Note 3 poor reception

You all are my final hope... I got Note 3 N900A (AT&T factory unlocked) from eBay from USA to India last week. Inserted the Sim and I did get 1-2 bars. Now the problem is that the same SIM was giving 4-5 bars on a previous Samsung phone I had (not a smartphone but a basic phone). On Note 3 I am having serious network issues in the same area I earlier had no issues, to such an extent that sometimes I get cross on GSM signal. Data out of question. Today I also realised that the GPS is having problems locking to satellite while navigation. I should to Samsung service center here and they say the phone is okay but phones from abroad usually are very sensitive to signal strength. I am losing my piece of mind though.

Help me out on this please.

Parambir

AO7 said:

Not an expert by any stretch!

1. Are you using a case for the phone? Try it without one.

2. have you flashed back to stock when you bought it? If not try flashing stock. But be absolutely certain about which firmware you need for your US AT&T. You also need to backup EFS and FSC partitions from /dev before flashing anything.

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I am using a case. Shall try without one. Flash? Why do I need to flash? How will flash help improve signal strength? It is not that I am not getting any strength. The bars just disappear sometimes.

AO7 said:

Not an expert by any stretch!

1. Are you using a case for the phone? Try it without one.

2. have you flashed back to stock when you bought it? If not try flashing stock. But be absolutely certain about which firmware you need for your US AT&T. You also need to backup EFS and FSC partitions from /dev before flashing anything.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Used it the whole day without the case and I think it did the trick. I never knew removing the case will effect it so much. Need to experiment it further to make sure case was the problem.

AO7 said:

Great news! Try a case that contains no metal. I recommend the Spigen line of cases. They're a bit pricey but mine has served me really well for the last 9 months now.

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Click to collapse

The one I have is not metallic but I think maybe because of its thickness, the problem is occurring. I am planning to to use a case but laminate the rear cover specially the lens and flash cover.