The Official: I am having reception issues thread

[jroc]

I've decided to bring the Nexus back. I love the phone, but I just cannot deal with the reception issues. I tried turning it to CDMA only, but I still cannot get reception at my desk at work where I used to get a solid (albeit 1x, one bar) connection on my Thunderbolt. I'm in NH right now visiting my folks, and where I was able to get a connection at some areas of the house, with the Galaxy Nexus I cannot get a signal at all. It is clear to me that it's not a matter of what the signal bars are showing, or what the dBm numbers are (or whether or not they are accurate). There are two fringe areas that I have always gotten reception with other phones -- my desk and my folks' house. With the Nexus, I do not get reception at either of these areas, and my battery dies in a couple hours trying to get service. My folks are pretty much in a dead zone, so that's not a real issue, but if I can't get a signal at work, that IS a deal killer. Previously, an original Droid, a DX2 that I had for a few days, and my Thunderbolt didn't have problems at my desk.

The other deal killer for me is this issue, which I am experiencing:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=22307

Since I use my phone in a car dock using aux-in to my car stereo every day, having that pop go through the speakers really worries me. I don't want to kill the speakers in my car.

Now the only question is which do I get now -- Droid RAZR (seeming locked, but has plenty of accessories/docks/protectors available) or the HTC Rezound (seemingly unlocked, better phone, but likely not as popular, therefore fewer mods, accessories, etc)?

Or wait for something better?

For phone reception, I would go RAZR. For 4G reception...its hard to tell. The Rezound has nice 3G and 4G reception, the latest leak for the RAZR has them as equals or close to it for 3G and 4G reception. The Rezound is already nice for 3G and 4G reception with no updates tho. Phone reception is kinda iffy. The extras and eye candy of the Rezound is nice. Something better...its hard to say. Never tried LG but their screens are supposed to be nice. Have no idea about Sony either. HTC putting the antenna on the battery door of the Rezound was a smart idea IMO.

The Rezound can have custom kernels so from a modding standpoint it is better than the RAZR. I have both...and it was a hard decision between the 2. Phone reception has me in the RAZR camp tho. Depends on wants n need with all these phones. About the G Nex...did you try the 4.0.3 radios? It did improve 3G reception for me.

 

[SPG900NY]

I didn't try the new radios. The few threads I read on the issue said it didn't help, so I don't want to have to unroot to return it since the audio issue is also a dealkiller. The more I think about it, the more I don't want to go back on my pledge of never again buying a phone from Moto until they actually unlock the bootloaders. When I had the audio issue with my DX2, the lack of ability to try new ROMs to correct the problem had me feeling backed into a corner. I've been generally happy with my Thunderbolt, found the build quality to be fantastic, and it looks like there is some dev work being done on the Rezound, so I'm pretty sure I'm going that direction after looking into it a little more. Guess I'll check it out at a Verizon store and then probably spring for it, then will probably get irritated down the road at the lack of docks and screen protector options (no Steinheil Ultra? For shame!)...

 

[Liderc]

My 4G signal strength has improved recently. Not sure if my towers have been increased or what but at 4bars I've been seeing -75dBm and this is what I saw today:

View attachment 46245

 

[tek112]

The newest talks are about the illusive .10 revision floating around. Most people have i515.09 as their baseband. However, a lot of people who spoke to Verizon have learned the current baseband is i515.10. Right now people are trying to figure out if there was a firmware upgrade or new hardware. Only a few users have reported being on the new .10 baseband. If there truly has been new hardware released, we may be entitled to new phones. No one knows for sure what revision .10 encompasses. I will make mention that I have disabled 4G altogether and the phone is much better than it was before in regards to signal consistency and battery life. Almost back to my Droid quality, in regards to signal quality.

My experiments have shown me that the phone will chose 4G over 3G. That means if the phone has to chose between -120dBm of 4G or -92dBm of 3G, it will chose the 4G giving you poor reception and dropped calls and since the 4G is so low, the phone will eat up battery constantly searching for a better signal when the low signal 4G goes in and out of service. The 4.0.2 radios have poor handshaking abilities and causes a lull when transferring between 4G and 3G. Users within a low 4G service area will notice a higher % of the phone time spent in a no service state. This no service state doesn't necessarily mean no service, but rather that you weren't connected to one. For example, the 20 seconds it may take to handshake going from 4G to 3G. The 4.0.3 radios have been shown to improve this handshakem, but do nothing (if not reducing minimally) the 3G capabilities of the phone.

I hope this helps people.

