At&t Note 5 Reception issues

[OTACORB]

I returned a Note 5 for poor reception and AT&T was not very cooperative in trying to help me solve it. So, I solved it myself, but getting a refund and pushed the point so hard that the store manager waved the restock fee. I believe that the battery life is greatly impacted by the poor reception as well. It's a beautiful phone and I really liked many things about it. However, I am back to my trusty iPhone 6s Plus. Think I'll stay there for awhile now. I had done Note 3 and then Note 4 and never had the reception issues of the Note 5.

 

[no more samsung]

I have had my Samsung Note 5 since it came out. I've experienced the same exact issues described in "rgriffin25" thread. I've had AT&T troubleshoot the phone, they replaced the sim card, factory reset the device, all to no avail.

After few phone calls to the tech-support at AT&T, I was transferred to their warranty division and they in turn replaced the device. However, the same exact issues remain unresolved, except that now I'm even more frustrated.

I don't know what is the flaw in the Note 5, but there is certainly a problem that remains unresolved with this particular device. and by the way, when we upgraded, we upgraded two devices and the same issues have been experienced with both devices. So, therefore as of today, I will be ditching the Samsung Note 5 device for an iPhone... never did I have an iPhone before... this will be my first iPhone device... so for me to switch to an iPhone is a testament to the level of my frustration. Note 5 is not a Smart Phone, on the contrary, it is a very, very Stupid Phone. A Note to Self: No More Samsung.

 

[sibi333]

We are in the same boat now. I have a new note 5 which is just good for gaming purpose now. Unfortunately i purchased this from a foreign country hence no warranty. They are asking almost 50% of the cost of the phone to get this repaired now. Less than 3 months old phone..

 

[mush10]

I just saw this thread and am experiencing an awful reception experience from my Note 5. I am posting this and using my iPhone with no problems while everything just seems to hang on my Note. I am on a train but the Note just doesn't seem to hold up.

I have noticed the same issues at my office. Hopefully the S7's improve this.

 

[txgmom505]

Omg! That's all my problems exact to the point. I have a N5 which I bought nov15 2015 and Dec 1 out everything you said it happen to I called Samsung they were so ruid to me they said I had to send them the phone and they couldn't promise how long it would take to fix it , so I said so what I'm I going to do without a phone she said buy your self a gophone I said WHAT! I told I don't think so and she hung the phone .
I called At&t they said they were sorry but all they could do was to send a replacement which they did wow another N5 same problem could not send pic and dropping calls.
So don't know what to do wanted to go with a I phone 6 plus see what happens

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[sibi333]

my note 5 now

 

[Steelerfantgc]

Very similar issues with a note 5. Signal has always been 4 or 5 bars in my house. Galaxy S4 was fine; iPhone 4S was fine. The note 5 started dropping signal down to one bar as if connecting to a faraway tower that it wouldn't release from. If I blocked the signal long enough if it would latch onto a seemingly closer tower and all would be well for days at a time. Recently I can only get one bar 99% of time. WHEN I PLACE A CALL, THE SIGNAL JUMPS TO 4 OR 5 BARS then after the call ends, it drops back to one bar within a minute. My daughter's phone (iPhone 4s) right next to mine has 5 bars while I have one bar. Advanced technical support has spent hours upon hours with me over the last few months. We have replaced the sim card, we have replaced the phone. With tried turning LTE on and off -- nothing has worked. If anything, it actually is worse. I'm missing calls and I'm missing texts. My friend came in to my office today (within a block from my house) and recently got a S6 and he was complaining that recently here he only gets one bar on his new phone. I'm very close to the jumping ship from AT&T although I've been with them over 10 years.

One screen shot before placing a call, one immediately after placing a call, before the signal drops again.

