# Hows your signal with VZW SIII?



## T.J. (Jan 11, 2012)

I went through 4 refurb galaxy nexus and 1 original new one and all had signal problems. My original was fine for awhile and just started acting up over the past few months. They sent me a Droid Razr Maxx as my 5th replacement. I am not too sure I am gonna like this phone, so I might try to see if I can possibly get an SIII.

I downloaded this app called no signal alert and in about 3-4 days I had logged 100 something signal loses. I noticed it would happen randomly when i was actually using my phone and happened much more often then I thought. Facebook and other apps would lag, or drop connection when I was searching the market or get network error in words or something would happen or the internet worked slow and would eventually cause the data and voice to completely disappear. Would have a triangle with X in it for signal.

So what do you VZW S3 users think of your signal and radio on your phone? Any problems or drops? On this Droid Razr I have not dropped anything yet, but I think I might not like having a locked bootloader on my phone and it seems if I remember reading correctly that S3 is unlocked now.


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## imneveral0ne (Jun 18, 2011)

It's world's better than my gnexus was.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using RootzWiki


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## k0admunk33 (Jul 22, 2011)

I'm not sure if this comparison will help you, but my GS III's radio is not quite as good as my Thunderbolt's. Not a huge difference, but it's noticeable in really weak signal areas.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


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## jr313 (Jun 10, 2011)

I get great reception with my S3, usually 90% of the time i get 4 full bars of 4g.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

k0admunk33 said:


> I'm not sure if this comparison will help you, but my GS III's radio is not quite as good as my Thunderbolt's. Not a huge difference, but it's noticeable in really weak signal areas.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


They're both made by Qualcomm, only the S3 LTE chipset is newer and more efficient. TB also had a bad case of picking up LTE in areas where it was horrible to be picking it up to begin with and should have been on 3G (thus more battery drain).


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## MistaWolfe (Oct 10, 2011)

This isn't a personal attack, OP -- but I personally think these threads are completely worthless.

Where do you live? Ok. I live in Iowa. We will never have the same variables to compare signal. And so on...

Anyone get what I'm saying?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## droidxuser123 (Jul 26, 2011)

MistaWolfe said:


> This isn't a personal attack, OP -- but I personally think these threads are completely worthless.
> 
> Where do you live? Ok. I live in Iowa. We will never have the same variables to compare signal. And so on...
> 
> ...


yea I live in the boonies and of course I get somewhat bad signal, but I go into the city it's really good


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

To throw in my (completely worthless, as pointed out by Mr. Wolfie above me) opinion:

LTE reception seems to be strong. Compared to my neighbor's RAZR Maxx it seems compable, although I have noticed when driving it can tend to drop the signal more especially around fringe areas (this is on stock, we won't get into the AOSP RIL/3G/Fringe area issues currently) other than that this phone holds LTE right up with the best though.

3G leaves something to be desired even on stock. Moving in high speed in fringe areas in 3G territory drops constantly (I live in Montana, this is a common occurence around here). My old DX could easily hold a signal through all these areas (3G, of course, not LTE, but at least it could hold a signal)

So, my (again, completely worthless eval) - I'd say a solid B rating. If you live in an area with solid LTE coverage (again, based on MY experience here and in other LTE markets like Portland, OR) you should have no issues.


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## MistaWolfe (Oct 10, 2011)

Goose306 said:


> To throw in my (completely worthless, as pointed out by Mr. Wolfie above me) opinion:
> 
> LTE reception seems to be strong. Compared to my neighbor's RAZR Maxx it seems compable, although I have noticed when driving it can tend to drop the signal more especially around fringe areas (this is on stock, we won't get into the AOSP RIL/3G/Fringe area issues currently) other than that this phone holds LTE right up with the best though.
> 
> ...


Goose, you could make a thread about kitten breeding and I would NEVER say you're worthless! 

Edited: I said "kitten breading" lulz

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

Yeah, both you guys made good points about it. Even being right next to someone, there's still some small, hypothetical chance that each could be on a different tower that's nearby. Probably far far less likely in a rural area though.


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## MistaWolfe (Oct 10, 2011)

And just to clarify, I wasn't saying anyone's opinion was worthless, just these threads. These threads that I see EVERY DAY in addition to "ZOMG I Hard Bricked!!".



Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

yarly said:


> Yeah, both you guys made good points about it. Even being right next to someone, there's still some small, hypothetical chance that each could be on a different tower that's nearby. Probably far far less likely in a rural area though.


lol... slightly off topic but it reminds me of a story...

