Anandtech - "Investigating the Galaxy Nexus LTE Signal Issue"

[Ken7]

Also, the towers have a download and upload bandwidth limit set. For example, the tower I'm connected to is .98 miles away that has a download cap of 5 - 12 Mb/s.

How would you know what a given tower's cap is?

 

[Ken7]

Clearly there is more to the problem than just the GNex bars showing 4G LTE signal vs. the CDMA signal shown by the bars on the other phones. I think the perceived damage here is that instead of trying to address the other issue(s), V, G and Sammy will say they fixed the bars so nothing more to see here, move along.

The problems are more than just the bars, unless people here are outright lying about what is going on with their phones and I don't see what benefit there would be to them to do that.

Precisely. Is it a coincidence that VZW said there is a problem with the radio prior to that article and then subsequent to it said they'd just adjust the bars? Is it a coincidence? Possibly, but maybe not.

If so, that's the kind of damage I'm talking about.

 

[Bob61]

I got my wife switched around to my old Charge and can to an LTE to LTE comparison. The results are NOT good for the Nexus.....

Signal on my Nexus shows as -105dBm. My wife's Charge is sitting right next to my phone and her's is showing -81dBm. There does appear to be a problem with Nexus and signal strength. I'll take a trip into VZW store next week to register my complaint.

 

[Ken7]

I got my wife switched around to my old Charge and can to an LTE to LTE comparison. The results are NOT good for the Nexus.....

Signal on my Nexus shows as -105dBm. My wife's Charge is sitting right next to my phone and her's is showing -81dBm. There does appear to be a problem with Nexus and signal strength. I'll take a trip into VZW store next week to register my complaint.

We've established from the Anandtech article that you can't compare the Nexus #s with other phones. The Nexus is displaying accurate 4G #s whereas other phones are not. You'd be better off checking which phone maintains a more consistent, viable 4G connection. Forget the numbers.

 

[Bob61]

I've never seen that 'Network Signal Type - LTE:14' before on mine or anyone's screen shots.

Anyone know what that means?

I don't know what it means, but that's the same thing my status shows on my Nexus.

 

[Davidoo]

I got my wife switched around to my old Charge and can to an LTE to LTE comparison. The results are NOT good for the Nexus.....

Signal on my Nexus shows as -105dBm. My wife's Charge is sitting right next to my phone and her's is showing -81dBm. There does appear to be a problem with Nexus and signal strength. I'll take a trip into VZW store next week to register my complaint.

Unless you went into the service menu on the Charge and brought up the LTE signal strength as Anandtech did in the article, that doesn't mean much as the Charge signal strength is not LTE, so you're comparing apples to oranges.

I have a Charge and did a "real" test today similar to what the Anandtech article writer did. I went to the VZW corparate store and looked at the display Nexus. The signal strength was -91 on the Nexus and the Charge signal strength in the About Phone settings was -72.

Then I switched my Charge into service mode using the codes in the article and sat them on the counter side by side. My Charge LTE started at -96 and then stabilized at -91 also. I could move the phones around, place one on top of the other and switch the sides I had them on and they both never varied from -90 to -96 db. There were times when the Nexus had a better strength reading by a couple of numbers, then at times the Charge was a couple lower.

So, my conclusion is the Nexus and Charge probably do share the radio and antenna technology and get basically the same signal. This is not to say the problem others are reporting doesn't exist and doesn't need to be fixed. This test was done in a stable signal strength area. I wish I could have borrowed the Nexus and taken it to my home where the signal is much different.

At home, before the Gingerbread update, my Charge struggled mightily to keep a 4G lock. Now I know why as once I learned how to go into the service menu a couple of days ago and checked and found that in my house the actual LTE signal is between -108 and -112 depending on where I am. After the GB update my Charge holds the 4G signal MUCH better at my house with the marginal signal to a point where about 90% of the time I get 4G compared to about 25% before the update.

