Ok so this is a weird one. When I unlock my phone after about 15 seconds on standby, the signal bars sort of count down from 5 bars to 2 bars. It doesn't just go to 2 bars, it goes 5-4-3-2 as if you were doing a count down. I have already reset my device, clearing everything but some essential pictures and music. I know it isn't the reception in the area, I've had an average of 4 to 5 bars with my note 2 and every phone I've had in the past 7 or 8 years. In fact, the other devices on my plan do not have this issue aside from the S5 on another line within our plan. The other devices are 2 basic phones and an S3. I rarely make phone calls and when I do, it's less than 5 minutes on average. The line with the S5 makes frequent long-duration phone calls and has experienced dropped calls in nearly every phone call. This did not happen initially. This started a couple weeks ago to both of our devices. My device is more recently bought than the S5. The S5 also had a system update to lollipop, but the issue still persists.
I believe it could be software related to our devices, perhaps something is disrupting the signal when the device is on and in use. However, I do notice that when using data, the signal spikes up to 4 or 5 bars. I never noticed any slowing or disconnecting with data, but I haven't tested if the use of data would improve call reliability. It doesn't make much sense to me, so any help or input would be greatly appreciated. No payment of course
On a side note, why is the preferred network defaulted to Global? I changed it to CDMA/LTE since that's what my device and network is.
Thanks
Related
Hi,
So I got my wife a Note 4 last night. She loves it and the one thing that we've noticed about it is the amazing signal strength. It easily holds 4g in places that her old S3 would get stuck in 3g. I was also interested in the note 4 (as well as the Nexus 6 and the Droid Turbo), but wanted to wait for the black one to show up in our Best Buy. Unfortunately, today was the last chance to trade in my old Evo 4G for $200, so I had to buy today. When I got out of BB, I was playing with the phone a bit and answering a few texts that were waiting for me. My phone had 4 bars of 4g, and 91dbm/47asu. After a few minutes, it dropped to one bar, and 113dbm. I rebooted it and ended up back at 4 bars.
When I got home, I noticed that my wife's phone was consistently at 3 bars, while mine was at 2. I compared the two phones, and they had the exact same signal strength - 93dbm/46asu. How is it possible that my phone is on two bars while her's is at 3? I expected that if the phones were the same signal, they'd have the same number of bars.
I've tried restarting twice. I made sure that both phones were out of Global mode.
Thanks
usmaak said:
Hi,
So I got my wife a Note 4 last night. She loves it and the one thing that we've noticed about it is the amazing signal strength. It easily holds 4g in places that her old S3 would get stuck in 3g. I was also interested in the note 4 (as well as the Nexus 6 and the Droid Turbo), but wanted to wait for the black one to show up in our Best Buy. Unfortunately, today was the last chance to trade in my old Evo 4G for $200, so I had to buy today. When I got out of BB, I was playing with the phone a bit and answering a few texts that were waiting for me. My phone had 4 bars of 4g, and 91dbm/47asu. After a few minutes, it dropped to one bar, and 113dbm. I rebooted it and ended up back at 4 bars.
When I got home, I noticed that my wife's phone was consistently at 3 bars, while mine was at 2. I compared the two phones, and they had the exact same signal strength - 93dbm/46asu. How is it possible that my phone is on two bars while her's is at 3? I expected that if the phones were the same signal, they'd have the same number of bars.
I've tried restarting twice. I made sure that both phones were out of Global mode.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm you I would swap for another one. I had a brand new one on Oct 23 and it acting weird, I swap out for another new one and everything is good. I doesn't matter how minor the issue is, it could become major later. In your case your radio/signal is not normal. It's possible some issue with the radio. Just tell them that it randomly drops calls. Signal some time good and suddenly drop to no signal.
Unfortunate, because everything else about the phone seems good. It has a nice, even screen, and that's something that I never take for granted with devices that have screen. It does have some gap along the screen, but I don't really care about that. I've had to exchange every cell phone that I've ever had at least once, usually for screen issues.
