Related
I posted this message at www.pdaphonehome.com but I thought I might give it a shot here and see if I can get diffrent results.
I'm in Sydney Australia and have recently puchased (brand new.. not off of ebay or anything) the O2 XDA (32/64mb). Rom version is 3.14.17 ENG with a Radio version of 4.16 and have encountered the dreaded SIGNAL LOSS / REAQUISITION problem.
I switched from a Treo 270 (which had the dreaded back light problem) and absolutely LOOOOOOVE the XDA (plus the fact that I can code VB apps for it too is kinda nice without paying for the dev env) aaannnyway....
(is it me or does it seem like most PDA-Phones have at least one Dreaded Problem).
I'm currently with a carrier which has almost no signal at my workplace (vodafone) and am at least 12 months away from my contract ending so swapping carriers to the better Optus or Telstra is a no-no.
I've managed to trawl around and managed to find some information on the Signal loss / reaquisition.
1) The phone takes an awfully long time to reaquire a signal after coming back from an area with almost no signal. I've managed to time it and on average it seems to take about 10-15 minutes to reaquire. It also needs a STRONG signal to reaquire it and will take longer to reaquire if it's a weak signal.
2) Occasionally the phone gets "stuck" and while it reports a full strength signal, no-one can seem to call or send SMSs
I've tried to use "Phone Today" and it does seem to make little or no diffrence in my situation.
From what other sites (as well as this one) have reported, it has something to do with people only in fluctuating areas of signal combined with a long refresh interval on the phone rather than a defective phone. Am I right?
What I'd like to know (throught your wealth of contacts) is the following.
1) Is O2 Aware of this problem? I've seem forum postings where O2 have admitted to it. Can anyone confirm this? I managed to contact O2 Australia and they've denied (surprise surprise) any knowledge of the problem. Mind you I'm not sure how prevalent the XDA is in Aus so the guy on the phone may have been genuinely ignorant of the problem)
2) Can anyone confirm whether O2 is working on a patch or update for this. I know an ETA is too much to expect but some acknowledgement would be nice.
3) I understand that the AT&T SX56 is practically the same machine and it has it's refresh rate set to 90 seconds as opposed to o2 which I'm assuming is every christmas (but only if you feed it cookies). Would fixing the problem be as simple as using the radio rom from an AT&T on a XDA?
4) Is there anyway to hack the radio to up it's refresh rate? (might breach some copyright laws ... apologies if I've stepped on anyone's toes)
5) Is it true that when it tried to reaquire a signal, it goes into a high frequency seach mode (or something like that.. I don't know.. *sigh* ) which chews up more power? Does this mean that if a more frequent refresh rate were to be implemented, the battery life would decrease significantly?
**new addition**
Since I do have a little knowledge about emVB may be a temporary solution might be possible if I could code one.
Is there an API / for the GSM component of the phone. I noticed the "register on network" button seems to force the phone to reaquire the network if there isn't any signal. I would be nice to write an app to detect a "no bars" status on the phone and get it to hit the refresh button (or at least call the function) every minute or so until it finds a signal.
Any hints?
I may be hoping for a little too much here but it never hurts to try right? Thanks in advance.
XDA fails tto turn on phone
This looks a lot like "XDA fails tto turn on phone." in http://www.sourceo2.com/Communities...tm?frameset=found&NewsGroupID=8&iPageNumber=1.
Thanks for that I'll have a look-see. Didn't know about the SourceO2 site's communities.
I checked the site and it seems that it's pretty much the same gripe everyone's whingeing about. O2 doesn't seem to say anything about it and some poor guy called "xdaguy" seems to be taking all the heat. I don't envy him.
I'll live with it a while longer if not, it's back to the store and since there doesn't seem to be any other PPC phones apart from the XDA here, it's back to the treo.. Booo Hooo.. No MP3's for me anymore
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction anyway.
Paper clip to boost signal
Yes, a paper clip...
