For those who are having signal issues, Samsung is deliberately crippling the devices
- Thread starter -BoneZ-
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Me neither. Sold the ultra 20 and now have a 8pro. Much better device for my reasons.
TheMadScientist
Recognized Contributor
Yes but you're not a true note lover because you change it now.,?
Joking aside, I needed USA full bands and dual sim functionality hence the 8pro fit the bill.
For months i though mine was somehow damaged,. I dd everthin to get good signals but nothin changed,.surely now this is a developer issue by samsung, they somehow need to fix it, and we cant even install custom fonts anymore, its like we are moving backwards, note series superior in every department but not anymore
Sammy, lead by their rabid box of gerbils management team decided to target the trophy customer base instead of the power user.
The trophy customer base is a lot more numerous, stupid and easy to please than the hardcore power users.
Quenn Sammie:"Let the peasants eat spen."
some of us just use it for calls, messages, email and it doesn't dominate our lives!!
Lame apps like Device Wellness; show how pathetic people have gotten.
Midget Hookers, Cigars, Coffee, Drugs, Hardcore Gyms, Neco Wafers are real vices.
Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess... I think Jackie Gleason would have agreed. Add a dozen NYNY loaded hot dogs to that list.
The 10+ is just my home entertainment center:laugh:
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My note 8 with 3 years and 7 months has got exactly this problem. Data and calls won't work in places with weak signal, despite showing 2-3 bars.
winoles
Senior Member
Lol, yes… I have seen people in near extasis with tecno, infinix, alcatel, tcl, blu, etc devices, I guess some just are happy with what THEY believe is the best, or cheaper or "bang for the buck" lol
As for myself, I had two notes both radios sucked but my wife galaxcy's perfect. my company iphone same. loved my htc's Samsung you lost me 2 generations bad luck not another one.
What variant? What OS version?
What's your actual signal strength?
Is it in a case?
As best I know the N10+ N975U and N975U1 do not have signal issues at all. I own both.
However they're running on Android 9 and 10 respectively.
so thats a difference, couse i own n975F with Android 12. I think variant with Exynos probably have different modem. Sometime phone is showing full bards and LTE + icon and I cant load any page on browser.
They do use different chipsets including the modem I believe.
Doing firmware upgrades has always been a surefire way to break a Samsung... sometimes it goes ok, sometimes not. Regardless you will need to find workarounds when you upgrade and probably play with the settings. Warning, learning curve ahead
Unless you do stupid things in actual usage Android 9 and 10 are very secure. I don't every use wifi and there's no need to with an unlimited data plan. Limit bluetooth usage in high risk areas. Use Karma Firewall if you're running on Pie, it will still block in higher OS version but loses its valuable logging feature.
Most importantly, you are what you install regardless of OS version...
You can try a rollback to 11 or try to find will it's not connecting. I think Android 12 is fubar... so if it was my device I would roll it back to 11 if it was working well on it.
I know my N10+'s that are Snapdragon variants get better signal than my friend's Apple in the same location/carrier. Can't speak for the Exynos or 5G variants though...
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6TLDR:
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Samsung is crippling the radios and audio in the name of "safety" and "protecting the end user". Sending mine back to Samsung.
I've seen many posts on here about signal issues, both WiFi and Cell. This post will delve into some specifics. And sorry in advance that this is a long read.
Background
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Firstly, some background: I bought my first Samsung and first Note, the Note 2 and thoroughly loved the device. I've had every Note except the Note 1, Note 4 (used the Google Nexus 6 which I still have) and the Note 9 (used a OnePlus 7 Pro, which I still have). I absolutely love the Note series with the large beautiful screen, excellent cameras and of course the Pen.
So after using my Note 8 for a year and a half, I decided to try something different than Samsung because I was tired of the poor cell signal and WiFi signal. I decided to get a OnePlus 7 Pro since that company and phone has been so hyped. Well, the hype is definitely real. The phone is super-fast with little to no lag.
What I don't like or care for the most about the 7 Pro is the ugly rounded corners (besides the mediocre camera). I've always loved the square(er) corners of the Note. And when I saw the Note 10+ in a store recently and touched it, I had to have one. I got it in 3 days and wow what a sight to behold! The screen is just absolutely heavenly.
Cell Signal
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I noticed immediately while driving around with the Note 10+, my music was constantly buffering. I thought it had to do with some kind of battery optimization for the app as to why music would stop playing and keep buffering. But I had already taken care of that in the settings.
Then when I took my Note to work is when it was really noticeable. I work on the second floor offices at my job. My OnePlus has excellent cell signal. Almost always 2-3 bars (and when I'm outside, 4 full bars as the tower is nearby apparently) and easily able to stream music without issue. My Note? Nothing! For at least half the day every day, I had zero signal sitting at my desk in the same spot as I do with my OnePlus 7 Pro. The Note would just say (Emergency Calls Only - No Signal). That was infuriating. Especially with a tower nearby, and my other phone has no signal issues.
