Database Users

reception sucks!

I hate to say it but I am having 3g issues. By that I mean no 3g and one to two bars. Usually I have perfect reception.
Sent from my ADR6300 using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

i've noticed on the incredible that my displayed signal strength isn't as strong as it is on my droid. haven't noticed a difference in call reception or data speeds though...yet.

Eris users have noticed the same thing as you bzbz when compared to the Droid. Could be the cpu or something else HTC vs Motorola.

i've noticed on the incredible that my displayed signal strength isn't as strong as it is on my droid. haven't noticed a difference in call reception or data speeds though...yet.
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I noticed the same thing but my download/upload speeds are just as fast if not faster. I gave my Droid to my mom and took her upgrade so I have both side by side, off WiFi downloading a movie and the Incredible is actually 20-50kbs faster than my old Droid and yes the Droid is over clocked with petes 1ghz kernel.

I have had the Incredible for a couple of days, and I've noticed a lower displayed signal strength than I'd see on my Droid in the same locations.
But I've not experienced any reception issues, and my internet speed seems the same or faster.
This is what I expected. We all know that you can't count on those reception bars to compare different phones, and also that Moto tends to have better radios/reception than everyone else anyway. As long as you're phone's radio is close to Moto's in the ability to make/receive calls, then normally you're not doing bad.

well it's good to know that the signal strength concern may be more of a "cosmetic" issue than a legitimate performance issue.

daftlush said:
I hate to say it but I am having 3g issues. By that I mean no 3g and one to two bars. Usually I have perfect reception.
Sent from my ADR6300 using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how is the quality on said reception? Other people's replies seem to indicate good quality even with less bars.

BzBz said:
well it's good to know that the signal strength concern may be more of a "cosmetic" issue than a legitimate performance issue.
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Click to collapse
This...
It is definitely cosmetic, the newest radio i have installed on my eris does the same. The reception on my eris is better then my friends with the older radio, but he has more 3G bars.

designerfx said:
how is the quality on said reception? Other people's replies seem to indicate good quality even with less bars.
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Click to collapse
It may just be the way HTC displays the signal. I know on the Touch Pro 2 and Touch Pro, the signal indicator frequently shows incorrect (lower) signal strength but works fine.

I compared signal strength between my BB Curve 8330 and my new Incredible.
In spite of the indicated signal strength being lower on the Incredible, the dBm was the same. It's only one location and one user, but I suspect it's not an actual signal strength issue.

i used my incredible all day. i work in a downtown area with many tall building surrounded and i still got a good 3g signal and speed.
from Boston.

the 3G speeds on my incredible are slower that my 2G G1 running on AT&T. i get les than 200 kbps downstream. My friend with a droid standing in the same room will get aound 1100 Kbps. What gives??

if you are haveing a tough time with a signal.. I update my roaming towers... I had an issue today where I couldn't get much.. I did *228 option 2 and it updated my roaming towers and have had no problems since... sometimes you need to do that with a new phone so it knows exactly what towers to look for

tried the *228 to update. Update was successful but no improvment. still have very slow data speeds and terrible call quality. reception stays about around -100 dBm

I'm also noticing what appears to be poor reception. I was getting better reception with my Droid than I am with Incredible. I've tried the *228 last night and this morning but that hasn't helped. Hopefully there will eventually be some kind of software fix for this. I'm seeing other threads on other sites with the same kind of complaints so I don't think it's a select few who are experiencing this issue.

hoop762 said:
the 3G speeds on my incredible are slower that my 2G G1 running on AT&T. i get les than 200 kbps downstream. My friend with a droid standing in the same room will get aound 1100 Kbps. What gives??
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Your speed will depend on what tower your connected to. on my Eris, I've gone from 1mbps/0.70mbps in New York, NY to 2mbps/2mbps in West Haven, CT. It's not the phone. The newer radio on the Incredible will show less bars, but your signal strength will be fine .(dBm)

My phone keeps dropping 3G my droid never has done this in the location the incredible is. I will go into airplane mode then back out and I will have 3g again

Over at Androidforums there is a thread going regarding reception issues. On page 2 is some help in running a debug on the phone that will give you dbm levels and some other info. I'm not sure how to use the info the debug gives but perhaps it may be of some use to someone here.
The link is http://androidforums.com/htc-incredible/70223-weak-signal-strength.html

rckeystone said:
Over at Androidforums there is a thread going regarding reception issues. On page 2 is some help in running a debug on the phone that will give you dbm levels and some other info. I'm not sure how to use the info the debug gives but perhaps it may be of some use to someone here.
The link is http://androidforums.com/htc-incredible/70223-weak-signal-strength.html
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Click to collapse
You don't need to go into field test mode like this guy said, all you need to do is from the home screen > menu > setting > about phone > network.
Here you will see signal strength (typical between -100 to -80dBm) the closer to 0 you are the better your signal is (ie: 80dBm > 90dBm)
Hope that clears up some confusion. I've tested both the motodroid and the incredible side by side in a location with low signal and can say that my incredible gets better signal than the droid, even though the "bars" don't indicate as such.

my signal always stays at -81, is that a good thing?
im a new android and 3g user

Signal Strength Booster?

