jj14x

What you can do until your towers are upgraded, is set your mobile network to 3g. This will insure you still get your texts and calls on time. If you can't deal with 3g only, then I suggest you go back to using your single band phone until sprint gets around to fixing the issue.

 

I tried this suggestion out. So far, so good. Signal strength has improved, no missed calls yet, and battery life has improved significantly (at least 20-25% improvement). I didn't really expect this! lol! Since I'm on WiFi at home, I didn't think that switching the radio from Global/LTE to 3g would make any difference for the voice part. I was mistaken.

Hopefully, this was not just a one day placebo effect, and that it continues this way

Thanks benifactor.

If you read back a few pages you will see a couple of us have this issue. It was stated that it is most likely eCFSB ISSUE which you can read more about on the wall. Or, in this thread if you go back. I too lose signal very frequently when on the global and LTE settings in mobile network. If I switch to 3g the problem disappears.

 

This only happens in certain areas of my city, but both of the places I am most of the time (work and home), but not at school. This leads my to believe that the towers near me haven't been updated to properly support trip band phones yet. A few have 3g only upgrades.

 

If you have sponsorship look at the coverage nap to see towers in your area.

 

What you can do until your towers are upgraded, is set your mobile network to 3g. This will insure you still get your texts and calls on time. If you can't deal with 3g only, then I suggest you go back to using your single band phone until sprint gets around to fixing the issue.

 

Again, you can get more info on the issue by reading the article on the wall, or going through this thread, or the nexus 5 issues thread.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Thank you - I actually read about the eCFSB issue. Didn't think that was related, but I have switched to 3g for now to see if it helps. To be honest, when I'm at home, I don't care for data connectivity, because I have wifi enabled anyway. But I need to be able to receive text/voice calls reliably. I have switched to 3g - hopefully that will help.

Forget the bars. Different devices represent your signal strength differently. And if you are comparing actual dB readings across devices, only compare 1X to 1X, 800 to 800, LTE to LTE, etc. Each technology has different readings. For example, 1X measures RSSI, LTE measures RSRP. Try SignalCheck (it's my app, just grab the free version) -- it will give you the data you need to provide equal comparisons between your EVO and N5.

Thanks mikejeep. I did look at the RSRP readings for LTE on both devices, and noticed the difference.

First, after recent updates to android, anything using 4.2 or higher shows the data signal strength on the bars instead of 1X.  AJ went over this some time ago in this thread.

As for the speeds, i thought Texas was just not well backhauled.

yeah - I read that bit about how Sprint is now showing it differently (kinda sneaky if ya ask me! lol!)

But the issue is that I'm getting lower speeds than other phones on Sprint (like the S4 or the EVO LTE). I think I read something about how the Nexus doesn't have separate chips/radios for CDMA and LTE. Could that be causing a problem with my voice connectivity? 

Data connectivity has always sucked  for me (different issue) - but voice/texting was always reliable on my other phones. With the Nexus, voice/texting has gone pretty bad too - and it seems to not want to roam either (I was left with zero voice/data connectivity in the middle of the city, where my other phone (EVO LTE) had good coverage (even data). Updated PRL/profile - even swapped the Nexus phone with Google.

Sorry - don't mean this to be a rant. I have been with Sprint for a pretty long time and am a relatively happy customer. Just want to sort out this connectivity issue with my new phone, and hoping that folks here can provide some ideas (Sprint tech support claimed to be clueless and recommended switching to another phone instead)

Oh - sorry, I should have been clearer  I sorta kinda understand the IBEZ issue. But since that is (hopefully) not what's causing my Nexus phone's connectivity issue, I was wondering if somebody could help me determine what was causing the problem with my phone...

Dallas is so far away from Mexico that you won't ever be affected and should be able to use the full 14 MHz of 800 MHz.  Heck I don't even think San Antonio for the most part is affected by 800 MHz.

True..

Is there any way that I can narrow down to what the problem might be? Sprint reps claim to be clueless about what the issue might be. Normally, I would not be too concerned about signal bars, but I've missed at least 2 calls last weekend, and my text messages are delayed by about 10-15 minutes (not sure if I'm missing any text messages)

I like the N5 too much to switch back to the S4

See this thread.  The Mexico IBEZ affects these major markets:  San Diego, south LA/Orange County, El Paso and Tucson.  The 800 MHz rebanding effort has been finalized and will take 30 months from August 23, 2013.  This means that the 800 MHz rebanding effort for Mexico should be at the latest complete in February 23, 2016.

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/4707-usmexico-800-mhz-reband-plan-going-to-take-30-months/

http://www.fcc.gov/document/commencement-800-mhz-band-reconfiguration-along-mexico-border

 

In this thread, if you scroll down to the Special Case Mexican IBEZ Setup pic in the OP, you will see what the Mexico IBEZ consists of.