WiFI Signal
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The second place I notice signal issues is with WiFi. I keep my WiFi strength turned down to keep the RF exposure low, and to keep from broadcasting my WiFi across the whole neighborhood. With my OnePlus 7 Pro, I get 2-3 bars of WiFi in my garage and the WiFi takes about 10-seconds to connect. With the Note 10+, it literally takes minutes to connect to my WiFi in the garage, barely getting 1-bar, once in a while jumping up to 2 bars then back to 1. And I realize that "number of bars don't matter", but they actually do. It's just a cop-out, and proven that they do have some significance.
Comparison
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Now I want to make something clear for those who don't know. Both the OnePlus 7 Pro and the Note 10+ use the same exact Snapdragon 855 SoC. As you'll see in the image HERE, the Snapdragon SoC has (among other things) the Cell radio and the BT/WiFi radios all built into the chip. And if one would look at the spec sheets for the 855 and earlier Qualcomm chips, you'd see that the radios get more powerful year after year.
I was blown away going from the garbage radios on the Note 8 to the amazing radios on the OnePlus 7 Pro. Absolutely never any cell or WiFi issues, ever. I figured that since the radios on the Qualcomm chips get more powerful every year, that the Note 10+ would be a giant step up from the radios on the Note 8. Boy was I wrong.
Samsung Crippling the Radios
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That brings me to Samsung deliberately crippling these devices. The FCC has specific regulations regarding exposure to RF radiation from phones. So Samsung is turning down the power of the Cell and WiFi radios so much to keep well below the guidelines and the RF radiation lower. But this is also crippling the device. It's keeping the device from doing it's number one job: being a phone!
Samsung Crippling the Audio
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Samsung has also chosen to cripple listening to music also. Just even touching the EQ one tick above the -0- line and the volume is literally cut in half. Good luck trying to listen to headphones with any kind of volume. If you go just one tick below the -0- line, then the volume gets cut about a quarter. So half of the half. Samsung does this to "protect your hearing" so that you don't listen to music too loudly.
My OnePlus 7 is not like that with the same EQ and same Dolby Atmos. The volume barely wavers at all while adjusting the EQ, and the sound is loud and it actually sounds significantly better than my Note 10.
Conclusion
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I have two devices with virtually identical hardware. One works as it should with excellent Cell and WiFi signal and great EQ sound, while the other is being crippled to protect the user from too much RF radiation or too loud of sound.
Samsung has become like Apple: restricting or constricting how you use your devices. Now if you live in a large city where you are surrounded by cell towers and WiFi everywhere, then you'll likely not notice much of the cell signal or WiFi issue. Those of us who live in smaller cities or towns where the coverage is more sparse, we need that extra radio power that Qualcomm already provides so that our devices do what they are first and foremost intended to do: be a working phone.
I am very upset and disappointed to see Samsung has crippled these devices all in the name of "protecting the end user". So as much as I would love to have that gorgeous screen with me all the time, I'm going to have to settle for my 7 Pro: a device that actually works and isn't being crippled. That also teaches me to never buy a Samsung device again for the foreseeable future, if ever again.
I'd love to see a class-action lawsuit against Samsung for crippling their devices. These things are the most expensive Android devices on the planet. They should not have anything crippled on them for that price.3
Take your blinders off for a few and see what is going on... I am not addressing your personal grievances from past experiences with Samsung devices.
No one defending Samsung here in this thread.. People trying to explain to someone how the understanding they derived is problematic (and why) does not mean defense of Samsung. The only one who is talking loudly is you and it is clear you have some personal issues with Samsung.
What I am doing is trying to get into a discussion with someone over a claim they made on signal crippling. The post made pertains to signal crippling, audio crippling via the EQ (i.e. OP stating that changing the setting by one notch up audio get cuts in half), and WiFi issues.
If I found it then that means someone else can just as easily spot it... After all if someone is going to make a bold claim of intentional sabotage by (and even suggest a class action lawsuit against) a manufacturer then it is better to get it right the first time... Do you not agree?
Also the different threads over CSC's... I see a lot of threads where people are trying to use phones from one carrier onto another, people trying to use phones from the USA overseas, some people who use overseas phones within the USA, some who want to flash U1 firmware onto a U model, some who are using Exynos models outside of the region they are in, some who want to get certain features working outside of a region... And yes some signal issues with a few different reasons (using a phone outside of a certain region, etc).
But what does that have to do with anything related to signal crippling by Samsung... More importantly do even know what the CSC file is or does?
In case you don't (or in case someone else doesn't) the CSC is a “Consumer Software Customization” or “Country Specific Code“. It is a binary file that contains "customized settings, system configurations, localizations and geo-specific things such as the system language, APN settings, and carrier-branding."
If a certain CSC works better then another (or allows certain features that were not allowed previously) then it means the specifications required by the region and/or carrier(s) in question is at fault.
