Having Signal Issues Indoors? Consider A Different Phone...

[HiyaBuddy]

Hi Everyone,

This post is more of a notifier about the Galaxy Nexus and its numerous issues with signal. Let me start off by saying I am not Verizon Wireless employee and I actually just signed up with Verizon this Monday from Sprint. I was previously a non-contract customer with a Motorola XOOM and was one of the few who waited and waited for the promised LTE upgrade.

I signed up through amazon and got the Galaxy Nexus for $99. I got three of them and and a samsung flip phone for my dad. The problem is, Samsung chose a crappy antenna to put in the Nexus. I live in the Boston area, zip code 02141, and should be in a great coverage area. In terms of the bars the max I got, out on the street where signal should be the best, was 3 bars of 4 of signal. I only got 4 when I set my phone down and didn't touch it at all. My house is an older building, built in either the 40s or 50s, so I figure that is what made me have 2 bars maximum on the Nexus. This isn't the case entirely. It is the combination of a crappy radio and the building. I verified this by going to best buy and purchasing a Droid RAZR for full price at Bestbuy. $850 after taxes. I had much better results everywhere and especially in my house. Also, in UMASS Boston where signal is so so Verizon works well and I believe AT&T works the best in there. My phone maintains anywhere from 3 to 5 bars in building, but I have 5 bars more than 80% of the time. I will be returning this RAZR because amazon agreed to exchange our Nexi for Droid RAZRs 32gb. In terms of bars you may call my thought flawed but it was also in terms of signal strength. In my house, the nexus got -90dBMs maximum the Razr gets -70dBMs and the max is somewhere in the mid 60s.

I also went to my local Verizon Wireless corporate location in the Cambridgeside Galleria, I say location because it changed from a physical store to a large kiosk dead center on the first floor of the mall, to see both demo phones in action. Of course, a shopping mall would have several repeaters so I figured I would get full signal on my phone. I picked up the demo Nexus and demo RAZR and saw both had full bars. Then I went into the settings to check signal strength. The Nexus was getting -75dBM without being touched or placed in the hand. The RAZR, on the other hand, was getting -35dBM and I blinked a couple times to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me. On my own Nexus I had the same -75dBMs and the RAZR was holding strong at -35dBMs. So this brought me to the conclusion that the RAZR was a better device for my needs. As pretty and fast as the Nexus is, the RAZR is no slouch. In terms of working as an actual cell phone, the RAZR wins that challenge hands down. All in all my service with Verizon has been great with RAZR.

[Tidbits]

You are looking at 3G signal on the RAZR. The Galaxy Nexus is showing you true 4G signal. If you go back to that kiosk and turn off 4G off the Galaxy Nexus you will see it change while on the RAZR you will see the same signal. There's a long write up about it posted a few times.

[HiyaBuddy]

I know it sounds unlikely, but both phones were on 4G actually. The demo units both had 4G turned on and that's what I read. I forgot to mention that 4G was turned on in my post. I get 3 bars of 4G in my house but I just use wifi and 3g. I only use 4G when I really want to surf.

[Tidbits]

We already gone through this in another post.  On the 4G devices OTHER than the Galaxy Nexus it shows 3G signal regardless if it is 3G or 4G.  Only the Nexus will show the signal strength of whatever it is connected to.  Test it out yourself when you get back to the Kiosk and turn off 4G off both of the devices.  The Razr dbm will not change while the Nexus will to show 3G strength.

[HiyaBuddy]

Tidbits, I was simply trying to point out the difference in antennas without getting too technical. At best, my post applies to people in my situation who are skeptical of Verizon coverage in their house, or those who have had a bad opinion of Verizon coverage while using the Nexus.

I don't use 4G because the Nexus in my house, STRUGGLES TO MAINTAIN A SIGNAL. It only hold 1 OR 2 BARS and fades back to 3G. At the same time, my new RAZR HOLDS A CONSTANT 4G SIGNAL, EVERYWHERE in my house. And these results are the EXACT SAME THING with the other two Nexus phones that I have on my family plan. I did this in the last hour, walking around my house. The Nexus would CONTINUOUSLY DROP TO 3G, as well as the other two Nexi, while the RAZR would MAINTAIN IT'S 4G CONNECTION.

