Have just upgraded to an o2 exec and want to experiment with video calling .
there is no 3g signal, it always comes up 'no signal at present' even though the signal has 3 - 4 bars on it. I'm with o2 and unhappy with the service I phone tech support and they tried to tell me to move to another part of the house ....this may have been helpful if I lived in the eiffel tower but i LIVE IN THE uk.
Im beginning to think that the whole o2 3g network is substandard
Any ideas?
4arm
Look at the little square icon next to the signal strength indicator - is it a 'G' or 'U'?
A 'G' indicates normal GPRS signal while a 'U' indicates UMTS (3g) service is available.
It's normally G and very very occassionaly turns to a u?
OK, when it shows a 'U' you can make video calls. When it's a 'G' only normal calls can be made.
G being GPRS and U being UTMS which is 3G. I think you can video call via wifi but I've not tested this yet.
I doubt whether the o2 coverage is bad, otherwise why would hutchinson three use them as a carrier for their network, seeing as they are a 3G company? The signal strength bars IIRC dont bear any relation to the 3G strength.
Tim 45 said:
I doubt whether the o2 coverage is bad, otherwise why would hutchinson three use them as a carrier for their network, seeing as they are a 3G company? The signal strength bars IIRC dont bear any relation to the 3G strength.
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LOL you have the wrong end of the stick m8, Hutch "3" 3G is a pure 3G network (the biggest in the UK) with around 80% coverage. The network is wholey owned by hutch, however if your unlucky to wander out of coverage (into that last 20 %) then it will switch to O2 2G Gprs (no video calls) just so you can at least make voice calls / emergency calls. O2's 3G network has much less coverage than "3"'s but it's ok because it can seamlessly transfer to it's own 2G network if necessary
I am of the understanding that O2's 3g network is not the best in terms of coverage (voda and 3 are afaik). Interesting what is said above about 3 and O2 both being hutchingson compaines and sharing infrasturecture - can anyone verfiy?
they are 2 very diffrent companies, 3 just have a deal with O2, they pay O2 to allow "3" customers to use O2's network when "3"s is unavailable
Ward said:
G being GPRS and U being UTMS which is 3G. I think you can video call via wifi but I've not tested this yet.
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That would be funky, but don't see how it ould be possible.
I too only get a UMTS signal in Belfast (which is supposed to be a strong 3G area) when I'm upstairs...
They need to pull the finger out if they want video calling to be the norm.
O2 3G around London is okay, not as good as T-mobile of Vodafone from my experience. Using a O2 data card I can get the higher 384kbps download speed, and it really is quick.
Video calls on O2 are part of the normal call allowance, so if can get it to work it wont be as expensive as on "3".
No i thought 3 used the O2 masts and technology, i cant remember where i heard it though.. Of course i could be very much mistaken
Related
I have been using my new o2 Exec in many different cities in the UK but not once have I been able to use 3G.
1) How would I know I am connected to 3g as I only see the GPRS symbol.
2) Has anyone used this device in 3G?
If the device is connected to a 3G signal, the network name would appear as 3G O2 - UK instead of just O2 - UK.
Also the little "G" would change to a "U"
I have a 3G signal on O2 in London a lot. A very strong signal at Waterloo and I even have one at home in Camberley (Surrey). The Vodafone 3G signal in Camberley/Farnborough is very good.
I get 3G at home (Didcot) and have also elsewhere (eg Reading, Sheffield, various parts of London). Don't get it at my workbase, but that is in a rural Oxfordshire location.
Other 3G service at home are 3 and Orange. No sign of any 3G signals from Vodafone or T-Mobile.
The only time I have even tried, West End of London and I had a U signal with Orange... just no-one else with a Video capable phone to call... :lol:
Well it must mean they have given me a GPRS SIM because at the time I was asked do I want a 3g or GPRS connection - which I found strange.
I have not had 3g reception in Leeds, Oxfordshire.
3G SIM's usually (in my country) have a BIG "3G" on them. Check. Can't believe you;ve never seen a U if you do have a SIM.
3G SIM's usually (in my country) have a BIG "3G" on them. Check. Can't believe you;ve never seen a U in the UK if you do have a SIM. I'm in darkest Africa and have UMTS almost wherever I go... (OK, for busines that is - not much need for it when watching lions)
Sorry if this is stating the obvious, but have you checked the device settings to make sure that it is not locked to GPRS?
Settings, Phone, Band tab.
I leave this set to auto most of the time unless the phone has a borderline 3G signal and keeps switching from 3G to GPRS all the time.
If you find that this is greyed out, hold down the reg 'end call' button until it 'un-grays' its self ;-)
Nigel
Just received my Vodafone v1605 which vodafone kindly supplied me for just £14.99.
