My husband has a Thunderbolt and since getting the Nexus I have been obsessed with watching the signal like a hawk and comparing with any Verizon phone in my proximity, including his Thunderbolt. Not once have I compared mine to his and found a major difference in 3g signal strength (that's what the Thunderbolt reports in system settings for those that don't know). Most times our data speeds on either 3g and LTE are similar, although occasionally the Nexus has been faster. When we are in weaker 4G areas, there have been a 2 times where his phone was holding LTE while mine was either bouncing between 3G and LTE or solely in 3G.
I have compared exhaustively in the Verizon store both 3G signal strength (that's all the other phones report in system settings for those that don't know) and data speeds on both 3G and LTE and found no noticeable difference but this is of course in the store and while LTE isn't great there, it's not awful either. The only phone I have seenthe Nexus get pwned by isthe Rezound, which just seems hold signal in weaker areasbetter than any other phone I've compared it to in the 5 weeks I owned it and when I compare now with my friend who bought it based on my recommendation.
Just now I compared in a fringe area with my husband's Thunderbolt. Surprisingly, my Nexus was holding 4G when I expected it to fall back to 3G. I'm inside a bowling center and If I walk 90 feet towards the middle of the Center, it will switch to 3g. This is definitely a fringe spot. We are both holding 4G with signevels of -91 and -93 for his and mine respectively. Data speeds after 5 back to back tests were consistently around 4-5 Mbps down and 500 kbps up. It's just one example and certainly only my experience, buttered it is for anyone who cares. This is pretty consistent between mine and his in multiple locations. Someone mentioned it not being true until screenshots are provided. I'm on my Xoom and took the photos from my friend's *phone but I can produce them for any doubters.
I guess my point is just to saythat I believe my Nexus is behaving as designed and while it certainly isn't of the caliber of the Rezound which by far outshines the rest, my experience leads me to believe it is on par with other phones in terms of signal strength and where it it struggles is in weaker areas and with ha ding off LTE to 3g. I would encourage people who have excessive dropped data to consider a replacement, especially if you are in a strong reception area. If you are in a fringe area, at leasttry another nexus because you might just have a dud, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it really is something off with how this phone behaves in weak areas.
For pe
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