I too have experienced just the other day A weak signal to a no signal at all...anyhow here's how to dot it ( at your own risk of course)
1. Bend to straight the paper clip
2. Strip the plastic cover off the metal paper clip using a blade or a small box cutter.
3. bend 1/4 of an inch at a right angle
4. Remove rubber cover beside camera lens
5. Insert the 1/4 inch bended paper clip into the female socket
6. wait for signal
Note: this is only TEMPORARY of course as am looking into the after market antenae booster
hi - looking for a solution to this. is there any?
if my phone loses the signal it won't regain it.
I'm sure i read somewhere that this is actually a design fault and the xda (version 1) is only designed to try to regain signal for 30 mins then give up. That right? Can it be fixed?
Dan
I used to get this but a soft reset usually got it back online.
Hello! New guy here and in searching the web for some answers, I found this site and it looks like a good place to ask some questions
I'm wondering if anybody else finds the speakerphone to be unacceptable? Forget about using it an a car... especially one with an aftermarket exhaust And, even in a fairly quiet room you still have to have it fairly close to you to be able to hear it even with the volume all the way up. At first I thought it was a defective unit and so did the people at the Alltel store (new phone and they are not familiar with it) so they swapped it out for a new one. Got the SAME results and even the guy at Alltel was very disappointed with the quality of the speakerphone. I ended up calling Alltel and asking one of their people about it and they went and got a Touch Pro, tried it, and was like "Wow, that does suck!". LOL!
So, I'm not seeing very much here about how the speakerphone is basically unusable so am wondering if it possible that I got two bad phones in a row and the Altell tech guys have a bad one too?
While this isn't a dealbreaker for me, I do like to use it every so often and can't believe such an expensive phone has such a poor speakerphone!
If this is "just the way it is" is there anyway you smart guys on here which do the hacking can boost up the volume a little???
Thanks for any info or at least re-inforcement that the speakerphone is really "no good". If you all say it works fine then maybe I did just get two defective ones in a row. Thanks!
for a phone that costs as much as it costs HTC Should have put more effort into R&D of this phone..
I'm setting up a Class-Action website soon if HTC dont recall all there HTC Touch Pro's and fix (Put) High Performance Speakers in for the Speaker phone Speaker and of the Speaker when put to ear.
the way i see it is This phone is not even worth 100.00
I can pick up a 25.00 phone and the speakers are way better
I too have the one from Alltel. The speakerphone is weak; however, I don't use it much. When speakerphone is turned off, it is OK.
What I do use is a Motorola H500 and that is very weak as well. Not sure why.
Yeah, this is very disappointing. I thought I could "live" with a poor speakerphone because like cagarn, I don't use it often. It is more the point of it though... it is an expensive phone and if I WANT to use the speakerphone I WANT it to work!
Now, I'm having another problem... the GPS doesn't work worth a crap. I downloaded Google Maps and it was always stuck looking for satellites. Would always show 0 (zero). Thought maybe there was a problem with Alltel "messing" with something so programs like this wouldn't work and you'd be forced to spend $9.99 a month on Alltel's GPS service so, for troubleshooting purposes, I activated Alltel's service and it said "weak signal". Went out to the middle of a large yard and after trying a few times got the Alltel service to lock on and display my location. I then closed out that program and opened Google Maps and DID get it to work too. Since then though, I've not been able to get it to work even in the middle of a large parking lot and not even being in my car??? I went to the local Alltel to swap out the phone again because it seems like the GPS is defective but there were out of the phone. The lady had a personal use HTC Diamond so we tried Google Maps on her phone in the middle of the parking lot and it wouldn't find any satellites either??? What's going on with this? Going to look through the forums here and see if this too is a problem with this phone. Sigh. If this is just the way the GPS is, what the heck is the point of a GPS receiver that is so weak it can't be used in a car and only sometimes in the middle of a large field??? It is getting to the point were, even though I really like the phone and the killer resolution of the screen, I'm about ready to just go back to my trusty Treo 700wx!
I'm running google maps and had no issues. What signal are getting? EV, 1X, rA...?
cagarn said:
I'm running google maps and had no issues. What signal are getting? EV, 1X, rA...?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I normally have EV but sometimes 1X. But, the problem isn't with the data part... the problem is it won't acquire any satellites.