Maybe I'll just return it, get my eligibility reset, and then wait it out. The only reason I jumped on it tonight was because it was the last day for Best Buy's 200 dollar phone exchange deal. I am content to wait and see how the Nexus 6 and Droid Turbo look.
I spent some more time with both devices. I noticed that both of them will show the bars jumping around while the signal strength stays pretty much stable. Sometimes I had four bars with a signal of 93dbm, and sometimes 3 bars, and occasionally it would drop down to 2 bars. Both phones do this. My old S3 always had stable bars. If 93dbm was 3 bars, it was always 3 bars. I used to work in a cube on the second floor of a building in the middle of a corn field. I always had 93dbm in my cube, and it always showed three bars.
So given that the exact same thing is happening on two phones, I wonder if Samsung just has to tweak their software a bit. In the case of what's happening to me, either the status is not correctly updating, or the bars are incorrectly fluctuating. Unless there's something that I don't understand about how all of this is supposed to work.
You might find a utility that puts the signal strength in the Status Bar instead of showing bars.
I have the white Note 4 from Verizon. Just wondering if anyone else is having the same issue.
I live in NYC and was expecting Verizon service to be consistently 4 bars or better but over the last week since I have had them it's hardly above 2. Can someone confirm if they also have this issue or is it just me.
Thanks in advance.
Datatrover said:
I have the white Note 4 from Verizon. Just wondering if anyone else is having the same issue.
I live in NYC and was expecting Verizon service to be consistently 4 bars or better but over the last week since I have had them it's hardly above 2. Can someone confirm if they also have this issue or is it just me.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm stuck with VZW as no one else has the coverage I need in my area. I've been through lots of devices in the last few years. I hung on to my Note 3 when I probably shouldn't have, as the signal was simply horrible and consistently much lower than other phones including my wife's Note2. I'm now back to great signal with the Note 4, in fact better than with any Sammy phone I've had (but not as good as Moto imho). If your signal is much worse than your previous phone, I'd seriously consider taking it back and replacing it.
Thanks for the feedback. I will definitely return it for a new one as It is only 10 days old. Thought I would as and see what other people's experience has been before I commit to a replacement.
I was never able to get a strong signal at my work with any other phone I owned. I am getting pretty steady coverage since using the the note 4.
bars mean nothing. is your data fast? are your texts sending? are your calls steady and not dropping?
my "bars" are lower than my g2 was but I've had clearer calls, no issues with texts like my g2 had, and my data is much faster.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 using Tapatalk.
Where in NYC?
Maybe your phone is connecting to band4? I just switched from 5S iphone and I don't see any difference.
Sent from my SM-N910V using XDA Free mobile app
I am in Williamsburg Brooklyn. The thing is the lower your signal the more your battery would be drained, which is why I am disappointed. I had tomobile and the bars never dropped below 4 in the city.
Yeah, I noticed the same thing but have had no issues with calls etc. It might be a 4G thing?
Datatrover said:
I am in Williamsburg Brooklyn. The thing is the lower your signal the more your battery would be drained, which is why I am disappointed. I had tomobile and the bars never dropped below 4 in the city.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am close to you near Greenpoint so close area.
In my apt I get 1-2 bars usually it's on Band4 when I get outside it's full bars.
I live in phoenix, Arizona get between 2-4 bars at home with my
Note 4 on Verizon. Do notice more lag when texting on WiFi or Data than my S3. Still love the Note 4 just notice lag while typing like 2 to 3 words lag at times not all the time. So it could be a app Eating The memory. Miss having my titanium and being able to freeze my apps.
Cheers,
You can increase the speed of the phones response time by going into developer settings and changing to ART. It makes typing on the keyboard way faster.
