Last week Google released the latest version of Android, version 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich to multiple devices. One of those, the Galaxy Nexus, appears to be having problems. We are now starting to see and hear multiple reports that users are experiencing signal problems and loss of signal since accepting the official OTA update. Below are multiple screenshots and links with all the information.

GSM Galaxy Nexus users are reporting signal problems, loss of signal after a matter of minutes of the phone entering standby and more. Turn off the screen and you lose the signal. I’m currently on Android 4.0.4 with my Verizon Galaxy Nexus thanks to CyanogenMod 9 so I can’t comment myself, everything is fine here. The problems appears to be more widespread then a few unlucky users too.

GSM Galaxy Nexus owners have been vocal about the issue over at XDA-Developers while trying to come up with a solution or solve the problem. Then you can see the huge thread of comments over at Google Code with some users having loss of signal for over 40% of the time the device is in standby, that is no good. A member from Google’s team has responded and is currently asking for bug reports as they look into the matter.

It looks like we are having more signal problems with the Galaxy Nexus, just like after it initially launched worldwide and on Verizon. Maybe we’ll get 4.0.5 soon to fix said issues. This appears to only be effecting the GSM Galaxy Nexus, I’m not finding reports from Nexus S users at this time.

Is your GSM Galaxy Nexus having this issue?

[via PhoneArena]

94 COMMENTS

  1. I’m having terrible problems with my Galaxy Nexus since the update and I am very glad to see that it is the update causing the issue because I was starting to think it was just my usual bad luck with mobile devices. The Nexus has been great for me the last 2 months, no problems whatsoever and possibly the best phone I’ve ever had…….until now. This issue is more than an inconvenience, its a disaster, I have to use my phone for business and rely heavily on using it when on the move, the lack of signal for a vast majority of the day is causing major issue with me. It seems to go once the phone is locked/on standby for longer than a couple minutes, it then requires either a re-selection of the network (if it  works which isn’t always the case) or means switching the phone off and on again. Sometimes neither of these work and i have to perform a reset with sim being taken out. Its a nightmare. I am having to take a spare phone with me that does work, this obviously costs me extra on top of the contract I am paying for yet cannot use for a majority of the time. Very poor, do they not test software updates before launching?? Can anybody shed some light on when this will be sorted out?

      • sounds like a plan but, and sorry for my ignorance but how would I do either of those. I have rang my network provider and they want to reboot my phone which I’m sceptical of to say the least. Worried I could loose data on the phone for one!? I was hoping I could re-instate 4.0.2 but again network provider said I would loose all data?

      • Yeah, if you want to roll back versions without a nandroid backup (a full system screenshot, essentially) then you will definitely lose user data. There are possibilities to back up those via third party apps but usually those require root (like Titanium Backup). Other stuff like call log and SMS/MMS backups are easily possible via normal apps from the Play Store.

        That said, while it’s obviously more convenient to keep data, having gone through a couple total purges myself, I can tell you it’s not the end of the world. It’s surprisingly easy to start over even without saved user data. Just make sure to backup all the stuff you have on the device’s flash storage manually; just plug it in via your computer and copy everything over to your hard drive. It’s not exactly rocket surgery. 😉

  5. I’m having the same issues on 4.0.2 Verizon. I’ll be in the middle of a call and it just drops out. Totally unacceptable, Verizon/Samsung!!!

  6. Rooting this specific device is the best way to go to being a happy owner.. Recommend you all root it and play around with it. So many good roms out there to make the device work better than it should. Some roms give you better battery and better signals. Free wifi tether to your laptop etc.. Just root it. 

    • can you point us to websites that give simple instructions on how to do this?  i have zero experience rooting a phone, but i would love to have a wifi tether to my laptop and also would love to have an easier way to send pics to a backup drive or at least my laptop.

  7. I have always had this problem since 4.0.1, even I don’t get any wi-fi signal in my house and my mother with her Wilfire gets 2 bars of wi-fi outside of my house, I hate the signal on this new device.