I get poor reception on my Incredible whereas my parents get great reception on their phone. A little googling and this popped up:
http://www.onlyincredible.com/incredible-booster.html
is this legit at all? i'm not a technical guy so I have no idea.

I call bull****. They used to sell these things for regular cellphones. They didn't work then, either.

slorange said:
I call bull****. They used to sell these things for regular cellphones. They didn't work then, either.
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Click to collapse
I was thinking the same thing but trying to be hopeful ya know? I really need some signal boost. I average around -90 dBm

If you're desperate, it's not like $2 is a huge sacrifice for a likely useless piece of plastic. I don't know I usually get between 80-100dBm at my house and i have no complaints about the service... The bars don't necessarily tell the whole story. 85dBm is 5 bars on my 6bar signal meter, so keep in mind that bars don't necessarily tell how mcuh signal you have. With the stock 4 bar meter, I would never have 4 bars at my house; usually 1 or 2; sometimes 3.

Jes7er said:
If you're desperate, it's not like $2 is a huge sacrifice for a likely useless piece of plastic. I don't know I usually get between 80-100dBm at my house and i have no complaints about the service... The bars don't necessarily tell the whole story. 85dBm is 5 bars on my 6bar signal meter, so keep in mind that bars don't necessarily tell how mcuh signal you have. With the stock 4 bar meter, I would never have 4 bars at my house; usually 1 or 2; sometimes 3.
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Click to collapse
I go by the dBm and just sitting my room I can go from -85 up to -120
I always thought that it would be normal for my dBm to be in the -60 range. Am I wrong or is -80 to -90 okay?

I get -91 to -106 in my room and I have good enough signal to do anything I want. Also my friend bought one of those for his Eris and thinks it actually hurt his reception but I can't imagine there's a difference with or without it
morph3k said:
I go by the dBm and just sitting my room I can go from -85 up to -120
I always thought that it would be normal for my dBm to be in the -60 range. Am I wrong or is -80 to -90 okay?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App

If you want something to boost your signal this is one of the only things I've found that will actually do it..... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...CODE=GOOGLEBASE&cm_mmc_o=VRqCjC7BBTkwCjCECjCE
They are normally priced at $120 but can be had for $15. I bought one and currently use it in both my vehicle and home. It will boost the signal for me from around -105 dbm in my house to around -90 dbm, but I've seen it get as good as -81 dbm. I plan on buying another that way I don't have to keep moving it around.
They say it works within a 6 ft radius of the plug but I've found that you need to be a little closer than that to it.

-80dbm is the best signal possible. Also, cdma signal fluctuates. Don't expect it to stay at a consistent number. Unless you're having issues with dropped calls or slow data, I wouldn't spend another second concerning yourself over it.

Thanks for this... now would two of these work better then one?
androidtrkdr said:
If you want something to boost your signal this is one of the only things I've found that will actually do it..... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...CODE=GOOGLEBASE&cm_mmc_o=VRqCjC7BBTkwCjCECjCE
They are normally priced at $120 but can be had for $15. I bought one and currently use it in both my vehicle and home. It will boost the signal for me from around -105 dbm in my house to around -90 dbm, but I've seen it get as good as -81 dbm. I plan on buying another that way I don't have to keep moving it around.
They say it works within a 6 ft radius of the plug but I've found that you need to be a little closer than that to it.
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Click to collapse
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App

patches152 said:
-80dbm is the best signal possible.
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Click to collapse
How do you figure this?
I've seen my signal get better than -80 dbm.

patches152 said:
-80dbm is the best signal possible. Also, cdma signal fluctuates. Don't expect it to stay at a consistent number. Unless you're having issues with dropped calls or slow data, I wouldn't spend another second concerning yourself over it.
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Click to collapse
I know people here don't take bars for much, but why is -80 only 2/5 bars if it is all i can expect? I've only had a couple dropped calls so you are probably right that i shouldn't worry about it.
androidtrkdr said:
How do you figure this?
I've seen my signal get better than -80 dbm.
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Click to collapse
I've never seen mine better than -78 unless it was some weird fluctuation for a second

0 would actually be the best possible. But it can never happen, so, meh.
As far as highest signal strength possible, I've been in the -30's before. That's the highest I've ever seen.