I did notice something weird though... I ran a GPS Test program and it showed the GPS working then opened Googlemaps and it worked then too??? Since then I've been experimenting and the phone will sometimes get 12 satellites and other times I can't get it to connect to any and this is even standing still outside in good weather! I'm also having an issue with the signal (regular phone signal) varying greatly on the phone from no bars to maybe three bars while the phone is staying the same place. It was doing this at the Alltel store and all the other phones in there had a steady strong signal. They are going to replace the phone because of the GPS and weird signal issues. Hopefully this one will work
Oh, and there is a user on another board named badboy8813 who has developed a cab file which increases the volume of the phone. I have tried a "half" boost fix and now going to try the full boost fix and see if that makes it any better. The half one worked pretty good but I'd rather have it real loud and turn it down if needed
Are you talking about this?
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showpost.php?p=439655&postcount=75
cagarn said:
Are you talking about this?
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showpost.php?p=439655&postcount=75
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the actual thread I got it from.
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=41385
I have tried both versions and both do what they say. The full boost version is NICE and LOUD Speakerphone still sucks though. It just isn't a good speakerphone speaker and I'm afraid nothing short of replacing the speaker will "really" fix this problem. The above definitely helps but it is very unfortunate such a nice and expensive phone uses such a cheap and crappy speakerphone speaker. My cheap old and free Motorola T262 speakerphone blows this thing out of the water
Yup i just spent 600+ on this phone with alltel because I'm still in contract, and the main issue i'm having is the crappy speaker phone as well.
oh and yea i had to use the volume boost which is pretty cool to bring the volume up as well but it only affected the regular volume, not the speakerphone, not that i noticed.
WOW, here is the reply i got from HTC
Hello David,
Thank you for your inquiry about the volume of the speakerphone on your Touch Pro.
We understand that it is important you receive all the information to best utilize your device. First I would suggest that you turn up both your System and your Ring volumes. Once you do this and are on a call with someone, it is suggested to speak and listen from the back of your phone. When the device goes into speakerphone mode, it switches its main speaker to the back speaker. This should improve your devices sound quality when using speakerphone.
David, I hope we have answered your question in detail. Feel free to contact us again if you have any further questions.
HTC Technical Support
http://www.america.htc.com
http://www.htcwiki.com
Wow is right. Sad. HTC isn't too "up" on their different version phones from the different providers. I read parts of the HTC Touch Pro pdf on their website before I got mine from Alltel so was familiar with their "standard" phone. When I was having speakerphone problems I called HTC tech support. The guy insisted the speaker was on the BACK of the phone. I relied "yes, it is on the back of the phone in the pics listed on your website but on MY ALLTEL phone there are two slits in the top the sound comes out of. He tried to agrue with me a little until I said "Listen, I have no fancy pattern on the back of my phone and no little grille looking thing. If you take the cover off there is nothing for speaker sound to go through and only clear SOLID plastic for the camera and light and if I cover up the slits on the top with my finger the speakerphone volume basically goes away and gets very muffled... the sound comes out of the top of my phone for sure." He replied back with something like "Well, it is supposed to come out the back." To that I replied, "Thank you for your assistance. Good bye."
Yep, I got about as much help from them as you did. They HAVE to know this speakerphone is basically useless. Why are they trying to play it off like you're an idiot? The worst part is that I asked if there was a "fix" for this and they replied no fixes and none being planned. Lovely. Maybe I'll have to buy an old phone on eBay for about $2 and solder in one of the GOOD speakers in my "state of the art" phone. LOL!
well, would it be the speaker or maybe something with the configuration in the phone? I would think speaker as well but i'm not as familiar with the phone.
dave1980 said:
well, would it be the speaker or maybe something with the configuration in the phone? I would think speaker as well but i'm not as familiar with the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know for sure but from what I've been reading it seems like the speaker is jus not that great.
