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Well, it took me long enough to figure out that the Verizon S4 has its own completely separate set of subforums from the International and AT&T versions.... No wonder I got no responses to my post over there. So, I'm reposting it here:
From yesterday:
My brother and I both got S4s almost 2 weeks ago. He upgraded from an S3. Me from a Rezound. He also has a work phone that is a Verizon Note 2.
We were out at our parents' house over the weekend. Our dad has a RAZR Maxx and a 4G Verizon MiFi for his house. All 5 of these phones/devices are on Verizon.
Both of Dad's devices and my brother's Note 2 were maintaining a steady 4G LTE connection. The Note 2 only showed about 2 bars, but it held it steady and never dropped back to 3G at any time while we were there.
But, both my and my brother's S4s would not hold 4G. We played around with network settings. Changed them from CDMA/LTE to Global, and then back. They would both occasionally switch to 4G for a minute or so, then always switch back to 3G.
I called Verizon tech support and they walked us through things including turning off the phones, pulling the SIMs and letting him push a new PRL to us. Nothing helped, so he told us to go get new SIMs. I did that yesterday and went back out to my dad's and it's still the same. My dad's phone and his MiFi maintain a steady 4G LTE signal and my S4 mostly just stays on 3G.
I also noticed that I went to the movies yesterday and when I was in the theater lobby, which is right in the middle of town, where there is strong 4G signal, my phone had dropped back to 3G there, too.
I'm still within my 14 day return period and I am seriously thinking of returning the S4 and getting a Note 2.
Does anybody have any better suggestions?
*********** then, yesterday ***********
I found a thread on the AC forums where a guy reported the same issue I'm having. He took the SIM out of his Rezound, cut it down, plugged it in, and he said that fixed his 4G reception problem.
I'm going to VZW after work and trying a 3rd SIM. This time, one of the old style, that doesn't support NFC.
*********** then, today ***********
I went to Verizon after work yesterday and got a new non-NFC SIM. Then went back to my dad's house. The SIM does not appear to make any difference. My phone still wanted to switch to 3G and stay there.
But, I did figure out one encouraging thing. I used Battery Monitor Widget to get into the Testing screen. There, I was able to change the phone from "CDMA/LTE (Auto PRL)" to "LTE Only".
After doing that, the phone went into 4G mode and stayed there, and actually worked fine. I turned on my hotspot and connected to it with my tablet and surfed for a while, with no issues.
This tells me that the phone's LTE reception is pretty much just as good as the Note 2 and other devices I mentioned before. It's just a software issue that is switching it to 3G mode when it doesn't need to.
I have a standard EU model on Vodafone. Several times now I have gone to the same pub with friends. Inside, I always drop to GSM connection while my friends' S3, iphone 4 and galaxy nexus consistently manage to hang onto HSDPA+. This happened during a trip in the mountains as well. It's becoming increasingly obvious that my G3 has a worse reception than most other phones.
Is this expected? how can I improve the situation?
I agree with signal issues. I'm sat next to my partner both on Vodafone.she got a iphone 5s. She has 4bars of signal and im on zero.
welshandy2322 said:
I agree with signal issues. I'm sat next to my partner both on Vodafone.she got a iphone 5s. She has 4bars of signal and im on zero.
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+1
The G3 has known problems on Vodafone(Vodafones fault)
I have had an M8, 1+1 and the G3 at the same time and the G3 is by far the best and on a par with my Nokia 1520 and the 1+1 was the worst. I have now sold both the M8 and 1+1 but they both lost signal quicker and were slower to get it back again and the G3 has slightly faster speed over 10 tests each. The WiFi was better on the M8 as it connected to my home WiFi before I got out of the car when I parked outside. They all work fine in the house so no difference.
My phone is a sim free 855 on EE and the WiFi is Sky. I haven't tested my other one yet but it seems to be the same.
It's happening to me. Also I had lost completely but fixed when reboot. I don't understand why. I heard put copper tape under the back cover for improve signal. I'll try and then let you know.
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Vodafone Portugal I have issues too. Too much I think.
You people do realise "bars" of signal are meaningless? A "bar" is not a measurement of signal (it happens to be a measurement of pressure but thats is besides the point.) Phone signal doesn't really have a unit of measurement so it is given ASU (Arbitrary Strength Unit) which is based off the power of the signal (dBm) Go into settings, about phone -> Network and you will see the quoted ASU and dBm.
Therefore the way signal is represented by bars on a phone is entirely down to how the manufacturer chooses it to be displayed. For example 1 bar could represent 1 ASU on an iPhone, therefore a full 5 bars would mean anywhere from 5 ASU upwards. Whereas on a G3 1 bar could represent 3 ASU, therefore giving a larger display range.
Now I have plucked these figures out of thin air but I think you can see from that example how 1 bar on the G3 and 3 bars on the iPhone would actually be the same signal strength.
Granted if you have NONE and your partner has some, then that is clearly an issue. But don't compare bars, compare ASU.
Just wanted to add my experiences that I've had with my G3 for the past 2 months.
My G3 continuously gets a weaker and more unreliable signal (Three UK) than I have had on any other smartphone I have (One M7, One X+). It's incredibly frustrating as it means I never get LTE indoors but more importantly, my phone will very frequently lose data and cellular connection if I put it in my pocket. What good is a phone if it drops signal while its in your pocket?
573W1E said:
Just wanted to add my experiences that I've had with my G3 for the past 2 months.
My G3 continuously gets a weaker and more unreliable signal (Three UK) than I have had on any other smartphone I have (One M7, One X+). It's incredibly frustrating as it means I never get LTE indoors but more importantly, my phone will very frequently lose data and cellular connection if I put it in my pocket. What good is a phone if it drops signal while its in your pocket?
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Wow, you got 4g on Three network, I went to Three from giffgaff and I had faster speeds on giffgaff 3g than I did with 4g on Three. I'm not on EE and very rarely lose 4g
Are you using a sim adaptor buy any chance?
GTCC said:
Wow, you got 4g on Three network, I went to Three from giffgaff and I had faster speeds on giffgaff 3g than I did with 4g on Three. I'm not on EE and very rarely lose 4g
Are you using a sim adaptor buy any chance?
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Click to collapse
I moved to Three from giffgaff and my speeds over both 3G (HSPA+) and 4G LTE have been consistently faster than anything I had on giffgaff. The city where I'm at (Newport) was not on the list of planned 4G cities for 2014 from Three, but it just started rolling out near the start of this month. I'm wondering if it was a rushed rollout to cover the area for the NATO Summit that was in the area a few weeks ago. I've averaged 20mbps download over LTE and about 7/8 down on HSPA+ which are both better than the 3mbps average I had on giffgaff. I'm not using a SIM Adaptor either, the Micro SIM that was in my HTC One M7 fit right into the G3.
I just wish the G3 kept a stronger and more reliable signal, these signal drop outs in my pocket and less reliable elsewhere are defo not Three's (or another carrier's fault), I've never had this issue with any other smartphone I have had. Poor show LG....
573W1E said:
I moved to Three from giffgaff and my speeds over both 3G (HSPA+) and 4G LTE have been consistently faster than anything I had on giffgaff. The city where I'm at (Newport) was not on the list of planned 4G cities for 2014 from Three, but it just started rolling out near the start of this month. I'm wondering if it was a rushed rollout to cover the area for the NATO Summit that was in the area a few weeks ago. I've averaged 20mbps download over LTE and about 7/8 down on HSPA+ which are both better than the 3mbps average I had on giffgaff. I'm not using a SIM Adaptor either, the Micro SIM that was in my HTC One M7 fit right into the G3.
I just wish the G3 kept a stronger and more reliable signal, these signal drop outs in my pocket and less reliable elsewhere are defo not Three's (or another carrier's fault), I've never had this issue with any other smartphone I have had. Poor show LG....
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I would have to disagree with you about the reception on the G3 in my case at least. Both my G3's have better reception than my M8 or my Oneplus One. The G3 even keeps signal(albeit low) in my lift.
