 bars, where before it would continually switch between 0 and 2 bars.
WiFi reception is great, puts my Desire to shame!

So which is it, does 1.28 make signal alot better or not? And what about actual call quality, its one thing getting 3 bars but another if calls are choppy

I do have to agree with the signal/Wifi issues on this device.. I came from a Nexus S (GSM model) and I used to get good HSPA/UMTS signals on that device, I also have a Wifi network setup in my house, it covers most of the house and some of the backyard.. However when out in the backyard the One X seems to drop the connection to the Wifi network, however my old Nexus S still has atleast 2-3 bars of Wifi connectivity and constantly keeps the signal/connection.
Has anyone else had issues like this with Home Wifi networks not getting as great a signal as other devices?
If I hold the One X in one hand and the Nexus S in the other and move away from the Wifi Access Point, the One X drops signal strength a lot quicker and the Nexus S keeps connection/signal a lot further away..
Bit dissapointed with that, and hope it's some how able to be fixed with software/firmware upgrades in the future?
Also I noticed the One X seems to switch between H/3G (HSPA/UMTS etc) quite a lot more than the Nexus S does, same network, holding both in same spot..
Apart from these minor issues and the screen flickering issue I'm more than happy with the One X..

Tondern said:
I think this can be corrected partly via software updates since the wifi reception is much stronger on the HOX than any unit I ever had before. It is the same "antenna" the receives both signals isnt it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WiFi and 2G/3G are two different chipsets and different antennas.
I have also notices dropsin the last 3 days, including hours with no reception at all
Need to switch from 1.26 to 1.28 soon to try it...

I should say I live in an area with only 2G reception and we sit in a dip partially hidden from the transmitters.
We can only get O2/Voda (orange/TMob if I just want to live upstairs in a corner of the house) and since the update I now have no issues with reception just like I used to.
1.28 has resolved my issues.
On the wifi front
I live in an old stone cottage with timber frame extension (wifi b/g can't make it thru our internal walls in the old part of the house), I have the N wifi router upstairs in the extension and have no issues with losing WiFi either (didn't have issues before 1.28).
Hope this helps people, I realise some may say it has got worse but for me the difference is night and day making the phone completely fine.

I just found an old 3 SIM (from a dongle) and popped it into my desire s and placed both by the window running Network Signal App for 30 minutes.
Both were attached to the same tower and the HOX was getting between -89 and -91 dbm, the Desire a consistent -75dbm.
Just hope that Three shake their touche's and get the update approved ASAP…. im quite a technical guy, but the idea of rooting and doing the update myself gives me the shakes…..
Steve

Why does my Signal suck?

Hi,
I own a VZW Galaxy Nexus, I'm not as phone savvy as I use to be and I can't for the life of me figure out/ find and reputable sources about why this phones signal sucks so terribly bad. Presently in my house I can rarely send texts and my calls will drop due to lost signal. I live in PA a few miles from Chambersburg/ Waynesboro (for those who may know the area). When I go back to MD I have no problems pretty much. I'd like to chalk it up to just where I live but I feel like theres another reason.
I've got Android Revolution HD not the 4.1.0 one (downloading now) I have the one prior. It works great, very smooth, no random reboots unless Im playing music, using the GPS, and charging it (which is odd...). I've read a couple different things about PRL one being that it can screw up your 4G and the other being that its no big deal. I have yet to do it because honestly I still don't believe it will make a difference.
What I am looking for is some confirmation so I can stop beating my head against a wall when I'm trying to send a text. Even over wifi I can't send one (idk if you can but I figure it shouldnt hurt it). I'm sort of missing my HTC Droid Inc 1...too bad the screen got smashed.

No one has a answer for me?

Patience young padiwan... someone will reply shortly.

I did notice something though, when my modem when completely herp derp and I had it shut off down stairs I got better reception then I do upstairs in my room with my PC : /
Edit: no idea if this means much but checking signal strength and it was at -100 dBm 1asu then went to -93 dBm 2asu,

Is your baseband I515.10? If so that's probably why. I have had two Verizon gnex, one with I515.10 and one with I515.9....
After talking to many people on here it seems that people that had a phone that shipped with I515.10 (including myself) have pretty frequent signal drop. Whereas the people that have I515.9 (what my first one was), do not.
It's a shame, but there isn't really much you can do about it other than call and complain that it is a well documented problem, and hope they send you a better one.
It's frustrating for sure, but I still wouldn't trade this device for any other.
Also, forcing the PRL CAN ruin your sim card, but it's not like it's a guarantee. As far as I know though, there isn't really any benefit in taking the risk and trying since the device auto updates PRL.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Yep my baseband is I515.1 ...LAME guess im gonna go call VZW

Good luck buddy.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

just as a reference, texts rely on cell signal, so if you dont have cell service but have wifi, texts wont send/receive.

called them and it turns out i'm on the very edge of two distant Cell towers one at 5miles and another at 7miles. Biggest issue is the terrain because I like in Southern PA there are a lot of mountains and hills which interfere. The Tech rep also mentioned something about the time of year going into play because of the amount of water in the surrounding area which he got from an engineer @ VZW.

