We know how much you like to stream, ahem, "videos", and so cellular data is mega-important. Rate this thread to express how you think the ZTE Axon 7's LTE performs. A higher rating indicates that it's fantastic: throughput is excellent and signal strength is top-notch.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add.
I was on my way up northern Michigan and my wife drove for a bit and I compared the axon to her Moto G (2016) and it they both had to about the same signal. Both had issues shedding weaker towers. Now that we are up at the cabin both phones have very similar signal. So I think the axon is at least as good as a Moto G (2016).
runderekrun said:
I was on my way up northern Michigan and my wife drove for a bit and I compared the axon to her Moto G (2016) and it they both had to about the same signal. Both had issues shedding weaker towers. Now that we are up at the cabin both phones have very similar signal. So I think the axon is at least as good as a Moto G (2016).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On what network?
murkwell said:
On what network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cricket (att)
Now that I am back at a keyboard I can expand a bit. I was testing via running speed tests. When I first started the Moto G was destroying the Axon. I started getting a sunken feeling, but then I noticed the Axon shifted off a tower only getting HSPA ("4G") to one using LTE so I reran a few speed tests and the Axon trounced the Moto G, as it was still stuck on the under performing tower. So that's when I thought maybe a rural roadtrip, with an iffy signal to begin with, wasn't the best way to test this. Once we arrived at the cabin we both had between 1 and 2 bars of HSPA connection that would only work in specific corners of the cabin effectively. Seemingly the same.
I know this isn't an empirical test. I wasn't comparing the actual db numbers or anything. But to my eyes, Axon is about on the same level as the Moto G (2016). I don't know how good the Moto G actually is but I remember reading it had good signal when I was originally reading reviews for it.
Once again this was all tested on the Cricket (via AT&T) network.
Up in Canada on Rogers and am having severely low signal rate. Cannot find service in any basement ive been in throughout the city. Signal of around -120dBm inside buildings. The signal seems very erratic and jumps from 96-143dBm extremely quick. I seem to think there may be a modem problem with this network. If anyone else is on Rogers please chime in on your findings.
The signal strength is worse than my s4, I checked the db and it is 5-10db worse, but occasionally will jump to being on par to the s4. Tested on tmo lte, neither phone was being held. Not sure how the rating is 4.5/5 as a reddit post agrees that there is some issue.
The signal quality is definitely not stable, had a few minor call drops if I am not in certain parts of my house and inside stores which can be tough on signals but it's nowhere near as strong as my other test phones such as the S5, Note 4, and S6 Edge+. I was dropping calls earlier this week and switched back to Note 4 and I was able to talk everywhere w/o dropped calls. This is on Tmobile and signal is decent in my area. Then on WIFI strength, the Note 4 beats it by 20-30% throughput. That's a 2014 device.
My problem with all these Chinese brand phones is they have great specs but software is lacking. Looks like I maybe back to my workhorse Note 4.
So I used this phone to drive Uber in Los Angeles all last night and had some pretty major problems.
GPS Signal would randomly shift positions so Google Maps would keep rerouting during trips. This didn't always happen, but happened enough to be annoying.
I'm pretty sure I lost a bunch of trip requests because they just never got through to my phone.
This is either because the OS wasn't allowing the notifications to come through correctly, or because of the network performance.
Interestingly I was streaming podcasts the entire time which came through fine for the most part, but they would cut out every once in a while if I ended up in areas with 1bar (which happened often last night).
This is a pretty major problem for me, I don't know if something like Cyanogenmod will fix me not receiving requests, but the cellular and GPS performance are very clearly performing poorly.
Edit:
Cellular performance is now much better after the update.
I would say it's on par with average smartphones (I still lose reception where most people do), and it no longer just drops and stays of signal for no good reason.
GPS performance is OK, it tends to shift around while I'm driving a bit (thinking I'm on the street next to me).
Antenna Strength
Has anyone been able to confirm that this is due to a bad physical design of the antenna and not a software issue?
I was ready to buy this device until I saw these reports of bad signal strength
Hi guys,
Can any European users comment on radio signal performance? Could the issue be limited to the US version?
joaste said:
Hi guys,
Can any European users comment on radio signal performance? Could the issue be limited to the US version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To asnwer my own post, it seems some amazon.de customers are returning the phone due to very poor reception.
