Is the L925's signal reception inferior to L810?

[Paul Verizzo]

I've had an 810 for a year, recently set up a 925. One of the thing I loved about the 810 was that it had the very best "radio frequency front end" of any phone I've owned and used at my location. Never, ever a dropped call. Lots of available connections on wifi. My brother got an LG Android and his connections were so bad here I had to set up another router so that he could get reliable Wifi Calling!

So now I "upgraded" to a 925. Actually, two of them, long story but not pertinent. After lots and lots of monitoring, comparing side by side, the bottom line result is that the 925 is inferior to the 810 for both over the air cellular and wifi. In fact, I'd say it's no better than phones I've owned five to ten years ago!

The irony is that I wanted a phone that has WFC vs. having another phone without that capability, but I'd have to have it along, swap SIM, etc..... Now I have a phone that NEEDS WFC!

About five years ago I bought a particular Nokia model that was available in an A and a B version. The latter had wifi ability. The A had far more radio sensitivity. This was acknowledged by both Nokia and tech competent reviewers.

Bottom line, I guess, is this should not be an issue in this day and age.

 

[salmanahmad]

I've had an 810 for a year, recently set up a 925. One of the thing I loved about the 810 was that it had the very best "radio frequency front end" of any phone I've owned and used at my location. Never, ever a dropped call. Lots of available connections on wifi. My brother got an LG Android and his connections were so bad here I had to set up another router so that he could get reliable Wifi Calling!

So now I "upgraded" to a 925. Actually, two of them, long story but not pertinent. After lots and lots of monitoring, comparing side by side, the bottom line result is that the 925 is inferior to the 810 for both over the air cellular and wifi. In fact, I'd say it's no better than phones I've owned five to ten years ago!

The irony is that I wanted a phone that has WFC vs. having another phone without that capability, but I'd have to have it along, swap SIM, etc..... Now I have a phone that NEEDS WFC!

About five years ago I bought a particular Nokia model that was available in an A and a B version. The latter had wifi ability. The A had far more radio sensitivity. This was acknowledged by both Nokia and tech competent reviewers.

Bottom line, I guess, is this should not be an issue in this day and age.

You can't call one phone inferior to the other just because of one shortcoming.

If this flaw is very annoying for you, then by all means keep an 810.

But what you gain by purchasing a 925 definitely outweighs the cons.

And if I am not wrong, the 810 isn't receiving any more updates, am I right?

 

[xandros9]

Keep in mind, your evidence is anecdotal and only has one data point for either phone, of which there are many out there. Who knows? Maybe someone did the same comparison with the same model to come to the conclusion that the 925 is indeed superior? One data point is not representative of all of them.

Yes, the 810 is a dead end as far as T-Mo is concerned.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

Guys, I am very well aware of the facts you mention. Yes, I don't mean it's apples to apples in all regards, just what we used to call "radio frequency front end." That's the only comparison I was making. (I've a half century in radio and electronics, cellular since 1985.) I didn't want to make the title overly long, "925's cellular and wifi reception definetly inferior to 810," I guess I should have written.

I didn't expand on this fact, but since you brought it up: I have two 925's. Both behave the same insofar as signal strength, both are inferior to the 810. I've done observations at several locations, phones side by side, just watching. I'm not talking just bars, which is only a very crude and slow meter. I am talking relatively frequent "No Service" incidences on the 925's vs. NEVER on the 810. Depending on location, of course, when hunting for wifi, the 810 will almost always find several more than the 925's.

Since my house is sort of fringe with TM, it's been a great test location for the various phones I've owned over the years. And I can tell you with authority that the 925 cellular reception is on par with my 1999 Nokia 9290.

As to support from TM, of course. OTOH, I'm on PfD, and my 810 runs 8.1 Update with a post update, on Black. Good enough.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

Two days later, lots more experimenting, nothing to reverse my previous observations. I bought the 925 for WFC. Having the FM radio and LTE were the only other benefits, and I don't care that much about either. Oh, yeah, very pretty. But crap in the radio department.

 

[metalchick719]

Very strange. I have the 810 and the 925 as well, but I've never experience problems like this. I would say if LTE isn't fully developed in your area, then you might want to switch the highest connection speed to 4G (while LTE was still being developed over here, I noticed a considerably stronger signal on my Rogers 920 that I was using at the time when it was set to 4G instead of LTE). Not sure that's the case for you, though, Paul.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

After another week of tests and observations, to answer my own question, the answer is a resounding "Yes!" As a matter of simple observation of fact, the 925 is far, far worse in keeping a voice connection - I'm not even going into data here, although equally bad - than any PCS phone I've ever owned. This was a flagship product? Hah!

Here's a simple test: At any given moment, glance at the screen and see if there is a connection to my carrier, or "No service." I've not yet kept a score sheet, but I'd say that "No Service" pops up 25% of the time. Perhaps more. My 810, never. It does seem that if I do have a call going on my 925, there is no drop. Again, still under investigation.

There is no reason that I should stare at a "No service" notification for two minutes. My 1999 Nokia 9290 had occasional connection problems, but nothing like this.

I love this phone at every other level, but it may be that I can't find it worthwhile to keep it.