People receiving your phone--how is the signal strength?

[rushmore]

If comparing GB to ICS, the GB device will have a better 4g number. Noticed this on the Razr. Test in fringe areas to get the real deal. Word.

 

[haevolution]

Just did a back to back comparison of SGS3 to GNex in the exact same spot:

SGS3 -87dbm
GNex -93dbm

Can't test LTE as we don't have it yet.

 

[ZacHolley]

Have not left my house yet but in my office i checked both razr max and the s3 I got today...

in my garage razr - 85-98 s3 - pretty stable -86-90
in my office razr -102 s3 -104

however I never got over 5-8 megs on the razr on speedtest now the s3 gets 11.8down and 16.95 on the next so I would have to say I am more than impressed so far I will report back once I drive to some fringe areas in the coming weeks

 

[jroc]

Jroc, having had the Razr, Rezound and GNex, I still found the Rezound to be the reception king. As good as the Razr Max was, I think the Rezound still had an edge. Are you finding that?

For me...it was the RAZR. My 2 Rezounds... got stuck in 1x too much in weaker areas. When it wasnt stuck in 1x...it had great 4G. Like a previous post mentioned....my RAZR had the more reliable data connection. My Rezound had the fastest in better reception areas tho.

FWIW...my G Nex never got stuck in 1x....it just couldn't see 4G in some places my Rezound and RAZR did.

The RAZR and Bionic should always post slower speeds in better reception areas....their speed cap is lower than the Rezound, G Nex, GS3. Probably lower than the T Bolt and other LTE phones too. All things being equal...

This is why real world use is gonna be a better indicator than bars and decibels. Look at the post above mine for another good example.

 

[thatfeel]

I can't get 4G LTE. It's in my area and I supposedly have good coverage but unless I'm inside the verizon store (across the street from me) then I get zero coverage.

 

[jroc]

Another reason why its good to test in fringe areas.... all phones across the street from a tower are gonna be fine...or should be all things being equal.

Its in the weaker areas when you never know when you need a decent phone. Folks who spend most of their time in good, great reception areas....my never have reception problems. And thats fine.

Wish I didnt live n work in a weak reception area...lol. So far, checking at different sites...it looks like it isnt as bad as the G Nex. So thats good.

 

[mikesmith]

I get constant 4G dropped connection at work where I get 5 bars and great 3G reception. I checked VZ's 4G map and it had dark red 4G coverage all over where I work. The phone will work on 4G one second then drop the connection switch to 3G then switch back to 4G. It sucks. I wish I could turn 4G off. It's a trying to use the AC forum app or tweeter or surfing the net. I have to wait forever for it to give up the 4G connection and switch to 3G where it will finally work.

It's getting really annoying and frustrating. It almost makes me regret getting it.

 

[Jdroids]

Though we are still seeing somewhat mixed reports on GS3, I'm surprised at some results edging out Razr on dbm or data speed. As far as I saw, Gnex never got close to Razr on signal reception, even the most lucky ones in good areas.

So this is good sign. It seems samsung got GS3 antenna right this time as GSM variants are doing well too.

 

[ZacHolley]

OH I just posted my results from my razr and gs3,, before the razr I had the nexus and loved the phone but the radio sucked... this is BY FAR better already than the nexus the radio was not even comparable IMHO

 

[Premium1]

Though we are still seeing somewhat mixed reports on GS3, I'm surprised at some results edging out Razr on dbm or data speed. As far as I saw, Gnex never got close to Razr on signal reception, even the most lucky ones in good areas.

So this is good sign. It seems samsung got GS3 antenna right this time as GSM variants are doing well too.

Agree the nexus was never even close to the razr or even rezound for that matter.

 

[Premium1]

I will be anxious to see how future updates do if they improve the radios. I know with previous devices that used qualcomm radios( thunderbolt, rezound) at first they weren't that good out of the box but after a few updates the radios seemed to perform tremendously better. Not saying this will help those having issues but out of the box my sgs3 is already much better than my thunderbolt was in the reception department( especially before all the radio updates for the tb)

 

[richardyarrell]

My Dbm on my Tmobile Galaxy S3 is -77 right now. This is the exact reason why I kicked Verizon to the curb for Tmobile. I new buying this Galaxy S3 and switching carriers would be the best thing. My Galaxy S3 works in places my Galaxy Nexus on Verizon never did.

 

[Ken7]

For me...it was the RAZR. My 2 Rezounds... got stuck in 1x too much in weaker areas. When it wasnt stuck in 1x...it had great 4G. Like a previous post mentioned....my RAZR had the more reliable data connection. My Rezound had the fastest in better reception areas tho.

FWIW...my G Nex never got stuck in 1x....it just couldn't see 4G in some places my Rezound and RAZR did.

The RAZR and Bionic should always post slower speeds in better reception areas....their speed cap is lower than the Rezound, G Nex, GS3. Probably lower than the T Bolt and other LTE phones too. All things being equal...

This is why real world use is gonna be a better indicator than bars and decibels. Look at the post above mine for another good example.

