[Q] Signal strength issues - Galaxy S I9000 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey everyone, I'm using vodafone in the uk and keep having strange signal fluctuations with wcdma, especially when using data.
My signal strength is generally really bad but frequently I will be on 0/1 bars then shoot up to full bars and then back down again in the space of a few seconds, this is with it locked to wcdma.
Gsm is fine...
The phone is in a case also
Can I blame vodafone for my crappy signal or does anyone else experience this?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

I get the same thing, I thought it was vodafone so tried my wifes o2 sim but did the same thing. My old Nokia (N85) was fine on vodafone I just assumed the antenna wasn't as good in the galaxy? just sitting at my computer my galaxy has jumped between 85 and 111 dBm and once 0 dBM 0 ASU. Unless I get really good coverage the reception is all over the place?

The reception does seem really bad... Although I have a friend with a galaxy s using orange saying the reception is fine
The signal strength doesn't bother me, I can still make calls and do what I need to do, it's just strange because when using data, the signal jumps up to max, I get a big speed increase then it goes back down again.
Its like a bug...
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Same problem here (on Vodafone UK). Always been in a strong signal area so never noticed a call dropping issue as such but the signal does fluctuate a lot when it should definitely be strong and solid.
Spending the next two weeks in a weaker signal area so it'll be put to the test I guess.

Related

LTE Reception?

