So...which Sprint phone has the best RF quality?

[Ascertion]

My brothers old Nexus S 4G is pulling a consistent -76dBm in my household while my gs3 pulls between -81 dBm to -90 dBm. My mother's and father's GS2 pulls around -85dBm. But its strange because under the same conditions, the gs3 pulls the best data speeds, then next the Nexus s followed by the gs2.

 

At 2 AM-ish, in the same location, my gs3 averaged 2.4mbps while the nexus s averaged 2.25 and gs2 averaged 2.0. Robert, I recall you mentioning you were going to write an article about which phone holds the best signals and what not. Now that I've become an obsessive RF Freak, I must learn of the ups and downs of each Sprint device.

 

Anyone else on a family plan want to share their findings? It's weird that the gs3 yields the lowest 1x frequency of the 3, yet has the best evdo performance.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[JonnygATL]

Let me just say that those are all incredibly great 3G speeds that I think any of us would be terribly jealous of, not that what I said answers your question at all. Just tossing in my two cents. I'd kill for 3G speeds like that!

[Ascertion]

Let me just say that those are all incredibly great 3G speeds that I think any of us would be terribly jealous of, not that what I said answers your question at all. Just tossing in my two cents. I'd kill for 3G speeds like that!

Heh, I do love my 3g speeds at home, but I'm always off loading onto WiFi so speeds at my house aren't important. Not that this thread is about that but just about every place outside my neighborhood is nearly 500kbps or less. Just holding out until NV until then. Surprisingly, I've realized my signal threshold is usually averaging around -90 while I'm out, but I still get decent or usable speeds. Still, wondering how the gs3 performs in other's hands.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[Boosted20V]

Without a doubt amongst the iPhone5, EVO LTE, and SIII, the iPhone5 is the winner. I posted in the iOS forum regarding this. The external antenna is very well designed in comparison to the internal ones on the android phones.

[SpenceSouth]

I can't say how the Evo LTE performances against the latest phones, but its radio is much better than my old Epic.

[digiblur]

You are going by one number alone. There are many more in the debug screens plus you are only looking at the RX side and not the TX side as you can't see those numbers.

[S4GRU]

I only do device testing in places where there can only be one site and one channel and one sector that can possibly be connected. Otherwise all these observations are meaningless around your house.

 

In Waco, I drove out to the last CDMA/LTE site in the network on the edge of roaming. I did the same in Wichita Falls. Went to a small town called Electra. And I do the same here in New Mexico.

 

For radio testing, every device must be on the same site, same channel, same sector. And it takes a lot of time reverifying that during testing.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

 

 

[bigzeto]

I only do device testing in places where there can only be one site and one channel and one sector that can possibly be connected. Otherwise all these observations are meaningless around your house.

 

In Waco, I drove out to the last CDMA/LTE site in the network on the edge of roaming. I did the same in Wichita Falls. Went to a small town called Electra. And I do the same here in New Mexico.

 

For radio testing, every device must be on the same site, same channel, same sector. And it takes a lot of time reverifying that during testing.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

 

You da man!

[lynyrd65]

I only do device testing in places where there can only be one site and one channel and one sector that can possibly be connected. Otherwise all these observations are meaningless around your house.

 

In Waco, I drove out to the last CDMA/LTE site in the network on the edge of roaming. I did the same in Wichita Falls. Went to a small town called Electra. And I do the same here in New Mexico.

 

For radio testing, every device must be on the same site, same channel, same sector. And it takes a lot of time reverifying that during testing.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

 

Still working on that article?

[S4GRU]

 

Still working on that article?

 

I can't finish it up until I can do some more EVO LTE testing. The Jelly Bean update has changed enough that I feel retesting is necessary.

 

Robert via Samsung Note II via Tapatalk

 

 

[chanceit]

Without a doubt amongst the iPhone5, EVO LTE, and SIII, the iPhone5 is the winner. I posted in the iOS forum regarding this. The external antenna is very well designed in comparison to the internal ones on the android phones.

That's interesting. At my house, my GSIII can get 2.5-7 mbps dl on LTE with a typical RSRP of -110 to -116. I can't even get an LTE signal on my wife's iPhone 5 from the same spot. She can get a signal on some areas of our property, so I'll take both phones there and compare them. I haven't compared 3G. Just my personal experience.

[Boosted20V]

That's interesting. At my house, my GSIII can get 2.5-7 mbps dl on LTE with a typical RSRP of -110 to -116. I can't even get an LTE signal on my wife's iPhone 5 from the same spot. She can get a signal on some areas of our property, so I'll take both phones there and compare them. I haven't compared 3G. Just my personal experience.

 

I should have noted that this was only comparing 1x/EVDO. No LTE comparisons outside of the fact that the SIII is better performing than my EVO LTE.

[jamesinclair]

Ive found that my sisters iphone 4s gets service in marginal areas where my galaxy 2 does not.