Now don't get me wrong, if Samsung is at fault it would be regardless of what CSC is flashed because it wouldn't work period. But before you could even pin the blame on Samsung you would have to rule out carrier limitations in service/coverage, signal interference whether natural or human-made and it would require that multiple phones of the same model and CSC that have similar or identical issues within that location (and others using the same criteria previously mentioned. It would then rule out bad batch of phones sold, issues isolated to one region, etc).
This would provide more concrete proof of a problem existing but only in the aspect of signal related issues that could be caused by Samsung. This does not include any other matter caused by 3rd party apps, customer expectations, customer wants, sales person misinformation to the customer, word of mouth influences, etc.3To the OP let me guess, you have a case with metal sides?
To be clear on Cricket using Pandora highest settings, NEVER stutters . That is hour long interstate drives in the middle of nowhere. Note 10+. Same was true for my Note 8.2
Much appreciated you went into specifics on your reasoning.. Makes it better to get an understanding and discussion going over what someone is saying. That being said, I wanted to reply to some of what your posting with my own observations/understandings as well (in addition to my previous reply). Took me a bit longer to make this reply, had to do some research on a few things first (wanted to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding a few details) and work has been a bit chaotic due to recent events.
I have used other phones by other manufacturers with varying degrees of responsiveness. So far my note 10+ hasn't let me down with the settings at the max they can go. I do not get any lag and I have ran some rather intensive applications on the phone (as well as multiple apps that use constant data connections). Lately I've been running a total launcher theme that while impressive has multiple active parts.. Zero lag but I will admit a little bit of a hit to battery performance. Given the sci-fi nature of the theme I am totally ok with that, the phone still lasts all day on a single charge.
Now if we had a higher refresh rate on our screens... Oh that would be totally fantastic.
The EQ thing you mentioned, I haven't ran into yet but I can try it later and see if it happens. Mostly I leave my settings on whatever defaults are and dolby atmos turned on. Generally I have to turn down the volume because what movies and music I play sound pretty dang good that the bass tends to get a bit to much.
Three things I'm finding with your analysis that are troubling...
First - Signal bars. They are not actual measurements of signal power but graphical representations via algorithm for us (being the end user) of what the phone signal quality is like from the cell tower to our phone. Because of the various chipsets and components no absolute definitive measurement exists, so it's not all universally the same across each phone manufacturer. This means what is shown as one bar on a phone made by one company will be presented differently (maybe 2 or 3) on another made by another.
Of course if you want to get into the nitty gritty details signal strength information like RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and the quality of signal (RSRQ) and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)... These measurements are what the cell tower is transmitting to the phone, and what are shown (via an algorithm) as the signal bars. We can access this by dialing *#0011# into the phone dialer.
Second - If Samsung were "crippling" the phone's radio power then they could only do it on what the phone transmits... They can't control the power of the signal the phone is receiving from the cell tower.
Third - If your having buffering issues that is because something is interfering with the cell signal from the tower to your phone. This can be any number of things and it is true that some phone's seem to handle it a bit better... But none of that has to do with the phone's transmitting power.
I have some serious concerns with the pattern of logic your using. You keep saying that the phone's are crippled but your premise on WiFi and Cell signal examples are based on what the phone is receiving and not transmitting.
Still lets say that the signal bar for your WiFi connections include the phone's transmitting power... You have already indicated you limit the power output of your router, but have you tried turning it up a little to see if the signal stabilizes? You can have the TX power at it's max without issue so long as your WiFi connection is secured with a password.
Have you changed channels on the router to less populated one? How about re-orientate the antennas (if applicable, some don't have external antennas)... I did this with my WiFi 6 router after I bought it and have some pretty rock solid connections. I didn't at first, so it maybe worth trying for you?
You can also try turning off any power saving settings on the phone. You can also try toggling off the setting in developer options that prefers stable wifi over performance. If for some reason it is already turned off then try turning it on.
I did notice the time it takes to connect to an access point and what maybe is a longer wifi scanning interval. I've gone through the phone and have not found a setting that can change this yet. Still if it takes a few seconds longer to connect then I guess it takes a few seconds longer, so long as it connects to the wifi router.
Understood, but more then chipsets are involved in matters like this
Again some problems with the way this is all sounding...
The FCC regulations are about the transmitting power of the radios in our phones. The FCC also has regulations for transmitting power for cell towers.
So if Samsung follows the regulations they can only do so for what the phone transmits... Which again has no impact, bearing or relation to what the cell tower is transmitting to the phone.2
I think everything you say falls flat when other devices perform better right next to a Samsung device with all those scenarios and parameters involved.
No matter what scenario you throw at it, another device in the same position doesn't have the problem Samsungs do. I have many phones and tablets on the same networks that perform where Samsung lags and hangs.
That's the point, not that there's rules and regulations that EVERYONE follows, it's that Samsung chooses to not optimize as well as other manufacturers, which to be honest has been the same story since their Android adoption.
We just all forgot because the hardware almost overcomes the software limitations to be barely good enough.
Also all hardware is basically the same now, just rearranged differently inside phones but to the same manufacturer specs and connections or else the built in fail-safes won't let them work, so then what does that leave as the real issue?
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