I'm in Solihull by the way and according to Three I should of had 4g inside but didn't even get it outside and only got good 4g when I went into Birmingham. Must also say that when I tried Three it was in my Nokia 1520
No problems here compared to my xiaomi mi2.
Same or even better reception.
I have the G3 on T-mobile (USA) and its the best reception phone i've had. Constantly gets LTE where all my previous phones struggled...
(I had HTC One m7, Nexus 5, Z1s, Galaxy S5... to name a few)
OK so I've had my m8 for a year or so now. Never been impressed one way or another as to bad reception or good reception. However, now twice in one week I saw side by side comparison to other AT&T phone s (iPhone 6 and galaxy s5) and the reception was worse.
Today while traveling in the car with my wife south of Cincinnati I noticed that my m8 had no service. So I checked my wife's iPhone6s. Two bars. This went on and off where I had no service for 90% of 15 miles or so. The iPhone maintained service the entire time!
I posted similar is in the M8 Android Development radio thread after making a trip last week with two iPhone and an s5 user s. My service, side by side, was much worse. It was suggested that I flash the latest developers firmware and radio which I did. 4.16.1540.8. Based on my drive today with my wife it didn't help.
Does the M8 radio just suck compared to the iPhone or does someone have done other suggestions for improving cell reception? And yes I know its different for different areas but I've tried several radios now and the result seems to be the same.
The bars don't mean jack. There is literally no standardization to what the bars symbolize. I've had 2 bars on AT&T plenty of times, and you can't get a call out, much less data. And my wife reports similar on her iPhone.
Whether your phone or hers can make or receive calls and texts, or get data; or what the dBm reading in Settings; those are the only real indicators of signal quality.
jcrompton said:
OK so I've had my m8 for a year or so now. Never been impressed one way or another as to bad reception or good reception. However, now twice in one week I saw side by side comparison to other AT&T phone s (iPhone 6 and galaxy s5) and the reception was worse.
Today while traveling in the car with my wife south of Cincinnati I noticed that my m8 had no service. So I checked my wife's iPhone6s. Two bars. This went on and off where I had no service for 90% of 15 miles or so. The iPhone maintained service the entire time!
I posted similar is in the M8 Android Development radio thread after making a trip last week with two iPhone and an s5 user s. My service, side by side, was much worse. It was suggested that I flash the latest developers firmware and radio which I did. 4.16.1540.8. Based on my drive today with my wife it didn't help.
Does the M8 radio just suck compared to the iPhone or does someone have done other suggestions for improving cell reception? And yes I know its different for different areas but I've tried several radios now and the result seems to be the same.
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I used to have signal problems (when I used my Evita and with my M8) for quite awhile where I work. It wasn't until I flashed the Dev radio I recommended that I became the ONLY person to be able to use my phone in an area we all call cell phone hell. Even the Iphone and flip phones couldn't get a signal. I initially flashed the 4.4.4 Dev radio and that did the trick. Now that I have moved on to the current Dev radio, I still see better performance.
Here's the important part though, cell reception areas differ greatly. Any number of issues may cause this. I knew a guy who lived right between two cell towers and the jumping back and forth between the two was killing his battery even though he showed he always had signal. (we confirmed this by moving closer to each tower.) He constantly had dropped calls. So it's possible your baseband may not be the issue.
Anyway, if you have funds, they make cell repeaters you can buy and boost your signal in areas you frequently are for long periods of time. But other than flashing a few radios to experiment (S-Off!) That's the best I can tell you.
Have you noticed your G6SE is dropping calls and has overall poor reception?
I've had mine for four days now and have dropped many calls and lost signal where my previous phone managed to easily retain the network and never dropped calls.
Also I noticed when connected to my car's bluetooth, the signal display never shows full strength where again my previous phone always did. The GS6E only ever shows 80%
20150424_222933-1 by markcaigerwatson, on Flickr
when looking at my signal history in gsam, it also never goes above 80% which ties up with what my car's display.
