Cell connection weak on Note... Again

[spasell]

Like my Note 5, my cell connection is very weak. 1 bar max at my home.

What's frustrating is that my iPhone 6+ I had 3 or 4 bars all the time.

Anyway this worries me because I think cell standby is what drained my battery so much last time. It was always high.

With wifi calling now working I don't worry about calls.

However I'm attaching screen shot of this option to only have wifi on when charging (when phone sleeps) Would this then hurt battery because it's searching for network which is weak?

Remembered this was frustration part of my experience last time when I was at home.

 

[team420]

Hmm... mine actually seems a lot better than on my note 4...

That being said I dont know what carrier u have, but cell signal is **** poor at my house (all carriers) and I just put my phone into airplane mode, do the WiFi calling for calls, and I use vzmessaging for my text which also goes over WiFi. Battery lasts a lot longer when it's not constantly searching for signal.

 

[spasell]

Hmm... mine actually seems a lot better than on my note 4...

That being said I dont know what carrier u have, but cell signal is **** poor at my house (all carriers) and I just put my phone into airplane mode, do the WiFi calling for calls, and I use vzmessaging for my text which also goes over WiFi. Battery lasts a lot longer when it's not constantly searching for signal.

I'm hoping that I don't have to do so many workarounds.

My iPhone had zero issues with signal.

I'm on Verizon.

 

[stackberry369]

Hmm... mine actually seems a lot better than on my note 4...

That being said I dont know what carrier u have, but cell signal is **** poor at my house (all carriers) and I just put my phone into airplane mode, do the WiFi calling for calls, and I use vzmessaging for my text which also goes over WiFi. Battery lasts a lot longer when it's not constantly searching for signal.

Doesn't the Note 7 have 4 antennas?

 

[erasat]

Like my Note 5, my cell connection is very weak. 1 bar max at my home.

What's frustrating is that my iPhone 6+ I had 3 or 4 bars all the time.

Anyway this worries me because I think cell standby is what drained my battery so much last time. It was always high.

With wifi calling now working I don't worry about calls.

However I'm attaching screen shot of this option to only have wifi on when charging (when phone sleeps) Would this then hurt battery because it's searching for network which is weak?

Remembered this was frustration part of my experience last time when I was at home.

View attachment 236118

Forget about bars and just look for the signal strength in dBm on Settings-About phone-status, then compares it with the iPhone. Manufacturers and even Carriers measure signal strength different and it's well known that some manipulates the bars to appear a higher signal strength than their real ones.

The only true measure of Signal strength is by the numbers, if you see a similar huge difference in numbers also, then you may have a real issue with it.

 

[vientiane]

True as erasat mentions,

 

[team420]

Doesn't the Note 7 have 4 antennas?

I know i read somewhere that it does, but have not been able to verify...

Either way... my point is that I do get better signal with my 7, than I did with my 4... even still, I live in a cellular black hole in the middle of nowhere. I'm lucky when I can get 2 bars of 1x, so I just do the WiFi thing.

 

[EnemiesInTheEnd]

My Note 5 gets a signal at -112 dBm and I don't think the LG G2 I had prior to this was much better. Oddly, my mother that has a Galaxy S5 with US Cellular gets a far better signal, which is strange because my understanding is that US Cellular uses Verizon's cell towers around here. Maybe this is why my battery drains so much and my cell standby can be around 45% of my battery usage in the morning.

 

[sangs]

I'm hoping that I don't have to do so many workarounds.

My iPhone had zero issues with signal.

I'm on Verizon.

Call, nicely, and tell them you'd like one of the new LTE Network Extenders. (The new one, not the old 3G one.) We had one bar and about -110 to -116 consistently in our house. With the LTE Extender, it's always full bars and between -65 and -75. You ask, they say it costs $249. You say can I get a discount on that? Hopefully they say yes. If not, you say well I need to look at AT&T or T-Mobile, since they also have such devices, and then watch as they give you a significant discount. I speak from experience.

 

[anon(607340)]

Reception is excellent on mine

 

[team420]

My Note 5 gets a signal at -112 dBm and I don't think the LG G2 I had prior to this was much better. Oddly, my mother that has a Galaxy S5 with US Cellular gets a far better signal, which is strange because my understanding is that US Cellular uses Verizon's cell towers around here. Maybe this is why my battery drains so much and my cell standby can be around 45% of my battery usage in the morning.

USC may use (rent space) on the same towers as vzw, but it's a different signal/band. Different bands do different things... some bands are better at covering a larger area, where others are better for speed...

 

[BearlyFloats]

Forget about bars and just look for the signal strength in dBm on Settings-About phone-status, then compares it with the iPhone. Manufacturers and even Carriers measure signal strength different and it's well known that some manipulates the bars to appear a higher signal strength than their real ones.

The only true measure of Signal strength is by the numbers, if you see a similar huge difference in numbers also, then you may have a real issue with it.

Thank you a million times. I didn't want to have to say it. The bars are pretty, thats pretty much it.

 

[Almeuit]

Don't go by bars. They are the worst for judging cell signal. Check the actual -dBm signal. That will tell you your actual strength.

 

[giper54]

My Note 7 dBm reading is 4-5 dBm worse than my Nexus 6p on AT&T. (Nexus 6P 111-114 dBm Note 7 115-119 dBm). Both used band 17 where and when I tested the signal strength.

 

[1812dave]

I hope everyone reading this thread knows that lower is BETTER signal strength.

 

[spasell]

I hope everyone reading this thread knows that lower is BETTER signal strength.

My signal strength is attached. Been that way on my Note 5 and now Note 7.

My iPhone was better.

I don't get it.

 

[eyecon82]

Mine seems better than my MXPE thus far

 

[archer75]

My iphone pulled in signal, wifi and cell, where no other phone could. Comparing to an S6, note 4 and 5. No service on them whatsoever while my iphone had a solid signal. I'm hoping the note 7 is at least as good.

 

[1812dave]

My signal strength is attached. Been that way on my Note 5 and now Note 7.

My iPhone was better.

I don't get it.

OK... so 116 dBm on one of your phones. which one? what is the signal strength on your new Note and what is it on your other phones? As others mentioned, ignore bars.