Can I increase signal strength? - Samsung Galaxy Nexus

I'm going to be moving to a basement next week that has glimpses of signal with Bell provider in Canada. I noticed as I was looking to rent a place but I have no options as housing is hard to find in Fort McMurray....
Is there way to increase signal strength so I have a signal at all times? Is galaxy nexus just weaker at signals in general? I need to be able to know when I missed a call or a text. Any ideas?

There are signal boosters available but they are pretty expensive, here is one:
http://www.amazon.com/zBoost-YX-510-Signal-Booster-Dual-Band/dp/B000J2XZ1K
There is also a company called Wilson Electronics, I think, they also make boosters, but again the price is steep.
For a single user it might not make sense, an office building maybe.
There are also smaller units that work with one phone:
http://www.repeaterstore.com/applications/portable.html
Here is a review for one, they seem to work well for $100:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiljQLCOE4U

Related

Booster

Hi all,
I have checked with O2 and apparently I am in an area which should have a very strong signal, which is not the case.
As soon as I arrive home I get absolutely no signal whatsoever. A client completely lost his mobile signal when he came here the other day.
Therefore, could you please let me know if I am able to obtain a signal booster for the XDA II and the cost of it.
Regards
Shaun
Hopefully youre not referring to these metal stickers that claim better reception of the gsm signal. There are many threads / sites on that subject. Conslusion: IT CANNOT AND WILL NOT WORK.
Only thing that works with these stickers is that the sellers gets money . . .
Signal, (or lack of it)
Hi, If you ever find a way of increasing the signal I sure could do with the information. Here in Herefordshire the signal is lousy. It doesn't help that my house has 3ft thick walls!
Steve

Sprint Signal Strength

Do you have worse data signal reception (and use) with Sprint vs. Verizon indoors?
More often than not, inside a store or restaurant in an 'excellent coverage' area, Sprint's data network is not usable (connection timeouts) where as surfing on Verizon is no problem.
I suspect a combination of Sprint Rev A and possibly cell density / Sprint using lower signal strength.
I didn't get a lot of response in the top Networking thread, so I thought I would post with fellow Sprint/ Evo 4G users.
other sim thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1501051
Hey,
It all comes down to you get what you pay for, sprint has amazing phones with ok at best service sorry if anyone takes offence but its true. When on big red you are paying a lot but you get good phones and strong service its just how it is sadly. Sometimes I have great data in stores others I dont it just depends on the cell tower and how the building is built, but like I said it just comes down to you get what you pay for!
Stevo
While you would think the signal would be similar, since both Sprint and Verizon are CDMA, it's not.
On sprint, there is a tower less than 2 blocks from my house. Outside I get full bars, but the second I step inside my house, I get knocked down to 1 bar. Using the Verizon PRL, I also get full bars outside, but when I step inside, I only lose one bar, and get 5/6 bars consistently. The same thing happens at a few restaurants around town, sprint gets 0 bars inside, but almost full bars as soon as I step outside, but with verizon, the signal stays the same in and out.
Thanks guys. This is exactly my issue. For some reason, in larger market cities, this is less of a problem.
I wish I could find a technical reason. There seems to be a discrepancy too in the quality of data signal with sprint's own towers.
And I don't buy in to the 'you get what you pay for'. My wife and I pay $1800 a year for 'unlimited everything and the first 4G network with enhanced devices that connect to high speed data'
I hope this isn't out of context but it seemed to be the most relavent thread for my issue.
Typically I haven't had many issues with my Sprint server (I'm in the Denver metro area) however over the last few days every call I get on the end voice is choppy, and eventually will cut out. When monitoring my signal it will jump from 3 or 5 bars to zero and then back up again.
I do have a rooted phone, however the ROM I'm using has the stock kernel and the most up to date radio.
I guess my question is, has anyone experienced any issues like this over the past few days? Is it possible that I'm having a hardware issue and need to un-root my phone and take it to the sprint store?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm not quite sure how to start the problem solving process. Thanks!
IrideAgro said:
Thanks guys. This is exactly my issue. For some reason, in larger market cities, this is less of a problem.
I wish I could find a technical reason. There seems to be a discrepancy too in the quality of data signal with sprint's own towers.
And I don't buy in to the 'you get what you pay for'. My wife and I pay $1800 a year for 'unlimited everything and the first 4G network with enhanced devices that connect to high speed data'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats a lot for that plan. I use to have and switched to the $70 one due to the fact that I barely call land lines anymore. You might want to look into the other plans to save some money.
Now as far as the signal problem...it really depends on the phone, freq, rom, area and the building. I dont have the problems that you have..in face ppl with vw have that problem around me.
edlokien said:
Thats a lot for that plan. I use to have and switched to the $70 one due to the fact that I barely call land lines anymore. You might want to look into the other plans to save some money.
Now as far as the signal problem...it really depends on the phone, freq, rom, area and the building. I dont have the problems that you have..in face ppl with vw have that problem around me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, Lets see, Family unlimited plan with two Evos (+$20) - with a discount on the line. Use to be under $130/month, now it is at $146/month. So not sure what you are talking about regarding price.
Regarding your signal response, I was looking for something actually technical and informative.
IrideAgro said:
Um, Lets see, Family unlimited plan with two Evos (+$20) - with a discount on the line. Use to be under $130/month, now it is at $146/month. So not sure what you are talking about regarding price.
Regarding your signal response, I was looking for something actually technical and informative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds about right Iride. We have a family unlimited plan here as well with an Evo and an iPhone 4s and I think we're somewhere in the $160 range with insurance and everything.
On the technical side I've posted a few times in other threads pertaining to the same issue but haven't heard back.
It seems my service is now only sporadic at home, but I can't confirm that fully just yet. I was downtown (Denver) using my phone yesterday and it seemed just fine, however when I returned home any call I made immediately had a sporadic choppy voice. This is strange to me as I've never had bad signal here until now. That's over 2+ years of living in this same apartment.
Maybe this is something on Sprint's end. This may be a silly question, but when calling for tech support, they can't tell if you've rooted your phone or not right? It would only be if you took it in to get serviced without unrooting?
Hope to figure out something soon...

