poor mobile signal

[Anonymous]

I've recently upgraded to the Galaxy S5 and I regularly seem to have poor mobile reception. I occasionally get 3 to 4 bars but more often than not get just 1 or none and get missed call text messages. As I'm typing I'm getting -113dBm 0asu. If I switch from lte/wcdm/gsm to just wcdm/gsm my reception greatly increases. Does anybody else experience this? Any advice would be much appreciated.

[MI5]

It makes sense and is perfectly normal for someone to switch manually to a slower network signal if in a weak signal area.
Phones will automatically seek the fastest signal rather than the strongest which can leave you struggling in some areas.

[Anonymous]

I'm having the same issue, and live directly in front of an O2 Mast.

I've contacted O2 Guru support and they are of the oppinion that this is either a known bug with lollipop on S5, or a hardware fault.

Now reading that this is a "feature" does not leave me feeling great.

I can understand mobile connecting to the fastest, instead of the strongest, but I'm in front of a mast; why do I still get 1 bar, -113 dBm and 29 asu signal? Not to mention this seems to kill battery life - easy dead in a day with LTE/CDMA/GSM enabled, but 3 days with CDMA/GSM only with the same usage.

So far, not at all happy with this device/O2.

[MI5]

Is it a 4g mast you live next to or is the phone picking up 4g from a further away one?
It isn't a widely reported issue on here and we would have expected more complaints if it was a bug.

[Anonymous]

Definitely a 4G mast. Moving around town too (based in Bristol), signal does not improve on 4G. And yet I'm almost never without signal if I disable LTE.

[MI5]

I think 4g is only just rolling out in Bristol so it may not be running at full power yet.
If it's the same everywhere though it could be a bug but just surprised we haven't heard loads of complaints on here.

[Anonymous]

I thought exactly that when looking for other people experiencing the same issues. Not a peep anywhere.

The O2 Guru I was talking with was adamant that it was a bug, and insisted setting the phone to WCDMA/GSM only for a few hours and then switching it back will fix it. Long story short, it didn't work and now hardware fault is suspect (not convinced by this) and have to contact Carphone Warehouse for a replacement.

I'll do more testing tomorrow and see where I get. Hopefully will post back with a bit more information.

[MI5]

It'll be interesting to find out any more info.
Can you try your sim in another phone to see if there is any difference?

[Anonymous]

"There are many factors that affect the signal levels at any location. These include the number of operators and systems; the tilt and angle of the antennas; the geography of the area and the distance the base-station needs to cover. Microwaves are reflected off flat surfaces. The level of microwaves in an area will depend on things like metal roofs, lamp posts and other structures, building materials and structural additions, cars and lorries, etc."

Nice little quote from "Powerwatch".

It is known for a long time that people that live too close to masts can have poor reception or in some case's ,if there is more than one mast in the area it can even cause Not-spots.

When u move away from where you live does the coverage improve @Anonymous and @Anonymous?

[jonsie]

Yes you can actually live too close to a mast!