It appears an update should be able to get the Nexus easily up to the performance of the Charge in holding the 4G signal. I use the 4G a lot at my house so I'm just going to have to hold onto the Charge until the Nexus gets updated....plus the fact I use my NFL mobile app a ton and need to wait for VZW to get off their asses and get it working with the Nexus. I hope all is done soon as I want to ditch the Verizon bloat and I'm just not into rooting and all that (too old I guess to mess with it).

 

[jphillips1963]

We've established from the Anandtech article that you can't compare the Nexus #s with other phones. The Nexus is displaying accurate 4G #s whereas other phones are not. You'd be better off checking which phone maintains a more consistent, viable 4G connection. Forget the numbers.

dBm is that there is no adjusting this you either have signal or not. The only way to increase signal strength the true way is via tweeking the radio inside. Yes you can lie to the phone with software and make the signal bars appear to be stronger but when you go into your menu setting and about phone and then signal strength those dBm numbers don't lie.

I can say I have the Droid Charge then the GN and now I have the Rezound and of all 3 my Rezound has shown better radio signal of the 3 then my Charge then the GN, Sitting right here at my computer I have 4g on the Rezound and can access the internet and my dBm is currently at -89 my Charge is at -101 my GN when I had it would be -121. The Charge never showed a 4g connection at home nor work where as the Rezound comes and goes her at home but at work it stayed on the LTE network, now the GN in both locations home and work not once showed a 4g connection and would not connect to 3g here at my house and rarely did at work. When I tried to browse the internet I got more fail to connect messages on the GN than any combination of phones I ever had period.


Bottom line here and I don't care what Analtech review is but what the real world review is by use of traveling to places we frequent the most. To home to work to grocery store and where ever we may frequent. I saw a problem and it wasn't my imagination or thinking ok everyone else is having ths so I am to. The problem was consistent to others and it's a problem. I even spent over an hr on the phone with a verizon engineer reporting to him numbers off the dBm readings as I drove around to different areas, These numbers came from my GN my Charge and a Droid Razr which was a friend of mine and had already had the OTA update installed before the big one was just released. He was one of the test monkies for Moto/Verizon. I can't go into great detail of what we did but I am able to say this They know it is an issue and working to resolve it, Some heard rumors of sending out an OTA update to make your bars appear stronger but thats not so they are trying to find a software fix for the radio itself. This is all I'm able to say about that sorry guys.

James

 

[Bob61]

We've established from the Anandtech article that you can't compare the Nexus #s with other phones. The Nexus is displaying accurate 4G #s whereas other phones are not. You'd be better off checking which phone maintains a more consistent, viable 4G connection. Forget the numbers.

As I read it, the Nexus and Charge should be very similar, as according to the article:

First off, is some background. The Verizon CDMA/LTE Galaxy Nexus (codename ?mysid?) uses a combination of Samsung CMC221 and Via Telecom CBP 7.1 for LTE and CDMA 1x/EVDO connectivity, respectively. This is virtually identical (unsurprisingly) to the Droid Charge, which used a CMC220 for LTE and the same CBP 7.1.​

So with that in mind, the Charge and Nexus should be comparative in their #'s. But I see I missed that they went into service mode on the Charge to get the LTE signal strength. My bad....

 

[Ken7]

It appears an update should be able to get the Nexus easily up to the performance of the Charge in holding the 4G signal. I use the 4G a lot at my house so I'm just going to have to hold onto the Charge until the Nexus gets updated....plus the fact I use my NFL mobile app a ton and need to wait for VZW to get off their asses and get it working with the Nexus. I hope all is done soon as I want to ditch the Verizon bloat and I'm just not into rooting and all that (too old I guess to mess with it).

The problem could be that the Nexus might already have the same radio update.

 

[pauldroidr2d2]

Correct. Also, some of the difference can be due to who is hosting the Speedtest server. I was doing tests this morning with "full" bars. Was getting 10ish until I changed to the DC server hosted by Speedtest, and then got close to 30.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

I seriously question the accuracy and legitimacy of these speed tests. The last couple of tests that I did on the my Nexus were interesting. The first two tests I did with 4g LTE, two bars. The server that was automatically selected was in Tijuana, Mexico which is about 170 miles South of me. Then I switched to an LA host. That is about 10 miles away from me. On that the results were in the neighborhood of 12, while the Tijuana server was giving me about 28.

