Lollipop upgrade ruined my Note 3 cell signal strength.

[bcook30]

After installing Android 5.0 on by Note 3, my cell signal strength got much worse.  At home, where my signal was decent but not strong before, I can no longer make calls.  If it does connect, voice quality is poor and the signal drops constantly.  I often cannot even send SMS messages now because of poor signal strength.  Often, even when I go to an area with good signal strength, my phone will not connect, and I have to reboot it to reestablish a cell connection.  At work, where I used to get full or nearly full signal strength, I now get only one or two bars.  My daughter has a Galaxy S4, which she luckily has not updated to Lollipop.  Side by side, it gets much better signal strength than my upgraded Note 3.  What did the OS update do to the cell reception?  My phone has become almost useless.  Is there any way to fix this?

[smattera]

Same issue.  Called tech support 5 or 6 times. New sim card,  factory reset, etc. Nothing.  Finally got them to agree to replace the phone even though the warranty has lapsed. Hopefully the new note works. Will report back.

[Shepstyle25]

Same exact problem with a note 4. Since Lollipop horrible reception. My wife a ND sons phones also.

[MiiHere]

What I read said end of July 5.1 should be out, but it wasn't an official statement.

[vzw_customer_support]

Shepstyle25,

I am so sorry to hear of the issues with signal since the update. What exactly was you signal like prior to the update and after? Only issues in certain areas since the update? Do you all have Note 4's running on Lollipop?

LindseyT_VZW

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[Shepstyle25]

Hello,

In my area code which is 75662 my signal on Kit Kat was 3 to 4 bars with

occasional 5 to 6. Even in my home I was getting better reception as

opposed to just old note 2 in our home with 3 to 4 bars. After the Lollipop

update it is a consistent 1 to 2 bars in my home and maybe every now and th

we n 3 to 4. I noticed a lot more dropped calls going from my home down the

interstate to work where they never happened before. At first I thought it

was just me until my wife , daughter and sons experienced the same problem.

We all have Note 4 phones. What was weird n is my daughter in law has a

Note 4 also and hesitated to upgrade to Lollipop and her reception blows

ours away. Consist having 4 to 5 bars while ours are registering 1 or 2

with an occasional 3. My son uses his in graphic design for calls and he

won't use it thinking it will drop him while talking to a customer. We

resorted to using a land line on important calls. This is a serious problem

for us as we're paying for services we can't use. They even tried the  hang

the Sim card bit that didn't help either.  This is definitely an issue as

I've seen numerous postings about the lost of signal strength. I hope

something is done soon.

Regards,

[Name removed for privacy reasons required by the Verizon Wireless Terms of Service]

On Jun 7, 2015 11:45 AM, "Verizon Wireless Customer Support" <

[vzw_customer_support]

I agree Shepstyle25! This is a serious problem. As a consumer and Wireless user I relly on my phone and know how important it is that we don't experience these dropped calls. We have a few Troubleshooting steps we can try to get your phone working like it was before the update.

When was the update done on your phone? Can take a few days for your phone to optimize back to normal. Since this happened after the Software update, have you tried running the Software Repair Assistance? Try this and keep us updated  http://www.verizonwireless.com/support/samsung-galaxy-note-3-update/ .

When was the update done on your phone? Can take a few days for your phone to optimize back to normal.

JorgeO_VZW

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If my response answered your question please click the �Correct Answer� button under my response.

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Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

[Shepstyle25]

My update occurred shortly after Verizon began rolling out the updates in

the US. As I assumed it would give me better performance I updated

immediately after it was released. It was no more than a day or two after

the announcement and availability. Every since then it's been nothing

short of frustrating to use the basic intent of a "phone", to call and

receive calls.

On Jun 7, 2015 7:13 PM, "Verizon Wireless Customer Support" <

[RepairCelt]

  I, too, have experienced worse cell signal strength on my Note 3 since the Lollipop update.  Where I live, I already have poor signal strength, but would have one to two bars prior to the Lollipop update.   After update, my phone spends most of its time with no bars and an "X" next to the signal indicator.  What's worse, if it is like this long enough, it does not automatically renegotiate when I am back in an area with good signal.  It will stay with the "X" indicator until I reboot the phone.

  I am not interested in playing the troubleshooting game, as this is clearly a case of poorly implemented software.  I would like very much to know exactly when a fix will be put out. 

  And, Verizon, you better pray that I don't need to call 911 before you get this fixed.  I doubt if an intruder would allow me to reboot my phone so I can call the police.

[RepairCelt]

UPDATE:

  This afternoon I was able to revert my Galaxy Note 3 from Android Lollipop 5.0 to KitKat 4.4.4.  I did not have to root my phone, but I did have to download some software to load the KitKat OS onto my phone and I did have to download the OS itself.  And I had to be willing to put the phone through a Factory Reset and go through the initial set-up again.

  I am happy to report that doing so resolved my cell signal issue.  And my phone, once again, will quickly renegotiate a signal when it moves from being in a no signal area to an area with signal.  Whereas, on Lollipop, this would have required me to reboot the phone.

I am also thrilled that my phone now looks like an Android OS phone again, rather than the childish look of the Lollipop OS.

  So, Verizon, there is the definitive answer.  The Lollipop OS update does messed up the Galaxy Note 3's ability to maintain a connection to the cell tower.

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