  8. Just like jeremyt727 said, root your phone and flash a custom rom. I’m using AOKP B29 (4.0.4) with Franco Kernel on my gsm nexus and have had not issues. I’m sure cyanogen mod9 wouldn’t have problems either with the nightly builds. 

    • Blah blah blah blah, do you think the average user who just bought the ” newest best dream phone” has any idea what this means?

      • i don’t mind the talk of rooting and flashing and custom ROMs at all on here; I just think most Verizon users are not going to do that.  I haven’t seen an OTA update yet on my Verizon GNex and I’m glad I haven’t now.  Hopefully Google put the brakes on the OTA updates until the issues are fixed.

  12. I’m currently on the officially updated GNex GSM stock 4.0.4 version and don’t see any issues at all. On the contrary, this actually fixed a couple issues I had before such as complete wakelocks every other week that only went away after rebooting.

    I hope all users that are afflicted by this annoying glitch find a fix fast but I am happy with the new version. Then again, I will probably go back to AOKP pretty soon anyway… 🙂

  13. I have a rooted Gnex phone, installed the leaked 4.0.4 Rom, no signal problems whatsoever. The signal is actually vastly improved from original ROM in unrooted state.

    • I also installed the leaked verizon 4.0.4 and have the same issue as this new GSM release. Have to constantly turn on/off airplane more. Often, one rebooting fixes the issue. If Google would have paid attention to our complaints about this problem in the verizon leak they would have know. Or, maybe google is as incompetent and out of touch with the community as we think? they just don’t seem to read our bug reports, or don’t care.

  17. Yes. Having this issues with both galaxy nexus phones that my wife and I have. Toggling airplane mode works to get signal back but it looks like toggling wifi off and on also gets it working, and faster.  This needs to get fixed fast!

  19. I don’t know what else to say, other than the obvious issue is Google’s core business isn’t with developing Operating Systems and personally, I think they should stick to their core business model which is internet search.  As this is an obvious problem that shouldn’t be there in the first place. Sorry, but I think I am going to use another OS for phones and tablets.  i think that when one company makes the operating system and another company makes the hardware product, it produces potential support issues.  If one company has control over the development of the OS and hardware it runs on, it has a better chance of reducing or fixing problems faster since the engineers are under one roof and control. it’s the one throat to choke concept rather than the finger pointing. I’ve seen this happen with various IT projects when more than one party is involved with an IT related project. The more companies involved, when a problem comes up, there is usually finger pointing and the problem doesn’t get fixed fast enough. If the company that has the problem is delving into an area of expertise that is not their core competency, then they need to re-evaluate their business model. Google, to me, has always had this FREE FOR ALL concept and it gets them into trouble. YouTube has copyright infringements which is getting them into the court. Free OS’s? For the tweaker, DIY crowd that wants to play around and have fun, is one thing, but if you rely on a phone or computer as a business tool, most people don’t want to deal with the headaches of a FREE product. When you get something for FREE, then that product is many times worthless, because you didn’t pay for it, thus has no value. If Android OS was worth anything, then Google should charge for it and people would be happy to pay for it. Nothing personal.

    • Totally true. Even with this phone which is google branded it’s still a total mess. Google is failing here. I’m sensing class action coming on this.

      • We’re more likely to see Apple sued over the death camps they are running to make iPads.

        I had the 4.0.4 bug but I just downgraded to the prior release until they fix it. A Galaxy Nexus phone running pure Android is a very good phone. One bug (easily avoided with a temporary software reversion) doesn’t change the bigger picture. Love this phone.

      • Ok, but when you’re having ALL of the issues (bad signal, bad gps, random reboot, freeze and hard reboot, general slugishness of all the apps) with a stock galaxy nexus that is still running 4.0.1, what do you do?

        1: flash it (shouldn’t be an option, it’s supposed to be a “pure” Google phone from the beginning)
        2: Sell that piece of junk and get something else

        As a first experience in the Android world (coming from iOS), I must say, I’m really disappointed of the overall customer experience.