Same, -32 was my best
dpwhitty11 said:
0 would actually be the best possible. But it can never happen, so, meh.
As far as highest signal strength possible, I've been in the -30's before. That's the highest I've ever seen.
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Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Your head absorbs wireless signals.
So, use the speakerphone more often, or better yet, use a good quality Bluetooth ear piece so the phone can sit near a window still.

morph3k said:
I know people here don't take bars for much, but why is -80 only 2/5 bars if it is all i can expect? I've only had a couple dropped calls so you are probably right that i shouldn't worry about it.
I've never seen mine better than -78 unless it was some weird fluctuation for a second
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Click to collapse
keep in mind that CDMA phones with VZW use two radio frequencies. one is voice, the other is data. so the "bars" and 3G doesn't do much to specify which of those two network connections its representing. my guess is that it's representing data strength, not voice.
-80dbm is the "best" signal strength i've ever seen a verizon wireless cell phone have. and that's based on other phones, such as blackberries, winmo, etc...i'm not sure if it gets any lower than that on CDMA networks. i know my WI-FI, when at the strongest, is usually -40 or -60 dbm.
for example, sitting at home my signal is -84 dBm, and that is pretty much full strength
also, the value we are discussing is how "loud" the signal is. take into consideration that network traffic will also impact service in varying ways.

Antenna DBM strength

Can any one give an antenna signal strength DBM wise? Whats the signal strength when you receive full signal bars.

I wish I could help but I want to know the same. Preferably someone coming from a nexus or gs2 and familiar with what they used to get. Hoping gs3 has better radios

stkiswr said:
I wish I could help but I want to know the same. Preferably someone coming from a nexus or gs2 and familiar with what they used to get. Hoping gs3 has better radios
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Click to collapse
The questions as framed are really about how the manufacturer (and carrier?) define "bars" -- which is mostly a marketing concept invented differently by different vendors to obscure scientific facts. We might as well call them "unicorns." FWIW for comparison, my current phone, a Samsung Epic 4G, reports "bars" mapped to the following dBm values:
0 bars = -106 dBm
1 bar = -101 dBm
2 bars = -96 dBm
3 bars = -91 dBm
4 bars = -86 dBm
5 bars = -76 dBm
6 bars = -65 dBm
In my testing, I have not seen values reported between these intervals.
So it would be interesting to see how the marketing-driven designers have defined "bars" on the Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III, if only to translate that into common units that are not marketing gibberish.
Another question generally relevant might be this, to describe the receive sensitivity of the radio: After translating "bars" to dBm, what is the worst dBm reading you can experience and still have the phone function. Or perhaps plot lots of Speedtest results at various dBm readings of strength.
Note that reported strength -- whether stated as "bars" or dBm -- has nothing directly to do with transmit strength, and all this is about two-way radio communication.

Well my signal at home is crap so I can tell you 1 bar is -100 through -102...
And I keep getting a data roaming pop up even with the roaming guards turned off, annoying, anyone else dealing with this?
Sent from my SPH-L710 using XDA

I don't care about bars. More so dBm if can. I have a nexus and a razor Max on Verizon. I was with sprint. I'm looking to get opinions

Kegacide as far as your raining pop us go into settings and networks and start disabling and enabling so that you don't get those anymore. Same w gs2 and all Samsung sprint phones

stkiswr said:
Kegacide as far as your raining pop us go into settings and networks and start disabling and enabling so that you don't get those anymore. Same w gs2 and all Samsung sprint phones
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Click to collapse
I turned off the roaming guards for everything, even turned them on, then off again when the pop up came up and I clicked for show again....
Even still the data roaming signal keeps showing up in my notifications bar, which is two problems, one my bad connection, and two the annoyingness of the pop up...
What do you mean start enabling and disabling things, like what?
Sent from my SPH-L710 using XDA

Honestly you guys are silly all non Motorola cdma devices perform identical on sprints network. The inconsistencies you guys see is sprints network not the devices.

kegacide said:
I turned off the roaming guards for everything, even turned them on, then off again when the pop up came up and I clicked for show again....
Even still the data roaming signal keeps showing up in my notifications bar, which is two problems, one my bad connection, and two the annoyingness of the pop up...
What do you mean start enabling and disabling things, like what?
Sent from my SPH-L710 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it seemed gauge I'm sorry. Been a while since I been on sprint but you can unchecked/disable some of those boxes and the data roaming will not pop up. I have done it since the epic 4g.

kegacide said:
Well my signal at home is crap so I can tell you 1 bar is -100 through -102...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What phone were you using before at home? I gather you had good radio performance with it there? Was this with Sprint or a different carrier?

