Anandtech - "Investigating the Galaxy Nexus LTE Signal Issue"

[Droid800]

I can say that my Nexus isnt experiencing signal issues. I put my wifes iPhone 4 in field test mode and she was fluctuating but averaging -73dbm to -76dbm and my Nexus stayed -80dbm to -83dbm. I also consider the iPhone 4 one of the best for reception from my experiences. This was with my phone in CDMA mode. We get pretty good coverave here.

See that's the thing. I AM in good coverage and my signal at home on the nexus sucks. I can go not more than 1000ft away and I get full bars and 30 down. I don't know what the deal is. No other LTE handset has done this.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[bplewis24]

Sooo...yesterday we learn from Anandtech that the Gnex is reporting LTE signal correctly and no others do it right, and today...VZW tells ComputerWorld that they "will adjust the signal strength indicator to more closely match other Verizon Wireless devices."

Verizon confirms software update coming to Galaxy Nexus - Computerworld

WTF???

I'll tell you WTF...

It means that Anandtech was essentially correct in their assessment in general (not for EVERY person and every device, but for the vast majority).

But people refused to believe that actual scientists/engineers know what they are talking about, so they insisted on comparing their LTE signal strength to another phone's 3G signal strength and (likely) a lot of folks returned the phone as a result. So Verizon decides, let's mess up the Nexus so that everybody will now see the same (incorrect) signal strength on the Nexus that they see on their Rezounds and Razrs.

Thanks...thanks a lot.

Brandon

 

[nkd]

So this is what I did. I was at work today and my friend is still loving his razr and I have mine boxed up waiting to ship back to amazon and I have held on to shipping it back since I have 30 days, so If I change my mind I can just return the nexus and go back to razr.

I told my friend to switch his phone to 3g only and I switched my phone to 3g only. Since some people were calling me out that Razr only displays 3g signal strength even when its on 4g.

My 3g signal strength was -98dbm and his signal strenght was -74dbm. Now you can say what you want, the radio is seriously underpowered in this thing. That much difference is ridiculous. At home I get the same 3g signal and if I put my sim in the razr and switch it to 3g I get -75 to -80dbm and when I switch it to 4g lte I get around -84dbm to -87dbm. I don't know if it is true that razr always displays 3g signal, I certainly get weaker signal when I switch it to 4g.

That is my personal experience and I would go with that vs verizon calling it my imagination or Anandtech saying that this phone has such strong signal. Why is that they compared it only to droid charge? Why not put both phones in 3g mode and get the dbm rating.

It really depends on where you live, if you are in a residential area, you are likely to get lower speeds unless you are living uder a tower. If you are major metropolitan area you are likely to get better speeds on 4g. I have hit anywhere from 10-20mb at home with razr and with nexus I am lucky if I ever hit 10mbps. If I drive a mile down to the freeway I get around 25 on the nexus.

It really goes on to show that razr has way stronger signal than nexus whether it is 3g or 4g. I am trying very hard to keep this phone and verizon just made it harder for me. It is not that i am not happy it just goes on to show me that they simply calling all the people out there dumb that are saying that this phone has no issues.

Given that they wont admit it and this might be a way for them to push radio update that give you better and stronger signal. They will absolutely not say that this phone has weaker signal specially coming from a PR person. They are not going to admit it, they would rather simply take care of it with an update and say that oh we just fixed that low signal bars.

 

[nkd]

I'll tell you WTF...

It means that Anandtech was essentially correct in their assessment in general (not for EVERY person and every device, but for the vast majority).

But people refused to believe that actual scientists/engineers know what they are talking about, so they insisted on comparing their LTE signal strength to another phone's 3G signal strength and (likely) a lot of folks returned the phone as a result. So Verizon decides, let's mess up the Nexus so that everybody will now see the same (incorrect) signal strength on the Nexus that they see on their Rezounds and Razrs.

Thanks...thanks a lot.

Brandon

Why is that if I switch the razr to 3g I get -75dbm and if I switch the nexus to 3g in the same location I get -95dbm or so. Yea I know they are engineers, all they did was compare 4g signal to another phone that always had low 4g signal. Why didn't they switch razr and nexus to 3g to see the signal diffrence. Oh may be the right thing doesn't count here. May ba 20dbm difference is not huge in 3g for them.

 

[Ken7]

I'll tell you WTF...

It means that Anandtech was essentially correct in their assessment in general (not for EVERY person and every device, but for the vast majority).

