T-Mobile $30 Prepaid and 4.4.1 Baseband - Nexus 5 General

As a preface, I'm in northeast NJ. I had been on a family plan on 4.4 for about three weeks on AT&T and the service reception was excellent (usually 3-4 bars LTE). Switched to tmo last week and still only saw a drop of one bar in LTE (2-3, sometimes 4). With 4.4.1 and the new baseband, I'm getting pretty poor reception - mostly 1 or 2 bars.
Is anybody else noticing a drop in LTE connectivity on the tmo prepaid plain, especially in the northeast? And is it safe to flash the 4.4 radio just to see if that improves my signal?

I'm on Long Island. On T-Mobile for a month, switched from Verizon. I saw a drop in LTE by bars but no real change in subjective decrease in reception. I haven't seen a noticeable change since I flashed rooted 4.4.1 but I flashed the radio at the same time. I've had no issues related to flashing the update.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I'm not convinced the bars indicated mean all that much. I prefer to compare using a something like ookla speed test
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...ce=stnet&utm_medium=mobile&utm_campaign=stnet
once you have several "base" tests at your most common destinations (home/work) feel free to flash diff radio to see if your signal improves.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2514095

I'm reasonably confident that Google/LG did not push out the OTA update to 4.4 that is worst than the previous radio, not on purpose - and single out the T-Mo prepaid users. Those signal bars by itself, as poster above said, are meaningless - I look at dBm and asu figures to try to sort out the changes as we have 3 prepaid T-Mo lines in our house including 1 on PAYG and no data, mostly for WiFi calling. I also have an AT&T Gophone line and will check it out via one of the two Nexus 5, both are now on 4.4.1 but spliting the radio.
I can easily roll back one of the 16G device to 4.4 to look at more specific results or measurements, instead of the indicator bars alone. Now that Mrs. L is home with her white Panda, we are seeing a subtle difference but insignificant one, but both download & upload speed had dropped - regardless of which radio was used, on the newest KOT19E 4.4.1 rom. I have an unconfirmed suspicion that T-Mo engineers have been tweaking their tower's signals across the board on either the hardware or software level, or both, and making adjustments since some of the "hyper" speed that we are enjoying are bandwidth hogs - imagine the drain for one tower resulting from a few dozens Nexus 5 streaming youtube or tethering ... We might be seeing some sort of throttling on their backend & we should consider looking into all directions to help explain what some of the posts are now saying.
Has anyone on T-Mo with official tethering on their plan spoke to tech support & get a trouble ticket going ... it seemed that we are just barking at Google, just my two cents for what it's worth.

