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The best phone for signal strength?


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Old 04-12-2016, 11:49
daveyfs
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Thanks for the info.

One last question: I've read up on the EE thread (and on a separate thread) that EE will soon be launching 4G on its 800MHz frequency. Will an unlocked S7 edge do or does it have to be bought from EE in the first place? Assuming that the S7 Edge supports EE's 800MHz, which it should do if it supports Three 800MHz.
The S7 does support 800. The important point about accessing 800 is that the phone must be VoLTE (i.e. 4G calling) capable.

I'm not sure what others' experience is, but I bought an unlocked S7 Edge and VoLTE did not work on the generic firmware so I flashed the EE firmware and it now works great. If VoLTE is enabled you'll see the icon in the status bar, as shown in this link.
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Old 04-12-2016, 19:06
Aaron_McGowan
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The S7 does support 800. The important point about accessing 800 is that the phone must be VoLTE (i.e. 4G calling) capable.

I'm not sure what others' experience is, but I bought an unlocked S7 Edge and VoLTE did not work on the generic firmware so I flashed the EE firmware and it now works great. If VoLTE is enabled you'll see the icon in the status bar, as shown in this link.
Thank you for confirming this! I probably wouldn't be able to afford buying an unlocked one new (over £600) but if I bought a used or new one on eBay, that was locked to EE, would I get VoLTE? As (I assume) it would run EE firmware. (Failing that, I'd flash the firmware if I knew how to.)

One last thing: is the Galaxy S7 edge better (in terms of 4G signals) than the LG G5? Also, which would be easier to flash with EE firmware?
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Old 04-12-2016, 19:20
georgi_prodanov
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The S7 is fantastic and the Edge uses the same antenna system does it not? It's also bigger and so should provide a better signal like the iPhone 7 Plus provides a better signal than the 7.
My Iphone SE has now one bar of 4G with EE but the 6S never had any signal in the same are. Also the SE seems to stick with 4G as long as possible and only drops to 3G/2G if there is not 4G available on the area or deeply indoors
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Old 05-12-2016, 00:13
daveyfs
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Thank you for confirming this! I probably wouldn't be able to afford buying an unlocked one new (over £600) but if I bought a used or new one on eBay, that was locked to EE, would I get VoLTE? As (I assume) it would run EE firmware. (Failing that, I'd flash the firmware if I knew how to.)

One last thing: is the Galaxy S7 edge better (in terms of 4G signals) than the LG G5? Also, which would be easier to flash with EE firmware?
Never had a G5 so can't say, but it holds on to 4G very well, certainly a lot better than the S6 I had a year ago. I'd say it's just as good as the Sony Xperia Z5 and iPhone 6 I've had recently (both also on EE), if not better.

If you buy one with EE firmware it should be fine - you may just have to update the firmware to the latest version. If it's not EE, there are lots of guides online to flash the firmware - it's really quite easy, indeed it was the first time I'd done it. Just make sure its unlocked from its original network.
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Old 05-12-2016, 01:35
Gigabit
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Samsung phones are easy to convert but LG phones require root modifications to get VoLTE working as flashing a new firmware doesn't seem to actually do a complete conversion. It's very odd.
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Old 06-12-2016, 18:18
Aaron_McGowan
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Samsung phones are easy to convert but LG phones require root modifications to get VoLTE working as flashing a new firmware doesn't seem to actually do a complete conversion. It's very odd.
Thanks for the info. I've never rooted a phone before and wouldn't want to in case it voided the warranty or anything like that. So if I went for LG G5 instead of Samsung S7 Edge then it'd have to be one locked on EE (although I'd be looking at the used market for S7 Edge's because they are so expensive new).
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Old 06-12-2016, 20:57
old bill2
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Thanks for the info. I've never rooted a phone before and wouldn't want to in case it voided the warranty or anything like that. So if I went for LG G5 instead of Samsung S7 Edge then it'd have to be one locked on EE (although I'd be looking at the used market for S7 Edge's because they are so expensive new).
I have a 3 branded LG G5. If i stick a EE sim card in it the VOLTE works fine. The phone has 3 branding in it but it is unlocked.
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Old 13-12-2016, 18:04
Aaron_McGowan
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I have a 3 branded LG G5. If i stick a EE sim card in it the VOLTE works fine. The phone has 3 branding in it but it is unlocked.
Hmm, that's interesting. Does that mean that Three and EE have similar VoLTE settings?
After all, the main reason for looking at a Galaxy S7 Edge and/or LG G5 is that I know they both support EE's VoLTE.
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