Anyone else having trouble with their LTE reception? I just came from an iPhone 5 and fortunately around me the area is kind of blanketed in LTE but I have yet to get any solid connection on the One where as with my iPhone 5 it would lock on and get great speeds. I saw the LTE on the one pop in a couple times but just for a couple secs and even once long enough to start a Speed Test but then it "lost connection" in the middle of the test. I assume a PRL update is needed or at least I'm hoping its just a PRL update.
You practically have to be making love to the tower to get 4G to connect. And yes you are not alone.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
BrianBaker said:
You practically have to be making love to the tower to get 4G to connect. And yes you are not alone.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
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Hmm wonder if this is something that can be fixed via software, this is kind of bumming me out - this will be the one and only gripe I'll have.
D3luSi0n4L said:
Hmm wonder if this is something that can be fixed via software, this is kind of bumming me out - this will be the one and only gripe I'll have.
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Click to collapse
I was a bit harsh...The phone is quite capable of grabbing an LTE signal..But in fringe areas is will not hold it.It will switch back to 3G..On the sensorly App it seems anything that is 0-2 bars will grab a signal but will drop it eventually..
But man when you are in 3-4 bars in dark purple this phone flys on LTE.
I'm pulling crazy far lte speeds
Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 2
Yeah I was too on my iPhone 5 - like 30mbps download and 10 upload. I'll update this post when I get another chance to test it again I went ahead and did a profile and prl update.
Sounds like location. I am in Houston and 80% of the time its on 4G, I usually get around 15 to 25 down on 4G. Indoors It stays on 4G but speed drops to around 2
BrianBaker said:
I was a bit harsh...The phone is quite capable of grabbing an LTE signal..But in fringe areas is will not hold it.It will switch back to 3G..On the sensorly App it seems anything that is 0-2 bars will grab a signal but will drop it eventually..
But man when you are in 3-4 bars in dark purple this phone flys on LTE.
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Click to collapse
This is a software decision.
For most networks, the decision to switch back to 3g would be wise. For most, LTE is blazing fast and 3g is usable. Switching back to 3g on the fringe of an LTE tower is a fine decision on say, Verizon. It also makes sense from a battery standpoint. There is no sense making the higher power LTE radio strain for a signal when there is a perfectly usable 3g one available to a lower power radio.
The problem is with Sprint, with Sprint, you want to hold onto every last drop of LTE because even the faintest, messiest, LTE signal is going to be faster than the 3g.
There will be a software update, I am fairly confident, that will change the values where the the phone gives up on LTE.
Felnarion said:
This is a software decision.
For most networks, the decision to switch back to 3g would be wise. For most, LTE is blazing fast and 3g is usable. Switching back to 3g on the fringe of an LTE tower is a fine decision on say, Verizon. It also makes sense from a battery standpoint. There is no sense making the higher power LTE radio strain for a signal when there is a perfectly usable 3g one available to a lower power radio.
The problem is with Sprint, with Sprint, you want to hold onto every last drop of LTE because even the faintest, messiest, LTE signal is going to be faster than the 3g.
There will be a software update, I am fairly confident, that will change the values where the the phone gives up on LTE.
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Click to collapse
I was going to return the phone today but I'll roll the dice in hopes there is an update for this because in those "fringe" areas my Note II holds 4G and its only 2Mbps down and 1Mbps up but it's better than the 3G 28.8k it switches to..
I just hope when the area is covered by more LTE it'll even out..Happy to hear that about Houston which has more coverage that the One holds it's 4G better..This is what im banking on.
BrianBaker said:
I was going to return the phone today but I'll roll the dice in hopes there is an update for this because in those "fringe" areas my Note II holds 4G and its only 2Mbps down and 1Mbps up but it's better than the 3G 28.8k it switches to..
I just hope when the area is covered by more LTE it'll even out..Happy to hear that about Houston which has more coverage that the One holds it's 4G better..This is what im banking on.
