WANT!
Anyone know where I can get one for cheap.
Doesn't even have to be branded to work with it, as long as it does.
Oh and question, under the camera mirror, which antenna is that? I'm thinking wifi, but I have no idea xD
I sure do! I live in a remote area, so an external antenna comes in VERY handy. I bought mine from this guy - -> http://cgi.ebay.com/13dBi-External-...id=p4634.c0.m14&_trkparms=|301:1|293:1|294:30 .
The antenna works great, went from 2 bars to 4 sometimes 5. And everything is included (Antenna,Adapter Cable). Great shipping too. I got mine in 3 days.
You plug the adapter into the plug under the camera mirror. That is for the phone. Not sure, but I think that encompasses the WiFi as well. No experience with that, I don't have WiFi out here. I have it placed on my metal air conditioner because I think it needs a magnetic ground plane.
**Edit**
I used it when I went into town the other day. Placed the antenna on top of my car. Loaded up WiFiFoFum and got close to 50 WiFi Signals. Detached the antenna and had same amount, so not sure if the antenna helps with WiFi or not. I think if you are not within 300 ft. of a WiFi signal, you're not going to get it anyway.
Wilson electronics makes an adapter that will plug into the external antenna jack under the back cover. I tried it, and it worked great... until I disconnected it. Then the internal antenna would no longer work. It's like the act of plugging it in destroyed the phone's ability to use its internal antenna. It would work when I reconnected the external antenna, but when I disconnected it, the phone would only get any signal strength when I was right under a cell tower.
Anyone else try one of their adapters with the Captivate? If so, what were the results?
-nfs
Sent from wherever I was when I sent it.
I had no idea that input jack was there until you said anything. What happens if you switch airplane mode on and off after the disconnect of the adapter?
nappent said:
I had no idea that input jack was there until you said anything. What happens if you switch airplane mode on and off after the disconnect of the adapter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't remember if I tried it, but it was restarted many times. I would think that power cycling the phone would have essentially the same effect.
Sent from wherever I was when I sent it.
I saw this but never had the courage to try it. Did you pull the battery and try the 3 button fix?
photo please?
This should clarify things
TommyZee said:
photo please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the round gold connector at the bottom right of the SIM card. The adapter (FME on the other end) is available here:
http://www.wpsantennas.com/359919-samsung-captivate-galaxy-s-antenna-adapter-cable.aspx
After one BAD experience, I'm not eager to try again. I was sort of hoping that my experience was a fluke and that other people had been more successful.
Why?
capnoob said:
I saw this but never had the courage to try it. Did you pull the battery and try the 3 button fix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never occurred to me to do that, since the phone booted and it would work when very near a cell tower.
This struck me as either a defect in manufacture, or a design flaw... either in the phone or in the connector. I suspect it was mechanical in nature, and that once the act of connecting the adapter disconnected the internal antenna, something caused it to stay disconnected.
I wonder if this might have happened?
Read the part under "How To Know If a Cellular Yagi Will Work With Your Phone"
http://www.ehelpfultips.com/how_to_use_cell_phone_yagi_direc.htm
capn1 said:
I wonder if this might have happened?
Read the part under "How To Know If a Cellular Yagi Will Work With Your Phone"
http://www.ehelpfultips.com/how_to_use_cell_phone_yagi_direc.htm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
I was using a dual band antenna without an amplifier, so there should not have been too much SWR. I've used this antenna for years with another phone AND an amplifier without problems.
The evidence clearly indicates that phone's transmitter was not burned out due to too much SWR or anything else, because it would still work just fine when reconnected to the external antenna. Ditto for the phone's receiver section; it worked fine whenever it was connected to the external antenna. Once connected, thereafter the signal bars went to zero when it was disconnected. Also, as I mentioned, the phone would still function normally, if I was VERY near a cell tower.
The only conclusion I can make is that the connector was designed to disconnect the internal antenna when an external antenna is connected. Somehow the connector or the electronics failed to ever reconnect it when the external was disconnected.
Sent from wherever I was when I sent it.
try reflashing a modem
It's NOT a firmware problem
I know you guys are trying to help, but it's not a firmware problem. It's a hardware problem. I was just trying to see if anyone else had a similar experience. I just talked with Wilson Electronics, and the guy I spoke with acknowledged that the connector or board can be damaged on the Captivate. He also volunteered that they don't recommend direct connection with that phone. Well, that's kind of odd, since I only learned of the connector by calling them up and asking which one to use with the phone.
Even though I did not buy the adapters from them, I bought them on the recommendation of one of their people, so I have contacted them to get my money back. We'll see; they haven't responded officially yet. I suppose I can contact the vendor, but they were not the ones who told me it would work...