Signal strength issue

I received my XT1053 T-Mobile Moto X this past Thursday and have been having signal issues since then.
People I've spoken to notified me that voice quality they heard was choppy, although I heard them fine.
I also noticed that I've been getting anywhere from -95 to -105 dBm, while my old phone and other phones receive -65 dBm to -75 dBm around the house.
These numbers are within my house and outside my house.
I'm running unrooted/all OTAs. Safe to assume something wrong with this particular phone?
Edit: When I set to network type to GPRS (2G), I'm getting a good -58 dBm. When I put it back on LTE I'm getting -100 dBm again.
So when I'm on LTE its just not connecting to the closer tower?

xal33x said:
I received my XT1053 T-Mobile Moto X this past Thursday and have been having signal issues since then.
People I've spoken to notified me that voice quality they heard was choppy, although I heard them fine.
I also noticed that I've been getting anywhere from -95 to -105 dBm, while my old phone and other phones receive -65 dBm to -75 dBm around the house.
These numbers are within my house and outside my house.
I'm running unrooted/all OTAs. Safe to assume something wrong with this particular phone?
Edit: When I set to network type to GPRS (2G), I'm getting a good -58 dBm. When I put it back on LTE I'm getting -100 dBm again.
So when I'm on LTE its just not connecting to the closer tower?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had the same problem on 3 moto x's. I think its only the tmo version that has this problem since no one else is complaining about it.
EDIT: Maybe not the same problem. Mine happens on HSPA and EDGE as well. It looses signal completely for hours.

The way an LTE signal strength is measured is not the same as 2G or 3G, that can explain quite a large db difference. Voice calls don't use LTE right now, your phone will switch back to HSPA/WCDMA/2G for voice.

Im on a dev edition verizon phone. Ive noticed Im getting average 103 dbm lte where as my other phones are at about 97. Voice 3G is about 85db which is good. Wondering if there isnt something wrong.

Steve-x said:
The way an LTE signal strength is measured is not the same as 2G or 3G, that can explain quite a large db difference. Voice calls don't use LTE right now, your phone will switch back to HSPA/WCDMA/2G for voice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right. It does switch to HSPA+ and signal strength does increase back to -60 dBm while I'm talking.
So the phone shows 2 bars while I'm not on a call is simply because signal strength is measured differently and it doesn't take into account the different network type?
I wonder why two different people on two different days told me they were hearing me pretty choppy (I heard them fine) and I even had a dropped call, all within like 3 days of owning the phone, with pretty much no issues that I can remember with my previous phone (it was an HSPA+ phone).
I'm not sure what to do...

xal33x said:
You're right. It does switch to HSPA+ and signal strength does increase back to -60 dBm while I'm talking.
So the phone shows 2 bars while I'm not on a call is simply because signal strength is measured differently and it doesn't take into account the different network type?
I wonder why two different people on two different days told me they were hearing me pretty choppy (I heard them fine) and I even had a dropped call, all within like 3 days of owning the phone, with pretty much no issues that I can remember with my previous phone (it was an HSPA+ phone).
I'm not sure what to do...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe turn off voice privacy in phone settings.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

I agree with the poster that LTE is just measured differently.
I have the N5, HTC One, and Moto X and they are both usually is the 90s or 100s for LTE. The X is usually 5-10 dbm better than either the N5 or One.
Best reception phone Ive had thus far :laugh:

Dissapointed in phone signal

Having just upgraded from the Xperia T to the Xperia Z2 there is only one thing that annoys me a lot. Comparing to the Xperia T, my Z2 has a much weaker phone reception signal. I work in another town and between home and work I always had a good phone signal with the T.
Now, on this same stretch of A-road, I have no signal whatsoever with the Z2. Same network provider, same sim card, same phone contract. Nothing has changed other than the phone itself. Phone network is O2
Phone Build: 17.1.1.A.0.402
Baseband: 8974-AAAAANPZQ-00005-08
Any comments?

I think cause its waterproof.

Agreed. Just switched from Z2 to G3 and G3 has much better signal..
On my Z2 at home constant dropped signal, no LTE
On my G3 hasnt dropped yet and LTE all the time.
Nexus 5 was a little better than Z2 but not as good as G3

JJD809 said:
Comparing to the Xperia T, my Z2 has a much weaker phone reception signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weak on its own does not tell us too much.
Need to examine what the phone itself receives in dbM for signal strength and it will tell you just that if you look in
Settings-> about device->Status
what does signal strength show in each of the devices you mentioned ?