I was soooo looking forward to buying this phone and am shocked that ZTE would put it on the market with such a problem. Time will tell if it is hardware related (which it probably is), but most likely my money will go to another brand. I sooo wanted good sound :crying:
EDIT: please, any feedback from European customers?
There are some reviews about the cellular strength on a german forum (android-hilfe.de/thema/empfang-des-axon.792336/) but without any comparison to other phones.
Radio Performance
The Pocket Now review of the Axon 7 mentions potential radio issues and compares it to other phones.
Axon 7 Signal Strength
It doesn't look good.
I wonder if the new "Mini" version of the phone has the same issue and if not, perhaps they corrected a hardware flaw.
There is a new software update for the Axon 7 coming soon. I hope it addresses the signal strength issue, but I wouldn't hold my breath. We may have to just wait for the Axon 8.
when new software coming.
((RayDar)) said:
The Pocket Now review of the Axon 7 mentions potential radio issues and compares it to other phones.
Axon 7 Signal Strength
It doesn't look good.
I wonder if the new "Mini" version of the phone has the same issue and if not, perhaps they corrected a hardware flaw.
There is a new software update for the Axon 7 coming soon. I hope it addresses the signal strength issue, but I wouldn't hold my breath. We may have to just wait for the Axon 8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When new Axon 7 update coming? any link for that please
Note 3
Cellular: -93 dBm
Wifi 5ghz: - 46 dBm
Axon 7
Cellular: -118 dBm
Wifi 5ghz: -59 dBm
Can't perform an LTE speedtest on the Axon 7. It won't hold a connection long enough. Web pages constantly fail to load.
Signal strength is significantly worse than my 3 year old Note 3. So much so the phone is unusable at home.
I commented elsewhere on this as I'm mainly sending the phone back because of the very poor camera and the disappointing audio.
The radio however is the worst I've had since 3G was launched. I've been all over Brussels today and barely seen a 4G signal. I'd forgotten 3G existed until today. I managed to get the Axon to connect to 4G by toggling the mobile data on and off but it quickly went back to 3G.
My bedroom is in the basement but thanks to a nearby base station I get four bars 4G on my Honor 7. The Axon get one-two bars on 3G.
I'm bailing out now. I'm not waiting for a software update to fix the radio and I'm not sure the camera *can* be fixed, it's that bad.
The lovely screen apart, the A7 is a downgrade from the much cheaper Honor. Shame.
Grey Axon 7 purchased from Amazon Germany.
LTE: Nexus 5X: -105 dB, Axon 7: -113 dB
Forcing 3G on both phones: Both about -95 dB.
European version
Indoors in a café. Both of our phones are on the same network using the same base station. The Nexus 5x shows -106dBm on LTE while the Axon 7 shows -111 dBm on HSPA and is unable to load a page.
A bad camera, broken audio and a weak radio now seem a heavy price to pay for a nice screen and a top of the line chip.... it was too good to be true.
When I was walking home from campus today, I had 4G with a maximum of 2 bars missing (one missing most of the time, sometimes full bars) 90% of the 3km trip. Don't have any other LTE phones to compare it to, so take that with a grain of salt.
Related
Both phones set to CDMA EVDO only, no LTE radios active. Location is 3G EHRPD enabled, but does not have any 4G towers for miles. I held both phones the exact same way in the exact same location within 30 seconds of each other to record my results.
Signal Test:
Galaxy Nexus 3G Signal Strength: 0-1 bars, -120dbm 99 asu - -100dbm 1 asu
Thunderbolt 3G Signal Strength: 1-3 bars, -94dbm 2 asu - -85dbm 2 asu
Bandwidth Test:
Galaxy Nexus 3G Bandwidth: 0.86mbps down, 0.54mbps up
Thunderbolt 3G Bandwidth: 2.94mbps down, 0.56mbps up
Bandwidth test was the best of 3 runs using www.speakeasy.net/speedtest connecting to New York, NY. Current location is central NJ.
My Galaxy Nexus is running stock 4.0.4 with the newest radios and bootloader, along with Imo's kernel 2.4.1 exp2.
Honestly, after having my Thunderbolt for 8 months, coming to this supposed better phone and having these kind of radio problems is just appalling. The Thunderbolt was always railed for being the pioneer of LTE radios, and for getting weak signal. Well after these tests I am not sure what to believe besides the truth that is sitting in front of me. My brand spanking new Google phone has by far the worst radio I've ever seen in a Verizon smartphone.