I rarely have more than 3 bars in my house with N4 too. My wife's N3 and my old N3 got full bars with greater signal levels. about 10-15dbm better. Not sure what is up with the N4. Ive read others have swapped it out a few times with same results too.
For 2.5 months I've been going round and round with AT&T with connectivity issues with my note 5 and my microcell. It happens about 50-75% of the time I will go to text or call someone it will disconnect from the Microcell. I have had 6 different techs say it isn't a known issue and one that says it is. My note 4 had no problems. The latest tech told me to give him until Tuesday to work this out one way or the other. Anyone else having the same issues?
Not the same but my phone will make a call but acts like it's on mute. On speaker, BT, or the phones built speaker.
Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk
I'm trying to figure out if this is a Samsung as a whole thing or just the Note 5 as my Note 4 was fine.
Microcell seems be playing move here. Seems there setting in Microcell y that takes hand offs, are something like it. But I sure u checked it all ready.
From space using SM-N920A.
So not sure if this helps but here is my experience. I went from a note 4 a note 5 and the white microcell didn't work at all. My wife's S5 worked fine as did my note 4. Att replaced the microcell with the newer black version. This did allow my note 5 to recognize the microcell and work. However, it does sometimes drop calls when I am on the phone for a while. Also, I notice in the morning the microcell has one or zero bars of service but still shows its connected. A power cycle of the phone works or the microcell does start to get service as I use the phone more. It's been good so far but not perfect.
Escobar27 said:
So not sure if this helps but here is my experience. I went from a note 4 a note 5 and the white microcell didn't work at all. My wife's S5 worked fine as did my note 4. Att replaced the microcell with the newer black version. This did allow my note 5 to recognize the microcell and work. However, it does sometimes drop calls when I am on the phone for a while. Also, I notice in the morning the microcell has one or zero bars of service but still shows its connected. A power cycle of the phone works or the microcell does start to get service as I use the phone more. It's been good so far but not perfect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I have the black microcell and I have tried all that. My microcell has all bars always as dose my note 5 until I go to text or call then it boots me off the Microcell I lose all bars on the phone except one. Then I reconnect to the Microcell sometimes it takes 3-4 times to work.
k5mitch said:
Thanks, I have the black microcell and I have tried all that. My microcell has all bars always as dose my note 5 until I go to text or call then it boots me off the Microcell I lose all bars on the phone except one. Then I reconnect to the Microcell sometimes it takes 3-4 times to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hello, hey i had the same issue with my note 5 and my wifes s6. They had to re register my cell a few times, and do some other of their black magic to get my note 5 to work. My wife s6 still did not work till they disabled something called hand off or something of that nature. Sorry i forget what its called been a few months since i had to deal with them. I had the white tower, then they sent me the black tower. I still have issues with dropped calls once and a while and some times have to restart phone to get it to connect to tower but. works better now then it did. Its not you and yeah they should know about it i called them to cancel my plan if they did not get it fixed.
I upgraded from a note 4 and had trouble with my N5 and my microcell. It never connected and the other three phones in the house did just fine. I went through a few steps with online chat. What finally worked was to remove the microcell from my account settings and then add it back. This forces a reinstall and complete set-up from scratch. the unit did a software update as part of the process. the whole process took 30-50 minutes. My N5 connected immediately upon completion and has been rock solid since.
I have the black microcell and the note 5. Only issue I have is sending MMS with it, but that is likely due to a configuration issue with my wifi. No voice or texting issues otherwise.
I have a newer black microcell and a Note 5... If i am connected to the Microcell while in a poor HD Voice (Voice over LTE) area... If my phone connects to the Microcell AND is on WiFi... half the time my calls go right to voicemail and I don't get my texts. It is even worse if someone sends a MMS photo, it seems like everything stops then and doesn't even attempt to connect. Funny thing is, if I turn off WiFi everything seems to work fine.... I just unplugged the microcell and am dealing with the less than stellar signal in my area... Where is the WiFi calling already? :-/
I was thinking about getting a micro cell. If there a deal? T mobile gives them.out for free now. Also, any health issues in having a cellntower in your home?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using XDA Free mobile app
I have absolutely ZERO issues using my old (pre=4G LTE) microcell with my Note 5.
