How bad are the Radio (3G) issues I hear about the N1?

silverkiller · Feb 28, 2010

On the fence between the N1/HD2/Droid/Waiting for this new Dell tablet thing.

The only thing thats really keeping me from pulling the trigger on a N1 is that I keep hearing that the radio sucks for 3g, and now also wifi.

Now I like to assume these people are just n00bs and don't know how to get the best out of their phones like us xda geeks do.

So how true are they? Any regrets here on the boards?

P.S I'm in London,UK.

JHaste · Feb 28, 2010

ive yet to have a problem, and i think its more of a US based problem than a UK one and I am in the US... get the N1 and dont look back, its a solid phone... the droid is a step down in my opinion

mikesm1234 · Feb 28, 2010

just got mine

I was thinking the same thing you where, I just went for it and order one. I have no issues with the 3G. The N1 is fantastic, and it is very fast. I think the early issues people have complained about must have been from an earlier batch of phone in the beginning stages on the release.

PS: in NYC

JoshHart · Feb 28, 2010

Had no problems with 3G or wifi

uansari1 · Feb 28, 2010

I honestly think the 3G issues is exacerbated here in the U.S. on T-mobile's network where they don't have "deep" coverage. In larger cities, such as Chicago (where I've tested my theory), no amount of covering the lower back portion of the phone caused me to drop off 3G. I went from 4 bars to 3, and that's about it. Here in Toledo, Ohio, T-mobile hasn't saturated the area with 3G, and covering the phone while indoors drops me to Edge. Outdoors I'm still fine.

ericc191 · Feb 28, 2010

0 WiFi problems here. On ATT, so I can't comment on 3G, but reception has been strong for voice.

galaxys · Feb 28, 2010

Had no problems with 3G or wifi for almost 2 months with this speedster!

uansari1 · Feb 28, 2010

galaxys said:
Had no problems with 3G or wifi for almost 2 months with this speedster!

Las Vegas = 3G saturation

Damn you big city dwellers...

galaxys · Feb 28, 2010

uansari1 said:
Las Vegas = 3G saturation
Damn you big city dwellers...

Just a lucky roll af the dice

JHaste · Feb 28, 2010

uansari1 said:
I honestly think the 3G issues is exacerbated here in the U.S. on T-mobile's network where they don't have "deep" coverage. In larger cities, such as Chicago (where I've tested my theory), no amount of covering the lower back portion of the phone caused me to drop off 3G. I went from 4 bars to 3, and that's about it. Here in Toledo, Ohio, T-mobile hasn't saturated the area with 3G, and covering the phone while indoors drops me to Edge. Outdoors I'm still fine.

haha, toledo... i grew up in sylvania and all i can say is i am glad i am out of that **** hole of a city... and yes the 3g there is weaksauce... but that is a "verizon town"... i literally think 80% of the pop has verizon in toledo

HighTech216 · Feb 28, 2010

silverkiller said:
Now I like to assume these people are just n00bs and don't know how to get the best out of their phones like us xda geeks do.

So how true are they? Any regrets here on the boards?

P.S I'm in London,UK.

I may be a junior member on this forum, but my 3G issues are legit. It's a design flaw, but as long as I'm in an area with strong 3G it never drops. At my house, my G1 will have stable 3G, but I can play the hand trick with the N1. Not a big deal, Wifi solves that. It only annoys me when it flip flops between 3G and EDGE, which you can fix. Really comes down to how good your coverage is.

Issues or not, no regrets here, I love my phone.

uansari1 · Feb 28, 2010

JHaste said:
haha, toledo... i grew up in sylvania and all i can say is i am glad i am out of that **** hole of a city... and yes the 3g there is weaksauce... but that is a "verizon town"... i literally think 80% of the pop has verizon in toledo

You're right about everything, lol... Verizon does have great coverage here. I'm only here for law school... originally from Cincinnati. I'm done in December and moving to Maryland/D.C.

HighTech216 said:
I may be a junior member on this forum, but my 3G issues are legit. It's a design flaw, but as long as I'm in an area with strong 3G it never drops. At my house, my G1 will have stable 3G, but I can play the hand trick with the N1. Not a big deal, Wifi solves that. It only annoys me when it flip flops between 3G and EDGE, which you can fix. Really comes down to how good your coverage is.

Issues or not, no regrets here, I love my phone.

