4G not as good on S3

[mkstn]

Just got back from the Verizon store. Looked at the Razor Max and compaired to the Galaxy S3. The Razor is nice but lacks a few things that are important. For one you can not change the battery so if it does go down you have no way to power the phone unless you are next to a power sorce. At least with the S3 you can pop in a spare battery. There is no S Voice service which is a nice feature. I like the larger screen on the S3 and the fonts and icons are larger. Yes I am older and my eyes are not what they use to be... so this is important to me. I did a Speed test in the store side by side on 4G the the S3 was on par with the Max on download but much faster then the Max on upload. So the bottom line here is that I have no way to know if the Max would get a stronger signal where I live and once you switch you can't go back. Since the S3 is working even though only two bars or -93 signal most the time I think I will stick with the S3. If only I knew someone with a Razor Max that could come by the house! :blink:

 

[tc1]

4G reception is no where near as good as my RAZR. The RAZR would grab the 4G signal about 2 miles b4 the S 3 even tries

Sent from my 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy S III using Forum Runner

Same when I had a razor.... Would hold a 4G signal all the way to my house.

HTC Rezound makes it about half the distance.

 

[Capone76]

Must be the area for some. The s3 is far better than the nexus. The s3 hardware is better all around, including sound and Bluetooth. No issues here. The phone is very good

sIII

With full bars of 4g my nexus beats my girls S3 in speed tests every time. Not hating on the S3 because I recommended it for her and I really like it. My nexus also receives better signal in the middle of a factory than my friends Razr Maxx and her S3. Although her signal is almost always the exact same when I compare several times a day.

 

[wooddale]

So whats the decision here does the S3 pass or fail. Im on a network extender in anextended service area I havent seen 4g in a month neither has my S3 I got 7 days to return. It sure is a nice phone but if it doesnt work better than my Gnex whats the point.

 

[add119]

That sucks for people that expect for better connectivity

Sent from my droid razr using Tapatalk 2

 

[bsweetness]

So whats the decision here does the S3 pass or fail. Im on a network extender in anextended service area I havent seen 4g in a month neither has my S3 I got 7 days to return. It sure is a nice phone but if it doesnt work better than my Gnex whats the point.

After almost two days with the S3, the reception is definitely poorer than the reception on the MAXX and the Rezound, but it's better than the Galaxy Nexus. When I had the Nexus, I would lose voice and data constantly, regardless of what kind of signal strength I had (this happened with all four brand new ones I had, so it wasn't isolated to problems with a single device). I haven't dropped signal yet (that I've noticed) with the S3.

That said, it seems that the S3 is opting to stay on 3G in weak 4G areas far more often than any recent LTE phones that I've had, including the Nexus. I live on the edge of a 4G area, so 4G comes and goes from time to time. With the MAXX and the Rezound, I'd maintain a 4G connection about 70% of the time while in the house. With the Nexus, when it could hold a signal, I'd be on 4G around 50% percent of the time while in the house. With the S3, I've only been on 4G twice while at home, and both of those times I was on the far edge of the property away from the house. I've yet to grab a 4G signal while in the house. Out of curiosity, I forced the S3 into LTE only mode while in the house. It grabbed a hold of a LTE signal with the reception clocking in at -109dbm. The MAXX would pull LTE around -95dbm while in the house, and the Rezound would be a little weaker than that. The S3 connects to LTE just fine in areas with moderate to strong signal, but it seems like it's sticking with 3G in areas of weak 4G. At least it's holding a steady signal though, unlike the Galaxy Nexus which couldn't hold 4G, 3G, or 1X.

Since I've only had the S3 for a little less than two days, I haven't used it enough to pass full judgment on it yet. However, on reception, it definitely fares worse for me than the MAXX (and all other Motorola smartphones I've had) and the Rezound. But so far, it does have the best reception of any Samsung Android phones I've had on Verizon. So, if you've been happy with the reception of Samsung smartphones in the past, you'll be happy with the S3. If you've been disappointed by the reception of Samsung smartphones in the past, you'll see an improvement with the S3. If you live in an area with strong cellular coverage, you should be good with reception on the S3. But if stellar reception is of the utmost importance to you, particularly if you live in a weak coverage area or are buried deep within a building, you might want to look at the S3 with a cautious eye, especially if it's going to be a device you plan on keeping for two years.

As for me, I still need a few more days with the phone to decide if I'm going to keep it for a bit or if I'm going to go back to the MAXX. The reception is definitely a strike against the S3. It's not a huge strike against it like with the Galaxy Nexus (all four of which I had were practically unusable half the time), but it's certainly a weak spot.

 

[johnd09]

I installed the new modems that are coming in the next OTA and in saw a phenomenal improvement in LTE. I was having trouble with it not connecting to LTE where my thunderbolt would have before, but the update fixed it. It now blasts the thunderbolt away on LTE speeds and service.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[cybertec69]

I installed the new modems that are coming in the next OTA and in saw a phenomenal improvement in LTE. I was having trouble with it not connecting to LTE where my thunderbolt would have before, but the update fixed it. It now blasts the thunderbolt away on LTE speeds and service.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

And where did you find those new Radios, may I ask.

 

[johnd09]

And where did you find those new Radios, may I ask.

Right here. They are flashed through oden. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1788313


Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[deathwhitch]

Glad I came to check on this old thread before I gave up on this phone lol the new radio is awesome, problem solved for me. My S3 now prefers 4g networks to 3g (finally)

 

[wooddale]

So it worked for you good to here. Did you have any trouble with Odin? Got it all set up on computer. Are you rooted?

 

[deathwhitch]

I am on stock rom, rooted and flased with Odin using PDA method. Flased on first try with no problems. Make sure your phone is in download mode

 

[johnd09]

This is the biggest improvement from a Radio firmware update I have ever seen.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2

 

[wooddale]

I am on stock rom, rooted and flased with Odin using PDA method. Flased on first try with no problems. Make sure your phone is in download mode

Can you unroot with Odin? I got a Gnex and a Bionic both rooted running custom roms.This is my first shot at Odin kind of unfamilar with it. Im in Wi on a network extender my S3 has never been on 4G. I live in IL gonna head back in a couple weeks where I have solid 4G so Im not in a hurry to do it I just want to do it lol flash addict.

 

[johnd09]

Can you unroot with Odin? I got a Gnex and a Bionic both rooted running custom roms.This is my first shot at Odin kind of unfamilar with it. Im in Wi on a network extender my S3 has never been on 4G. I live in IL gonna head back in a couple weeks where I have solid 4G so Im not in a hurry to do it I just want to do it lol flash addict.

Yes you can unroot with Odin. Odin is just a program that flashes files through Samsung's bootloader. To Unroot you would just flash the stock system image.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2