Galaxy S7 Signal / Reception Strength

[ucpa111]

Hi folks. I upgraded from an S4 to an S7. My S4 had decent signal strength in my home and good in my area (NW PA). The first S7 I had ZERO signal in my house. I sent the phone back and got another one. The second one has signal strength that matches my S4. I ordered another S7 for my wife. It too had poor signal strength in comparison with he S4 and the first S7. I sent it back. I received another one, and it's having the same issues. The funny thing is when I originally initialized the phone it had great signal quality for about 5 minutes (I knew I had this issue so it was the first thing I tested in several known locations for comparison with my other S7).

I am a little irritated by this and not sure why I'm seeing the issues with the S7's. I have owned 4 S4's and they were all the same in signal quality. These S7's are a different story.

Anyone have any ideas for me? I hate to switch to iPhone. My son wanted one and we got him an iPhone 6 and it's head and shoulders above the S7 in signal strength.

I did a db study in several areas around my home (inside and out) and the latest S7 purchase I made is consistently 10-20 db different.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Which carrier are you on, and did you get these phones directly from the carrier? Or are they unlocked? What's the exact model number of the phones? The reason this is important is that of the many variants of the S7, you might have one that doesn't fully support your carrier's main bands.

 

[ucpa111]

Welcome to Android Central! Which carrier are you on, and did you get these phones directly from the carrier? Or are they unlocked? What's the exact model number of the phones? The reason this is important is that of the many variants of the S7, you might have one that doesn't fully support your carrier's main bands.

Thank you for the reply. It is a phone I purchased from EBAY - reputable seller (1000's of phones). New in box. Verizon is my service. Unlocked for Verizon.

 

[ucpa111]

It's a G930V

 

[methodman89]

Those have been sitting for years, in hot warehouses and shipped around. Good phone when I got it in 2016.
Are you noticing battery issues and are you using any power save modes? Have you manually updated the firmware? Afterwards, did you clear the cache partition and reboot?
I would try the above. Good luck

 

[ucpa111]

Those have been sitting for years, in hot warehouses and shipped around. Good phone when I got it in 2016.
Are you noticing battery issues and are you using any power save modes? Have you manually updated the firmware? Afterwards, did you clear the cache partition and reboot?
I would try the above. Good luck

Thanks for replying. I did clear the cache. The phone went through updates when I initialized it. Is there a different method for firmware updates?

Again...thanks for the assistance.

 

[methodman89]

Thanks for replying. I did clear the cache. The phone went through updates when I initialized it. Is there a different method for firmware updates?

Again...thanks for the assistance.

Did you restart your phone to the screen to clear the cache partition? Did you go to the Settings and manually check for updates?

 

[ucpa111]

Did you restart your phone to the screen to clear the cache partition? Did you go to the Settings and manually check for updates?

I checked and the phone says software is up to date.
I have done reboots and restarts.

Was there a known issue with signal strength on some of these phones?

 

[methodman89]

I didn't hear of any. Are you sure your phones compatible with the provider you have in regards to its bandwidth? As @BDIddy posted, you need to confirm that.

 

[B. Diddy]

This is unlikely, but just in case -- are you using the same case on these S7 phones? If so, test it without the case. Certain cheapo case makers might include metal (e.g., bling) on the case in the wrong areas, which can block signal.