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How is your 3G reception on the Vibrant? I just purchased a Vibrant as a replacement for my aging and bluetooth handicapped G1 and I am disappointed with the 3G reception.
T-Mobile's coverage in my area is moderate, and the G1 has been able to hold on to a 3G signal in most locations. Typically, at home the G1 will hold on to 2-3 bars of 3G, and at work I am lucky to get 1 -- usually camps out on 2G with 4 or 5 bars.
The Vibrant pretty much always shows 0 bars of 3G while indoors, and may even flop back to 2G. It is fairly consistently on 2G in my home at 2 bars and at work I can only get 1 bar of 2G with this phone and spend the majority of the time with no signal at all.
I sat down and did some comparison between the Vibrant and the G1 and have found the following:
1. *#*#4636#*#* menu shows significantly worse signal levels on the Vibrant than on the G1, often times showing 0db and 0asu in the same location I am seeing -89db to -101db 3G on the G1.
2. The service menu on the Vibrant indicates a signal level which on 3G is fairly consistently 8db better than the one shown on the info menu. Interestingly, 2G signal levels as shown on the service menu seem fairly spot on with those shown from the info menu in Android.
3. The service menu 3G signal levels on the Vibrant seem consistent with those that I see on the G1 with a variation of perhaps only a couple of decibels.
That said, it seems interesting that battery usage on the Vibrant seems to indicate nearly 60% of its time with no service under cell standby when I get 0% in the same location with the G1. I am wondering if the time being recorded here is in fact the time spent with 0 bars being displayed even if the phone does, in fact, have a signal.
It is apparent that there is at least a software issue with the display here, as has been concluded in prior threads. However, ignoring the bar display I am wondering what others feel of the signal coverage with their Vibrant versus their old phone?
Does anyone have any experience with any of Samsung's other phone offerings? Do you think Samsung will post a radio update for this phone or possibly release one along with the GPS Fix/Froyo update in September?
I work in a position which requires me to be on-call a certain times during the year, and I can't really afford to have a phone that camps out at 60% no signal. I am really looking for reasons to keep this phone, as I like it otherwise, but practically, I need a phone that is going to receive phone calls. Any objective indications anyone can give that Samsung will continue to support this device may help sway my decision to keep it. My 14 days will be up on Thursday, so I need to make a final decision about keeping this phone before then.
Also, do any developers think that modifying the handling of the signal display in Android will cause a change in the amount of time the phone spends acquiring signal between 3G and 2G, or is this something that is purely handled within the radio firmware? If this is changeable, is this something that can be included in a future custom rom?
No coverage issues with mine.matches my mt3g in pretty much every location.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I made a call in the BOONDOCKS of NC, in an old river mill with 22 inch brick walls... NOBODY else was able to place a call other than me (all the big networks and nice phones).
I have pretty crappy 3g service here in new rochelle when at home the phone keeps fluctuating between 0-4 bars for 3G and the data speeds very inconsistent. Sometimes it even falls back to EDGE! This is pretty lame, i called t-mobile about it and they said there nothing they can do! If i am unhappy i should return the phone.
I live in NYC...
That is really all I have to say.
3-5 up speeds
constant 3g connection
The bars on the phone are funky though they look like there are none but you can still make calls. Its just the software is off just like the battery percentage.
Rishikesh said:
I have pretty crappy 3g service here in new rochelle when at home the phone keeps fluctuating between 0-4 bars for 3G and the data speeds very inconsistent. Sometimes it even falls back to EDGE! This is pretty lame, i called t-mobile about it and they said there nothing they can do! If i am unhappy i should return the phone.
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Click to collapse
If you're at home why aren't you on WiFi?
Seriously it's the most puzzling thing ever. 3G or not, I wouldn't be using it at home. Are you trying to replace your ISP with your phone or something?
You should do a search. Are you aware of the fact that -0dBm is impossible? The bars are off on this phone and the G1 is mediocre overall. It can hold on to a 3G signal for longer because your hand isn't blocking the antenna but the antenna itself is truly mediocre in fringe areas. Move your hand away from the bottom hump on the Vibrant. A lot of questions you're asking.. you're answering yourself.
I am not all too impressed with 3G coverage here at my home, but I mostly blame the network at my location and not necessarily the phone. TMO has spotty coverage near my house....period, and I live less than a mile from the tower. I have a Blackberry 9700 and it has similar issues with 3G. I've called and complained and they give me the usual "you're green on the map...return the phone....blah blah". I was closer to downtown Dallas yesterday and the phone had full bars and never got higher than -80dbm. Speedtest app showed about 3mbps downloads on average. I wouldn't say it was stellar but it's nothing like at home either. Only thing is my phone never automatically drops from 3G to E unless I am making calls. Once again the Blackberry 9700 does the same thing.