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I'm smack in the middle of what is supposed to be a fairly saturated LTE area for Sprint (North Dallas, TX) and mine keeps switching between 3G and 4G with total data drops seemingly random and many times throughout the day. What's weird is often times, I'll go to use the phone and the 4G is there and 3 or more bars, and then as soon as I open an app that uses data the connection will drop. It doesn't happen every time, but way more than I can live with. I'm thinking about returning it to Sprint and going with AT&T instead. I just hate to have to hassle with it and pay more for less.
boomerod said:
I'm smack in the middle of what is supposed to be a fairly saturated LTE area for Sprint (North Dallas, TX) and mine keeps switching between 3G and 4G with total data drops seemingly random and many times throughout the day. What's weird is often times, I'll go to use the phone and the 4G is there and 3 or more bars, and then as soon as I open an app that uses data the connection will drop. It doesn't happen every time, but way more than I can live with. I'm thinking about returning it to Sprint and going with AT&T instead. I just hate to have to hassle with it and pay more for less.
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Click to collapse
well,then i guess all I can hope for is some sort of update that helps keep 4G connected
Probably has to do with a minimum signal strength value to keep it connected to LTE and not search for a stronger signal. Hopefully there will be an update or a patch to fix this.
Darkendvoid88 said:
Probably has to do with a minimum signal strength value to keep it connected to LTE and not search for a stronger signal. Hopefully there will be an update or a patch to fix this.
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I just feel like not enough people are complaining about this issue and it'll just keep working the way it is now. Which would suck.
Through out my searched for the night I ended up at a tmobile website where they too were having the same 4G issues.. Maybe it is a design problem and not just software.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
"Bars" mean nothing, usually they only show strength of the cdma 1x (voice), not lte strength..
http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2...to-determine-your-actual-lte-signal-strength/
Happening frequently
I have the same problem keeps switching from LTE to 3g constantly I think it is happening to multiple on sprint network idk about others http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/04/26/sprint-htc-one-lte-connectivity-issue-in-select-markets/
BrianBaker said:
well,then i guess all I can hope for is some sort of update that helps keep 4G connected
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no problems here in fort myers. When i'm home it locks on 4g and screams at 25 down and 10 up
wranglerray said:
no problems here in fort myers. When i'm home it locks on 4g and screams at 25 down and 10 up
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That's helpful...with issues like this, especially at or near launch of a new device, it's always a question of device vs. network vs. software issues. I'm always skeptical that the device is the issue, especially on flagship models. I posted on a Sprint forum and one user said he took his phone back and Sprint swapped it for another HTC One and he's had no issues. Says he thinks it's some type of provisioning issue, which I am not too sure of. But he said he a similar issue with the Evo LTD (I think) and swapped and no more issues. There also was a Sprint rep that chimed in on the thread and advised me that an Vision upgrade had been made in my area yesterday and to update profile and prl and then power down for 3-5 minutes. I followed that advice but I'm still having issues. For reference, I'm in 75240 zip code.
---------- Post added at 10:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:55 AM ----------
jcwxguy said:
"Bars" mean nothing, usually they only show strength of the cdma 1x (voice), not lte strength..
http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2...to-determine-your-actual-lte-signal-strength/
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I think most of us that have been around a while realize that. I could care less about the bars. Hell, I hardly even talk on the phone. What I need is Data to work, consistently. I don't even care if it's 4G if a decent 3G is available and would provide a consistent connection. Well, yeah, I would prefer it be 4G. The selling point for Sprint right now is their prices and unlimited Data. When you factor in that they are really trying to upgrade their network to compete with the other big 2, and are oriented towards customer concerns at the moment, it makes them appealing. But they got to get the data consistent, especially in large markets like Dallas, TX, or they are just going to keep on churning customers. I just switched to them from Verizon as I was at the end of my contract and was a bit tired of Big Red's bullying, but I have to hand it to them, their network is fantastic. I might be going right back to them, or take a chance on AT&T, which I switched from to Verizon a couple years ago.

