Signal strength

[ManiacJoe]

Signal strength is dependent on:
geography and land layout,
cel tower positions,
building shape and materials (when inside them).

For any given location, some carriers signals will be better than others.
For example, in Seattle ATT and Sprint and T-Mobile and Verizon all have great coverage in general, but all four have a different scattering of areas that have bad signal strengths in the city. Unfortunately for me, my ATT coverage is poor (but not bad) where my house is located; move a 2-3 blocks in any direction and the signal strength noticeably improves.

 

[LilSweetLin]

Signal strength is dependent on:
geography and land layout,
cel tower positions,
building shape and materials (when inside them).

For any given location, some carriers signals will be better than others.
For example, in Seattle ATT and Sprint and T-Mobile and Verizon all have great coverage in general, but all four have a different scattering of areas that have bad signal strengths in the city. Unfortunately for me, my ATT coverage is poor (but not bad) where my house is located; move a 2-3 blocks in any direction and the signal strength noticeably improves.

I get what you're saying. I just find it strange that a phone that was manufactured two months before I bought it had worse reception than the device I happen to be typing this message on. Right now I'm sitting here with full bars of reception and on WiFi without issue on my Nexus 6P. Am I saying Google and Huawei performed magic with this phone? No, but it does make me question LG's commitment to mobile if they can cheap out on an important component of their devices. Like I said, I loved the quad DAC and the battery life. I'm actually surprised I was getting the battery life I was with only four bars. Maybe I'm overreacting, though? That's why I wanted everyone's feedback.

 

[NationalTrust]

The bars on phones are a generalization. You would be better off using an app that measures the actual power of the signals to compare.

 

[RapidTurtle]

The bars on phones are a generalization. You would be better off using an app that measures the actual power of the signals to compare.

I look at the dbm under about phone and Sim card status. The S9 averages 5 to 10 better than the V30. I know lower number is better.
I also used an app that was able to tell the band the phone was on. The S9 would switch to another band and have awesome reception, while the V30 would not switch and had 1 bar.
We were in a walmart the other day, and the S9 had one bar and was usable, and the V30 has no service. This all tells me that the Samsung phone does a better job at pulling in a signal than the V30.

 

[stackberry369]

Sadly, I'm going to get rid of the V30 when I can get an S9+ on the cheap. I do really like the phone, but my wife's S9+ blows the V30 out of the water when it comes to signal strength. Getting home from a cruise a few weeks ago, coming into Manhattan, the V30 was rocking 1 bar, and the S9 was at full bars. I think the Samsung must have more bands, or is better at picking up the strongest one.

Get the Note 9

 

[garen]

I have both Note 9 unlock and V30 on T-Mobile, signal strength wise I haven't seen or experienced any issues.

 

[LilSweetLin]

I have both Note 9 unlock and V30 on T-Mobile, signal strength wise I haven't seen or experienced any issues.

Are you able to get 5 bars, or 4? Do you have issues with the FM radio app and static? Also, if I may ask, while out, do you keep Wi-Fi on with data?

 

[garen]

Are you able to get 5 bars, or 4? Do you have issues with the FM radio app and static? Also, if I may ask, while out, do you keep Wi-Fi on with data?

Never used the FM radio, WiFi and Data is always on, no problem with getting 5 or 4 bars , as matter of fact most of the time I'm on 4 or 5 bars.

 

[ManiacJoe]

Are you able to get 5 bars, or 4? Do you have issues with the FM radio app and static? Also, if I may ask, while out, do you keep Wi-Fi on with data?

The FM radio and app seem to work great, what little I use them. If you are getting reception problems, check the headphone cable as it is used as the FM antenna.

My V30 on ATT gets only 1-2 bars at my house. This has never caused problems with the phone calls. Data will be slow. If I am in the house for extended times, I turn on the wifi-calling feature.

When I leave the house I manually turn off the wifi so that it is not constantly scanning. If I am at a place where I want to use the wifi, I will manually turn it back on while I am there.

 

[RapidTurtle]

The FM radio and app seem to work great, what little I use them. If you are getting reception problems, check the headphone cable as it is used as the FM antenna.

My V30 on ATT gets only 1-2 bars at my house. This has never caused problems with the phone calls. Data will be slow. If I am in the house for extended times, I turn on the wifi-calling feature.

When I leave the house I manually turn off the wifi so that it is not constantly scanning. If I am at a place where I want to use the wifi, I will manually turn it back on while I am there.

Did u get a better signal with any phones that you previously owned? I found that my LG G4 was better than the G5 I had, and both of those better than the V30.

 

[ManiacJoe]

Did u get a better signal with any phones that you previously owned? I found that my LG G4 was better than the G5 I had, and both of those better than the V30.

I have never really paid that much attention to the signal strength differences, if there are any. My previous phone was an LG G4. Neither phone has ever dropped a call.

My house is in a well known low-signal area for ATT, but calls and SMS always go through.

Every now and then I do end up in a zero-signal area, but that place really is zero-signal for all carriers.

 

[mwake4goten]

I can see how signal strength would be a deal breaker especially if it affects the ability to make and receive calls, texts and internet performance.

I am a HTC 10 user and was wondering if anybody considered dropping from LTE to 4G in the mobile settings? I live in a mid sized city in Canada and the LTE where I live is terrible, 1/2 bars. But when I switch to 4G I immediately get much better 4/5 bars.

Further more dropping to 4G from LTE doesn't really impact on actual usage that much....I really didn't see much of a drop of in actual usage. Maybe LTE is faster but it's not really a night and day thing.

Maybe trying this might make a difference?

 

[RapidTurtle]

I found 4G to be way to slow for data.