I just downloaded and started playing with a program called Diamond Tweak which allows you to use the equalizer for everything (not just when headphones are plugged in)... plus it does a ton of other stuff. I'm thinking if I can get the EQ tweaked in for standard TALKING then that might fix a lot of the problems. Might want to check it out...
http://montecristoff.webs.com/
If you come up with an "ideal" setting, please do share!
That's just retarded.
dave1980 said:
WOW, here is the reply i got from HTC
Hello David,
Thank you for your inquiry about the volume of the speakerphone on your Touch Pro.
We understand that it is important you receive all the information to best utilize your device. First I would suggest that you turn up both your System and your Ring volumes. Once you do this and are on a call with someone, it is suggested to speak and listen from the back of your phone. When the device goes into speakerphone mode, it switches its main speaker to the back speaker. This should improve your devices sound quality when using speakerphone.
David, I hope we have answered your question in detail. Feel free to contact us again if you have any further questions.
HTC Technical Support
http://www.america.htc.com
http://www.htcwiki.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no I love my sgs2 and so does every that holds it, ive a major issue that i thought was caused by switching from orange uk to o2 uk, but as it happens i have full signal when the phone is rested down... however when i pick it up it drops signal... more often than not the signal completely drops out as does the call and sometimes it just goes down to 1 bar... does anyone else have this problem? ive tried my o2 sim and my orange sim its the same for both... is it possible i have a defective handset ? weak radio ???
heres my quick vid to show you what i mean, apologies for the video quality... filmed on my bb9700
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VthdB4V3D8&feature=channel_video_title
well the GSM and 3G antenna looks to be located in the bottom, back part of the device. so this seems like the exact place your hand would be covering when holding the phone, so i can easily see some significant signal attentuation happening with this phone.
i dont know where the antenna was located on the original galaxy s. but all phones i own always have attentuation. not much you can do about it i'd guess.
Applies to all wireless devices - signal transmits worse through your hand than through empty air. Rules of the universe.
However, I can't seem to replicate what you're seeing. In order for bars to drop, I have to block the entire bottom of my device using both hands. Holding it in one hand doesn't seem to be causing a drop for me.
But again : air > hand for signal transmission.
RogerPodacter said:
well the GSM and 3G antenna looks to be located in the bottom, back part of the device. so this seems like the exact place your hand would be covering when holding the phone, so i can easily see some significant signal attentuation happening with this phone.
i dont know where the antenna was located on the original galaxy s. but all phones i own always have attentuation. not much you can do about it i'd guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right, quick start guide shows the location of the antenna. If you look at the back of the device, the antenna is in the lower left hand corner, opposite the speaker.
When holding the device in your right hand, it should rest in your palm.
Actually holding the device in my right hand doesn't seem to be affecting my signal though, for some reason. I might just be in an area with good signal though (3 bars of h+, stays at 3 bars when holding it in 1 hand, drops to 1 bar when covering the device completely with 2 hands, and then changes to edge with full bars).
I just tested with my S2 and I had no problems whatsoever.
See my youtube channel (../user/Poppefieke) Can't post links yet.
I have some other S2 video's there too
i think sampullen who has been posting quite a few vids on youtube is going to cover this now too, see i hold my sgs2 in my left had for holding when im surfing etc but also when im on calls...
its good to hear some of you cannot replicate this, maybe mines faulty might try to exchange for a new 1 just to be on the safe side
OMG!
can more people confirm if this is real?
is it as bad as the antenna-gate issue from apple or no where as bad
Hey (samjpullen) here
I have been doing the tests like Sticky and have been getting some rather conflicting results to say the least.
I am not in the best area for Orange so i get a weak signal most of the time, when i do the test infront of my iMac and extra screen with the TV, Sky (you know the drill) on it seems to drop down from H with 1 bar, then down to 3G then down to G and then it can jump onto the Edge network (rathe strange)
But when i do this same test in other rooms e.g bathroom, other bedroom, even downstairs with the tv etc on it is fine!
So my guess is that it might be my rooms location and maybe all the electrical equipment within a small space.