Reception/Signal Strength?

Hi All,
I've now had my Z1 (C6903) for five days and I love everything about the phone. It really is an amazing device, except in one area for me: reception. I've been looking at signal strength everywhere I go and it's consistently lower than my other devices on the same network. Wifi performance has already been discussed, so I will leave that alone. But cellular reception on my device seems to be pretty bad. Consistently when I'm with my wife and checking her phone (Galaxy S4) she will be on LTE and I will be on HSPA+. At work, my iPhone 5s gets an LTE signal where the Z1 only gets H+. Where the two phones both get LTE at my house, the others are 8-10 dB higher. I'm not going by signal bars, I'm going by the dB reading.
Has anyone else experienced this? I bought this for T-Mobile and it doesn't have wifi calling, of course, so when it loses signal in the middle of my building I'm really up a creek. I really, really want to keep this device! Would love to hear others' experience with the cellular reception aspect.
-Collin-
CollinFX45 said:
Hi All,
I've now had my Z1 (C6903) for five days and I love everything about the phone. It really is an amazing device, except in one area for me: reception. I've been looking at signal strength everywhere I go and it's consistently lower than my other devices on the same network. Wifi performance has already been discussed, so I will leave that alone. But cellular reception on my device seems to be pretty bad. Consistently when I'm with my wife and checking her phone (Galaxy S4) she will be on LTE and I will be on HSPA+. At work, my iPhone 5s gets an LTE signal where the Z1 only gets H+. Where the two phones both get LTE at my house, the others are 8-10 dB higher. I'm not going by signal bars, I'm going by the dB reading.
Has anyone else experienced this? I bought this for T-Mobile and it doesn't have wifi calling, of course, so when it loses signal in the middle of my building I'm really up a creek. I really, really want to keep this device! Would love to hear others' experience with the cellular reception aspect.
-Collin-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to manually enter the APN Settings for T-mobile LTE or have T-Mobile send you a configuration message with the settings which will probably be the best idea!
Sean473 said:
You need to manually enter the APN Settings for T-mobile LTE or have T-Mobile send you a configuration message with the settings which will probably be the best idea!
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Click to collapse
LTE is working fine, when I can get it. I found the correct APN settings from T-mobile's support site so that's not a big deal. The problem is that the signal isn't as strong as on my other devices. When I get LTE the speeds are fine, but usually I'm stuck on HSPA where I used to have LTE
-Collin-
CollinFX45 said:
LTE is working fine, when I can get it. I found the correct APN settings from T-mobile's support site so that's not a big deal. The problem is that the signal isn't as strong as on my other devices. When I get LTE the speeds are fine, but usually I'm stuck on HSPA where I used to have LTE
-Collin-
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Click to collapse
Umghh weird... My Z1 picks up LTE even with 0 bars indicated easily... Get pretty decent speed too.. Try factory resetting or have a chat with Sony Support to see if they can suggest something.. Also try requesting a signal boosting case from these guys
http://www.pongresearch.com/dont-see-your-device.html
Sean473 said:
Umghh weird... My Z1 picks up LTE even with 0 bars indicated easily... Get pretty decent speed too.. Try factory resetting or have a chat with Sony Support to see if they can suggest something.. Also try requesting a signal boosting case from these guys
http://www.pongresearch.com/dont-see-your-device.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those cases are a trip - I hadn't seen those before.
Would hate do a factory reset, but I suppose it's worth a try. Good to know that typically this phone gets good signal strength for you. There is hope!
-Collin-
CollinFX45 said:
Hi All,
I've now had my Z1 (C6903) for five days and I love everything about the phone. It really is an amazing device, except in one area for me: reception. I've been looking at signal strength everywhere I go and it's consistently lower than my other devices on the same network. Wifi performance has already been discussed, so I will leave that alone. But cellular reception on my device seems to be pretty bad. Consistently when I'm with my wife and checking her phone (Galaxy S4) she will be on LTE and I will be on HSPA+. At work, my iPhone 5s gets an LTE signal where the Z1 only gets H+. Where the two phones both get LTE at my house, the others are 8-10 dB higher. I'm not going by signal bars, I'm going by the dB reading.
Has anyone else experienced this? I bought this for T-Mobile and it doesn't have wifi calling, of course, so when it loses signal in the middle of my building I'm really up a creek. I really, really want to keep this device! Would love to hear others' experience with the cellular reception aspect.
-Collin-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you you resolved the problem? I'm using KitKat 157 firmware and have exactly same issue - I would like if you could tell what you did .

