Atrix poor signal not just AT&T?

[elcheapodeluxe]

I was so frustrated at the data connection problems I was having, I paid the early termination fee to flee AT&T. I picked up a Blackberry 9930 on Verizon, but had a couple of trade shows coming up so left the Atrix activated so I could use the hot spot feature while I was sitting around the booth.

While in the booth, my old Blackberry 9000, now used by a coworker and also on AT&T, worked flawlessly with signal strength at or near full bars for the entire show. He was able to receive emails and use Tether to connect his laptop. My Atrix would not get a data connection for the entire show. No email - nothing. Most of the time it would come up with red no service circle and line across the signal strength meter. Other times it would come up and show edge or h+ with four bars, but would never change color to teal to indicate the connection was active. Web browsing never worked. Mobile hotspot never worked. Then a few minutes it would go back to "no signal" where it might sit for the next four or five hours. Every day when I went home I could again make phone calls and access the data & hotspot normally. Completely maddening. I eventually tethered my new Verizon BB9930 to my laptop via USB cable.

This was not a heavily attended show. It was sparse and boring, and the convention center was only half full at best. My recent trips to Franklin, PA, and Hampton, IA were maddening. Franklin would give me full bars, but sub-56k modem data speeds when it even worked. Hampton was a roaming service area - so I'll not hang on it too long but it wasn't working much either. Then I took a trip to Las Vegas and sometimes - even outside on the strip where there should be good coverage - I would get emails two or three hours delayed with full bars.

I can not fathom why my Atrix was having such a hard time connecting - and I have to speculate that whatever chipset Motorola is using has a hard time getting a lock on signals - maybe exacerbated by any kind of congestion as well. Has this been a common theme for Atrix users? Is there a willingness to think, as I did, that the AT&T network must be to blame when in fact our phones are inferior. If it is any consolation, another coworker's iPhone 3gs was having just as difficult a time as my Atrix.

 

[njlx016]

RIM works really really really hard to ensure their phones have the ability to hold on to a signal. They work so hard that all the bells and whistles and cutting edge features take a back seat.

Other phone manufacturers aren't as obsessed with signal strength or battery life the way RIM is.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

 

[jeffkoe]

Atrix holds on to a weak signal better than: an iPhone 3gs, an HTC Inspire. The iPhone 4 I had seems equally good at holding a weak signal as my Atrix. That us my experience.

 

[ozziedog]

I've used the Blackberry Bold 9000 and iPhone 4 and they both maintained the voice and data signal better than the ATRIX. I went to the ATRIX because I wanted to try something different, this thing drops signal just sitting on the table. I can stand outside hold it in hand and watch as signal drops in and out. Just my two cents.

 

[Jonneh]

When I moved from my BB Bold 9000 to the Atrix (both on AT&T) I saw an IMMEDIATE difference within the very first day. I live in a great area for AT&T signal, by the way, in Georgia a little bit out from Atlanta. Particularly inside buildings, my Atrix simply cannot hold onto a signal worth a **** compared to my Bold 9000, in the same exact spots at the same times. Not only is my Atrix bad at holding onto mobile signal, but its wifi is pretty terrible as well. It's great when it's working properly. Wifi signal dropping all the time or just plain not working was one of the biggest complaints about this phone back at the end of Feb when it came out, right up there next to the "Muffled voice" phone call issue that was widely reported to Motorola.

I had hoped with the release of Gingerbread, my mobile signal issue would be fixed, though I didn't get my hopes up, because I knew it could be internal/hardware. Oh, and dropped calls? HAPPEN ALL THE TIME. No, it's not AT&T, don't even try it guys. I've had AT&T for 11 years and never had dropped calls on any Blackberry (or old featurephone from Samsung) I ever had - ever. Living in this same area, in this same house.

I'm sorry to all Motorola fans, perhaps they make other great products (though my brother's Xoom had tons of issues too..), but they messed up the Atrix's hardware somewhere along the line - badly. I still enjoy the phone, but I think I'm mostly just enjoying the Android OS in general, not the phone...

edit: And what sucks is I can't upgrade to the AT&T Galaxy S II because I can't afford to buy it outright at $500...I extended my contract for the Atrix 2 years at the end of Feb this year.

 

[gonecks1]

I gotta say its the Atrix. Switched from a Bold 9000 and live in an area with good coverage. On the bb always had full bars and never dropped a call. With my atrix, I'm lucky if I can make the call on the first try and its not unusual to cycle from 3-4 bars to no signal even though my phone hasn't moved an inch. Got a new sim card a month ago and its made no difference.

 

[Jonneh]

I gotta say its the Atrix. Switched from a Bold 9000 and live in an area with good coverage. On the bb always had full bars and never dropped a call. With my atrix, I'm lucky if I can make the call on the first try and its not unusual to cycle from 3-4 bars to no signal even though my phone hasn't moved an inch. Got a new sim card a month ago and its made no difference.

E-X-A-C-T-L-Y same here man. I've realized nowadays when I begin a call for the first try, there's about a 50% chance of it just sitting at "Connecting" but never actually dialing through, and if you wait it cancels itself, if you hit cancel it sometimes cancels the call or just sits there and does nothing until it times out and cancels itself. It's pure joy to experience guys, come on, you gotta give it a try.
This is my first and last phone from Motorola.

 

[Krak-a-Lakn]

Anyone getting the red circle with a line through it that sits on top of the signal bars? That's what my Atrix has started doing now. I've done searches on this and I see that other users are seeing this also. But, nobody seems to have a solution.
It's really starting to bug me. I never know when the phone is jgoing to decide to disconnect itself. It has nothing to do with signal strength as it even happens when I have 5 bars. In order to recover I can put the phone in "plane mode" and then back to normal mode again and it reconnects perfectly. I think this started after the last OTA update.

 

[reelon]

Anyone getting the red circle with a line through it that sits on top of the signal bars? That's what my Atrix has started doing now. I've done searches on this and I see that other users are seeing this also. But, nobody seems to have a solution.
It's really starting to bug me. I never know when the phone is jgoing to decide to disconnect itself. It has nothing to do with signal strength as it even happens when I have 5 bars. In order to recover I can put the phone in "plane mode" and then back to normal mode again and it reconnects perfectly. I think this started after the last OTA update.

I get this all the time.....it is frustrating......never know if you will be able to finish your call or even make it.

 

[Kage_]

Anyone getting the red circle with a line through it that sits on top of the signal bars? That's what my Atrix has started doing now. I've done searches on this and I see that other users are seeing this also. But, nobody seems to have a solution.
It's really starting to bug me. I never know when the phone is jgoing to decide to disconnect itself. It has nothing to do with signal strength as it even happens when I have 5 bars. In order to recover I can put the phone in "plane mode" and then back to normal mode again and it reconnects perfectly. I think this started after the last OTA update.

I've seen mine do this. It seems to be when it's connecting/disconnecting to a WiFi network or at times when it switches from Edge to H+. It doesn't seem to affect phone calls in progress though.