However, I am not completely convinced the phone isn't to blame either. I had a week with the new Motorola XT720, aka AWS Motoroi/Milestone that Magenta is/was rumored (who knows?) to get, and if Moto hadn't skimped on the CPU/RAM/screen/app memory of that phone I would have kept it instead of this Vibrant. That phone seemed to get much better 3G signal and HSPA was excellent compared to the Vibrant. I'm lucky if the Vibrant gets HSPA here at all. Overall network performance just seemed faster. It was quite obvious when I powered up the Vibrant the first time that 3G coverage is going to be an issue at my home with this phone.
FWIW my wife has an iPhone 3G which gets great 3G coverage here at the house on ATT. So I borrowed her SIM to test after I unlocked the Vibrant and it didn't make much difference. It did get 3G which I didn't think was technically possible until I saw that this phone has 1900 3G support as well as AWS. I do think the bars and definitely the battery indicators are not accurate whatsoever. I use Battery Indicator Pro and it's definitely obvious Samsung needs a software re-work.
Just because you live within 1 mile of a tower doesn't mean it's 3G or that there isn't something in the way of it's signal and your house.. I live within 1 mile of a tower and it's not 3G. It's supposed to get 3G soon.
heygrl said:
If you're at home why aren't you on WiFi?
Seriously it's the most puzzling thing ever. 3G or not, I wouldn't be using it at home. Are you trying to replace your ISP with your phone or something?
You should do a search. Are you aware of the fact that -0dBm is impossible? The bars are off on this phone and the G1 is mediocre overall. It can hold on to a 3G signal for longer because your hand isn't blocking the antenna but the antenna itself is truly mediocre in fringe areas. Move your hand away from the bottom hump on the Vibrant. A lot of questions you're asking.. you're answering yourself.
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Click to collapse
Maybe I don't have WiFi in my house?
Maybe I would love to reduce my monthly expenditures by the $60 I throw away to Comcast?
I am well aware of the fact that -0dbm is impossible. This is simply what the phone is displaying. I also agree that the G1's reception is mediocre, but this phone seems worse than the G1. Blocking the antenna with my hand doesn't seem to make much difference on either the Vibrant or the G1.
I asked for objective answers to my questions which basically boil down to the following:
1. Do you think Samsung will provide support for the software on this phone (including the radio) over the long term ie. do you think there will be upgrades in this department?
2. Do you think this is something custom rom developers can address purely via modifying the OS?
Thanks for your snarky comments, but if you haven't got any objective input into the situation maybe this thread is not for you.
equid0x said:
Maybe I don't have WiFi in my house?
Maybe I would love to reduce my monthly expenditures by the $60 I throw away to Comcast?
I am well aware of the fact that -0dbm is impossible. This is simply what the phone is displaying. I also agree that the G1's reception is mediocre, but this phone seems worse than the G1. Blocking the antenna with my hand doesn't seem to make much difference on either the Vibrant or the G1.
I asked for objective answers to my questions which basically boil down to the following:
1. Do you think Samsung will provide support for the software on this phone (including the radio) over the long term ie. do you think there will be upgrades in this department?
2. Do you think this is something custom rom developers can address purely via modifying the OS?
Thanks for your snarky comments, but if you haven't got any objective input into the situation maybe this thread is not for you.
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Click to collapse
You're asking questions that we can't answer. Do we work at Samsung? No. Would stock Android fix this? Maybe.
It seems worse than the G1 because based on your comments the bars are having an affect on what you deem to be "worse". I've had tons of T-Mobile phones including the G1 and the Vibrant is not considerably worse than any. INFACT it will hold on to a 3G signal for longer than most. My CLIQ displayed 3 bars as -105dBm. Accurate? NO.
has been able to hold on to a 3G signal in most locations. Typically, at home the G1 will hold on to 2-3 bars of 3G, and at work I am lucky to get 1 -- usually camps out on 2G with 4 or 5 bars.
The Vibrant pretty much always shows 0 bars of 3G while indoors,
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Click to collapse
Where is the antenna on the G1? If you're telling me you're putting your hand over it and not having any disconcernable change you're not doing it right
If you don't have WiFi at your house you need to get some.
heygrl said:
You're asking questions that we can't answer. Do we work at Samsung? No.
It seems worse than the G1 because based on your comments the bars are having an affect on what you deem to be "worse". I've had tons of T-Mobile phones including the G1 and the Vibrant is not considerably worse than any. INFACT it will hold on to a 3G signal for longer than most. My CLIQ displayed 3 bars as -105dBm. Accurate? NO.
Where is the antenna on the G1? If you're telling me you're putting your hand over it and not having much of a change at all you're lying or not doing it right.
If you don't have WiFi at your house you need to get some.
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I know that nobody here is working for Samsung but there are plenty of people here who have developed for Android, and the question I am posing is if this is something that can be addressed in a custom rom.