But people refused to believe that actual scientists/engineers know what they are talking about, so they insisted on comparing their LTE signal strength to another phone's 3G signal strength and (likely) a lot of folks returned the phone as a result. So Verizon decides, let's mess up the Nexus so that everybody will now see the same (incorrect) signal strength on the Nexus that they see on their Rezounds and Razrs.

Thanks...thanks a lot.

Brandon

This is INCREDIBLY disappointing. This means for those of us with real 4G data connection issues (forget the damn bars, #s etc.) there is no help on the way. Do they really think that those of us that have had a bunch of 4G phones that have better data connectivity in marginal areas, will all of a sudden get improved 4G 'lock ons'? I go into the same area with a Rezound and I unquestionably can hold on to a 4G signal far better. This 'fix' will do nothing, nada, zippo.

So in other words the statement that VZW knew there was an issue is just BS. They just want to do the AT&T thing 'more bars in more areas'. Fantastic.

Here I thought we might have the beginning of a real solution but instead we get more bars with no change in the radio's handling of the signal. Unreal.

So what do the guys with these 4G connection issues now look forward to? Hopefully not Samsung, because it will be a long long long time before Sammy comes up with anything. Google? Who knows?

 

[Premium1]

This is INCREDIBLY disappointing. This means for those of us with real 4G data connection issues (forget the damn bars, #s etc.) there is no help on the way. Do they really think that those of us that have had a bunch of 4G phones that have better data connectivity in marginal areas, will all of a sudden get improved 4G 'lock ons'? I go into the same area with a Rezound and I unquestionably can hold on to a 4G signal far better. This 'fix' will do nothing, nada, zippo.

So in other words the statement that VZW knew there was an issue is just BS. They just want to do the AT&T thing 'more bars in more areas'. Fantastic.

Here I thought we might have the beginning of a real solution but instead we get more bars with no change in the radio's handling of the signal. Unreal.

So what do the guys with these 4G connection issues now look forward to? Hopefully not Samsung, because it will be a long long long time before Sammy comes up with anything. Google? Who knows?

You act like this will be the only thing in the update. There are already leaked radios that are helping some and Google will fix more issues and bugs in the 4.0.3 and 4.1 update. It isn't going to happen overnight.

 

[Ken7]

You act like this will be the only thing in the update. There are already leaked radios that are helping some and Google will fix more issues and bugs in the 4.0.3 and 4.1 update. It isn't going to happen overnight.

I'm fine with it not happening overnight, but this certainly wasn't good news. I could have stayed on AT&T for that kind of 'bar BS'.

I certainly hope that Google will address this. For me this is really the ONLY issue I have. I find the phone in virtually all other areas to be superb. Even my battery life is a pleasant surprise. I can live with things like low speaker volume for which there's a fix anyway with apps. But data is far more important.

I hope you're right.

 

[sc4fpse]

I really hope that there is some arrangement that allows Google to lay down the law here... but I'm not optimistic.

 

[Droid800]

You act like this will be the only thing in the update. There are already leaked radios that are helping some and Google will fix more issues and bugs in the 4.0.3 and 4.1 update. It isn't going to happen overnight.

Except Verizon said there won't be any changes to the radios, even in the new versions.

 

[majiklantrn]

Except Verizon said there won't be any changes to the radios, even in the new versions.

Supposedly Verizon is going to play Signal Games with us Nexus users. Kind of like how AT&T did with the iPhone. Oh look! More Bars! Its all good....

 

[Droid800]

I did a test today of LTE based on my at my home, and on the same tower, about a thousand feet away. (outside of my neighborhood) The results indicate, to me, that the nexus has some pretty serious issues in lower signal areas.

This is the result in my home. Download and ping are alright, but upload speeds are pathetic. I've seen HIGHER than that on 3G in the exact same spot.

This is on the edge of my neighborhood, on exactly the same tower:

That is a MASSIVE, earth-shattering difference. Seriously. I don't know what the deal is, but it tells me that the Nexus has an issue with areas like being inside of a neighborhood. It also proves that the Nexus definitely does NOT have a signal problem, because during that second test I had one bar at -105 dBm.

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do. Part of me wants to go to a VZW store, explain the issues, and have them exchange it out to see if that helps. Another part wants to exchange into a Rezound, since I know from past experience that the signal inside my house is as good as anything else I can get. The biggest part, though, just wants to say screw it, use wifi inside, and wait it out until I move out of the area. (which will happen in the next year)

 

[majiklantrn]

With all these issues, I'm wondering what the Google employees are saying. I can only imagine their internal forums are blowing up as well.