I have a black micro cell tower and a note 5 and I have turned off the micro cell tower until I want to waste some more time with AT&T on the issues.
If you look outside the forum you will find a lot of complaints about the micro cell tower.
All my lights are on the micro cell tower have always been on since initial setup and a couple of service tries.
During one service call with a rep the phone call disconnected when all bars were on phone with micro cell connection indicated. That was the last time. I may try again sometime but for now it is unplugged. To many dropped calls and no connection or bars on phone. When I restart the phone it usually reconnects but it is still subject to dropped calls and unsent text messages.
I will comment back if it ever works correctly when I feel like trying tech support again.
Having issues as well. Note 5 on my old white/orange microcell worked perfectly, except of course no outgoing MMS. I got upgraded to the black newer microcell, $75 credit brought it down to $75, and there is a current rebate for that so it was free. Now my N5 drops calls, and at times doesn't show it as connected. Nothing comes up on troubleshooting with a rep, and they even had me change m SIM. Kind of funny, but I'll probably go back to the white/orange older microcell.
Microcell Note 5&4 issues
I've been having connecting issues with my microcell both white and black for sometime and recently discovered a remedy that baffles me. I have the Note 5 and my wife has the Note 4 and we both would go minutes to hours before the microcell would connect to our phones. AT&T was prettty much useless and time consuming at best. With both my wife and I home I got the idea to call her cell and not have her answer. As soon as I hung up the microcell connected. I've done this 2 more days consecutively and it continues to work! Any ideas and can someone else try this?
DJ
Well my white microcell went out. Since then they sent me a black one. @ first I couldn't get it to connect but for few seconds. Then I deactivate then reactivate the device. Set device for "Automatically Hand Out" . Now it seems to be playing nice with Note 5.
Sent from Samsung-SM N920A using MultiCam Black Tapatalk.
I have the exact same issue with Note 5. The phone says ATT Micro Cell, and the bar is full, but as soon as I send a text, the bar goes down to single bar, and take a while to sent a simple text...my S4 has no problem whatsoever...
I have same issues for past few month and for past few weeks it has become more noticeable. I'm getting a replacement for my white one so I'm hoping its fixes teh issues, but looking at comments here and also over internet looks like its a widespread issues hitting Notes 5.
I've the same issue with samsung note 5. My gf's iphone 6s works great with the at&t microcell and samsung note 5 sucks. It acts so bizarre . As soon as you text sometimes, the signal quickly drops from 5 bars to 1 or almost 0 bars and then the text message says it's trying to send. And then fails. But the receiver 50% of the time receives it ansd 50% not. You think it failed and you try to resend again and your recipient receives duplicates. I've been facing way too many issues with samsung note 5. I'm now seriously rethinking every buying a samsung again. I had and still have issues with regular cell reception, regardless of everything off on the wifi, it keeps searching and reconnecting back to wifi even if it's off (yes yes, i turned off all smart connect, at&t auto connect, everything else on it). Drives me crazy. Now this micro cell issue. the iphone works like a charm.
i picked up a used old style 3g microcell (white nd orange) on ebay for $8 (YES EIGHT DOLLARS) shipped. It came without a power adapter but who doesn't have a drawer full of them? Fired it up registered it and within 30 mins I am up and running. No issues so far in my basement apartment using my Note5 latest ATT firmware stock. MMS txt and calling are far superior than what it was like without this!
Tmobile occasionally switching between band 4 & 12, and losing connection for a while
I was running ping tests with LTE discovery in the notification to monitor the band it was on.
Whenever the ping would fail, it seemed to almost always coincide with the phone flipping back and forth between band 4 and 12.