AT&T galaxy s3 and reception

I have read several forums that state the note 3 and most Samsung phones have very poor reception / signal strength, especially in fringe areas. What is the truth???
I never notice any - except one area in which there's no cell reception at all, for any carrier. Or course GSM going digital sounds completely different than CDMA going digital (CDMA has that "underwater" effect) so that's what you might be hearing about.
Paulita1 said:
I have read several forums that state the note 3 and most Samsung phones have very poor reception / signal strength, especially in fringe areas. What is the truth???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it's funny you posted this because my wife and I were at a party last night and her "Iphone" had LTE coverage all night and my phone had none. It went from edge to none the whole night. But I very rarely get a dropped call. And I primarly use my phone to make calls.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Im in the LA area and i get good reception except when im at work but then again thats only inside of a blast resistant module outside its good

Fake service? T-Mobile.

I'm not the only one getting the b.s service right? I have unlimited high speed LTE and see the image for what I get with 3~4 bars of LTE I've had this problem since my s4 and note 3 and now on note 4.
Have you tried a new SIM?
I get this sometimes too on the tower by my house. It is super fast on some towers but others have speeds like you are showing.
Yea. Sometimes it shows good reception and then I get nothing. What helped me at work is getting that signal booster. You can get it at a local T-mobile store for free. ($25 deposit? Don't remember)
This thread talks about the cell spot router and the signal booster:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2975376
Honestly, I've never had better service, however.
It's a speed test issue not a service issue. Had the same thing tried a different test and fixed it.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Not a speed test issue, I know by now T Mobile is a pretty good liar about there LTE coverage. Here's a speed test done at home the previous one was at school. Also I was a sprint member before and there 3G was quicker then T Mobile 4g ( not lte). Also if you guys flash a AOSP rom you'd see what your service signal actually is. (I'm stuck on TouchWiz because of wifi calling) I get no bars at work because of environment, can't blame T Mobile for that.
Also another noob question if I have bars but no Internet why can't I call or text? Aren't those bars for voice and text?
I take some issue with your wording of this. T-Mobile's service is not fake, and they don't lie about anything. You have to understand that EVERYTHING on a mobile device is subject to far too many factors for me to name, and everyone will have a different experience. Just because you have not had a good one doesn't make their service fake or them liars. There is no "best carrier", other than what's best for YOU. If you had a good experience with Sprint, go back to them. I hate Sprint, and I'll never have them again. I've had great experiences with T-Mobile, and it continues to get better for me under John Legere's captaincy.
Also, for the record, speedtest.net is not a definitive test.
I'm not saying sprint is better but it's ridiculous how anything but lte is good on TMOBILE most of the time 4g or edge on TMOBILE time out can't even load a simple page. They don't cover a lot of what they say on there map for LTE and most of the time I don't get speeds I'm told to get even when my phones are indicating LTE with more then enough bars. Also why do the signals change when I'm on AOSP? I get what AOSP is saying LTE speeds when indicating LTE. I don't have to do a speed test to tell me if I'm getting good Internet speeds my phone also indicates it on the top left of what it's using and sometimes LTE is really good but most of the time it's pretty unreliable and slow.
To argue T-Mobile's side. I get H+ in areas at work that my Verizon note 3, whether on Verizon or T-Mobile got no service, and it speed tests a very usable 5mbps. It will get even better with band 12 turned on.
I wish I got that, I get around 25~100 kilobytes
I never see anything above 3-8 mbps , one time i saw 20, but that was one time.
Even I get 25+ now and then but never stable and most of the time on b.s h+
Ive had the same issues but what i found is that i have to switch or force my phone to 4g for a while and then back to LTE. On LTE there are times where i will be 20+mbps down and then ill be at less than one in the same building. What i did is force it to 4g and it was actually faster. I dont know why this helps it but it has for me. I then switch back to LTE whenever i seem to remember to switch it back. I called tmobile and they had be turn off the phone for a few minutes and then turn it back on and at the time, it fixed the issue but i havent been able to get that to work any other time.
Didn't even see this when I made my thread. I've been about a month now with worthless service on T-Mobile. Whole reason I left Verizon for T-Mobile is because I got service at work where I stream Netflix, Pandora, etc. Now I can't even do that. I get H+ in my work building.
I have -58dBm signal strength usually which shows as full bars and I can't even load web pages. Get random bursts of slightly alright speeds which quickly goes away. Usually 1mbps down. Was getting 5-6mbps down. Now I really get .18 Mbps down or less.
Sprint has zero signal at work but Verizon does. Pisses me off I left Verizon for T-Mobile when I don't even get the service I did anymore. They always tell me everything is fine too.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Tmobile working great here.
Yup and every time you call me "tower us being worked on" good one.
Signal at location
Attempting to run speed tests
Finally runs
You can't tell me this isn't pitiful. That is good signal. Should be able to be usable. Hell on Verizon with 3G same spot I used to be -90 and worked fine.
T-Mobile used to work here, not sure what happened.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Working great here.
I get anywhere from 25-65 down where I live with T-Mobile and I'm not in a major city what so ever