Related

Question for former Verizon users

Pardon the cross-thread. I have been a VZW customer for almost 10 years, now I am on the verge of leaving for sprint. I want the One very bad, but VZW has it locked down, plus if I upgrade I lose my unlimited data.
If you are recent convert from VZW to Sprint, lets say 6-12 months, I would like to hear your opinion. Was it a good move for you? Do you plan to stay with Sprint when you contract expires or go back??
Thanks for any feedback!!
It's never a good move to switch to Sprint.
Sent from my One using xda app-developers app
Forgot to say that I am in the Houston area, so bonus points if your from here!! :good:
Sprint 4g lte is building out quick. I am happy with sprint.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk 4
I switched from Verizon to Sprint in July 2011 for the HTC Arrive, so I'm not a recent convert but this does give me better insight on the experience. I had no problems until the end of the year when Sprint started selling the iPhone. It seems like everyone in my area bought one, because the network quickly became unusable, especially near the university. Sprint's network was by far the worst network in the area from the end of 2011 through earlier this year. With NV upgrades in my area, things improved. The improvement was enough that I upgraded to the HTC One when it came out instead of waiting a few more months for my contract to end.
The 3G is still not as fast as Verizon, despite our area being mostly NV upgrade complete. Neither is the 4G. However, the data actually works now. This is a big improvement from where it was, and rarely are the speeds too slow to stream music / browse the internet. Watching videos is tricky over 3G, but on 4G it's no problem. The only other issue with Sprint is that their coverage is not nearly that of Verizon's. If you are going to be in civilization most of the time this won't be an issue, but if you venture outside the city you will quickly notice the downside of 1900MHz plus fewer towers. If you are in an area where Sprint has no service, you will roam on Verizon (typically 1X and voice only, it's "unlimited" but if you use excessive roaming Sprint may boot you). Oh, and the handoff between Sprint and Verizon towers is rarely smooth - expect dropped calls if you are moving in and out of roaming coverage.
Even with the slightly over 1 year where my phone was useless except for phone calls, I'd say it was worth it for unlimited data. Houston is seeing a lot of NV upgrade activity, so I don't think you'll have a problem.
Anthrax79 said:
Pardon the cross-thread. I have been a VZW customer for almost 10 years, now I am on the verge of leaving for sprint. I want the One very bad, but VZW has it locked down, plus if I upgrade I lose my unlimited data.
If you are recent convert from VZW to Sprint, lets say 6-12 months, I would like to hear your opinion. Was it a good move for you? Do you plan to stay with Sprint when you contract expires or go back??
Thanks for any feedback!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been a VZW customer for over 20 years and dealt with a LOT of their horrible administrative BS only because of their "superior" 4G LTE /FiOS service in my area.. which is the ONLY reason they are tolerated. (FiOS and 4G LTE Networks are awesome..seriously awesome.)
That being said..a LOT has happened with Sprint the last several months that is becoming a significant game changer.
A recent merger with SoftBank (Tokyo) has catapulted Sprint into a new echelon communications carrier .. one where significant investments will ramp expediently their 4G LTE technology and coverage areas. And plans for national coverage and technology advancements are a PLENTY.
This coupled with their copious UNLIMITED DATA My Way price plan ..UNLIMITED for LIFE which is an instant savings in itself from VZW best effort 4gbyte/mnth SHARED DATA plan limited...was a "no brainer" contract switch for me.
I also was able to include my beloved HTC One with a number of rebates accumulating to for all intended purpose.. a *FREE phone at no charge with a 2 year commitment.
And the intangible reasoning.. I have a much warmer feeling with Sprint customer service and support than I ever did as a customer with Verizon the clunky uninformed push you around hierarchy of service representatives and coping with their accounting and billing nightmares..
Come December into 2014 ..I will wager Sprint as the strongest contender for carrier supremacy..and rapidly progressing FTW.
Thanks for the feedback everyone.
Data speed is my only issue, especially 3G. It makes me want to smash my phone on the ground (I have anger issues). 4G is good enough though whenever I'm within its coverage.
Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 4
I love Sprint, I get 15-22mbs in my area. I've used 6.2GB's of Data this month so far.
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium
On LTE I get two or three megabits down if I'm lucky, although its alright because even 1 megabit is about something like 128kbits. Load most webpages in a few seconds. 3G isn't as good, but for me, if it's working - it works well enough. Most of the time, though, it seems as if my web requests go nowhere. The tx/rx arrows stay grayed out and nothing happens. Started happening out of the blue one day and happens on both 1.29 and 1.31, so I don't believe it's a hardware issue - but a Sprint issue.

