Poor cell service with Note 3

[dschwanh]

My house is less than a mile from a Verizon owned tower.  My previous android phone had 4G and full bars in the basement.  My Note 3 gets no service most of the time in the basement family room and very weak service upstairs.

Is this a Note 3 issue, VZW or both?

[brookebrookebrooke]

Mine has been bad from day 1.... I loved the other things about the phone so much that I let the 14 days expire and didn't swap for another model altogether. They sent me a replacement Note 3 that worked a little better than my first one.

Neither work like my old Razr Maxx.... My wife's Galaxy S3 works great here too.

I sincerely believe this is a problem with the new antenna on the Note 3 and the power management it uses for the antenna.

Verizon knows there is a problem, as do we.

Next time I will not be an early adopter of a Samsung product. The Note 3 is a fantastic device but the phone reception is absolute rubbish.

[pbradle9]

I just wrote a massive post on this subject and got an error when attempting to finalize it. I'm almost never on 4G and will get stuck in 3G limbo for days. If you pop your SIM in and out, you'll get back to 4G. But who wants to do that every day?

[LouK]

I work in an area where the cell phone reception isnt the greatest.  One of the main reasons I switched over to verizon from Tmobile was because I heard the claims of having a better network.  From my advantage point this phone reception issue is a deal breaker.  I etiher get no calls that go straight into voicemail or once I answer the call it drops the call.  At least with Tmobile I was able to receive the calls without the calls dropping or going straight into voicemail.  I am seriously comtemplating cancelling this service and going back to Tmobile.  I have young children who are at that latch key stage and I need to be able to stay in touch with them.  Verizon wanted me to spend an extra $250 for a network extender.  I think that is very unreasonable after shelling out over $300 for the phone.

[MyNote3Problems]

This is a Note 3 issue. Verizon simply must be aware. Samsung must be aware. Neither appear inclined to actually fix the issue. I think it's a problem with the antenna power management that was new to the Note 3. Since it is probably hardware, I don't think they'll fix it with software patches. We will suffer.

[ajnevares1]

Thought it was just me. I have two phones on my account (Note 3 and S4) and on numerous occasions her and I would be right next to each other, whether it be indoors or outdoors and her S4 is showing LTE and my phone is showing 3G. There have been several times when I pull my phone out of my pocket regardless of where I am and 3G is displayed...I usually have to restart the phone, or toggle the data off and on to get LTE back. Pretty annoying. The phone has no case on it. After reading some of the feedback here and in other forums, I am thinking a replacement and/or a new SIM would not resolve the issue.

[MyNote3Problems]

I've had gotten a replacement already. No new SIM yet. I swear I think it's an issue with the antenna power management that is supposedly new and improved in the Note 3.

I wonder if they actually test their hardware before they have us test it?

[ajnevares1]

I agree, it has to be a antenna/device issue seeing how the other phone on my account has no issue,despite it also being a Samsung device. Its like having a Droid Bionic all over again, lol.

[MyNote3Problems]

I totally get that - lol

[pbradle9]

Ithought so, too. But I just spent a week in LA, Solvang and San Dimas, California and had full 4G bars much of the time, even on remote vineyards, etc. Used my Note 3 as a hotspot for the back-end of the trip, which was business related. It was faster than the hotel Internet (Speed Tests from 20/10 to even an astounding 45/25 mbps).

But I live in central Phoenix and seldom see more than 6/3 mbps on 4G, maybe 8/5 on full bars. I'm also on 3G about half the time there. I'm always on 4G in the burbs, but 50-50 in PHX.

There must be something about the new antenna. Given that 12 million people live within 50 miles of LA, it stands to reason that they'd have higher tech towers than Phoenix.

I'm guessing the antenna only plays well with top notch towers.