Ics phone signal really bad

**droidntn** · 07-01-2012, 04:17 PM

Since getting the update Saturday am, I haven't had the reception I had on GB. At all.
Anyone else having reception problems?
I tried *228 and got some message about a SIMS card and Verizon already updated it.

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**df79transam** · 07-01-2012, 04:38 PM

*228 only works on 3G phones only, 4G phones are another ball game, you got what you got and that is it, so a verizon tech support person told me. When I had the nexus, i ask about 228 and that's what I was told.

**RHChan84** · 07-01-2012, 04:47 PM

Remove the SIM card then power down. Then insert the SIM card and turn the device on. That is what VZW techs tell me.

**droidntn** · 07-01-2012, 05:39 PM

Did that, thanks.
It's ok if it's a strong signal, in town.
But today, for the first time with ICS, I made a road trip and tried to use it.
The area was very remote, but before on Gingerbread, my phone never dropped a signal.
Today, it wouldn't even pick up AT ALL in the same remote areas.
Had to use my wife's dumb flip phone.
I'm glad nobody else saw me using a flip.

lol.
Seriously...anybody else experiencing this?

**techgeek32#WN** · 07-01-2012, 06:43 PM

Did you hard reset after the update? I was having numerous problems then decided to erase my phone and start from scratch. No problems after that other than feature changes in ICS. It is always recommended to erase a phone after upgrading to a new OS.

**Sparticus013** · 07-01-2012, 06:45 PM

Originally Posted by techgeek32

Did you hard reset after the update? I was having numerous problems then decided to erase my phone and start from scratch. No problems after that other than feature changes in ICS. It is always recommended to erase a phone after upgrading to a new OS.

I was having lagging issues after I upgraded, so I did a factory restore. Everything is running smooth now.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Tapatalk 2

**handyman79** · 07-01-2012, 06:51 PM

went from full bars now down to 2 in town and when im out of town next to none

**barrycinti** · 07-01-2012, 07:11 PM

Originally Posted by droidntn

Did that, thanks.
It's ok if it's a strong signal, in town.
But today, for the first time with ICS, I made a road trip and tried to use it.
The area was very remote, but before on Gingerbread, my phone never dropped a signal.
Today, it wouldn't even pick up AT ALL in the same remote areas.
Had to use my wife's dumb flip phone.
I'm glad nobody else saw me using a flip.

lol.
Seriously...anybody else experiencing this?

I am currently in a remote part of Michigan and signal is good.

**droidntn** · 07-01-2012, 08:26 PM

Will do factory restore on my next day off.
Good opportunity to start all over I reckon

Sent from Marx Maxx using Tapatalk.

**cerktman** · 07-02-2012, 06:34 AM

Originally Posted by droidntn

Did that, thanks.
It's ok if it's a strong signal, in town.
But today, for the first time with ICS, I made a road trip and tried to use it.
The area was very remote, but before on Gingerbread, my phone never dropped a signal.
Today, it wouldn't even pick up AT ALL in the same remote areas.
Had to use my wife's dumb flip phone.
I'm glad nobody else saw me using a flip.

lol.
Seriously...anybody else experiencing this?

I had posted this same issue last week. I did experience the same thing when I had my Razr Maxx after updating to ICS. No matter if I did a complete wipe and start from scratch on the phone, the signal issues were still present.

On GB, great signal no matter where I went (on all levels - 1x/3G/4G). After updating to ICS, poor signal indication. Areas before where I had strong 1x/3G, were now poor also. 4G indication was even worse. My true test has always been my local Walmart. With GB, I could go anywhere in the store and still have great 4G signal. After updating to ICS, there was not one area in the store where I could get 4G. It would always roll back to 3G.

Others have posted that this is because of the way ICS presents the signal status. Meaning that in ICS, it is now a "truer" reading and that before it was not correct.

I'm not basing my issues on anything else other than the fact it seems that ICS doesn't allow proper operation of the networks.This also holds true with my Nexus. It behaves the exact same way. It will drop off 4G and go to 3G in areas where I had great reception of the data networks (this is of course only seen with the Razr, not the Nexus as it has always had ICS and the same signal issues).

The voice portion has never failed in either case (GB or ICS, Nexus or Razr). But with the data network, a whole different ball game.

Whether anyone wants to actually admit it or not (Google, Motorola, Samsung or Verizon), the experience I've seen with ICS is much weaker signal than with GB on the data network.