Where in Ohio are you man? I completely believe you. But I put the blame on T-mo. I don't think they has really great coverage anywhere in the state, but I can only comment on Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo. When I visited my sis in Chicago a few weeks ago, I couldn't get the phone to drop below 3 bars of 3G. As I've said repeatedly in other threads, I think it's T-mo's greater level of 3G saturation in those cities. More towers, more overlap among those towers, etc. That's the logical conclusion. Sure HTC's antenna placement doesn't help, but with adequate data coverage, it would be a non-issue.

<blank> · Mar 1, 2010

The 3G issue seems to be case-by-case. Sometimes I can't block signal no matter what I do, other times it's an obvious drop to edge when i hold my phone with my hand.

I've found in such situations, having the new cyanogen ROM with the 180˚ rotation helps a lot. Hold the phone upside down and I suddenly have full HSDPA

Manacit · Mar 1, 2010

I don't have 3G where I live, but when I was down in San Luis Obispo where there's HSDPA, and when I went to a friend's house on the outskirts of 3G coverage, I had no problem dropping back to EDGE, then when I'd go outside or closer to downtown I'd get my 3G signal back.

starkruzr · Mar 1, 2010

I'm on CM5 as well in a small town in the Midwestern US. I don't really get 3G problems, but I DO see the phone switch back and forth between H and 3G while it manages the data connection. Sometimes this seems to make the data stall, but a reload of whatever I'm doing fixes it.

cottinghamm · Mar 1, 2010

Good

I am on O2 & in London the 3G is very good, I downloaded an album from the Amazon MP3 store this morning & it was very quick. Coverage will depend on carrier, but the N1 seems to have a better connection than any of my previous WinMo devices, almost all HTC based.

At home I have an imperfect 3G signal, I get it about 75% of the time depending on where I am in the house. I don't think its an N1 issue, just poor coverage.

If I need speed at home and the 3G drop the Wifi is great, never had an issue with that.

I'm about 7 weeks into the N1 & I can't fault it.

danguyf · Mar 1, 2010

I've never had a problem, here on the East Coast of the US.

pr0cl1v1ty · Mar 1, 2010

i live in Houston, TX i would switch from edge, to 3g constantly...

thankfully my college i got accepted to sends every freshmen a new iphone3Gs and are required to use. so now i must be a AT&T fanboy lol

Gslick · Mar 1, 2010

The things mentioned were all rumors, they keep trying to find a flaw to this device, even though it's so new, with such huge improvements, in my experience its a flawless device.

I'm from new jersey, Edge, 3G, HSDPA, and Wifi all tested working flawlessly. From all the made up myths (screen, connectivity, you name it) the 1 thing that I disliked from this phone was the screens' ability to attract more fingerprints than a CSI show, and I fixed this issue by getting invisible shield (rubbery screen protector).

Rooted the N1, installed my trackball colors, got cyanogen 5+ with Kspec theme = 100% amazing phone, apps such as Gmote, google earth among so many more, make this thing so much more than a phone, I never drop from HSDPA to 3G or Edge unless I go to New York, I seem to be on 3G speeds at times, but in NJ HSDPA all day long. If you have any questions about the device, email me at g2slick@gmail.com I'll link you to my youtube vids for information or questions. Take it from me and others that actually own the device, that its a well rounded cellphone and it's not even 3 months old. I've had a g1, mytouch, cliq, iphone 3gs, nothing comes close to this phone, btw check out tmobiles (even more plus) new plans, I pay 65 after taxes for all my needs, unlimited text, web, mobile to mobile, weeknights and weekends. They may charge you $30 to go to the cheaper plans. Take care.

- Gslick

Rusty! · Mar 1, 2010

silverkiller said:
On the fence between the N1/HD2/Droid/Waiting for this new Dell tablet thing.

The only thing thats really keeping me from pulling the trigger on a N1 is that I keep hearing that the radio sucks for 3g, and now also wifi.

Now I like to assume these people are just n00bs and don't know how to get the best out of their phones like us xda geeks do.

So how true are they? Any regrets here on the boards?

P.S I'm in London,UK.

HSDPA sucks in the UK:

On a more serious note, I don't seem to suffer crap wifi or mobile data (Vodafone contract), but you do read a lot about people with issues.

Do I regret it? Nope.

How bad are the Radio (3G) issues I hear about the N1?

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