AllGamer said:
can more people confirm if this is real?
is it as bad as the antenna-gate issue from apple or no where as bad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im hoping no where near as bad and im hoping that i was the only affected, one chap has placed a video reply to mine showing he doesnt have the issue which is good news, lets hope more can confirm im rather a 1 off and that if i replace this unit all will be well...... fingers crossed
cheers sam,
btw ppl follow sam on twitter, guys good!!!
I'm having this weird issue. When I am in my house and on the phone, people complain that I am "cutting in and out" and that there's weird reception noise. My calls also often get dropped or don't go through - while in my house. Outside my house, everything appears to be working fine (so far). And even in my house, there appear to be levels of issues. I was speaking to someone while I was upstairs and it was fine but once I went downstairs, he complained that he couldn't hear me and I was cutting in an out. I went back upstairs and it was mostly fine. We continued chatting while I moved around the house and he was able to consistently tell if I was upstairs or downstairs based on the call quality. This issue first appeared 4 days ago - never had this issue before in the past 7 months I've had my phone.
No one else in my house really seems to have the same issue - although one briefly complained about some minor issues for one day. Everyone else has blackberrys and has not seemed to have any problems.
I called the phone company (Wind) about this issue on Friday. Since I was worried about having issues during the call, I called them from my landline which is under Bell I believe. I spoke with someone for about 10 minutes and she then transferred me to a different line to someone who would be able to help me. I try speaking to him and he says "Sir, you're cutting in and out." and he keeps having trouble hearing me the entire time I'm speaking to him. Remember, this was on my landline. (Although I should mention, no one else has complained about issues speaking to me on my landline since, though the problem with my Amaze is still apparently present.)
So because of that and the fact that I don't seem to have issues outside, I don't believe that the problem lies with the Amaze or Wind - although I may be more affected by whatever the problem is because of one of the two. I'll probably go to a Wind store at some point and ask them as well (the guy on the phone was no help really) - but I don't know what they're going to say, considering my phone will probably work fine there.
Does anyone have any idea why I would only be having this issue in my house and what it might be? Maybe some neighbors put up something that would mess with my reception? - if so what might that be? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!
I get poor reception in my house and office as well... And I'm in a metropolitan area. I just wrote it off as a weak radio, because everyone else's phones work fine in same locations
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk 2
Are you on ICS, or did you move to it once you started having the issue? I have fluctuating signals on the ICS radio.
If not, I would call the provider again. It's their problem to solve.
Yea, you have to explain what exactly you are running on your phone..
Rather than JUST look at it as reception issues, think about any new technology you may have bought around the same time you started having issues - new wireless router, new cordless phone, etc. There are many signals besides the frequency devices advertise(cordless phone could be 900-2400mhz, but cause issues on many other frequencies) that may effect your phone but NOT other people's.
If you did upgrade to ICS, and the issues started when you upgraded, it could be the new radio is an issue for you - if it is a deal breaker the best answer is to downgrade to gingerbread till the OFFICIAL ICS comes out, they may make some big changes between the leak and the final official update..
I don't have issues with my cell reception anywhere I go, but I have had calls dropped in a way I never have before - not often by far - but I'll get some weird noises and the call drops. I think it is my phone since it has happened with multiple people, but it doesn't happen often enough for me to REALLY care..
aiwapro said:
Are you on ICS, or did you move to it once you started having the issue? I have fluctuating signals on the ICS radio.
If not, I would call the provider again. It's their problem to solve.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not on ICS and yeah, that's true - I'm just not sure what they're going to do since I won't necessarily be able to show that I have a problem... But I'm still likely going to go to them tomorrow
Silentbtdeadly said:
Yea, you have to explain what exactly you are running on your phone..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, sorry. I'm actually on stock gingerbread - not rooted, not anything, just as it came on Wind Mobile.