**Rodzp** · 07-02-2012, 07:49 AM

Just wondering do you all have the mobile network set to Global or LTE/CDMA? I change mine over over to LTE/CDMA when I got ICS on 6/23 and never ran it on Global and I have had better data/signal performance than with GB (not better dBm numbers but performance). I would not think this would be your issue, but I could see how it might cause a problem.
I did have some lag issue and I finally had time to do a factory reset last night and that seems to have cleared that up for me.

**jroc** · 07-02-2012, 08:01 AM

Agree about global. My data speeds are slower on global.

As far as bars and decibels....just go by real world use. Its read differently on ics.

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**clownin72** · 07-02-2012, 10:09 AM

I did a factory reset and still have signal issues. Not really sure if my actual signal is worse or not but showing 2 to 3 bars now where it usually is full. I have seen where ics measures signal differently than gb. But as a customer I think ppl would rather have a false sense of full bars of service. I'm probably one of them

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**carracerz14** · 07-02-2012, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by df79transam

*228 only works on 3G phones only, 4G phones are another ball game, you got what you got and that is it, so a verizon tech support person told me. When I had the nexus, i ask about 228 and that's what I was told.

It automatically updates on 4g phones. So no you don't "get what you get"

Sent from my RAZR MAXXIMUS

**potatolover1102** · 07-02-2012, 10:47 AM

Same issue. Places where I used to have full signal I am lucky to get 2 bars. My -dbm is worse too so its not just due to the more accurate bars in ICS. At my school library I used to get around -70 to -80 and now I get -90 to -100. I have a done a factory reset and same issue. I also notice that my 3g is what seems to be much worse whereas 1x is about the same. Right now my 3g is at -98 and 1x is -85. Would wiping the cache in recovery help?

**clownin72** · 07-02-2012, 11:22 AM

I wouldn't see how wiping would do anything since you have just done a factory reset. I did that before the reset as well and nothing better. I think we're all just screwed for awhile

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**metz65** · 07-02-2012, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by jroc

As far as bars and decibels....just go by real world use. Its read differently on ics.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Android Central Forums

After reading several pieces on how ICS reads and displays the signal I have no faith in the bars and a little faith in the actual numbers as a baseline indication.

All I do know for a fact is that even after the ICS update I can still make and receive calls on my Maxx in places I couldn't on my Gnex.

I don't care what kind of phone you use, that's not how I judge someone's worth or intelligence. Sent using tapatalk 2.

**Sparticus013** · 07-02-2012, 12:07 PM

Hopefully there will be an update soon to patch most of the complaints people have about ICS.

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**droidntn** · 07-02-2012, 12:30 PM

Well I have to say this is a pretty large concern. I've had updates on phones plenty of times. But never had the phone's basic function of voice calling botched this badly. That said I don't make that many calls on it. But when I need to, I want to know it will be as good as the update it replaced. I NEVER had a Gingerbread reception issue.... Even in the outskirts and rural areas it always did great.
I was going to do a factory reset, but some posters here say that didn't fix the reception issues.

Sent from Marx Maxx using Tapatalk.

**trucksmoveamerica#AC** · 07-04-2012, 08:32 AM

I can confirm that ICS has reception issues. I have a maxx still on gingerbread and one on ICS. The ICS was dropping calls and losing signal in a area that I always had service with the gingerbread. The one with the gingerbread worked just fine signal wise. If I could, I would consider going back to gingerbread, I love the ICS, but the signal issue is a big concern as it effects the data part as well as the voice. I hope motorola, verizon get on this fast and fix the problem.

**carracerz14** · 07-04-2012, 11:41 AM

Try going into recovery and wiping cache. I have zero problems with my signal

Sent from my RAZR MAXXIMUS

**droidntn** · 07-04-2012, 09:20 PM

After resetting to factory Maxx is acting a WHOLE lot better. I am at 60% after nearly 7 hours of moderate use.
And the best part is the signal is pretty much normal again. Today I went in the same rural area that I did last week with ics installed on top of gb.. Before restoring to factory and the signal was very bad. Bad enough to start this thread.
After restoring to factory and having a clean ICS install, my signal in that same area was near perfect. Just like it used to be on GB.
So, if you're having battery or signal problems and you installed ics on top of gb.... Do yourself a favor and restore to factory settings.

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