        I’m frustrated that I bought a brand new phone that’s suppose to be a high end model and when I have a lot of problems that makes it “barelly” usable, the only answer I have is “be patient, it’ll come enventually”

        OK, I’ll be patient, give me my money back and I’ll wait.

      • Three reasons:
        1 – Because everything I use is Google related (personnal and for work) and the integration is way better than on the iPhone.
        2 – Being a Nexus, I’ll have timely update #fail

        3 – With the NFC and Google Wallet, I would be able to do mobile payment…#fail, I’m in Canada…

        I really like Google and everything there doing but what I (and thousand of other SGN users) have to endur right now is unacceptable.  If the phone’s not ready, fine, then postponed the launch.  But don’t let people buy a product that’s not finish and then keep them in the dark as of when it’s going to be fix

      • Death camps? Really? I’m truly surprised that someone out there still believes the lies that Daisy propagated months ago, proven false shortly thereafter.

    • ” i think that when one company makes the operating system and another
      company makes the hardware product, it produces potential support
      issues.”

      ..spoken like a true Apple fanboy…

    • so you’re promoting your Apple stock. It’s a religion, not a company any more. did you know the iPad 3 again has terrible WiFi issues, just like the iPad 1 had? So much for the perfection of an IBM-like closed system. We lived with IBMs walled systems long enough to know monopolies aren’t always the benevolent dictators we were told about.

  20. If anyone has upgraded to 4.0.4 and is having trouble with the phone losing network connection when it goes into sleep mode, here is something that might help till they issue a fix.
    I have Lightflow (which controls the notification light colour etc on Gnex) installed on my Galaxy Nexus GSM and quite by accident I discovered that if you set a notification for lost network connection it has the side effect of waking the phone when it issues the notification, thus causing the phone to reconnect. As a result even if I don’t check the phone after the notification, it re-establishes the network connection automatically.
    You can download a free version of Lightflow from the Play Store (or whatever they’re calling it now).

    • I think this issue is what potentially is causing problems with Tethering, because as soon as the phone goes into some type of sleep mode, then any type of tethering is lost (USB/Bluetooth/WiFi).

      I installed LightFlow as you suggested and my tethering time-out just went away, Thanks a LOT!!!

      Update: Aaargh, I claimed victory too soon… it was OK for a while but then the tethering just died and it keeps dying on me… 🙁

  21. i haven’t received an OTA update notification…I’m on Verizon Wireless.  what’s the deal?  I guess I’ll hold off if i’ts not a required upgrade until I hear more about these signal issues.  Is this an official update through Verizon or has Verizon not released it yet?

  23. I also installed the leaked verizon 4.0.4 and have the same issue as this new GSM release. Have to constantly turn on/off airplane more. Often, one rebooting fixes the issue. If Google would have paid attention to our complaints about this problem in the verizon leak they would have know. Or, maybe google is as incompetent and out of touch with the community as we think? they just don’t seem to read our bug reports, or don’t care.

  25. I have a rooted EVO with ICS 4.0.4 and solved the sleeping signal problem. Under settings click  wifi, once in wifi click menu, click advanced, there you will see a box “Keep wi-fi on during sleep”, click yes. This solved the problem and I haven’t seen a significant battery issue. 

  26. I have a rooted EVO with ICS 4.0.4 and solved the sleeping signal problem. Under settings click  wifi, once in wifi click menu, click advanced, there you will see a box “Keep wi-fi on during sleep”, click yes. This solved the problem and I haven’t seen a significant battery issue. 

  27. After upgrade 4.0.4 i have faced  ALL of the issues (bad signal, bad gps, random reboot, freeze and hard reboot, general slugishness of all the apps) in galaxy nexus s.

  28. having so many problems with my nexus s after update 4.0.4, cant download from market with no 3g coverage, most apps relying on internet will only use 3g even if wifi is connected, caused my 3g status to go into abuse, please help us find a solution.

  29. Having problems after the update as well. Most of my apps close spontaniously, or won’t open at all. Audio books will not play, or stop playing as soon as any notification is pushed.

  30. 4.0.4 has changed my nexus s completely and not for the better. There’s a loss of basic functionality all round. There was no warning that this upgrade would change your phone so much. Anyone know how to roll back to previous version.?