They have another way to inductively connect the phone. The only problem is that my old amplifier won't work for that. I'll have to get a model 801201 instead of my old 812201 which will run another $250 or so, with a cradle and/or velcro attached inductive connector.
comdei said:
try reflashing a modem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well guess what!!?? You are in luck!!!
Theres something you can do with hardware problems..
CALL SAMSUNG
your phone is under 1 year old. you have a warranty. call them. flash to stock . and get it replaced then
Why don't you try reflashing the modem or rom? People are offering you solutions and you seem stuck on it being a hardware issue. A rom or modem re-flash takes a few mins of your time. Not to start anything but I do support for a living and it bugs the hell out of me when people jump the gun and won't try other solutions.
I am stuck on the evidence as to what the nature of the problem is. Did you read what I posted previously?
Let me tell you a little more. At the time I had the problem, the phone was still on the factory firmware. The phone had never been flashed.
All the available evidence points to a hardware problem. The fact that the phone worked when in close proximity to a cell tower, that as soon as there was any distance between the tower and the phone there were no signal bars, but if I plugged the external antenna in there was immediately good signal...the fact that the connector manufacturer has admitted that their adapter could damage the board... I don't mean to be unapreciative, but I do support, too (a well a writing the software itself), and I've learned to really think about the available information when trying to deduce the nature of a problem, and it seems to me that you are stuck on a conclusion that the evidence doesn't support.
Besides, I am not looking for help here. As I wrote previously, I was trying to find out if anyone has had a similar experience. If my experience was a fluke, then I would have been willing to try connecting the replacement phone. See, the problem has been solved, but I don't want to have it again.
Now that the manufacturer has admitted that their connector could damage the board, I have decided to get a different type of amplifier which allows an inductive connection. That should prevent further problems of this nature. It's an expensive solution, but an antenna with a bi-directional amp is really useful when you are in a remote area with a faint signal. When the signal is too weak for that, it's time to use the ham radio... but that's another topic, and yes, I have been known to take my jeep off road... way way off the road.
nappent said:
Why don't you try reflashing the modem or rom? People are offering you solutions and you seem stuck on it being a hardware issue. A rom or modem re-flash takes a few mins of your time. Not to start anything but I do support for a living and it bugs the hell out of me when people jump the gun and won't try other solutions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from wherever I was when I sent it.
nfs_phone said:
Now that the manufacturer has admitted that their connector could damage the board, I have decided to get a different type of amplifier which allows an inductive connection. That should prevent further problems of this nature. It's an expensive solution, but an antenna with a bi-directional amp is really useful when you are in a remote area with a faint signal. When the signal is too weak for that, it's time to use the ham radio... but that's another topic, and yes, I have been known to take my jeep off road... way way off the road.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So samsung admitted it is a known problem? Are you sending it in for warranty then?
Trusselo said:
So samsung admitted it is a known problem? Are you sending it in for warranty then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was referring to the manufacturer of the adapter, not the phone. Samsung was made aware of the problem when I was trouble-shooting the problem. The tech I was talking to blamed the problem on me for using third party accessories not authorized by Samsung. However, since I had been acting in good faith, he did authorize my sending the phone in for warranty repair. I don't know if they can be counted upon to always do that.
I am left wondering how often this problem happens. I used the antenna connector on the back of my Motorola V3xx thousands of times with no issues. It seems really odd to have just connected the Cappy once and suffered such a problem. One key difference is that I don't think that the V3xx disconnected the internal antenna when you connect the external one.
Sent from wherever I was when I sent it.
I've seen similar behavior when one of my foster kids mistook the antenna for a screw while disassembling a blackberry.
The antenna jack is a "normalizing " jack in that when you plug something in a circuit is disconnected and when you unplug it restores the circuit.
if there was a problem with the adapter and it applied too much pressure to the middle pin then it may not have normalized and you would only get signal if you sat under a tower.
This is exactly what happened with the poor blackberry.
Glad to hear Sammy is covering it with warranty, other wise you would have been the proud owner of the only door wedge that plays angry birds.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Interesting. Not sure I understand what you mean by normalizing nor"middle" pin, but it was pretty clear that the internal antenna was no longer connected. Of course the unit was not entirely useless as a phone, but the requirement of having to always have it connected to an external antenna to get it to work did make it a tad cumbersome to use...
pawadca said:
I've seen similar behavior when one of my foster kids mistook the antenna for a screw while disassembling a blackberry.
