Signal strength issues? Post your signal strength here.

[toddbecker#CB]

What symptoms are people experiencing due to signal strength issues?

Sent from my XT907 using Android Central Forums

 

[GatsbyGlen]

I'm well within a 4G LTE area according to the verizon map (for whatever that is worth), and I only get an intermittent 4G LTE signal on my M.

typical values: 1x is usually in the -80 to -90 range
4G is usually in the -105 to -115 range
3G has gone as high as -125

Pretty weak reception, isn't it?

I have a RAZR MAXX HD, and my signal strength is consistent with what you see above. 1x is - 88 and 4G is -111. I'm in the Orange County California area.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD

 

[nw53]

The above posts did not say the issues with 4G are running on ICS or JB. M first came with ICS install and there are many posts about it dropping 4G to 3G and have signal strength issues. I'm just checking to see if it was fix with JB. I have a upgrade coming up and thinking about getting the M.

 

[Pete7874]

1x - -84 dBm
4g - -111 dBm

But to be fair, signal strength on my old Droid 2 Global was crap at this location as well. Heck, I've also tried AT&T and Sprint at my house and they were all weak sauce. My house is in some kind of a radio black hole even though according to carrier coverage maps I should have excellent coverage here.

 

[Pele2048]

Saw your thread over at XDA developers while searching for signal issues.
I just got my Razr M as a warranty replacement because I had exchanged FIVE Droid Bionics through Verizon's customer service due to data cutting out.

As a sidenote, I'm an RF technician for the Washington D.C. Mass transit system, so I know a little about Radio and cellular systems.
Without any further rambling, here's datapoints for your research:

Location: 25 miles south of Washington D.C. - Dale City, Virginia. (Strong 4g Coverage but fairly high user load.)

Signal report fluctuated, so a range over a few refreshes is given.

Droid RAZR M (With Otterbox Commuter case; All other RF devices in phone, IE Bluetooth and WiFi disabled.)
1x = -74 to -80 dBm (Sitting on couch... Decreases to -81 to -88 when held in hand.)
4G = -99 to -104 dBm (Sitting on couch... Decreases to -107 to -112 when held in hand.)

Forced CDMA/EvDO mode by entering *#*#4636#*#* in phone mode.
3G = -89 to -94 dBm (Sitting on couch... Decreases to -92 to -97 when held in hand.)


Comparable phone:
Droid RAZR MAXX (With Otterbox Defender case; All other RF devices in phone, IE Bluetooth and WiFi disabled.)
1x (No data displayed, this phone only displays 4G signal.)
4G = -92 to -95 dBm (Sitting on couch... Decreases to -97 when held in hand. Signal does not vary much in either situation.)

Forced CDMA/EvDO mode by entering *#*#4636#*#* in phone mode.
1x = -81 to -83 dBm (Sitting on couch... Decreases to -85 to -86 when held in hand.)
3G = -86 to -89 dBm (Sitting on couch... Decreases to -90 to -92 when held in hand.)

Additional point of note:
The Razr M seemed to refresh or poll signal strength faster/more frequently than the Razr MAXX. It seemed to be once every second or two seconds for the Razr M and once every 30 sec for the Razr MAXX. This is also reflected when switching back and forth from 4G mode to Forced 3G mode.

The radio is built into the Snapdragon S4 MSM9860 SoC (RAZR M / RAZR HD / RAZR HD MAXX)
The radio is external on the TI OMAP 4430 (Bionic / RAZR / RAZR MAXX)

These radio differences will affect your test results due to differences in sensitivity and noise rejection. (Signal-Noise ratio is not displayed on the phone.)
The polling/refresh rate will affect data connectivity which is what we're really looking for here.

Additional phones:
Motorola Droid (The original, with Seidio extended battery, No other casing installed; WiFi enabled/Not on active Verizon Account.)
3G = -78 to -81 dBm (Sitting on couch... Decreases to -82 to -85 when held in hand.)

BlackBerry Bold 9650 (No casing, additional batteries, or other accessories.)
3G = -80 to -87 dBm (Sitting on couch... Decreases to -88 to -95 when held in hand.)

 

[Bob Wexler]

I am on my third Samsung Galaxy Nexus and my fifth SIM card.
My signal strength is typically between -100 dBm and -110 dBm. Occasionally I will see -93 dBm.

Does this mean that all or most android phones have terribly antennae, or does it simply mean that they use a different scale on the dBm meter.

Several years ago Dish Network changed the signal strength meter so that what used to be 100 to 110% signal became about 50 ot 60%. Could this be what is happening with 4G?