 

[anon(19981)]

I could be wrong but I believe that your signal prior to making your phone call is LTE but once your call is placed it jumps down to HSPA+. It will still show LTE but you are on a slower albeit better signal HSPA+.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[andytroyer]

Just curious if you are still good with your Note 5? The reason I ask is I've been having the same issue. Even got to a point where they did an exchange and ended up getting a brand new Note 5. It was working fine but now it is back to the way the first one acted. Even swapped the SIM putting it in my old Nexus 6 getting a week of flawless calls. But when I use the Note I get dropped calls (4 just today within a 1 hour period) as well as times when the other part can't hear me anymore after talking with them for about an 30 minutes. This has happened multiple times and the signal had 4 bars. I am on TMobile which doesn't have super good coverage but I'm dropping even with 4 bars. At this point my option might be to swap my Note 5 for another phone (which I hate to do). They recommended that maybe I try another phone with the 14 day grace period to see if I have any issues. If I don't then I might just have to change phones. Heard that some of the newer phones sometime get less signal than older phones. Not sure if its all the gadgetry they cram in or what. Before I go down the "Note 5 isnt a phone I can use now" route I'll completely reset the phone and try it for a week to see if I get issues. If not I'll slowly add apps back on it to see if something is causing the issue I'm installing on the device. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[rgriffin25]

Just curious if you are still good with your Note 5? The reason I ask is I've been having the same issue. Even got to a point where they did an exchange and ended up getting a brand new Note 5. It was working fine but now it is back to the way the first one acted. Even swapped the SIM putting it in my old Nexus 6 getting a week of flawless calls. But when I use the Note I get dropped calls (4 just today within a 1 hour period) as well as times when the other part can't hear me anymore after talking with them for about an 30 minutes. This has happened multiple times and the signal had 4 bars. I am on TMobile which doesn't have super good coverage but I'm dropping even with 4 bars. At this point my option might be to swap my Note 5 for another phone (which I hate to do). They recommended that maybe I try another phone with the 14 day grace period to see if I have any issues. If I don't then I might just have to change phones. Heard that some of the newer phones sometime get less signal than older phones. Not sure if its all the gadgetry they cram in or what. Before I go down the "Note 5 isnt a phone I can use now" route I'll completely reset the phone and try it for a week to see if I get issues. If not I'll slowly add apps back on it to see if something is causing the issue I'm installing on the device. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

My 2nd Note 5 has been rock solid. No issues whatsoever. I've had several Samsung phones and this was the only one I've had reception issues with. It stinks so many people have had problems.

 

[dmullins235]

Yes I have experienced the exact issues with my Note 5's only inside our house, my wife and I purchased ours the same day right after they come out hers white 32gig and mine a black 16gig. Due to bad reception in my area for ever "because AT&T want fix a tower that went down years ago". I purchased a AT&T microcell which worked great for every phone before the note 5's. but we would experience the drop calls like crazy. We work from home and our cell phones are our primary business phones. We have lost business because of the dropped calls. We call AT&T many times and they finally sent use on separate occasions 2 new Microcell's which still had the same issue. they even sent both me and my wife replacement phones still the same issue we turned off HD voice still drops calls.
Finally they tell me they are aware of the problem and its an issue between the CISCO Microcell and the phones and they are working with Cisco to resolve the issue. (It sounds like a lot of BS to me just to blow us off). I even went and purchased the New S7 and tested it and it has the same issue so I took it back the next day. I'm ready to can AT&T and see if another provider can do better.

