Signal is awesome

[Bluegrizzlies]

I'm getting signal where my note 7 would drop out all over the place.

I'm on vzw and change it from global to CDMA /and can't remember the name.

Also can make calls with no bars sometimes I'm very impressed

 

[droidiac13]

Do you think changing it from global does anything?

 

[andrew_ackley]

I'm getting signal where my note 7 would drop out all over the place.

I'm on vzw and change it from global to CDMA /and can't remember the name.

Also can make calls with no bars sometimes I'm very impressed

I switched mine to see if I get better signal. Who knows what the difference is.

 

[Shepx13]

I hope mine gets better signal than the 6p does. That's the only reason I'm upgrading already, the 6p has garbage radios.

 

[Impulses]

I hope it gets better signal than my Nexus 5 but I'm not holding my breath... I'm considering moving away from Sprint (happy with the service, kinda 'meh' on the plans) and one of the few things that would keep me around is the free Airave...

On Project Fi or AT&T I'd lose that and I'm afraid battery life at home (low low signal for all carriers) would tank and I'd end up charging it more often than I should need to.

 

[billykac]

I'm getting signal where my note 7 would drop out all over the place.

I'm on vzw and change it from global to CDMA /and can't remember the name.

Also can make calls with no bars sometimes I'm very impressed

I agree 100%.
I am also an N7 refugee, and the Pixel smokes the N7 for cellular signal strength on the VZW network.

I work in a very large building, and my N7 and N5 could not hold the signal when placed anywhere in my work area. In fact, every Samsung/VZW co-worker I know needs to move to a certain spot in this huge building to get their phone to connect. It's really funny. As soon as we (me with my N6/5) walk into this shaft of light from above, our phones start notifying us of texts and emails that were waiting for us.

My Pixel XL pulls in a signal right in my workspace.
Amazing actually!

My phone is still set to Global! I wonder if it would improve even more if I set it to CDMA.

 

[billykac]

FYI - from VZW...

Tap the appropriate setting:

Global
This is the preferred setting for most locations.

LTE/CDMA
This setting should only be selected if experiencing service issues in locations that offer multiple network types and only LTE/CDMA is needed.

LTE/GSM/UMTS
This setting should only be selected if experiencing service issues in locations that offer multiple network types and only GSM/UMTS is needed.

The preferred international carrier is automatically selected.

You can manually select an alternate carrier but it may require as many as 6 registration attempts with that carrier prior to successful registration.

 

[Stoopstroop]

My phone is still set to Global! I wonder if it would improve even more if I set it to CDMA.

Let us know if it helps signal, thanks!

 

[billykac]

Been checking signal status, doing a bunch of A/B comparisons, restarting each time.
There's some chance that the CDMA network setting is a tad better, but not significantly.

But, there are a ton of variables in the mix. I don't control traffic on my local cell tower, I have no idea what VZW is doing beyond the tower in their network regarding net priority, and I am only testing from one location. My home.

I am thinking that I'll leave it set to CDMA and see how it performs at work, where I have very specific physical boundaries where a signal can be had, and exactly where it falls off.

Would be great to hear from otheres.

Interestingly, there's not a lot of talk about these settings on Pixels on popular forums.

 

[cbreze]

It's always been my understanding that you don't want "Global" as your preferred setting at least on Verizon. CDMA/LTE is their cell network and global has to do with GSM worldwide. If Your traveling out of the country and you want to be able to roam then you set it to global. No sense in confusing the issue and having the phone always looking for all networks. It's no wonder the signal could be a bit degraded in that mode when it's not necessary. I have found I generally(sometimes) get better signal in the CDMA/LTE mode no matter which phone I'm using.

 

[TiMar99]

It's always been my understanding that you don't want "Global" as your preferred setting at least on Verizon. CDMA/LTE is their cell network and global has to do with GSM worldwide. If Your traveling out of the country and you want to be able to roam then you set it to global. No sense in confusing the issue and having the phone always looking for all networks. It's no wonder the signal could be a bit degraded in that mode when it's not necessary. I have found I generally(sometimes) get better signal in the CDMA/LTE mode no matter which phone I'm using.

Exactly

 

[billykac]

Leaving mine set on CDMA for a while to see what I get.
Thanks for the heads-up folks!

 

[vzwuser76]

From my understanding, leaving it set to global (at least on Verizon) means that not only will it look for CDMA/LTE signals, but GSM as well. I would think that eliminating cellular technology and bands that aren't in use would help not only cellular performnace, but also battery life as well. It's always one of the first things I do when I get a new device, because on the early LTE devices, it seemed to drain the battery more since it was also searching for GSM bands.

