Galaxy S3 signal issue and Verizon support

[burvee]

Not always is this true as being a hardware problem. I am on phone #3 with Verizon and the dropped calls, inability to send text messages (mms only) continues to exist. VZW continues to investigate. I have no problems in other parts of town but mainly in this 5-6 square mile area. Tower related??? The sim card has also been changed. :'(

When in other areas, the S3 is a rocking phone!

 

[dfb8085]

I'm on att and the problem I have is with wifi signal sensitivity. It seems to be very weak compared to my past phone and current laptops.

 

[charlier180]

I'm thinking that 4G does not "blanket" as well as 3G. I notice that when I go outside from my house I get an additional signal bar. With 3G on my X I always had a full signal in my house. I also notice that the 4G signal drops only a few blocks from my house, then picks up again or changes to 3G. I'm starting to believe I'm in a 4G fringe area. I do not blame that on the phone. I blame that on Verizon.

I have to wonder if Moto used one algorithm when displaying the number of signal strength bars on the DX and Samsung uses a different algorithm when displaying the number of signal strength bars on the S3.

It does appear you are in a fringe area based on what you are seeing. My S3 will drop to 3G when I go inside my local Super Walmart. That store sits down in a valley and is always a challenge for any cell phone. I does appear to get faster 3G service inside the store than my DX did. One interesting thing I noticed with the S3 is that when I am in church it tends to hold onto 3G service a LOT better than my DX did. The DX would drop out of 3G service MUCH faster. In both the case of the Walmart or Church the S3 goes back to 4G service usually before I can get out of the parking lot.

 

[radar320]

It seems one of the issues the last three samsung phones on verizon have had, other than weak signal, is the hand off between 3g and 4g. My charge was especially terrible in this regard. My nexus wouldn't even go into 4g in a strong 4g area. The S3 seems to be better in this arena, but could be even better if they deal with the weak radio issue.

 

[davidlnewman]

Good luck to ya. Hope it works out, it isn;t just at our house we are dropping calls, we are dropping them everywhere. Heck, today I drove from one side of town to the other (few miles) and I didn't ever have a data signal according to my phone.

The VZW rep I had intially wanted to do a factory reset on the phone to determine if it was a software or hardware issue. When I informed him that it was not just my phone buy my wifes phone, and sitting side by side they will have different singlal strengths he still wanted to do that. However when I pressed to have the phones replaced he did say that he could place an order for us, but we could not go to the store and get them as they are not "equiped" to do that and do not have the phones there. I asked if that ment that they did not have any S3 phones there and I was told that what they would send was not the retail package phone, worries me that I will get a referb or something.

You will get a refurb! We had the same thing with my wife's S3 the day after the 14 day return period and they sent us a refurb. We called Verizon after we opened it up and found this and after a long call they grudingly finally agreed to send us a new phone as a replacement. But believe me, it took a lot of complaining.

 

[caniacbart]

Same issue here. Previously my wife and I both had the VZ Moto Razr running the Gingerbread OS. 3-4 bars almost everywhere. Once the Ice Scream Sandwich update came out, I updated both phones and immediately started having poor reception, dropped calls, data connectivity issues, and inability to send/receive text messages. I called VZ, they told me I could not revert back to the original OS and would send me out 2 phones with the Gingerbread OS instead. No more problems.

2 weeks ago, I purchased a Samsung Galaxy S3 from a friend and immediately start having the same issue again. I rooted and unlocked the phone and installed several different ROMS and radios but none solved the issue. I even got into a "dispute" with several XDA guys that "were not aware of any of the issues I was complaining about" and suggested that the phone was bad. I maintained my point that I "have" no issues until I use a phone that has ICS on it and that the problem lies within the OS, not the hardware. On another note, when I was with Sprint, I had the Samsung Epic Touch. I installed a ICS based custom ROM on it and had the same problems to. So just another bit of proof that the issue is with the OS and not the hardware.

Today, after trying all options, I will venture to the VZ store for a phone/sim. Even though I don't think this will solve the issues I'm experiencing, it will be the very "last" resort in this extremely frustrating journey.

I'll update everyone once I get back, though I'm not very hopeful.......