 

[nsurg]

I seriously question the accuracy and legitimacy of these speed tests. The last couple of tests that I did on the my Nexus were interesting. The first two tests I did with 4g LTE, two bars. The server that was automatically selected was in Tijuana, Mexico which is about 170 miles South of me. Then I switched to an LA host. That is about 10 miles away from me. On that the results were in the neighborhood of 12, while the Tijuana server was giving me about 28.

I would recommend caution with that tower... it may kidnap you and hold you for ransom. It tries to lure you closer with high speed data, then while you're looking at your phone screen it attacks.

 

[bplewis24]

Well I went ahead and picked up a Razr because this whole thing is driving me nuts. I added a line so I have both the Nexus & Razr.

I did some preliminary testing and the results are not quite what I expected.

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the testing and report back.

I seriously question the accuracy and legitimacy of these speed tests. The last couple of tests that I did on the my Nexus were interesting. The first two tests I did with 4g LTE, two bars. The server that was automatically selected was in Tijuana, Mexico which is about 170 miles South of me. Then I switched to an LA host. That is about 10 miles away from me. On that the results were in the neighborhood of 12, while the Tijuana server was giving me about 28.

If you ever want to test the validity, you can always do a few extra things:

Google Speakeasy Speed Test (or any other speed test sites) on your mobile device, and run it from your phone's browser.

Google Speedtest.net, and set your phone's browser to "Request Desktop Site" and then run the test from the browser.

Tether another device to your phone, and run the speed test from the tethered device.

Brandon

 

[CarryMe]

I can't go into great detail of what we did but I am able to say this They know it is an issue and working to resolve it, Some heard rumors of sending out an OTA update to make your bars appear stronger but thats not so they are trying to find a software fix for the radio itself. This is all I'm able to say about that sorry guys.

Well I am glad to hear that they are not just going to eff with the bars and are looking into this in earnest.

I hope others having this problem are reporting it to the technical people at VZW instead of just returning the phones, but I can understand if people don't have the time for that especially at this time of year.

 

[bplewis24]

There is something I can do though. There are 2 blocks where, virtually every time I would drive through with my Bionic, the signal would drop to 3G. I think it is a legitimate fringe area or a dead zone. It's been a few weeks since I've been over there, but I may go over there today with the Nexus and see how it compares.

So, I did my driving around just now. When I entered this area where my Bionic would always drop signal either at the light where I would make my left turn for my daily commute, or the Wendy's on the opposite corner where I would sometimes eat lunch, the GNex held 3 bars. I'm not sure if the LTE coverage of this area has improved or not, but I never could keep a signal there with my Bionic.

So I decided to go further South in this area (where I don't normally go), because it's moving away from the business district where one would assume Verizon would want to have strong coverage, and into an area where there are mostly construction depots and industrial buildings. It started to drop down to 2 bars, so I decided to drive through this industrial park where I figured coverage would be the weakest. Sure enough, it dropped down to 1 bar, but surprisingly it never dropped the signal.

Eventually I made it through to the other side and back towards where I started, and it went back up to 3 bars. That's one thing I actually appreciate about this phone: the signal strength itself seems dependable. I can almost predict where strong/weak coverage areas are because the phone always holds the same signal strength in the same places while I'm driving around. It's consistent. I almost feel as though I know what corner the towers are on. I even drove to the block where I figured one was, and ran a speed test, and sure enough got my fastest speed test ever:

And just as predictable, as SOON as I entered my apartment complex, the bars immediately dropped down to 1. Inside my apartment, it clung to one bar for about 3 minutes until it eventually dropped to 3G. But even my 3G was only 1-2 bars.

My unscientific, theoretical speculation about this phone is that it doesn't handle interference well, and that there is some type of interference in my apt complex that gives it trouble. If I stand on the street corner outside of my apartment gate, I can get 2-3 bars. As soon as I go 20 feet inside, it drops down to 1-2. At work, there appears to be no interference inside the building as I maintain a strong signal. At the store tonight, I maintained a strong signal. Only at my apartment is there an issue.