Verizon Galaxy Nexus Reception and Call quality

Hi,
I am looking to buy Samsung Galaxy Nexus and upgrade my Verizon contract. I didn't see good reviews for this phone. I heard lot of complaints about poor signal reception, call quality and battery life (reviews like PCMAG and others). I am not too worried about the camera but if the signal and call dropping is real problem, then I don't think it's worth considering this phone.
Anyone experienced any issues? If so, is there a fix?
Please help me making a decision.
Thanks,
Kala
i havent had any issues with call dropping or anything like that
signal in my area is very very strong (full LTE coverage, full bars) so i cant comment on that part
I get full bars of 4G where I live, and 30mb/s, but then again I live in Manhattan.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Not sure where you're looking at reviews, but Verizon, Amazon, Best Buy, and WireFly all average ratings of 4+ out of 5.
FWIW, I live in OKC and came from an LG Revolution that always had full strength. My Gnex seams to normally have 2/3 out of 4 bars, but I've never lost signal and get the same speeds I did on the Revo.
I've never had a dropped call on this phone. I live in Tucson and I get 2-3 bars of 4g usually at around 20mb/s.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
The thing that messes measurements up for people, and has unjustly lead to a poor reputation, is:
1) Non-4.0 phones never report LTE signal strength. They will always show CDMA signal strength. Since the LTE network is a lot patchier than it should be given the low frequency it operates on, people assume the 10db difference is due to phones. It is not (google AnandTech Galaxy Nexus if you want to see an exhaustive test). Switching the phone to CDMA-only will put it on-par with other devices.
2) The phone uses considerable hysteresis (averaging the signal over a period of time) when calculating its signal strength. You literally have to two phones next to each other and wait for 10 seconds for the GN to accrue enough data to give you an accurate reading. Most phones will give you the last reported strength, so you'll see the dbm reading change every half second based on slight changes in angle and atmospheric conditions.
The Nexus is at least as good as the OG Motorola Droid (the only phone I've compared it to side-by-side), with a variance of +/-3 dbm, which is probably within the margin of error for these things. And at least in my experience, it will NOT drop a call. I've held calls in areas that had almost no signal (zero bars, -120dbm reading), and while the call got choppy when I ducked under some steel structures, it didn't disconnect. Having used AT&T, T-Mobile and US Cellular recently, I don't know if it's phone or network, but it's impressive.
Just make sure you close apps with ads on them through multi-tasking button (swipe them away), turn GPS off, turn 4G off and battery will last you an entire day with texts, calls, web serving and playing apps. No dropped call or signal issues, camera doesnt focus that well even after touching the auto focus. I would buy this phone again in a heartbeat.
I had two of these. The first wouldn't charge. It also kept loosing the 4G signal. This meant dropped calls and messages not being sent. I picked up a "New" replacement and the phone charged fine. The dropped signal issue persisted with the new device. BTW, I'm in Albuquerque NM.
I tried several radios, but to no avail. The call quality isnt very good either. I really wanted to keep the phone, but have no use for a device that will only work flawlessly on 3G. I was even willing to sacrifice call quality because I don't talk very much on my phone.
Google the Nexus and connection issues. You'll get a grip of links to read about signal loss. The problem seems to be area specific. You may have no problems. I now have the Galaxy Note. Works well, but ATT is slower than VZW in my area (No LTE). The call quality is the best I've ever experienced. Now waiting for ICS.
Steve