In all honesty it sounds like they were feeding you a load of crap. Not that there's no truth to what they say, but if you had a different phone that worked in your home, but your galaxy nexus is not working? Then what the verizon representative was saying would not be aplicable.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Yeah... That makes no sense at all man. It's just coincidence that 60% of Nexus owners have the same problem?
If you raise enough hell, the will send you another... Trust me.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Ysosrslawl said:
called them and it turns out i'm on the very edge of two distant Cell towers one at 5miles and another at 7miles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can confirm this based on using an app called OpenSignal (free from the market). One of the tabs in the app is "Map" and will show your current location, as well as the location of the tower your phone is connected to, with a red line between the two.

It's because it's SAMSUNG PEOPLE.
No one will admit if anyone has any experience with any Samsung device they should know compare an HTC or iphone or moto photon signal to any SPRINT SAMSUNG PHONE ITS NOT SPRINT.
It's the Samsung software or hardware that's been glitched since day one since the first epic
They all have weak signal u can compare a photon which is Motorola to this galaxy nexus
Galaxy s2, galaxy s3 any Samsung, WEAK SIGNAL PHONES, and not one person realizes this with comparing the experience of device to Device on the same network
. How can u get 5 constant bars on a photon or 2 or 3 on HTC evo or sprint I phone in the same area, but always 1 bar on Samsung phones All on the same network. ITS SAMSUNG SKIMPIN OUT ON THERE BUILD QUALITY whether hardware or software related, it pisses me off they persistently ROLL OUT brand new Devices all year and waist good phones cause they can't build a stronger signal phone.
So forget about complaining about signal issues it won't change until they figure the real reason out
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

I have personally never had a signal issue, but I also have a baseband of .9. I feel this link gives a good insight of signal reporting on the GN.
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/25921-this-is-why-your-verizon-nexus-signal-sucks/

Anyone else considering switching to a different phone?

hi guys,
so i have an S3 and i LOVE it to death. i am running Task AOKP rom which makes the phone 100000 times better but even on stock TW, the phone was great. however, what i am noticing (and from doing some reading a lot of other people notice as well) is that the reception of the phone is really lacking. over the past few days, i have been doing some experimenting with my S3 and a few other phones that i have access to. almost in every single situation, the S3 reception was drastically worse than the other phones. here are a few examples:
1) yesterday me and the wife went to a friend's wedding. when we got there, i had zero reception (x on the reception bars) while my wife's iphone had 3 bars (both ATT).
2) at work, i always have 1-2 bars and not that great reception while my coworker with an HTC phone on ATT has full service.
3) at my house, i have a few areas that the phone just struggles to get even a single bar and both my wife's iphone as well as all my previous phones (galaxy s2, iphone 4, blackberry etc..) never had that issue.
this is my second S3 unit and the previous one was not that great reception wise as well. i tried every kernel and rom you can imagine and even reverted back to stock a few times just to make sure its not rom related.
at this point, i am actually considering selling the S3 and going with an HTC One X even though i prefer everything about the S3.

have you tried different modems...just a sugestion.....some people get better reception when they flash different modems

Plays2 said:
have you tried different modems...just a sugestion.....some people get better reception when they flash different modems
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, tried every single one of the modems that has been released so far. at first i was sure that it is just my phone or my area but a google search shows that this is pretty known issue with the S3 which is not giving me too much hope. like i said, i LOVE the phone and love its features but this one is starting to get me down.

Are you using a protective case? I've read where some cases cause reception issues.

