Is the Nexus 5 Cell signal reception really that bad?

[brosko]

I just got a nexus 5 (16gb black). This will be my 3rd try at a smart phone over the last 2 years. I had to return the other 2 phones because of weak signal reception. (I was missing my calls, constantly dropped etc.)

After ordering the n5 I proceeded to read some of the threads in this section and notice that the n5 apparently suffers some kind of problem with weak reception/cheap cell antenna?

Can some of you who have owned this device for a while either confirm or deny this?

Is it really that bad or is this just a few unhappy people almost thousands of satisfied customers who enjoy good problem free reception on a daily basis?

I am on At&t by the way. I am just going to put my dumb phone Sim into it with no data plan and use WiFi for internet and probably just select 2g for my cell network preference. Thanks

 

[onthecouchagain]

Yes. I can tell you it is very poor and unreliable. Not only for signal strength, but for GPS strenght. I often lose GPS tracking as I'm using Google Maps/Navigation.

And I know it's not my service (Tmobile) because my previous phones, the HTC One M7 and iPhone 5, held perfectly good reception in the same areas (home, office, during my commute, etc.).

It's one of my biggest issues with my Nexus 5.

 

[brosko]

What about when switched to 2g? I have a feeling the problem is more with it looking for LTE signal.

 

[32gig]

I've had my nexus 5 since February and have had no issues. I am running stock with no rooting or whatever some people do to their phones. I think that is where a lot of the issues that some complain about, is when they root their phones or launchers and such..

Posted via Android Central App

 

[imrgoodbari]

Cell service when I got the phone was strong, but lately I don't know if it was a software change but my WiFi and Cell service is practically unusable. Yes I gave contacted At&T, Verizon and tried other devices to replicate. Its just an issues with my N5. I have a call in with Google to see if they can help me.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[macroguy07]

Have had my Nexus 5 for 10 months, no issues with my AT&T signal strength nor WiFi or GPS

 

[brosko]

Have had my Nexus 5 for 10 months, no issues with my AT&T signal strength nor WiFi or GPS

I am assuming your story is the "norm", if not this device wouldn't be so highly praised.

 

[chezm]

Here on Canada my signal is weaker than previous phones but not horrible, I get reception everywhere just 1 bar less than other devices. No problems with lte on my network, owned for almost 2 months now

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[Nigel Uno Huang]

Yep Signal Sucks, living in a condo downtown Toronto and I only get 1 bar. Its funny how it goes to 5 bars when I go outside to my balcony and when I go back in in immediately drops. No problems with GPS

 

[grover5]

Here on Canada my signal is weaker than previous phones but not horrible, I get reception everywhere just 1 bar less than other devices. No problems with lte on my network, owned for almost 2 months now

Posted via the Android Central App

In the US on T-Mobile my experience is similar. I get a bar or two less than I did on my BB Z10 but I don't notice any performance issue. It does great with WiFi and I use the GPS a lot and have no issues there.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[anon(5600632)]

Southern California - ATT - excellent in every way. Better voice quality than my last two Samsungs.

 

[mrsmumbles]

My n5 always shows very few bars but signal is excellent on the New Cricket. (On AT&T towers).

 

[anon(5600632)]

Judging from the good quality of my voice and data connection, I suspect the problem is in the bar counting display, not the antennae.

 

[patruns]

I have had my Nexus 5 since they first came out. No signal issues at all on T-Mobile.

 

[pontiac005]

No signal issues with T-Mobile. Super fast LTE connections. As others have stated, only a few bars but strong connection.

 

[Nophix]

It's fine in a strong area. But, when you're in fringe areas and bouncing in and out of weak signal, it has a hard time recovering. That's what led me to dump it to my kid.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[onthecouchagain]

It's fine in a strong area. But, when you're in fringe areas and bouncing in and out of weak signal, it has a hard time recovering. That's what led me to dump it to my kid.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've found this to be true, too. It has a hard time reacquiring signal and data, especially LTE. It'll constantly get stuck in HSPA when I know I'm in an area with LTE.

Also, for those saying it's an issue with the bar reading, perhaps that's true. However, I am judging my Nexus 5's poor reception and GPS issues from usage (or lack thereof). When pages and Flipboard don't load properly, or when I the phone suddenly loses my location when I'm using Navigation, that's when I recognize the issue. What's worse is that when this happens, it'll show full bars.

 

[Soylent_Green]

Not an issue here, n5 on Sprint.

Sent from my Nexus 5

 

[chezm]

It's fine in a strong area. But, when you're in fringe areas and bouncing in and out of weak signal, it has a hard time recovering. That's what led me to dump it to my kid.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I may have experienced this too, while using Songza and going in/out of weak signal areas and restoring the connection for streaming is more a challenge compared to my previous L1020.

 

[slave]

2 N5's in my house, down to 1, soon down to none. The signal is subpar. Wife still has her N5, I dropped mine a long time ago (good riddance), side by side, I get a signal in many more places than her. Her texts take hours to send at times, mine take seconds. My N5 was the exact same.

LG made this Nexus, so not only am I dissatisfied with the N5, but I am swearing off LG phones completely.

My Moto X has a great signal, just has crap battery at work. My Moto X has a better battery than my N5 though.

All in all, Vanilla Android is Awesome, Nexus 5 is horrible.