s21 poor signal strength

[mozzy]

I've just upgraded to the s21 from the s10. Problem is that I now only get 1 bar showing on the signal strength most of the time (including home). On the s10 it was on 3 bars most of the time using the same network and SIM. If I swap the SIM card back to the s10 I get 3 bars showing again 

I have tried resetting the network, a hard reboot, changing to SIM tray 2 but all to no avail. Anyone else experienced this/any ideas or is this device faulty??

[kleake]

Add me to the list.   I upgraded (I thought) from an S9 that worked perfectly, although battery getting weak, to the S21.   Now I miss calls, texts, etc.   Most of the time I have to set my phone in the window to get any texts at all.  Most of the time it bounces from 3G to 4G, sometimes 5G, and then no signal at all.   I'm currently on hold with Samsung about the issue, but I really don't expect any solution from them.  Likely they will send me a replacement which will also have the problem.  Anyone know if the S20 has a better signal strength?  I'll still be missing the headphone jack and notification LED, but at least I will have an SD card slot and a working signal.

[kleake]

Update,,,,,,, no solution.....  They want me to send it in for repair, or buy another and then return this one......   It's less than 30 days old, what happened to advance exchanges for a product that is less than 30 days old???   I've wasted enough of my time, and requested a return label to return the phone for a refund after talking to 6 different people that just kept repeating that my only option is to send it in for repair while I do without a phone.  Now to figure out what other phone I want, because obviously samsung doesn't want my business bad enough.

[RFtech53]

I just posted about my WiFi Calling turning itself off AND low receive signal. Never had that problem before. But with my S21+ ... that's why I need WiFi Calling to work.  And it keeps shutting itself off.

US Cellular's technician told me BOTH issues are known. The Low Signal reception is a known problem with the S21 phones. The WiFi Calling is ONLY a problem (out of all the phones they sell) with Samsung. 

I'm in your boat. I'm seriously thinking of sending my S21+  back for a refund and going with another brand. Samsung used to be top of the line. I guess someone's cutting corners now. 

Oh, and as for Signal Bars ... forget that. Go into About Phone, Status Information and look at your SIM CARD STATUS. That's your real signal level from the tower. Mine's horrible on my S21+. Almost -120dBm. I believe -113dBm is the weakest signal that is acceptable. You can go to Wilson Amplifiers and find out in their support section or Google Cell Phone Signal Level. 

[Enzoenzo]

You know what ,just do it get a refund.

I bought a samsung care+ for my s21u ,and had a replacement s21u 3 days ago , signal is still bad like my first one ,and that means it happens to a lot s21 phones ,and btw my coworkers got his s21u a week ago ,same signal issue.

So if I suggest, get a refund,I bought a iphone xr as a alternative phone ,works good at the same place and same sim card.

[kleake]

Good to know and what i suspected.  Glad I didn't go through the frustration of replacing it with another S21 and spending days setting it back up only to find the issue is still there.   I haven't shipped mine back because I haven't had a chance to go get something else, but i will be doing that later this week.   If they would come out and say there is a problem, and they are working on a fix, I might hang on to it just to save the time and frustration of setting up a different phone.  But the way their customer service is, it will be my last Samsung phone I buy either way.

[Danno]

hello, I'm late to this thread but am suffering the same poor signal strength issue, can you tell me how to log an error report to at least add a little extra weight to this issue. cheers

[RFtech53]

I'd also like to know how to file an Error Report in the Members app.  Can someone please advise me and Danno.

I'm now out $1700 for (2) S21+ phones (I had to buy a second one to see if it would solve the problem with the first, and then I'm sending the first one back for credit) that I can't use at my house because it keeps dropping carrier signal ... my S8+ always worked fine.  And I'm only 3 miles away from my carrier's tower. 

And my WiFi Calling keeps turning itself off so that's unreliable too.  My carrier's techs tell me that both are well known issues at Samsung, and that of all the phones they sell, only Samsung has the problem with the WiFi Calling feature. 

I hate to say it, but for the first time in my life, I'm really sorry I bought new Samsung phones.  They obviously rushed these to market without fully getting the bugs out, or just don't care anymore. 

As one other poster said, it would be different if Samsung came out and told it's owners that they know of the issues and are working on fixes. Though if the bad receive signal is due to the phone's antenna, then there's no fix without replacing phones with a new model variant. 

[SaudA]

Hi @Danno and @RFtech53, you can send an error log via the Members app > Get Help > Error reports. I do understand the frustration here, our developers will be able to take an in-depth look at this issue. Remember to send the error log within 15 minutes of testing.  

[RFtech53]

SaudA,

Thank you for the reply. Now ... how do I generate the Error Log and then where do I find it?

[SaudA]

If you follow through with the instructions, it will start generating a log for you, you will then need to select the category, add a brief description and then send it off via the button on top right.