I'm going to be hopeful in getting an update that may resolve these radio issues, but the realist in me tells me this is 100% hardware.
I'd like to get some results from other Verizon Galaxy Nexus users running 3G to see what kind of dbm and bar signal, as well as what kind of bandwidth you guys are getting. I am very disappointed and want to know if it's a hardware defect or if this phones radios' really are this bad
Meh. The Qualcomm radios in both of these phones are in fact ****. I think the build of the Galaxy Nexus (whether it be physical or software) has something to do with it. Maybe Samsung herp derped the position of the radios or Google took a **** on the blobs.
Regardless, its a great phone and still gets better data speeds than every other carrier and phone. -coughs- iPhone users -coughs-
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Except it doesn't get the best data speeds of any other phones, as my test results conclude.
Even on 4G I've nabbed 40mbps down 15mbps up bandwidth tests on that same exact Thunderbolt when I was in a good signal 4G area. How much have most GN users hit on 4G? 30mbps down?
This phone is a great micro-tablet, but as a phone it is heavily lacking.
DaRkL3AD3R said:
Except it doesn't get the best data speeds of any other phones, as my test results conclude.
Even on 4G I've nabbed 40mbps down 15mbps up bandwidth tests on that same exact Thunderbolt when I was in a good signal 4G area. How much have most GN users hit on 4G? 30mbps down?
This phone is a great micro-tablet, but as a phone it is heavily lacking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really, cause I have seen people getting upwards of 50mb/s on the Nexus (seems like most of them live in NYC).
Not to mention I was talking about people on other carriers.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Other carriers is a given, but that really isn't what the point of this comparison is. The point is I'm holding two phones on the same carrier, at the same time, the same way, and one performs multitudes greater performance than the other. Has nothing to do with other carriers.
Fact is this phones radio is junk. You can have a quad core 1080p Super AMOLED Plus screen and 2GB of RAM, the best GPU on the market and 128GB of space, but if it can't hold a signal to save YOUR life, then what good is it at as a phone?
Samsung/Google needs to get on this right now and fix this phones radio. I'm just worried that it can't be fixed through a software OTA...
And I'd also like some speed comparisons, namely 3G, from other Verizon GN users if possible please.
On 3g i used to get about -75 at worst with thunderbolt at my house. Currently getting -93 at best with two different galaxy nexus. Usually worse. Used to have a stable 4g signal too. Now it drops after a few seconds
johnprevite said:
On 3g i used to get about -75 at worst with thunderbolt at my house. Currently getting -93 at best with two different galaxy nexus. Usually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds about right... very disappointed in these radios.
I get the same -120dbm, 99asu with my Nexus at home, where I would get around 95dbm on my old Tbolt. I think the antenna/radio gives up signal quicker at the fringe distances faster on the Nexus - if I go into a city I get the signal strength I am supposed to get. I have a theory that part of the problem may lie with Verizon's use of old Alltel towers (I'm on the VA/NC border) - The signal in my area is consistently weak, but I've gone to other rural areas & gotten good strength. Perhaps Samsung/VZW will give us a software update on the phones...and perhaps when they upgrade our towers around here for LTE it might straighten up the tower's overall firmware...But we probably wont get LTE here until 2020.
strongergravity said:
I get the same -120dbm, 99asu with my Nexus at home, where I would get around 95dbm on my old Tbolt. I think the antenna/radio gives up signal quicker at the fringe distances faster on the Nexus - if I go into a city I get the signal strength I am supposed to get. I have a theory that part of the problem may lie with Verizon's use of old Alltel towers (I'm on the VA/NC border) - The signal in my area is consistently weak, but I've gone to other rural areas & gotten good strength. Perhaps Samsung/VZW will give us a software update on the phones...and perhaps when they upgrade our towers around here for LTE it might straighten up the tower's overall firmware...But we probably wont get LTE here until 2020.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LTE will cover Verizon's current 3G footprint by the end of 2013, FYI.
Here's hoping!
Sent from my A500 using xda premium
Rate this thread to express how you think the ZTE Axon 7's Wifi performs. A higher rating indicates that it has excellent range, throughput, and signal strength. Like when you're taking a dump in the bedroom upstairs, do your videos have to buffer or do they come through without interruption?