 

[Iceman0803]

I did a test today of LTE based on my at my home, and on the same tower, about a thousand feet away. (outside of my neighborhood) The results indicate, to me, that the nexus has some pretty serious issues in lower signal areas.

This is the result in my home. Download and ping are alright, but upload speeds are pathetic. I've seen HIGHER than that on 3G in the exact same spot.

Click to view quoted image


This is on the edge of my neighborhood, on exactly the same tower:

Click to view quoted image




That is a MASSIVE, earth-shattering difference. Seriously. I don't know what the deal is, but it tells me that the Nexus has an issue with areas like being inside of a neighborhood. It also proves that the Nexus definitely does NOT have a signal problem, because during that second test I had one bar at -105 dBm.

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do. Part of me wants to go to a VZW store, explain the issues, and have them exchange it out to see if that helps. Another part wants to exchange into a Rezound, since I know from past experience that the signal inside my house is as good as anything else I can get. The biggest part, though, just wants to say screw it, use wifi inside, and wait it out until I move out of the area. (which will happen in the next year)

Your first speed test mirrors my 4G speeds exactly.

I have flashed the newer radio though and while it didn't seem to help reception or overall speed, I do have a more stable data connection, which was all I really wanted anyway.

 

[majiklantrn]

Your first speed test mirrors my 4G speeds exactly.

I have flashed the newer radio though and while it didn't seem to help reception or overall speed, I do have a more stable data connection, which was all I really wanted anyway.

Stable as in... once you are connected to 4G, you keep it?

I was going through an Arby's drive thru with my buddy and was looking up a movie on 4G. Suddenly I lost 4g (2 bars). The phone sat there for about a min or two getting signal, then jumped on 3g. My buddy pulled up a car length and suddenly I was back on 4g. Arrgggghh.... I still haven't heard the last of it from my friend. :'(

 

[Droid800]

So this is what I did. I was at work today and my friend is still loving his razr and I have mine boxed up waiting to ship back to amazon and I have held on to shipping it back since I have 30 days, so If I change my mind I can just return the nexus and go back to razr.

I told my friend to switch his phone to 3g only and I switched my phone to 3g only. Since some people were calling me out that Razr only displays 3g signal strength even when its on 4g.

My 3g signal strength was -98dbm and his signal strenght was -74dbm. Now you can say what you want, the radio is seriously underpowered in this thing. That much difference is ridiculous. At home I get the same 3g signal and if I put my sim in the razr and switch it to 3g I get -75 to -80dbm and when I switch it to 4g lte I get around -84dbm to -87dbm. I don't know if it is true that razr always displays 3g signal, I certainly get weaker signal when I switch it to 4g.

The razr will never show your 4g in dBm. Ever.

That is my personal experience and I would go with that vs verizon calling it my imagination or Anandtech saying that this phone has such strong signal. Why is that they compared it only to droid charge? Why not put both phones in 3g mode and get the dbm rating.

Because no one was complaining about 3g. They were complaining because they didn't understand that the nexus is the only lte phone to show signal properly.

And anandtech is STILL right. The phone does not have signal issues. Something else is going on.

It really depends on where you live, if you are in a residential area, you are likely to get lower speeds unless you are living uder a tower. If you are major metropolitan area you are likely to get better speeds on 4g. I have hit anywhere from 10-20mb at home with razr and with nexus I am lucky if I ever hit 10mbps. If I drive a mile down to the freeway I get around 25 on the nexus.

I can see the tower from my house and my speeds are still not great. Something else is going on.

It really goes on to show that razr has way stronger signal than nexus whether it is 3g or 4g. I am trying very hard to keep this phone and verizon just made it harder for me. It is not that i am not happy it just goes on to show me that they simply calling all the people out there dumb that are saying that this phone has no issues.

The phone doesn't have 4g signal issues. It gets the exact same signal as all of the other 4g devices.

Given that they wont admit it and this might be a way for them to push radio update that give you better and stronger signal. They will absolutely not say that this phone has weaker signal specially coming from a PR person. They are not going to admit it, they would rather simply take care of it with an update and say that oh we just fixed that low signal bars.

It doesn't have a weaker signal. That was proven. Why would they admit something that isn't true ?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[Kunji]

The razr will never show your 4g in dBm. Ever.



