For those who are having signal issues, Samsung is deliberately crippling the devices

[scottusa2008]

I have a question that may have been answered. Would rooting and installing a custom rom help with the signals on note 10 plus? I have a note 10 plus and notice these same issues. My old iPhone 6s gets better wifi and cell signal on the same network as my note 10 plus. Is there a way to bypass their restrictions with a rom? Sorry if this has been answered before.

No, based on personal past experiences if your having signal issues with the phone now you will have signal issues if you root and install a custom rom. The only things that made a difference was the cell provider coverage and technology. For example Verizon does much better coverage wise then Sprint for me. Verizon also flat out dominates over AT&T, T-Mobile for overall coverage. I get full bars on my note 10+, once in a blue moon would see any signal from sprint, at&t and T-mobile would show 1 maybe 2 bars but wouldn't be a stable connection.

Rooting any of my phones (Motorola, Samsung, LG or jailbreaking an iPhone) would not (and did not after rooting/jailbreaking) have changed anything. Sprint has extremely few towers by me, AT&T didn't work well in buildings or on some roads (still well within the coverage area and same town), T-Mobile was a combination of not enough towers and how they were aimed (spoke to engineers quite a few times on this).


Any custom rom will be built using basically the same building blocks as what is already installed, so it would be bound by the same regulations for the phone's TX power. Also I'm pretty sure hardware power constraints also are present as well.

Now that's not to say little tweaks here and there couldn't be made to make things a little faster, but mostly it was geared towards customizations like theme, boot logos, system sounds, vram, cpu speed/throttle/governor/scheduling/etc, changing/removing system apps. None of the tweaks had never increased signal power from the tower to the phone (or from the phone to the tower).

You might be able to decrease the polling speed for wifi so that it scans more often, but that would only make it connect faster and not farther.

You also might be able to make little adjustments to tcp buffer, mtu sizes to make the data transfer a bit more efficent... you might be able to have more control over band enabling/disabling/preference and maybe fine tune when the phone changes to a different band... but neither of these would not change the cell tower TX power nor your phone's TX power.

If rooted or using a custom rom one could change the way the signal bars are displayed too.. it won't do anything for TX power from the phone or cell tower, but it would make it look like the signal is stronger. I know it sounds weird, but maybe for some is the signal is present (like 1 or 2 bars) but the formula set by the carrier to determine signal strength just needs a little tweak.

 

[King-V]

Been using the Note 10+ for over half a year. Only time I can't use data is when I'm in-between cities which I expect to happen with any phone (drops to E), and then also while hiking in mountains far away from any city or tower (no data at all, calls & messaging still possible). As for completely losing signal, I don't recall a time when that's happened. However, I have the Exynos variant, maybe that's a factor as Exynos doesn't fall under the FCC's purview?

 

[winol]

Due to pure ignorance, many people think that the icon bars show the actual exact precise strenght of the signal, which is not the case, the bars just show an aproximate for you to see where signal is good, poor or inexistent, sometimes zero bars let you conect calls , some other times full bars give you bad quality conections, it is a lot more complicated than just judging by just looking the signal bars

 

[scottusa2008]

Been using the Note 10+ for over half a year. Only time I can't use data is when I'm in-between cities which I expect to happen with any phone (drops to E), and then also while hiking in mountains far away from any city or tower (no data at all, calls & messaging still possible). As for completely losing signal, I don't recall a time when that's happened. However, I have the Exynos variant, maybe that's a factor as Exynos doesn't fall under the FCC's purview?

I would tend to think some form of regulation is in play, not sure what entity would be involved within regards to your location/region...

IMHO the cell providers in your area may just have adequate enough towers to provide good coverage over the area. About the only way you would find out anything a bit more definitive is to gather data. You would need to ask around if anyone else you know that uses the same provider as you and see if they have any issues or problems. It would help to get information from those who don't have the same phone as you also (different manufacturer).

The more data you gather it will become easier to narrow down if it's a one off thing, specific to your phone or specific to the provider in the area, etc.

 

[TheInfiniteAndroid]

Does there happen to be a fix or anything we can do, without having to get a new device?

I guess not... Assuming it is true that cell reception is being capped or crippled I'd love to remove these restrictions and use my device to its fullest

 

[Nickitt]

I lol'd myself all the way to the 5th page to write; this is BOGUS.
Swap your phone out with another or do your ##update# and enjoy the damn phone. We have Wi-Fi pretty much anywhere. It isn't Samsung, or any company, unless they specifically say.

 

[jpbl1976]

This is one of the most asinine posts I’ve ever seen on XDA. It should be deleted. Unbelievable.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[coilbio]

Would you all be more open to the idea if title didn't say Samsung was intentionally crippling?

Maybe they just don't know any better, cause the fact of the matter is people have other devices that do have better signal, audio, etc, all while having the same rules from FCC and even the same chipsets, etc. It comes down to their code and antenna designs, remember Applegate?

There's days my note10+ will take multiple tries to make a simple call, while my pixel 4 right next to it will work every time under the same conditions.
This phone literally stays stuck on the dialing screen for half a minute lol. I'll get a text from people saying they've been calling before I get any incoming call. Don't get me started on backed up texts, those timestamps I can at least prove lol.

I literally carry 3 phones, each for a different line purpose and I love some features of my note 10, but I know not to rely on it for real communication purposes. I can't afford to.
I mean, can't force anyone to see it differently until they've experienced that need for reliable communication and have it fail.

 

[ptko15]

Would you all be more open to the idea if title didn't say Samsung was intentionally crippling?

Maybe they just don't know any better, cause the fact of the matter is people have other devices that do have better signal, audio, etc, all while having the same rules from FCC and even the same chipsets, etc. It comes down to their code and antenna designs, remember Applegate?

There's days my note10+ will take multiple tries to make a simple call, while my pixel 4 right next to it will work every time under the same conditions.
This phone literally stays stuck on the dialing screen for half a minute lol. I'll get a text from people saying they've been calling before I get any incoming call. Don't get me started on backed up texts, those timestamps I can at least prove lol.

I literally carry 3 phones, each for a different line purpose and I love some features of my note 10, but I know not to rely on it for real communication purposes. I can't afford to.
I mean, can't force anyone to see it differently until they've experienced that need for reliable communication and have it fail.

You need some actual proof to say they are crippling the device. Are all 3 devices on the same network, do they have the same priority, etc. Samsung has some of the best antennas in the industry. I would recommend either definitely getting another phone and stop filling up forums of accusations that haven't been quantified, or try and quantify what is happening. And give actual results.

 

[coilbio]

You need some actual proof to say they are crippling the device. Are all 3 devices on the same network, do they have the same priority, etc. Samsung has some of the best antennas in the industry. I would recommend either definitely getting another phone and stop filling up forums of accusations that haven't been quantified, or try and quantify what is happening. And give actual results.

All on the same network and everything, no cases, all my phones are naked. Everyone already posed signal strength apps as being inacurate on this thread. I mean what else is there left?


Frankly I already have the proof, what's more proof than everyday use. Maybe you guys just don't want to accept any other input.

But here's a quick comparison with my Xperia which is unlocked and doesn't even support TMobiles best bands in the radio.
Lower decible is better, and the note does this weird thing where it doesn't even pick the better tower available.

Xperia


Note 10+
View attachment 5049207

 

[ptko15]

All on the same network and everything, no cases, all my phones are naked. Everyone already posed signal strength apps as being inacurate on this thread. I mean what else is there left?


Frankly I already have the proof, what's more proof than everyday use. Maybe you guys just don't want to accept any other input.

But here's a quick comparison with my Xperia which is unlocked and doesn't even support TMobiles best bands in the radio.
Lower decible is better, and the note does this weird thing where it doesn't even pick the better tower available.

Xperia


Note 10+

Then sell your phone or request an exchange. Etc. Sounds like you may have a lemon. Mine works great. Personally I find tmobile's network to be problematic on multiple devices. But that's just my experience.

 

[coilbio]

Then sell your phone or request an exchange. Etc. Sounds like you may have a lemon. Mine works great. Personally I find tmobile's network to be problematic on multiple devices. But that's just my experience.

So the solution is to sell my phone instead of talking about it..
That's what's wrong with this thread.

 

[ptko15]

So the solution is to sell my phone instead of talking about it..
That's what's wrong with this thread.

If you're unhappy with the response go somewhere else. No one is forcing you to be on here. Obviously others don't have your issues. Solutions are simple. I also said you could go to the manufacturer and exchange it.

 

[coilbio]

If you're unhappy with the response go somewhere else. No one is forcing you to be on here. Obviously others don't have your issues. Solutions are simple. I also said you could go to the manufacturer and exchange it.

Or if you dont have issues with it, don't participate .
Obviously you're fine, why try to discredit others because you're fine with what you're given?

Honestly no skin off your back but you act like you work for Samsung.

 

[ptko15]

Or if you dont have issues with it, don't participate .
Obviously you're fine, why try to discredit others because you're fine with what your given?

Honestly no skin of your back but you act like you work for Samsung.

You're right this is no skin off my back. And I posed 2 different solutions for you. Don't try and lash out at me just because you don't like solutions. If you just want to whine and complain about the issue, that's fine. But stop trying to drag down a company and people that are happy with the product.

 

[coilbio]

You're right this is no skin off my back. And I posed 2 different solutions for you. Don't try and lash out at me just because you don't like solutions. If you just want to whine and complain about the issue, that's fine. But stop trying to drag down a company and people that are happy with the product.

Dude, it's not your company, and why get another one if I've had a white one and now a black one and also a note 9 as well as the s10 with the same results lol. My first white one I literally exchanged twice for screen defects.
Maybe they do need to be dragged down so they fix it.
I don't understand consumer loyalty like this, if anything stand back and let issues be reported.
It's great your phone works for you, but things can always be better.
My note fits it's purpose, but I'm not going to pretend it's not my third driver because of its signal issues.

You know how I know Samsung has been stuck in a sense of complacency?
The big update to UI 2.1 with all that leftover code from the s20.

You also quoted me first, so..... Who lashed out at whom?

 

[ptko15]

Dude, it's not your company, and why get another one if I've had a white one and now a black one and also a note 9 as well as the s10 with the same results lol. My first white one I literally exchanged twice for screen defects.
Maybe they do need to be dragged down so they fix it.
I don't understand consumer loyalty like this, if anything stand back and let issues be reported.
It's great your phone works for you, but things can always be better.
My note fits it's purpose, but I'm not going to pretend it's not my third driver because of its signal issues.

You know how I know Samsung has been stuck in a sense of complacency?
The big update to UI 2.1 with all that leftover code from the s20.

Alright. Well good luck.

 

[R3dF1v3]

Sound and signal issues? It's caused by the government's mind control chips, chemtrails and the vaccines, I tell ya!

 

[coilbio]

Sound and signal issues? It's caused by the government's mind control chips, chemtrails and the vaccines, I tell ya!

I blame the Grays

 

[winol]

I blame the Grays

Yes, I think Giorgio Tsoukalos is making a documentary explaining it!
Lmfao!