Reception

[cruser635]

I bought a Verizon Samsung Charge last Thursday and am coming from a BlackBerry Storm 9530. I have been very disappoint with the reception I?ve been receiving at time unable to receive data and the signal meter shows nothing although I?m still able to send and receive calls. I?m wondering if there is any way to improve this?

 

[Ken7]

Welcome to the club. I had a serious issue when going from 4G down to 3G where I got zero connectivity and an error message popping up. Verizon fixed that in my area, but I still get very poor 3G reception in the same areas my wife's Verizon IPhone has no issues.

I think these 4G phones have very poor 3G sensitivity. Not good at all. Keep in mind too that the data connectivity is entirely different than making & receiving phones calls. I guess we should be thankful for that.

 

[Farabomb]

I live in the woods in a 3g area and I have found that the charge has better 3g than my storm 2 did. The storm would constantly drop calls and have voice issues but so far the charge hasn't dropped a call and the call quality is far better.

I have yet to see the data issue but I work and live in a 3g area.

 

[Ken7]

We're not talking about phone call issues, we're talking about data issues. When compared to a 3G only phone sitting right next to the Charge, the 3G reception, in a 3G area, of the 3G only phone is much better. This doesn't affect calls.

 

[Yank731]

We're not talking about phone call issues, we're talking about data issues. When compared to a 3G only phone sitting right next to the Charge, the 3G reception, in a 3G area, of the 3G only phone is much better. This doesn't affect calls.

Jeez...I wonder if this issue affects both the Charge and Revolution. I surf the net with my Fascinate on the LIRR to and from work every day. I'd have to return the phone if I wasn't able to connect during my commute.

 

[Ken7]

It's not that you can't always connect, but I can almost guarantee you'll have periods where you can't and a 3G only phone will. At this point it's the biggest disappointment with the phone IMO.

 

[Yank731]

It's not that you can't always connect, but I can almost guarantee you'll have periods where you can't and a 3G only phone will. At this point it's the biggest disappointment with the phone IMO.

Thanks Ken. Appreciate the feedback. That is disappointing. It wouldn't feel like much of an upgrade if I wound up with worse reception than my Fascinate. After hearing that the 4G/3G hand off issues on LI seemed to be resolved, I had planned to pick up the Charge with the $120 off coupon at Costco. I may pick it up anyway due to their liberal exchange policy and try the Charge out. Do you think there's any possibility that the weak 3G signal could be a bad phone or was the Charge you returned also like that?

 

[Ken7]

Yeah Yank, both phones performed in an identical manner. But give it a try, you've got 14 days to try it.

 

[bucrepus]

Poor Reception

Frustrated...

Got my wife and myself a Charge over the weekend. I live in a a 3G / 4G low signal area (2 bars with Droid, 1 bar with Charge).. Coming from Moto Droids, we had no problems making calls or downloading 3G data from the house (slow data but data none the less), but the Charges apparently don't have as good a radio as the droids had. Both Charges drop in and out of the data network (3G or 4G) and we can't consistently make calls without getting the network error popup. Kind of frustrating, phones work GREAT if the signal level is decent close to town, but screwed if not... Have to keep putting it in/out airplane mode to get 4G back (or the network in general). Heck, my kids HTC Ozone windows phone picks up better than these things do.. Being in the public safety sector, its hard to beat a Motorola transceiver I guess..

 

[rjcormier]

Wow, guess this is wide spread. I have spent two months going from phone to phone. I think it is verizon...but could be wrong. I wonder if it is their software that communicates with the hardware. Thunderbolt dropped calls and rebooted when the signal was bad. Bb bold rebooted every two days but great phone. Now I have had two charges and the first was horrible. I couldn't txt when I got the phone...messages failed to send. Now I stay on wifi all day so it isn't as bad, but will I continue to be ok? I would rather use wifi and not pay for data if it isnt reliable.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

 

[bucrepus]

The network may have something to do with it but the phone(s) must be at fault to some degree. I have a 3G data card also, 2 Env 3's and a HTZ Ozone running on the 3G network with no problem with data or calls (other than slow as crap). The Charges are the only ones acting flakly on the 3G and 4G network.. I don't know. When the signal is decent 2+ bars, they are SMOKING fast.. they just do not seem to be able to 'capture' the RF as well as my other phones do...

 

[tdenton1138]

I have recently noticed similar problems. My OG Droids had no issues with data at my house (well, maybe rarely I should say), but there are times when my Charge shows the 3G icon with a D under it, but won't actually pull any data. It really only happens at my house and I find myself switching to wifi when I really shouldn't have to. Unfortunate, but it seems like it must be the radio in the phone at this point.

 

[BobR]

I noticed the weak reception with my Charge because wifi fails in parts of my home. But on my iPad, wifi signal strength is fine.

 

[Ken7]

I noticed the weak reception with my Charge because wifi fails in parts of my home. But on my iPad, wifi signal strength is fine.

Yeah, that poor sensitivity seems to be reflected in all aspects of reception, from WiFi to 3G to 4G. We can only hope a software update will help this.

 

[saillling4life]

When your on the road do you notice not having 3g, or is it just switching from wifi to 3g.

 

[st33med]

I feel like the signal is misrepresented. Speeds are fine even though most of the time they are at half signal strength.

 

[waterfrontmgmt]

i have no problems going from 4g to 3g and back. it's probably the area you are in, or a 3rd party app. i had these issues the first week i had the phone, but when i uninstalled an app (can't remember the name, but it had something to do with memory i think), the problems went away.

 

[saillling4life]

i have no problems going from 4g to 3g and back. it's probably the area you are in, or a 3rd party app. i had these issues the first week i had the phone, but when i uninstalled an app (can't remember the name, but it had something to do with memory i think), the problems went away.

That's interesting becuase that is one of the last apps i would think would be the problem.

 

[Bravozero]

I've had my phone a day now and have had no issues so far with reception. Yes, 4G will drop out once I'm out of the zone but when it switches to 3G, it's been pretty good.

 

[saillling4life]

I've had my phone a day now and have had no issues so far with reception. Yes, 4G will drop out once I'm out of the zone but when it switches to 3G, it's been pretty good.

Thanks, that's good to know, but for now I don't have to worry about 4g dropping (unfortunitly).