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Anyone else get bad reception and weak radio from the Galaxy Nexus. I have the new radio i think (1515.09 V.FA02/ 1515.FA02).. the changing between 3g and 4g is still terrible and sometimes its hard for the signal to even come back in.
Do you know if this is the best radio? i think soon I will just get a Motorola device because they have better signal strength even in weak coverage areas. Not happy with the galaxy nexus for that reason. I think htc may even be better at that. samsung isn't good with their signal stength with phones.
The only time I get bad reception is in my house for some odd reason. It's so fraustrating because when I had my thunderbolt or bionic I got 4G in my house. Any where else I am good with 4G. I almost switched somebody phones but then I realized I might as well stick to the nexus.
kidnice15 said:
The only time I get bad reception is in my house for some odd reason. It's so fraustrating because when I had my thunderbolt or bionic I got 4G in my house. Any where else I am good with 4G. I almost switched somebody phones but then I realized I might as well stick to the nexus.
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Click to collapse
Yeah.. just not willing to settle for a weak signal in a phone just because its a very nice phone. I pay for data and i want to have access to it completely.
I get 4G almost everywhere I go with the GNexus. Live about 25 minutes from Pittsburgh and can drive around pretty much everywhere and get good reception, at least on par with my Thunderbolt.
Significant problems as well, returning phone.
I have had the phone since 2/13. I'm in Rochester, NY and have had a significant number of dropped calls, times when the signal dropped, and extended re-connect times. I received a new SIM last night, which had no effect on the problem. I also tried the 4.0.4 update to the radios the OP has, with no significant improvement. VZW has said that a software update due in early march will alleviate the problem. I don't buy it. I've decided to return my phone within the 14 day "Worry-Free" period and go back to my OG Droid for the time being. I'm going to wait until the reports come back on this new "update", which is probably just 4.0.3. So i'm not feeling very confident.
-rs
I had the same problem...bad signal and wouldn't switch from 4g to 3g I returned mines and got another and now i'm very happy.the first one was a piece of junk but the second has been awesome..
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
stepinmyworld said:
Yeah.. just not willing to settle for a weak signal in a phone just because its a very nice phone. I pay for data and i want to have access to it completely.
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Click to collapse
Let me ask you a question , how did you get to the conclusion of bad reception or bad radio strength ? I had my razr side by side with gnex a few days ago. GNex shows one bar less than razr . I guess many folks will then consider throwing their gnex to nearest wall after seeing this. Guess what ? Then I ran speed test on both of them side by side at same time for 20 times to test speed (yeah I was bored that day) . Every single run I observed about 1mb/s to 3mb/s faster in gnex than razr. Even at the same time gnex showing one fewer signal bar.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
jiwengang said:
Let me ask you a question , how did you get to the conclusion of bad reception or bad radio strength ? I had my razr side by side with gnex a few days ago. GNex shows one bar less than razr . I guess many folks will then consider throwing their gnex to nearest wall after seeing this. Guess what ? Then I ran speed test on both of them side by side at same time for 20 times to test speed (yeah I was bored that day) . Every single run I observed about 1mb/s to 3mb/s faster in gnex than razr. Even at the same time gnex showing one fewer signal bar.
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Click to collapse
Bars are irrelevant...
Having both the nexus and the rezound, I can definitely say the rezound has better 4g radio strength. With my rezound I get 2-3 bars 4g easy anywhere in my house. Gnex barely gets 1 and most of the time is on 3g. Very frustrating.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
That's the problem. There are plenty of places I go that I lose 4G completely (on 4.0.4), while friends with the Razr or Rezound still have 2-3 bars of 4G and it's going strong.
I couldn't care less how many bars I have...I just care when I get dropped to 3G and other people don't.
My bionic held the 4G signal the best out of GN and Thunderbolt. But the browser on the GN is pretty darn fast that I hardly have any complaint when browsing on 3G. My GN holds that 3G with a death grip though. 4G is flaky at work and at home unfortunately...
Went thru 2 bad ones before I got one that worked properly.
If its giving issues, return it and try a replacement.
Seems Samsung's quality control is seriously lacking but they are a good phone when they work.
I think I get pretty good service on 3g. I don't have 4g in my area yet. I've had a droid x and iphone 4 and the nexus is best.
Hello,
I am looking to get feedback from users on Verizon's CDMA nexus running 4.0.4. I am wondering if the signal quality has been improved? Obviously signal is important to me, and I live in an area that would have signal issues if I don't stay in the beaten path! I like the idea of a pure nexus device; however, it is not worth it if I can't make or receive phone calls.
Thank you for any input!
Verizon In New England Area
I've been running the unofficial 4.0.4 radio for month now in New England. For the most part I get great 4g and a decent 3g coverage when 4g drops. At home it will usually stay in 4g. Sometime it will drop to 3g when it's in my pocket or I'm in the middle of the house. I use it a lot for 4g hotspot seeing I'm on the unlimited plan. At work because it's a huge medal building, it will drop a lot more. We even have cell towers for Verizon on the roof. But I believe at that point I'm too close. With this phone I've noticed that it very rarely drops down lower than 3g giving me bad data connection. This is only my second 4g phone, having the Lg Revolution before. I'm trying to revive the revolution for my wife so she can use the 4g hotspot too. But now I've just flashed the 4.0.4 official radio and I'm going to see how it does. I'll let you know.