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Both the Wifi, and cell signals are weaker than the Nexus 6P and the Samsung S7 Edge by a fair margin. With the Wifi, this is most notable when you're on a level of a house other than the level of the router. The Wifi cuts out periodically, and its signal strength is about 1/3rd of the other two phones in the same location.
It's cell signal on T-Mobile is also significantly weaker than the signal with the same sim card in the same location on the 6P and S7 Edge. Difference is -114db (Axon) vs. -101db (Nexus).
t1328 said:
Both the Wifi, and cell signals are weaker than the Nexus 6P and the Samsung S7 Edge by a fair margin. With the Wifi, this is most notable when you're on a level of a house other than the level of the router. The Wifi cuts out periodically, and its signal strength is about 1/3rd of the other two phones in the same location.
It's cell signal on T-Mobile is also significantly weaker than the signal with the same sim card in the same location on the 6P and S7 Edge. Difference is -114db (Axon) vs. -101db (Nexus).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well crap, I'm planning on buying one of these on tmobile and I live in an already mediocre signal area. I get about -122 to at best -106 at home though I just use wifi. Have you noticed any real world issues with the speed? Is -114 the best it gets in a max signal area?
I am on Tmobile as well which makes this disappointing. A few of the other issues noted didn't really sway me but this could be a dealbreaker for me. As I have a S7 and am happy with it, short of small(ish) display, I cannot deal with poor signal on either cell or WiFi where as now it's pretty fantastic. I have 2 weeks to decide as Newegg still claims to be shipping the gray model then. Thanks for sharing.
Ahhhhhhhh. I still haven't received my phone but between this and camera issues I'm feeling very concerned about my purchase.
Axon 7 has weak Wi-Fi performance. 5ghz
fluctuates like a bouncing ball. Really hope it's not a bad antenna design with this phone.
Anyone else tested wifi ?
The guy from the zte webinar didn't even know it's AC capable phone. This doesn't inspire confidence.
My WiFi was running around 60mb on a 100mb link.
PLUS, I am only 3 feet from the router, nothing in between them.
Yep, same here. In the same places I used to get no service with 2014 devices (like the s4 era stuff) I get no service with the Axon 7. Most of my previous devices (s7e, n6p, 5x, n6, blah blah blah) all retained at least a weak signal in those areas. Wifi seems actually better than my S7 Edge Exynos though.
bkakus said:
My WiFi was running around 60mb on a 100mb link.
PLUS, I am only 3 feet from the router, nothing in between them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's good but not much of a test for a Wi-Fi device.
You need to move at least 20 feet from the router.
All devices get good Wi-Fi performance if your a few feet from the router.
I have tested 50 dollar phones that get better Wi-Fi performance than this $400 phone.
---------- Post added at 10:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:27 PM ----------
robstunner said:
Yep, same here. In the same places I used to get no service with 2014 devices (like the s4 era stuff) I get no service with the Axon 7. Most of my previous devices (s7e, n6p, 5x, n6, blah blah blah) all retained at least a weak signal in those areas. Wifi seems actually better than my S7 Edge Exynos though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I'm testing this phone in the same area as several older and newer devices with no dead spots.
The axon 7 is quite weak by comparison. No other device tested fluctuates signal strength when holding device still.
Very strange occurrence.
Could be a bad antenna design or maybe a few bad units. Hope it's a firmware fix!
It sounds badly. Radio volume can be pop up in the software but to tell true it does not help too much in practice without a good antenna. Also battery drain will be increased dramatically. It is hard to imagine such software bug which causes weak signal strength in both wifi and LTE signal cases. So it could be antenna issue most likely and if antenna design is bad that's it. Move on!
It would be good to read opposite experiences which can keep the hope.
It must be the lower end QCA6164. Max I can connect with axon 7 is 433Mbps. That is if I stand 1 to 3 feet from the router. More of a problem is the poor weak signal as you move away from router. Then connection is down to 190Mbps after 10 feet to 20 feet.
Must be a bad antenna system in this phone.
Most important part of a mobile device is connectivity. This phone is clearly weaker LTE and Wi-Fi than other phones.
Not everything that shines is gold
In my daily use, I don't notice any difference in wifi strength or speed vs my Nexus 6P or my Moto X Pure. In my back room, I still get as good or better speeds on speedtest.net using the app to test. I know this doesn't rate the db, but I notice no real difference.
