"Antenna" issue is truly software related

heygrl · Jul 17, 2010

Okay, I've had my phone for a day or two and right off the bat I noticed that even though the phone had no bars of coverage, I actually had coverage and a good enough signal to boot.

I then found myself on XDA reading up on how to lock 3G since the old Nexus One/myTouch etc. trick doesn't work on the Vibrant.
I then came across someones post that leads us to a hidden menu

This menu has a wealth of information that, most of it I can decipher BUT I did find this lovely menu that lead me to the Vibrant's TRUE -dBm reading. The bars are WRONG, the Phone Information Testing menu is WRONG, and the phone has reception that is on par with the Motorola CLIQ I replaced it with. After -103 or so dBm, this shows as NO coverage (0 bars).

Here are the steps for those of us unfamiliar with it.

from i9000 FAQ said:
To get to the DEBUG and Phone status information -

*#*#197328640#*#*
Then select DEBUG screen
Then select BASIC INFORMATION
and the RSSI readout shows true -dBm
I suspected this yesterday but I wanted to be sure it wasn't a placebo effect kicking in.. explains everything really. We don't have -0dBm and this is proof.

During an active call, hit +Add call and punch in this number to bring up the menu. Store it as a contact also

(*#*#197328640#*#, add a contact like Field Test Mode, then go back and add the *, go back to the dialer and punch in *#* and it should bring this up.. select and you're on your way)

I want to note that the G1 doesn't "drop" 3G as much because the antenna is at the top (you'll see it when you take off the battery cover) so it has an easier time grabbing a signal because your hand isn't attenuating the signal. Do the same for the Vibrant or any other phone and you'll see your bars jump.

Final word: Good reception. Better than Samsung's of the past. I noticed that when I went to a few key locations and maintained a signal where my previous Samsung's fell off the cellular grid.

DKYang · Jul 17, 2010

I bet it'll be fixed when they release 2.2 if they don't do it immediately, hopefully anyways.

zoid_99 · Jul 17, 2010

Thanks for the info! I think you are right that the software isn't getting the real readings.

temperbad · Jul 17, 2010

Definetly software I have speeds also when my bars drop if they even do when I'm in a poor signal area....... I love this phone.....

heygrl · Jul 17, 2010

-100 under the RSSI readout is where the bars go to zero it seems. I had to get it just right though. Normally have 1 or 2 bars with the Vibrant.

Jon C · Jul 17, 2010

I'm experiencing issues with the 3G signal dropping if I even touch the phone. If I switch to EDGE-only, I find it's impossible for me to lose any bars. Same on my 2G iPhone (no signal loss on 2G).

Of course, this begs the question of how the 'bars' are measured. But it would appear as if the 3G reception is not stellar on the Vibrant. When I'm not touching the device, I can reach -91dBm. When the device is held, it immediately jumps to -111 and gives me a reading of zero bars.

temperbad · Jul 17, 2010

Jon C said:
I'm experiencing issues with the 3G signal dropping if I even touch the phone. If I switch to EDGE-only, I find it's impossible for me to lose any bars. Same on my 2G iPhone (no signal loss on 2G).

Of course, this begs the question of how the 'bars' are measured. But it would appear as if the 3G reception is not stellar on the Vibrant. When I'm not touching the device, I can reach -91dBm. When the device is held, it immediately jumps to -111 and gives me a reading of zero bars.

For me its on par with the nexus one except the n1 would drop to edge much quicker.although the vibrant drops bars sometimes the speeds are the same and call quality sounds just fine.i think its just reading wrong like OP says... No issue for me.sometimes I can't even get one bar to drop.

Jon C · Jul 17, 2010

Again, as with the N1, it's hard to tell if this is a carrier issue or a hardware issue. T-Mo's 3G network is by no means up-to-par with their 2G network. But in my area, 3G is marked as 'Best' on their maps. This makes sense, considering I live in T-Mo's headquarters coverage, with HSDPA+.

But even with all of this coverage, I am getting 0-2 bars on 3G, max. This bothers me.

heygrl · Jul 17, 2010

Jon C said:
Again, as with the N1, it's hard to tell if this is a carrier issue or a hardware issue. T-Mo's 3G network is by no means up-to-par with their 2G network. But in my area, 3G is marked as 'Best' on their maps. This makes sense, considering I live in T-Mo's headquarters coverage, with HSDPA+.

But even with all of this coverage, I am getting 0-2 bars on 3G, max. This bothers me.

It's not hard to tell at all, go under the service menu and check your signal strength.. the proof is right there. How can anyone be unsure when I took screenshots of my Vibrant, in an active call - showing no bars of coverage - -0dBm (no service) and then under the service menu it says I have -105 dBm of signal strength and It was usually much higher than that. I had to illustrate my point though. -111dBm under the Phone Info menu is like -98dBm under the Service Menu.

Jon C · Jul 17, 2010

I understand what you're saying, but, I'm getting "signal lost, retry?" pop-ups when holding the phone while 3G is on.

So it would seem it's not just a software misread of signal-to-bars?

degeneration · Jul 17, 2010

Jon C said:
I understand what you're saying, but, I'm getting "signal lost, retry?" pop-ups when holding the phone while 3G is on.

So it would seem it's not just a software misread of signal-to-bars?