 

[DJM626]

After owning a pixel for a little more then a week now (coming from a blackberry Z10), I put this phone to the test tonight. One of the reasons I hung on to my blackberry as long as I did was I never had a dropped call with it. I have owned a lot of phones and I might be in the minority here but I am one of those people that is concerned with having a good signal as I do not use my phone primarily for social media. I talked to my dad tonight who lives in New Mexico and I am in Chicago and he said my voice was outstanding on this phone.

With my blackberry I would only get between 2-3 bars on 4G which is not super spectacular but it was always able to hang on to a signal without dropping a call or not being able to hear the other person or the other person hear me. Pixel is about the same in my place. Only about 2-3 bars but voice on the end of my phone came in nice and crisp and clear without anything breaking up and I was able to hear really well. This phone is definitely louder then my Z10 was but wish it was still a little louder.

I hope with future phone releases this is not something that gets over looked and some of these companies continue to emphasize the importance of being able to take and make calls without dropping signals or having weak signals. With todays social media apps I really don't see a lot of people actually making calls as much as texting etc. Not saying there is anything wrong with that, but being able to make a call and hear the person cleanly is more important to me and what I use my phone for . All in all, pleased with this phone. Taking me some time to get used to everything , but I am learning slowly

 

[bbhybridchris]

I'd have to say in my experience that signal on my Pixel XL has been excellent. I have always been told from folks who work for Verizon that for the best quality of service you want these phones on the CDMA/LTE option not Global. This is the first thing I check on my devices when I set them up. I will also says with the Pixel that WiFi calling finally works as it should on an Android phone. I have absolutely no issues missing calls or texts now with this device. Prior to this Pixel the only phone I could reliably get service with was an iPhone due to its exceptional WiFi calling abilities. I live in an area with spotty signal reception and barely have any in my home. Android for some reason has never seemed to do WiFi calling correctly and that was one of the things that in my particular case drove me to the iPhone. I can't be missing calls and texts and with the Pixel I had crossed my fingers hoping it was possibly fixed. I am glad to say it has exceeded my expectations on that front so far!

 

[billykac]

After owning a pixel for a little more then a week now (coming from a blackberry Z10), I put this phone to the test tonight. One of the reasons I hung on to my blackberry as long as I did was I never had a dropped call with it. I have owned a lot of phones and I might be in the minority here but I am one of those people that is concerned with having a good signal as I do not use my phone primarily for social media. I talked to my dad tonight who lives in New Mexico and I am in Chicago and he said my voice was outstanding on this phone.

With my blackberry I would only get between 2-3 bars on 4G which is not super spectacular but it was always able to hang on to a signal without dropping a call or not being able to hear the other person or the other person hear me. Pixel is about the same in my place. Only about 2-3 bars but voice on the end of my phone came in nice and crisp and clear without anything breaking up and I was able to hear really well. This phone is definitely louder then my Z10 was but wish it was still a little louder.

I hope with future phone releases this is not something that gets over looked and some of these companies continue to emphasize the importance of being able to take and make calls without dropping signals or having weak signals. With todays social media apps I really don't see a lot of people actually making calls as much as texting etc. Not saying there is anything wrong with that, but being able to make a call and hear the person cleanly is more important to me and what I use my phone for . All in all, pleased with this phone. Taking me some time to get used to everything , but I am learning slowly

Agree! Some of us still use our phones for the occasional call!

The Pixel call quality is scary good. My calls (on both sides) are very "present". Sufficiently so, that it becomes the topic that gets discussed at the top of many of my calls.

 

[matty032]

The signal bars do no show as much signal at my house as my Moto XPE did. But, the network signal app shows roughly the same signal. Seems Google needs to adjust the signal bars accordingly. I have terrible signal at home, after this summer when Verizon moved some of their rural antennas into the cities for their MIMO. The WiFi calling is a God send.

 

[DJM626]

The signal bars do no show as much signal at my house as my Moto XPE did. But, the network signal app shows roughly the same signal. Seems Google needs to adjust the signal bars accordingly. I have terrible signal at home, after this summer when Verizon moved some of their rural antennas into the cities for their MIMO. The WiFi calling is a God send.

Does wi-fi calling work anywhere or whatever? Not being ignorant just not totally up on it and where it can be used etc

 

[Impulses]

The signal bars do no show as much signal at my house as my Moto XPE did. But, the network signal app shows roughly the same signal. Seems Google needs to adjust the signal bars accordingly. I have terrible signal at home, after this summer when Verizon moved some of their rural antennas into the cities for their MIMO. The WiFi calling is a God send.

Going by bars between different phones is a crapshoot, they bars/UI can be (and have been in the past) calibrated wildly different... Open up an app or the settings and look at dBm at least.

 

[mwboost]

And my pixel just dropped two phone calls lol. Lost reception out of nowhere. I never lose it from where I was calling from.