Bands and LTE Coverage

[xda_geekman]

I got the phone 3 days ago ....
I love the design, the Concept .... Hardware seems solid ... very fast and responsive .... faster than my Note 7.
However I have a big issue ....... *(

Even though on the official ASUS webpage it says the phone supports LTE Band 12, 700MHz for T mobile, the phone refuses to see and connect to anything else except Band 4, 2100MHz.
I live in an area where Band 4 LTE sucks ..... I dont live in the City ...
LTE Coverage seems to suck for me at the moment ....

On top of the LTE issues ..... It seems that this phone does not get very good cell signal for making phone calls ....*(
All metal design ??

Any thoughts on the LTE issues ??

 

[Darkdragontc]

You may need to bring this up to support and find out what is going on with it (otherwise t-mobile). I have metor pcs, and i know that goes with t-mobile, just might be certain bands not connecting to it.

 

[xda_geekman]

Update:

OK .... so after further testing and use of the phone, I have verified that the phone does connect to ALL of the T-mobile LTE bands ...... both 4 & 12.
But the phone it self seems to have Terrible signal / reception ....... *(
I have been carting around with me 2 phones ...... this phone and the Note 5.
it seems that this phone is just having a very hard time holding a good solid LTE connection.
Not even good enough for a Messenger call or Whatssapp call ...... *(
when the Note 5 had great LTE, this phone couldn't even hold a connection long enough for a 30 second Whatssapp call.
its very frustrating ........

I think it has to do with the all metal body of the phone.....

Any input ??

 

[galaxys]

Are their tmobile APN settings the same?
Do you have a case on it?

 

[roosta]

Update:

OK .... so after further testing and use of the phone, I have verified that the phone does connect to ALL of the T-mobile LTE bands ...... both 4 & 12.
But the phone it self seems to have Terrible signal / reception ....... *(
I have been carting around with me 2 phones ...... this phone and the Note 5.
it seems that this phone is just having a very hard time holding a good solid LTE connection.
Not even good enough for a Messenger call or Whatssapp call ...... *(
when the Note 5 had great LTE, this phone couldn't even hold a connection long enough for a 30 second Whatssapp call.
its very frustrating ........

I think it has to do with the all metal body of the phone.....

Any input ??

Yes, I believe you are right. I don't own this phone, but thought I'd give my two cents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTsg7EyYKFM

Yes, this is not your phone, it's the ZTE Axon 7. Watch from around the 4 minute mark. Much loike the Zenfone Deluxe 3, the mostly all-aluminum body without much field testing is always going to be a drawback for wifi strength and certain radio frequencies on LTE.

The Axon 7 is arguably more plastic than the Zenfone 3 Deluxe (at the top and bottom at least) meaning there should actually be incremental differences for the ability to hold a frequency with good strength in the favour of the Axon 7, however it's receiving a few poor real-world reviews for those who have bothered to test. From that assumption, the more 'sleek' all-aluminum body of the ZD3 is going to have the same problems, so its no surprise that you are reporting it.

I'm considering getting this phone up against the LG v20 H990DS dual sim. But Wifi strength and reliability on 4G LTE is a huge considersation, as it's really a basic expectation of any flasgship - dont bother making a phone of all-alluminum if the drawback is poor performance. This is why the design of the v20 is 10x better, for instance.

RoOSTA

 

[pacattack81]

Yes, I believe you are right. I don't own this phone, but thought I'd give my two cents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTsg7EyYKFM

Yes, this is not your phone, it's the ZTE Axon 7. Watch from around the 4 minute mark. Much loike the Zenfone Deluxe 3, the mostly all-aluminum body without much field testing is always going to be a drawback for wifi strength and certain radio frequencies on LTE.

The Axon 7 is arguably more plastic than the Zenfone 3 Deluxe (at the top and bottom at least) meaning there should actually be incremental differences for the ability to hold a frequency with good strength in the favour of the Axon 7, however it's receiving a few poor real-world reviews for those who have bothered to test. From that assumption, the more 'sleek' all-aluminum body of the ZD3 is going to have the same problems, so its no surprise that you are reporting it.

I'm considering getting this phone up against the LG v20 H990DS dual sim. But Wifi strength and reliability on 4G LTE is a huge considersation, as it's really a basic expectation of any flasgship - dont bother making a phone of all-alluminum if the drawback is poor performance. This is why the design of the v20 is 10x better, for instance.

RoOSTA

I can assure you all just based on the quality of the display compared to the V20 this phone is a thousand times better. The blues are very apparent on the V20 and side by side it doesn't even come close. The V20 just looks awful. If you're browsing webpages and playing games I'd much rather do it on the Zenfone. I wonder what it's like up against one of the newer Samsung's. Maybe I'll test it out, but the sales people in most stores are so pushy to help and get in your way. Some people really need to learn the best way to a sale isn't by being pushy but feeling out your customer.

I think people's mileage is going to vary on signal strength. I noticed identical WiFi strength between this phone and the Moto G4 I have. I often get poor signal at work and this phone drops signal way less. I haven't really tested out LTE other than to check that it works and I get the same number of bars as the G4 in my house.

 

[roosta]

I can assure you all just based on the quality of the display compared to the V20 this phone is a thousand times better. The blues are very apparent on the V20 and side by side it doesn't even come close. The V20 just looks awful. If you're browsing webpages and playing games I'd much rather do it on the Zenfone.

AmOled wins every day over IPS, however limiting the display to 1080p on a flagship is... so 2014. You can get the V20 with same screen size and bigger battery. On top of that, it's removable. The best feature is repairability. Take off the back cover, 20 small screws and it's easy to lift out the plastic cover, motherboard cameras and screen with ease. Even the 3.5mm jack pops off easily. It's one of the last flasgships yo keep the FM radio and have a more than useful IR blaster.

Zenfone doesn't even advertise Nfc despite some deluxe owners saying their phone had it, but in a very awkward position. I can see you have a preference but I find it hard for there to be any comparison. Comes down to your requirements in the end.

RoOSTA

 

[pacattack81]

AmOled wins every day over IPS, however limiting the display to 1080p on a flagship is... so 2014.

RoOSTA

Same can be said with putting an IPS display in a flagship phone. They chose 1080p vs 1440p because it's a well known fact 1080p gets better battery life. Put the phone side by side and pull up the same webpage and the text has the same clarity as the V20. Many will say the eyes can't tell the difference. Resolution aside, I can't express how much better the screen is than the V20. The phone is also lighter and smaller because it doesn't have the secondary display. At the end of the day, the Verizon's store rep owned the V20 and we both laughed at how awful the display on V20 looked compared to this phone.

Bottom line it's nice to have a removable battery, but it's the screen you look at most. I'd rather have a phone with the better display.

 

[roosta]

There's tonnes of IPS still used in non-amoled flagships. 1080 p does in fact get a better battery life, probably why LG increased the battery capacity. 2nd display is also very handy. A few grams/ounches weight isn't going to bother me when comparing both of these phones. Anyway, getting off topic. I think the design of this phone is the reason why you may be experiencing issues, or your radio could be faulty if it's happening everywhere, even in places you'd normally get good reception. See how the resulrs vary at inner city, more outer-suburban locations and compare to what you were getting previously (on this phoine or another 4G LTE).

RoOSTA

 

[snkchaos]

I got the phone to finally to replace my SG Note II N7100 version (I don't like newer Notes. I was hoping for same features past Note 4. Finally gave up replaceable battery feature for Asus ZF3D 64GB) Also I could finally use Tmobiles 4G LTE and add Freedompop H+ networks as secondary. I notice something with Tmobile LTE. At first Tmobile's 4G LTE had 1/4 bars and data speeds seem to fail a lot and if it pass it would read it as 0 kbps. But I kept using it for few days more. I'm starting to get 2 or higher on signal and data speeds hit around download 8/upload 1 mbps at 38 ms ping and this is at the same area. Not sure what happen in those first few days. Signal got boosted good if you disable secondary SIM. I get about 3 or 4 bars.
If I did get into good place I would hit around 10/25 speeds still better than Tmobile's H+ with Note 2.

 

[galaxys]

^as long as lte signal gets better instead of few bars! What part of the USA?

 

[firepong]

I got the phone to finally to replace my SG Note II N7100 version (I don't like newer Notes. I was hoping for same features past Note 4. Finally gave up no replaceable battery feature for Asus ZF3D 64GB) Also I could finally use Tmobiles 4G LTE and add Freedompop H+ networks as secondary. I notice something with Tmobile LTE. At first Tmobile's 4G LTE had 1/4 bars and data speeds seem to fail a lot and if it pass it would read it as 0 kbps. But I kept using it for few days more. I'm starting to get 2 or higher on signal and data speeds hit around download 8/upload 1 mbps at 38 ms ping and this is at the same area. Not sure what happen in those first few days. Signal got boosted good if you disable secondary SIM. I get about 3 or 4 bars.
If I did get into good place I would hit around 10/25 speeds still better than Tmobile's H+ with Note 2.

I had the same exact problem on my phone. It cleared up after a few days as well. My Sim2 slot is still enabled, so I don't know how mine fixed itself. Maybe something with the cell towers, not sure

 

[snkchaos]

^as long as lte signal gets better instead of few bars! What part of the USA?

I live in Tracy, CA.

 

[galaxys]

I live in Tracy, CA.

You should usually have a good signal there. I'm in Vegas and have full bars with T-Mobile...

 

[jmoricone]

Hi all, I posted part of this message in another forum as it was part of a bigger posting. Here I am only posting issues with the Bands & LTE Coverage.

So I also upgraded my wife's phone (S5) to the Zen 3 deluxe (ZS570KL / 256gb hd / 6gb ram / 821 chip) and she hates it... calls keep dropping signal is low and it does not even say LTE. I did a speedtest comparison between her Zen 3 and my Zen 2 (rooted and running CM13) and mine is way faster. Hers is also disconnecting from cellular (AT&T) data and does not show 4G anymore along with no push notifications of emails. I get strong bars and the phone displays LTE, hers only shows 4G+.

Anyone else having these issues? Oh and she does have a plastic / silicon clear case.