This area has good coverage, and 2 other phones I have (Pixel XL and iPhone 6) both maintained connection with no problem.
Usually toggling airplane mode fixes the issue, but it will also fix itself given time (Sometimes seconds, sometimes minutes)
Not sure what is going on with the phone, we've had issues with this phone since we got it. Wish we had it replaced a while ago, but instead my girlfriend opted to purchase a Pixel.
I came across this phone and want to put it to use, since we've already made 14/24 payments on the thing, only getting about 2 months of (****ty) use out of it.
Definitely appreciate any help you guys can offer on this.
My Galaxy Note 5 SM-N920I purchased December of 2015 can no longer make or receieve calls. My provider is TracFone via the Bring Your Own Phone program. I use their SIM card and it has worked all this time. Until recently the phones features have stopped working. I think they have been disabling the 3G in my area, as everyone is converting to 4G now.
Note 5 is supposed to support 4G but it's definitely been having issues. Text and internet still works. however texts are sometimes delayed on occasion, not always, usually it's fine. Data speed just now was tested at 10 mbps down, 3 mbps up. Signal bars are consistently low, regardless of physical location; inside, outside, other side of town, SIM status shows signal always between -108dBm and -118dBm. This is likely why I cannot make or receive calls, but the question is, why is this happening?
Like I said, I suspect they are shutting down 3G in this area, so the best theory I've been able to come up with is this: perhaps 4G has always sucked on this phone but I never noticed because it would fall back to the good 3G connection. Now that 3G is gone in this area, all I have to use is 4G which is a shoddy connection.
Further research has found in the early days of this phone there were numerous reports of weak/no signal. See these threads:
Fed Up With Terrible Reception
Hey all, I'm kind of venting here and at the same time hoping for some sort of direction because I'm absolutely fed up with my S6. I upgraded roughly a month and a half ago from an S4. My phone usage was below normal for the first week or two as I was busy with a variety of projects. As my...
forums.androidcentral.com
No signal/network on my note 5
Hi everyone, so I just got this note 5 N920P last two weeks but I noticed its OS was lollipop...waited for updates for 7.0 but nothing so I went ahead and downloaded Odin with latest firmware from samobile and did it my self, now here the problems start to show first of all this hands free...
forums.androidcentral.com
One theory was that the 4G antenna they used in the Note 5 / S6 was of poor design. Causing weak signal.
Things I have tried and did not work:
-Contacted TracFone. They confirmed the device is supported and provisioned correctly. They recommended a new SIM card.
-Replaced the SIM card with a brand new one
-Factory reset the device. It's running the stock Android 7.0 Nougat which was the last up to date version available.
-Tinkered with various service menus including *#2263# and *#0011#. Messing about with the LTE band settings didn't change the signal strength ever. Regardless of the LTE band, it stays in that -108 to -118 range, too weak for calling.
What can be done to fix this? Possible ideas:
-Internal antenna replacement, but this seems either expensive to have someone do, or extremely difficult to do oneself. Would it even make a difference? Has anyone tried this?
-Software. Could the issue have been introduced during one of the software updates? Planned obsolescence perhaps? Could we revert to an earlier firmware to potentially resolve this? has anyone tried this?
-Firmware. Could we upgrade the firmware to a later, unsupported version safely? Perhaps the issue was fixd in later Android versions but has not been adressed in older devices that are no longer updated.
I'm the kind of person who likes to use my things until they absolutely die. This Note 5 has been perfectly fine until recently. There is nothing wrong with it. It's still modern, fast, and has a great camera. I would HATE to have to replace a phone for such a stupid reason. Not only is money tight, but it's such a waste when this thing is still perfect apart from this weak 4G signal.
Has anyone else had this issue? Have you resolved it? Any help appreciated. Thank you.
Try a network reset.
Clear sim toolkit data.
Clear system cache.
The access point profile may need updating or maybe the sim?
Contact AT&T advanced tech support.