In general, Motorola has used a better radio than Samsung. All three Nexus phones will drop their wifi connectivity after a certain distance away from the router. The RAZR will hold the connection all the way through. I have also had times of no service in my house with the Nexus in these past few days. There were times when the phone would tell me I wasn't connected to the internet even though the phone displayed one signal bar and the bars were blue and the 3G logo was on. On the RAZR, I have never had the issue of losing signal. The Nexus would have trouble sending out texts and dropping calls, these problems are non-existent now that I, and my mother and brother, have RAZRS.

[Tidbits]

HiyaBuddy wrote:

Tidbits, I was simply trying to point out the difference in antennas without getting too technical. At best, my post applies to people in my situation who are skeptical of Verizon coverage in their house, or those who have had a bad opinion of Verizon coverage while using the Nexus.

What you are doing is claiming something that is based on information and perceived perception.  You are looking at TWO DIFFERENT devices which READS differently from one another...  When you see the Nexus with 4G it shows 4G signal strength.  When you see a RAZR on 4G you see 3G signal strength. The ONLY way to compare the signal is to drop the Nexus into 3G.

I don't use 4G because the Nexus in my house, STRUGGLES TO MAINTAIN A SIGNAL. It only hold 1 OR 2 BARS and fades back to 3G. At the same time, my new RAZR HOLDS A CONSTANT 4G SIGNAL, EVERYWHERE in my house. And these results are the EXACT SAME THING with the other two Nexus phones that I have on my family plan. I did this in the last hour, walking around my house. The Nexus would CONTINUOUSLY DROP TO 3G, as well as the other two Nexi, while the RAZR would MAINTAIN IT'S 4G CONNECTION.

As I said before welcome to the placebo effect... I have both devices in front of me, and tested both out...  There is no difference where I am at other than the bars are deceiving. They both show the same DBM when using the right measuring tools and not by the bars, or what it shows in about in the settings of the RAZR(It shows 3G signal str and NOT 4G signal str).

In general, Motorola has used a better radio than Samsung. All three Nexus phones will drop their wifi connectivity after a certain distance away from the router. The RAZR will hold the connection all the way through. I have also had times of no service in my house with the Nexus in these past few days. There were times when the phone would tell me I wasn't connected to the internet even though the phone displayed one signal bar and the bars were blue and the 3G logo was on. On the RAZR, I have never had the issue of losing signal. The Nexus would have trouble sending out texts and dropping calls, these problems are non-existent now that I, and my mother and brother, have RAZRS.

Some people will say different.  They are both the same, but people think all towers are built the same.  Some people with certain towers will have a tougher time than others on another tower and vise verse. A simple product change within the tower can do this kind of thing for all devices.  No two towers are built the same...

[HiyaBuddy]

Tidbits, I am one of those who says different. I have tried all 6 devices in my home and have had dropped calls with the Nexus and no dropped calls with the RAZR. Excluding the vast difference in hardware and software of the two phones I want to simply state that for trying to keep a call a going or just send a text message, the RAZR works better for me. I am putting signal bars aside and just focusing on attempting to use the Nexus in my residence. I am also fairly close to a Verizon tower, I can see it if I walk one block up the street, but as for it being a 4G LTE tower that I cannot say.

No two towers are alike, I will definitely accept that as a fact. The same goes for buildings. No two buildings are alike, so if you don't have any trouble with your Nexus indoors than by all means stick with the Nexus. For those who have trouble in doors, perhaps the Nexus isn't the best choice unless you are in possession of one of Verizon's 3G Network Extenders or you don't mind using wifi and putting your phone on 3G. Several people I know will say the same thing about Motorola using a better radio than Samsung in certain smart phones. On AT&T someone I know exchanged their Galaxy s 2 for an ATRIX 2 because they had issues with signal and wifi not reaching their phone. On T-Mobile a family member bought a Galaxy s 4G and had the wifi issues and signal issue, but when they exchanged for a Motorola Defy their problems went away. On Sprint, my cousin dislikes Samsung phones because of their weaker radios. His mom's Epic 4G was not getting a single bar of signal, while his EVO was doing much better but the Photon 4G had the best reception. And on to me with Verizon and the RAZR having a better radio than the Nexus. We all do not live in the same building of course, we are scattered across the USA, but all in all Motorola has worked better with signal, call quality, and reliability.