 

[chevyman29]

well ive had great luck with my s3 . that being said whenever i updated to ICS on my MAXX i started having all sorts of data connectivity problems and random data loss . not to mention dropped calls.

 

[sspediacci]

Currently my phone can't copy or paste without shutting down the app that I tried to copy in and it refuses to find a GPS signal, no matter how long I wait. Other than that my signal is pretty spot on and the battery is.....so so.

I still use this phone more than any other phone I've ever owned and love the design and feel of it.

It would be nice if all of this stuff worked without a hitch like the iPhone though. I mean I really shouldn't be using a phone that wasn't tested thoroughly enough to find out these basic issues

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

 

[bigpapa7272]

Ive noticed some issues with 4g to 3g handoff, sometimes for it to get to 3g it will tell me i have ablsoutle no signal then magically about 30 to 45 seconds later the signal is back and on 3g. hardware or software issue?

 

[Mungus99]

I was having similar issues. Mostly dropped calls. I wad sent a refurb by VZW in mint condition. Seems to have fixed it. So far. Baseband was the f2 now it's a g1. Could that have helped??

Sent from my SCH-I535

 

[eric3316]

Ive noticed some issues with 4g to 3g handoff, sometimes for it to get to 3g it will tell me i have ablsoutle no signal then magically about 30 to 45 seconds later the signal is back and on 3g. hardware or software issue?

As long as it is switching from 4G to 3G I wouldn't worry about it. I think it depends on the area and towers as to how fast you will see the hand off. You might even see it happen quicker 1 day then the other in the same place....

If anything it would be related to software more then hardware. Now if you signal did not come back at all and you needed to reboot the device, then I would switch out the phone for something like that.

 

[JustLeft]

I was having similar issues, which started after I dropped the phone. Replacement phone is working much better.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[heavyhitter82]

FYI... Verizon offers to discount the price of the network extender by taking $100 off the list price of $250, if you want it for free tell them to offer you the $100 discount but that you will take a refurb, the refurb is only $100 so now you got it for free. I had to ask for a supervisor to accomplish this but it was easy. I did this on 8/31/12 so good luck.

 

[rushmore]

I live in Kentucky and notice compared to the Droid 1, 2, 3, Incredible and Razr:

3g is a little weaker and the device gets hotter in weak 3g signal areas.

4g is better than Razr and runs cooler, with MUCH better battery life. This makes the 3g issues in weak signal areas all the more strange.

Call and text reception is as good as the noted devices.

 

[anon(94115)]

The first sgs3 I bought had a ton of issues with calls and 4g. Sold that one off and vzw was nice enough to replace my Rezound with another sgs3. This one has been damn near perfect. Good signal, only one help app has done a fc on me.

It has been an awesome phone.

Oh yeah, the signal in every walmart sucks. I have been in three with this guy and never got more than one x

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[JHBThree]

Haven't had any problems here. Even took an hour long phone interview without issue. (Though, I admit I was nervous about it since I don't usually make voice calls)

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[oper8or]

I too am having signal issues. My phone always defaults to a 3g signal, even when in a strong 4G signal area. I use the phone info app to force lte only and have great data speed but when I try to make a call or send a text I get a service not available message. Even if I have 3 bars or more of 4G service showing. Anyone else having this issue? I am rooted running the stock rom and don't want to contact Verizon until I flash back to stock factory, but I am having computer issues that are preventing me from doing so right now.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

 

[bcso48]

I have had no problems with 4G signal but my call quality is really terrible. I came from a droid X which had excellent call quality. I love everything else about the phone so I guess I will put up with the phone issue. I hope samsung comes up with a fix..

 

[Murphy5111]

I just came back to Verizon from Sprint after a year. Sprint's network is junk but I have noticed that Verizon's has deteriorated a bit since I left. I imagine it is from heavy traffic from adding new accounts. I hope that doesn't mean they are reaching capacity. It's still better than sprint by a long shot though.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

 

[ansextra]

I use my phone for calls all the time and it works just fine. I've never had a dropped call and the calls sound at least as good as my Vonage connection. As I've said before, my wife has the Razr and our signals are within 2db of each other. We've checked while in the house, driving and at various locations. Once in a while there's a disparity but not often.