I've had a K-Jam for the last 18 months and have gotten on fine with it, but i've just put my other Voda Sim card in the Hermes and am only getting 0-2 bars signal, compared to 4-5 on my wizard... is this to be expected? granted i'm using updated radio rom on the kjam, but i never noticed anything so drastic by changing them in the past.
i'm sitting here now with no bars on hermes and 5 on wizard, even after swapping the sims over to see if that was the problem.
Pls just chech that you aren't on UMTS with the Hermes... most of the time that signal strenght is slightly lower...
What plan are you on for £14.99?
well i changed contract from anytime125 with stop the clock which i was paying 25quid for to something with 150mins and 250 txts which can be used as about 11mb of data instead.. still costing me 25quid.
thought it was a bit of a bargain so went for it... i did go through to the cancelation dept though cos i was going to go to tmobile.
Mark (NL) said:
Pls just chech that you aren't on UMTS with the Hermes... most of the time that signal strenght is slightly lower...
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yes, i'm on 3g at the moment. didn't realize that the signal would be lowered because of that.
Is not as much that the signal will be lower because of 3G, just that 3G coverage on a whole lot of places is less than GSM/ GPRS coverage
thefunkygibbon said:
yes, i'm on 3g at the moment. didn't realize that the signal would be lowered because of that.
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Nothing to worry about mate, You'll still be able to make calls and get on the net with a low UMTS signal, but if you run a mobile speedtest, the signal strength does come into play.
e.g: it may be the difference between regular UMTS web speeds i.e. 300kbps compared to HSDPA (does vodafone even support this yet?) speeds which max out @ 1.8 Mbps! And lower signal strength will also be a good indicator wether it's worth trying a video call (if ur into that).
But suffice to know, 1 bar or even a dot in UMTS can still make and receive calls, and if it drops too low, the Auto band mode will automatically swith to GPRS until ur within a good signal range for UMTS.
Hope this helps a little.
cool , thanks guys that really cleared things up for me
I have the v1605 and the call quality is the worst I have ever had. Breaks up a lot where other phones dont.
bri.s said:
I have the v1605 and the call quality is the worst I have ever had. Breaks up a lot where other phones dont.
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Search the wiki and look to upgrade/flash a better ROM (this will invalidate your warranty, so be sure to get hold of an original Vodaphone ROM for your devoce, incase you ever have to flash it back to it). I have some friends with the v1605 and they all report better signal strength after flashing other Radio ROMs.
Just a thought.
My friend has the exact same subscription to the exact same moibile operator as me (MTC-Vodafone in Kuwait). We both have the same access point and proxy settings.
His Nokia E90 says "3.5G" right under the signal strength bars when he starts a data connection. But my O2 Atom Life just says "3G" in the white square box at the top of the screen and also in the smaller white box above the signal strength bars when I start a data connection.
Does anyone know why that is? I thought that 3.5G is the same as HSDPA. Is that true? And if so, isn't my O2 HSDPA-capable? And shouldn't it say "H" in the white box?
I'm running WM5 if that makes any difference . . .
Please help. I want my 3.5G!
3.5G
Probably you have to consult your Mobile Service provider regarding the speed they are offering at the point you connecting to their 3.5G network.
Some Mobile Service provider cater for certain amount of 3.5G connection and hence the rest of the connections/users may get slower connection. Maybe 3G or 2.5 (GPRS).
I own a Atom Life as well, it connected and shown with "H" in certain areas. Like what i say, Mobile Service provider may not offering full coverage and support for all users at blashing speed...
Good luck finding back your 3.5G...
Just wondering if anyone else has an HD2 on Orange. I live in Leeds and no mater where I am in the city, I can not get HSDPA coverage.
Would anyone have any ideas? Am I being a dope and missing something obvious?
Note, yes the Orange web site states that I should be able to get it where I am.
You can always check in the registry if the icon is set to be On but it should be by default..
Go to settings -> all settings -> connections -> advanced network
Make sure that both HSDPA and HSUPA are enabled
Thanks for the suggestion, but that was enabled. The icon is ok.
Speed is still poor! Hmmm odd one as on T-Mobile, HSDPA icon showed and I got great speed.
Crappy Orange bahh
Cheers
I take it your orange is pay as you go? I don't know if this anything to go by but I WAS with Orange a few months back, I had a 3g phone and all HSDPA was enabled. However..I was just getting normal signal. where my friend was on orange aswell and he was getting 3g standing right next to me. But this was the difference...
Myself = Pay As You Go = No 3G
Friend = Contract On Orange = Constant 3G.
I don't know if Orange limit there 3g to contract customers however now i'm on o2 Text and Web Tarrif (Pay and Go) getting 3g and H signals now. o2 has better coverage in my opinion.
Hope this helps.
