4G Inside Office Building

[ToddL]

I live/work in the middle of a 4G area. I generally have no problems with 4G reception, but as soon as I walk into my office building it drops to 3G. From what I've read I thought 4G was supposed to penetrate buildings as good as or better than 3G. A few questions:

1. Is this a general issue with VZWs 4g coverage?
2. Is it an issue more specific to the TB that others have been experiencing?
3. Or is it a problem with my phone and/or SIM card? My PRL is 15011.

Thanks.

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

I literally work in the middle of the 3rd floor of a 4 story office building and have no issues with LTE connection. I do think I may be close to a tower though.

Sent from my Thunderbolt

 

[dpham00]

I work in a high rise, 4g works pretty well. Occasionally internet will say 4g but have no internet or drop to 3g, but pretty rare,and it happens to me outdoors occasionally as well. Just checked signal strength, it was -75dbm.

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

Inside I'm at always around -84 so I don't even have as good of a signal as the previous poster but I never drop to 3G in the office.

Sent from my Thunderbolt

 

[FrankXS]

Bounced RF (and any time RF is not direct line-of-sight it) is a crapshoot. It cannot be predicted or estimated accurately. The only way to determine what works and what doesn't is to test in the specific environment. Totally magic.

-Frank

 

[ToddL]

Is there a certain signal strength associated with the 4g network? I'm generally around -60 dBm in my office. Walked around my floor and it varied from about -50 to -80, but never flipped to 4g, stayed at 3g the entire time.

 

[VideoEngineerAJS]

I don't think it directly correlates to the actual LTE signal but the fact that you are at -60 means that you must be pretty darn close to a tower. So I find it odd that you aren't getting an LTE signal.

Sent from my Thunderbolt

 

[pennywise]

I work in a wearehouse and the main break room I only get 1x or now internet at all. The line I work on (5 minute walk away from the main break room) and the small break room about 100 ft away from my line I get 4g.

 

[gvillager]

I live/work in the middle of a 4G area. I generally have no problems with 4G reception, but as soon as I walk into my office building it drops to 3G. From what I've read I thought 4G was supposed to penetrate buildings as good as or better than 3G. A few questions:

1. Is this a general issue with VZWs 4g coverage?
2. Is it an issue more specific to the TB that others have been experiencing?
3. Or is it a problem with my phone and/or SIM card? My PRL is 15011.

Thanks.

It's #1.

4g is not on every single cell site in 4g covered areas.

 

[NotJustAPhone]

It really is a crapshoot and depends on tower locations and other variables. I work in a high rise and sit by a window and usually have solid 4G service, but when there's bad weather I drop typically drop down to 3G at work, but it doesn't happen to me at home.

 

[Mortiel]

I don't think it directly correlates to the actual LTE signal but the fact that you are at -60 means that you must be pretty darn close to a tower. So I find it odd that you aren't getting an LTE signal.

Sent from my Thunderbolt

I will say that that only times you really need to worry about signal noise is if you are getting dBm lower that -100 dBm or less. -125 dBm means no signal.


Aside, being too close to a tower can actually have the same effect as being to far away. With LTE they attempt as much as possible to limit the "Umbrella Effect" that can occur with a select few current radio towers, but it still can occur. It is entirely possible that he may be TOO close to the tower if it was on of the rare towers that has that issue.

When testing the "Umbrella Effect" once, some tests noted the signal noise go from being -45 dBm and about five feet closer to the tower the signal noise jumped to -140 dBm, with neither being able to transmit a data packet successfully.

So out of amused curiosity, would you all prefer just to have a signal noise indicator on the notification bar instead of the traditional signal "bars"?

 

[Mortiel]

It's #1.

4g is not on every single cell site in 4g covered areas.

Ideally, LTE could carry the same data connection load as CDMA with 10% the stacks per cell site, which is why you will often see a lot less LTE stacks per cell site than you will with CDMA (and even less than GSM, which requires a lot more stacks to handle the same load as CDMA). Well, not to mention Verizon has been building its CDMA cell sites for many years and LTE is not even six months old.

 

[dhendriksen]

Here's a theory, and it's what I experience. I work in an 8 story building, and or company all has VZW. Verizon came out about 5 years ago when we switched to them and installed a tower in or building. We signed up close to 22,000 phones and they wanted to make sure we had full signal everywhere. It works great, but it's a 3G tower.

Now that we have LTE, I get LTE outside, but when I come in it connects to that 3G tower and I only get 3G.

Maybe you have the same situation.

 

[willdogs]

You probably have repeaters in your office building that dont support the new 4G technology.

I work at JFK airport and when Verizon rolled out 4G, a communications company that handles our Cell/Network had to come in and replace all the indoor repeaters due to 4G in the Area.

 

[ToddL]

You probably have repeaters in your office building that dont support the new 4G technology.

I work at JFK airport and when Verizon rolled out 4G, a communications company that handles our Cell/Network had to come in and replace all the indoor repeaters due to 4G in the Area.

I bet that's the issue. 10 story building, full bars all the time. I bet they have repeaters that don't support 4G. Thanks!

 

[Joe G]

Move to Tampa - we got towers every where... 4th bars 4G as we speak! Lol

Sent from my EVO 4G using 2 cans & a string

 

[FrankXS]

Move to Tampa - we got towers every where... 4th bars 4G as we speak! Lol

Sent from my EVO 4G using 2 cans & a string

Yep. I was recently in Tampa visiting relatives. Perfect 4G coverage, and some of the faster speeds too. This is why I keep saying that when 4G is commonplace, everywhere, just like 3G is now, there will be no "radio issues" with the TBolt. There will be no "hunting" for a better protocol, there will be no 3G/4G transitions, etc. It will all be good.

-Frank

 

[FrankXS]

I bet that's the issue. 10 story building, full bars all the time. I bet they have repeaters that don't support 4G. Thanks!

Yeah, non-4G repeaters sure could be the issue. I use a VZW 3G Network Extender at home. And, I have a weak native 4G signal at my house too. It is obvious to me how this mix confuses the phone sometimes. Fortunately, when the TBolt gets too confused, turning 4G off solves my issue. But most of the time I can run with 4G full on and the phone will select 4G over the Network Extender's (locally stronger) 3G. It's interesting to watch when you know the circumstances.

-Frank