I think my original post makes it clear that there is obviously a software issue with bar display, but I am wondering if this software issue is also causing the Android OS to force a switch to 2G in an instance where the G1 with a properly functioning display would keep 3G. ie, the phone is switching to 2G early because it thinks it only has -111dbm when it in fact still has -103dbm. I am not clear on whether this functionality is performed within the OS itself or purely within the radio firmware.
My hands are rather large, so holding the G1 basically covers the entire rear of the phone. The antenna is near the top of the phone whereas the antenna on the Vibrant seems to be on the bottom. Though holding both phones in various positions seems to have little effect on the received signal strength so far as I can tell.
The time spent without signal in cell standby I believe to be erroneous. I think it is tallying up that time any time there are zero bars, even if the phone still has a signal. This makes it very difficult to objectively compare the 2 phones. If the OS is in fact driving the switch from 3G to 2G this may explain my poor access in fringe areas as the phone will be constantly flapping between the two. If the functions that drive this behavior are within the AOSP source this could easily be something we can fix in a custom rom even without Samsung's help, even if a radio update would be ideal.
heygrl said:
Where is the antenna on the G1? If you're telling me you're putting your hand over it and not having any disconcernable change you're not doing it right
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Click to collapse
I can wrap my hand around the phone (Vibrant), either top, center or bottom and I do not see any change in either reception, call quality, network throughput or number of bars.
heygrl said:
If you don't have WiFi at your house you need to get some.
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Click to collapse
It is perfectly understandable that if he has good reception with a G1, an older phone, he expects at least a similar level or reception with a newer, higher end phone. WiFi would be considered a workaround.
I just received my Vibrant on Monday and it's sadly replacing my amazing Nexus One. I've noticed that the Vibrant antenna is AWFUL. Where I received 4-5 bars on the N1, I'm getting 1-3 bars now and it even goes down to Edge once every few hours.
Like the OP, I've been monitoring the db levels and they're frequently around -95 through -107. While my calls don't actually drop, the quality does get worse. I'm also getting many 3G connection errors when trying to browser or download apps from the Market. It's quite disappointing. The phone is made of plastic as well, so I'd imagine that the antenna reception should be better.
Being that there are only 2 pages on this particular thread, does this mean it's a fluke and others' phones are ok?
allen099 said:
I just received my Vibrant on Monday and it's sadly replacing my amazing Nexus One. I've noticed that the Vibrant antenna is AWFUL. Where I received 4-5 bars on the N1, I'm getting 1-3 bars now and it even goes down to Edge once every few hours.
Like the OP, I've been monitoring the db levels and they're frequently around -95 through -107. While my calls don't actually drop, the quality does get worse. I'm also getting many 3G connection errors when trying to browser or download apps from the Market. It's quite disappointing. The phone is made of plastic as well, so I'd imagine that the antenna reception should be better.
Being that there are only 2 pages on this particular thread, does this mean it's a fluke and others' phones are ok?
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Click to collapse
4-5 bars on a phone with a 4 bar scale?
Stop looking at -dBm on the Vibrant, it's not accurate.
If you don't want the phone to switch to EDGE lock it on 3G.
heygrl said:
4-5 bars on a phone with a 4 bar scale?
Stop looking at -dBm on the Vibrant, it's not accurate.
If you don't want the phone to switch to EDGE lock it on 3G.
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Click to collapse
How do you lock it on 3G?
javacody said:
How do you lock it on 3G?
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Click to collapse
This worked for me (copy/paste and remove spaces in http):
h t t p://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7438987&postcount=7
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7438987&postcount=7
Thanks. 3G is spotty at best in the Des Moines Area, so I'll leave well enough alone.
So, in follow up to this, I had downloaded and installed RF signal tracker from the market and went driving around until I found a tower. It seems that via Android OS the best signal strength received was -81dbm and that was sitting right next to the tower. The phone stayed locked at -81dbm for a few miles down the road so I suspect this is peak signal on this phone which should really be something like -65dbm. I think this pretty much confirms that there is indeed a software issue with the signal display.
I also took some time looking at Android code and found that the bars are driven on GSM/UMTS by asu as follows:
if (asu <= 2 || asu == 99) iconLevel = 0;
else if (asu >= 12) iconLevel = 4;
else if (asu >= 8) iconLevel = 3;
else if (asu >= 5) iconLevel = 2;
else iconLevel = 1;
So figuring up the dbm values from these, I went ahead and created a new asu scale which is adjusted -8dbm from "normal" since this seems to be the worst case of the mismatch between the phone firmware and what Android is reporting and applied that within the market app Real Signal to try and get an apples to apples comparison of signal bars between this phone and the old G1. Unfortunately, the degree if miscalibration means we can't set a negative ASU so we don't get any meaningful display on Real Signal until we hit the 3rd bar. In doing this if I go to a moderate overage area I am seeing the bars I would expect.