It also stays connected about 70 yards up the street, about on par with my last few phones.
tele_jas said:
In my daily use, I don't notice any difference in wifi strength or speed vs my Nexus 6P or my Moto X Pure. In my back room, I still get as good or better speeds on speedtest.net using the app to test. I know this doesn't rate the db, but I notice no real difference.
It also stays connected about 70 yards up the street, about on par with my last few phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mind telling what type of router you're Using? Qualcomm chipset routers work best with
This phone. Mine is a Netgear r7000 and it's not using Qualcomm chipset.
---------- Post added at 03:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:58 PM ----------
tele_jas said:
In my daily use, I don't notice any difference in wifi strength or speed vs my Nexus 6P or my Moto X Pure. In my back room, I still get as good or better speeds on speedtest.net using the app to test. I know this doesn't rate the db, but I notice no real difference.
It also stays connected about 70 yards up the street, about on par with my last few phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mind telling what type of router you're Using? Qualcomm chipset routers work best with
This phone. Mine is a Netgear r7000 and it's not using Qualcomm chipset.
yaya444 said:
do you mind telling what type of router you're using? Qualcomm chipset routers work best with
this phone. Mine is a netgear r7000 and it's not using qualcomm chipset.
---------- post added at 03:58 pm ---------- previous post was at 03:58 pm ----------
do you mind telling what type of router you're using? Qualcomm chipset routers work best with
this phone. Mine is a netgear r7000 and it's not using qualcomm chipset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Netgear r6250
tele_jas said:
In my daily use, I don't notice any difference in wifi strength or speed vs my Nexus 6P or my Moto X Pure. In my back room, I still get as good or better speeds on speedtest.net using the app to test. I know this doesn't rate the db, but I notice no real difference.
It also stays connected about 70 yards up the street, about on par with my last few phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is your LTE reception/speed versus 6P?
runderekrun said:
How is your LTE reception/speed versus 6P?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once again, I don't have actual db numbers, but my "bars" show lower but my connection is just as good and fast, or even slightly better in certain areas.
At my work, I had 4-5 bars of LTE on my 6P.... On the Axon 7, I have 2-3. But, the LTE speeds on the Axon 7 are on par to what the 6P was, and actually slightly better.
At home, I had 1-2 bars on my 6P - It's the same on the Axon 7, but when I go to the back of the house I would drop signal on almost all phones (except my Moto X Pure), but the Axon 7 will still let me carry on a conversation and not cut out.
So, I don't know what the actual numbers are, but I know I get signal where I didn't before and it's typically on par with, or better than my 6P.
tele_jas said:
Once again, I don't have actual db numbers, but my "bars" show lower but my connection is just as good and fast, or even slightly better in certain areas.
At my work, I had 4-5 bars of LTE on my 6P.... On the Axon 7, I have 2-3. But, the LTE speeds on the Axon 7 are on par to what the 6P was, and actually slightly better.
At home, I had 1-2 bars on my 6P - It's the same on the Axon 7, but when I go to the back of the house I would drop signal on almost all phones (except my Moto X Pure), but the Axon 7 will still let me carry on a conversation and not cut out.
So, I don't know what the actual numbers are, but I know I get signal where I didn't before and it's typically on par with, or better than my 6P.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you.
Other accounts on the ZTE forums are saying that is substantially worse than 6P or even the mediocre Oneplus One. This gives me hope at least.
WiFi is longer range on my 2.4ghz axon 7 vs my g3.
Haven't tested the data connection thoroughly enough to OPIN on that.
What is a recommended test for wifi and LTE data speeds? - speedtest.net app?
taijo said:
What is a recommended test for wifi and LTE data speeds? - speedtest.net app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is a good app for the wan but, what about a lan testing app. Anybody know of an Android app for wifi testing the local area network?
We know how much you like to stream, ahem, "videos", and so cellular data is mega-important. Rate this thread to express how you think the Samsung Galaxy Note 7's LTE performs. A higher rating indicates that it's fantastic: throughput is excellent and signal strength is top-notch.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add.
So far so good here, no issues what so ever!
I gave 4 stars. It far better than my note 4 was. I did a speed test, in an area I have done numerous speedtests with the 4, and with the 4 I averaged 12mbps(being generous here) down, and 1mbps (after a few seconds at 0) up. With this 7, I got a 38mbps down, and 12 mbps up.... showed the same amount of bars as the 4 usually did, but obviously performed much better.
Keep in mind, I live in the middle of nowhere in Maine... speed tests were performed with about 2-3 bars (fluctuating).