Rather than JUST look at it as reception issues, think about any new technology you may have bought around the same time you started having issues - new wireless router, new cordless phone, etc. There are many signals besides the frequency devices advertise(cordless phone could be 900-2400mhz, but cause issues on many other frequencies) that may effect your phone but NOT other people's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, this did first start on the day that I got new batteries (Anker) for my Amaze... though I'm not sure why that would make any difference. Also got a new sd card the day before that. But nothing new in my house that should interfere afaik. But I'm wondering if my neighbors got something...
On a side note, I was on the phone today away from my house and the person I was speaking to seemed to hear inteference/reception issues for a moment. But I'm not sure if he really did, considering I was in a noisy place but there is the possibility that this is in fact a phone issue rather than a location issue...
syrenz said:
Not on ICS and yeah, that's true - I'm just not sure what they're going to do since I won't necessarily be able to show that I have a problem... But I'm still likely going to go to them tomorrow
Yeah, sorry. I'm actually on stock gingerbread - not rooted, not anything, just as it came on Wind Mobile.
Well, this did first start on the day that I got new batteries (Anker) for my Amaze... though I'm not sure why that would make any difference. Also got a new sd card the day before that. But nothing new in my house that should interfere afaik. But I'm wondering if my neighbors got something...
On a side note, I was on the phone today away from my house and the person I was speaking to seemed to hear inteference/reception issues for a moment. But I'm not sure if he really did, considering I was in a noisy place but there is the possibility that this is in fact a phone issue rather than a location issue...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, if you are on stock, and having issues outside the house, check the battery door(the entire back cover) to make sure each contact on the cover is making GOOD contact - if any of the pins that stick off the phone are bent down too much, or if they are too dirty to get solid contact, that could explain your issue.
A weak signal because of the case would make a more dramatic effect when you go into a part of the house or neighborhood that gets less signal, but may otherwise be okay. If dirty clean it with a q-tip with rubbing alcohol(both the connecting pins AND the contacts on the inside of the case), if not try taking a tiny flathead(for glasses repair) or something similar size/shape and insert it underneath each of the 10 copper connectors and BARELY lift a hair, just enough that it will make a better connection.
I say this because if you messed with the battery right before this happened, maybe one of those connectors got altered/dirty when you put it back together.
That certainly might make sense. I rarely took off the battery cover before getting new batteries and sd card. I will try that, thanks!
syrenz said:
That certainly might make sense. I rarely took off the battery cover before getting new batteries and sd card. I will try that, thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The metal tabs are REALLY sensitive, so do be careful, a tiny bit is all it takes.. and thinking about it, the edge of one of those cards for your keychain may be best.
If you look at the pic below you will see the wear marks from taking mine on and off(some were REALLY bad)- bending the tabs up a little bit made better contact and seems to make a big difference. I ordered a new one from HTC(you can replace each accessory for free, check the accessories area for the thread with details, if this helps maybe you should get a replacement?) - either way it can't hurt as long as you don't go too far with it..
I originally read this tip on the tmobile or htc forums(I can't remember), but it does make sense..
So I checked like you said. I sprayed air all over the case and then I noticed that there was a hair sitting right on top one of the bottom connectors... I removed it with tweezers, sprayed some more air and then waited to see the results. (This was two days ago). So far, all my calls seem to be working pretty much perfectly. One person thought that he heard a tiny bit of static at one point, but the majority of my phone calls have been without complaint. So it looks like that fixed it... Amazing what a little hair can do... Thanks!
syrenz said:
So I checked like you said. I sprayed air all over the case and then I noticed that there was a hair sitting right on top one of the bottom connectors... I removed it with tweezers, sprayed some more air and then waited to see the results. (This was two days ago). So far, all my calls seem to be working pretty much perfectly. One person thought that he heard a tiny bit of static at one point, but the majority of my phone calls have been without complaint. So it looks like that fixed it... Amazing what a little hair can do... Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good deal pretty crazy it was a hair, I would have thought something more substantial than that!
i know this have been discussed before but there is still no solution.
here s my problem: wifi signal drops suddenly when i hold my phone. ive done sevral speed tests. These tests confirm that holding the phone results in a really bad wifi quality. I ve tried eveything.
does anyone have any ideas? even if its hardware moding
thx
+1
Sad to say, in my tests, by tightly holding the phone, especially at the bottom right, the signal strength reduced by about 20dBm.