That has nothing to do with signal, as I can get that with plenty of bars, or on wifi... That is something else that has popped up for people (especially in the market)...

but any way, on 3g with zero bars I am actually getting slightly faster D/L speeds than I did with my g1 (probably upload too but I don't remember what I used to be getting)

Went from low to mid 600s up to right around 800 (or 790 up to 850)

unxconformed · Jul 17, 2010

I think the software explanation is completely bogus.

It might be true that the phone doesn't report the signal correctly. But the fact that as soon as you hold the phone, the signal changes, implies that this is not a software issue at all. Your phone's software has no way of knowing if a hand is touching it or not. The only thing the phone know is that the signal strength is changing which is a physical effect, not a software effect.

I did multiple tests using the network speed test applications and all showed that the phone's signal was significantly affected by me naturally holding the phone.

For example
If I held the phone awkwardly so that I didn't cover up the antenna at all I got these results:
Download: 736kbps
Upload: 720kbps

holding naturally:
Download: 133kbps
upload: 3kbps

I've repeated this test multiple times and always get very similar results. There has not been a single instance where holding the phone naturally got me anywhere near the same up and down rates.

So, case in point, this is not a software issue, this is a bad placement issue.

temperbad · Jul 17, 2010

unxconformed said:
I think the software explanation is completely bogus.

It might be true that the phone doesn't report the signal correctly. But the fact that as soon as you hold the phone, the signal changes, implies that this is not a software issue at all. Your phone's software has no way of knowing if a hand is touching it or not. The only thing the phone know is that the signal strength is changing which is a physical effect, not a software effect.

I did multiple tests using the network speed test applications and all showed that the phone's signal was significantly affected by me naturally holding the phone.

For example
If I held the phone awkwardly so that I didn't cover up the antenna at all I got these results:
Download: 736kbps
Upload: 720kbps

holding naturally:
Download: 133kbps
upload: 3kbps

I've repeated this test multiple times and always get very similar results. There has not been a single instance where holding the phone naturally got me anywhere near the same uOpp and down rates.

So, case in point, this is not a software issue, this is a bad placement issue.

I think we all get it is losing some signal, all phones will when your covering the antenna in a not so great of coverage area... I think were getting at that its reading wrong when it does drop. Where as instead of just losing one or two bars its showing full signal loss, but that can't be totally accurate because of still getting good speeds and calls not dropping...

Yes it loses some signal but not as much as I think the readings make it out to be....

unxconformed · Jul 17, 2010

temperbad said:
I think we all get it is losing some signal, all phones will when your covering the antenna in a not so great of coverage area... I think were getting at that its reading wrong when it does drop. Where as instead of just losing one or two bars its showing full signal loss, but that can't be totally accurate because of still getting good speeds and calls not dropping...

Yes it loses some signal but not as much as I think the readings make it out to be....

Fair enough, I guess we are sort of talking to different points, but that doesn't change the fact that my upload and download speeds are absolutely dismal when I hold the phone naturally. No matter what they change in the software, this won't get fixed and the antenna issue is still a problem. I wouldn't care if the signal dropped a bit, but the extent that it does affect me is enough to make me want to return the phone. I mean did you see the difference in my upload and download rates? It was between 5.5x to 240x worse when I held the phone naturally. That is pretty terrible, especially when I compare it to my G1 (which had a far superior spot for the antenna in my opinion).

temperbad · Jul 17, 2010

unxconformed said:
Fair enough, I guess we are sort of talking to different points, but that doesn't change the fact that my upload and download speeds are absolutely dismal when I hold the phone naturally. No matter what they change in the software, this won't get fixed and the antenna issue is still a problem. I wouldn't care if the signal dropped a bit, but the extent that it does affect me is enough to make me want to return the phone. I mean did you see the difference in my upload and download rates? It was between 5.5x to 240x worse when I held the phone naturally. That is pretty terrible, especially when I compare it to my G1 (which had a far superior spot for the antenna in my opinion).

I lose some speeds but not as bad as you... Being in a real strong signal I can't even make the bar drop one...

I do agree the antenna is in a bad spot just like is was on the n1.. I saw a video before I got mine and was pretty sure it was also gonna be at the bottom and sure enough it was ....

Edit: I got so used to holding the n1 at the top so much that this don't even bug me...although I believe the body even shields some signal since its basically aiming at your body...

heygrl · Jul 17, 2010

unxconformed said:
Fair enough, I guess we are sort of talking to different points, but that doesn't change the fact that my upload and download speeds are absolutely dismal when I hold the phone naturally. No matter what they change in the software, this won't get fixed and the antenna issue is still a problem. I wouldn't care if the signal dropped a bit, but the extent that it does affect me is enough to make me want to return the phone. I mean did you see the difference in my upload and download rates? It was between 5.5x to 240x worse when I held the phone naturally. That is pretty terrible, especially when I compare it to my G1 (which had a far superior spot for the antenna in my opinion).

These are two completely different and separate issues.

t1n0m3n · Jul 18, 2010

0db would actually be crazy awesome signal. Not "no signal" as previously mentioned. That this phone is saying 0db is "no signal" is obviously a glitch.

zaelia · Jul 20, 2010

I ran the speed test both ways and got much faster download speeds with zero bars and my hand covering the antenna than when holding it at the top and full bars

Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

ArcticWolf91 · Jul 20, 2010

I hope that it is. It annoys me that my mom's 30 dollar phone gets full bars while this 500 dollar phone drops to one or two.

"Antenna" issue is truly software related

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