[L2 Fly]

Hey, guys! I'm brand new to these forums, and I've got a question that I can't decide for myself, so I've decided that I'd like some fellow Nexus owners' input. I got my Nexus on Friday, and I've been lazy and haven't really gone out anywhere today(Saturday).At home, I used to receive about 3 bars on my old Bionic. On my Nexus, my bars will constantly change from 1-2. My question is this: Is my Nexus one of the dreaded faulty devices? And if so, then should I go to Verizon and switch it out, or should I wait for 4.0.4?

Some added info: I have no clue how to root or rom, so I have mixed feelings on putting 4.0.4 myself.

Thanks in advance,
Nic

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[McSlappy]

Some added info: I have no clue how to root or rom, so I have mixed feelings on putting 4.0.4 myself.

My experience has been Moto tends to have better radio's. It's their specialty after all. However when I patched 4.0.4 today my radio's drastically improved from 3g, 4g, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. All performed better. I am really liking the idea that I was able to flash an available update that Verizon for some reason doesn't want to release but works great.

[chubb]

I've heard this phone shows the true signal. One way to check is the signal strength. That's in settings, about phone, status, and under the signal strength. Just looking at bars mean nothing. They are there to make people feel better. But for the surefire way to tell is by using data and making calls. I can make calls with 0 bars on the nexus and not drop them. If it says 3G/4G with no bars showing, I am good to go. Oh and inside I never have more that two bars unless I'm in Walmart. Outside I usually have 3-4, except in the sticks.

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[L2 Fly]

My signal inside hovers from -90 to -100. I'm not sure if that's good, but it works. Thanks for the responses!

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[chubb]

Sitting in my house with 2 bars LTE I have -101 dbm 39asu. Not a great signal but works. By the way I am all stock 4.0.2 for now. That will change tomorrow.

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[L2 Fly]

Oh, alright then, so then gathering from the information above, all of Verizon's Nexuses (if that's the proper plural form) are like this, and this is totally normal on 4.0.2?

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[Undertoad]

The signal strength on Galaxy Nexus is calculated differently than it is on other phones. No comparison between phones' reported signal or bars tells us anything much.

[2defmouze]

The signal strength on Galaxy Nexus is calculated differently than it is on other phones. No comparison between phones' reported signal or bars tells us anything much.

This... (a deeper explanation can be found here, if you are interested )

Additionally, bars aren't comparable really, if anything you want to look at the dBm (Settings > About Phone > Status > Signal Strength). The lower the number, the better the signal, however it is calculated differently on this phone than on say the Bionic, due to the factors in the article I linked above.

And finally, yes Moto > Samsung when it comes to radios, no contest.

[moosc]

Also all vzw nexi are faulty maybe that's y vzw is holding up the update.

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[L2 Fly]

This... (a deeper explanation can be found here, if you are interested )

Additionally, bars aren't comparable really, if anything you want to look at the dBm (Settings > About Phone > Status > Signal Strength). The lower the number, the better the signal, however it is calculated differently on this phone than on say the Bionic, due to the factors in the article I linked above.

And finally, yes Moto > Samsung when it comes to radios, no contest.

That explains it perfectly. Thanks, man.

And moosc, I hope that's what keeping us waiting!

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[Tedium]

What I'm concerned about (and what I imagine most people are concerned about) when discussing signal strength is the inability to receive or send calls and texts. That is still done on the CDMA2000 (1xRTT) network, so that explanation doesn't hold water and won't until Verizon moves to voice over data on LTE.

[Undertoad]

What I'm concerned about (and what I imagine most people are concerned about) ... so that explanation doesn't hold water

Q.E.D.? Between your "concerns" and "imagination", versus actual proven facts and good information, I'll go with the facts. Sorry.

[Tedium]

EVDO and LTE are not voice interfaces. If you have no signal and can't make/receive calls, you have no 1xRTT signal.

If you have no signal according to the phone but can still make voice calls then it's showing LTE.

Sorry about your "facts."

(Unless you have some secret insider information about EVDO and LTE secretly having voice specifications added when no one was looking?)

[Tedium]

This... (a deeper explanation can be found here, if you are interested )

Additionally, bars aren't comparable really, if anything you want to look at the dBm (Settings > About Phone > Status > Signal Strength). The lower the number, the better the signal, however it is calculated differently on this phone than on say the Bionic, due to the factors in the article I linked above.

And finally, yes Moto > Samsung when it comes to radios, no contest.

The higher the number, the better the signal. -80 is higher than -120.

[2defmouze]

What I'm concerned about (and what I imagine most people are concerned about) when discussing signal strength is the inability to receive or send calls and texts. That is still done on the CDMA2000 (1xRTT) network, so that explanation doesn't hold water and won't until Verizon moves to voice over data on LTE.

As it says in the beginning of the thread I linked, if you are experiencing that then you very likely have a faulty device, and by all means should exchange it. People who have experienced dropped calls, complete signal loss, etc have a bad phone, and more often than not they report that swapping it out for a new one completely changes that experience.

The higher the number, the better the signal. -80 is higher than -120.

LDO yes I know.. but many people didn't do well in elementary school math so its just easier to advise them that a "lower" number is better. Call it lower absolute value if you must, lol

[chubb]

This... (a deeper explanation can be found here, if you are interested )

Additionally, bars aren't comparable really, if anything you want to look at the dBm (Settings > About Phone > Status > Signal Strength). The lower the number, the better the signal, however it is calculated differently on this phone than on say the Bionic, due to the factors in the article I linked above.

And finally, yes Moto > Samsung when it comes to radios, no contest.

That was interesting to read. The author released an app showing what all the signals are at. Here are what mine look like, don't remember what the numbers mean. Zoned out reading the article.

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[codiusprime]

I am on my fourth Nexus, this has easily been one of the worst phones I've ever owned as far as signal loss goes. I regularly completely lose my signal 2-3 times in the span of five minutes. Can't make calls, can't send texts, can't do anything. Sometimes it loses its signal in the middle of a call, but it usually decides to lose it when I pull my phone out to do something.

Verizon has already offered to replace this piece of crap with something else but there is nothing even remotely close to it on Verizon at the moment. It is going to take every ounce of strength I have to not jump on the Razr HD when it hits. Though the prospect of having a phone that actually works might be to much to handle.

[fierro951]

Just wondering if everyone's screen is kinda grainy? As in it looks like its printed on paper..

I've just come to accept it but I wanna know if this is the same on all gnexs?

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[venious]

Grainy? Are you using Verizon's screen protectors?

Sent from my HTC One S on T-Mobile

[dmmarck]

It can look "textured" at very, very low brightness. That's somewhat normal, actually.