[jefbal99]

Ive found that my sisters iphone 4s gets service in marginal areas where my galaxy 2 does not.

 

I always had radio issues with my Sprint Galaxy S2, the radio in that phone was a piece of shit. The loss of service bug never really got truly fixed, just band aid after band aid after band aid...

[lilotimz]

 

 

I always had radio issues with my Sprint Galaxy S2, the radio in that phone was a piece of shit. The loss of service bug never really got truly fixed, just band aid after band aid after band aid...

 

I Beg to differ. The Los bug was fixed by the December 2011 time frame with the EL radios. Any and all ICS and Jb radios did not have any LOS bugs. The radio is not as good as others but are definitely not POS's.

[Ascertion]

 

I Beg to differ. The Los bug was fixed by the December 2011 time frame with the EL radios. Any and all ICS and Jb radios did not have any LOS bugs. The radio is not as good as others but are definitely not POS's.

I miss my gs2 Lol. Wimax was so nice.

Probably going to reactive my gs2 until lte comes active. 3G is going to be rough until then.

[ydoucare]

Heh, I do love my 3g speeds at home, but I'm always off loading onto WiFi so speeds at my house aren't important. Not that this thread is about that but just about every place outside my neighborhood is nearly 500kbps or less. Just holding out until NV until then. Surprisingly, I've realized my signal threshold is usually averaging around -90 while I'm out, but I still get decent or usable speeds. Still, wondering how the gs3 performs in other's hands.

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

One thing I notice with my GS3 is that the EVDO signal will generally hover in the -85 to -95 range when idle, and as soon as it starts passing data, will ramp up. Right now, for example, it's hovering around -88. Ran a speedtest, and it instantly jumped up to -71 to -75 dbm.

[markjcc]

One thing I notice with my GS3 is that the EVDO signal will generally hover in the -85 to -95 range when idle, and as soon as it starts passing data, will ramp up. Right now, for example, it's hovering around -88. Ran a speedtest, and it instantly jumped up to -71 to -75 dbm.

Perhaps the Radio is powered down when idle and ramped up when in use

like the Processor.

[ydoucare]

Perhaps the Radio is powered down when idle and ramped up when in use

like the Processor.

Yes, power conservation at work.

[jefbal99]

I Beg to differ. The Los bug was fixed by the December 2011 time frame with the EL radios. Any and all ICS and Jb radios did not have any LOS bugs. The radio is not as good as others but are definitely not POS's.

 

My experience was completely different. I used every radio leaked for that device and I never went a day without at least one LOS. Switching towers was terrible, I was so happy to get my Note 2 and sell my GS2. I did have better experience with the EL and beyond radios, but never was it what I would call "good."

[S4GRU]

 

My experience was completely different. I used every radio leaked for that device and I never went a day without at least one LOS. Switching towers was terrible, I was so happy to get my Note 2 and sell my GS2. I did have better experience with the EL and beyond radios, but never was it what I would call "good."

 

The E4GT LOS bug was related to going to roaming if memory serves. When I was in very low signal areas and my device would start scanning 850 it would go to LOS. But when I installed the radios from Calkulin ROM when he went to ICS, the problem went away for me.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

[jefbal99]

The E4GT LOS bug was related to going to roaming if memory serves. When I was in very low signal areas and my device would start scanning 850 it would go to LOS. But when I installed the radios from Calkulin ROM when he went to ICS, the problem went away for me.

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

 

Before the EL radios, anytime i got into lower service areas, I'd go LOS. After the EL radios when the phone should have roamed to 850, it never would. I'd have data icons and levels, but they would never change until Airplane mode was cycled. It was like the radio would panic and freeze until restarted. I experienced this both on Stock, customized stock and AOSP ROMs.

[S4GRU]

 

Before the EL radios, anytime i got into lower service areas, I'd go LOS. After the EL radios when the phone should have roamed to 850, it never would. I'd have data icons and levels, but they would never change until Airplane mode was cycled. It was like the radio would panic and freeze until restarted. I experienced this both on Stock, customized stock and AOSP ROMs.

 

That would have drove me nuts. I'm glad I didn't have that same exact problem. However, the bug on the GNex of losing data connections all together was more annoying for me. Sometimes even a reboot wouldn't fix it!

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

 

 

[dbsynergy]

That would have drove me nuts. I'm glad I didn't have that same exact problem. However, the bug on the GNex of losing data connections all together was more annoying for me. Sometimes even a reboot wouldn't fix it!

 

Robert via Nexus 7 on Tapatalk

 

This is driving me crazy! I've been playing Ingress and it is horribly frustrating when the data drops out. Do you know of any fix or workaround?

[MacinJosh]

This is driving me crazy! I've been playing Ingress and it is horribly frustrating when the data drops out. Do you know of any fix or workaround?

 

I don't know of any, but the data drops are starting to drive me crazy when I just want to browse this site on Forum Runner. I'm ready to scream at times. I can't imagine what you are going thru.