I am quite sure that the radio in the sgs3 is not as strong as many other phones I've had. Wifi and mobile connection are much weaker compared to other devices. I am also sure that its the hardware as no matter what modem or rom I'm running its low signal in areas where friends on the same carrier with different devices are fine. It's normally not a big deal in areas with a strong signal but in areas with a weaker signal its very noticeable when others with different hardware have a signal still.

redger725 said:
Are you using a protective case? I've read where some cases cause reception issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no case. i even tried it without the back cover and the results were the same
blue265 said:
I am quite sure that the radio in the sgs3 is not as strong as many other phones I've had. Wifi and mobile connection are much weaker compared to other devices. I am also sure that its the hardware as no matter what modem or rom I'm running its low signal in areas where friends on the same carrier with different devices are fine. It's normally not a big deal in areas with a strong signal but in areas with a weaker signal its very noticeable when others with different hardware have a signal still.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, that's what most posts are saying in random forums. if it is a hardware issue, no modem in the world will make it better. i also agree that it is not a big deal in areas with strong signal but yesterday i had zero service which meant no incoming or outgoing calls for 3-4 hours while my wife had no issues with her iPhone (made me look really bad especially after all the **** i give her about owning an iPhone )

Its weird because in places other people dont have reception (they have iphones and other android phones), such as elevators, basements, in sky scrapers, i have reception and they don't. Maybe the network i'm running on (rogers) is well implanted in the city but i honestly have not noticed any worse reception in my GS3 compared to my other phones like the GS2 or iPhone 4

I switched from an iPhone 4 and I have actually got better reception and call quality with my S3 than I ever did with my iPhone. I am on ATT too.

Have you tried disabling LTE to see if you can force it to HSPA?
also have you tried a new sim just for good measure?
I haven't had much issues with respects to service when comparing it to my Nokia Lumia 900 and iPhone 4
Drew
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium

I get better reception that my old iPhone 4 and my infuse... areas where I use to drop calls don't anymore. Example: an area up north where I go shoot firearms, I would lose service about 1 mile before heading up the mountain road, now, I have service the entire time except for about a mile up when I go between a sub station and a dam, but once I pass it, I'm good to go. Many parts of i5 I would drop service, now there is only 1 part where service gets spotty and I may drop the call. Several other places that I learned drop calls no longer do for me since getting the s3... not sure why our experiences are different, maybe you had bad luck and received 2 defective devices. I'm in California btw, splitting my time between sf bay area, Sacramento and Redding.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

Yeah I can't wait to ditch my S3, looking to get a S4 when it comes out.

cheetablaze said:
Yeah I can't wait to ditch my S3, looking to get a S4 when it comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this to lol:thumbup:
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

I get great reception as far as I can tell. At my friend's house, his iPhone gets awful, call-droppingly bad reception and I have no issues. Both AT&T.

*#*#4636#*#*
put that in your dialpad and than go to phone options and btu it to gsm/lte preffered. if you were like me the setting should be on wcdma originally in which case i had horrible reception like you

I notice no issues with stock.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

I'm pretty annoyed by the lack of OEM accessories that we were promised.
Also annoyed that JB hasn't been officially released yet by the four major USA carriers.
But I'll be darned if there is anything better to switch to.
Phone OR manufacturer. We complain a lot, but Samsung and the Galaxy series have always been the Android leaders.

I get great reception. Full 4g lte coverage in my area. S3 is a great device. No regrets. Best phone out there by far.

I am getting signal and "0" call drops when in lift too and in car parking lots... where all my previous phones used to drop signal crazy!!!

I get great reception. ATT, Miami. My old iPhone's couldn't compete.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

Rattles said:
hi guys,
so i have an S3 and i LOVE it to death. i am running Task AOKP rom which makes the phone 100000 times better but even on stock TW, the phone was great. however, what i am noticing (and from doing some reading a lot of other people notice as well) is that the reception of the phone is really lacking. over the past few days, i have been doing some experimenting with my S3 and a few other phones that i have access to. almost in every single situation, the S3 reception was drastically worse than the other phones. here are a few examples:
1) yesterday me and the wife went to a friend's wedding. when we got there, i had zero reception (x on the reception bars) while my wife's iphone had 3 bars (both ATT).
2) at work, i always have 1-2 bars and not that great reception while my coworker with an HTC phone on ATT has full service.
3) at my house, i have a few areas that the phone just struggles to get even a single bar and both my wife's iphone as well as all my previous phones (galaxy s2, iphone 4, blackberry etc..) never had that issue.
this is my second S3 unit and the previous one was not that great reception wise as well. i tried every kernel and rom you can imagine and even reverted back to stock a few times just to make sure its not rom related.
at this point, i am actually considering selling the S3 and going with an HTC One X even though i prefer everything about the S3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was it in San Antonio, tx
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium