Bad signal on VZW GNex

Search This thread

bobsbbq

Senior Member
Jun 8, 2008
5,208
356
Cleveland, TX
I am a new customer to Verizon Wireless, and I tried calling in and see if I am lucky enough to grab that unlimited Hotspot and unlimited data. I called in, said that my friend just joined Verizon Wireless, and he called in and was given unlimited Hotspot and Data, so I want the same. The Rep did an extensive search, and even called the department that specializes in promotional packages, but no such promotion exists. Then he called another department to try to override the new plans and try to grab an old unlimited plan, but all i was told is that only Grandfathered plans can, and the system simply won't allow it to be placed in.

I think you posted in the wrong thread.
 

adrianblack

Senior Member
Mar 22, 2008
97
22
West Coast
Oh what's also strange is people talking about the phone showing less bars and Verizon is just saying it is a software issue how the phone converts signal strength to bars. Does not make sense to me as when I looked at the dbm the number of bars always seems to match what my Droid X was showing if both had the same dbm. (Like in the first picture .. 2 bars)

The problem obviously is the antenna or receiver is worse than other phones resulting in lower bars being shows.
 

crankerchick

Senior Member
Apr 12, 2006
78
3
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

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: h1p1n3

kapp5

New member
Jan 6, 2012
1
0
For those having signal issues, have you tried rolling back to 4.0.1? I found that fixed problems for me with the constant switching from 3g to 4g, or dropping the connection all together. And this is coming from someone who is on their 2nd brand new VWZ GNex.
 

jedblack

New member
May 6, 2006
4
0
Do you have any steps or documentation on how to roll back to the previous firmware?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
 

McDeadagain

Senior Member
Dec 22, 2011
91
26
Roswell
Oh what's also strange is people talking about the phone showing less bars and Verizon is just saying it is a software issue how the phone converts signal strength to bars. Does not make sense to me as when I looked at the dbm the number of bars always seems to match what my Droid X was showing if both had the same dbm. (Like in the first picture .. 2 bars)

The problem obviously is the antenna or receiver is worse than other phones resulting in lower bars being shows.

Yeah, I could care less about the bars.

Here's what I know - data drops out at least half a dozen times a day. Voice service drops out at least half a dozen times a day.

My coworkers have a Bionic and a Razr and have no issues. I had a Razr for a month and had no issues.

Glad the phone is working properly for some folks, but it sure isn't for me. I have a replacement arriving today (my headphone jack wouldn't do stereo) and I'm interested to see if it does any better staying on the voice and data networks. Tempted to leave it on 4.0.1 based on the post above...
 

macgruff69

New member
Jan 7, 2012
3
0
I must say I have had the phone since thurs. I love the phone but the poor signal is an issue for sure. I drop a signal alot in my office. Makes my email hard to getPhone service is spotty at times as well. I am contemplating returning it for a droid razr.
 

typester

Member
Jul 20, 2006
28
0
on my 3rd nexus

So im kicking myself for sending back my 1st one...it was getting really hot while playing games but everything was working fine no signal problems for almost 3 weeks. Costco offered to exchange for a new one so i thought i might as well try and see if a new phone gets as hot...then the real problems began. The 2nd phone literally wouldnt hold a signal 1x 3g or 4g for more than 3 minutes at a time. The phone was completley usless. The next day i had to go return it and buy another one. Thank goodness the new one holds a signal for more than 3 minutrs but at least every few hours or so it does the same thing as my second phone. It drops ALL signals and cant get it back for 2 to 5 minutes...very annoying. Im thinking about returning this one and trying a fourth but i just unlocked the bootloader and flashed hd revolution so i might tinker with 4.0.1 before i go back to stock and retyrn it.
 

adrynalyne

Inactive Recognized Developer
Dec 13, 2008
10,950
6,471
My signal is horrible. :p

Screenshot_2012-01-08-10-56-30.png
 

ztmike

Senior Member
Feb 17, 2010
562
70
NW Indiana
Just bought the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon (New customer/contract) and yes..the signal is crap.

I was out at Buffalo Wild Wings with some people and a buddy of mine has a Verizon iPhone 4S and he was getting FULL bars while my Galaxy Nexus was getting 2 bars.

Not sure what to do..love the phone but damn if I can't get a signal what use is having a Verizon cellphone with their coverage areas?

I live in NW Indiana if that matters any. 4G LTE hasn't hit my city yet but its starting to surround the other areas around me.
 

holysnikey

Senior Member
Apr 9, 2011
63
11
The iPhone isn't good to compare it to because Apple did what Verizon is going to do with the Galaxy Nexus which is just adjust how the bars are shown. This is basically telling everyone they are dumb and the signal is fine so they just make it look like the signal is better. Although the newest update definitely actually helps radio too so I don't know if that is part of 4.0.3 AOSP or just the official Verizon version.
 

TiltedAz

Senior Member
Oct 19, 2007
522
76
Other than testing them, verizon has little to do with it. Google will be tweaking the software. Samsung could be providing engineering hardware insight if needed. It could be more than cosmetic bar adjustments. Software affects hardware performance by initializing and configuring hardware device settings.
 
Last edited:

crankerchick

Senior Member
Apr 12, 2006
78
3
Just bought the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon (New customer/contract) and yes..the signal is crap.

I was out at Buffalo Wild Wings with some people and a buddy of mine has a Verizon iPhone 4S and he was getting FULL bars while my Galaxy Nexus was getting 2 bars.

Not sure what to do..love the phone but damn if I can't get a signal what use is having a Verizon cellphone with their coverage areas?

I live in NW Indiana if that matters any. 4G LTE hasn't hit my city yet but its starting to surround the other areas around me.

OH MY GAWD stop comparing to other phones and then saying something is crap. It has been stated many times and reasonably well documented and also confirmed by VZW that the Nexus and Android 4.0 report signal differently from other 4G phones. The iphone is reporting 3G signal strength while the Nexus reports LTE signal strength if it is connected to LTE and 3G if it is connected to 3G. The signal strengths are NOT the same. Further, if you are comparing even on 3G, the phone reports differently and it possibly only reports quantized values, as in 1 value for a range of values.

Furthermore, bars are meaningless.
 

triden55

New member
Jan 27, 2012
1
0
Vancouver, BC
I thought I would chime in about this since my wife got a new Nexus 3 weeks ago on Telus in Canada.

She has always complained about bad signal strength and dropping calls, but I was never able to confirm this until today. We were in the mall walking around and I noticed that her phone had absolutely no signal (or indication of it) - when my phone was perfect. I have a Galaxy S2. I thought hmmm, she should have a good signal like my phone, so to reset it I turned airplane mode on and off. This time her signal came back and the phone worked perfect. 30 seconds later as we started walking I could slowly see the signal drop and drop some more. It dropped until the indicator was at 0 and I was not able to place any calls. All throughout this time, my phone always had a good signal. We are also on the same phone network.

It's a very strange problem. Just thought you guys would like to hear about my personal experiences with it.
 

toroidal_loop

Member
Jan 25, 2012
6
0
Yeah, for some reason, the signal strength in the Tampa area is constantly in flux. I'm on a 1x network half of the time on my Nexus. My Droid was a solid three bar 3G signal.
 

Hattricked

Senior Member
Jan 28, 2012
51
4
Can anybody confirm if this is a verizon only issue? I haven't heard of this issue on the GSM unlocked version
 

bradblick

Member
Jun 26, 2010
8
0
Baltimore, MD
Bumping -

Has anyone heard any news or found any solution to this problem?

It's terrible! No matter the ROM or Kernel, I seem to continue to have my signal completely dropped every couple minutes. Often times, I can't even get LTE back until I bounce the phone through airplane mode.

I've really enjoyed the phone itself - though not having LTE is an absolute headache, not to mention a waste. My Tbolt had zero problems on LTE (minus the network outages at launch) and my GNex has had nothing but problems.

With LTE enabled, the battery drain is unbelievable. I might get 4-6 hours AT BEST out of it. Only using my 3g radio, everything works as expected (which is slowly...compared to LTE) and battery life is fantastic.