Screenshot_2015-04-24-22-15-33.png by markcaigerwatson, on Flickr
Now i've made a comparison between my M8 and the GS6E and this clearly shows the GS6E is less sensitive to cell reception and this equates to the dropped calls.
The M8 can achieve -69 dBm at one one one point
Screenshot_2015-04-24-22-52-42 by markcaigerwatson, on Flickr
and the GS6E a lower -81dBm
Screenshot_2015-04-24-22-56-54 by markcaigerwatson, on Flickr
Ok, so the GS6E is not as good as others at cell reception. Is this a hardware limitation? or could new radios help this?
What is your experience of this?
There are various reports cropping up now about this
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/04/08/samsung_galaxy_s6/
https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/204525
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s6/516324-poor-sprint-lte-reception.html
mwatson said:
Have you noticed your G6SE is dropping calls and has overall poor reception?
I've had mine for four days now and have dropped many calls and lost signal where my previous phone managed to easily retain the network and never dropped calls.
Also I noticed when connected to my car's bluetooth, the signal display never shows full strength where again my previous phone always did. The GS6E only ever shows 80%
20150424_222933-1 by markcaigerwatson, on Flickr
when looking at my signal history in gsam, it also never goes above 80% which ties up with what my car's display.
Screenshot_2015-04-24-22-15-33.png by markcaigerwatson, on Flickr
Now i've made a comparison between my M8 and the GS6E and this clearly shows the GS6E is less sensitive to cell reception and this equates to the dropped calls.
The M8 can achieve -69 dBm at one one one point
Screenshot_2015-04-24-22-52-42 by markcaigerwatson, on Flickr
and the GS6E a lower -81dBm
Screenshot_2015-04-24-22-56-54 by markcaigerwatson, on Flickr
Ok, so the GS6E is not as good as others at cell reception. Is this a hardware limitation? or could new radios help this?
What is your experience of this?
There are various reports cropping up now about this
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/04/08/samsung_galaxy_s6/
https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/204525
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s6/516324-poor-sprint-lte-reception.html
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Veedubs unite!
What country and carrier are you on?
I'm in the US and on sprint and drop calls like crazy with my gs6e. Never had this issue with 10 years on sprint. I've noticed that I seem to drop calls more frequently while travelling on 9 at high rates of speed. It seems to be a tower handoff issue. I don't have the issue whilenjoying stationary.
I'm on tmo (US) and no issues. Honestly I've not read a lot of complaints about cell reception or at least no more than usual on any device. Regardless of that why I chimed in was really to say that my first phone was defective. The issues I had (horrid batt despite trying every fix mentioned here and all across the internet, fingerprint scanner was about 50%, again tried every possible fix I was able to scour up. New device and the fingerprint scanner immedietly worked perfectly and my battery life was fixed without me doing a thing. Keep in mind that by fixed battery I mean I get about 4 hours screen up time which isn't good but about what I would expect for a small battery in a bloated device.
Long story short, consider exchanging it. The lack of reports that speak of bad cell reception imply you may have a lemon to me.
Did you click on any of the links I posted in my original post? There are more too, but i thought that was enough.
5harkology said:
Veedubs unite!
What country and carrier are you on?
I'm in the US and on sprint and drop calls like crazy with my gs6e. Never had this issue with 10 years on sprint. I've noticed that I seem to drop calls more frequently while travelling on 9 at high rates of speed. It seems to be a tower handoff issue. I don't have the issue whilenjoying stationary.
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Yeah love the VeeDub!
I'm in the Uk on the 3 network...
Here is my wife's 2013 Moto G next to my 2015 GS6E. She is also on 3. As you can see the Moto G performs much better than the GS6E. Moto G on the right obvs. It was also £500 cheaper!
DSC_0647 by markcaigerwatson, on Flickr
Definitely some poor signal reception on Galaxy S6 Edge. Mine has poor signal reception as well. Bought mine unlocked in Hong Kong model 9250.
If I tell one of the people in HK about this they will give me the same old lame answer that no one has complained about thus issue yet.:silly:
Poor reception on China Unicom in China, poor reception on CHT in Taiwan and poor reception on CSL in Hong Kong. Last but not least is Wifi reception is literally horrible unless you sit or stand right next to Wifi router!