AT&T signal issues

Anyone else experiencing connectivity issues as well as signal quality issues..
Confirmed with other users but they are on Sprint.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using XDA Free mobile app
My signal is the best it's been with AT&T so far. Had a Nexus 5 and 6 on AT&T prior.
I wonder if the phone was using WiFi and LTE together because the WiFi here is slow.
EXYZ1000 said:
Anyone else experiencing connectivity issues as well as signal quality issues..
Confirmed with other users but they are on Sprint.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I unfortunately agree with you .... To be honest it seems that the fancier and better our smartphones have gotten, the worse my AT&T reception has gotten. I complained regularly about my M8 and I'm not sure that the S6 might not be worse.
I helped my M8 by forcing 3 or even 2G where it seems the towers are better or the radio is better for non LTE ??? Not sure if we can force 3G with the s6
EXYZ1000 said:
Anyone else experiencing connectivity issues as well as signal quality issues..
Confirmed with other users but they are on Sprint.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have noticed it too. It happened to my note 4 after the latest update. All of a sudden I was getting weak 4g signal when I used to get lte. Then I noticed the update had changed my apn from "phone" to "next gen phone" or something like that. The "next gen phone apn" is the same as comes stock on our s6. When I manually input the old apn I find my signal gets better again on both devices. Maybe it's my imagination but I think it's worth trying.
When I was using my nexus 6 at home id get either 3 bars or none, very odd. But with this I get 2 or 3 consistently, never none so I'd say mine is much better
On LTE in the NYC area signal us better than my S5.
Yep I too am having an issue. I'm in Apex, NC. My previous phone was a HTC One X+. In my house, I had almost a full LTE signal with my X+. Now with my S6 I only get one to two bars in my house with no LTE. Even outside....
I'm reading online that all carriers are having issues with the S6.
Bars aren't always the perfect indicator of actual strength, especially across different devices. How about doing a speed test?
ChristopherXDA said:
Bars aren't always the perfect indicator of actual strength, especially across different devices. How about doing a speed test?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In terms of signal strength my signal is -113 dBm in and outside my house. Everytime I get a call now my calls drop or are static. My HTC One X+ never did that. People are asking me what kind of phone I have and telling me my new one sounds like crap.
ManchuWarrior said:
In terms of signal strength my signal is -113 dBm in and outside my house. Everytime I get a call now my calls drop or are static. My HTC One X+ never did that. People are asking me what kind of phone I have and telling me my new one sounds like crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strangely, I'm having the dropped calls intermittently as well. Weirdly enough rebooting the phone helps
Obviously I don't want to have to reboot just to make calls
I've been experiencing signal issues as well.
recently, I noticed there is a spot that is showing up on all my pics. lens glass is clean, so it's definitely on the actual lens itself. Even more strange, around the time I noticed this, my signal quality has dropped off dramatically. I go into my basement, I lose all signal reception (this isn't a 1950's bunker. I've always had reception in my basement - cell towers are nearby).
my wife has an s6 as well, and sitting them side by side outside on my patio, her phone has significantly better signal strength. Guessing I got a lemon. New one is already on it's way.
What type of cases do you all have on these phones? I've read reviews on the aluminum cases or aluminum bumpers cutting the cell signal and GPS signal significantly.
she has a silicone spigen case. I have the spigen slim armor. Neither had aluminum. she had significantly better signal strength on her s6.
I got home last night, at this point tired of the signal issues while waiting for the replacement to arrive. when i looked at my signal, I had 2 bars of 4G. Took out the sim, popped it into my old M8, signal was 4 bars of LTE.
EXYZ1000 said:
Anyone else experiencing connectivity issues as well as signal quality issues..
Confirmed with other users but they are on Sprint.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had poor signal too. By that I mean -101dbm or worse almost constantly, sometimes I will see -96, but generally its between -100 and -112dbm.
I have been on ATT in the same town for years. I have four other Android phones in my house (galaxy s3, Note 2, Lg G2, and Xperia z3), and they all get better signal strength than the S6.
I couldn't be heard on calls, so I complained to ATT and exchanged the phone. FWIW, I had (and am now on my second) 64gb gold colored s6.
I went through trouble shooting with the ATT tech services people and with the Samsung tech support people, they did all sorts of resets, and I even had me boot the phone into safe mode (from off, hold power button, then release it and hold volume down until it boots up).
I am a long time reader of XDA and am posting now because both ATT and Samsung said they had "no reports" of signal issues with the ATT S6. People with signal problems should post about it to get the word out. From what I have read, the s6 is the first or one of the first phones to feature Samsung's own cellular modem instead of Qualcomm's. Maybe its no good, hopefully its just buggy and things will get updated quick.
I was able to put my phone into Testing Mode by dialing #*#4636#*#* and change try different radio settings. The only one that improved signal was "GSM Only"
Switching to that radio setting made my signal go to -80dbm. But of course, GSM-only means 2g edge data. But for now, I am thinking about switching to it when I need to make a phone call.
professormad said:
I've had poor signal too. By that I mean -101dbm or worse almost constantly, sometimes I will see -96, but generally its between -100 and -112dbm.
I have been on ATT in the same town for years. I have four other Android phones in my house (galaxy s3, Note 2, Lg G2, and Xperia z3), and they all get better signal strength than the S6.
I couldn't be heard on calls, so I complained to ATT and exchanged the phone. FWIW, I had (and am now on my second) 64gb gold colored s6.
I went through trouble shooting with the ATT tech services people and with the Samsung tech support people, they did all sorts of resets, and I even had me boot the phone into safe mode (from off, hold power button, then release it and hold volume down until it boots up).
I am a long time reader of XDA and am posting now because both ATT and Samsung said they had "no reports" of signal issues with the ATT S6. People with signal problems should post about it to get the word out. From what I have read, the s6 is the first or one of the first phones to feature Samsung's own cellular modem instead of Qualcomm's. Maybe its no good, hopefully its just buggy and things will get updated quick.
I was able to put my phone into Testing Mode by dialing #*#4636#*#* and change try different radio settings. The only one that improved signal was "GSM Only"
Switching to that radio setting made my signal go to -80dbm. But of course, GSM-only means 2g edge data. But for now, I am thinking about switching to it when I need to make a phone call.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same.....
FWIW i have my s6 (g920I) sitting here with one bar of LTE but under settings/About/status it is showing that my LTE is fluctuating between -109 and -112 db....On my wife's M9 it is showing 3 bars of LTE but under the settings her signal is actually worse than mine at -116 to -119 db....so it seems like the reception is better on the S6 but the bar display may be off...
I just switched from a Nokia Lumia 830 Windows Phone. I had a S4 and S4 Active before that. We just bought a new house, I work from home in a basement office. I had issues with calls dropping and failing to ring. Texts not coming through until I went upstairs, etc. The Lumia seemed slightly better. I've only had the S6 for a few days but I haven't dropped a call yet, and calls connect on the first dial, not third. Both phones show 1 bar of LTE. I was worried the metal would have issues ala iPhone 4. But not only is it more reliable the call quality seems better. I thought HD voice only applied to mobile to mobile, but toll free calls for conference calls sounds noticebly better on the S6 vs the Lumia and S4.
I still think a microcell would be nice, but way too expensive. Any suggestions on finding one cheap? I thought if I complained enough to AT&T with dropped and failed calls to prove the issue they would offer one. Buy 6 months and as many calls later, no luck.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using XDA Free mobile app
I have exactly same issue, but I'm using S6 Active.
Phone call drops everyday, I already requested a replacement, but I'm afraid it will be the same.
Oh, almost forgot to mention, my wife is using a unlocked T-mobile version S6 on my plan, and her signal is much better than mine.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
I live close to a tower. 4 or 5 bars all the time, good sound quality, reliable data connection.

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