After my little drive with RF Signal Tracker its actually pretty clear that discrepancy is really more like -15dbm, which adjusting the figures should mean that this phone in reality gets slightly better reception than the old G1.
It seems we should be able to workaround this in a custom ROM by doing one of the following:
1. Modify getGsmSignalStrength() to add the -15dbm to the returned signal strength value(hackish).
2. Modify the vendor RIL to compensate for the -15dbm offset when on UMTS. (Probably the proper solution).
I'm not clear on whether the vendor RIL code gets posted to AOSP...
equid0x said:
How is your 3G reception on the Vibrant? I just purchased a Vibrant as a replacement for my aging and bluetooth handicapped G1 and I am disappointed with the 3G reception.
T-Mobile's coverage in my area is moderate, and the G1 has been able to hold on to a 3G signal in most locations. Typically, at home the G1 will hold on to 2-3 bars of 3G, and at work I am lucky to get 1 -- usually camps out on 2G with 4 or 5 bars.
The Vibrant pretty much always shows 0 bars of 3G while indoors, and may even flop back to 2G. It is fairly consistently on 2G in my home at 2 bars and at work I can only get 1 bar of 2G with this phone and spend the majority of the time with no signal at all.
I sat down and did some comparison between the Vibrant and the G1 and have found the following:
1. *#*#4636#*#* menu shows significantly worse signal levels on the Vibrant than on the G1, often times showing 0db and 0asu in the same location I am seeing -89db to -101db 3G on the G1.
2. The service menu on the Vibrant indicates a signal level which on 3G is fairly consistently 8db better than the one shown on the info menu. Interestingly, 2G signal levels as shown on the service menu seem fairly spot on with those shown from the info menu in Android.
3. The service menu 3G signal levels on the Vibrant seem consistent with those that I see on the G1 with a variation of perhaps only a couple of decibels.
That said, it seems interesting that battery usage on the Vibrant seems to indicate nearly 60% of its time with no service under cell standby when I get 0% in the same location with the G1. I am wondering if the time being recorded here is in fact the time spent with 0 bars being displayed even if the phone does, in fact, have a signal.
It is apparent that there is at least a software issue with the display here, as has been concluded in prior threads. However, ignoring the bar display I am wondering what others feel of the signal coverage with their Vibrant versus their old phone?
Does anyone have any experience with any of Samsung's other phone offerings? Do you think Samsung will post a radio update for this phone or possibly release one along with the GPS Fix/Froyo update in September?
I work in a position which requires me to be on-call a certain times during the year, and I can't really afford to have a phone that camps out at 60% no signal. I am really looking for reasons to keep this phone, as I like it otherwise, but practically, I need a phone that is going to receive phone calls. Any objective indications anyone can give that Samsung will continue to support this device may help sway my decision to keep it. My 14 days will be up on Thursday, so I need to make a final decision about keeping this phone before then.
Also, do any developers think that modifying the handling of the signal display in Android will cause a change in the amount of time the phone spends acquiring signal between 3G and 2G, or is this something that is purely handled within the radio firmware? If this is changeable, is this something that can be included in a future custom rom?
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Click to collapse
I haven't done any detailed tests but I can state that in real world use, I am not happy with my Vibrant's reception. My G1 was very noticeably better at getting and holding 3G and Edge connections in the same locations where my new Vibrant won't.
Next to a tower on GSM(GSM/GPRS/EDGE) you should see -51dBm at the most with Android. W-CDMA is different because they really don't use -dBm to determine signal quality. They use power/noise.
I have a very strange issue. At home I get outside / inside I get 1 - 2 bars. If i drive two / three blocks left or right from my house I get 5 bars 3G. I have called t-mobile, and they have sent engs to test. First eng said its the phone and not their service. I explained to them I have 2 blackberrys and two android phones. Same signal on each! They sent another tech out and he said they are not going to improve the coverage in my area. I've been looking around for repeaters, boosters, etc, but I see that nobody makes a booster for the 1700 MHz.
Does anyone have any ideas?
im in chicago and i get the same thing. i get 1 bar 3g, or 2-3 bars on edge. sometimes, my signal drops all together and then comes back a few seconds later. i've told tmobile about this and they said there is no outage in my area. however, my dad's phone is fine; granted it's us cellular but still fine. just has to be tmobile. any of my friends who have tmobile, always lose signal at my place.
but good luck finding any company who will admit that their is something wrong with their service.
I am having the same problem in my house but outside is perfect. I notice that many Samsung Vibrant user has same problem at their residential. Why? Don't know...
im thinkin it could be the phone. cuz i didnt have problems with my old iphone..
It is not the phone. This is typical behavior for 2100 mhz signal. (t-mobile uplink frequency)
Yeah, I know the higher the mhz the harder it is to reach through buildings...one reason why hand radios such as police, fire, ems still use 700 / 800 range.
For my location its like the 3G towers get so close they lose signal near me. There are 3 tmobile towers within a 1 mile radius of me. Im right in the middle of all three.
