Cell service

**gotta have it android** · 03-13-2013, 09:32 PM

Noticed that my friend that has the same phone on the same network (also rooted running stock like me) has better bars and speeds then I do so I tried updating my PRL and so on but still with no luck, also noticed that my other friend and his twin brother(sadly has a iPhone) also gets more bars then I do with their phones, iPhone 5 and Note 2. I don't know if this would make a difference but would me buying my S3 used change anything? Any ideas with what this could be and any fixes? Running the latest stock OTA update

**meyerweb** · 03-13-2013, 11:09 PM

Not sure what the difference might be between two different S3s, but you really can't compare bars between two different phones and expect it to mean anything. There's no standard for how many bars equal a certain strength of signal. Some phones use 5 bars to indicate full strength, some 7, so what does it mean if both phones show 4 bars? Even if they both use the same number of bars, you can't assume the engineers calibrated the display in the same way. Heck, years ago I had a Palm Treo, and after one ROM update the signal in my house went from 4 bars to 5. The signal didn't change, Palm just changed the display because people were complaining about "poor reception."

In settings, go to About device, click on Status, and see what the actual signal strength is. That's probably a more meaningful comparison than "bars."

**Mikey47** · 03-14-2013, 08:25 AM

Bars are bogus!!

There are apps out there that show you your cell signal in percentages, Open Signal comes to mind. That would be a much better test.

**gotta have it android** · 03-14-2013, 08:25 AM

Will do. I'll post the screen shots later today

Originally Posted by meyerweb

Not sure what the difference might be between two different S3s, but you really can't compare bars between two different phones and expect it to mean anything. There's no standard for how many bars equal a certain strength of signal. Some phones use 5 bars to indicate full strength, some 7, so what does it mean if both phones show 4 bars? Even if they both use the same number of bars, you can't assume the engineers calibrated the display in the same way. Heck, years ago I had a Palm Treo, and after one ROM update the signal in my house went from 4 bars to 5. The signal didn't change, Palm just changed the display because people were complaining about "poor reception."

In settings, go to About device, click on Status, and see what the actual signal strength is. That's probably a more meaningful comparison than "bars."