I believe baseband/software updates can improve some things like 3G/4G handoff (and I've heard the leaked radios have improved this). I don't know if it can improve dealing with interference because I know nothing about radio technology. But I will wait and see what happens. Regardless, I'm keeping the phone.

Brandon

 

[Ken7]

Well, FWIW, we went to the movies tonight and sitting in the theater prior to the movie starting (feeling pretty dumb), I slipped both phones out and began my speed test...hoping nobody saw this nerd. Interestingly, the Nexus gave me the highest speed yet, 38 down & 11 up. The Razr showed 22 down & 12 up.

What's interesting is that it seems the Nexus is now showing higher download speeds pretty consistently, but upload speeds are generally a bit lower than the Razr, even when it's beating the Razr significantly on downloads. Weird.

In my house it's still been pretty much a toss up. Neither phone has shown much time with a total loss of signal, but the Nexus has shown a bit more. Both phones seem to lose the 4G at different times, but they both have it the majority of time.

So I'm still surprised at how well the Nexus is holding up to the Razr's radio.

What's interesting about the display of the Razr is that the blacks are a bit blacker than the Nexus, giving it a bit of a punchier look. I've seen some people say they've slightly preferred the Razr's screen despite the lower rez, and I'd bet it's those blacks that make them feel that way.

I've played high def clips on both, but I prefer the bigger & sharper screen on the Nexus. The slightly better blacks of the Razr work against it with movies, crushing shadow detail a bit.

I'm really glad I did this so I'm able to compare these reception issues myself. My feeling is still that the Rezound's radio is the King of the current crop of LTE phones.

 

[milan03]

I'm not sure why are you "surprised" how Nexus is "holding up" to the Razr's radio??! Since when is Razr the reference point with it's previous generation category 2 capabilities?!

 

[CarryMe]

Since when is Razr the reference point with it's previous generation category 2 capabilities?!

Milan, you may not agree, but if you read these forums much then you would know that the Motorola devices are praised almost ubiquitously here for the quality of their radios. Again, you may not agree, but that is what the overwhelming majority of posters here say. Perhaps they are all wrong.

 

[milan03]

Milan, you may not agree, but if you read these forums much then you would know that the Motorola devices are praised almost ubiquitously here for the quality of their radios. Again, you may not agree, but that is what the overwhelming majority of posters here say. Perhaps they are all wrong.

I've had Bionic and Razr and tested them both. Motorola seems to be holding to the signal longer until it drops it to the legacy network, but the signal-to-bars display is completely deceiving on Moto phones. I do love the audio quality on Bionic and Razr, but when it comes to sheer LTE data performance, there is nothing like MDM9600 or CMC221.

 

[Ken7]

Milan, you may not agree, but if you read these forums much then you would know that the Motorola devices are praised almost ubiquitously here for the quality of their radios. Again, you may not agree, but that is what the overwhelming majority of posters here say. Perhaps they are all wrong.

That is correct. The overwhelming consensus, no matter what forum you go to, is that the Motorola radios are the 'benchmark'. There must be an element of truth to that and probably on average there is.

But with that said, in day 2 of my testing, I'm finding the performance of the Nexus radio to be, on average, a bit better than the Razr. It does seem to hold on to 4G a bit better in my area and the overall download speeds are also a bit better on Speed Test (for whatever relevance that has). Both phones have very limited 'no data' times, almost negligible, but the Motorola probably has just a bit less. They're both so close here, it's probably a non-issue.

As for bars & signal #s, who cares, I don't ever look at them. I'm only interested in the performance. Do I say connected to 4G, are the speeds good and do I stay away from the dreaded 'no connectivity' bug.

 

[Droid800]

The placement of the antennas is problematic. It is impossible NOT to block all of them, just by holding it In a natural position. Coupled with weak radios, that could explain why the nexus is slower. (I've noticed speed tests are significantly faster when the device is not being held)


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