A far as call quality goes, on the Verizon GNex, it's really awful. I often find myself asking people to repeat themselves a lot more than I should. My old Samsung Solstice (feature phone) had much better call quality but then again that was on AT&T. Also until it's fixed you have to deal with people on the other end of the conversation occasionally not being able to hear you, its happened to me twice now.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
You are insenuating it is the network that affects your call quality.
It is not. I don't think anyone will argue that a feature phone is better as a phone, than a smartphone is, as a phone. Call quality is not the reason you buy a smartphone.
I have had nothing but problems w the lte gnex. In side by side comparison between the gnex, Droid 4 and the stratosphere the gnex will say -120 dbm while the others will b in the -75 to -85 range. On top of that the othe to phones hold on to 4g much better. In places where the nexus has -120 dbm 3g signal pulling 500kbs the other 2 phones have nearly full 4g bars pulling 25mbs. On top of that the nexus can take up to 10mins to switch from 4g to 3g and vice versa while the others take 30 secs max. The gnex is the best phone I've had but after 2 replacements and trying every radio combo available I just cant deal with this BS any more
I have similar experience. While I can receive a signal about 80% of the time with the 4G network, while I am on that network, my call voice quality is horrible. What I hear is fine, what other people hear from my voice is unacceptable. I have been on Verizon tech support, many days and hours trying to get this resolved.
From what I have read above, I have to agree with everyone that is trying to say that this is not a network issue. I agree. it is the phone, plain and simple. I used the Galaxy S II, and that is possibly the best phone I have ever owned. That was on the Sprint network. I had to switch to Verizon because where I moved, I had no Sprint signal. When I switched to Verizon, that phone was not available. I chose the Nexus. I should have waited for the S3.
I don't know what to do at this point. 4 months of phone replacement, SIM card replacement, PRL updates, Phone OS updates, etc. Verizon is calling me back again tomorrow in the continuing saga of call quality diagnostics...
I will try to keep everyone up to date, if you are interested.
No problems here. After the 4.0.4 update the random reboots stopped. Calls have always been clear, and even clearer after the update. Recently upgraded my wife's phone to a GNex and same deal - no problems. Were in and out of 4g in the Puget Sound area and switching is not an issue. Happens fast and for the most part flawless. Only on a few rare occasions does the phone seem confused and stop getting a data connection for a few minutes.
Sent from my Xoom using xda premium
bad radio?
I have had issues with outbound call quality. The person on the other end says I sound like Charlie Brown's teacher, Wawahwa wa wawwa. First time it happened I went to Verizon and they swapped out the SIM. Good to go for a couple weeks then it started again. Back to VZW and they sent a replacement phone which i transferred the second SIM to. Great for a few weeks and back to VZW for a THIRD SIM. This morning I got the OTA 4.2.2 and Im back in class with Charlie. Im wondering if its the radio at this point...ideas?
the issue is the radio.
I 100% hated this phone.
I had it for almost 2 years and I've been threw 3 of them, all had the worst call quality Ive ever seen in a phone. to the point it couldnt even make a phone call. random screeching sounds, dropped calls, I would hear the person but they wouldnt hear me. I had to take it back for the USB plug on it breaking, had a REAL bad screen once where it would burn in after being on for not even 10 secs. Nothing but problems
I have real strong signal strength in my area so having on these issues is un called for and NOT looking good on verizon.
I hated this phone so much I ended up buying a GS3 on ebay and never looked back
I do NOT recommend this phone to anybody.

I can't believe how great the reception is!