Man, what a pickle.
 

eman3316@optonline.net

Senior Member
Jun 23, 2007
4,637
1,310
Bumping -

Has anyone heard any news or found any solution to this problem?

It's terrible! No matter the ROM or Kernel, I seem to continue to have my signal completely dropped every couple minutes. Often times, I can't even get LTE back until I bounce the phone through airplane mode.

I've really enjoyed the phone itself - though not having LTE is an absolute headache, not to mention a waste. My Tbolt had zero problems on LTE (minus the network outages at launch) and my GNex has had nothing but problems.

With LTE enabled, the battery drain is unbelievable. I might get 4-6 hours AT BEST out of it. Only using my 3g radio, everything works as expected (which is slowly...compared to LTE) and battery life is fantastic.

Man, what a pickle.

If you are in a known good 4G area and your 4G is dropping in and out on a consistent basis, you should try and swap your phone out for another one. The other radios won't fix this issue but getting another GN will.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bradblick

bradblick

Member
Jun 26, 2010
8
0
Baltimore, MD
That's unfortunate.

So it's a hardware issue not a software issue?


I've read alot of people saying they've gone through this issue with numerous GN's and replacement units.
 

nosit1

Senior Member
May 19, 2010
905
108
Arizona
That's unfortunate.

So it's a hardware issue not a software issue?


I've read alot of people saying they've gone through this issue with numerous GN's and replacement units.

I'm curious to see if a replacement would fix my 4G issue of it's just the surrounding area around me. I get wretched 4G at my house (2 down, .5 up average) and it seems my square mile is just plagued with it. My Droid Bionic would average around 7 down, 2 up. I just want to test another out to see if my suspicions are true or not.

But if I go to the Verizon Store, you know I'll pull 32 down and 28 up, of course.
 

Top Liked Posts

  • There are no posts matching your filters.
  • 2
    That is what tech support told me when I was on the phone complaining about loosing 4 bars of 4g going from my razr to the GN. I had download speeds of 28mbs/sec now I have around 4mbs/sec if I have any 4g at all. I asked to have the phone reprovisioned on the towers but they didnt do it because the radio is now a "Know Issue" with VZW tech support. Again I was told a fix is in the works expect it mid Jan.

    Yes, you keep believing that from a VZ rep, Mid- Jan magically is the date that any purchases over the holiday period lose their return window ...

    Gee, I hope I'm wron... er, nope, I'm not.
    2
    For whatever it's worth, here's what I heard back from a tech at Verizon who seems to be pretty knowledgable based on past experience:

    As far as the Nexus, it's really been too short of a time for me to get an accurate gauge on what the situation is, but here's what I know so far.

    ---The signal indicator is incorrectly displaying signal strength. Google is saying that it displays signal differently than the normal stock of VZW phones, but either way, a software fix is being developed. Tentative release date Mar 2012.

    ---The 3G reception is faulty. There is a recognized issue where the device displays that 3G is available, but the device is unable to commit to data sessions. Temporary workaround is to reboot the phone (not necessary to pull the battery, just powering down and back up again should do the trick). I would not advise to put the plane into airplane mode and back on again because the Nexus also has been documented to take up to 60 seconds to regain signal after coming out of airplane mode. Software fix for the 3G problem has a tentative release date of January 2012 and the airplane mode problem is tentative March 2012.
    1
    I have to imagine the VZW network was getting pounded pretty hard last night with new adopters and phones being activated. I'd say give it a few days and check back into it
    1
    I have same signal i used to have on my rezound, i still get almost same speeds around 28 up and 18-20 down here in Minneapolis. rezound used to get 32 down and around 20 up, but i am thinking since verizon network was pounded yesterday so there will be some impact on speeds
    1
    How did you pull up a measure of the signal strength in db on an iphone? I'm having the same gNex weak cellular signal problems and wanted to try an actual reception comparison to my wife's iphone like you did..

    Go to the phone keypad and type *3001#12345#* then press call/send