By Well, this is a bummer. We understand some of you may not have any problems whatsoever with your 3G (seriously, please don’t attack me in the comment section this time), but there are still a significant amount of people out there longing for strong 3G to play nice with their Google Nexus One.
Unfortunately, Google seems to have done all they can. Ry Guy – A Google employee tasked with communicating with users on Google’s official forums – chimed in to update us on Google’s efforts to get their radio signals acting straight:
“Hey guys,
I’ve seen some recent speculation on this thread about an OTA to improve 3G connectivity and I want to give you an update on the situation.While we are continuing to monitor user feedback regarding the 3G performance on the Nexus One, we are no longer investigating further engineering improvements at this time.
If you are still experiencing 3G issues, we recommend that you try changing your location or even the orientation of your phone, as this may help in areas with weaker coverage.
-Ry Guy”
This doesn’t mean that Nexus One is done receiving updates, though (nor does he say anything about 3G improvements being dead forever), but for the time being you’ll just have to “deal” with it. On the plus side, he seems to suggest that twisting and turning your phone could garner better results. I’m not sure if that’s good enough for you, but it’s something.
On another note: this could be what’s taking the Nexus One so long to make its way to other carriers (like the American CDMA ones). I’m sure Google and HTC are working diligently to improve their hardware, and hopefully we’ll see a refresh of devices on the GSM side, as well.
[Thanks, Gizmodo]
Boy, am I glad I bought a Motorola Milestone!
The lesson is that Google isn’t a consumer electronics company. They thought they could do a good impression of one, but no, the impression wasn’t good enough.
I think the 3G issue may be more about the T-Mo network currently, which they are improving themselves at a pretty good rate. I haven’t seen AT&T N1 users make the same 3G claim… of course it could be happening, but if it is they’ve been less vocal.
In my estimation though, I think the Verizon N1 is being slowed down by that thing “no other carrier currently has” and the big “surprise” of whatever it is. I think that surprise, based on Google I/O occurring on May 19th… is that it’ll be launched on May 19th for Verizon… and that surprise is Android 2.2 coming stock on it.
HTC makes the Nexus One and HTC makes great devices. The issues N1 users are complaining about are the same issues I complained about with T-Mobile before the Nexus One was even thought of. I have the AT&T N1 on AT&T and it’s fine. I know people with the T-Mobile N1 on AT&T and it’s also fine. That’s just a small sample of the users out there but I am not conviced it’s a device issue more than it’s a network issue.
I definitely think it’s a combination of a weak carrier and a weak antenna. Google can’t fix either problem. Only HTC and T-Mobile can. I have a Nexus One in Denver Colorado as well as a G1. The G1 gets good (not great) 3G coverage on T-Mobile. The Nexus One has horrible 3G coverage The Nexus One may work on stronger networks (Verizon, AT&T), but when you couple a weak antenna and a weak provider, you get little to no 3G.
Nexus One in Denver (as well) here on AT&T and I haven’t experienced any 3G issues.
Never had and 3G issues with my Nexus One. I am however in a city where 3G coverage is quite good.
I love my Nexus One 3G. I am in a halfway decently covered city where T-Mobile is concerned and most of the time all is well. I truly believe this issue may be as simple as T-Mobile’s 3G offering.
@Tom Robson How bad is the keyboard on that thing, i’ve been considering buying one but the touchscreen and keyboard crap keep me away.
@Ben, the keyboard is pretty good. You need a few days to get used to it but I can certainly type faster using it than any soft keyboard I have tried.
My Nexus One drops 3G a little more then my G1, but I haven’t honestly noticed any real problem with it. I know there are areas around me that don’t have 3G so it isn’t a big deal when I see 3G isn’t there.
@Tom Robson, The keyboard has been great on my Nexus One too. I honestly can say I type faster on my Nexus One then my old G1. And I love the keyboard on my G1
After following this issue since day one, here’s what it boils down to…
In areas of weaker 3G service from T-Mobile, holding the phone with your hand covering the lower third of the back, deadens the 3G radio signal, but not WiFi or BlueTooth. Simply holding the phone higher up (or allowing some space between the phone and your skin) will improve 3G connectivity. This is strictly a Nexus One issue — other T-Mobile phones from HTC like the G1 are not experiencing this problem.
I guess this one really is now a problem of the network provider, since it seems to be geographicaly concentrated. On top of that, Desire doesn’t seem to suffer the same problem.
What do T-mobile users expect? The T in T-Mobile stands for Terrible. Every one knows if coverage, signal, and speed is important to you then you pick Verizon, Sprint or ATT. To bad Google released the phone on the shittiest network first and gave their phone a bad rep. The Nexus one is so last January by now.
Some of you people are retards Nexus One owners from all over the WORLD have these “3G Problems” so if you have it there is no network that will save you. Anybody who says it is a T-mobile problem only hasn’t read the Support Forum’s threads. I still get No Data Connection Errors and I have a tower outside my house(400ft) in Houston. I will admit after three replacements this phone is way better than the other broken ones they kept sending me.