For me its been much worse than my Note 5. Not really sure what's going on. Carrier is Virgin Mobile (Bell Canada)
Is there anybody who can compare Note 3 (n9005) with Note 7?
It's about 70% as good as my 6P but I can deal. I would have LTE and 3 bars in my office building .. Note 7 fluxuates between LTE 1 bar and HSPA+ or nothing at all. Thank God for TMO wifi calling, eh?
Hmm, it doesn't sound promising at all. :/ Signal reception is a big weakness of my Note 3 so I expected little bit more from a new device (and after few years of development) - I see that there are still some issues on Samsung side in compare to other brands and models especially at high-end market.
WiFi calling (and VoLTE) isn't supported by O2 Czech network yet because they are... kind of slow and "specific".
What about Note 7 and iPhone 6S/6S+ or LG G4? My colleagues have these devices so I can test and compare it little bit in real life with my Carrier.
Btw. Thanks man!
I'd rank it about equal to my note 4, which is disappointed but most things are as I get older...
BableMan said:
I'd rank it about equal to my note 4, which is disappointed but most things are as I get older...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its a little better than my note 4. Little louder and clearer. Not crazy better, but better.
Corbitt74 said:
Its a little better than my note 4. Little louder and clearer. Not crazy better, but better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then we have different builds, mine suffers from worse speaker quality. I've assumed that's the trade off we get for being able to drop it in a toilet.
BableMan said:
Then we have different builds, mine suffers from worse speaker quality. I've assumed that's the trade off we get for being able to drop it in a toilet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hard to say really, we do have quite a bit of HD coverage here, also havent talked a lot on this yet, but from what I have its been good.
I had questionable service with my GS5 down in my basement, and now there's no question at all about the service on my Note 7 - it's non-existent. I cannot make or receive calls down in my basement anymore; have to go upstairs. This was rarely the case with my GS5, both on Sprint. Just my experience.
Perhaps it is the fault of AT&T and not the phone itself, but I get a shoddy signal at my house. I do live in a rural area, however, but it could be better nonetheless. Note: In town and in cities, I get perfect cellular strength.
Sattero said:
Is there anybody who can compare Note 3 (n9005) with Note 7?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the Note 7 to replace my Note 3. I am on Verizon. The Note 7 has been leaps and bounds better than the Note 3 as far as cell reception. I could not use my Note 3 at home without a Network extender and now my Note 7 works everywhere, even the basement, without a hiccup. I originally, before purchase, thought I would need to use the WiFi calling feature here at my home, but there is no need. On my daily route, I used to have 2 dead spots, where I always dropped calls on my Note 3, but I have had no issues with the Note 7. I believe that may be in part due to the VOLTE capabilities that the Note 7 has over the Note 3. The Note 7 would be the perfect phone if they would have built it with a flat screen. I don't see any real use for the edge panels and I have already turned them off. No need for insurance or screen protector on the Note 3 and it still looks perfect. I am seriously contemplating getting insurance for the first time as I am extremely paranoid about breaking this thing. If it weren't for how much I use the S-Pen, I would have probably waited to see what the other manufactures come out with. Hopefully, the paranoia will wear off.
Is not compatible with sprint signal booster air rave, but i also havent seen it reach high network speed on lte. so far not impressed.
I'm coming from an LG V10 and it's definitely a bit worse in the signal strength but the actual speeds seem to be about the same. I tether my phone for home internet and I always sit it in the exact same spot in my window because I found where the best signal is. With my V10 I'd have about -105 to -109db and with the Note 7 I'm getting about -114. I might need to move it around a bit and see if I can get any better. When you have a strong signal it flies though. Today in the city while I had a full signal (not sure the db's but 5 bars were full) I got 99.8Mb down and almost 17Mb up Verizon just upgraded a lot of the network in my area.
We know how much you like to stream, ahem, "videos", and so cellular data is mega-important. Rate this thread to express how you think the Samsung Galaxy S8+'s LTE performs. A higher rating indicates that it's fantastic: throughput is excellent and signal strength is top-notch.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add.
I get a low 4g signal at work whereas on my s7 edge I didn't get anything
Mine is a lot better than any phone I've had before. Usually at home on all my other phones I have 1-2 bars and on the S8+ I have at least 4 bars.
Bars are no indication of true signal strength. My S8+ doesn't get nearly as strong of a signal as my Pixel XL. I drop signal a lot more often now. I was rather disappointed with the performance of the cell radio actually.