Yep I'm having the same issue with my S6 Edge to. At first I thought it was my network (Three UK) but after doing some research, I'm reading the issue is more widespread, internationally 2. Calls keep dropping when I'm on a call and I'm getting a bad reception in places where my S5 didn't. Really not happy about this. I hope this issue can be fixed with an update.
Experiencing the same issue. I put my S6 edge, old S4 and iPhone 4 + 5s side by side and they all have max signal while my Edge had just 1 bar.
I've been researching and somehow got to the Sprint forums where they were also reporting the same problems. I saw there that you could try switching to CDMA only. Tried it and while it did improve the signal, it prevented me from using LTE which I'm not really willing to compromise.
mwatson said:
Yeah love the VeeDub!
Here is my wife's 2013 Moto G next to my 2015 GS6E. She is also on 3. As you can see the Moto G performs much better than the GS6E. Moto G on the right obvs. It was also £500 cheaper!
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Got the same problem here in Oz. btw what app is that showing the signal strength?
-ivar
Samsung really needs to get this fixed ASAP as this could ruin the Samsung Galaxy Brand.
ivaho said:
Got the same problem here in Oz. btw what app is that showing the signal strength?
-ivar
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it is called Network Signal Info.. Free from Google Play.
This is in México City full LTE with my Note 4 , but the EDGE has This really poor reception.
The Phone is faulty or is the same case as others report on signal issues?
Same here for me on EE in the UK, switch to 2g/3g and signal is fine, set it back to 2g/3g/4g and 1 bar
Not sure what the problem is with this Galaxy S6 Edge but the 4G LTE reception is poor and download speeds are slow.
Same for me. I m in France near strasbourg with operator orange. It works fine with iphone but not with my galaxy s6 edge! !! With the same sim card of course!
Sent from my SM-G925F using XDA Free mobile app
I have not been able to connect to LTE since I got the edge a month ago. I'm currently on OE3 if this helps. Could this be a hardware issue?
I have received a few updates on my Galaxy S6 Edge but until now the wifi reception along with 3G and 4G reception suck. Even when reception is great or average the download speeds suck and are about half of what they are on my iPhone 6. Was expecting better results out of this phone but I guess not. My guess is that they either intentionally turned down the power provided for cell reception and wifi reception for longer battery life or their antennas on this smartphone really suck. Definitely a problem that Samsung needs to look into.
Mine is also struggling with connecting to stuff. 4g is spotty, calls drop and break up, wifi is shockingly bad, even in the next room to the router. 1 bar or no service on EE UK in a good signal area.
Going to call Samsung tomorrow and if they have no solution, it is definitely going back.
I am going to get rid of this Galaxy S6 Edge when the new Motorola comes out. The reception for both wifi and cell signal are beyond horrible on this phone. Battery life is quite poor as well. Try making a call using speakerphone if you have to talk while driving and see how many people tell you that you sound horrible. Samsung should learn a thing or two from Motorola,Apple and Blackberry when making phones for phone calls.
Samsung dropped the ball with this phone in two areas: Battery and Reception.
I am moving to a new phone as soon as I can sell this.
Anyone having issues with signal? At work, my signal now tanks. Sometimes no data, or 2G, or just edge. I came from a G4 and it was ok at the same location.
Where did the signal history go? It use to show a graph under battery stats but I can't find it.
Yes and not to high jack your thread but I can't connect to my microcell either so I'm bummed low signal and can't use my microcell has me considering this phone a goodbye.
I find the signal am this phone to Be better than other phones.
Sent from my LG-H901 using XDA Free mobile app
I did have 2G at work when I was on my V10, but when on my Note 4, I had LTE signal, wonder if it is the bands used in the V10
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Mine does fine in areas where I had excellent signal, but in areas where I was weaker, not poor, but just weaker, it's all downhill now. Ping tests taking 3000+ ms. Download speeds at .01mbps where it was 30mbps on the G4. Then it will go from 4g to nothing, the 2g, then E. Its all over the place.