 

[JaysDroid2]

So my first Gnex was purchased the 23rd, had the holding a signal issues, the 26th i exchanged it for a new phone, same 4g sim, second phone, "seemed" to hold, switch and reconnect much better than the first, but alas a new and equally annoying problem, the next morning, today the 27th, two random shut down reboots in 1hour and 10 min, the first reboot i would have accepted as "a fluke" but two in an hour, no. So on my lunch break i returned it to the same store i purchased it from for phone number 3, i get back to my job and a coworker has the same phone on the same network, standing next to him, literally phone side by side, he had 2 bars of 4g and i had 1 bar of 3g, back on the phone with the store i bought the original, number two and number 3 with and they suggested i go to another store to in hopes not get a phone in a possible bad batch, so after work went miles out of my way to a different store, explain ALL over my issue/issues and finally got phone number 4 and a new 4g sim for the just in case, im going to work this phone hard this weekend to make sure its working, atleast halfway decently until a baseband update, software update, when i left the the other store had great 4g coverage, so i know its atleast capable of connecting and holding a signal,for now

 

[TeeX]

So my first Gnex was purchased the 23rd, had the holding a signal issues, the 26th i exchanged it for a new phone, same 4g sim, second phone, "seemed" to hold, switch and reconnect much better than the first, but alas a new and equally annoying problem, the next morning, today the 27th, two random shut down reboots in 1hour and 10 min, the first reboot i would have accepted as "a fluke" but two in an hour, no. So on my lunch break i returned it to the same store i purchased it from for phone number 3, i get back to my job and a coworker has the same phone on the same network, standing next to him, literally phone side by side, he had 2 bars of 4g and i had 1 bar of 3g, back on the phone with the store i bought the original, number two and number 3 with and they suggested i go to another store to in hopes not get a phone in a possible bad batch, so after work went miles out of my way to a different store, explain ALL over my issue/issues and finally got phone number 4 and a new 4g sim for the just in case, im going to work this phone hard this weekend to make sure its working, atleast halfway decently until a baseband update, software update, when i left the the other store had great 4g coverage, so i know its atleast capable of connecting and holding a signal,for now

wow!
Way to be persistent though! I had to return my original GNex, but I'm really glad that I went through the hassle (had to do it over the phone, after almost a dozen calls to Verizon). It really is an incredible phone when you get a good one. Too bad they don't all work the way they should :blink:

 

[msft_watch]

Has anyone else noticed a difference in the phone's ability to connect over 4G when WiFi is turned on/off? I am starting to see a trend that when WiFi is turned off, my signal strength in 4G doesn't seem to change much but my ability to create a data connection over 4G is markedly different (i.e., much better when WiFi is turned off). Am I imagining things? Thanks ...

 

[mindmachine]

Has anyone else noticed a difference in the phone's ability to connect over 4G when WiFi is turned on/off? I am starting to see a trend that when WiFi is turned off, my signal strength in 4G doesn't seem to change much but my ability to create a data connection over 4G is markedly different (i.e., much better when WiFi is turned off). Am I imagining things? Thanks ...

we don't have 4g here yet but with 3G i believe i am noticing the same thing. I think the phone is looking for the strongest signal and with wifi turned on it seems to have more trouble holding on to a weak 3G signal, i would assume the same tendency with 4G would exist if i had it here to compare. On my Thunderbolt i used to leave the wifi ion all the time and did not experience the problem. I am on my third Gnex and still havent found a radio any stronger than the first, the third one is a referb that was certified as up to snuff spec wise so there you go!

 

[NOVICE]

This is my story and I'm sticking to it. Have had gnexus for 45 days. Phone has been in heavy duty Defender case since purchase. Use phone primarily for internet and have been sorely disappointed by slooooow browsing and considered returning phone numerous times. Love phone, hate Long poor signal no better than 3g with prior Droid X (outstanding phone) Long story short, removed Defender case last night and suddenly have the phone I always wanted. Massive speed increase. Read all the forums and never saw discussion of provlems caused by case. Remarkable.

 

[xDMONEYx]

So I am experiencing the issue where my phone will drop my signal altogether at random points throughout the day. It already happened like 6 times in the 1.5 hours I have been awake today. I have had the phone for a little over a week now and have had this issue throughout the whole week. I have not been able to come to a clear consensus as to whether or not this is a network issue or the phone itself. Can anyone recommend what I should do? I have the 4.0.4 update installed, so I am thinking no software update will fix this issue and that I may have to try and exchange it for a new Nexus. Thoughts? Recommendations?

 

[hakaida]

Got my GN yesterday and was on a phone call this morning and the person on the other end kept yelling my name because she thought the call was dropped. I could hear her, but she could not hear me for a a few seconds and it happened a few times during the call. I use this phone for business so I hope that the 4.04 update that I just installed and the new baseband will help or I'll have to take it back.

 

[MyDroid23]

I thought I was crazy when I got a call and it just dropped tonight. It took almost a minute for me to get any signal back. I purchased the phone earlier in the day and haven't had much time until now. If this persists I will bring this up to a VZW rep as well.

BTW, did you guys get an OTA update when you got your phones?? Mine did...it is currently on 4.0.2 basebanf i515.09 v.ek05/i515.ek02 BUILD# ICF53F

 

[xDMONEYx]

I ended up taking mine back because of the dropped signal issue, got a new one and it works great now. Mine did get 4.0.2 after activation.

Sent from my GNex

 

[MyDroid23]

I'll give it 7 days and if the problem persists I will give them an earful. This is a big concern I hope Samsung or VZW fixes immediately.

 

[Djanvk]

So I was having issues with my galaxy nexus picking up 3g correctly with a with a good signal. I took it into my local verizon wireless store and because my small city on the edge of getting 4g very spotty just has it in small locations I was advised to just change it to street 3g because my phone cannot figure out which 1 it wants to pick up either 4g or 3g. So I said it to street 3g cdma and it works fine now I was told 4g will be throughout of the cities at 3 to 4 months. Hopefully this helps somebody sorry if this solution or has already been posted.
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