I've had a few phones, and this one blows the others away for call clarity and reception. I work in downtown Minneapolis in a building that is notorious for bad signal strength - all phones, all carriers. Period.
Until now, anyway
I'm the only one who can place / receive calls in certain parts of the building, and it works AMAZINGLY well! Even in the elevators!
Sorry, just had to tell someone, and I couldn't find just the right thread. Oh, and VVM is pretty awesome, too
This phone has most of the things I've been looking for on a phone. It's beautiful, great call quality, great reception, fast LTE speed and a fluid and stable OS. I get 2 bars on LTE in places other people get no signal.
eknutson said:
I've had a few phones, and this one blows the others away for call clarity and reception. I work in downtown Minneapolis in a building that is notorious for bad signal strength - all phones, all carriers. Period.
Until now, anyway
I'm the only one who can place / receive calls in certain parts of the building, and it works AMAZINGLY well! Even in the elevators!
Sorry, just had to tell someone, and I couldn't find just the right thread. Oh, and VVM is pretty awesome, too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree 100%! I have a customer that needed a cellular repeater installed for use in the basement. I had to swap the unit out the other day and while it was off I checked my phone...1 to 2 bars where every other phone/provider is dead in the water including my old Surround. Reception is amazing!
Gotta love that polycarbonate body.
eknutson said:
I've had a few phones, and this one blows the others away for call clarity and reception. I work in downtown Minneapolis in a building that is notorious for bad signal strength - all phones, all carriers. Period.
Until now, anyway
I'm the only one who can place / receive calls in certain parts of the building, and it works AMAZINGLY well! Even in the elevators!
Sorry, just had to tell someone, and I couldn't find just the right thread. Oh, and VVM is pretty awesome, too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thought I was the only one who saw this. I work in Coon Rapids in a building that gave me 0 bars with T-Mobile all day everyday.
Switched to At&t and I get full 4g in every corner of the building on my Lumia. It's great
I agree, one of our locations in in an old town vault in the basement.. with terrible terrible reception. I have no problems with the Lumia 900. It is quite fantastic
My HD2 running WP7 never worked in the elevator in my condo. I get 1 bar and 3G in there now with my 900.
Awesome
One thing I have been happy with is the GPS reception. I been in some areas where my Infuse would lose GPS in Austin and not a single issue with my Nokia. Plus is almost instant logging on to the GPS satellites. As for the reception for phone, yes I have notice super great reception in a dead zone at my job. It's basically like night and day. Although I'm a hard Android fan, I'm very happy to be back on a Nokia quality hardware.

[Long Term Review]Wilson Electronics DB Pro 800/1900Mhz Repeater

I have been using the Wilson Electronics DB Pro Adjustable Gain 800/1900Mhz Smart Technology II Signal Booster http://www.wilsonelectronics.com/store/display/40/46/db-pro for the better part of a year now.
The unit comes standard with an indoor antenna and an outdoor omni-directional antenna. A directional antenna can be substituted at a cost for even more remote rural areas. It comes with all mounting hardware and 3 lengths (20’, 30’ and 50’) of coax cable.
I opted for the omni-directional as I have a nearby tower but it seems I am in a black hole for service. I mounted min about 40ft up on a TV Antenna tower after removing the obsolete UHF/VHF Antenna.
Before using the unit I only ever had 0-1 bars of service in my home and very low data speeds.
I first used it on Verizon Wireless and found my signal strength to go from 0-1 bar (-100 to -120dBm) to an average of 4-5 bars (-65dBm to-85dBm). My data speeds more than tripled from an avg of below 56kb/s-100kb/s to around 500kb/s down +/- with an upload at approx 1.2Mbps.
I get similar results on Sprint since switching to them. Both the VZW and Sprint phones are the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
This particular unit only boosts the 800 and 1900 Mhz bands so the VZW 4G will not be boosted. The Sprint 4G however would be since it is 1900 Mhz band. Call quality is great compared choppy and dropped calls I had prior.
My nearest tower is 5.7 miles away and the other is about 14 miles. Back in July 2012 my nearest tower to me was down for weeks and this little unit reached to the 14 mile away tower without loss of signal or speed.
I recently had an issue with the device where the 1900 Mhz band stopped working at maximum. I contacted Wilson Electronics Technical Support Representative Juan and he set me up with an RMA to send the unit back after a few emails to fully explain the issue (if only our carriers were this pleasant to deal with). I received quick replies to my questions and he was a pleasure to deal with.
The new replacement is already on its way back now. I have no doubts that the unit will be as flawless as the first one.
If you have a low signal issue from your CDMA or GSM cell carrier (they have GSM models as well that service other bands) I would highly suggest this repeater.
Good build quality and excellent customer service are well worth the price tag.
It is relatively easy to set up and once it is set up you should never have to mess with it again.
What carriers don’t tell you is they only guarantee service if your within 5 miles of a tower on avg. If your outside that range you get an “I’m sorry”.
That’s where these folks and these wonderful units come in.
The replacement is working like a dream
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Good to know these are available, I have pretty abysmal service at my house.
speedyink said:
Good to know these are available, I have pretty abysmal service at my house.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll all but guarantee this will fix your issue...its a godsend for me...spend yes but worth it in the long run IMHO
Sent from my Full AOSP on Toroplus using Tapatalk 2
Tmobile and 800/1900MHz antenna booster
I am looking at purchasing this. It gets good reviews on Amazon as well but I am wondering if it will help my data connection on tmobile - I think 4g is on 1700MHz, so I am wondering if this antenna would help at all or just improve call reception.
Any info is appreciated - thanks
Nice, I was thinking of picking up something like this but unsure of the performance. $500 though....ouch!
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If it was easy you'd of hired the guy at Home Depot to to it.

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