I haven't seen this discussed much, but I've noticed there isn't always a correlation between speed tests and how typical web pages load. Sometimes it would seen (based on speed tests) that phone A should load far quicker than phone B, but in real world page loading, it's often not the case.

I have no idea why that should be, but it's something I've noticed. Your Razr/Rezound results are interesting and a bit different than mine. Granted my results were usually very very close, but there were times the Rezound just seemed to edge out the Razr in really marginal areas. But either one blew away any Sammy I ever had (Charge or GNex).

As you say, the real-world tests are where it counts. I'm still seeing results all over the place from the more reliable posts I'm seeing on different sites.

If it appears the S3 is worth trying, I don't know if I should wait for the Razr HD release before jumping in. I'm afraid I might regret it if the Razr HD turns out to be the better bet. I just wish we had a firmer date on its release.

 

[Premium1]

My Dbm on my Tmobile Galaxy S3 is -77 right now. This is the exact reason why I kicked Verizon to the curb for Tmobile. I new buying this Galaxy S3 and switching carriers would be the best thing. My Galaxy S3 works in places my Galaxy Nexus on Verizon never did.

well my verizon sgs3 gets better signal in areas that my maxx struggled so what now? You cry every other month first on sprint how verizon sucked then you switched to verizon and cried some more saying tmo sucked then switched to tmo. Nobody cares that a tmo gets in your area a certain signal. Last I checked tmo is gsm verizon is cdma so what you get means nothing. Not to mention any device other than the nexus will get close to similar signal where you are. Plus LTE>> hspa+

 

[Ken7]

I get constant 4G dropped connection at work where I get 5 bars and great 3G reception. I checked VZ's 4G map and it had dark red 4G coverage all over where I work. The phone will work on 4G one second then drop the connection switch to 3G then switch back to 4G. It sucks. I wish I could turn 4G off. It's a trying to use the AC forum app or tweeter or surfing the net. I have to wait forever for it to give up the 4G connection and switch to 3G where it will finally work.

It's getting really annoying and frustrating. It almost makes me regret getting it.

Sounds like what happens to me more than occasionally with my GNex.

 

[Ken7]

well my verizon sgs3 gets better signal in areas that my maxx struggled so what now?

I put your results in the 'encouraging' column!

 

[richardyarrell]

Glad you know my history buddy it goes way back and I get what I want when I want it. Yes Evo 4g, Evo 3d, Galaxy S2 skyrocket, Lg Revolution, Galaxy Nexus, and now Galaxy S3 on Tmobile. Don't hate brother educate yourself is what you need to do. CDMA VERIZON devices have poor service anyway. Enjoy your poor battery draining LTE network on Verizon the overpriced and overrated network.

Sent from my Galaxy S3 on Tmobile..

 

[Premium1]

Glad you know my history buddy it goes way back and I get what I want when I want it. Yes Evo 4g, Evo 3d, Galaxy S2 skyrocket, Lg Revolution, Galaxy Nexus, and now Galaxy S3 on Tmobile. Don't hate brother educate yourself is what you need to do. CDMA VERIZON devices have poor service anyway. Enjoy your poor battery draining LTE network on Verizon the overpriced and overrated network.

Sent from my Galaxy S3 on Tmobile..

Good thing the maxx blows any phone out of the water for battery life. May want to educate yourself, just because "you can have what you want when you want it" which is about as far from the truth as possible as we anyone with a computer can find out about you , no need to try and brag about something you really cannot do. Overpriced yes, overrated? Far from it.

 

[anon(573376)]

I was always frustrated with the reception on the GNEX as I live in a house in a fringe LTE area clad in old school Aluminium siding which has been murder not only on my LTE signal but disastrous for a mere 3G signal. After 4 days of comparing the signal from both devices this is what I am seeing: (Standing in the same place in different areas of the house swapping the same SIM card between both devices running 4.0.4)

GNEX: 4G: connected 1 or 2 times with -100 to -124 (unusable download speed)
GNEX: 3G: connected most of the time with -93 to -124 (100-300 kB)

GS3: 4G: connected about 1/3 of the time with -93 to -100 (avg 1-6 MB download)
GS3: 3G: connected 2/3 of the time with -86 to -99 (300-600 kB download)

Take what you will from that. I am happier with the GS3 then I was on the GNEX radio wise. I am getting signal in places I never got before with the GNEX and while it still isn't touching my wife's fruit phone reception (3G wise) it is usable for some small things that I couldn't do before when I was without wifi.

 

[MERCDROID]

So, from what I'm seeing, Samsung has improved upon the strength of the radios. I have noticed that the dbm's are no longer as accurate a measurement of signal strength as they once were. For example, my Droid 4 says that I have -93dbm in 3g with 3 bars, and it is slower than all hell. In 4g, it says the same number, but with only 2 bars, and it still downloads music from the web faster than my wifi. Granted, I know that Gingerbread reports the numbers differently than ICS does. But, I think that with 4g becoming the new standard, the dbm's need to be adjusted to take into account the strength of 4g vs 3g. Just a thought... cant wait to buy this phone Thursday!!!