Poll: What type of phone do you have?

[bootyluvr]

These are the 4 verified Verizon cell towers near me....

Doesn't even cover me..



Covers me but I'm in the green/blue area.



Doesn't come close to me.



So close but still probably would be slow..

 

[bootyluvr]

Cell phone signal strength is measured in decibels (dBm). Signal strengths can range from approximately -30 dBm to -110 dBm. The closer that number is to 0, the stronger the cell signal. In general, anything better than -85 decibels is considered a usable signal.

Current as of this post I'm at -118 dBm. It went down to -110 but is at -118.

 

[Gitrdone42]

Mine currently at my house is going between -110 & -113

 

[bootyluvr]

Mine currently at my house is going between -110 & -113

and your speed tests via cellular data are low?

 

[Gitrdone42]

It depends. Sometimes it's bad and sometimes it's decent. Just ran a test on speed test.net and it was 37.1 download and 3.81 upload

Currently at -113 when I did the test

 

[fahnix]

These are the 4 verified Verizon cell towers near me....

Doesn't even cover me..

View attachment 61658

Covers me but I'm in the green/blue area.

View attachment 61659

Doesn't come close to me.

View attachment 61660

So close but still probably would be slow..

View attachment 61661

Looks like you solved that one. Makes perfect sense that you have crap service now.

 

[fahnix]

-111 for me. 6 down 4 up. I'm approximately the same distance away from my closest towers as you.

 

[Gitrdone42]

I just checked also I'm 1.6 miles from one tower and 2.4 from another.

 

[webby]

Cell phone signal strength is measured in decibels (dBm). Signal strengths can range from approximately -30 dBm to -110 dBm. The closer that number is to 0, the stronger the cell signal. In general, anything better than -85 decibels is considered a usable signal.

Current as of this post I'm at -118 dBm. It went down to -110 but is at -118.

Talk to Verizon/att/Tmobile about boosters. It’ll amplify your signal. If you can show there is an issue they’ll send you them for free, or free with a rebate etc. At least they used to offer them that way. It’ll end up being plugged into your router and I believe all of them need line of sight to a window for 911 service.

 

[fahnix]

They'll probably suggest wifi calling instead. They hate sending out those booster units if they can help it.

 

[webby]

but he's having issues even over wifi with the phone. He told me he tested trying to send pictures through text while on wifi, and it was taking like 2+ minutes and in some cases hours or failing entirely. It was as if the phone was still trying to send over LTE even though he was on wifi, and his wifi speed tests were in the hundreds+.

 

[fahnix]

Oh yeah, that's odd. Honestly one of the biggest reasons I started using google voice as my primary number. I hate MMS. I have the worst text messaging luck. I would frequently have incoming and outgoing messages fail. Sometimes they wouldn't even fail, but just wouldn't send and not tell me.

 

[bootyluvr]

Yeah I'm sure Verizon will tell me to pound sand but it's worth a shot.

As for texts.. sms is fine but mms like webby said it takes a while (if they send - most of the time it's just 2+ minutes to send them but they do go through).

A week or two ago when we had the power outage (it was about 1-1.5 hours) our phones were basically useless. I don't expect data (4G LTE) at my house but I couldn't even call or text.. that's what troubles me.

 

[bootyluvr]

@fahnix - did a few tests today.

* Airplane mode ON w/ WiFi ON (Verizon 4G LTE data disabled) - able to send pictures via MMS quickly
* Normal Setup (WiFi on / 4G LTE on but everything should default to WiFi) - enabled SMS/MMS via FB Messenger and pictures send slowly.

 

[fahnix]

@fahnix - did a few tests today.

* Airplane mode ON w/ WiFi ON (Verizon 4G LTE data disabled) - able to send pictures via MMS quickly
* Normal Setup (WiFi on / 4G LTE on but everything should default to WiFi) - enabled SMS/MMS via FB Messenger and pictures send quickly.

There you go. Sounds like it's finally doing what it's supposed to. Maybe something was going on in your area when you were having issues before. Who knows. They'll say it was something on your side. Cause you know, that's just how they are.

 

[bootyluvr]

There you go. Sounds like it's finally doing what it's supposed to. Maybe something was going on in your area when you were having issues before. Who knows. They'll say it was something on your side. Cause you know, that's just how they are.

Oh I re-read my post....

I mistyped. normal setup does NOT send pictures quickly. It seems like when airplane mode is ON (WiFi only) pictures via MMS are sent quickly. When normal mode (WiFi On/4G LTE enabled) MMS don't default to WiFi which they should.

 

[bootyluvr]

@webby - I just read this info about the Chat Features being enabled on my phone.

RCS only sends to other devices with RCS enabled. Meaning if you send a text to someone with, say, an iPhone or an older Android device without RCS, it'll send via SMS/MMS instead. That's probably what's happening: you're texting someone who doesn't have RCS and it's sending via cellular service (not WIFi).

^ This makes sense but why when I go into airplane mode do MMS/pictures still send to you?

 

[webby]

Evactly

 

[bootyluvr]

@webby

These results are in my work office (not my house).

Work Phone (Verizon) -> -115 dBm
Personal Phone (Testing Consumer Cellular) -> -75 dBm

 

[webby]

Well that’s a significant change. Hopefully your house does well