 

[Trav4202000]

I bought my N5 on release day from corporate store and all was well for about the first week. After about a week I started dropping a lot of calls. So I went by a Corp. store and they reset the radios and asked me to see if that helps. I gave it a few days and unfortunately things did not improve. So I called the tech assist line and they "re-provisioned" my sim card and said if this doesn't help to stop by a store and get a new sim card. Well, as I expected the "re-provision" did not resolve the issue. So I stopped by the store again and had them replace the Sim card. At that time I was reminded of the outage we had here in the midwest earlier that day. I explained how this problem has been going on for a while and after looking at the notes on my account and replaced the card. When I left he asked me to give it a few days to make sure their network problems have been resolved.
So last night after a day of multiple dropped calls and no data errors I went back in the store and they said they couldn't help me and that I would have to call a 1-800 number since it was outside of the 14 day return period. As you could imagine I was infuriated with the unwillingness to help. I asked the manager if she was in my shoes how would she feel if this solution was given to her. Finally at this point she started to show that she cared about my problem. I also commented on how my problem was conveniently pushed out of the in-store exchange period. So they called tech support and helped me escalate the issue. So now I am waiting 5 business days for their engineers to determine where the problem is.
I've factory reset the phone to be sure it wasn't a software bug, but at this point I don't know what to do.
So, I've checked the forums here and have yet to find anyone else complaining of reception issues. I have 3 other lines that have had no problems, and I use my phone for work so it isn't a particular area.
Anyone else?

 

[Andrew Mitchell3]

So just wanted to add to the list. My whole team was all forced to change to note5's by our job. In the Denver metro area we get ok service but in any of the suburbs we all get horrible service. If you go to the small towns around our area we get no service at all. The phone reception is the worst ever. I hope the come up with a fix I can not even make calls from my house because I live in the country.

 

[Hamsterstyle1]

Its funny, its been almost a year since I first read this post, and I just got off the phone trying to figure out my connection problems with the 5th Note 5 warranty replacement Ive had with AT&T. I just don't think Samsung and AT&T work well together. Definitely not buying a Samsung device as long as AT&T is my carrier.

 

[Vonicia]

I've had my Note 5 since Feb and I've been getting the dropped calls since day 1. Either the call completely drops OR the caller on the other line can't hear me at all even though i can hear them completely...I have no idea what to do!

 

[FreeisBetter]

I've had it. Just took my Note 5 back to the store yesterday and got a free basic Samsung smartphone, Core Prime. I need to use my phone for business, and the dropped calls were ridiculous. I live in Denver, a major metropolitan area, and have Verizon, so the problem is not the carrier from what I can see. I am not paying that much money for a phone I can't use as a phone. I can use my tablet for everything else the Note can do, so I'm back to the free phones.

 

[wdfrancis58]

I don't think it's just AT&T phones. I'm on Sprint. I'm on my 4th phone and about to take this one back. All 4 phones had connection issues. My husband, who has a note 5 also, on Sprint, doesn't have these issues. He gets all of his text messages and his calls while I don't get all of them.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[IndianapolisIN]

I have an AT&T Galaxy Note 5, I loved all my Samsung phones. Always great phones. I have been having huge problems with this phone note5, after a few months. The rest of my family uses Iphone, they have no issues with service, always have 3,4+ bars for service. I can barely get 1 bar most of the time there are no bars.

I get dropped phone calls and horrible data service now. Even when I was on the phone with ATT they had to call me back beciase my phone dropped, I could hear them but they said I was gargled or couldn't hear me. This is happening more and more and as much as I had to pay for this phone, I want it resolved ASAP.
I went into the store yesterday and spent over an hour with a technician, working on my phone. He switched out my SIM card, nothing changed, it still stinks.
ATT is sending me to a ATT device support store to see if they can fix it.

I really hope this works, we pay too much for phones and service to get this kind of run around from ATT.

 

[wdfrancis58]

I took my phone into sprint. The tech there said they had a lot of people bringing their phones into the store complaining about lousy reception when it had been really good before. Said sprint is aware of it.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Soylent_Green]

I took my phone into sprint. The tech there said they had a lot of people bringing their phones into the store complaining about lousy reception when it had been really good before. Said sprint us aware of it.

Posted via the Android Central App

I was talking to the CEO line people, they said they're unaware of any issues with the Note 5. But after two weeks I got them or replace my phone which I will have tomorrow and I'll be able to see if it is a hardware problem or not.