[Q] T-Mobile signal quality

I'm curious to know if anyone on T-Mobile has any sort of signal issue.
The unit I have in hand has little to no signal at all. I've put it side by side every other phone in the store and the other phones [literally every phone on display at the local store] and the Nexus 6 only gets roughly 2 bars of LTE.
Myself as well as the store employee have gone over the mobile settings [same as my Note 4] and same as all other display phones and the signal quality is horrible on the N6.
The store rep swapped SIMs and rebooted several times with no change.
I'm very curious to see what feedback gets left here on this. I was planning on getting rid of my Note 4 for the N6 but not if the signal is horrible.
Comments/observations....
CBConsultation said:
I'm curious to know if anyone on T-Mobile has any sort of signal issue.
The unit I have in hand has little to no signal at all. I've put it side by side every other phone in the store and the other phones [literally every phone on display at the local store] and the Nexus 6 only gets roughly 2 bars of LTE.
Myself as well as the store employee have gone over the mobile settings [same as my Note 4] and same as all other display phones and the signal quality is horrible on the N6.
The store rep swapped SIMs and rebooted several times with no change.
I'm very curious to see what feedback gets left here on this. I was planning on getting rid of my Note 4 for the N6 but not if the signal is horrible.
Comments/observations....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to say that there is nothing going on, but graphical display of bars means very little to actual signal strength. At bare minimum run some speed test checks on all three devices in the same spot.
mb3030 said:
Not to say that there is nothing going on, but graphical display of bars means very little to actual signal strength. At bare minimum run some speed test checks on all three devices in the same spot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thanks for the reply. I also did a side by side with my Nexus 5 bone stock and shows the same thing. Very weak signal.
I know that AOSP shows true signal and no 'signal boosting' like Sense and TW, But my N5 is showing 5 bars of LTE next to the N6. A few others have responded to me on G+ that they are in fact seeing the same weak signal.
Stock firmware on T-Mobile branded devices tells the bars to report based on the 2G radio strength.
Whereas on stock Android 5.0, the bars report based on the best technology you're connected to (LTE, for instance)
This makes TMo look good essentially in the eyes of the average consumer.
If you go to Settings, you'll find the Nexus 6 will have the same LTE signal strength as the other phones.
Simply put, signal quality is just fine. All bars aren't created equal.
---------- Post added at 12:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:19 PM ----------
Since the Nexus 5 was sold by T-Mobile, it was smart enough to switch bar algorithms when it connected to a T-Mobile APN.
The Nexus 5 with Lollipop and the Nexus 6 do not seem to do this anymore. Maybe it will change with the wi-fi calling update.
Sentrix27 said:
Stock firmware on T-Mobile branded devices tells the bars to report based on the 2G radio strength.
Whereas on stock Android 5.0, the bars report based on the best technology you're connected to (LTE, for instance)
This makes TMo look good essentially in the eyes of the average consumer.
If you go to Settings, you'll find the Nexus 6 will have the same LTE signal strength as the other phones.
Simply put, signal quality is just fine. All bars aren't created equal.
---------- Post added at 12:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:19 PM ----------
Since the Nexus 5 was sold by T-Mobile, it was smart enough to switch bar algorithms when it connected to a T-Mobile APN.
The Nexus 5 with Lollipop and the Nexus 6 do not seem to do this anymore. Maybe it will change with the wi-fi calling update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the great reply. My Nexus 5 is running 5.0. I also have a Note 4 but that's not included because of the signal algorithm used on that device. Just don;t know why my N5 shows full LTE but the N6 shows roughly 2 bars sitting side by side.
Try these:
1) Go to Testing menu
- Go to Phone Dialer
- Input *#*#4636*#*#
2) Go to Phone Information
3) Scroll down and make sure it says LTE/GSM auto (PRL)
joackie27 said:
Try these:
1) Go to Testing menu
- Go to Phone Dialer
- Input *#*#4636*#*#
2) Go to Phone Information
3) Scroll down and make sure it says LTE/GSM auto (PRL)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, confirmed when at the store. Not there now so I can't run anymore side by sides or tests.
A greater comparison would be showing the actual dbm meter in the settings menu for all devices. We all know different manufactures display bars as they which.
In comparing the N6 to my N5 the dbm is consistently better on the N6 and it stays connected to LTE vs dropping to HSPA/UMTS like the N5 does. SO far
Signal check app will tell db of signal all connections. ....or you can find the same info in settings
I confirm this, but only with anecdotal evidence.
