BB Tour overstating signal strength

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JHZR2

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I have a BB Tour as my work connectivity, and an air card for my laptop (why they cant tether the BB I dont know). They are both on Verizon.

Ive noticed for a long time now that when the signal is strong, they both show the same.

When the signal is weak, the air card shows it as weak, and the BB shows it far stronger, like a few bars better or even a different service level (like 1XEV vs 1X).

I know the service is slow because email pushes and loading attachments on the BB is slow, and the air card often shows "National Access", not "Broadband".

What gives? Is BB overstating service levels? Wasnt this an issue with Apple a few years back? It is quite annoying.
 
its the tuning on the phone firmware.

ie on my droid bionic..

it shows full battery for 90-100
shows tiny part missing (looks like 2 pixels)
for 70-80%

shows 3/4 battery for 50-60%

shows half battery for 30-40%

1/4 battery for 20%

orange sliver for 15% and less.

yes its annoying... looks like 3/4 battery no need to plug in... one 30min phone call later and im at 30%

basically what im saying is all the meters are is their interpretation of the signal strength(or battery in my case).

you should be able to look in settings and see a signal strength as a raw number and compare them between your devices.

settings>about phone>status = -85dbm LTE which is reported as 2 bars..

your BB should have a similar screen.
 
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Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I have a BB Tour as my work connectivity, and an air card for my laptop (why they cant tether the BB I dont know). They are both on Verizon.

Ive noticed for a long time now that when the signal is strong, they both show the same.

When the signal is weak, the air card shows it as weak, and the BB shows it far stronger, like a few bars better or even a different service level (like 1XEV vs 1X).

I know the service is slow because email pushes and loading attachments on the BB is slow, and the air card often shows "National Access", not "Broadband".

What gives? Is BB overstating service levels? Wasnt this an issue with Apple a few years back? It is quite annoying.



Same for me. My BB Torch 9810 will state 77db no matter where I am, regardless of the signal strength. 100% broken. Hopefully it's fixed in an update.
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
its the tuning on the phone firmware.


+1

RF tuning is the most closely guarded secret in wireless companies. Every one has their own secret that even they use reference software from the chip vendors, they do not back port changes to them.

That's why even with the same chip, more "mature" companies like Motorola and Nokia tends to have better signal quality than "newer companies" like HTC, Apple, Huawei, etc.
 
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