What is typical 3G signal range?

toy4x4

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I keep dropping 3G data last couple days at work where I have always had great signal??? I'm on stock ICS .246 btw. I'm bouncing from 1tx to 3G to no data to great 3g then back down constantly... like every 2 - 3 minutes its all over the place. Acts like an issue with just 3G cause phone calls seem solid but text messages periodically fail to send and data keeps falling off randomly. I'm seeing 3G = - 19 dBm to -61 dBM is this good, bad, excellent, or what? 1x stays around -85 dBm to -96 dBm which seems normal I think.
 
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toy4x4

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BTW no LTE in my area and this is inside building that is clear line of site of the only vzw cell tower for miles around. So no hand-offs should be happening.
 

deduct

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Try wiping cache first and if it is still spotty after that, try a factory reset.
 
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toy4x4

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Well I cleared the cache... I'll see how that does today...

The thing that confuses me though is the 3g dBm levels don't make sense... First off they are much stronger than the 1x signals in dBm but also they seem to indicate stronger signals when I get worse signal... I would get -19 dBm (a very strong signal in dBm) but have 0 bars and then 3g would just drop off... Then I would get 3g back with 5 bars and it would be -61 dBm signal ( a much weaker signal in terms of dBm ) I watched it as I drove home and in places where voice signal is choppy 3g would show -30 to -19 dBm while the 3G bars would take a dive to 1 or 2 bars... I'd get back in a clearing where signal is stronger and it would show 3g signal as - 47 to -63 dBm and 3G bars would be 3 - 4 bars?

Here are 3 shots taken within same minute yesterday. These were outside in line of sight of vzw tower.
 

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deduct

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kechamb said:
I have heard of this but have 2 questions. 1. What does pulling the SIM card do? 2. What are the steps for doing this?

Power off phone and Take off your battery door cover and remove battery. Then pull out the little white card that is just under the SD card. Its easier if you first remove the SD card too. Be sure to replace the sim card exactly as it was. You put it in backwards it could fry the card.
 

Tonik

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Poeer off phone and Take off your battery door cover and remove battery. Then pull out the little white card that is just under the SD card. Its easier if you first remove the SD card too. Be sure to replace the sim card exactly as it was. You put it in backwards it could fry the card.

Skipped a couple of steps.

After you pull it put the battery back in and power it up. It will give you a now sim card error. Power it back down and put it all back in. What this process does is forces the phone to re-register with the network and it often clears up weird network related issues.

If you do fry the sim card by putting it back in don't panic. Just hit a VZ corporate store and they will give you a new one for free.
 

aaf709

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The sim card is mainly for the 4G service. I once did the sim card pull, but it in wrong and fried the card. I had 3G where I used to have 4G. I took the phone to a Verizon store and told them what I did. They replaced the card at no charger.

AFAIK, the bars are for the phone signal only and nothing to do with the data signal.
 

mehimatt

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When I get kicked off 4G at house(I get bad signal) I have - 65 downstairs I get about - 90 its probably an issue with ur phone
 
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toy4x4

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Clearing the cache has helped... I'm not constantly dropping 3g anymore. 3G dBm levels are still backwards though...:confused: Anyone else care to share 3G dBm Levels?

Settings > about phone > status > network type and strength
 
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