Just moved from EVO 4G to Epic Touch few days ago and started getting wi-fi problems in places where EVO didn't had any so I decided to compare them side to side using "wifi analyzer" from the market. There are 3 near by network that my laptop can pick up and connect - 1 my own and 2 neighbors. Evo sees only 2 of them and can connect to both. Epic touch only sees 1 (my) 90 percent of the time. Wifi analyzer also shows consistently lower db signal levels there. I will try to attach some snapshots of both running side by side. Is there a way to see signal strength of 4g in dbs?
For 3G/cell signal (pull up the menu, scroll down and select About Phone, then select Status. On this screen you will be able to see your signal displayed in dBm) Epic Touch consistently gives a signal strength lower by about 5-7dbm comapred with EVO - That kind of sucks - when you get a newer phone you'd expect a better signal. The difference is marginal for the phone signal, but could mean reception vs no reception in some situations.
I get only one bar on wifi but when I do speedtest it shows me whole 20mbps down and 2 mbpsfrom my time Warner internet.my evo only used to show me 8mbps tops.so it doesn't matter how many bar?
Agreed. I haven't played much into this whole bad wifi signal reception on this phone because even though it only shows half the bars. Transfer speeds are right where the evo 3d was even tho it showed full wifi reception
sent from my DAMN phone!
bars are graphical representation of the signal strength, however each manufacturer decides what signal strength in dbm each bar represents, so there is no point to compare bars unless you are looking at two identical devices. for HTC all bars may mean 60dbm and for samsung it could be 65dbm. It is much more precise to access the actual numerical signal strength. comparing dbm to dbm is like comparing apples to apples
data transfer speed is also not a criteria for comparing signal strength, both phones have different wifi chipsets - newer chipset can achieve some times faster speeds even when signal level is lower then the one on the older chipset.
This is like comparing 802.11G vs 802.11N - the later will be faster even if the signal level is lower, however once you reach the marginal point of where it does not see the other party at all, the quality of the chipset will not matter, you will simply be unable to connect. and the older one with better reception will still work fine.
I've just tested the wifi throughput at the same spot as I was measuring wifi signal strength in the first post, the difference is huge - EVO is 1.7Mb on the down link and EPIC Touch is 0.384Mb consistently.
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 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