Reasons why you lose Mobile Data signal....is its REALLY your phone? Likely NOT.

yakitori

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So with all the gripes going on about the Gnex and losing mobile data, etc..I thought I would share this.


My opinion is this. A LOT of folks were waiting for the Gnex to release...and holding on to their upgrades to move to that phone. Many of these folks were on 3g devices previously which handles data differently than LTE technology. Im sure folks were used to staying connected on 3g and not getting interruptions in service. Well...that doesnt seem to be the case with most of the LTE phones. Now...before you go posting stuff like (I have a rezound/razr...and I get better signal and data than I did on my gnex). Or better yet...the infamous "I dont have a problem so there must not really be one" posts. Spare us.

Seems like your Gnex not getting data sometimes is not necessarily the radio or the reciever on the phone...nor the reception ability of the phone (that could be another issue), but more so with the "authentication" of your device failing on Verizon's end trying to connect to their network. So before you start with the, "if the 4.0.3 radio doesnt help, im ditching the phone" shenanigans...consider that your device may actually NOT be the problem.


Here is an interesting read on how LTE handles data and your device "checking in" and getting kicked off when stagnate for a while.

read and discuss

This Is Why Your Verizon Galaxy Nexus (Or Other 4G LTE VZW Phone) Is Losing Its Data Connection
 
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tgyberg

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Imagine how many customers have returned phones because of this authentication glitch. Ouch!
 

dezymond

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Saw this article a couple weeks ago and found it very informative. Good read. Think it may have been posted here when it first was written but good reminder

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akhenax

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Good find and a good read. Reading the comments there were also worth it.
 

Crazed_Z06

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I tend to believe this what's going on. Ive had the Thunderbolt and Bionic previously and both of those would have issues with data dropping. One of the big differences is on the Bionic, it would say I had 4G, but no data would ever come through. The "send" arrow would be constantly illuminated as if it were trying to connect, but the "down" arrow never showed any data coming through. On the Nexus, the behavior is the same, but I dont see any "4G" icon.. it just looks like there's no reception at all.

I really do think a lot of the data and reception problems are network-related. Just go over to Bionic, Razr, and even Thunderbolt forums. Each device has had issues with data drops. It cant be all bad devices. It's most likely Verizon trying to get this LTE thing rolled out. Hell lately, my Nexus has been doing great all of a sudden. i had been having data issues for a few weeks, and now it's much better. That tells me it's something to do with the network.
 

prowler85

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I still just find it odd that some have problems and some don't. I have never dropped data at work in Tucson or at home in Chandler. Granted in Tucson I get 3 solid bars, but in Chandler I am on the fringe. In fact it switches to 3g in my bathroom, but goes to 4g everywhere else in the house. So obviously my particular phone has no problem switching and authenticating to Verizon's network. And it was EXACTLY the same with my Bionic. Never dropped.

It does sound very plausible, just odd still that some see the issue and some don't. You'd think if it was a VZ issue that everyone on the same phone would see it.
 

tjk629

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I'm hoping it's just this.

I've had a Bionic since day one, and have had data drops since then. I've been on 893 and 901 and the problems still remains. It gets really irritating cause EVDO speeds here are around 300kbps while LTE speeds are leap and bounds better. So the solution to just not use LTE is kind of a kick in butt.

I'm hoping it's because of my location, but like prowler85 says some people say they're at fringe areas and never drop. So I have no clue if it's just my location or my phone. I wish I could have another LTE phone to test it out, but I don't have that kind of money.

I don't mind if I go from LTE to EVDO, in fact I'd be beyond happy with that. It just sucks when I completely lose data.
 

DesktopDevin

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There is definitley a VZW issue going on , if you saw my thread last week it wasn't so much the androids suffering in my area I was working at (North Raleigh around six forks )but it was iphones.

It was funny as crap because people would be in their way to work and their iphone was fine but the tower that serves the area around our work would not serve data to the iphones.

But I do have to say though I have noticed a diffence between my droid and my nexus and not just a little eiither. When I go inside where I work in Cary my droid would have full bars and never drop data. I bring my nexus into the same place not only is there no 4g signal but even when I switched over to cdma only so my battery wouldn't drain down looking for 4g I only get 1 maybe 2 gray bars at best.

I walk out of the door in the parking lot and Wham a full set of blue 4G bars, but I somewhat knew this is what I was getting into when I bought a samsung , they are well known for their bad radios.

I plan on keeping this as it is a sweet phone , but with the way they have screwed us with docks and accessories for this along with the bad radio I will never buy a samsung again.
 
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yakitori

yakitori

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Did you bother reading? You are comparing 4g lte devices to 3g non lte devices. Thy don't even use the same signal technology wise. And I believe I did say there is a common practice of quickly blaming a radio or Samsung. Please read the info before you decide to post.



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jroc

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This was a good read. I just said the other day it seems all these 4g phones have data issues. I had to reboot my rezound 3 times since getting it cuz it's been getting stuck in 1x. My razr since the latest leak has been better, don't have to toggle as much anymore.



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e10lfd

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I have the GSM version running on art network and have had similar issues with random reception glitches. I am running 4.0.3

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e10lfd

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ATT. Not art

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yakitori

yakitori

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Does your GSM have an lte verification checkin or same radio?

How can you compare the two technologies and assume its the same as a result?

Apples and oranges

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alboboy10

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Thunderbolt I had at first had terrible reception or switching from 3g to 4g or vice versa. After an update it became instant and the reception better.

The nexus will be wayyyyy better because of the support it has.

IPhones that are 3g have a lot of issues with handling data and dropping calls let alone these phones with two radios.
 

creaky

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Thanks for posting this, yakitori. Based on my experience I think that the article is correct. Just an assumption.

It seems like there could be a dev mod that would force the phone to reattempt authentication when data drops. Doesn't sound that hard, but I have no idea.

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