One Twelve said:
Weak on its own does not tell us too much.
Need to examine what the phone itself receives in dbM for signal strength and it will tell you just that if you look in
Settings-> about device->Status
what does signal strength show in each of the devices you mentioned ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is weak too.
It says -75dBm 19 asu
What does that mean?

One Twelve said:
Weak on its own does not tell us too much.
Need to examine what the phone itself receives in dbM for signal strength and it will tell you just that if you look in
Settings-> about device->Status
what does signal strength show in each of the devices you mentioned ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sitting at my desk at work getting signal info as requested. Got info from Z2 then shut it down, removed sim and placed it in the T, powered up and looked up the signal info. Both phones alternated between HSPA and GPRS
**Xperia Z2**
Signal Strength: -111 dBm 1 asu
Mobile network type: HSPA
Signal Strength: -107 dBm 2 asu
Mobile network type: GPRS
**Xperia T**
Signal Strength: -113 dBm 8 asu
Mobile network type: HSPA
Signal Strength: -95 dBm 9 asu
Mobile network type: GPRS
With a direct comparison between the two phones when moving about, the Z2 has the weaker signal reception....

JJD809 said:
Sitting at my desk at work getting signal info as requested. Got info from Z2 then shut it down, removed sim and placed it in the T, powered up and looked up the signal info. Both phones alternated between HSPA and GPRS
**Xperia Z2**
Signal Strength: -111 dBm 1 asu
Mobile network type: HSPA
Signal Strength: -107 dBm 2 asu
Mobile network type: GPRS
**Xperia T**
Signal Strength: -113 dBm 8 asu
Mobile network type: HSPA
Signal Strength: -95 dBm 9 asu
Mobile network type: GPRS
With a direct comparison between the two phones when moving about, the Z2 has the weaker signal reception....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to what you have said, HSPA reception is stronger on the Z2. - On GPRS the T appears stronger.

diego9016 said:
Mine is weak too.
It says -75dBm 19 asu
What does that mean?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How many bars do you see ?
for reference, the smaller the number (when its negative numbers) the better the signal.
-60 is good, -112 is call drop territory. you're doing ok so why do you think its weak ?

That might be true and I cannot argue that, but the point remains that I have no phone reception/signal with the Z2 for most of the way when driving to and from work on the A33. With the Xperia T I have signal all the way.
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app

defsix said:
According to what you have said, HSPA reception is stronger on the Z2. - On GPRS the T appears stronger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes but Z2 isn't all that much better than T. 3g is weak for both phones.
The larger difference is with 2G, less call drops on the T than Z2.
JJD809 said:
That might be true and I cannot argue that, but the point remains that I have no phone reception/signal with the Z2 for most of the way when driving to and from work on the A33. With the Xperia T I have signal all the way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you use a hands free to take calls in the car.
i don't know how practical this suggestion is going to be, but if you can identify where the antenna is situated on both phones (user manual?) then you try to orient the z2 in a manner that does not block the antenna. Can make a difference when cell signal is weak. The way you do this is try and position the phone in different orientations and see if you get signal strength to increase (that means a lower figure in dbm)
eg, with a tab i use, i found orienting the tab in a different orientation means less obstruction and a better signal with wifi.

The phone connects to my car via Bluetooth connection to the MMI system. The phone fits in the cupholder, standing upright, in the console between the front seats.
The antennas of both phones are in the top half of the phones according to the manuals.
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app

ok, so the question is why is the 2g over 12dbm less on the z2 than the T. However 3g is working fine.
both phones have antennas in the same area and are positioned identically in the car.
There may be a way to boost the 2g signal in some setting in a hidden service menu but it will drain battery faster.

Have you tried changing the preferred network mode to gsm. I find that in week 3g or 4g areas my Z2 spends too long hanging onto the week data signal before switch to the mode with the better signal strength for calls.
It seems to concentrate on data more than call signal to the point that I have had loads of missed calls due to no signal but if I switch off 4g or set the preferred mode to gsm I get full bars and no call issues but obviously i dont get data unless I change it again. Hopefully this is just a software issue.

Grumps69 said:
Have you tried changing the preferred network mode to gsm. I find that in week 3g or 4g areas my Z2 spends too long hanging onto the week data signal before switch to the mode with the better signal strength for calls.
It seems to concentrate on data more than call signal to the point that I have had loads of missed calls due to no signal but if I switch off 4g or set the preferred mode to gsm I get full bars and no call issues but obviously i dont get data unless I change it again. Hopefully this is just a software issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bro did you sorted the isseue?
I have the same problem?