I get 1 bar on this new VZW GN, where my CDMA iPhone 4S gets 3. Since this VZW GN came with 4.0.4, I'm not sure what it used to be like.
HTH
I would say get a Motorola RAZR if signal strength is important to you...I live in Jersey and commute to New York, and I've had this phone since launch on VZW...signal strength is not it's forte and has not improved one iota...I've tried every radio that has leaked out, and a bevy of custom roms to boot...no improvement...I'm extremely bummed...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
My decision
Well...I wanted to post what I ended up deciding and if I am happy with it or not after a few weeks.
I went with the Verizon Galaxy Nexus.
My previous setup was US Cellular on a Motorola Electrify!
As expected, the signal quality was less than the Electrify; however, most of the signal issues are while I am driving. Where I used to drop out once; I now drop out twice on the same stretch of road. This is only for about a minute though.
My job has 7 different locations with one out in the middle of no where. I have service at all sites which was the biggest decision factor. I do not regret the decision I made 3 weeks later.
I was a bit concerned about the speaker volume, but volume+ fixed that.
The phone quality is great IMO. I have found nothing lacking on the phone except the signal. I was a bit iffy on the camera, but It is better than my Electrify 8mp camera. Plus ICS.... enough said on that.
Anybody else having reception issues? My HTC Rezound would always have 1-2 bars at my house but I either get 1 bar or nothing on my One. My signal strength is -117 dBm.
Haven't noticed that here. Mine is still naked until the double flip case from HTC arrives
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
After more research I think the issue is a bad SIM card. I will go to the vzw store today and get a new one.
GrayTheWolf said:
After more research I think the issue is a bad SIM card. I will go to the vzw store today and get a new one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did the new SIM fix the problem? I'm thinking of jumping from the S4 to the One, but it seems that the S4 has better radios, or from what I can tell from various forums and an in-store test.
elir41 said:
Did the new SIM fix the problem? I'm thinking of jumping from the S4 to the One, but it seems that the S4 has better radios, or from what I can tell from various forums and an in-store test.
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Click to collapse
Due to parental issues, I can't get to the VZW store till later today. I will let you know what the outcome is.
Before this issue started my reception was wonderful.
I'm kinda disappointed in the signal reception on this phone actually. I can from a Galaxy nexus which was notorious for having crappy reception. This phone is worse and the data speeds are slower.
My friend who has an HTC one Dev edition on att has great service and speed. I'm starting to think that Verizon's network isn't what they crack it up to be.
Mine seems to be going well. I haven't had any signal issues. I usually average about -70 dBm give or take on LTE.
Mine shows 3 bars at -101dBm with peaks to about -95, even with that I can average barely over 1meg down speeds. Don't even ask about up... I'd just return the phone but I'm leery since I'm one of the few that actually got my bootloader unlocked. Wonder if they are throttling me since I have unlimited data...
91ludesit said:
Mine shows 3 bars at -101dBm with peaks to about -95, even with that I can average barely over 1meg down speeds. Don't even ask about up... I'd just return the phone but I'm leery since I'm one of the few that actually got my bootloader unlocked. Wonder if they are throttling me since I have unlimited data...
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Click to collapse
Don't do it. I had to get a replacement and I lost my unlock.
Reception has absolutely been worse on this phone for me.
I used to have the DNA, then I got the S4 and now I'm on the One.
With the DNA and S4, when I'd leave my house, I was immediately on 4G (3bars with the DNA, 1 bar with the S4). On the One, I get no 4G. Instead, I get 2-3 bars of 3G when leaving my house, and it doesn't switch over to 4G until I've driven a couple miles. Sometimes it never switches to 4G.
This is really disappointing because I was assuming it would have the same or even better radios than the DNA (and especially the S4, which also gave me worse reception when compared to the DNA)
I'd save overall, about 50%+ of the time, I'm on 3g now, where I would have always been on 4G with the DNA. :crying:
eleazar123 said:
Reception has absolutely been worse on this phone for me.
I used to have the DNA, then I got the S4 and now I'm on the One.
With the DNA and S4, when I'd leave my house, I was immediately on 4G (3bars with the DNA, 1 bar with the S4). On the One, I get no 4G. Instead, I get 2-3 bars of 3G when leaving my house, and it doesn't switch over to 4G until I've driven a couple miles. Sometimes it never switches to 4G.
This is really disappointing because I was assuming it would have the same or even better radios than the DNA (and especially the S4, which also gave me worse reception when compared to the DNA)
I'd save overall, about 50%+ of the time, I'm on 3g now, where I would have always been on 4G with the DNA. :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With my replacement my reception is wonderful again. No issues.
GrayTheWolf said:
With my replacement my reception is wonderful again. No issues.
