Horrible Reception Issues! Help! Going on #3 gnex...

[bmik22]

I'm on my second Gnex... I'm about to give up. The first one was great, then shortly after a week had horrible problems connecting to 3g/4g.

Went to exchange the phone yet they were out so they gave me a razr to use for a week until they got more in. (bought from costco).

Used the Razr a week and it was wonderful, it never lost recpetion etc. However, I hate Gingerbread and it was hard going back from ICS.

Figured I would give it another go with the GNEX. Picked up a new one last Friday. SAME thing, even worse. It won't hold a signal for more than 15 mintues, drops off for anywehre from 3 mintues to 30 minutes. I've dropped almost every call I've been on, had over 50 SMS not send, and it's to the point where is unusable... Mind you this is after a trip to Verizon where they changed the SIM card, and Costco changed the SIM card last night.

Going to exchange again! I can't even use the phone... Is anyone else experiencing these issues as bad as me? I'm in Cleveland and like I said the Razr performed flawlessy, this nexus is garbage in my eyes.

SOoo, should I try Gnex #3? Or go back to Razr tongiht? I'm running out of patience of all the time i'm waisting returning phones, trouble shooting, etc. Love the gnex but I'm starting to believe its really not a phone to count on ....

Opinions?

 

[syndicate0017]

Update your PRL and make sure you enable data roaming. I've had wonderful signal since.

Sent from my GalaxyNexus using Tapatalk

 

[bmik22]

Whats PRL?

 

[syndicate0017]

Preferred roaming list. Put *22899 as a contact then dial it. It will go through activation. Then enable data roaming under settings-more-mobile networks. Give it a day or two. Hopefully it makes a difference for you.

Sent from my GalaxyNexus using Tapatalk

 

[bmik22]

Thanks for the info. I'll try that. Do you think it's hardware though? I as well as others have come to the conclusion that this phone has bad radios.... Thoughts?

 

[syndicate0017]

I believe everything is software related. Seeing as I've flashed the leaked radios and attempted the possible fix I gave you and now I have fantastic signal.

Again, I'm not denying an issue because there is one. I just believe a software fix is in order rather than the issue stemming from bad hardware.

Sent from my GalaxyNexus using Tapatalk

 

[prowler85]

Yeah, I agree that it's not hardware. Could have been on your first phone, but on both? Personally, I got my Nex on launch day and have never dropped a call or lost data (except when there were outages of course). I live on the fringe of 4g and when it does drop it kicks right to 3g and all is good. My Nex has been just as good (or better) than my Bionic and my DX, so I don't think there is a hardware issue with the radios. I'd recommend what syndicate said above, and to maybe root and flash updated radios just to see. Since I've flashed a 4.0.3 ROM this phone has been outstanding, including battery life. So software has been the main culprit in all of the problems, imo. Which makes sense with the huge upgrade that ICS was.

 

[greper]

As someone who's thunderbolt upgrade is available in 15 days I'd appreciate any comments / followup on the suggested fixes.

PRL update & enable data roaming
Flashing a different radio / baseband update for reliability Have Reception Stability Issues? Get the New Bootloader! - xda-developers
or frustrated and returned it.

Gnex now or wait for note/journal, s3, or something with a 28mm chipset
2 year cell contracts make life difficult.

 

[bmik22]

OK, Follow up..

I tried the suggested fixes.

While it did help very little..... I'm still dropping data constantly. Made two calls since then and dropped one of the two.

Constant data loss, transitioning from 4g to 3g is a somewhat smoother but no way acceptable. I would say a 20% increase, but still this phone - in my opinion is not usable for me and my standards. Very unreliable.

Having owned both the Gnex and Razr --- the Razr is far superior in terms of signal and reliablity. I'm not going to say this is all software as some have proposed, the build quality is rather cheap compared to razr just pick it up and play with it. The backing is such a cheap/horrible design. Do not set this phone down on a table with any condensatation from a glass, it will suck up water like crazy. (Not that this has happend to me but trust me it will). My back cover doesn't even seat properly around the camera.

All in all, after all this time wasted i'm going back to Razr. I want a phone that works... can't blame me and I don't want to root - I like using my manufacturer's warrenties when problems arrise.

My two cents, good luck to you. Verizon really needs to up their QC on phones being released, this was released way ahead of its time with way to many bugs.

 

[bmik22]

For the record... I have taken a screen shot of every time I have dropped service today to show the cell phone rep tonight how bad this thing is...

I have over 50 screen shots total taken since 6:30 am, and it's 1:53pm now where I have no service/data ANYTHING....

Get my drift? Unacceptable.

 

[dezymond]

sorry to hear you had so much trouble with the Nexus. Guess I'm lucky as I've had no such problems. Enjoy your Razr

 

[Graikos]

Hi, I don't know if this will help or not. I was having the same issue with my phone, I just this moment got back from verizon. I was having the exact same issue. Since I had just got my phone a few days ago, they told me to give it a couple of days and come back if there are more issues. While leaving there I dropped 2 calls. Since I am self employed this was truly unacceptable. I did a u turn and went right back. I handed the phone to him and said please do something. He was about to change the sim card when, this other gentleman who work there said why don't you try to reset to the gentleman who is helping me. Now, I do not know what is reset is and I guess it doesn't have anything to do with my phone. All I know, is that he was on the phone for about 10 minutes or so with verizon. while he was talking to them he was doing something with my phone. When finished, he handed my phone back to me and said it looks like there was an issue with my phone switching from 4 g to 3g. Before he did this, the most signal I saw was about 2 or 3 bars. A lot of the time I saw I know bars at all. When I left I had full 3g signal and I have not seen the signal go below 1 bar. I have made 3 phone calls so far and haven't dropped 1 of them. It's still too early to tell but my phone definitely has better reception according to my signal. I don't know if this will help you or not but I figure I should let you know anyways. I do not think that dialing a 228 number helps with these phones as that information is stored on the sim card.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

 

[syndicate0017]

I do not think that dialing a 228 number helps with these phones as that information is stored on the sim card.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

Glad to hear you've seen improvement. The reason I told him to *22899 is because the SIM is NOT auto updating PRLs like it is supposed to. I have no idea why. Once I dialed the number, my PRL updated and I've seen much stronger and reliable signal. Though I was never plagued with the awful reception you and the OP have described.

Sent from my GalaxyNexus using Tapatalk

 

[captdroid]

Glad to hear you've seen improvement. The reason I told him to *22899 is because the SIM is NOT auto updating PRLs like it is supposed to. I have no idea why. Once I dialed the number, my PRL updated and I've seen much stronger and reliable signal. Though I was never plagued with the awful reception you and the OP have described.

Sent from my GalaxyNexus using Tapatalk

Yup I did the same several days ago and my PRL updated to 52642

 

[doublea500]

when they replaced the phone did they also replace the sim card?