[Tidbits]

Sigh you are not getting it...  If you want to blame Samsung when it's obviously out of all the devices that are sold have little to no problems... People often forget... The ones that have no problems tend to not get on the internet to say something about it.  The ones that have problems will search far and beyond and say how bad a device is and actually makes it look worse than it really is...

There are just as many people having problems with their RAZR and reports are starting to trickle in on other boards just not this one yet..

[HiyaBuddy]

Read my updated portion of my post please.

[Tidbits]

I have a Nexus... Two actually(One GSM) and I have no trouble with it as far as reception goes whether 4G or 3G...  A lot of people are the same, but of course you are not going to hear about it often.  I am pointing out that you blame Samsung for you problems, but like with ANY company out there they can't account for every scenario out in the real world.  Sometimes it's just your location that's the problem, and something that isn't readily solved(I wouldn't want to move for phone... I'd just buy a phone that works in that area). Which you did what I would have done, but I wouldn't blame any company for random scenarios.  That's why you have a trial period...  To make sure it works for you.

[HiyaBuddy]

How does the GSM version fare for you Tidbits? I'll update the title of my post. I might only be 19 going on 20 but in the past 5 or so years I always expected different from various gadgets, phones, etc. Like picking out a new flat panel. In BBY we picked a Samsung tv because the colors looked the best and they still do. Of course they make various changes and demo modes to TVs to "make them look pretty" so the customer can buy one. 5 years ago we picked a Samsung lcd and now we bought another Samsung LED 3D TV (I'm not a 3D fan but half price for a UND558000 off Amazon with free shipping is a steal!) and we absolutely loved the colors. We didn't blindly purchase the LED TV we got to see the unit in action at, that's right, Bestbuy and thought the colors were gorgeous compared to the other models that appeared a tad dull next to the Samsung. We spent about 2 weeks going around places to compare the TVs; Sears, Best Buy, Costco, and BJ's, and finally decided on the Samsung.

My location is a problem. Well, inside my house AT&T has virtually no reception. Signal bars first of course lol but in terms of use no AT&T phone that comes in here works for a phone call or a text and it has been the same for the last 6 years. I say only 6 years because I had them 6 years ago and it was two years of reception hell. Especially in the dead of the New England winter when we had to step outside just to make a phone call. So even after 6 years, the reception issues are still present. I know this because every person that walks in talking on an AT&T phone (my friends and family members) will eventually get a dropped call. Sprint worked fine and T-Mobile worked as well, but it only worked fair in places that I frequented. Verizon works great in here on my RAZR but not on the Galaxy Nexus. Verizon also works great everywhere I go around Boston, except the subway of course.

[Tidbits]

They are exactly the same... The only difference between the two is pretty much 4G.  AT&T and T-Mobile still run 3G technology(HSPA+ is 3G regardless of what they say ITU changed the standard to play nice with AT&T and T-Mobile).  Winax, and LTE can hit the 100mbps barrier with firmware updates and HSPA+ can't.

Battery life is nearly the same with the kind of usage I put out...  Sometimes one phone call(job related) could drain my battery to the point if I want it to last until I get home I need to put it on the charger.  I ended up buying a 12000 Mah powerbag which I have to use often enough on my phones.  Google Voice has been a godsend in the regards.

Sprint our company will never get service from them(I have to get all of them due to me being the top tech and have to keep everything uniformed between carriers).  If you work for this company it's not recommended you get Sprint service.  They shafted various people in our work place... Me twice ($800 bill for text messages even when I had unlimited texting, and also dropping 12 employees service and plans because of domestic roaming with no warning while we were at a job site).  Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me...

I haven't been in Boston in a long time.  I should visit my sister-in-law sometime soon as she should be graduating.  Her husband has the Galaxy Nexus too I believe, but unsure I haven't talked to him since the GSM version was released.