Have to pull battery to restore cell signal

[eagle923]

After seeing this thread Possible Signal Fix , I found that when my cell signal is lost (which never happened on my Droid 1 ANYWHERE at work dancedroid) a battery/sim pull fixes it until I roam somewhere deeper into the office where the signal drops out again.

I understand the Nexus signals aren't all that wonderful, but its obviously capable of GETTING a signal. It just can't restore it once its lost. At my desk I get 1-2 bars until I move into the laboratory. After coming back to my desk it'll sit at 0 bars and say "Searching For Signal" until I pull the battery/sim. Then its fine.

Is this something that can be fixed via software patches?

I have 3 days left of my 14 day window to decide if I'm keeping the GNex. I've had to swap phones TWICE already because the first one dropped almost every call I made and the second wasn't much better. I've never had problem with signal from VZW in the ~10 years before, so I know its the phone.

 

[Droid-Xer]

Have you tried just toggling airplane mode? Signal hand off is iffy on the gnex.

 

[eagle923]

I have unfortunately. Even just rebooting doesn't do the trick. But a 20-30s battery/sim pull fixes it nearly 100% of the time. I'm loving this phone, but I rely on it as my main phone now that work pays for it. I MUST have a voice connection at my desk. We have wifi, so a weak 4G signal indoors doesn't bother me.

 

[jntdroid]

Has this happened in "3g only" mode as well?

 

[eagle923]

Hmm, let me check here in a bit. I typically just leave wifi/4g/cdma mode all on. We have strong wifi at work and I get a strong 4g signal as soon as I step outside. Its just this voice signal disappearing and not coming back (it doesn't disappear if I just stay at my desk, it just doesn't come back after losing it from my lab which is a faraday cage).

 

[jntdroid]

Hmm, let me check here in a bit. I typically just leave wifi/4g/cdma mode all on. We have strong wifi at work and I get a strong 4g signal as soon as I step outside. Its just this voice signal disappearing and not coming back (it doesn't disappear if I just stay at my desk, it just doesn't come back after losing it from my lab which is a faraday cage).

I can't leave it on 4G in my building b/c occasionally it'll be just enough for it to grab it, then it goes away, and it's a constant battle. So I just defer to 3G only in my office and it works fine.

 

[eagle923]

Well it "does" come back at least. It still takes forever, but I will keep trying it out from 3g only and hope it can be fixed via software. I don't really want to go back to my Droid 1!

 

[eagle923]

So it comes back very slowly without a battery pull when in 3g only mode. Its quite disappointing that my LG Envy, BB Pearl and Moto Droid 1 never had this problem in the last 6-7 years of having smart phones and my new $700ish phone does

I may put a 3g/4g toggle on the home page, but that just seems like a poor band-aid fix. I am running the 4.04 radios on AOKP Milestone 4.



So my question from the first post is: is this something they hopefully will fix via software updates? Or is it just a poor radio design and I need to wait for another phone?

 

[jntdroid]

So it comes back very slowly without a battery pull when in 3g only mode. Its quite disappointing that my LG Envy, BB Pearl and Moto Droid 1 never had this problem in the last 6-7 years of having smart phones and my new $700ish phone does

I may put a 3g/4g toggle on the home page, but that just seems like a poor band-aid fix. I am running the 4.04 radios on AOKP Milestone 4.



So my question from the first post is: is this something they hopefully will fix via software updates? Or is it just a poor radio design and I need to wait for another phone?

To be honest, I don't know, and it's my one concern with the phone. I bought the Gnex when it was first released and had too many issues with it, so I returned it. Just picked up another one yesterday via CL, and so far it's been pretty solid, but we're talking 1 day so far. IMHO the HTC Rezound is head and shoulders above the other LTE phones (except maybe the Razr/Maxx) when it comes to signal connectivity - it never misses a beat. I know location makes a difference, and LTE is constantly being tweaked by VZW, but the fact that one phone seems to handle it almost perfectly, while others don't, makes me worry it's poor radio/hardware design.

 

[xDMONEYx]

I have not had any signal issues with my phone since my first Nexus over a month ago. I believe it is a hardware issue among some of the phones. I would return it for an exchange since you are within your 14 day period.

More importantly, does this type of behavior happen anywhere else that you notice? Or just at work? It very well could just be the spotty service at your work if you don't see this behavior anywhere else.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

 

[eagle923]

This mostly happens at work where the signal is the lowest. But, my phones for the last number of years have always worked (at least 7 yrs back to my old LG EnV!!) fine. My Droid1 for the last three years was great.

I've already exchanged two phones, I guess I can try one more. Just disappointed I guess :frown:

 

[jntdroid]

This mostly happens at work where the signal is the lowest. But, my phones for the last number of years have always worked (at least 7 yrs back to my old LG EnV!!) fine. My Droid1 for the last three years was great.

I've already exchanged two phones, I guess I can try one more. Just disappointed I guess :frown:

I hate to say it but it likely won't change, at least in the phone. LTE devices use a technology called eHRPD which basically lays on top of their EVDO Rev A 3G to help with the 4G/3G handoff, and most of the time that's the problem. The Rezound and Thunderbolt use a chipset that allows you to "disable" eHRPD and become a true EVDO Rev A phone again, like your Droid 1 was (fwiw, this same chipset allows simultaneous voice/data over 3G alone).

 

[BDNYY23]

Just a thought, but are you using a battery saving app like Juice Defender or 2X Battery. I had major issues with 2X Battery where my phone would not reconnect to 3G after entering battery saver mode, and my only option was to reboot the phone. I have since removed that and went with a custom ROM and haven't had any issues (except the better part of today, while it appears Verizon was down in my area).

 

[eagle923]

I hate to say it but it likely won't change, at least in the phone. LTE devices use a technology called eHRPD which basically lays on top of their EVDO Rev A 3G to help with the 4G/3G handoff, and most of the time that's the problem. The Rezound and Thunderbolt use a chipset that allows you to "disable" eHRPD and become a true EVDO Rev A phone again, like your Droid 1 was (fwiw, this same chipset allows simultaneous voice/data over 3G alone).

Thanks I searched the eHRPD to read up on it and came across this article at ExtremeTech and its pretty good at explaining it with plenty of links for deeper reading. So I get why it has a crappy handoff from 4g to 3g. I still am baffled as to why the 1xRTT signal still stinks on this phone.

I'm going to try a Razr Maxx and if it stinks just as bad I'll probably stick it out with the Nexus and just make sure I stick it in 3g mode.

@jntdroid - no battery savers. Just the AOKP Milestone 4 rom and the 4.04 radio flashed.

 

[condor12]

I read an article that surmised the problem was the authentication process on 4g verizon network. It seemed to explain the behavior many people including myself are having. I assume this can be solved with an update.
Chet
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums