Database Users

Please help - RECEPTION ISSUES with T-Mobile MDA

All,
I got a new MDA and for some reason, it just does NOT work in my house all the time. I move my SIM into Razor, works fine. MDA would only work 50% of the time. It can not find T-Mobile network AT ALL! I would go down the street and it will pick up the signal. They I go back home... it works fine... then it will either lose signal and that would be it until i leave the house or, it will be OK for a while... Makes NO sense...
Are their upgrades or anthing i can do? This is specific to cell reception only...
Thank you very much!

wouldnt that mean that its the struture of your house which may be affecting your signal...like them big Iron beams...(not the wooden ones)
thats the only thing i can think of

but he says that his other phone works....
i have the same problem. i had a sidekick2 and a nokia before my mda. at my work (which is in a concrete/brick building) i get zero 0 reseption. my other 2 phones work fine. the other two phones do not have external antenas either. i called tmo cuase i was very pissed after spending XXX.XXX on the phone and having it not work. where as my other phones with the same carrer did. they said that the MDA does have a known problem with ant. weakness.
its so bad im on the fence about returning the phone. but i love the phone so its a tough call. i just switch the sim out at work so i have a phone. such a pain in the ass. i have week left on the 2week buyer remorse buy back. its the other thing i hate about the phone;.

Reception
I'm having the same problem with my mda. this is the second mda I've had and it sucks. I also can take my sim out and place in another phone and have a signal. I just got off the phone with Tmobile and was told there was a tower down in my area. I attempted to explain to the individual that my other phones are working and it has to be a mda problem. I'm on the verge of switching to a Blackberry. any suggestions would be appreciated.

Re: Reception
bennyhill said:
I'm having the same problem with my mda. this is the second mda I've had and it sucks. I also can take my sim out and place in another phone and have a signal. I just got off the phone with Tmobile and was told there was a tower down in my area. I attempted to explain to the individual that my other phones are working and it has to be a mda problem. I'm on the verge of switching to a Blackberry. any suggestions would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a posting over on howardforums MDA boards about this very issue - Guy there gives a tutuorial on how to mod the antenna in the MDA and several people claim much better reception.

The antenna mod works, tried it yesterday. btw, it's here (had to search a bit)
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=895090&highlight=mda+antenna+mod+tutorial

I didn't want to open this cute little thing up - felt like I would be doing an operation on one of my kiddies [No daddy that hurts ]...Couldn't do it...
what I did do was tape on the backside of the battery cover, two 1 1/2 half inch bass bands [maybe a 1/4 inch each] Didn't think it would do anything but by gosh, I'm sitting at my desk where I'd get 2 bars and the reception meter is full.
I'll have to update to see if it does anything for reception at home [has anyone noticed most of the reception problems happen at home?]. Will let youse know...

did you connect the bass bands to anything? Or just tape them there? What *are* bass bands anyway? Make pictures

Glad I saw these posts. I am having the exact same issues as everyone else. My Treo 650 had perfect reception everywhere and now this MDA is not getting the same level at all. As per the previous post, can you describe what bass bands are and how you attached them?

This may or may not be any help to any body, but just to report on my experience....
I have an MDA Vario which I tried with a TMobile SIM to make sure it worked before I unlocked and put my Orange sim in....
The Tmobile signal was max at home, when I put my Orange sim in I could only get between 1 and 2 strength bars.
Since upgrading my firmware from 1.6.x to 2.17.x I now get max signal all the time on Orange.
Hope this helps someone (moral of story - update firmware)
Regards
Mark

I'm quite clueless with anything you guys are talking about, the wizard is my second mda, first one was the compact, and I've never had reception problems, I have vodafone as carrier and it says 100% all the time, and analyzing the radio a bit with p3kit says the signal is usually stronger than the phone can perceive, although I must admit I had a bit of problems when I was abroad in rural areas, but switching to tmobile for a tiny while fixed that, I guess a weak signal can still be received fine outside and poorly inside

Xperia Issues and Thoughts

I've had the US version for a few days now and figured I would share my experience thus far. This is not a definitive list. I ordered through sonystyle.com and am operating on T-mobile in the US.
The good:
1. Phone build is spectacular.
2. Screen resolution is the best I've ever seen.
3. Wifi picks up and logs on quicker than any phone I've had.
4. Touch-flo cabs can be added very easily. Can mix and match the two GUI's.
The bad:
1. Internet and regular calling access is sporadic. I need to perform a soft reset every few hours or nothing works.
2. A fully charged battery will be used up by evening if push email is auto and have moderate phone use.
3. The phone doesn't seem to be able to switch towers in the middle of a phone call. The calls are dropped and you have to call the person back.
Overall, the phone is really incredible and it's being hampered by OS build or something. If the phone didn't have the potential that it does, I would send it back. I figure I'll be patient and wait for the dev team to patch or cook something. I've used the HTC Touch Pro (Fuze) and the Xperia is definitely more sexy and has a better build and keyboard (personal opinion). It will be interesting to see if any others have the same issues and if it's associated with T-mobile US only.

cooool you have the X1a? Do you mind dumping your ROMs please?

Lurchy24 said:
1. Internet and regular calling access is sporadic. I need to perform a soft reset every few hours or nothing works.
2. A fully charged battery will be used up by evening if push email is auto and have moderate phone use.
3. The phone doesn't seem to be able to switch towers in the middle of a phone call. The calls are dropped and you have to call the person back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
none present on my X1i. For the battery, just wait, is still new... use it for 5/6 cycles and should be better. Also no issue for internet/calling and don't understand what you mean about towers...

Lurchy24 said:
The bad:
1. Internet and regular calling access is sporadic. I need to perform a soft reset every few hours or nothing works.
2. A fully charged battery will be used up by evening if push email is auto and have moderate phone use.
3. The phone doesn't seem to be able to switch towers in the middle of a phone call. The calls are dropped and you have to call the person back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1°) The BT and wifi are bugged. The BT disconnects sometimes (already told in other threads) and the wifi passwords are sometimes just lost.
But on 3G/GPRS/UMTS no problem and no need to perform soft reset.
2°) ouah, perhaps you have a problem there... I have (in France) a software that retrieves the mails (every 15 minutes) with a specific data connection.
This with some Wifi on, UMTS on and some calls, my X1i makes a lot more than a single day.
Did you install something that is draining the battery?
3°) weird, I live in a place where 3G signal is low, and I definitly swap from "2G" to "3G" without a hitch, even while a phone call.

Lurchy24 said:
The bad:
1. Internet and regular calling access is sporadic. I need to perform a soft reset every few hours or nothing works.
2. A fully charged battery will be used up by evening if push email is auto and have moderate phone use.
3. The phone doesn't seem to be able to switch towers in the middle of a phone call. The calls are dropped and you have to call the person back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not had any problem with #1 and #2, and I'm also on pushmail mode. By the evening, I would still have 50-60% depending on the activities I carry out with my Xperia during the day time (obviously lesser if I do alot of video playback, etc)
for #3, I doubt any phone would be able to switch tower w/o dropping the call. It's the case for any GSM phone, and I could prove that since I got a UMTS access point (equivalent of the tower except that this is a "personal" one ) at home, and once I walked out of the coverage zone, the call will drop regardless of which phone I hold.

By towers, I think he means cell towers, i.e when he is in the range of one tower, lets say while driving, then leaves that tower's range and goes oto another tower, it doesnt switch, it just drops the call.
Rory

Yep, I know where the points are on my drive when the range of one tower ends and the other begins. My previous phones could all make the transition without issue. My Xperia definitely can not. 25 minute drive = 3 towers and 2 dropped calls.
Had to soft reset twice this morning before I could get a call to go through. The phone says connecting and then connected but nothing comes through. Real pain in the butt.
Perhaps I have a defective model? Anyone else using X1a on T-mobile in US. I would like to know if it's a ROM issue that can be fixed or somehow the phone isn't compatible with T-mo US....

Lurchy24 said:
Yep, I know where the points are on my drive when the range of one tower ends and the other begins. My previous phones could all make the transition without issue. My Xperia definitely can not. 25 minute drive = 3 towers and 2 dropped calls.
Had to soft reset twice this morning before I could get a call to go through. The phone says connecting and then connected but nothing comes through. Real pain in the butt.
Perhaps I have a defective model? Anyone else using X1a on T-mobile in US. I would like to know if it's a ROM issue that can be fixed or somehow the phone isn't compatible with T-mo US....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if the ril file jack posted would help?

What is that file and where can I find it? Thanks for the suggestion, I'll give it a shot.

rorydaredkign said:
By towers, I think he means cell towers, i.e when he is in the range of one tower, lets say while driving, then leaves that tower's range and goes oto another tower, it doesnt switch, it just drops the call.
Rory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes I know he's refering to the cell towers.
I do have a home version of cell tower at home too. It doesn't switch and it happens for all the phones.

zenkinz said:
for #3, I doubt any phone would be able to switch tower w/o dropping the call. It's the case for any GSM phone, and I could prove that since I got a UMTS access point (equivalent of the tower except that this is a "personal" one ) at home, and once I walked out of the coverage zone, the call will drop regardless of which phone I hold.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry but you are talking crap. The whole point of the GSM standard is to get phones to carry on talking as you move location. I suggest you read about Handover (or Handoff). The Wiki page isn't the best I've seen, but it does try to explain it.

artesea said:
Sorry but you are talking crap. The whole point of the GSM standard is to get phones to carry on talking as you move location. I suggest you read about Handover (or Handoff). The Wiki page isn't the best I've seen, but it does try to explain it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok I stand corrected. my apologises.
I just noticed that my phone (and my wife's phone) cuts off once I move out of my home umts access point, so I assume its the same for all the cell towers. (on hindset, mine being be a scaled down cell tower so I shouldn't be using that to prove commercial one )
That said, in reading further, do you know if soft or hard handoff is generally implemented in CDMA network? I suspect it's the latter, and that probably explains why you have dropped call due to inability to switch to the new channel fast enough?

zenkinz said:
ok I stand corrected. my apologises.
I just noticed that my phone (and my wife's phone) cuts off once I move out of my home umts access point, so I assume its the same for all the cell towers. (on hindset, mine being be a scaled down cell tower so I shouldn't be using that to prove commercial one )
That said, in reading further, do you know if soft or hard handoff is generally implemented in CDMA network? I suspect it's the latter, and that probably explains why you have dropped call due to inability to switch to the new channel fast enough?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I doubt your home-hosted access point would be allowed to perform a handover with public cell tower, that's why it cuts off. It's like trying to move from one WLAN SSID to another. If you read more about handover, you'll notice that it includes a lot of security measure also. If handovering and handovered base stations are under different controller(RNC), all encryption information has to be passed from old controller to the new one, etc...

Yes, The point of GSM is that it 'hands off' the call as you pass by different cells automatically, so no dropped calls.
In fact, this is ONE reason they do not want people to use mobile phones on aeroplanes, is that since you would be on top of many towers/cells at one time, then they would be constantly changing/swapping among cells, and if there were a lot of people doing that, the chatter between the cells would be very great and overload them. Thats why they want to set up a cell on the plane itself, so that all the mobile phones talk to that cell only (as the strongest signal).
It has nothing to do with interference to the plane systems. If that was the case, it would be so easy for a terrorist to crash a plane, just bring on a radio transmitter and everyone dies.

Yes, it's the handoff that can't happen.
Othertimes, when I'm sitting in one place, I'll have 3 bars and the signal will suddenly disappear. The phone will take 15 seconds to reaquire and then it will be fine. Usually seems to happen when someone tries to call me. It's almost like the phone hasn't maintained a connection. Very annoying.

[Q] [HELP] no signal even if when simcard is inserted

Hi,
Ok, so I dont have a network signal now.
This started to happen when I dropped my nexus 4.
It was ok until I dropped the phone. I suspected that it really was a hardware problem, the software seems to get signal.
Here are the screen shots I took when I dial *#*#4636#*#*.
I tried changing wcdma preffered to wcdma only and back again to wcdma preffered again, nada.
See, there is a signal. I suspected the sim card so I bought another one. But still, no joy.
I also went back to all stock (latest), coming from cm10.1. I formated everything, but I still get the "emergency calls only".
This really bugs me out. I can access the sim card (contacts in it, sim services, it all works). I also get signal levels like other phones outside of a building (around -54dBm).
So why, just why wouldn't it work? please give me ideas.. My last hope is to take it to an lg store, but since I am in a different country where I bought it, I guess I won't be able to get any warranty (it was bought by my brother).

wakoko79 said:
I can access the sim card (contacts in it, sim services, it all works). I also get signal levels like other phones outside of a building (around -54dBm).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If u didn't have access to the sim card I would say that it may have moved, but if u do I am sure it is a hardware problem. If the phone doesn't have dropping singals u could not have any charge by sending it to the SAT.
Good luck!

luiseteyo said:
If u didn't have access to the sim card I would say that it may have moved, but if u do I am sure it is a hardware problem. If the phone doesn't have dropping singals u could not have any charge by sending it to the SAT.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the very reason I'm baffled. the phone is perfectly fine except for the signal. If it's hardware, then shouldn't I get a waaayy lower signal levels?
AND!!!!! I can freaking search for available networks, I CAN DETECT THEM. That really freaks me out.
If it really is the hardware, what is it? I recon the radio/antenna is fine since i can detect signals and networks, I also believe that the radio controllers are integrated to the processor SOIC. Sheeesssshhhhh..... I'm enticed to prop the thing open, maybe some just loose ribbon connection or.. sumthin..

wakoko79 said:
That's the very reason I'm baffled. the phone is perfectly fine except for the signal. If it's hardware, then shouldn't I get a waaayy lower signal levels?
AND!!!!! I can freaking search for available networks, I CAN DETECT THEM. That really freaks me out.
If it really is the hardware, what is it? I recon the radio/antenna is fine since i can detect signals and networks, I also believe that the radio controllers are integrated to the processor SOIC. Sheeesssshhhhh..... I'm enticed to prop the thing open, maybe some just loose ribbon connection or.. sumthin..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There may be damage in some parts of the antenna and not in all of it. Take it to the sat asap if it doesnt have signals of the drop
Enviado desde mi Nexus 4 usando Tapatalk 2

luiseteyo said:
There may be damage in some parts of the antenna and not in all of it. Take it to the sat asap if it doesnt have signals of the drop
Enviado desde mi Nexus 4 usando Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I will. But what is a "sat". sorry for being a noob haha.

Periodic prompt for SIM PIN since 4.3

Deleted

WibblyW said:
Deleted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you still have the problem? Because, I have the same issue on my Nexus 4 since 4.3. Sometimes it loose GSM carrier, sometimes it ask (again) the PIN code.
Fred

Fredouille66 said:
Do you still have the problem? Because, I have the same issue on my Nexus 4 since 4.3. Sometimes it loose GSM carrier, sometimes it ask (again) the PIN code.
Fred
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
I tried reseating/cleaning the SIM and am waiting to see if that helps. Some have seen success by using tape to stop the SIM touching the edge of the SIM carrier. Odd that that should work if the problem is caused by poor GSM coverage...

WibblyW said:
Yes.
I tried reseating/cleaning the SIM and am waiting to see if that helps. Some have seen success by using tape to stop the SIM touching the edge of the SIM carrier. Odd that that should work if the problem is caused by poor GSM coverage...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe the problem was there in 4.2.2 but was not visible. I just have put some tape on the GSM coverage to isolate the ship pins, and hope that it will solve it. First good point, the phone still works with the tape inside! It seems also that the GSM signal level is better
Wait & See...
Fred

Fredouille66 said:
Do you still have the problem? Because, I have the same issue on my Nexus 4 since 4.3. Sometimes it loose GSM carrier, sometimes it ask (again) the PIN code.
Fred
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fredouille66 said:
Maybe the problem was there in 4.2.2 but was not visible. I just have put some tape on the GSM coverage to isolate the ship pins, and hope that it will solve it. First good point, the phone still works with the tape inside! It seems also that the GSM signal level is better
Wait & See...
Fred
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope you can SIM out again
A SIM is a digital device to which the phone communicates using a protocol. It should either work or not work. If the connection to it bad I would expect it to work intermittently and be sensitive to physical knocks or the phone's physical position. I don't see how it would affect signal strength.

WibblyW said:
Hope you can SIM out again
A SIM is a digital device to which the phone communicates using a protocol. It should either work or not work. If the connection to it bad I would expect it to work intermittently and be sensitive to physical knocks or the phone's physical position. I don't see how it would affect signal strength.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Signal strength hasn't changed, only the phone position inside the "Faraday bunker" where I work!
Thank you!
Fred with his Nexus 4 "tape inside"

calling out hardware guys to the rescue

Hello, im going straight to the point, i use my zenfone 5 (t00j) as a gps device all teh time, i ride a motorcycle all the time, unfortunally on a highway the phone flew out of the holder, got ran over a bunch of times by passing cars, but i noticed it was still alive, the volume buttons would make the bip sound when it reachs maximum volume ( screen wouldnt even light up so that was teh only indication). so i went on ebay and bought a bunch of parts. ok now the issue:
I cant get network signal, but i do have GPS and WIFI working flawlessly, what i wanna know is, does the wifi shares the same antenna? by that i mean that RF cable that connects the charging board to motherboard? is that the antenna for the network? it looks good dont show signs of damage but im at a lost, Sim2 was fisically disconected when i pick the phone up, and the SDcard was gone aswell, those were the main impact areas.
Can it be software bug or hardware? i've changed the sim card slots aswell and a factory reset
SMMI test shows only sim card slots fail and modem bus (wich i think its 3g?) wich would make sense not to work since cant get any signal, everything else pass's
Any help, any info on how that works? sim card slots send the info somewhere, where? what reads those signals?
thanks and if u know of somewhere more apropriate, i know this forum is more of a software related thing, but its active and i may get relevant info around here

fearmesuckers said:
Hello, im going straight to the point, i use my zenfone 5 (t00j) as a gps device all teh time, i ride a motorcycle all the time, unfortunally on a highway the phone flew out of the holder, got ran over a bunch of times by passing cars, but i noticed it was still alive, the volume buttons would make the bip sound when it reachs maximum volume ( screen wouldnt even light up so that was teh only indication). so i went on ebay and bought a bunch of parts. ok now the issue:
I cant get network signal, but i do have GPS and WIFI working flawlessly, what i wanna know is, does the wifi shares the same antenna? by that i mean that RF cable that connects the charging board to motherboard? is that the antenna for the network? it looks good dont show signs of damage but im at a lost, Sim2 was fisically disconected when i pick the phone up, and the SDcard was gone aswell, those were the main impact areas.
Can it be software bug or hardware? i've changed the sim card slots aswell and a factory reset
SMMI test shows only sim card slots fail and modem bus (wich i think its 3g?) wich would make sense not to work since cant get any signal, everything else pass's
Any help, any info on how that works? sim card slots send the info somewhere, where? what reads those signals?
thanks and if u know of somewhere more apropriate, i know this forum is more of a software related thing, but its active and i may get relevant info around here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its hardware problem .You must buy a new phone to solve the problem ..

raven001 said:
Its hardware problem .You must buy a new phone to solve the problem ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
respectufully, thats a whole bunch of nothing of an answer, ofc if i buy a new phone it will be solved lol, i have a new phone already, but i want to fix this one, hence my questions above, wanna try and solve it, since its only the network having issues, i might just use it as a dedicated gps/multimedia device since i fixed that much already.
the RF cable, thats the network antenna? what chip reads those signals?