Because no one was complaining about 3g. They were complaining because they didn't understand that the nexus is the only lte phone to show signal properly.

And anandtech is STILL right. The phone does not have signal issues. Something else is going on.



I can see the tower from my house and my speeds are still not great. Something else is going on.



The phone doesn't have 4g signal issues. It gets the exact same signal as all of the other 4g devices.



It doesn't have a weaker signal. That was proven. Why would they admit something that isn't true ?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Are you saying that nothing is wrong with the phone?

 

[nkd]

The razr will never show your 4g in dBm. Ever.



Because no one was complaining about 3g. They were complaining because they didn't understand that the nexus is the only lte phone to show signal properly.

And anandtech is STILL right. The phone does not have signal issues. Something else is going on.



I can see the tower from my house and my speeds are still not great. Something else is going on.

Really you can see the tower from your house? how do you know you are not getting bounced off to another tower. I can go to the freeway and sit in the plaza right next to the freeway and I get almost 30mbps, I am not imagining things and the phone has like -70dbm signal there in 4g.





The phone doesn't have 4g signal issues. It gets the exact same signal as all of the other 4g devices.



It doesn't have a weaker signal. That was proven. Why would they admit something that isn't true ?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Oh man you are so damn ignorant to my posts that it is starting to annoy me, dont respond to my post if you can't read. Are you going to tell me that the damn phone is gving me a -98dbm while the razr gives me -74dbm in CDMA mode. Read the word CDMA. Now think about it and think about it again. THE RAZR SIGNAL IS 20dbm STRONGER THAN THE NEXUS.

So the signal is not weak? really? I am not even talking about the 4g here, the damn signal in general, so stop making ignorant statements.

I don't even have too many issues with the phone, only that it randomaly drops 4g here and there. Thats it, luckily today at home it has been much better and I haven't experienced any drops.

All i am saying is that 3g signal is even weaker on this phone than razr, are you really going to argue that the signal strength I am giving you makes no difference?

The signal has been stable for me even at -98dbm but that doesn't change the fact that it is not as strong as the razr. This is the last post I will make about this, good luck. I am keeping my nexus and I love it, but I am not blind to the problems people are experiencing. I am sure they are not imagining things like some of the article says. When they say they had good coverage with a motorla phone or HTC phone, I have every reason to believe them.

It seems like you can't take any criticism for verizon. Like verizon is going to come out and admit that they released the phone knowing it had signal strength issues. Common, give me a break.

 

[Kunji]

what some of us have experienced with this damn phone is a seemingly damn weaker grab on to the damn signal. for a damn example, my wifes damn rezound pulling 11mbps down on 4g while in the same place my damn gnexus is barely getting .16 mbps on 3g. now for whatever reason there is a perceived issue with this damn phone

 

[mitra88]

Just flashed 4.0.3 baseband, while measuring signal strength for extended time (24hrs).

1. Both my Thunderbolt and GN shows the similar signal strength at 1xRTT and EvDO

TB: 70~75 for 1xRTT, 80~90 for EvDO, 80~90 for LTE (which is in fact EvDO)
GN: 70~80 for 1xRTT, 80~85 for EvDO, 95~105 for LTE

2. New radio has not shown any big difference in signal strength. Before/After was pretty much the same.

3. Speedtest.net result also showed pretty much the same result on both, average.

TB: 11.0 down / 4.5 up (20 times average)
GN: 11.5 down / 3.9 up (20 times average)

According to Anandtech article and what others have to say so far, it looks like it is going to be the hand-off / authentication issue, rather than signal strength one. They must have put the wrong value for signal hand-off. I will see if this hand-off has gotten better with the new radio once I get back to a fringe area, which is my office today.....

 

[Iceman0803]

Stable as in... once you are connected to 4G, you keep it?

I was going through an Arby's drive thru with my buddy and was looking up a movie on 4G. Suddenly I lost 4g (2 bars). The phone sat there for about a min or two getting signal, then jumped on 3g. My buddy pulled up a car length and suddenly I was back on 4g. Arrgggghh.... I still haven't heard the last of it from my friend. :'(

Yes, since I've flashed the newer radio I haven't lost 4G (not counting the recent outage). I still don't have the greatest signal strength though (fluctuates between -109 to -100dbm average). But, like I said before, that's not as big a deal now that I have a seemingly stable network connection.