For me, the signal is about the same at home. But at work, the S8+ performs much better than the Note5 that I had... Must be an extra band or something. The Note5 would hang on to an unusable LTE signal or drop to 3G/1x inside my job. The S8+ stays on on LTE with a usable signal.
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
It's worst Then S8 as I used that before shifting to S8 plus. But download speed is great.
My S7 was better. The S7 ised a new duel antenna tech, I am not sure the S8 used it or not.
My AT&T Note 4 and my new S8+ get about the same signal, which is really disappointing
I generally see around 5-8dbm better then I did with my pixel xl at home..notice the s8+ does drop signal little easier tho then my pixel in fringe areas
Tested right outside my house. Never had these speeds on my Note 5.
Comming from a S6, the signals and speeds are far better, also my s6 was missing a few bands so never ever got speeds like this on my Jio 4G Network in India
At work on LTE Im getting 31 Mbps down and 6 Mbps up. Not bad! Faster than our company wifi!
webtech9 said:
At work on LTE Im getting 31 Mbps down and 6 Mbps up. Not bad! Faster than our company wifi!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to get 54Mbps which WAS faster than the company wifi. Then we bumped up to 500Mb.
Poor Reception in Canada on Bell Mobility
I just got an unlocked S8+ that was apparently originally from Sprint (because that is where the home page goes in Samsung Internet).
I do not get very good reception on it – even in urban/suburban areas. Sometimes, when I am inside a building, it disappears altogether. I often get 1 or 2 bars on the reception indicator. If I check the “Sim Card Status” screen under settings I get -105 dBm 3 asu. I don’t really know what those numbers mean.
Is there anything I can do to improve reception? Should I be calling Bell and maybe they need to know what kind of phone I have? Should I expect an S8+ purchased directly from Bell (they also carry this phone) to have better reception? Or is the reception of “105 dBm 3 asu” fine and it’s just the indicator showing low levels?
As much as I like this phone I cannot be missing calls randomly. I have a business to run.
Thanks.
The Fish
thefish123 said:
I just got an unlocked S8+ that was apparently originally from Sprint (because that is where the home page goes in Samsung Internet).
I do not get very good reception on it – even in urban/suburban areas. Sometimes, when I am inside a building, it disappears altogether. I often get 1 or 2 bars on the reception indicator. If I check the “Sim Card Status” screen under settings I get -105 dBm 3 asu. I don’t really know what those numbers mean.
Is there anything I can do to improve reception? Should I be calling Bell and maybe they need to know what kind of phone I have? Should I expect an S8+ purchased directly from Bell (they also carry this phone) to have better reception? Or is the reception of “105 dBm 3 asu” fine and it’s just the indicator showing low levels?
As much as I like this phone I cannot be missing calls randomly. I have a business to run.
Thanks.
The Fish
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey fish you want it down, the dBm i mean. Here's a quote "-50 dBm is great signal or full bars. -120 dBm is very poor signal or a dead zone." you at 105 dBm is garbage, no wonder your missing calls.. Since you are experiencing network issues, you could get a replacement, but i don’t think it will make much difference. as it's all same hardware. Why not get a Google Pixel XL i heard they got awesome reception! Or if you’re at home a lot, purchase an lte repeater booster ? Problem Solved!
Drop in signal & Block sign
Im living in UAE - and my service provider is etisalat, and my 4G signal is dropping and sometimes i get block sign, i tried my sim in different device it working.
i have started a thread on the subject if anyone could help me please.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...block-sign-t3851575/post77823171#post77823171
N1NJATH3ORY said:
Hey fish you want it down, the dBm i mean. Here's a quote "-50 dBm is great signal or full bars. -120 dBm is very poor signal or a dead zone." you at 105 dBm is garbage, no wonder your missing calls.. Since you are experiencing network issues, you could get a replacement, but i don’t think it will make much difference. as it's all same hardware. Why not get a Google Pixel XL i heard they got awesome reception! Or if you’re at home a lot, purchase an lte repeater booster ? Problem Solved!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went through a whole “carrier switching” routine (details found somewhere on these forums) and after changing the CSC to Canadian I flashed Bell Mobility's firmware. The phone now shows that it’s an SM-G955W which is the Canadian model. And apparently now supports additional LTE bands 29(700) and 30(2300) which were missing from the SM-G955U (I determined this by dialing *#2263#).
