Develop Bugs

[Q] Can't an app technically boost signal?

I've noticed when I'm at work, where I get little to no service, when I pull up a web page, or anything else that pushes for data, I get a slight to moderate boost in signal while said tasks are being executed. My problem is that I also get very little service inside my house, but I always have it on the charger close to a window - which does help some. Now from what I've read and understand the battery can actually be pushed to increase signal up to a significant amount, as I've noticed at work, and even while using GPS in what are usually dead zones for me. Now I'm not too keen on how it all works, so I figured I would ask anyways... So finally here's my question - Since I always have my phone on the charger at home, I'm not worried about draining the battery. So shouldn't there be a way for an app to push the battery constantly to boost the signal while the phone is charging? Sorry if this is a clearly dumb idea, I'm sure there's a reason it won't work, but I thought I would throw it out there.

No idea what the duck u r thinking
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Just an idea based on observations I've made over the years. Figured I'd get a more elaborate response than that. Like I said, I don't know much about how the antenna works, but I was hoping to find a reason why this wouldn't work.

Technically it's not possible.
Let's keep in mind that FCC has regulations on the maximum output power for each class of devices such as a cellular phone.
Also sometimes a voice communication signal (1xRTT) is not always same level as data signal (EvDO) at the same physical location due to many factors. Also we are not sure when the signal indicator bars are displayed, which signal it's displaying at which moment. That could explain the boost you saw on your phone.
Just keep in mind, a software is not able to modify a phone's signal.

Much better, that makes sense. Thanks man!

Have you tried a signal booster antenna sticker?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elgx7lp7YMc
You can get them on ebay for about $3 for 6 pack. Many people have mixed feelings about these. As for me, I have one in my Evo. I just noticed a gain of one bar only. Still, one bar is better than none.

montecristo1 said:
Have you tried a signal booster antenna sticker?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elgx7lp7YMc
You can get them on ebay for about $3 for 6 pack. Many people have mixed feelings about these. As for me, I have one in my Evo. I just noticed a gain of one bar only. Still, one bar is better than none.
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http://www.andybrain.com/extras/cellphone-antenna-booster-sticker-review-and-test.htm#results
There is a reason people have mixed results. It's the placebo effect. There is no reason that covering your phone in metal would help.

Theres a thread on here somewhere about the air rave(sp?), I think it was in general. Guys with bad service at home were calling sprint, and getting one for free. It uses wifi to boost your cell signal.

[Q] Viewing WiMax Signal strength

Is there a way to view the actual signal strength of the wimax connection? I'm doing some tests with a homemade parabolic dish antenna and it would be nice to know how much signal gain I'm actually achieving.
It doesn't seem like theres anything out there that will show you the ACTUAL signal strength. The indicator on the top bar isn't really very good for what I'm trying to study. It rides up and down from 1 to 2 bars with the phone just sitting on my desk at work anyway. Accuracy would be nice!

mrzood said:
Is there a way to view the actual signal strength of the wimax connection? I'm doing some tests with a homemade parabolic dish antenna and it would be nice to know how much signal gain I'm actually achieving.
It doesn't seem like theres anything out there that will show you the ACTUAL signal strength. The indicator on the top bar isn't really very good for what I'm trying to study. It rides up and down from 1 to 2 bars with the phone just sitting on my desk at work anyway. Accuracy would be nice!
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By actual signal I assume you mean in dBm?
I've been wondering the same thing, because it would be nice to see where I get the best signal without having to rely on 3 bars.

s84471 said:
By actual signal I assume you mean in dBm?
I've been wondering the same thing, because it would be nice to see where I get the best signal without having to rely on 3 bars.
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Yeah, I'm talking about viewing the actual dBm level.

Doesn't it show in *#INFO*1111# ????

orb360 said:
Doesn't it show in *#INFO*1111# ????
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That only shows the CDMA info.

Does anybody have any info on this?

Check some of the amateur radio sites and you should be able to find info on building an inexpensive signal strength meter or even being able to buy something that will work. You can also find a lot of info on building custom antennas there as well.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

Market > WiFi Seeker > Free >
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

That's good for WiFi info but I'm looking for WiMax signal info from the phone. Like how you can get the cdma signal strength, etc. Afaik there doesn't seem to be any obvious access to the WiMax signal info besides the vague 3 bar 4g signal meter.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

See my previous post and make one yourself...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

Not everyone is a tech genius like you top nurse
The phone should have a number *somewhere* its not like it's showing bars at random (or maybe it is.... knowing samsung...)
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Making something wouldn't be a problem but that's not what I'm trying to accomplish. I want to pull the information from the phone itself.