This has been confirmed by tmobile and their tower website.
http://www.t-mobiletowers.com
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
i was using tmobile when i had my iphone.. so i still think the phone plays a role in this also
If you've never had a 3G device on T-Mobile there is no comparison to be made.
Secondly just because you're near a tower doesn't mean all of them will have 3G. 1 of those towers could be 3G while the other two are 2G.
T-Mobile's legacy 2G network is PCS AKA 1900 - already a high frequency network. There are a NUMBER of reasons why 3G isn't as strong as 2G. First of all 2G and 3G signal strength is measured differently. 1 bar (or 0 on the Vibrant) can mean choppy, garbling calls on 2G/GSM but on 3G, 1 bar can give you crystal clear calls and good-enough data service. EDGE with 1 bar is next to unbearable.
I actually have a problem because my neighbor has an illegal repeater that is tagged for AT&T. Because AT&T has really poor service in this area, he has it cranked up so high that if you get within half a block of his house all other GSM/EDGE/3G devices start to flake out. I doubt he even gets much better service in his house (I'm sure the repeater is just amplifying garbage signal anyway).
quetwo said:
I actually have a problem because my neighbor has an illegal repeater that is tagged for AT&T. Because AT&T has really poor service in this area, he has it cranked up so high that if you get within half a block of his house all other GSM/EDGE/3G devices start to flake out. I doubt he even gets much better service in his house (I'm sure the repeater is just amplifying garbage signal anyway).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
report him to the feds and that'll get rid of all your problems
Yeah, report him to the FCC. There is the threat of a $10K fine but usually thats all it takes to get them to turn of the repeater. If you don't want to be the bad guy, call t-mobile and rat him out.
quetwo said:
I actually have a problem because my neighbor has an illegal repeater that is tagged for AT&T. Because AT&T has really poor service in this area, he has it cranked up so high that if you get within half a block of his house all other GSM/EDGE/3G devices start to flake out. I doubt he even gets much better service in his house (I'm sure the repeater is just amplifying garbage signal anyway).
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Click to collapse
I wonder if thats why my signal just drops like a rock. I literally turn the corner and I go from 5 bars to 2 bars.
The Vibrant has 4 bars max, not 5. The bar display is very sensitive on the Vibrant, just the same as any other Samsung. Stop focusing on the bars, they're totally different when compared to any other Android phone.
heygrl said:
The Vibrant has 4 bars max, not 5. The bar display is very sensitive on the Vibrant, just the same as any other Samsung. Stop focusing on the bars, they're totally different when compared to any other Android phone.
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Click to collapse
I agree, I have 0 bars inside my house but I am able to place calls upstairs but not downstairs. During my testing I used the bar status and *#*#197328640#*#* for the reading. You can tell with bar status though that it will be 5 bars and drive 2 more blocks its down to 2 bars. Same with *#*#197328640#*#* by the signal numbers.
I didn't read everything just wanted to give a reply really quick to the OP, I live in the chicago land area, work closer to the city and live in the west burbs, on Tmo, at work and around work area i get 3-5 bars all day long on 3g but once i get intside of my house it drops down to 0-1 and phone call quility is very poor.
To help my issue, once i get home i switch to "Use only 2G networks" under Mobile network settings, and once it switchs over i have full 5 everywhere with in my house on edge only and use my wifi if i want to surf the web. But the thing is call quility is back up to 100% when switching over once at home.
IDK if this will help you but worth a shot.
or you might try a more neighborly approach, ie warn him first
i had a problem years ago with a new neighbor (young kid) had rented a house few doors down from me - and was obviously selling drugs - this was in the inner city, the historic district, cars would pull up from time to time and the driver would jump out and run in his back door, spend 5 - 15 minutes and leave, and there'd be 5 to 10 cars a night when he had a shipment in. Problem was, the guy or guys left waiting in his car would be eyeballing the BMWs, volvos etc parked in the center of the block (center of block had two alleys, with a small private parking lot between them. they see or think these cars were easy prey for breakins, and they were - after he moved in we started seeing a breakin every 2-3 weeks
i told him one of the neighbors had asked me was he dealing drugs, as it sure looked like it, and hoping he'd get the hint, i told him it's none of my business but if you are, you might ask the customers to come to the front of your house - we've had way too many breakins into the cars and that neighbor that asked is ready to call the cops.
he didn't get the hint - cops were called, but only after giving him a chance, and they ended up raiding him
you get the point - use a "hypothetical" neighbor that had complained to you, so you don't unnecessarrily start a fence war
dougE24 said:
I didn't read everything just wanted to give a reply really quick to the OP, I live in the chicago land area, work closer to the city and live in the west burbs, on Tmo, at work and around work area i get 3-5 bars all day long on 3g but once i get intside of my house it drops down to 0-1 and phone call quility is very poor.
