Bars vs Signal strength

[eljayyy91]

Okay I feel like either sprint or samsung is weird with their "bars". Or is there something I'm missing.... signal check will say -80 which is a prettt good signal. My signal strength in signal check will not change but my bars will change from almost full to none back to full back to 1 but my actual signal strength never changes for the average user this would be quite confusing. And I've tested the bars issue when signal check said my signal strength was -80 I had 0 bars but still able to make receive calls and browse the web just fine. Kinda curious why sprint would make themselves look worse then they are. Lol probably more to it that I don't understand.

[Destroyallcubes]

Okay I feel like either sprint or samsung is weird with their "bars". Or is there something I'm missing.... signal check will say -80 which is a prettt good signal. My signal strength in signal check will not change but my bars will change from almost full to none back to full back to 1 but my actual signal strength never changes for the average user this would be quite confusing. And I've tested the bars issue when signal check said my signal strength was -80 I had 0 bars but still able to make receive calls and browse the web just fine. Kinda curious why sprint would make themselves look worse then they are. Lol probably more to it that I don't understand.

my phone did that. The physical bars would show no service or poor service, but the real numeric values would be like -50. I dont know what causes it. Maybe software misinterpreted it

[eljayyy91]

Well I have heard on this forum before that ur "bars" lie. But it seems to work aganist sprint... My sisters verizon fone will sometimes drop calls eith 3 bars and the qaulity is shit. On my sprint phone 1 bar crystal clear call no drop. Looked into this. She has a motorla razr hd on verizon, it will say you have 3 bars stays very steady doesn't change as much as my sprint bars which would move from zero to 2 bars, but on signal check we has the same signal strength and actually my calls are clearer. And verizon is a 1900mhz carrier in my area so that doesn't explain it. It just seems like sprint is trying to make themselves look bad.

 

Edit: and ofcourse this is only tested off one site in southern wi, so this may not apply everywhere....

[Rukin1]

I wish each OS/rom had the same amount of bars and each bar represented the same service DB

[digiblur]

I wish each OS/rom had the same amount of bars and each bar represented the same service DB

Keep dreaming. I will stick with my SignalCheck Pro and have the two sets of numbers for voice and data. Bars are dumb.. Except for the ones where you sit down, drink a cold one, and watch the women...

[Rukin1]

Keep dreaming. I will stick with my SignalCheck Pro and have the two sets of numbers for voice and data. Bars are dumb.. Except for the ones where you sit down, drink a cold one, and watch the women...

I know lol. I'm also sticking with SignalCheck pro.

[Mobilesolutions]

my phone did that. The physical bars would show no service or poor service, but the real numeric values would be like -50. I dont know what causes it. Maybe software misinterpreted it

my phone did that. The physical bars would show no service or poor service, but the real numeric values would be like -50. I dont know what causes it. Maybe software misinterpreted it

A -50 rssi from a macro site is blistering strong.

[Destroyallcubes]

A -50 rssi from a macro site is blistering strong.

ive had as low as -45. Several places in Tyler. Lowest ive seen on gsm based networks is -50. I was right by the site that is on a rooftop around 8 stories or so high

[Destroyallcubes]

 

 

ive had as low as -45. Several places in Tyler. Lowest ive seen on gsm based networks is -50. I was right by the site that is on a rooftop around 8 stories or so high

The little antenna on our phones does not like that strong of a signal. Take a step back, get into the 70's and enjoy

oh yeah. I think once its in the -40 to-55 range the signal gets distorted. Now LTE ive only seen as low as -70

[Mobilesolutions]

ame="Mobilesolutions" post="184852" timestamp="1376162472"]oh yeah. I think once its in the -40 to-55 range the signal gets distorted. Now LTE ive only seen as low as -70

 

Yes at -40 the environment is too harsh for the antenna. -70 is a sweet place to be with an Lte signal 

[matt7701]

With my phone it occasionally will fluctuate for no apparent reason.  It usually happens when taking out of the holster or pocket after getting out of car after driving around.  My guess is the radio is resetting the 1x after finding a much stronger data signal for some reason?

[Fire Ball]

My S3 does the same thing except that when it goes to 0 bars it stops loading anything on the internet until it shows a couple bars again. It's really weird and annoying. It only really happens when I have 3 or less bars though.

[koiulpoi]

I've actually had the opposite problem; Signalcheck Pro will show "No Service", the signal bars will show "No Service"... and EV-DO will continue to work normally and load websites no problem. I'm pretty sure I've even received text messages while in this state. Although, because of this, I've started wondering if something isn't wrong with my device. Oh well.

[Marv1]

While browsing the Sprint Network forums the other day, someone was mentioning poor signals, poor, to no network connections with extremely high dBm numbers. Then I seen someone post a dBm number scale. What do you experts think about this scale? Is it wrong? Right? Somewhat correct? Way off?

 

Better than -88dBm RSRP is a strong signal

Between -89dBm and -96dBm is a very good signal

Between -97dBm and -105dBm is good

Between -106dBm and -112dBm is fair

Worse than -113dBm RSRP is poor

[squigey]

It looks like they copied those from here.....so they're correct.

 

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/2040-bars-lie-for-lte-signal-strength-how-to-determine-your-actual-lte-signal-strength/

[Paynefanbro]

I've gotten -56dbm or so on LTE in brooklyn, right in front of the site. The speed was about 5Mbps, but once I started moving away my speeds jumped up to 11Mbps and got to 18Mbps before going back down again.

[S4GRU]

I've gotten -56dbm or so on LTE in brooklyn, right in front of the site. The speed was about 5Mbps, but once I started moving away my speeds jumped up to 11Mbps and got to 18Mbps before going back down again.

 

This is most often because of interference from other sectors of the same site.  When you get farther away, the interference from other sectors reduce and you get more of a solid signal of the sector you're on.

 

Robert

[WiWavelength]

I've gotten -56dbm or so on LTE in brooklyn, right in front of the site. The speed was about 5Mbps, but once I started moving away my speeds jumped up to 11Mbps and got to 18Mbps before going back down again.

This is most often because of interference from other sectors of the same site.  When you get farther away, the interference from other sectors reduce and you get more of a solid signal of the sector you're on.

 

MIMO may also be the issue.  MIMO essentially requires multipath to to provide multiple, distinct paths from one antenna to another.  If right in front of a site, that is practically a free space situation.  And my understanding is that MIMO is not effective in free space unless the antennas are widely separated -- a condition that smartphones cannot meet.

 

AJ

[ryry4ya]

MIMO may also be the issue. MIMO essentially requires multipath to to provide multiple, distinct paths from one antenna to another. If right in front of a site, that is practically a free space situation. And my understanding is that MIMO is not effective in free space unless the antennas are widely separated -- a condition that smartphones cannot meet.

 

AJ

and this is what I was telling my grandmother. Sometimes she just doesn't understand

 

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[WiWavelength]

and this is what I was telling my grandmother. Sometimes she just doesn't understand

 

She probably did not understand because you were getting her name wrong.  She is known as NANA or MEEMAW, not MIMO.

 

 

AJ