[Q] I Mobile G2 Antennagate Signal Issue???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGvgkDqx0yA
Check out ^^^ That video and tell me if you know of a fix?
I cant hold my phone in my hand without losing signal completely. Ive flashed all kinds of kernels and radios but no luck.
Im runnng Virtuous Sense v1.02 on a TMobile G2!
Any help would be greatly apprecated!

Sanatize said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGvgkDqx0yA
Check out ^^^ That video and tell me if you know of a fix?
I cant hold my phone in my hand without losing signal completely. Ive flashed all kinds of kernels and radios but no luck.
Im runnng Virtuous Sense v1.02 on a TMobile G2!
Any help would be greatly apprecated!
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Flash a different radio.
Just letting you know if you hold your phones like that, most of the phones drop signal to like 1 bar.
Sent from my HTC Vision using Tapatalk

Ive flashed over 10 different radios and this still happens. I dont know where else to turn?

Sanatize said:
Ive flashed over 10 different radios and this still happens. I dont know where else to turn?
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I wonder if your phone is defective -- perhaps the antenna is not connected properly ?

Baseband Version
12.28h.60.140fU_26.06.02.27_M
Mod version
CyanogenMod-7.0.2-vision
Yes my phone does experience a drop in signal when I hold it at the bottom but the only way I can lose all the bars is if I hold the phone in the most awkward way possible, completely covering the bottom. 2 out of 4 bars realistically doesn't hurt me unless I happen to walk pass something with shielding, which might cause me to lose all my bars (For example: walking by the microwave in my kitchen while holding the bottom of the phone might cause a dropped call.) How often am I going to be walking by a microwave? lol
If it matters much, I'm in NYC so the only way I can not get service is if I go underground into the subway or something. If you're in a place with a weaker signal, it could be possible that covering the bottom of the phone puts you on the fence in terms of signal strength

As a side note though, when holding the phone in landscape without the keyboard open, my left hand completely knocks out the wifi signal since the wifi antenna is on the top of the phone. It makes me rage sometimes when trying to watch streaming video lol.

burtcom said:
I wonder if your phone is defective -- perhaps the antenna is not connected properly ?
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agreed.. i get the wifi issue but doesn't bother me.. my phone doesn't drop when i hold it.. anyways. i just tried.. but i am next to a window and have full bars.. regardless of how i hold it. its probably a defective phone honestly..

What's with all these outages..

I can't believe why this phone goes grey bars and losses signal so much..why is this? Is it the radio?

I would also like to know this since my time frame to return this phone(blasphemy in the GN community) is drawing close. I love this phone phone but if it's hardware related then I will consider swapping it for something more reliable in terms of functionality. I almost bought a razr but was encouraged by some friends that this phone was the top notch phone. I've tried a few suggestions from updating the radio to adding *22899 to my contacts list and updating the prl. Still, at best the dbms fluctuate from 98-82dbm. If this is a software related issue I hope they fix it soon. I'm not too happy with hearing that a planned update would cause the signal bars to appear more than they really are. This would be an attempt to dupe us into thinking that it was only a software issue. You can always check the dbms to see the actual reception unless they muck with that as well. For a google phone the GN seems to have some un-welcomed secrets. Thanks Big Red.

The signal is a software issue, and if it going out for you it is going out for other 4G phones too. Using *228 on a 4G phone also does nothing..
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

joshnichols189 said:
The signal is a software issue, and if it going out for you it is going out for other 4G phones too. Using *228 on a 4G phone also does nothing..
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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I certainly hope you're right. It's just strange that the signal fluctuates so much if it's a software issue. Almost like listening to a radio station and it comes in and out because of the reception. Just an analogy, nevertheless, one could only hope it's software related rather than having a poor antenna.

I agree with u and ur analogy. I'm pretty nervous myself as I though I had a faulty phone. Fact is, I pray this is software related. I can't fathom having a hardware issue..or keeping a phone so expensive with such an issue.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

If it makes you guys feel better, I have no idea if this is what is going on but I know on Cyanogenmod, and other AOSP based roms, the signal bars that are shown reflect your DATA signal. I am not sure if this is true for stock AOSP, but that's how it is on CM and MIUI, etc.
Which is probably why Verizon said they had a fix for the signal bars, probably to make them reflect voice signal.
I know HTC and Motorola phones with sense and blur *inflate* their signal bars by showing voice signal (2G/EVDO) everywhere.

It's more likely a network issue, verizon has been going down recently
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

4.2.2 OTA signal question

Hey folks,
Just a quick question I was hoping to get some clarification on:
Like many, I got the 4.2.2 OTA on Tuesday evening and everything went fine with the download and install. That being said, I'm having some signal issues that are a bit strange. For the most part the signal quality is fine. Not really having any connection issues, but I've noticed lower bars being shown overall. After doing some digging though I've determined that apparently 4.2.2 reports signal quality differently than 4.1.1 did... representing a much truer value based on dBm and not overly inflating things for constant 3-4 bars. Essentially it's like I remember way back with 4.0.2. I still find it a little odd that I can show -85dBm and only have 1 bar, but if that's how things are reported in 4.2.2 then so be it.
The thing that's bothering me though is this: at times my signal will read 0dBm 99asu. I'll have zero bars showing, but it will still show 4g in the notification bar and will say connected to the network in status. I can make calls, text, surf the web, download apps, even run speed tests without any problem (although not great numbers, they're not horrific either) Eventually bars and dBm "come back", but the amount of time for that to happen varies. Again, nothing seems to be affected by this, but it's just a little disconcerting to have happen.
So, has anyone else experienced this? Google searches show some talk of it but otherwise haven't turned up much. I've done a battery/SIM pull and that didn't change things. Is it possible something may have gone a bit sideways in the ota download? Was thinking a factory reset may help too but not looking forward to wiping my device only to find out this is pretty normal.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

It's possible that the OTA updated the baseband, please look into that as I'm not entirely sure. If that's the case, then it might just be that the new baseband is not suitable for your coverage area in which case I'd suggest you flash a previous release.

iLeopard said:
It's possible that the OTA updated the baseband, please look into that as I'm not entirely sure. If that's the case, then it might just be that the new baseband is not suitable for your coverage area in which case I'd suggest you flash a previous release.
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Thanks for the reply. I'll fully admit I'm not as up to snuff on this as others, so please correct me if I'm wrong... but the 4.2.2 OTA did in fact contain new radios from VZW, so shouldn't the baseband have been updated for everyone who took it?
Mine is: I515.10 V.FK01/I515.FK02
As I understand it that breaks down to phone model (I515), HW rev 10, with the new radios being FK01/FK02
Wouldn't every VZW GNex that was on the 4.2.2 OTA have the same baseband; outside of having either HW rev 9 or 10?
Currently I'm locked, stock, not rooted... yeah, probably one of the last Thinking I may unlock and root and try the 4.1.1 radios again. Do I need TWRP or CWM to flash those or can that be done if I keep stock recovery?
As always thanks for all input, much appreciated.

My Gnexus is the same . but despite that it actually performs better oddly enough

Do/can you update roaming (*228) with the Verizon nexus? Or is that just something I could do with my old fascinate (yes, a fascinate and then nexus... I am a glutton for VZW punishment).
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Big ZD said:
Do/can you update roaming (*228) with the Verizon nexus? Or is that just something I could do with my old fascinate (yes, a fascinate and then nexus... I am a glutton for VZW punishment).
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
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You can, but as far as I know you'll then have what is considered a 3G PRL pushed to your phone, something beginning with "5"... if you just let the PRL update and push on it's own like it's supposed to you'll have a 4g PRL, and will begin with a "1" Both work the same and pick up both 3G/4G signals...not sure what the true difference is honestly. I've been on 15192 for ages now and it's been fine up to this point... Think I'd just as soon keep it. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I Read some where online. That if you take out the Sim card let it for like a minute or so. Slap it back in and there you go. It work for me

ironside2011 said:
I Read some where online. That if you take out the Sim card let it for like a minute or so. Slap it back in and there you go. It work for me
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Yeah, did that... battery pull and sim card pull... left it out for 30 min then back in... no difference. Like I said, it's not that I'm having a huge problem with my data connection, it's just acting... strange... kind of all over the place. Lots of fluxuation, odd readings/bar equivalents, and the whole 0dbm 99asu thing with still being connected. However I've also now started seeing higher than normal "time without signal" percentages... Just flakey. And frustrating... no issues at all until the 4.2.2 ota.

mine is not really a problem but I had way more bars of coverage in a multitude of places (work, home, gym, etc) on the old radios. I havent looked at the dbm's but visually it's different. might be something for someone interested to look into.
btw, im in fresno, ca.

bubarub said:
mine is not really a problem but I had way more bars of coverage in a multitude of places (work, home, gym, etc) on the old radios. I havent looked at the dbm's but visually it's different. might be something for someone interested to look into.
btw, im in fresno, ca.
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Well Google changed how the signal is read visually through the bars to provide a more accurate reading. You should look at dbm
Toro | Xylon | Diamond

Having the same experience here (Whidbey Island, Washington) where the 4g signal clings on until it absolutely had to fall back to 3g. New radios may be contributing, but the change in coding to report lower signals may have improved the ability to hang on to a 4g signal. Hand off seems pretty slick too, but that's likely a function of the new radios that came in the OTA.
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