Anyone Experience Low Cell Signal Strength With Note 5? (Verizon or...)

Climb14er

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I should have mentioned the older two band phones... analog and digital when the systems were being changed and adapted , here's where the confusion might have been. This is what I was referring to. During that time, when analog was slowly being phased out... over a few years, and digital was being introduced, the analog band, and I did not ask the frequency, was very strong, and covered Many miles from one remote 14K summit to a tower way in the distance. At that time, the lower frequency 700 on VZ was able to penetrate to my house from the tower... much stronger than the 2100 AWS now being sent in my direction.
 

dpham00

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I should have mentioned the older two band phones... analog and digital when the systems were being changed and adapted , here's where the confusion might have been. This is what I was referring to. During that time, when analog was slowly being phased out... over a few years, and digital was being introduced, the analog band, and I did not ask the frequency, was very strong, and covered Many miles from one remote 14K summit to a tower way in the distance. At that time, the lower frequency 700 on VZ was able to penetrate to my house from the tower... much stronger than the 2100 AWS now being sent in my direction.
After doing some research, Analog kicked the bucket in 2008. Verizon's first 700MHz capable phone was the Thunderbolt which came out in March 2011.

2100mhz is band 1,and Verizon has no frequency in that band. Aws refers to 1700/2100 mhz. There is no such thing as 2100mhz aws. Also Verizon's aws spectrum buyout from the cable cos was approved in mid 2012, though it wasn't deployed until 2013
 

Climb14er

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"The carrier did not name the 22 new markets in which it has deployed AWS spectrum. Verizon has dubbed its deployment of 1700/2100 MHz AWS spectrum for LTE its "XLTE" network to bolster capacity on its 700 MHz LTE network, which covers around 306 million POPs and is built in a 10x10 MHz configuration".

The 2100 is an AWS band!

His instruments and modems were able to separate the 1700 from the 2100! We were able to watch the numbers coming through the relays from the towers to the computer on the separate bands! The 2100 AWS stood alone and was viewed as a separate band! NOT ONCE did he call it 1700/2100. He called it 2100 AWS! I personally watched the signal change on the 2100 AWS band... and the 700! Not once did I see the 1700 mentioned on the screen. Why? Because he was looking for only the 2100 vs the 700 signal strength!

You call it 1700/2100.

The engineer calls it 2100 AWS. I'll take HIS WORD any day of the year!

BTW, I know analog here in Colorado very well! I used it solo since 1993 and in conjunction with digital on the two band phones until it was discontinued. Analog was used very well on the high peaks and in the remote locations of Colorado's back country and mountainous regions. Analog had saved many folks in safety situations. The digital that replaced it is a weaker signal then the analog. I still wish analog would be available here in Colorado and the West. It's long distance capture of signal was phenomenal!
 
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Golfdriver97

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Comparing my Net capability at work between my Nexus 5X, and the Note 5, yes. I am seeing some lower cell signal strength.

This isn't very scientific, but near the front door to where I work, I was getting 3G at best on the Note 5. On the 5X, I had a solid LTE signal, sitting in near the same spot.
 

willanaya

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Mine seems fine. At my work, I get -78 to -79, also once I got an 80+ Mbps download from there, but at home, pert near 7 miles away I get a constant -109. With every smartphone I have had, -109 at my house has been the norm and it's never been a problem with my calls.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

Climb14er

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Engineer moved my signal from tower to my house to the 700 band from the 2100 AWS to obtain a much stronger and penetrating signal strength. This was where it was prior to all the lower power issues that began to crop up earlier this year when it was moved to 2100 AWS, due to supposedly bandwidth overload on the 700.

They're continuing to do tests.

Btw, regarding the dbm signal strength levels as exhibited on the phones, they're not exactly, according to him and the numbers we saw on the computer screen, the REAL final determinant to strong or weak signal reception.

Yes... they can point to a possible problem. But depending on the band you're on, the dbm numbers might show weak. .. but you're still receiving a good, positive signal.
 

dpham00

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Engineer moved my signal from tower to my house to the 700 band from the 2100 AWS to obtain a much stronger and penetrating signal strength. This was where it was prior to all the lower power issues that began to crop up earlier this year when it was moved to 2100 AWS, due to supposedly bandwidth overload on the 700.

They're continuing to do tests.

Btw, regarding the dbm signal strength levels as exhibited on the phones, they're not exactly, according to him and the numbers we saw on the computer screen, the REAL final determinant to strong or weak signal reception.

Yes... they can point to a possible problem. But depending on the band you're on, the dbm numbers might show weak. .. but you're still receiving a good, positive signal.
Signal strength is only one aspect. I can get good speeds even at - 114 dbm. Snr is a more important aspect, imo. I am on 20+20MHZ XLTE here.

uploadfromtaptalk1449533177852.jpg
 

dpham00

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Engineer moved my signal from tower to my house to the 700 band from the 2100 AWS to obtain a much stronger and penetrating signal strength. This was where it was prior to all the lower power issues that began to crop up earlier this year when it was moved to 2100 AWS, due to supposedly bandwidth overload on the 700.

They're continuing to do tests.