The antenna jack is a "normalizing " jack in that when you plug something in a circuit is disconnected and when you unplug it restores the circuit.
if there was a problem with the adapter and it applied too much pressure to the middle pin then it may not have normalized and you would only get signal if you sat under a tower.
This is exactly what happened with the poor blackberry.
Glad to hear Sammy is covering it with warranty, other wise you would have been the proud owner of the only door wedge that plays angry birds.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from wherever I was when I sent it.
I'd agree that it's a hardware problem, it may actually be that the internal antenna is burned out. I had a similar problem with the wifi on my old ipod.
I used an aftermarket charger which shorted something inside the device. Consequently, the battery would not hold a charge for longer than 15 minutes AND the it would not recognize a wifi signal, unless I held the ipod within inches of the router. Similar to what you experience with the cell towers, except on a smaller scale.
Good luck.
Burning out the antenna itself would require the kind of amperage generated by a lightning strike. Much more likely that even in your situation some circuitry connecting your antenna to the phone blew out.
In my case there was no overvoltage, just a mechanical connection. I think something just got bent beyond its ability to bend back from... I'm guessing here, but I can see a bar inside the antenna connector. When the center pin of the adapter is pushed into the connector, it will make contact with that bar (the bar is at the side of the opening at 90 degrees to the center pin of the adapter) and pushes it to the side to some extent. I am not sure, but I think that maybe it was pushed a tiny bit too far, and it wasn't able to spring back to its original position. I am assuming that when it is pushed to the side it causes the connection to the internal antenna to be disconnected and that its contact with the center pin of the adapter is the connection to the antenna. I am further concluding that if it doesn't spring back to its original position, that the internal antenna is never reconnected.
jwolfburg said:
I'd agree that it's a hardware problem, it may actually be that the internal antenna is burned out. I had a similar problem with the wifi on my old ipod.
I used an aftermarket charger which shorted something inside the device. Consequently, the battery would not hold a charge for longer than 15 minutes AND the it would not recognize a wifi signal, unless I held the ipod within inches of the router. Similar to what you experience with the cell towers, except on a smaller scale.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from wherever I was when I sent it.
Hey guys, just got my DInc2 Monday and found that the signal strength was no better than the Eris I had before it. The problem with the eris was that there was nowhere to connect an external antenna. After messing around with my new DInc2, and reading this forum, I found that by using the antenna that I bought for my eris: http://www.amazon.com/Wilson-Electronics-Trucker-Mirror-Antenna/dp/B001DTZ25A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323615483&sr=8-1
and the passive antenna adapter
http://3gstore.com/product/1691_passive_antenna_adapter.html
that I never could get to work to boost my eris' signal, I was able to DRAMATICALLY increase my signal and data speeds!!!
I have the antenna pointed in the general area of my closest tower.
I cut the end off the adapter, and stripped the wire. I then slid the wire into the antenna contact on the PHONE SIDE...not the cover. I went from 2 bars of signal and an average of -95dbi without the antenna, to a STEADY 3 bars and an average of -86dbi with the antenna. The back cover has to be off for this to work, so it's only a fix if you are at home, or somewhere stable where you can just connect it and set the phone on a table somewhere.
If anybody knows where I can pick up some kind of small alligator clip or ANYTHING that would allow me to more permanently attach the antenna while I'm at home, I'd love to hear it. I think if I had a better connection between the phone and the antenna, the signal would be that much better.
Here are the speedtests I took this morning. The first three are without the antenna, and the 2nd three are with the antenna
Antenna fix
You could get a spare back and drill into the area where the connections are and solder the wire to the contacts on the back.
Try it with the stock antenna intact. If the signal is not better, interupt the trace of copper for the stock antenna.
Enjoy...
Poking around in the back of my phone, I pulled off a tiny rubber cover located just above the SD card slot. Just underneath is what appears to be an antenna port. I have a Wilson antenna that I used with an old flip phone from back in the day, but the adapter I had did not fit. I ordered this one off of E-bay: Wilson 359909 Antenna Adapter LG, Motorola, Samsung,HTC (160641678739) - even though it did not explicitly state it would work on the Dinc2. In the meantime I spliced off the end of the adapter I already had and put the exposed wire in the antenna port. I noted an immediate increase of signal strength of -5dbm. Unfortunately, the ebay adapter arrived and it also does not fit. I think if we could find the right size adapter, we could drilll a hole in the back of the cover and it should seat nicely. Anyone have any thoughts?
I see that port. I didn't get any signal at all when I put my wire into it though. Anybody know what this port is for if not for an antenna? I find it hard to believe that nobody has noticed this before.
I find it hard to believe that nobody has noticed this before.
I agree. Maybe wishful thinking got the best of me!
