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??

[Stellapandora]

I don't even live in a rural area! I live in the middle of the city. I wish there was a better way to warn people not to buy this phone!

[Lorrie20381]

Hi, did they ever figure out solution with samsung galaxy s21 ultra.  Dropped calls, 1 bar if that, and during calls, I can hear them, but they can't hear me.

I wish I never got this phone. My Samsung note 9 was way better. 😔 Thank Lorrie20381 

[kleake]

No solution,,, and they have never admitted there is even an issue.   Most of us have just disabled the 5G which helped with it swapping bands all of the time, but that doesn't fix any of the signal strength issues.   I still hate this phone...

[SmallFish]

I'm afraid the S22 has some carry over issues too. Upload speeds are well below S10 rates. Like half as fast. Downloading and signal reception seems a bit better though.

[kleake]

That is a bummer to hear,,,,, but slow speeds is better than no connection.....  I still want my S9 back, I never had any of these issues with it.  The only reason I changed was because the battery was becoming weak after 2+ years.

[Jacques_082]

So glad i found this topic, I also have a S21 Ultra and have the exact same problem .. on cell boarder when the signal strength is -100 and worse i start getting serious upload problems with most of the tests showing zero upload this is in fact what is happening as browsing etc. is not working.

I did a few tests and found that the LTE B1:2100 Band is the main problem .. downloaded the Samsung Band selection app and selected all the bands our network has except 2100 and it fixed most of my issues at least now i can download and upload.

I also did some tests on a brand new Samsung A30S and it had the same problem with uploads at times it was even worse than the S21.

I am not sure how Samsung will fix this but i hope that they do, this is an expensive phone and at the moment not a very enjoyable experience at all.

[lee815]

I just tried the same set up as Jacques but then had call problems. 4g was good but I couldn't receive or make calls.

[Uk s21 customer]

I have tried all the above and till I read your issue. My S215G is facing same issue. Looks we should report as a group that its manufacturing defect.

Kindly let us know if there is any more like us

[Stevie110]

I've had this piece of 5**t handset since December, "upgrade" from my s10+ which was good. Wish i never bothered.

Since day 1 of owning this thing the  reception has been beyond a joke, absolute ZERO bars inside any building.

and outside I get absolutely no 4g   (signal strength is -113 dBm 27ASU)      I guess these figures are *****!

I try using speedtest when out and about and get  .. oops no signal  ... when it does connect momentarily

I barely scrape 0.4 MB upload, and weirdly get 5MB upload. I've had a replacement SIM and no better, what's the point  in the expensive handset if it's not gonna be useful for the purpose it's made for. i'm paying for a 5g service on Vodafone and I don't think it's  Vodafones signal, but the crappy software/hardware in this S21 Ultra  and want to know what my options are for getting this replaced or repaired. in summary I hate this phone.    

[op10myzation]

Agree the antenna on the s21 series is the worst I have had in any phone for the last 10 years. Just compared the singal strength with the others in my family that owns various versions of iPhones. The s21+ was not getting any signal (most of the time) while the iPhones all had 50 % or more. 

I have tried both normal SIM and eSIM and there is no difference in the signal strength. 

The conclusion in obvious:  The antenna on the S21 series is way below standard. It is not a software problem - it is clearly due to hardware limitations, which falls on the decisions made by Samsung when design these phones. This also means that Samsung will never admit this being an issue since it would imply that all sold S21 units would need an hardware upgrade. Samsung could possibly try to boost antenna capabilities at he expense of battery, but that would make the phone less competitive in simple performance tests since battery is way simpler to measure then signal/antenna capabilities (which is way more depended on other external factors and thus could easily be dismissed as a "non-Samsung" issue. 

Having the chance I would have returned my unit any day. Beside the antenna the phone is okay, but when you cannot use it in areas where other phones work perfectly fine, then the value is really low. If you consider an S21 unit I would recommend you NOT to buy one.