I was sitting outside on the smoke deck at work about two months ago when I had my DX... and was listening to a co-worker bitch about how their data was constantly dropping on their DX next to me... for whatever reason they hadn't been pushed the last OTA with 15p (they weren't rooted). I was holding solid 3G the entire time. Damn thing just kept trying to get the weak 1x tower 100 miles away or whatever rather than the 3G right above town - complaining about how they hated their phone. Its funny listening to non-techies talk about phones - after being in the Android world for a few years you get a completely different perspective. Similar situation about a week ago - co-worker with an S3 sitting next to me. Was messing around on Tapatalk sitting next to them. When they happened to glance over and see AOKP... mind=blown


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## droidxuser123 (Jul 26, 2011)

I remember when my friends saw MIUI on my X
bricks were... well you get the idea


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## yarly (Jun 22, 2011)

MistaWolfe said:


> And just to clarify, I wasn't saying anyone's opinion was worthless, just these threads. These threads that I see EVERY DAY in addition to "ZOMG I Hard Bricked!!".
> 
> 
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


If you were still on a Nexus, you'd get to see the 3-4 threads a day about "boot hangs on the google logo" or "slow to boot"


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## MistaWolfe (Oct 10, 2011)

Goose - awesome story.

I love looking at "standard users" phones.

"Look at that nasty home screen!!!"

"Put a launcher on that bitch!!"

"Too many widgets!!!!!!"

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## masri1987 (Jun 29, 2011)

I've had 8 frus, all signal issues in phoenix, AZ.

They sending me a blue sgs3 should be getting it Wednesday.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## hesh.monster (Aug 2, 2011)

MistaWolfe said:


> This isn't a personal attack, OP -- but I personally think these threads are completely worthless.
> 
> Where do you live? Ok. I live in Iowa. We will never have the same variables to compare signal. And so on...
> 
> ...


I live in Iowa and let me tell you, waiting for 4g coverage blows. I obviously can't speak for that but I am personally disappointed with the modem in the S3 in regards to 3g, constantly drops, sometimes it only comes back with a reboot...and on that topic about half those reboots end up as battery pulls because it freezes as soon as I hit ok...blah blah blah.

I really like the phone when it works but when it doesn't I start to regret the price paid.

Apologies, that came off a bit thread jackingly







trololol back to work

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


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## MistaWolfe (Oct 10, 2011)

hesh.monster said:


> I live in Iowa and let me tell you, waiting for 4g coverage blows. I obviously can't speak for that but I am personally disappointed with the modem in the S3 in regards to 3g, constantly drops, sometimes it only comes back with a reboot...and on that topic about half those reboots end up as battery pulls because it freezes as soon as I hit ok...blah blah blah.
> 
> I really like the phone when it works but when it doesn't I start to regret the price paid.
> 
> ...


Sounds like an exchange is needed.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## hesh.monster (Aug 2, 2011)

Not really sure how to go about that since I purchased off contract. The lump at Wal-Mart (don't judge they were the cheapest in town) didn't even know how to sell a phone without a contract..."um...nobody's ever done that before" rofl

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## T.J. (Jan 11, 2012)

MistaWolfe said:


> This isn't a personal attack, OP -- but I personally think these threads are completely worthless.
> 
> Where do you live? Ok. I live in Iowa. We will never have the same variables to compare signal. And so on...
> 
> ...


Well I know the signal problem was not network related. It is a problem with the phone and VZW and Samsung need to address the radio issue with GNEX. It constantly drops calls, data, and voice signal. I had 4 replacements and all did the same thing, some worse then others. Instead of admitting to the problem, they attempt to blame the network instead of the hardware they sell. I am asking this because I want to find out if the S3 radio suffers because its a samsung phone. My Razr has not dropped call or signal data or voice at all. I would drop signal in all areas, home, work, on the road and I live by a major LTE city and even inner city have issues. The Razr has not done anything compared to the GNEX, it actually holds a signal and doesnt lag or drop.


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## MistaWolfe (Oct 10, 2011)

I had zero signal issues with my Nexus. In fact, it performed better than my razr.

Not a single dropped call on my s3.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## hesh.monster (Aug 2, 2011)

Fwiw coming from a Fascinate, this phone is far better in a number of ways(relating to various signal strengths) in stock form.

That said, both stock, the Fascinate was absolutely useless on Wi-Fi, would not connect to anything. The S3 is better but still a bit dodgy and limp wristed.

GPS on the Fascinate was equally useless, the S3 is stellar.

However 3g network on the Fascinate was far more stable than this and furthermore once AOSP Roms were fleshed out everything else worked swimmingly as well leading me towards believing that Samsung is just terrible with their radios or just terribly lazy in concern to the software at the wheel.

I can not for the life of me understand how such a huge step could be taken in the wrong direction with the modem on the S3. I can only hope that coming updates will remedy the rubbish data connection

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


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## recDNA (Oct 25, 2011)

Has Samsung ever built a smart phone with great data reception? I wish motorola built the nexus. HTC seems to have better reception too.


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## ImaComputa (Sep 8, 2011)

Signal = good but data randomly drops and comes back. The G1 radio helped but it just drops 3g at random even when the signal is fine.


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## jr313 (Jun 10, 2011)

My signal is great I keep at least 4 bars of 4g all the time and in bad signal I get at least 2-3 bars. My data is always strong and haven't witnessed and losses of it at all.

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