Signal problems?

[Irate Iguana]

Ive been reading and saw that the Triumph's signal is pretty lackluster when compared to the V, but how bad is it really?

 

[pre]

I would encourage folks to take a look at the many Triumph threads over at HoFo: Virgin Mobile USA


Personally, I regularly observe -92 to -96 db with my Optimus V, but the Triumph is across the board weaker by ~8-10 db. Virgin Mobile's 3G network is already spotty at best, now coupled with the Triumph's poor signal strength, this will be a nightmare for users in areas of weak to mediocre Sprint coverage. In areas were I see 3G with the OV, I'm primarily seeing 1-2 bars at 1x. I suspect some issues with the hardware/antenna/firmware of the Triumph.

Others have updated their Triumph's PRLs to Sprint's, without improvement.

I'm planning on returning my Triumph to BB in the coming weeks -- I'm just holding on for a bit in case there are dramatic improvements in voice/data, else this is an unusable device in my book.

I don't know if the GPS issue is related, as it seems the weak signal/reception is universal, but many do not have problems with their GPS functionality

 

[Irate Iguana]

I hope they fix it, because its the only thing holding me back from trying this phone out

 

[beto89]

yeah I bought this phone for my little brother, and he rarely has signal. When he does, its 3g, but incredibly slow. Such a shame too, we got in on the $25 plan but looks like I'll be returning it to bestbuy this week.

 

[sdmark]

I do notice the signal is a little lower for me as well...however, I haven't had any dropped calls and call quality has been excellent.

 

[xtravbx#CB]

Call quality and SMS appears to be fine, but data is incredibly slow and sometiies requires an airplane mode cycle or power cycle for it to function.

Definitely not the speeds or strength I get on my optimus. I feel bad for "upgrading" my wife's phone to this because Im afraid of the issues she may have with it.

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk

 

[theboundless]

Ive been reading and saw that the Triumph's signal is pretty lackluster when compared to the V, but how bad is it really?

In my experience, coming from a PRL hacked OV, the PRL hacked MT definitely has a better signal. There are still the occasional data receptivity issues, but those aren't specific to the MT, the OV had just the same amount of them.

I have some thoughts regarding the signal strength comparison... if you look, the MT is rated at 8+ hours talk time, and the OV at a mere 5 hours. I think this is related to the strength issue. The MT's signal may be a bit weaker, but the MT gives you a whopping 60% more talk time. And in real world testing, the MT functions just fine, I'm able to make calls in all the same places as with my OV.

Would recommend anyone with a MT to do the PRL update, its much easier now that the cumbersome reboot method is obsolete.

 

[adeelmysore]

Most people on the Virgin $25 plan care about a data signal more than anything. I rarely make calls on my phone so the 60% talk time is worthless.

 

[Korama12]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news guys but don't count on a software fix correcting these signal strength issues. I'm thinking about switching to VM when my AT&T contract ends later this month and I was considering this phone but I heard about these signal issues and started doing some digging. Then I came across this post from a Motorola Expert moderator on Motorola's Triumph forums who had this to say:

"Optimus V has a 800/1900mhz radio while the Motorola Triumph only has a 1900mhz radio. This means reception indoors compared to the 800mhz network will be significantly less as the lower the frequency, the better the penetration."

Yikes.

Sure enough, I compared the specs of both phones and confirmed that the Triumph is missing an antenna. I suppose this isn't a deal breaker for people in areas where the signal strength is very strong to begin with, but for people who don't live next door to a Sprint tower this is most likely the root of all their signal problems. I figured I better post this so everyone who reads it and is experiencing weak signal can return their phones instead of waiting around for a fix that not only isn't coming but doesn't appear to be possible.

In the meantime, I guess I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for the next VM android release. If it is the Optimus Black, and I'm not totally convinced that it will be, at least we can expect LG to put antennas for both frequencies in it since they did that with the OV. Of course then we'll have to deal with a laggy interface and poor battery life... ah, the joys of prepaid.

Anyway, in case you want to read more, here is the link to the thead that I quoted above. The portion I quoted is in post #12:
https://supportforums.motorola.com/thread/54651?tstart=0

 

[economichitman]

The 800 Mhz band is used to roam onto VZW's network, which you cant do with on VM service anyways. Both devices only use 1900mhz afaik...

 

[Korama12]

The 800 Mhz band is used to roam onto VZW's network, which you cant do with on VM service anyways. Both devices only use 1900mhz afaik...

Ah, ok. Thanks for the info. I guess the moderator from Motorola was unaware of that too because she seemed to think that it was part of the problem.

It's weird that most of the phones for VM have dual antennas and seem to get decent signal though. I mean, why would they pack that second antenna in the OV? In case of future expansion maybe?

Oh well, I guess it's just a coincidence that the MT with a single antenna gets worse reception. I just hope they figure out a way to fix it because right now it's ruining an otherwise pretty nice phone.

 

[watskyhotsky]

Ah, ok. Thanks for the info. I guess the moderator from Motorola was unaware of that too because she seemed to think that it was part of the problem.

It's weird that most of the phones for VM have dual antennas and seem to get decent signal though. I mean, why would they pack that second antenna in the OV? In case of future expansion maybe?

Oh well, I guess it's just a coincidence that the MT with a single antenna gets worse reception. I just hope they figure out a way to fix it because right now it's ruining an otherwise pretty nice phone.

bet you anything a hardware revision will roll out soon with slightly modified internals that get better reception.


they already are shipping MTs with newer software.

the entire phone seems like a work in progress. I REALLY REALLY want it. but im having less and less need for it. my OV, tether, and my MSI Wind netbook are doing just fine.