I just recently switched to T-Mobile after using their Test Drive. The iPhone 5s that I originally had, couldn't get LTE signal very well or at all at my desk at work. I switched to a Moto G LTE before my Test Drive was over, and the signal was drastically better. No issues with the G in handling streaming music.
Today is my first day with my N6 at work, and signal reception is similar to the iPhone 5s. I have to turn off LTE because reception is so low that I can't even stream Spotify or Play Music. I just hope band 12 rolls out soon...
Bales75 said:
I confirm this, but only with anecdotal evidence.
I just recently switched to T-Mobile after using their Test Drive. The iPhone 5s that I originally had, couldn't get LTE signal very well or at all at my desk at work. I switched to a Moto G LTE before my Test Drive was over, and the signal was drastically better. No issues with the G in handling streaming music.
Today is my first day with my N6 at work, and signal reception is similar to the iPhone 5s. I have to turn off LTE because reception is so low that I can't even stream Spotify or Play Music. I just hope band 12 rolls out soon...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can vouch for the area I live in that the N6 works perfectly. At first, my friend had issues on his Tmobile network, and he couldnt find out why. In fact it was so bad that he couldnt even connect to the network. He took his phone to me, I took out the sim, blew on it, restarted his phone. Then we stared in awe as the bars quickly filled on up.
Experience with my Nexus 6 so far is mostly the same.
Maybe 2 or 3 dBm weaker than my Nexus 5 with Lollipop was.
CBConsultation said:
I'm curious to know if anyone on T-Mobile has any sort of signal issue.
The unit I have in hand has little to no signal at all. I've put it side by side every other phone in the store and the other phones [literally every phone on display at the local store] and the Nexus 6 only gets roughly 2 bars of LTE.
Myself as well as the store employee have gone over the mobile settings [same as my Note 4] and same as all other display phones and the signal quality is horrible on the N6.
The store rep swapped SIMs and rebooted several times with no change.
I'm very curious to see what feedback gets left here on this. I was planning on getting rid of my Note 4 for the N6 but not if the signal is horrible.
Comments/observations....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mb3030 said:
Not to say that there is nothing going on, but graphical display of bars means very little to actual signal strength. At bare minimum run some speed test checks on all three devices in the same spot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree with @mb3030
If you want to see your signal strength in dBm (Decibel milliwatts) or asu (arbitrary strength unit), go to Settings>About Phone>Status.
ICYDK, a dBm value closer to 0 is better, so check your signal in different environments.
In my house I'm at -95 dBm/45 asu. Outside I'm at -86/54.
Sent from my MB Nexus 6 (64 GB)
GPS Ordered, 2-Day Shipping: 10/29, 13:29
Account Charged: 11/14
Shipping Notification: 11/18, 03:42
Device Received: 11/19, 14:59
All Times in EST
Speedtest what about three bars. Excuse the blurry picture it was taken with a nexus 7 lol
Like many have said, graphical interpretation is independent on each phone. A 1 bar on one phone might equal to 3 bar on a different phone from a different manufacturer. Best way to check signal strength is through dBm/asu value and speed test.
T-Mobile user in metro area.
Today was the first time I took my N6 out of house. One of the first things I noticed was signal strength (bar) was lower than my N5 running 5.0 in the same places around my neighborhood.
I did a couple speed tests and yep, was getting much slower results than the N5 in the same areas a few days ago.
Another odd thing was the fact I had a Moto X (2014) a month ago and sent it back in anticipation of the N6. Its signal strength was fantastic (better than the N5).
Very confused as to why a phone that is based off the Moto X seems to have a much harder time with signal strength. I am going to mess with it some more but so far I am disappointed with the signal strength compared to the N5.
Another note. The update that was sent OTA this week seemed to have a flash for the radios. Not sure that has anything to do with anything but throwing it out there.
I can tell you there is something wonky with this phone.
I live in NYC, where Wideband 15x15 LTE is deployed. On my Nexus 5, I was pulling over 40-50mbps down, with full signal strength (as should be with all of the coverage in NYC).
Now on the Nexus 6, the signal strength shows like 25%, and my download speeds are only 20-25mbps. Those speeds are still definitely fine for my needs (Plex, Pandora, and browsing/emails), but there is definitely something going on with this new phone.
Here's mine from here in Las Vegas
It's not like the radio is tweaked for tmos network.... It's the same radio in all 4 variants on the carriers. Give it time. Updates to the baseband will help. My n5 used to lose signal completely all the time. Drove me nuts. I haven't had one issue yet and I actual have a data connection in the building I work in with my 6