  32. My nexus s i9023 received an update last monday. While updating, it got into a logoloop for about 1 hour. I needed to manually reboot my device.
    Now I’m stuck with android 2.3.3 in stead of 4.0.4
    Advice on what to do is appreciated!
    Samsung offers NO support at all!

  35. Works more like a brick now. Calls get dropped and I can’t get signal in central London. Is a fix on the horizon or if not how do I downgrade to 4.0.3?

  37. I’m very disappointed with my Galaxy Nexus (Verizon LTE), even with the OS update. My calls drop all the time and even if there seems to be full signal strength, as indicated by bars and signal strength values, once I attempt to make a call or send a text msg the signal conveniently bottoms out. Makes very little sense. I actually have to keep my old phone to make calls and use the nexus more as a PDA. Will probably try to sell it on Ebay. I suggest you all do the same.

  38. which clock widget is that on the first picture? can’t find exactly that one on google play, just nearly similar lookalikes

  39. No reports for Nexus S yet eh? Then allow me to be your first. Few weeks back i droped my phone and shatered the screen to the point of being unusable. I sent it away to be fixed. When I got it back they had updated the software to the new 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. I didn’t notice any signal issues at first however I was getting this weird random glitch that would cause all of the buttons on the screen and some that were not to activate on their own(Eg. poping up the voice text option and starting to record then closing it and poping up the type text bar, the search bar ect. over and over.) little freak outs that seemed worse if I was holding it but didnt stop when I put it down either. the incidents of it never lasted to long but they were becoming more frequent. So I called the Koodo help line. We ended up resetting the phone from the settings option.

    Yay no more button freak outs. All was fixed, or so I thought. 10 hours…..I have been without service…10 hours no signal no matter what I’ve tried to do to fix it. I dont know what Andoid plans to do about it…but I am not paying for my service if I can’t use it.

  41. I think that this a problem with the operating system that Google Android needs to fix. My Archos tablet exhibited wifi receiving loss after upgrading to Ice Cream sandwich. Mine is showing version 4.0.3. I don’t know if this helps in the investigation.

  42. It is very frustrating.i have signal issues (GSM) after the official upgrade to 4.0.4 and planning not to use this Google Nexus phone and buy an normal phone until this is fixed.It is an shame that this critical bug is not tested properly and not yet fixed.

  44. This is happening on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus LTE as well. Signal issues before 4.0.4, signal issues after 4.0.4. I’ve gone through three GNex now and they’ve all had the same issue, with the last two being the most predominant. The whole experience has left a bad taste in my mouth; I’m almost ready to jump ship for an OS that truly caters to their users.

  45. Update came through this morning…I’ve read where lots of people had trouble and couldn’t wait for the update…I’ve had no issues, and from what I can see – this update will mean nothing to me. I wish they’d come up with some sort of update that will help improve battery life; I understand that Apple did something to help improve the battery life on their 4S (which I ditched in favor of the Samsung).

  46. I have my galaxy nexus on sprint in CDMA mode and I still have the problem. In the past I was able to switch to airplane mode and the problem would resolve. That is no longer working. I am not required to restart my phone. It does not happen every time I go into standby mode. It happens about once a day.

  47. Guys i have a galaxy s2 4.0.3 and am facing the same issue…try one thing…disable data network mode and see if the signal drops..if it does not then the issue is with data n/w mode

  48. i have an xperia mini which just updated to 4.04 and has gaming issues in which i am not holding a control, and on the screen it shows as if my finger is tapping it and the character keeps moving by itself. the app is muffin knight, dont know what’s the problem, and I didn’t have the issue back with ginger bread

    • I have a Galaxy S2 too, since the update my phone works awful, worse signal, slower, freezes all the time… and most important I can not acces my contacts! My phone freezes every time I try to open Contacts, I have to open Phone and dial the name of the contact I’m looking for. VERY disappointed. I want to downgrade back to 4.0.3. Anybody knows who to do it?

