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4G Phones 3G sensitivity
vidguy7
Contributor - Level 2
‎06-04-2011 12:50 PM

I've got the Droid, and thankfully Verizon seems to have fixed the no connectivity 4G to 3G issue in the Long Island area.  But does anyone notice that in weaker 3G areas you don't get a connection whereas 3G only phones do?  I know the 4G signal doesn't seem to be as robust indoors as 3G signals, but I'm just talking about connectivity in weaker 3G areas indoors.

 

As an example, my wife's IPhone on Verizon will get a decent signal in say a movie theater in the Westbury area where I just can't get out at all on the internet.  I'm not sure if this is a characteristic of all 4G phones or just the Charge.

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Re: 4G Phones 3G sensitivity
DionM_VZW
Verizon Employee
‎06-09-2011 09:38 PM
vidguy7 wrote:

You just hope Verizon reads these forums as well as others where people are complaining about 3G sensitivity.  If there's something they can do about it on the software side, great, but if it's inherent in these 4G phone's receivers, there's not much that can be done.  But I'm convinced this is not an issue from 'sample to sample', but rather all Charges and probably, from what I've read, all 4G phones to date.

 

It does make you wonder how Verizon tests these things prior to release.

Hi vidguy7,

 

I'm glad to say that we do read these forums as well as others. We both want and need to be aware of all that our customers experience while using their phones on our network. So thank you for taking the time to share. 

 

I see that you're anticipating today's software update with the hope that it will resolve the acquisition transition issue you discribed. We hope it does as well. However, if you do require additional assistance, please don't hesitate to send me a personal message with your mobile number, a phone number that I can call you on and a time that I can reach you. Thanks again!

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Re: 4G Phones 3G sensitivity
Ray999
Contributor - Level 1
‎06-04-2011 07:48 PM
vidguy7 wrote:

I've got the Droid, and thankfully Verizon seems to have fixed the no connectivity 4G to 3G issue in the Long Island area.  But does anyone notice that in weaker 3G areas you don't get a connection whereas 3G only phones do?  I know the 4G signal doesn't seem to be as robust indoors as 3G signals, but I'm just talking about connectivity in weaker 3G areas indoors.

 

As an example, my wife's IPhone on Verizon will get a decent signal in say a movie theater in the Westbury area where I just can't get out at all on the internet.  I'm not sure if this is a characteristic of all 4G phones or just the Charge.


I have found that going to  Settings->Wireless&network->Mobile networks->System selection and then selecting CDMA mode usually fixes me in that situation. Phone sometimes drops to 1xRTT but I still get my email

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Re: 4G Phones 3G sensitivity
vidguy7
Contributor - Level 2
‎06-04-2011 08:52 PM

The only thing is, it can be a pain to be consistently switching back forth between 4G and CDMA only depending on the area you're in.  You can go 2 blocks and go from 3G to 4G or from outside a building to inside with the same drop down to 3G.  I'd be consistently in my settings if I did that every time I had a switch from 4G to 3G and back again.  Granted this is not nearly as bad as when I had no data connectivity whenever I was in 3G, but it's still a bit of a disppointment.  It just seems these phones are less sensitive in a 3G area compared to a 3G only phone.  I bet that even switching them to 3G only won't match the sensititivy of a 3G only phone.

 

I guess at this point on the technology curve, it's the price you pay for 4G. I'h hoping that the next OTA software update helps this issue a bit.

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Re: 4G Phones 3G sensitivity
ballanda
Enthusiast - Level 2
‎06-06-2011 11:54 AM

VZW HAS TO FIX THIS.  Also, they should not be relying on us to be the testers.  VZW:

 

1) Get Charge phone

2) Look at 4G coverage map

3) Go where there is no 4G

4) Spend a day there and use the phone.

 

You'll see what we mean. 

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Re: 4G Phones 3G sensitivity
vidguy7
Contributor - Level 2
‎06-06-2011 01:47 PM

Very true ballanda.  I'm hoping that the rumored Verizon OTA update will increase 3G sensitivity as well as smooth out the issues going from 3G to 4G or 4G to 3G areas.

 

I also hope that when Verizon tests these 4G phones in 3G areas, they go INDOORS for some of their testing.  Generally standing outdoors is not the issue, but just as with the fragile 4G signal deteriorating or disappearing indoors, the 3G signal on the 4G phones (at least the Charge), drop to virtually nothing indoors in many areas too. 


There's nothing better than having your wife sit right next to you with her Verizon 3G phone and seeing her get out on 3G while I have no signal.

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Re: 4G Phones 3G sensitivity
ballanda
Enthusiast - Level 2
‎06-06-2011 04:54 PM

Not sure where you heard the rumor of an "ED3" update, but that would be welcome news.

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Re: 4G Phones 3G sensitivity
GreenRobot
Contributor - Level 3
‎06-06-2011 05:03 PM

The Thunderbolt is the same way, when it doesn't have a strong 4g signal it will drop to 1X before it gets a 3g connection sometimes. I have had many situations were I am sitting next to someone with a 3g Android and I'm either with no connection or 1X and they're showing 3g... I definitely agree there is some work that needs done on the 4g phones and their ability to had off connections. 

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Re: 4G Phones 3G sensitivity
droidem
Newbie
‎06-06-2011 11:12 PM
Ditto to all of the above. I live in washington dc and it has frequently been dropping to no connection at all where I ised to grt connection on my old 3g phone. I hope this is fixed soon. It can't just be the samsung charge because I had the thunderbolt too and it does this on both. Almost wish I would have stuck with a 3g phone. Ah well!
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Re: 4G Phones 3G sensitivity
vidguy7
Contributor - Level 2
‎06-07-2011 01:26 AM

I'm just hoping this can be solved with a software update.  If it's tied to a less sensitive receiver in the phone, we're out of luck.

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Re: 4G Phones 3G sensitivity
ballanda
Enthusiast - Level 2
‎06-07-2011 11:46 AM

So far we can't even get VZW to acknowledge that there is a problem.  All they did was give us an impossibly long homework assignment to diagnose the issue when they are the ones who should be testing this themselves.  I'm keeping these 3G/4G threads going until sombody at VZW acknowledges that there is a problem and that they are working hard to diagnose and fix it themselves.  It's not hard to reproduce.

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