Sent from my XT910 using XDA
this really sucks since this phone is pretty good and so far its the only BIG problem i found. and no solutions....
Must be a random problem. I have the RAZR and RAZR Maxx and neither has this problem.
For me, on 2.3.6 wifi signal was low, especially taking phone by bottom, but on ICS, both t-mobile ics and latest eu ics, wifi signal is very improved. Hand issue remains, but signal is for me stronger.
well i guess im just going to wait for stock ics update and hope it improves but im guessing the problem wont disappear since this is clearly a hardware issue. and if this is random then im very unlucky
When software fixes a radio that software usually just makes the signal-strength meter show signal that's not really there.
There are apps on Play that "fix" all kinds of radio problems by installing signal-strength icons with the low-strength indications set inaccurately. It *looks* like more signal, but it's the same low signal you had before.
Signal strength has almost nothing to do with reception anyway. Signal/Noise ratio is what's important, and there's no meter for that. One bar of signal in a very RF-quiet area, is much better than five bars in a computer data center.
"Caveet emter, I reckon!"
- Mark Twain
I have no wifi issues with this phone. The GNex however was unusable at 30 feet from a high-powered Hawking WAP, or an Apple Airport Extreme WAP.
If you have a plastic case, try removing it. Some cases are made with recycled plastic and are infused with conductive material that can act as a Faraday Shield, blocking part of the signal. Easy test, costs nothing but a few seconds...
yea i already knew about the plastic thats why i bought a rubber case. I have to say it helped a little but didnt fix it. the problem is still there.
thx
Haven't seen any problems with my wifi, although I mainly use the 3G simply because I have 4 GB of data a month and I will never use that much when I'm out around town.
If the problem occurs when holding it a certain way wouldn't the simplest solution be to not hold it that way, also be very aware of any metals between you and the router as metals block radio signals, how old is your house, if old enough maybe lead paint, unlikely but just throwing all possibilities out there.
thx for your help. i didnt only test this at home and as for holding the phone im used to hold it like i hold all phones and its pretty annoying if i always have to hold it differently if i want to use the internet
Have you tried the free Play Store app, WiFi Analyzer?
This will help you find out what works/doesn't as it provides more sensitive strength measurements from the chip. It's handy anyway, since it shows WAPs that you aren't connected to. yet.
It's quite possible that your antenna wire bounced off the connector. An insignificant drop of an inch could do that if it was never seated correctly. It would likely operate in a degraded capacity as a result. If you're OK with cracking the case open, that's something quick to check.
How long have you had this phone?
I have never heard anyone complain about the Razr's WiFi reception, so I suspect this is something unique to that phone right there. What is your idea of poor reception? 100 feet, inside, is the practical limit. 300 feet in an open field. Metal wall studs, sheet metal siding, all of these will stop radio waves dead.
marawan31 said:
thx for your help. i didnt only test this at home and as for holding the phone im used to hold it like i hold all phones and its pretty annoying if i always have to hold it differently if i want to use the internet
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I get that, just trying to "cover all the bases" as they say.
Giblet535 said:
I have never heard anyone complain about the Razr's WiFi reception,
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Click to collapse
Then you haven't been listening. The RAZR is universally acclaimed to have the worst WiFi reception of ANY device since 1999.
im ok with opening it... i actually opened it a couple of times and removed the battery but idk what to look for since nothing is labeled i dont even know where exactly is the wifi ship and antenna. i tested this as close as 6 feet from my router when i leave it on the table i get full wifi signal and speed test at max then i hold it and try... wifi signal goes down and speed test at 3/4 max speed...
thx
It's possible that I have an extraordinary phone then. I decided to compare.
My phone is seeing -60dbm from the Hawking extender that I'm closest to, which is about 20 meters away, behind three stick-frame (pine 2x4 studs, sheetrock) walls. The reading varies dramatically, depending on where I put it on my desk. So let's see what some other WiFi devices do...
