Signal Strength
markml0528
Newbie

I have been experiencing issues on my droid x such as moderate to extreme lag (every once in a while).  it's not all the time that it's laggy though.  and i only have the preloaded apps that came with it, and about 20 apps that i downloaded from the android market, all of which are mostly from trusted developers.  apps like facebook, aim, pandora, etc.  

 

also, another major concern for me is that whenever im not on the phone my coverage remains at a high 3-4 bars.  whenever i make or receive a call, it drops anywhere from 0-2 bars, and sometimes it doesn't make a difference in the call quality (as far as i can notice), but a majority of the time i notice call quality issues.  stuff such as the other person on the line says my voice gets choppy, or it cuts out words i say, or im very quiet out of nowhere.  

 

I checked the signal strength on my phone, and compared it to whenever im on a call, and when im not on a call.  theres no difference in dBm signal strength, it remains anywhere from -89 to -102.  my best guess for an average, would probably have to be -97.  i spoke with a verizon rep about my signal strength and told her about the problems i was having, she said a normal phones dBm strength should be anywhere from -69 to -89.  

 

Does this mean i have a faulty phone?  

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Re: Signal Strength
yellowcanary
Contributor - Level 1

Mine stays around -97 to -102 has never gone under -96 and bars go anywhere from 1 to 4 so I also don't rather to call CS or just try to live with it I came from AT&T which is supposed to have the worse reception but not to sure about it after a week on Verizon.

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Re: Signal Strength
markml0528
Newbie

i called customer service, they told me that since im within my 30 days of purchase date that i can go ahead and get a free replacement phone.  the problem is....i have to pay 200 up front, then when i send them my old faulty droid x i get my 200 back...which is annoying because now ill be out of 200 dollars until the 18-20th when they actually ship it to me.  

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Re: Signal Strength
TheInsider
Enthusiast - Level 2

I'm having the same issue but it only started a week ago (I bought my Droid X on 7/15). Sometimes when I press the Call button, the signal drops from full bar / 3G to no bar / no 3G. The call either simply fails or connects but the quality is very poor. This happens in very different places, when I'm driving or just not moving. As soon as I hang up, I have full signal again. 

It's the first time I have a defective product at Verizon and I'm really disappointed. Especially by the fact that no one at Verizon seems to care. Are you guys addressing the issue? Should customers expect a software patch or is it a hardware issue? At least at Apple they had a press conference...

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Re: Signal Strength
dsxdroider
Newbie

I was told that 3G is exclusively for data connections and transmissions. So. if this is true, even if you have several bars of 3G strength, when you place a voice call, the 3G status will go away and the bars will represent the voice network status in your area. Like you, I always I have 3 or 4 bars in my house (in a very rural area) until I try to place a voice call, when my phone drops to 0 or 1 bar. One reason to believe the explanation above is that whenever I am in a more populated/urban/suburban area, I have good voice reception (cannot remember whether the number of bars drop while on voice in populated areas). Why there would be better 3G than voice network strength in the rural area of my house, I do not know.

 

Any tech savvy people care to comment, please?

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Re: Signal Strength
hubsm
Enthusiast - Level 3

I see this thread has been dead for months, but I have to bring it back to life.

 

I upgraded from a Storm 2 to a Droid X last Wednesday.  Since that time I have had nothing but trouble with making calls.  I have the same problem as above when the signal goes from 4 bars of 3G to 2 bars of "Extended Network" the minute I initiate a call and then goes back to 3G after I hand up.  Frankly I don't care what the signal strength says as long as my call goes through.  The problem is that 80% of the time it does not.  I also cannot receive calls most of the time.  I took back my first X yesterday and got another one - no change.  Everything else works; email, texts, apps, internet, just no calls.  What is even more mystifying is that quite often, even when dialing *228, I get an error message from US Cellular.  I have a US Cellular number, but I ported that, first to Sprint (as soon as porting was possible) and then to Verizon two years ago.  During all that time I never got any kind of message from US Cellular.  Also, I could count on one hand the number of times a call did not go through in the last 5 years.  Now, it is all the time.  What good is a phone that does not make or receive phone calls?

 

Is there any way to fix this?  I need to know so I can decide if I need to take the X back and reactivate my Storm 2.

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Re: Signal Strength
crb79
Specialist - Level 2

 


hubsm wrote:

I see this thread has been dead for months, but I have to bring it back to life.

 

I upgraded from a Storm 2 to a Droid X last Wednesday.  Since that time I have had nothing but trouble with making calls.  I have the same problem as above when the signal goes from 4 bars of 3G to 2 bars of "Extended Network" the minute I initiate a call and then goes back to 3G after I hand up.  Frankly I don't care what the signal strength says as long as my call goes through.  The problem is that 80% of the time it does not.  I also cannot receive calls most of the time.  I took back my first X yesterday and got another one - no change.  Everything else works; email, texts, apps, internet, just no calls.  What is even more mystifying is that quite often, even when dialing *228, I get an error message from US Cellular.  I have a US Cellular number, but I ported that, first to Sprint (as soon as porting was possible) and then to Verizon two years ago.  During all that time I never got any kind of message from US Cellular.  Also, I could count on one hand the number of times a call did not go through in the last 5 years.  Now, it is all the time.  What good is a phone that does not make or receive phone calls?

 

Is there any way to fix this?  I need to know so I can decide if I need to take the X back and reactivate my Storm 2.


VZW does not transmit voice over 3G.  When you place a phone call it will show your 1X signal strength.  You need to try out an app like real signal.  This will show you your 3G and 1X signal strength.  Just remember that 3G = data, 1X = Voice and data when 3G not available.

 

If you the 1X signal is good when you try to place a call and it does not go through, I'd call Customer Support and see if they can determine the issue.

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