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Click to collapse
Very interesting. Did you just go into the store and say the reception is bad? I feel like they'll see that I have 4G at the store and say that it's perfectly fine. :\
I got mine after they blocked htcdev, so I have nothing to lose with replacing it.
eleazar123 said:
Very interesting. Did you just go into the store and say the reception is bad? I feel like they'll see that I have 4G at the store and say that it's perfectly fine. :\
I got mine after they blocked htcdev, so I have nothing to lose with replacing it.
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Click to collapse
My phone was screwed up when I flashed CM and I couldn't make calls. So I had a definitive and repeatable reason to get a new phone. It would just sit there and say "dialing".
eleazar123 said:
Reception has absolutely been worse on this phone for me.
I used to have the DNA, then I got the S4 and now I'm on the One.
With the DNA and S4, when I'd leave my house, I was immediately on 4G (3bars with the DNA, 1 bar with the S4). On the One, I get no 4G. Instead, I get 2-3 bars of 3G when leaving my house, and it doesn't switch over to 4G until I've driven a couple miles. Sometimes it never switches to 4G.
This is really disappointing because I was assuming it would have the same or even better radios than the DNA (and especially the S4, which also gave me worse reception when compared to the DNA)
I'd save overall, about 50%+ of the time, I'm on 3g now, where I would have always been on 4G with the DNA. :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, that sounds more like a software issue (not recognizing when it should switch) rather than an actual reception issue.
I think it is actually the sim card, because when I got home my reception was finally the same as my wife's nexus and the speed was much better. They gave me a new sim card with this phone and I wish they would have just used the one that was already in my nexus.
jntdroid said:
Honestly, that sounds more like a software issue (not recognizing when it should switch) rather than an actual reception issue.
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Click to collapse
The other guy that tried cyanogenmod is having the same issues as me. We are going to try different things to make his work again.
GrayTheWolf said:
With my replacement my reception is wonderful again. No issues.
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Click to collapse
Good to know someone in my town has good reception on this phone.
I want to pick it up soon when beg red starts the new upgrade early plan in a day or two.
OK maybe I'm blind, how do you check dbms on this phone??
Sent from my phone
jntdroid said:
OK maybe I'm blind, how do you check dbms on this phone??
Sent from my phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Settings -> about -> network
chrisloveskaos said:
Good to know someone in my town has good reception on this phone.
I want to pick it up soon when beg red starts the new upgrade early plan in a day or two.
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Click to collapse
Yup, reception is great. Cool to meet someone from my home town!
I'm up near Falls Lake.
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?
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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.
Hello I have a Google store bought xl and live next to 4 of their antennas. My cell constantly has poor reception. Around -120 dBm . But if I use network signal refresher I can get a closer tower that gives -84 dBm . But within a minute or two I get kicked back to the further antenna. I used a cell site mapping app and see where they are and I have a large glass building in my way of all but the strongest one .. my question is how do I force my phone to only use the best antenna. And what is the pertinent info in the cell mapping app to understand maybe the best one maybe has more static or other signal issues.. thank you for your help
I'm seeing the same thing on my Pixel XL from Verizon and changed SIM card still bad.
After researching what a cell phone looks for to maintain a current connection to a tower I believe it is the rsrq .. this is the quality of the signal . So in my network signal info lite app of the various antennas in my neighborhood under the raw tab in the app I am always connected to the antenna with the lowest rsrq number . Regardless of the dBm strength or rsrp .. I now understand why my phone kicks me off a stronger signal that shows more bars for a tower with better quality. I live near 2 freeways and have multiple Verizon towers around me and I believe the strongest one is constantly being used by traffic on the freeways as they travel into and out of its range there for causing tons of degradation in signal quality. Hope this helps someone .
Same problem with my wife and I. New Pixel and Pixel XL on Verizon. Their solution was to buy a $295 Verizon booster. My rear-end! My Nexus 6 was the same way, but every phone before these were fine. I live in the middle of one of the busiest cities in metro Boston. The damn things don't work in our own apartment, wifi calling or no WiFi calling.
I will prefix this msg by saying I love Android and really REALLY wanted the Google Pixel to shine on Verizon. With that said, the truth is Verizon is garbage when it comes to Android phones. Your phone is good and will work well on most other carriers other than Verizon. Time to stop drinking the cool aide and believing that Verizon is anything but unreliable at best. Get your amazing Pixel off off Big Red and begin experiencing what it can do.
Cailynz said:
I will prefix this msg by saying I love Android and really REALLY wanted the Google Pixel to shine on Verizon. With that said, the truth is Verizon is garbage when it comes to Android phones. Your phone is good and will work well on most other carriers other than Verizon. Time to stop drinking the cool aide and believing that Verizon is anything but unreliable at best. Get your amazing Pixel off off Big Red and begin experiencing what it can do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verizon is the best in our area and basically the country! My pixel xl works fine on verizon. I got a new sim back when i got it to make sure and its been great! Not one hiccup!
so is there some type of app or mod that will give option to lock on a specific tower??
My 6p had stellar 4g cellular reception nearly everywhere except when in a hole in the country.
My Pixel XL is awful even when tower is close by. Pretty much -110db or worse, rarely better.
Would like to know of possible working solutions? Recall on 6p one particular Radio seemed to perform best.
Help appreciated, thanks.