I just hope there's something to this!
I shoulda thought more before posting. There is no doubt in my mind that I got a signal increase with the external antenna as compared to the last signal reading prior to taking off the cover (and having no signal at all).
Question is - could I have inadvertently touched something else in addition to that port?
At work till tomorrow afternoon and will retest then.
It IS an antenna port
I have attached pictures of the "setup", and a screen shot displaying my dbm's with the cover off and the antenna attached. Cover on signal status was -96 dBm and with the antenna attached it was -87 dBm.
Hopefully this will get someone a lot smarter than me interested in figuring out what kind of adapter would work on this port.
Thanks in advance for any and all feedback!
View attachment IMG_20111215_105537.bmp View attachment 2011-12-15_11-06-09_540.bmp View attachment 2011-12-15_11-07-26_527.bmp View attachment screenshot-1323982757531.bmp
Umm i get 2meg download speed with no app and the back on. Remember the phones internal antennal is actually the back door of the phone. Did you do those first speed tests with the back on? Try flashing a new radio. The newest one ending in .1111 is great!
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA App
Thanks for the advice! I flashed the .1111 radio a couple days ago and have noticed that the dead spots on my 1.5 hour drive to work have gotten shorter and my average dl speeds have increased from an average of .5 Mbps to about 1.2 Mbps
My hope is that with the right adapter, I could plug in an external antenna (pictured in my previous post) and cause those dead spots to disappear all together.
By taking the back cover off and plugging the bare wire of the adapter into the port directly above the SIM card slot, I get better reception than I had with the back cover on. Problem is, it's a very precarious connection. I think if I could find an adapter that actually fit in that port, I could drill a hole in the back of the cover and plug and unplug as needed.
Hey guys I was wondering if anyone here knows where to get a cheap cellphone signal extender. i just got the GS3 and the signal is horrid. i knew my house is in a weak signal area but at least i was able to send texts and make calls. I am missing calls and unable to send texts on our 2 S3's. I see on their website it is sold for a lot of money ( at least for me) and i need to know what my options are.
any insight would be greatly appreciated.
thanks guys
My girlfriend found one for me on craigslist for like $50. Only problem is its the 3g version so I can't pull 4g from it so it just collects dust for now.
Sent from my ThunderBolt using Tapatalk 2
thanks bro. i don't care about 3g or 4g i have a wifi router. i am only interested in cellphone signals in my home.i am smack dab between 3 towers. i have to walk outside to make or receive calls.
OK guys i bought a zboost cellphone signal extender. and it really works as described kinda. i screwed up and bought the metro version with a cheap indoor antenna that sticks to a window indoors instead of the one with the outdoor antenna.it is saying it works up to 1500 SQ FT. but i only get a really good signal like in a 6 ft radius of the base station. I wonder if i could hook it up to an old tv antenna that is up on my roof. it has the same type of connection. like a cable tv connection. anyone try this? i just don't want to burn the damn thing out.
Ok, I've got a old Note 3 still chugging along. The USB port was starting to get so loose I was having difficulties even with new USB cords. So I figured I'd swap out the board as it's a pretty simple swap (or so I expected). This isn't the first time I've done internal repairs, boards swaps, etc.
I replaced the old charge port board with the new one, made sure the 3G antenna cable was re-attached, and fired up the phone. All seemed fine. The connections were good and the speakerphone and mic worked (one frequent complaint of bad replacement boards). But, I was on Wifi and didn't notice until the next day that... Mobile data would drop frequently, my phone would frequently go to 4G only (something I rarely saw previously, it's usually straight into 4GLTE here in Chicago) and mobile data was very unreliable. Frequently I'd lose all bars and even if it was showing 3bars and 4G (not LTE), I wouldn't have data. I rarely do calls so I'm not sure if calls would go through.
So I opened the phone again, and checked the connections. All looked good. I used my fluke to test continuity from the ground side of the cable on the motherboard through to the pins on the USB chargeboard (where they connect to the outer back case antenna). All continuous. Resistances are all very low, even on the old board. Still messed up data and cell signal. Hmm, the lower antenna is only the 3G connection I think. Perhaps I have a bad charge board after all. I swapped the original USB board back in, but it still had the same problem.
At this point, I'm not sure what the issue is (other than I have a big problem). Is it possible the antenna embedded in the rear housing is bad or was damaged during removal? I cleaned all the connectors multiple times (first with isopropyl, then with DeoxIT Gold). I have my previous Sprint Note 3, but I don't know if the 3G antenna would be compatible (perhaps it's close enough I could use it to test). Anyone have any ideas on what I could have missed?
Thanks!