To help my issue, once i get home i switch to "Use only 2G networks" under Mobile network settings, and once it switchs over i have full 5 everywhere with in my house on edge only and use my wifi if i want to surf the web. But the thing is call quility is back up to 100% when switching over once at home.
IDK if this will help you but worth a shot.
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Click to collapse
I usually get maybe 1-2 bars of service at my house, and on a lot of days it's worse. Sometimes I can't maintain a call at all because the conversation is so broken. I tried doing what you've mentioned here and was surprised when my bars immediately jumped to full and stayed that way....for about 1 minute lol. Then I watched as they slowly dropped again to 1 bar. Which it then flickered up to 2 occasionally. I'm glad it works for you though. It was just funny for me because I'm yelling at my girlfriend "LOOK LOOK!! I HAVE FULL SIGNAL NOW!! Then I got sad face lol.
dougE24 said:
I didn't read everything just wanted to give a reply really quick to the OP, I live in the chicago land area, work closer to the city and live in the west burbs, on Tmo, at work and around work area i get 3-5 bars all day long on 3g but once i get intside of my house it drops down to 0-1 and phone call quility is very poor.
To help my issue, once i get home i switch to "Use only 2G networks" under Mobile network settings, and once it switchs over i have full 5 everywhere with in my house on edge only and use my wifi if i want to surf the web. But the thing is call quility is back up to 100% when switching over once at home.
IDK if this will help you but worth a shot.
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Click to collapse
Thanx Doug, This actually helped a lot in the house
laristech said:
..................., but I see that nobody makes a booster for the 1700 MHz.
Does anyone have any ideas?
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Click to collapse
actually there are quite a few wireless repeaters / boosters for 1700/2100
do a google for 1700/2100 repeaters, it'll pull up quite a few
here's one http://www.jdteck.com/jd55-pr-consumer-repeaters-p-2.html
I have had many phones with tmobile and a previous android the euro hero and never had I only had 0 to 1 bars on 3g in my house and best 3 bars on edge. All my previous had full 3g signal in my house til I got my vibrant so I can say that is the phone and not the service.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I have seen in reviews about reception on the 3d. Can anyone with one reply with how the reception really is in day to day use
Thanks
Epic-ly wanting a new phone
grimduk said:
I have seen in reviews about reception on the 3d. Can anyone with one reply with how the reception really is in day to day use
Thanks
Epic-ly wanting a new phone
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Click to collapse
My data speeds are better and Call quality is good.
DDiaz007 said:
My data speeds are better and Call quality is good.
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Click to collapse
+1 same experience
On my EVO 4G in my condo it always showed 5-6 bars With the 3d its currently showing 3-4 bars. Haven't noticed any difference in call quality though, and I talked to a few folks the other night that said it sounded clearer then my old phone.
howie411 said:
On my EVO 4G in my condo it always showed 5-6 bars With the 3d its currently showing 3-4 bars. Haven't noticed any difference in call quality though, and I talked to a few folks the other night that said it sounded clearer then my old phone.
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I'm noticing less bars as well
Well, I live in Alaska and there isn't a single Sprint store in the state... Even though they have coverage here, you can't even order a device here (normally, but I'm awesome and I can lol).
My EVO usually got 1-2 bars, around my house/work areas, more if I went into a downtown area with more Verizon coverage. My 3D gets 3-4 bars now in my house, and my bandwith test is increased by about 20% from the tests I've done so far.
TL;DR version:
I get much better signal, and better up/down speeds where I live.
This guy tested his e3d vs his e4g side by side. Seems like the e3d had a slight edge.
http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-3d/360306-signal-strength-analysis-evo-3d-evo-4g.html
ballr4lyf said:
This guy tested his e3d vs his e4g side by side. Seems like the e3d had a slight edge.
http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-3d/360306-signal-strength-analysis-evo-3d-evo-4g.html
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Can't dispute hard facts... thanks for the link. I think it was engadget that said signal was weak, but I am too lazy to search it out.
shortbus182 said:
Can't dispute hard facts... thanks for the link. I think it was engadget that said signal was weak, but I am too lazy to search it out.
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Engadget also assumed that with the two phones being made by HTC and on Sprint that the bars corresponded to the actual same strength.
donatom3 said:
Engadget also assumed that with the two phones being made by HTC and on Sprint that the bars corresponded to the actual same strength.
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My thoughts exactly.
Sent From My HTC Evo 4G Using Tapatalk On The Now Network From Sprint.
Its a world better than the NS4G
3g is horrible even after applying the fix listed in another thread.
Phone signal strength consistently is 1/2 that of my EVO....now, I haven't lost any calls BUT I am also not able to make calls in areas which had less than stellar signals where my wifes EVO will still make the call with no issue and show 2 bars while the 3D shows absolutely none.
jfenton57 said:
3g is horrible even after applying the fix listed in another thread.