I have noticed this as well at my house. Phone goes into emergency call mode all the time. Wifi calling always drops calls and says I'm going out of range sitting right next to the router. Had to turn it off cause it was worthless, but the signal is terrible as well. Only had problems in one back corner of the basement in my house with the Note 4. V10 I can lose signal at anytime anywhere in the house.
---------- Post added at 09:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:39 PM ----------
BBBlessed said:
Yes and not to high jack your thread but I can't connect to my microcell either so I'm bummed low signal and can't use my microcell has me considering this phone a goodbye.
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I bought a Netgear Nighthawk X8 to replace the T-Mobile router I'd be returning for the 4G LTE Cellspot but have heard there's issues. Wish I knew more about it and if it was going to be fixed. Was looking forward to having good signal at my home. T-Mobile has been saying 4G LTE has been coming for 2 years. Last reply was they are testing and will be on by end of this year, fingers crossed.
Definitely have issues with signal. Hoping it's a software fix. Afterall this id's the first phone with the Qualcomm Antenna
blackhemi4x4 said:
Anyone having issues with signal? At work, my signal now tanks. Sometimes no data, or 2G, or just edge. I came from a G4 and it was ok at the same location.
Where did the signal history go? It use to show a graph under battery stats but I can't find it.
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Click to collapse
You may want to exchange for a new phone, see if you get the same results. Of those who responded, I believe you are the only Verizon customer, and of the others on this thread it looks like some T-Mobile users and one on AT&T. I'm going to get a V10 later this week, as long as I get a little better than my current phone signal wise I'll be happy.
Mine is actually on t-mobile. I'm okay with swapping it out but I don't want a refurb. I should go talk to my store this weekend and see what they'll do
Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk
My signal is way better at work than when I had my g3.
Mine is decent, not quite as good as my Nexus 6 but it isn't to far off
I'm going to swap mine this week and see if it gets better. Like someone said I don't want a refurbished and I hope they don't charge me for restocking fee. How would I know if it's a refurbished one they can't just give me one without telling me can they?
BBBlessed said:
I'm going to swap mine this week and see if it gets better. Like someone said I don't want a refurbished and I hope they don't charge me for restocking fee. How would I know if it's a refurbished one they can't just give me one without telling me can they?
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Click to collapse
If ur within ur 14 days it will be a new one, not refurbed. Refurbs will say where the battery goes.
Got my V10 yesterday. At home I'm getting mostly 3G, sometimes 4G. I'll get one to three bars depending on the time of day, phase of the moon, and the amount of coffee I've had. This is about the same as I had with my BlackBerry for the last couple of years. The "city" here always has people fighting cell phone tower installations for years now. I've been told they are allowing Verizon to put some micro towers on some utility poles sometime "soon" because they have to comply with some sort of Federal law. I was hoping it would be better, but it's not worse either, plus my fingerprint reader works with a case......still have 12ish days to test things out.
I am getting much better speed with this phone then I did with my G3 on AT&T.
On my V10 now from AT&T. I also noticed both Cell and Wi-Fi connections are weaker than with my Samsung galaxy s5...it's weaker (about 65% where s5 was 90%+) but at least it maintains Wi-Fi connection unlike the S5. I especially notice it when streaming music. I do show on 4g LTE most of the time but never had more than 3/5 bars...I hope they can fix in an update.
I think mine is OK with LTE. You can force LTE or LTE/WCDMA
dial 277634#*#
RAT Selection
I am using a VZW version with my TMO sim and this is the first VZW 2 TMO phone I have used (used a z3v, note 3 and note 4 from VZW on my tmo sim) that does not get 4gLTE. Its very rare that the 4gLTE lights up. Its usually at H or H+ which isnt too bad but id rather have LTE. Hopefully its a SW fix soon.
I`ve got poor reception too. I am on a carrier outside U.S.
Many drop call and ping time is long. Fail to send or receive data. Have to enter flight mode to fix the problem.
I exchanged my T-Mobile V10 a couple days ago and signal is better now. I think my other one has a bad radio.
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