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3915-how-to-spot-sprint-antennas-and-rrus-alcatel-lucent-style/

 

In this thread, if you scroll down to the Canadian IBEZ (NO SMR) pic in the OP, you will see what the Canada IBEZ consists of.

http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/3906-how-to-spot-sprint-antennas-and-rrus-samsung-style/

Ah, thanks ericdabbs

I'm in Dallas, TX, so I guess this doesn't adversely impact me at this time. I guess there is something else that is causing the issue with my phone's reception...  

I tried to search for sprint ibez, and am not finding a whole lot of information describing the issue. Is it specific to specific towers (in specific cities/regions)? Any workaround? or just wait for a few years for it to get fixed?

Your phone might have connection issues because i can tell you that the nexus 5 blows the evo lte out of the water in all performance. Might want to take it to a sprint repair center.

Thanks Terrell352. I did, and they said that none of the corporate stores here have equipment to test signal strength anymore. They did check the antenna connections and said that everything looks ok.

It was after this that I got a replacement from Google, and that had the exact same behavior.

I switched from a Galaxy S4 to a Nexus 5 (from play store) - just one issue - low signal strength hoping that someone here can provide some insight into this.

My second line has a EVO 4G LTE on it, and when at home, it shows good connectivity (full bars, and signal strength is between -90dBm and -105dBm). My old S4 had a similar connectivity.

At it's best, my Nexus 5 however shows 2 out of 4 bars at home. Usually 1 bar, or even 0 (yes, I'm getting dropped calls at home now - signal strength is usually between -105dBm and -115dBm). My EVO LTE, sitting right besides it will be showing me 5 bars, and good signal strength.

Called Sprint - they checked and confirmed no outage near here. They pushed network profile/PRL updates. Even had me do a hard reset - no use. I then got google to swap my phone out. Exact same thing with the replacement phone.

Yesterday, when I was at a mall, I was looking for some information on my phone, and in a span of 5-10 minutes, I saw my phone go from LTE to 3g to no signal (not even roaming even though it is enabled??), and then, it even showed me 1x (I thought sprint was disguising 1x as 3g).

I switched from "Global" to LTE to 3g under network mode settings and that would get me connected for a little while, and then go to no signal again. (and my 2nd line was showing a solid LTE signal all this time - and I was able to use it)

Any idea about what's going on? Any troubleshooting steps? (Sprint gave up and asked me to switch back to the S4)

Sidenote: Not sure if this is relevant, but Speedtest shows pathetic speeds all the time (regardless of device). Even though I'm in a "Excellent" LTE coverage area, I've never seen speeds better than 4MBps download - usually average under 1MBps download (when outdoors)

I think their maps are extremely liberal in showing coverage. I think our members are better served by using our Completed NV Sites Map in the Sponsor section.

 

Robert via CM9 Kindle Fire using Forum Runner

Thanks Robert. I didn't realize that.

In the past, their coverage maps were pretty accurate - they showed(/show) Wimax coverage till about 3 houses over, and that was dead on. I could cross the street and watch the Wimax disappear on my EVO 3D! lol!

Hopefully, their actual coverage will match the coverage maps soon. (with LTE, the coverage maps shows LTE signal all around me - it is not on the edge of coverage like it was/is with Wimax). I'll try to ask Sprint customer care in a week or two if coverage doesn't change.

I'm at 3040 and i35 and seem to get 3-4 bars of lte and my fastest speed test was 14.3 mbps which is actually a little disappointing see how my best friends HTC 3d with 1 bar of wimax beside my phone is getting between 9-11 mbps

I went near that location and did a battery pull there - lo and behold, got a LTE signal. 21Mbps down

I now need to figure out why I don't get a signal at home (that is indicated as being covered by LTE at sprint.com/coverage) - maybe they haven't turned that on that antenna/tower yet?

After a battery pull, I was finally able to get LTE signal on my GNex in Lewisville, TX - pretty decent speeds (got up to 23.91Mbps down, 9.71 up)

While my home and office are indicated as LTE covered at sprint.com/coverage, I can't get a LTE signal at either location (indoors or outdoors). I only got the LTE signal when I was right next to the Vista Ridge mall in Lewisville, TX

So, does this mean that the coverage indicated at sprint.com/coverage is 'future' coverage plans?(hopefully not!)

I have lte in lewisville tx (north dfw area)

Hmm - I'm not sure why, but I can't get it - tried in Lewisville (near Vista Ridge). I rebooted my Galaxy Nexus - still shows 3g... Bummer! Will try later today.

Also, noticed that Sprint.com/coverage has been updated with coverage maps for 4g LTE