Phone signal strength consistently is 1/2 that of my EVO....now, I haven't lost any calls BUT I am also not able to make calls in areas which had less than stellar signals where my wifes EVO will still make the call with no issue and show 2 bars while the 3D shows absolutely none.
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Haven't gotten the 3d yet, but I have seen this problem with my Evo 4g. Try to update your PRL, then update your Profile (In that order). See if that helps.
I'm getting almost the same bars as in my 4G or maybe 1 bar less, but I definitely think that call quality and data speeds (at least for me) are way better than my 4G. And also another thing I noticed is that I get better WiFi reception, now I get full bars in my house in places that my 4G use to get 1 to no bars!
Yeah yeah, its a shooter,we call it 3VO and I'm not afraid to use it...
I live in a fringe area where I always got either zero or 1 bar with the Evo 4G, but even with zero bars I could always hold a call, probably because these phones freely roam on Verizon towers too. Now with the 3D, I have to be honest: I think my Evo 4G was slightly better with reception just because I notice the 3D switching back and forth between Sprint and Verizon towers more often (roaming notification goes off more). If I had to quantify it, I'd say my old Evo 4G got maybe 10% to 15% better signal. But I expect that to improve via updates so I'm not too worried about it, especially since, well... it still works.
For the few who report "horrible" reception: do you keep your roaming enabled? You should: roaming within the U.S. only means you'll roam on Verizon towers which means we get the best of both worlds. The only place we can "roam" in the U.S. is Verizon towers and we roam them for free (both voice and 3G data). So leave roaming on!
Mike
Is it better in this area than the Sensation, I haven't heard any reports of death grip for it?
Ever since I've transferred to AT&T I've had laggy data issues. I finally rooted/flashed to AOKP, and while trying to address the issues of no APNs appearing or saving and no signal status in the status bar, I've come to find both AT&T and T-Mobile as Available Networks under some network setting. Am I chasing ghosts here, or is there something actually up?
EDIT: So I really need help troubleshooting the issue. I'll logcat, dump, or whatever necessary. I've been in many cities/areas and this problem persists: if I haven't used data or the phone hasn't been backgrounding traffic, it'll take anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds before a connection is made when I try to access an internet-related function on my phone (even though 3G/H is displayed in the status bar). Out of shear frustration (this has been happening since I got the phone, under stock ROMs and now under AOKP), I tried messing with *#*#info#*#*. I changed WCDMA-preferred to WCDMA-only -- no improvement. Oddly, I also tried GSM-only. Well, great improvement! Even though I only have E, there is absolutely no latency in waiting for a connection -- so pages and other data end up loading faster on Edge than 3G !
I have absolutely no idea why my phone takes forever to make a connection. Under 3G, I see only but a few upstream network activity blips (even under full bars) for as much as 30 seconds, before there is any downstream activity (and when it comes, it comes). Can anyone help???
P.S.: I'm going to try using a friend's SIM later for comparison.
joebobjoe said:
Ever since I've transferred to AT&T I've had laggy data issues. I finally rooted/flashed to AOKP, and while trying to address the issues of no APNs appearing or saving and no signal status in the status bar, I've come to find both AT&T and T-Mobile as Available Networks under some network setting. Am I chasing ghosts here, or is there something actually up?
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Because they both share the 1900MHz band I believe.
Red5 said:
Because they both share the 1900MHz band I believe.
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I'd like to know if it shows up for anyone else?
joebobjoe said:
I'd like to know if it shows up for anyone else?
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On AOKP it does for me too. Just ignore it.
Red5 said:
On AOKP it does for me too. Just ignore it.
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An aside: does your phone stay on 3G and switch to H only under moderate network traffic?
joebobjoe said:
An aside: does your phone stay on 3G and switch to H only under moderate network traffic?
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The phone displays 3G because thats what it is... then when data is being processed, it shows H because its using the "what AT&T calls 4G but its really HSPA" side of the network. For just standby time with no data, its going to show 3G because HSDPA is traffic, not standby.
Red5 said:
The phone displays 3G because thats what it is... then when data is being processed, it shows H because its using the "what AT&T calls 4G but its really HSPA" side of the network. For just standby time with no data, its going to show 3G because HSDPA is traffic, not standby.
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Well that's strange. I'm used to phones displaying what network-level they are capable of. So why would it not just display H for HSPA+ when HSPA+ service is available, instead of only displaying under traffic.
I'm going to go ahead an edit this thread to help troubleshoot what I think to be the main issue.
After some trials I see that the network indicator switches back and forth between 3G and H a few tines before making the connection and transmitting data. Hmmm...