Yup tmo’s network sucks. I own a moto cliq and 3g is off and on.(dallas,tx) I’m sure the N1 is a great phone but don’t expect great coverage.
Will the same issue exist in the HTC Incredible on Verizon?
I have had my nexus for 2 months now and I don’t know what everyone is talking about. I live in the KC area and have traveled to the bay area, the connection reliability and speed is no different than my G1.
Wow, another garbage post by Quentyn Kennemer.
Get this loser off this site.
The Nexus One has no ‘3g issues’ you fucking loser.
Eh… Burnette, many Nexus Ones *do* have this issue.
Mine doesn’t, at least not as bad as many other experience it, but it’s an issue for many other nexus owners.
–
And why would this make Quenty a ‘fucking loser’… geesh, you loaned him some money and he didn’t pay you back?
its a shame, wireless fees are still high and cant get decent coverage/equipment that works good.
My Nexus One work flawlesly on Rogers in Canada – and yeah, I’d buy this phone over and over again. Carriers are elephants, they move slow and I don’t think I would buy another phone that is not Google’s any time soon. I want this 2.2 Android:) I know it is coming to Nexus first. Issues? Lesser than any other phone I ever owned and I had them all. Life is good without Carriers’ and iPhone’s jails. I used this phone with several cariers’ SIMs and all worked perfect within seconds – save me a bundle not having to roam. Nexus 2 anyone?
I use speed test with my Nexus and my G1 and I get the same rates at the same times.
It sounds like it’s a hardware issue that can’t be corrected in software. After all the complains about Droid being delayed in getting 2.1, this could give you a window into why phones get extensive in-network testing by the carriers and manufacturers. I wonder if the N1 (which wasn’t built for a specific network) was so thoroughly tested.
I didn’t experience such issues and I’m even sure that my 3G reception is far better than it was when I had iPhone.
Here in Israel using Orange, my phone got very good connectivity to 3G and HSDPA.
Google halts development on Nexus One. Period.
I think they were just floating a trial balloon but the cost was pretty darn high for being a beta tester.
Don’t expect any new phones from them anytime soon, unless one black eye was not enough!
To change the orientation do I have to download naked pictures of Anderson Cooper or can I just force it to watch a few episodes of Glee?
The 3G issue on the Nexus One I narrowed down to incorrect default APN settings. The default T-Mobile APN settings on the Nexus One are incomplete. The correct & complete default APN settings for the Nexus One are as follows:
Name = T-Mobile US
APN = epc.tmobile.com
Proxy = 216.155.165.50
Port = 8080
Username = none
Password =
Server =
MMSC = http://mms.msg.english.t-mobile.com/mms.wapenc
MMS Proxy = 216.155.165.50
MMS Port = 8080
MMC = 310
MNC = 260
Authentication Type = PAP or CHAP
APN Type =
Since doing these settings two days ago, my 3G has had a very solid connection instead of randomly dropping or ‘freezing’. This won’t solve, though, the very well known problem of the antenna-block via hand.
This is the exact reason why I have decided to never buy another HTC device. Look at other forums for HTC’s Windows Mobile devices. They have suffered similar hardware related issues to the Nexus One (poor radio, poor plastic, etc). HTC is obviously a good software company, but they just don’t seem to engineer their hardware to the same high quality standards as their software.
I also live in the Denver area and have the N1. Outside the I-25 / I-70 corridors, the t-mobile coverage is fair. On the coverage map, I live in the “moderate” coverage area. I can affect my coverage by the placement of my hand on the phone when I’m at home and completely cut off my service (both Edge & 3G). The antenna is located in a poor location on the phone, so when you “cup” your phone with your hand, you cover the antenna. I just modified how I hold the phone when I’m at home and I’ve kept service. As I’ve used the phone throughout Denver and along the front range while driving around, and I’ve never encountered a dropped call or service. In contrast, my friend has the ATT version of the N1 and hasn’t had any issues with dropped 3G at all, but she can also reduce her signal by cupping the phone in the same manner. The ATT coverage is much better around here. It’s a design issue, and so I can see why they wouldn’t focus on a 3G fix
I have an AT&T Nexus one. No problems with 3G connection.
Yet another reason not to buy a phone from Google.
If you had bought it from your service carrier they would have likely replaced the phone.
T-Mobile has some of the best customer service bar none, I know they would have replaced a problem phone.
With Google, buyers have zero recourse.
Which is why I will [b]NEVER[/b] buy a phone directly from Google.
:-(
I live in Denver and bought the Nexus One a week ago. I switched from sprint to tmobile because my sprint bill was going to go up $50/month to move to a new phone from my old winmo 6.1. Anyhow… since moving and getting the N1 I’ve had nothing but problems. Both edge and 3G lockup and cut out frequently all over town (and this is with froyo, 2.2). After reading this thread and learning about the issue with how you hold the phone, my problems have been reduced dramatically. As long as I hold the phone with some space between my palm and the lower part of the phone my signal is much improved and I’m able to use data functions fairly well (still nowhere as good as my old sprint mogul, but usable).
I’d dump Tmobile in a second and run back to sprint, but Tmobile provided the best price for the family plan needs I have (by at least $40/month)