Develop Bugs

WiFi strength, range, and throughput

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?

Cellular strength and throughput

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

Cellular strength and throughput

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.

Reception

Wanted to know what people think of there reception?
My phone data is faster than my wifi anywhere I connect wifi it runs slower when using any app that uses data

I have 4 Note 10+s in my house now. We have never had good cell reception at my house and have always relied on WiFi. Previously my kids had LG G6s and their cell reception was bad, little to none anywhere are my property. My Wife and I have had S8+s and our reception has been 1-2 bars at certain locations though mostly nothing. The Note 10+ reception is on par with our S8+s. On the other hand we got my youngest a "cheap" phone in case she breaks it and it gets at least 1 bar anywhere on my property. Its a Samsung A10e. Who would have thought.

Wifi performance is the same as previous phones
4G download seems the same or slightly faster
But
4G upload is slower...worryingly so. Is it a separate antenna for receive and transmit?

Yeah some thing is wrong with upload speeds

vincey2kr1 said:
Yeah some thing is wrong with upload speeds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I get to

up/down wifi speed is exactly same as on all my previous phones. Haven't tested cell signal yet, but gps seems to be much more precise especially in high rise/high signal bouncing areas with very little drifting.

pete4k said:
up/down wifi speed is exactly same as on all my previous phones. Haven't tested cell signal yet, but gps seems to be much more precise especially in high rise/high signal bouncing areas with very little drifting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree with Gps performance. The only area of concern I see is cell 4G upload

Cellular strength and throughput

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 S11'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.

depends
It depends where you are meaning your locality.

I have better connection than what I had with s10+!

Breaking News
It depends where you are

inside the house I get really bad signal here. had much better on older s9

horaink said:
It depends where you are
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think they get it. If your part of town does not get high speed internet than no matter how fast your phone is, it will only be as fast as the actually service is. Case in point. I just moved to another part of town and sign up for high speed internet, supposedly up to 100mb a sec. My son's Playstation showing only 6mb a sec. So I check with a tech for the service I use and he verified what my son's Playstation was showing, 6mb per sec. That it.
Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

Mobile data problem
I am using mobile data all the day , but I face big problem , always data change from 4G+ to 4G then H+ then E.
I face it all the day , is there any problem with my phone and if yes how to solve.

Using an unlocked version in the US, I get worse signal at work than I did with my previous pixel 4 XL and OnePlus 7 pro. Usually I get 1 bar maybe 2, which was same on orbits devices, however on this, I rarely can access the internet and forget even sending a MMS.

My experience is very good with signal strength and throughput. Better than the S10 it replaced.

it's all because of Exynos chip, signal strenght is very bad with exynos.
If i put my sim in Huawei P40 Pro i will get 4 bars, with Exynos only 1 bar.

alleshi said:
it's all because of Exynos chip, signal strenght is very bad with exynos.
If i put my sim in Huawei P40 Pro i will get 4 bars, with Exynos only 1 bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exynos S20U here, I get faster speeds / higher bandwidth than my 75/18 fibre home broadband, was getting 80/56 or there abouts, no 5G here yet either but not too far from the mast, full bars too

alleshi said:
it's all because of Exynos chip, signal strenght is very bad with exynos.
If i put my sim in Huawei P40 Pro i will get 4 bars, with Exynos only 1 bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed, had iphone previously and it was always full streght, now its only 1 bar or 0

Hi good people
I just bought S20 Ultra 5G Korean version G988N
Using the phone in UK O2 Network but 4G speed are so slow.
I'm getting only 30mbps i used to get 110mbps with the same handset but Exynos version. Instead of showing 4G i have LTE
Please help

Bee101 said:
I don't think they get it. If your part of town does not get high speed internet than no matter how fast your phone is, it will only be as fast as the actually service is. Case in point. I just moved to another part of town and sign up for high speed internet, supposedly up to 100mb a sec. My son's Playstation showing only 6mb a sec. So I check with a tech for the service I use and he verified what my son's Playstation was showing, 6mb per sec. That it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, you are correct. Yet not exactly. I will have full signal strenght at homeon my mate 20 pro and i could play hours of spotify at work on 4g with no problem at all. The s20 is only 2 bars at home and i cannot even thinking of playing spotify at work plus i use medium power saver all the time. The network optimization is really poor..

At home, using the same sim card for testing,
my old p9 lite has much better cell reception than my s20+ :/