Basically, "4G" will eat your battery alive so the phone idles at 3G and jumps to H+ only when you use data. If you were on a "stock" ATT rom it would always read H+, but this is technically false since when its idle the phone sits in 3G. CM9 and AOKP accurately display it which is why you see the switch.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk
I have a HTC Amaze for a phone and the Galaxy S2 is my media player. Sometimes, when I don't feel like carrying around two devices, I put my T-Mobile SIM in the galaxy and use it as my phone. I must say, Edge is not as slow as I remember it being. Maybe speed is contingent on network traffic. If thats the case, instead of using crowded "faux G" networks, I may defer to Edge to save battery life and get good dl/ul rates.
My phone does the same thing. I noticed it sometime ago. When idle 3g. Internet I get H+. This is with both Shostock2 and Phone Bricker. I was curious to know too but just blew it off because it really doesnt make any difference to me as long as Im getting decent speeds. Im not even with ATT anymore. Went with Straight Talk. Which uses ATT towers. Cant beat the price!!
They don't have the correct apns, but that symbol problem is because the phone doesn't use hspa+ passively, only actively. It causes some lag when downloading, but it is faster fit large data. But your problem is due to a supposed imei range with bad modems. Rehash stick, fix the triangle, and return it.
Sent from my GT-I777 using xda premium
Hello,
I'm new to this thread as I've been a HTC user forever.
I just got my first of many N3's last week and it seems that I have very low signal in a lot of places where I typically get strong signal.
For example on my HTC Evo 4G LTE I always get 5 bars and there was rarely any dropped calls at my home and office.
On the N3 I now typically only have 1-3 bars.
I'm sure its NOT a SPRINT network issue but a phone issue. Does any one else experience this issue? Is there a fix to get better signal?
Here is what I did with the sprint and verizon N3.
Sprint:
Purchased at Best Buy and had low signal issue and returned it.
Purchased at Sprint Store had low signal issue and I still have this phone.
Verizon:
Purchased at Verizon store and had low signal issue . They suggested exchanging the SIM card which I did but didnt change the signal strength.
Exchanged it for a different N3 and still had the same issue so I've returned it.
djscissorhands said:
Hello,
I'm new to this thread as I've been a HTC user forever.
I just got my first of many N3's last week and it seems that I have very low signal in a lot of places where I typically get strong signal.
For example on my HTC Evo 4G LTE I always get 5 bars and there was rarely any dropped calls at my home and office.
On the N3 I now typically only have 1-3 bars.
I'm sure its NOT a SPRINT network issue but a phone issue. Does any one else experience this issue? Is there a fix to get better signal?
Here is what I did with the sprint and verizon N3.
Sprint:
Purchased at Best Buy and had low signal issue and returned it.
Purchased at Sprint Store had low signal issue and I still have this phone.
Verizon:
Purchased at Verizon store and had low signal issue . They suggested exchanging the SIM card which I did but didnt change the signal strength.
Exchanged it for a different N3 and still had the same issue so I've returned it.
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Click to collapse
Is it actual signal strength your concerned about or is it bar strength in the notification area? Also you can't compare verizon to sprint signal as a fair comparison as they will be different in different areas. Go into your settings and look at the actual signal strength of both phones. They will be measured in dbm.
i'm concerned with the amount of bars in the notification area which has a direct correlation to the amount of dbm in the settings. the sprint phone fluctuates between -91 dbm and -100 dbm.
I was testing a theory that the lte radio had something to do with it so I just went into settings/mobile network/perferred network mode and switched from "LTE/CDMA" to "CDMA" and the phone rebooted and wham , now i have 5 bars and -69 dbm. Something with the lte is messing with the phone. WTH!!!
That means to get a good signal i have to be in CDMA and only get 3g service. Why is this?
I'm out have no explanation. I have/had that problem too, people at the sprint store tells me its a issue of where the software in the phone isn't recognizing the lte the way it should and that a software fix is coming but no one know when. I was dropping so many calls (89% of them per sprint) on the stock rom I was ready to go back to my note 2, but after flashing a different rom I have only dropped one call since rooting and switching roms .
Bump
Sent from my SM-N900P using xda app-developers app
I don't know if LTE functions on the same frequency as 3g. As a rule from amateur radio, the higher the frequency the transmitter operates on, the shorter distance it travels. 800mhz usually has better penetration of buildings than 3g or 4g if they are on the 1.2ghz+ range. You will need more towers closer together to get better signal overall in the GHz range. Because of cost, I don't think anyone is going to put up more towers in the beginning. Years ago, the guesstimate of putting up a single tower was a million dollars. This is accounting for all costs to go from nothing to a fully functional self standing tower. Costs might be different now but I would say that it's safe to assume that they are putting LTE on existing towers. This is why LTE signal doesn't seem as far reaching as lower frequency technologies. This is as simple of an explanation as I can think of. Until they start widespread rolling out LTE on nextel's 800-900mhz range, and they release phones that take advantage of those bands, you're just going to have to deal with it with what you have as a phone. Spark and ex-nextel LTE transmitters "should" help throughput tremendously once they have the bugs ironed out.