Poor Call Quality - Is It The Phone or the Service?

[Bruce_205]

I have a G4 on Verizon. The problem I'm having is that intermittently when I talk to someone locally on a landline with my phone, MY voice will come across to them as garbled, breaking up, or weak but THEIR voice coming thru my G4 sounds fine. The problem exists whether I am talking using a bluetooth earpiece or thru the phone itself. Battery is full.

I do not know whether it is an issue with my phone or with Verizon's service. The reason I say that possibility, is that when this happens I notice my signal strength shows less than 4 bars and not 4G - either 3G or 1x. I installed a Network Signal Meter app and it shows my LTE signal in the yellow area of the meter, around -106 dBm. First off, I don't know how accurate this app is but could this be the cause? Or has anyone else had this with the G4?

 

[momo662]

I don't want to seem biased but I think it's Verizon. I am on T-Mobile and I have ZERO problems with call quality.
Actually one of the main issues I research when getting a new phone IS call quality. Seems like the focus is always about the camera, but what good is a cell phone if you can't make a decent call??

 

[Aflaaaak]

I don't want to seem biased but I think it's Verizon. I am on T-Mobile and I have ZERO problems with call quality.
Actually one of the main issues I research when getting a new phone IS call quality. Seems like the focus is always about the camera, but what good is a cell phone if you can't make a decent call??

I agree... I hated the call quality on my Samsung Convoy flip phone, and thought the G4would be much better. It Is better, but not as much as I thought. When I first got it in July, I enabled Advanced Calling to take advantage of Verizon's HD Voice. Uses the G4 network and supposed to work only with other callers with HD Voice on their phones as well, but seemed to help on Landlines as well. Now I don't notice the difference.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[momo662]

Also try this (can't hurt) : Open the Phone app, tap on the Menu button (3 small dots) displayed at the top right corner of your screen and select Call Settings. Scroll to the Outgoing Calls section and enable the following options Noise Suppression and Voice Clarity, by checking boxes.

 

[Bruce_205]

Voice Clarity is not an option on my phone, I only see Noise Suppression in that menu. Are you on Verizon? Maybe that's only for another carrier? I've had Suppression activated all along so it did not help.

Also, I tried to activate HD calling (Advanced Calling 1.0) on the phone but it says it encountered a problem ??!! I don't think that would help my situation as the person I called does not have Verizon - and it says HD calling only works between two Verizon lines.

How do you research call quality for your specific area when selecting a carrier? My area is shown as fully under Verizon's coverage area on their map but that doesn't take into account variations in signal across the entire metro area. The guys at the store probably wouldn't know if they do not live in my neighborhood.

 

[momo662]

I'm on T-Mobile.
I guess I should have clarified my research per the phone is more voice quality than actual call quality.
The coverage maps in my opinion suck. I had Verizon a while back and yes, the map showed full coverage in my area. Only problem was specific home base was basically in a valley, so my coverage improved once I started moving around.
The only real way to research call quality via different carriers is to find friends and family in that area with different carriers.

 

[whippingcandy]

I'm on Sprint and no issues whatsoever. 9 times out of 10 bad call quality is going to be down to your carrier or location rather than the hardware.

 

[momo662]

I'm on Sprint and no issues whatsoever. 9 times out of 10 bad call quality is going to be down to your carrier or location rather than the hardware.

+1

 

[Bruce_205]

Sorry it has been so long since I've updated my thread. I did get the G4 replaced under warranty but its not much different.

I called Verizon and the agent experienced what I'm talking about. He couldn't understand me at times and the call completely dropped twice. He told me to turn off the HD Voice since it uses 4G network, and also told me to use wifi. My ISP is Comcast and broadband speed is pretty darn strong so I bought a wifi router for my modem to get secure wifi at home and I set the phone to use wifi for calls. It is much better but still had a few moments where my voice would drop out. So I don't know if I should bail out of Verizon.

 

[Robert Boerescu]

I have the noise suppression and voice clarity enabled and the quality of the calls on my lg g4 is the best I've had, better than note 4 or s4.

 

[cybersud]

I have this problem on my Verizon version. I have spoken with them multiple times.

What I found was that I only have the problem when I use advanced calling. If I turn that off, I don't have the same issue. The Verizon people acknowledged that it is a signal problem with their environment. The trade off is that when you turn off advanced calling you lose the ability to use the web for data while on a call.

It seems that this became a problem in the most recent round of phones because they went from having 2 antennas to a single antenna.

I often start with the advanced calling turned on and if people complain I hang up, turn it off, and dial back. Annoying but that is what I have to do.

 

[Bruce_205]

I'm pretty sure I had it before I enabled advanced or HD calling. I forgot when I did but I wasn't using HD from the start. On the most recent support call he told me that HD uses the 4G network for calls so if I don't have a good strong 4G signal I should have it off.

 

[psp1232171]

Service. I am on T mobile ans this phone rocks! I get service with this phone in elevators and garages to at least the second level.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Aflaaaak]

My wife and sister both have iPhones (sister has a 5 and wife a new SE). One thing I have noticed with both of them is if they don't have their mic right in front of their mouths, the call is very muddy on my end, to the point on my sister's that I can barely understand her. When I tell her this, she readjusts her hold on the phone and it's 100% better. My wife's iPhone SE has HD Voice activated and hers still has the problem, but not as bad, and when she speaks directly into the phone mic, it sounds like a landline .

 

[tube517]

Could be the microphone. Wouldn't hurt to test it.

I had an issue with my wife's phone her voice sounded garbled and sometimes went in/out.

Check the hardware using a phone status check app like this:

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...com.idea.PhoneDoctorPlus&hl=en&token=-0Hr2-Ks