LG V20 signal issues

[thegenii]

Hi guys,

Just purchased a brand new AT&T unlocked LG V20 phone. It was network unlocked by the previous owner and that's the only time they used the phone before selling it. I am an AT&T user so I figured the phone would still work fine for me.

Upon getting the phone, signal in my house has become extremely spotty. With my old Galaxy S6 I always had at least two bars of signal and always had 4G LTE.

Sometimes it will be connected to the AT&T network and sometimes you won't see the AT&T letters listed at the top left of the phone, but youll have 2 bars of signal. When this happens and I try to check my e-mail or use data, I get a message saying Network Unavailable. The phone often seems to change towers and sometimes will display the AT&T letters at the top left of the screen and sometimes won't. When it doesn't it says Network Unknown. I am using my old sim card from my Galaxy S6. It's a two year old sim card. I contacted AT&T about the issue and they are sending me a brand new SIM card for the phone. I just have to activate it upon arrival by calling them.

I've checked APN settings and they are still set properly for the AT&T network. I've tried a factory reset, turning airplane mode on and off, and even signal booster apps. Nothing has worked. I've attached photos of some of the settings of my phone as well.
Ive been trying methods here on this article:

https/gettechmedia.com/signal-problems-lg-v20-smartphone/

 

[webworkings]

You need to talk to AT&T and see if there is a signal issue in the area.

 

[rares.porutiu]

Hello,
I got a V20 H990N taken from China, and I FIXED THE SIGNAL ( like from -97dBm to -85dBm in the same spot ), read below how :
This model has major issues with the signal by design. Because they put a metallic back, antennas cannot be located behind it and they are located in the upper and lower plastic. They are not very efficient as a result.
Voice does not work on 4G(LTE) and so it works only on 3G and 2G. Important for practical use is the 3G signal because of the bandwidth compared to 2G, you get also enough speed for data.
My network (Digi Romania) has only 3G and 4G. I have here in my house a "testing place" where only very good reception phones work, in the basement. In that room V20 did not work AT ALL from the door, now I can talk clearly in the whole room, with metallic door of the room closed too. (I have only a small window)
Since this phone has also battery issues (my stock battery held for 8 hrs, died at 22% suddenly), replacement battery of ~ 3000 mAh takes me only through the day, I ordered a battery of 6400mAh (10000mAh seemed too thick) and big battery comes with a rubber back replacement ! Here's a link from where I got the battery and back :

https/www.aliexpress.com/item/New-V20-Battery-BL-44E1F-Extended-Battery-For-LG-V20-VS995-US996-LS997-H990DS-H910-H918/32803335992.html

In this rubber back there is enough room to put an extra antenna, a wire , my first experiment has around 4 inches length, this worked best for now.
I attached this wire to a conductive tape (did not have copper tape, I used one from a dead Li-Ion Battery) and the tape I inserted between the antenna contact and the elastic golden spring soldered on the mainboard of the phone, ment to make the contact with the antenna.
If you take off the 4 screws that hold the bottom plastic, and take the plastic off you see in the plastic and on the phone 5 contacts. The active 3 G contact that needs to be connected is the third one, in any direction you count.
The idea is to insert the bottom end with antenna back and keep the connecting tape between the phone spring and the antenna connector so it will be held firmly in place between them when bottom is mounted back
The wire gets soldered before this operation to the free end of the tape and fixed AWAY from touching the battery, ~ 0.1" distance, like in the picture, not to get the signal absorbed.
Also what is not seen in the picture is that my tape seems wide, but inside the plastic bottom it gets narrow (I chopped it - shown in red in the picture), to touch ONLY one of the contacts !
http/comedsrv.sytes.net/hipocrat/LGV20AntennaHack.jpg
In this setup the phone works in low signal areas like the good reception phones, on 3G, battery lasts more than 2 days - (I charge faster than that for battery life reasons), and I don't get super frustrated anymore that everybody talks and I have no reception or no battery.
However you can expect this phone to switch between cells with delay, more than other phones, it is in its software.
Do this with a lot of patience, watch youtube video on how to disassemble this phone, and email me at rares.porutiu@gmail.com for any questions BEFORE you try to do what you don't master or don't understand, that is before doing any damage to the phone
DO NOT TRY THIS WITHOUT CHANGING BACK OF THE PHONE TO NON METALLIC ! It ONLY works as described.

 

[kirkjohnla]

Had a V10 and V20 with the same issues from Verizon..I live 2 miles from tower couldn't get more than 1 bar on both..purchased a Samsung phone now 4 bars...got figure..called LG the said..we can replace with used phone...told them to bite me..no more LG phones for me.

 

[rares.porutiu]

I know there are problems, I bought the phone because there are very few powerful phones with removable battery and I wanted that. I would change it with other phone but I cannot find alternative, so I solved the issues and now I have a giant battery and a fair reception. For the ones stuck with this phone I just try to share my research, for the ones that can live without it, I'm happy
There was some incomplete info in some forum about this signal boost and I just wanted people to have the missing information that I would have wanted to find when I discovered how bad reception was.

 

[rares.porutiu]

I managed to improve the signal of the V20 even further, so now it is better than all the phones I have around for comparison.
I connected a 3G antena from another phone (SHARP SH530U), but I guess any antenna would do, in parallel with the original antenna. I used also the ground terminal (pin 2) near the described above pin 3 (3G Hot wire), because antenna must be connected in 2 points.
It is a little tricky to find a right position in order for the 2 antennas to sum the signal, precision of 1-2 mm in position, but I did it, as shown in the picture. The 2 terminals are crossed to put the ground in the right position, but that depends of the used antenna, and connection is kept as short as possible. Not used connection is another antenna of the SH530, it had a mixed antenna.
http/comedsrv.sytes.net/hipocrat/LGV20AntennaHack2.jpg
This way I have no complains about signal strength, although LG could have easily made a better job or offer the alternative hardware solution for good reception that I hacked with a lot of days of research (like an alternative 10mm bigger bottom with good antenna or so)