4G not as good on S3

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Originally Posted by greglb

Thanks for the reply.

My confusion is in considering my poor reception numbers that I'm not really dropping calls or 4G. I typically get between one and two bars (-113db) at home (sometimes less) and have gotten no bars in areas that I had good reception with my old LG non-smart phone. The part that makes me unsure is the fact that I'm still able to make a call and typically hold 4G signals even with the low signal strength.

I would expect with the reception I'm seeing to be dropping calls like I do with my work phone (Sony phone on ATT), especially with the other complaints I've read about S3 reception. I've had problems with some other Verizon phones in the past, but others have done pretty well for reception.

I have noticed a wide fluctuation with 4G speeds, running speedtest multiple times, but I don't have enough experience with it to know if that's the nature of Verizon's LTE or if I'm having a hard time holding the LTE signal.

It seems from reading through this thread that most people are complaining about signal strength, which I've definitely got problem with, but in my limited time with the phone it hasn't correlated with dropped calls. I was just hoping to get a feel from other peoples experience if they had seen the low signal strength and then started noticing an increase in dropped calls due to it. It sounds like most people with the problem were dropping calls right away.

Thanks,
Greg

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Sometimes people put to much emphasis on signal strength. What really matters is if it works. If you can make and recieve calls now from your location unless someone errects a sky scrapper between your house and the tower your gonna keep getting good reception. If anything it should get better all things being equal. So if your happy with the phone and it works go for it. Its not gonna get any worse.

I went from a Droid X to a Bionic, and now an S3. My wife has the Droid 4. All the Motorola phones get an equally full 3g signal in our house. (we live in a smaller town, 4g is still a few miles north of town). My S3 gets 2 bars of 1X in the house most of the time. I pick up a weak 3g signal once in a while. Very disapointing. The only reason I stuck with the S3 is that I have wi-fi at my house so data works great. I can't even walk around my house on the phone without losing a call sometimes. I will be going back to Motorola as soon as I have an upgrade.

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Originally Posted by brisk21

I went from a Droid X to a Bionic, and now an S3. My wife has the Droid 4. All the Motorola phones get an equally full 3g signal in our house. (we live in a smaller town, 4g is still a few miles north of town). My S3 gets 2 bars of 1X in the house most of the time. I pick up a weak 3g signal once in a while. Very disapointing. The only reason I stuck with the S3 is that I have wi-fi at my house so data works great. I can't even walk around my house on the phone without losing a call sometimes. I will be going back to Motorola as soon as I have an upgrade.

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Kind of curious are you on the newOta? I realize the radios are not as strong as Moto or Htc but they shouldnt be that bad for you. I had a little problem with the S3 dropping 4G and going to 3G but I always had a signal. The only time I had a problem was when I am in an extended Verizon area by the cabin in Wi and my Bionic was the same. There may be something wrong with your phone.

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Originally Posted by brisk21

I went from a Droid X to a Bionic, and now an S3. My wife has the Droid 4. All the Motorola phones get an equally full 3g signal in our house. (we live in a smaller town, 4g is still a few miles north of town). My S3 gets 2 bars of 1X in the house most of the time. I pick up a weak 3g signal once in a while. Very disapointing. The only reason I stuck with the S3 is that I have wi-fi at my house so data works great. I can't even walk around my house on the phone without losing a call sometimes. I will be going back to Motorola as soon as I have an upgrade.

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I had an HTC Thunderbolt for about a year and never dropped a call at my house. Since I got the S3 on release day I have dropped about 8-10 calls. I've only had 1 call since the JB update yesterday (it didn't drop). The signal is definitely weaker on the S3 than my thunderbolt. I can't comment on Motorola, I had a Bionic for a weekend but that phone wouldn't hold a data connection for more than five minutes.

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Originally Posted by JRParsons

I had an HTC Thunderbolt for about a year and never dropped a call at my house. Since I got the S3 on release day I have dropped about 8-10 calls. I've only had 1 call since the JB update yesterday (it didn't drop). The signal is definitely weaker on the S3 than my thunderbolt. I can't comment on Motorola, I had a Bionic for a weekend but that phone wouldn't hold a data connection for more than five minutes.

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The guy at the Verizon store even warned me of the weaker signal with Samsung phones. I didn't listen. I should have.

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Originally Posted by JRParsons

I had an HTC Thunderbolt for about a year and never dropped a call at my house. Since I got the S3 on release day I have dropped about 8-10 calls. I've only had 1 call since the JB update yesterday (it didn't drop). The signal is definitely weaker on the S3 than my thunderbolt. I can't comment on Motorola, I had a Bionic for a weekend but that phone wouldn't hold a data connection for more than five minutes.

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That was a common problem with the Bionics. I had one and switched to the GS3. After dropping three calls in the week and a half that I owned it, I traded it in for the RAZR Maxx HD and have so far been very satisfied with my decision.

So I saw the modem respomse here and wondering if it still works great? I justpicked up the galaxy and noticed my signal strength is at -105 db. Ugh

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Originally Posted by marbeezy

So I saw the modem respomse here and wondering if it still works great? I justpicked up the galaxy and noticed my signal strength is at -105 db. Ugh

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That's typically what I'm seeing for signal strength on my S3. Every now and then I get into a really strong signal and it goes up to -80db, but it's kind of rare. Has anyone moved from the S3 to the Galaxy Note 2 to see if the reception's any better?

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Originally Posted by greglb

That's typically what I'm seeing for signal strength on my S3. Every now and then I get into a really strong signal and it goes up to -80db, but it's kind of rare. Has anyone moved from the S3 to the Galaxy Note 2 to see if the reception's any better?

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I have the Note2 and my signal strength is -97 but I am in a strong 4G area my S3 was always about -103. Thats not what you should be looking at. If your phone works good signal strength dont matter. If your looking at data thats another story the radios (modems) are what realy effect your data. I have had my phone for 6 days so far never dropped a call I have seen a 3G signal solid 4G. On the other hand though my S3 never dropped calls but it did drop 3G once in awhile but I never lost data. Im going go a spot tomorrow where I used to drop 4G Ill report back then.

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Originally Posted by wooddale

I have the Note2 and my signal strength is -97 but I am in a strong 4G area my S3 was always about -103. Thats not what you should be looking at. If your phone works good signal strength dont matter. If your looking at data thats another story the radios (modems) are what realy effect your data. I have had my phone for 6 days so far never dropped a call I have seen a 3G signal solid 4G. On the other hand though my S3 never dropped calls but it did drop 3G once in awhile but I never lost data. Im going go a spot tomorrow where I used to drop 4G Ill report back then.

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I'm not really dropping out of 4G much, but notice really dramatic drops in my data speed with a lower signal compared to the times I've had a higher signal. I haven't been sure if that's only been due to low signal strength or if other factors might be impacting the speed.