My MacBook reads -58dbm. My iPad2 reads -59dbm. An HP Envy 15 reads -65dbm. And a Moto Atrix2 WCS (With Cracked Screen) reads -61dbm.
A transfer of 200MB ("random" data created via linux: 'dd if=/dev/random of=200mb.dat bs=1048576 count=200' so that compression algorithms don't skew the results):
Razr (6.12.79 ICS Black Widow): 9s
MacBook (Lion): 6.5s
iPad2: 10s
HP Envy 15 (Ubuntu 11.10): 7.5s
Moto Atrix2 WCS: 10s
I didn't repeat the test, and that is a busy WAP, but the results are what I expect for battery-operated devices. I also expected the ipad, atrix and razr to lose the race, since they have relatively slow storage systems, which have inherently poor write performance on files of this size (200MB won't buffer at all).
The WiFi cable will look like a white or black wire with a gold junction on the end where it meets the motherboard. I would expect that if you've had the phone open, you would definitely notice a wire hanging loose! I doubt that's the problem, but that wire is a coaxial shielded cable - like on cable TV only really tiny - and you can do all kinds of DIY replacement antenna stuff eg, adding an external jack so you can "beam" WiFi a mile away using a hacked Pringles potato chip can.
I actually think the problem might be RF noise in your environment. Florescent lights (CFLs), computing equipment, HVAC compressors, and motors can effectively "jam" WiFi signals, causing packet transmission failures to increase rapidly as the distance from the WAP increases.
We have a Fluke RF analyzer here, and our WiFi setup is quite good as a result.
Does anyone know if the Razr is unusually susceptible to RF noise? Maybe noise that the Razr generates from the motherboard/CPU/radios/BT? I'm not equipped to test that.
---------- Post added at 09:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:29 AM ----------
Do you have other devices to compare the Razr to?
Did you try pointing all the rubber duck antennas on the WAP straight up?
I just checked an iphone, another ipad, another Razr, and a Dell laptop, and my boss's Razr was technically the winner on signal strength and transfer speed, but let's call it even. There are too many variables, and statistically significant benchmarking is beyond the scope of a forum comment.
The Razr has typical WiFi performance in this environment.
Thank you very much for your post. I did try with the desire z and the evo 3d which are doing jist fine wheather i hold them or leave them on the table: both signal and speed test are amazing compared to the razr (if i hold it). If you could tell me where the wifi ship and antenna are located (a pic maybe) it would be great because when i open the razr all i can see are metal plates everywhere probably for cooling. I dont understand what you mean by pointing all the rubber duck antennas on the WAP...
Thx again
I haven't had a Razr open yet. Even after dropping mine from a motorcycle and watching it slide into a ditch with an inch of water in it. Tough li'l bastards...
The WiFi antenna cable and connector are probably under one of the metal shields.
Most WAPs have 1, 2, or 3 "rubber duck" antennas that you can move to maximize the signal lobe pattern. You can use the WiFi Analyzer app to adjust them, but be prepared to walk a lot...
Others are just a box. The only one of those that *I* know of that works well is the Apple Airport Extreme. The Netgear Wireless-N HD, which is very highly rated, is a P.O.S.: it has a narrow, elongated lobe pattern, and if you're in that narrow lobe, it works REALLY well. If not, you'll be lucky to connect to it. Two people standing 10 feet apart, and one can have great service while the other can't even get an IP address.
The fact that you have other devices working well, and you sound like you've done this quite a bit, I'm guessing you have a problem inside the phone itself.
I manage about 200 phones here, and I haven't heard one word of complaint about WiFi. 3G/4G service? Yeah, lots of complaints about 3G/4G from people out in the woods or working in a valley.
These also work well as a WAP (tethering). We have a few of the Personal WiFi devices - a handheld that converts 3G/4G to WiFi for up to five users - but most people prefer this phone for that.
My old DroidX has a better WiFi antenna, but that's an exceptional phone with only one core: I spit on it. Ptui.