I have no idea if it *really* supports these bands or just *says* that it does but my gut tells me that it really does support them. I suspect that the hardware for the SM-G955U and SM-G955W is 100% identical and any differences are controlled through software only.
And I seem to have better reception now. I am getting 4 to 5 bars in most places and under -100 dBm in most places. Plus Wi-Fi calling works now so I have reception in my basement at my house.
The true test will be when we go camping next summer.
The Fish
thefish123 said:
I went through a whole “carrier switching” routine (details found somewhere on these forums) and after changing the CSC to Canadian I flashed Bell Mobility's firmware. The phone now shows that it’s an SM-G955W which is the Canadian model. And apparently now supports additional LTE bands 29(700) and 30(2300) which were missing from the SM-G955U (I determined this by dialing *#2263#).
I have no idea if it *really* supports these bands or just *says* that it does but my gut tells me that it really does support them. I suspect that the hardware for the SM-G955U and SM-G955W is 100% identical and any differences are controlled through software only.
And I seem to have better reception now. I am getting 4 to 5 bars in most places and under -100 dBm in most places. Plus Wi-Fi calling works now so I have reception in my basement at my house.
The true test will be when we go camping next summer.
The Fish
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Happy days for you i do suffer poor signal in my house:crying: i'll see if i can flash the CSC to fix it, thanks for the update!
s7 does lot better than 8+ in the same room
We know how much you like to stream, ahem, "videos", and so cellular data is mega-important. Rate this thread to express how you think the Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom's LTE performs. A higher rating indicates that it's fantastic: throughput is excellent and signal strength is top-notch.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add.
Compared to my Nexus 6P, this phone tends to stay on HSPA+ more often than my 6P did. This phone either wont choose LTE or doesn't get LTE in many places where my 6P did. A bit frustrating.
DriveEuro said:
Compared to my Nexus 6P, this phone tends to stay on HSPA+ more often than my 6P did. This phone either wont choose LTE or doesn't get LTE in many places where my 6P did. A bit frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here; I'm on straight talk, and I'm stuck on HSPA+. My S6 used to get LTE at full bars.
I'll chime in here. I fell asleep and my 8 month old destroyed my Moto Z Play. The Zenfone 3 zoom has a much crappier radio interface layer setup as I get 2g in places where I had lte in the same area and same SIM card. Otherwise specs were pretty much identical. Also while I get better battery it's not an extra 1500mh . I averaged 6 1/2 hours screen time on the zplay and average only 7 1/2 here with same apps /usage.
Anonamoose said:
I'll chime in here. I fell asleep and my 8 month old destroyed my Moto Z Play. The Zenfone 3 zoom has a much crappier radio interface layer setup as I get 2g in places where I had lte in the same area and same SIM card. Otherwise specs were pretty much identical. Also while I get better battery it's not an extra 1500mh . I averaged 6 1/2 hours screen time on the zplay and average only 7 1/2 here with same apps /usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a little strange: as my previous post states, I was stuck on HSPA+ at home. Well I went into town yesterday, and caught 4G. Went back home... And I have 4G at home now.
Strange, but I won't complain.
The maximum I can get anywhere is HSPA+, even in places where my lgg3 would have full LTE coverage. Very disappointing quality of an otherwise impressive device. It is possible that at&t does not yet recognize the phone as 4g capable in their database yet, and this will change later, but for now at least, I don't think that this phone is a worthy purchase.
NoTucks said:
The maximum I can get anywhere is HSPA+, even in places where my lgg3 would have full LTE coverage. Very disappointing quality of an otherwise impressive device. It is possible that at&t does not yet recognize the phone as 4g capable in their database yet, and this will change later, but for now at least, I don't think that this phone is a worthy purchase.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been getting 4G no problem on my AT&T SIM card, so they definitely recognize the phone as 4G capable. Coverage does seem slightly worse than my Galaxy S7 though.
I have no problem. Where I'm staying my network has domestic national roaming. At home I get LTE+ signal, but most of the time, it on LTE.
I'm a truck driver in Canada, so I travel a lot within Canada. I have to admit that the strength of LTE on this phone is very poor. In cities it's ok, the speed is high. However, when you get on road, the phone often looses the signal where s7 still has LTE and stream video. I'm disappointed with the phone. I would never buy it again for travel although it has excellent battery life.