My friend who is also on Orange (but has a HTC Hero) has just recently had loads of problems with her 3g signal being non existent. As far as she could ascertain (through calls to Orange helpline) it is Orange that is having technical issues with its 3g/HSDPA infrastructure. She lives in Halifax by the way.
For those on T-Mobile UK Network, could you share your thoughts about the data roaming between T-Mobile - Orange 3G network?
Does it work for you, does it boosts speeds?
In my case it defaults to T-Mobile Orange, although this is a correct selection signal-wise, as I've got 3-4 bars of 3G+ (2-3 bars with 'vanilla' T-Mobile), I guess Orange speeds are **** in my area, resulting to 700/40 Kbps down/up best case scenario (40 Kbps, that's kilobit per second, or 5 KB/sec). Worst case scenario is ping time-outs, because the upload speed is so slow that even the initial command is difficult to be transmitted. Sites with pictures is almost a no go, the same applies to traffic intensive apps, e.g. maps.
When I force T-Mobile via Settings (manual Network selection, data roaming set to off) speeds go up, to acceptable 1700/300 Kbps. But after a couple of minutes, the network changes to T-Mobile Orange.
I called cc to deactivate data roaming (international), just in case it deactivates domestic one, but to no avail. No one in T-Mobile knows if I can opt-out of domestic data roaming and give me foolish instructions ''remove your battery, remove SIM card, reboot phone blah blah blah****''
Any experiences? Does 3G roaming work for you?
Hi, its kinda hard for me to tell as I normally have quite bad signal and its really annoying. I had issues with WiFi and 3G conflicting and I thought it was the 3G but since I updated to mi7ROM I havent had this problem - so not sure pal
I'm on Orange UK and opted into this ages ago. As far as I can tell it's a load of rubbish and doesn't work properly.
In my flat I get low GPRS with Orange. If i force it to T-Mobile I get full 3G. However the roaming defaults to Orange and so I'm stuck with GPRS and poor reception.
In addition the Omnia can't seem to handle switching between networks properly resulting in data connection problems where it will lose it altogether.
I have noticed that the T-Mobile 3G speed seems higher than the Orange 3G speed too.
i can only echo Freypal, thats the exact same as my situation. great idea, but it doesnt seem to have been implemented properly.
robnewton1 said:
i can only echo Freypal, thats the exact same as my situation. great idea, but it doesnt seem to have been implemented properly.
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As a t-mob customer i too find that the auto switch to orange results in my data falling over, requiring me to go into flight mode so that it will auto reselect the t-mob network.
I did ask to be opted out but the t-mob CS recommended that I be patient. They are aware that there are problems but hope to have them sorted soon(ish)
I'm having exactly the same experience as the original poster. I took the phone into the shop and a staffmember agreed that the Orange-TMobile 3G is not working yet and they are getting a lot of complaints. I spoke to customer services but they say you cannot opt out and they are working to resolve the problems...but they would not give a timeframe when pushed ("days, weeks or months?").
I think its worth starting an Ofcom complaint.
Please sign this petition I set up.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/t-mobile-orange-signal/
T-Mobile has implemented signal sharing with Orange. In theory this should enhance coverage--particularly 3G coverage--for T-Mobile customers.
The reality is that this signal sharing is not working properly. T-Mobile customers' phones are constantly getting stuck on Orange transmitters even when there is good T-Mobile reception available. This can mean customers have barely 1 bar of low-speed 2G ("G") Orange signal even when there is strong T-Mobile 3G signal available in the area.
T-Mobile say they have activated "smart signal sharing" which should prevent the above from occurring. However, this has failed to fix the problem.
T-Mobile say customers can't opt out of the new scheme. It needs to take notice that for many of its customers the signal sharing scheme is counter-productive and *reduces* the quality of the service they are getting.
Please sign this petition so that T-Mobile/OFCOM realize the extent of this problem.
sab742 said:
Please sign this petition I set up.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/t-mobile-orange-signal/
T-Mobile has implemented signal sharing with Orange. In theory this should enhance coverage--particularly 3G coverage--for T-Mobile customers.
The reality is that this signal sharing is not working properly. T-Mobile customers' phones are constantly getting stuck on Orange transmitters even when there is good T-Mobile reception available. This can mean customers have barely 1 bar of low-speed 2G ("G") Orange signal even when there is strong T-Mobile 3G signal available in the area.
T-Mobile say they have activated "smart signal sharing" which should prevent the above from occurring. However, this has failed to fix the problem.
T-Mobile say customers can't opt out of the new scheme. It needs to take notice that for many of its customers the signal sharing scheme is counter-productive and *reduces* the quality of the service they are getting.
Please sign this petition so that T-Mobile/OFCOM realize the extent of this problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Signed