[Q] Signal strength (radios)

Hi everyone, waiting for my Nexus to get shipped from the GPS but I've seen some anecdotal reports on here and the Android Central forums about the signal strength not being so great on this phone. Specifically, some people report that their LG Nexus 5 shows a better signal in dB (not just bars) than their Nexus 6.
I'm a little concerned about this. I relocated just over a year ago to an area where I don't have the best coverage with Verizon at my work. At that time, I had a Galaxy S3 which had terrible radios where I literally had no coverage in many places. I upgraded to an S4 and had no issues since then although my wife's Note 3 seems to do slightly better getting LTE when I drop to 3G. Was looking forward to getting this phone as it will be my first Motorola and I've always read that Moto has some of the best radios (also read LG and Apple do too). Not gonna turn this into a Note 4 vs Nexus 6 thread because that one already exists and is a hot mess but I've been reading that the signal strength on the Note 4 is really good.
I have a ship date of 11/26 so I guess I'll find out soon enough but just wondering what people's experience has been with the Nexus 6.
Thanks!
I'm curious about this as well, I have a Nexus 4 and find its radios to be more powerful than my siblings and gfs Nexus 5s.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda-developers.com, powered by appyet.com
Mine has about the same reception if not a little better than my G3. Att is really bad where I live but I usually have LTE except for a few places but its much better than my wife's S5
i think people just get too caught up in graphical representations of signal (i.e. signal bars). Different phones and carriers show different things for the same level of actual signal. In my experience on T-Mobile on Long Island/ NYC - i get as good if not better signal than i did with my nexus 5. There are a few spots where i had no signal with my nexus 5 that i now get a stable weak signal with the nexus 6. To me, it really has been as good or better, but certainly not worse. With that said, graphically spots where the nexus 5 said i had full bars of service (5/5), the N6 reports as having (4/5), but the service is the same. Speed tests and dbm all match up, so i can just assume it's the way it's being displayed.
The sony Z3 I had had the same dbm that the Nexus 6 is showing in my office, but the visual bars on the Nexus 6 show as being lower. I haven't had any slower speeds anywhere with the Nexus 6 so far. One thing I have noticed is that I'm not getting 4G while on the phone the majority of the time. I haven't had that be an issue in the past. I'm on T-Mobile.
Now THIS is something that I have really been wanting to know. The fact that I too have heard about how good Moto's radios have been in the past really got my hopes up for this phone. I currently rock an AT&T Note 3. And IDK if I just got a lemon, or if Samsung really did throw the cheapest POS radio in their last year flagship phone. But of all the android phones I have owned (Sony, HTC, Moto, samsung) this one gets hands down the worst signal strength I have ever had. Further more, I make it a habbit to compare this thing to every other AT&T phone I can, from friends and family. And not one of them has ever had worse signal strength than I. The closest one had about -3dB less than mine. Most had -5 or even -10dB better. Even after flashing every single AT&T radio firmware, different cases, it still is just terrible. Right now sitting in my house it is at -100 and showing 3 bars. I work as a drive tester for cell towers, and my test phone is a sprint Nexus 5. So I cant compare it to my note, being on a different network.
But on to the topic of the N6, since it has radios for pretty much every network, would that mean that said radios are of a lesser quality? I had really hoped that this phone would blow my Note 3 out of the water on AT&T. Honestly, even if it isn't as good as other Moto phones, it still has to be better than my Note 3. Even dads S5 active and moms S4 get much better signal strength numbers than mine. Forgive me for asking this, but is this something that can be improved within the dev community with some flashing, or is it just a hardware limitation?
CCL X10 said:
Now THIS is something that I have really been wanting to know. The fact that I too have heard about how good Moto's radios have been in the past really got my hopes up for this phone. I currently rock an AT&T Note 3. And IDK if I just got a lemon, or if Samsung really did throw the cheapest POS radio in their last year flagship phone. But of all the android phones I have owned (Sony, HTC, Moto, samsung) this one gets hands down the worst signal strength I have ever had. Further more, I make it a habbit to compare this thing to every other AT&T phone I can, from friends and family. And not one of them has ever had worse signal strength than I. The closest one had about -3dB less than mine. Most had -5 or even -10dB better. Even after flashing every single AT&T radio firmware, different cases, it still is just terrible. Right now sitting in my house it is at -100 and showing 3 bars. I work as a drive tester for cell towers, and my test phone is a sprint Nexus 5. So I cant compare it to my note, being on a different network.
But on to the topic of the N6, since it has radios for pretty much every network, would that mean that said radios are of a lesser quality? I had really hoped that this phone would blow my Note 3 out of the water on AT&T. Honestly, even if it isn't as good as other Moto phones, it still has to be better than my Note 3. Even dads S5 active and moms S4 get much better signal strength numbers than mine. Forgive me for asking this, but is this something that can be improved within the dev community with some flashing, or is it just a hardware limitation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some radios worked a little better on my note 3 but some were worse ...it was a crap shoot. ....but none were far and away better ....like you my note 3 got horrible signal on sprint ....g3 was worse for me so this has to be better lol
nexus6R3plicant said:
Some radios worked a little better on my note 3 but some were worse ...it was a crap shoot. ....but none were far and away better ....like you my note 3 got horrible signal on sprint ....g3 was worse for me so this has to be better lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha I am not alone! Well, here's to better signal in the N6!!!
Seems to me that the nexus 6 reports low signal as time without signal. Hasn't been an issue here as I'm always connected to lte even in places I'd drop to 3g
So anything new on Signal? I'm trying to buy a Nexus6 but haven't been able to on Verizon. Hope there is some good news there has been a lot of bad.
wooddale said:
So anything new on Signal? I'm trying to buy a Nexus6 but haven't been able to on Verizon. Hope there is some good news there has been a lot of bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best and most consistent connection/speeds of any device I've owned on Verizon.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app
Make sure when u unlock your device that you change your cellular networks to LTE. When I unlock my device I wasn't getting no cell signal or phone call and I noticed my networks were set at ( Global ) so I switched it back to LTE.
mr pnut said:
Make sure when u unlock your device that you change your cellular networks to LTE. When I unlock my device I wasn't getting no cell signal or phone call and I noticed my networks were set at ( Global ) so I switched it back to LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What Carrier are you on?
wooddale said:
What Carrier are you on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tmobile
mr pnut said:
Tmobile
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on Verizon and really doesn't make much difference on my Droid Maxx. Maybe its something in 5.0. I gotta give it a shot can always send it back if I can ever get one. Pisses me off I got the money for the phone and I can't buy it. Maybe that's some kind of sign. lol
I get a little better signal than my wife's Note 4 in the same locations. She has an otterbox commuter case on though and I'm still running around naked.
I have similar experiences with my N6, or had. I've only had it for 2 days though, but I was having signal drop out and 3g/LTE switching a lot yesterday. I changed my APN protocol to IPV4/IPV6 instead of IPV6 and today its been fine. I don't know if that actually had anything to do with it or not, but thought I'd share. I think its just a coincidence and for some reason my signal just decided to work better. Worth a shot.
So I changed to LTE and now I don't have a global option.... I travel internationally for work very expensively (T-Mobile free worldwide data ftw) and had found previously on my Nexus 5 that I needed to be on global for it to work anywhere else...
Any ideas here?
When there's a CDMA SIM in the phone (Verizon/Sprint), it shows the global option where it can use both CDMA and GSM networks. When there's a GSM SIM in the phone (Tmo, AT&T, etc.), it seems to go into GSM-only mode (no need to display global, which seems to mean GSM+CDMA in the Nexus 6's case).
EmperorX said:
So I changed to LTE and now I don't have a global option.... I travel internationally for work very expensively (T-Mobile free worldwide data ftw) and had found previously on my Nexus 5 that I needed to be on global for it to work anywhere else...
Any ideas here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pdagal said:
When there's a CDMA SIM in the phone (Verizon/Sprint), it shows the global option where it can use both CDMA and GSM networks. When there's a GSM SIM in the phone (Tmo, AT&T, etc.), it seems to go into GSM-only mode (no need to display global, which seems to mean GSM+CDMA in the Nexus 6's case).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting change from the Nexus 5. Previously, I had to be sure global was selected overseas as opposed to just LTE, so you can see why I was originally concerned. Good to know. Thanks for the info man!