  52. My Droid Razr is having this issue! I HATE it!!! I used to have perfect 4G service at my house and now I’m lucky if i get 3 bars.

  53. before the update I had some problems with my phone turning off spontaneously when I was calling someone trying to text someone sometimes it would just shut off. The update seems to have fixed that problem now the only problem I have is when I am trying to textor use the keyboard my phone lets me type 1 letter before the keyboardminimizes and only after repeatedly trying to making it reappear it does only to repeat the process. It’s driving me crazy and I have no idea how to make it stop. Tried resetting phone and nothing. The funny thing is I can still make it work if I keep it on the setting where is simply reads my voice. And I can still type on google search. Why it still works but I haven’t the foggiest.

  54. It seems that all discussion of the 4.0.4 upgrade is geared to the Galaxy devise. Let me tell you, it is BIG TIME also effecting the Razr with the signal, calendar, browser, default e-mail accounts, and some other issues. I’m a Razr person suffering and actually have been intouch with Verizon Tech Support a number of times to set my devise back to the previous softwear verson. In short, 4.0.4 really sucks!!! They would have made a better decision to miss the release deadline and present a product that actually works better than, not worse than the previous version!!! Shame on Verizon & Motorola!!!!!

  55. I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 epic 4G touch and I’m also having connections problems. I believe it is because when the phone is in standby mode is tries to automatically look for updates and when it does the wifi shuts off. I learned this when I manually try to look for updates (system, PNL firmware, etc. not app updates). WTF Android. My phone is nearly useless now, because I leave it on standby with skype running and when I lose wifi I lose skype. Fix this Sh!t now. You forced me to get your update and I get screwed. Not funny.

  56. Galaxy S 2 – Left the fruit phone and the S 2 was awesome until the 4.0.4 update. Dropped calls when it enters power save, it reboots itself frequently, less battery life, intermittent very slow response especially accessing Contacts, locks up including black screen and no buttons function requiring battery removal, closes apps without fully loading, etc. I pray Google has a fix soon or reverts to a stable version, I’m extremely dissatisfied now with over a year remaining on my Sprint contract. If this is the best Google can do, its future as a phone OS provider is grim. I showed everyone the awesome S 2 and Android and even fruitphone users were impressed. Now my opinion is Avoid Samsung and Android. Pitiful.

  57. I have an HTC Evo 3D from Sprint. The town where I work has awful reception so my phone is commonly roaming when I’m at the office. I usually got 1 or 2 bars. After the update I either have 0 bars or No Service. This is very annoying since it makes my phone useless when I’m at work.

  58. My Galaxy S2 is also suffering from signal loss during stand-by ever since i updated to Android 4.0.3.

    FYI i’m not in the US so this may be a worldwide problem with ICS.

  59. I am using Samsung Galaxy S 2 and after update to android 4, I also have network issue. The signal keeps disappearing most of the time. Also if someone calls you during that time the caller gets a ringing tone instead of not reachable when you are actually not getting a ring. So the caller thinks that you are not picking his call

  63. I have the Samsung Galaxy S II which I loved until the software update. I now have issues with apps not functioning as they did before,loss of signal, phone freezing,phone switching off, call mode functioning incorrectly. PLEASE SORT IT OUT NOW!!!

  65. i just got my galaxy nexus last week my parents both have droid razrs and there wifi at the house works perfectly for their phones, my galaxy nexus seems to connect for about 30 seconds and then completely disconnects i have to shut wifi off and back on for it to only work for another 30 secs and disconnect again

  66. i just got my galaxy nexus last week my parents both have droid razrs and there wifi at the house works perfectly for their phones, my galaxy nexus seems to connect for about 30 seconds and then completely disconnects i have to shut wifi off and back on for it to only work for another 30 secs and disconnect again

  72. Yes, I started having this problem after Upgrade my Galaxy W i8150 to ICS. I’ve tried different versions of ICS or JB, and always have the same problem.
    If the phone is “no service” and I change to “Air Plane ON” mode, and then “Air Plane OFF” mode the phone keep trying to get the network signal e just Reboot.

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