Btw, regarding the dbm signal strength levels as exhibited on the phones, they're not exactly, according to him and the numbers we saw on the computer screen, the REAL final determinant to strong or weak signal reception.

Yes... they can point to a possible problem. But depending on the band you're on, the dbm numbers might show weak. .. but you're still receiving a good, positive signal.
2100mhz aws is an acceptable nomenclature. However previously in a previous post ,you mentioned 2100 frequency without mentioning aws. And 2100mhz lte is typically used to reference band 1 lte. It might not be wrong, but it can be confusing to some reading it.
 

bkc46

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Soooo depressed. Waited a long time for the note 5 and purchased on black Friday w/VZ. Also selected a S6 and iphone 6s. Only the iphone has reception at the house. The note is 1x and the s6 drops 4 out of 10 calls. VZ restarted etc., and stated Samsungs antenna's are weak compared to Apple and suggested I return the phones. Called Samsung-they recommend new SIM cards. Based on this forum's experience, that sounds like a fool's errand. LOVE the pen, divided screen, amoled glass and totally deflated after waiting so long for a phone that met my needs. Would like to return to ATT-even though they are bandits, but I am stuck for two years now.
 

dpham00

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Soooo depressed. Waited a long time for the note 5 and purchased on black Friday w/VZ. Also selected a S6 and iphone 6s. Only the iphone has reception at the house. The note is 1x and the s6 drops 4 out of 10 calls. VZ restarted etc., and stated Samsungs antenna's are weak compared to Apple and suggested I return the phones. Called Samsung-they recommend new SIM cards. Based on this forum's experience, that sounds like a fool's errand. LOVE the pen, divided screen, amoled glass and totally deflated after waiting so long for a phone that met my needs. Would like to return to ATT-even though they are bandits, but I am stuck for two years now.
If you bought the devices on black Friday then you have until January 15, 2016 to return the devices and not get stuck with a 2 year contract.
 

dswatson83

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Anyone having any luck? I am getting horrible building penetration on the Note 5. I find it unwilling to go to 3g very often which my Note 3 used to do more of. I wonder if the advanced calling using LTE now is forcing the phone to stay on LTE or something. It's been horrible for me. I'm half way between sending this out for repair or waiting for the update with Wifi calling and hopefully a bug fix. Every so often, this thing will just not connect to a network and I have to restart the phone for it to connect. It's really weird but is more than just a weak signal. When I go to my battery info and tap on Cell Standby, I will often see no network connection of up to 10% of the time! Once it disconnects, it just will not reconnect unless I restart or maybe once I get in a perfect signal area for a long period of time. Really frustrating because I will not be receiving calls/texts and will have no idea until I look at the phone and realize it's not connecting at all.
 

burwil

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I find it best to be on no contact. My first Note 5 on TMobile was consistently in the -100s and worse. Then I switched to AT&T and its in the -80s. I don't think the antenna is worse than most other smartphones except Moto. My old HTC Rezound was even better. With everything getting slimmer I wonder if the antennas are being compromised.
 

dpham00

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I find it best to be on no contact. My first Note 5 on TMobile was consistently in the -100s and worse. Then I switched to AT&T and its in the -80s. I don't think the antenna is worse than most other smartphones except Moto. My old HTC Rezound was even better. With everything getting slimmer I wonder if the antennas are being compromised.

I would love to go no contract, so you can switch easily whenever there are problems unfortunately no contract is so much more expensive for my uses,compared to my Verizon plan.
 

burwil

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I once had Verizon for the longest time. Then with the Note 3 it failed me. Or something happened in the network system where I was getting very little or no data signal. The app store usually didn't work. I could never confirm for sure what the problem was but it wasn't clear to me it was the phone. The best they could do was give me an S5 but it had only 16 gig. The Note 3 replacement they told me would probably have the same data issue. I had several months left on contract and bit the bullet and paid the early termination fee. And life got much better.
 

Climb14er

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Engineer emailed me yesterday (because dropped audio again on Volte) and asked me to DISABLE Volte and use only for now CDMA. He's trying to take out and possibly isolate the variable (s). So far today, all long duration calls from the house/office, went well and no dropped outgoing audio.

Running on 700 MHZ seems to be producing a stronger signal from the tower. I can talk for duration from basement office w/o the dropped outgoing audio.

Downside to disabling Volte, cannot use the Internet while on the phone on CDMA.

There's a good possibility two things are going on to cause the dropping of outgoing audio...

The first is Volte with the Note 5. This is being reviewed closely as Verizon is banking on this for the future with the phones designed to utilize it.

And second... as I first specuIated...

The Note 5 has difficulty with a low power RF signal... and this is exacerbated when using Volte.

The current replacement Note 5 is FAR superior with RF signal than the first one I got and returned.

Moving from 2100 AWS to 700 MHz, has improved the quality of the call.
 

Climb14er

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Just found out...

NON VOLTE. .. CDMA calls are running on 800 MHz.

Data is now running (for me) on 700MHz.

The engineer just shared a ton of info with me regarding VZ wifi calling which is now being released in some areas of the country.

I think for now... VZ should get their Volte you-know-what together. .. first!

Wifi will be better for areas of very low RF strength, rural areas and where folks use network extenders.
 

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