[Q] At&t reception issues

I've seen a few threads here and there about reception issues on the nexus 6 and it seems like half of the people are not experiencing this issue while others are. I want to know if there are any other Nexus 6 users on AT&T that experience extremely slow data speeds and poor reception.
I for one, have not seen my signal have full bars and while that doesn't necessarily mean much, I've done speed tests at various times, only to come back with somwhere around .15Mbps down and 1Mbps up. Now, I have tested against a HTC One M8 in the same location, the HTC having 3 bars and Nexus 6 right around 3 bars. The above speeds were from the Nexus while the HTC got 22Mbps down and 5Mbps up.
I believe that there is something wrong with the hardware on my phone, going to go to the AT&T store today and get it checked out. Hopefully they'll replace it. Has anybody else had any experience with this problem and have they gotten their phone replaced under warranty?
the problem isnt the hardware, its your provider. get the issues worked out with them, as thats where your issue is from.
I have had zero issues with my N6 on att. Mine was purchased from att. Signal is as strong or stronger than any other phones i have used.
Oddly, a friend using an unlocked direct from Moto...using on T-Mobile, had many places where he would only get H+ where his T-Mobile branded devices would all be LTE.
Yeah, so I went into ATT and like you said, it was a provider issue. I was under the impression that after upgrading to a new device, it would renew my billing cycle and my data would be reset. This wasn't the case when I spoke with the attendant. I didn't think I was over the data cap on my unlimited plan with my old phone, but I did restore it on the last billing cycle and reset my data usage tracker. Regardless, ATT was throttling my data even after my upgrade, which I thought was pretty lame of them. Especially since Verizon stopped throttling unlimited plans unless there is heavy congestion on the network (although it is hard to tell whether you are on a congested network or not).

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
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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?
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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.
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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
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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.
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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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