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MDAII Hardware? Newly developed Reception Problem

I've had my MDA in the US for a couple of weeks now. During the first week the reception was great, but now is terrible. In at least two specific places where I used to get good reception, I now get no service at all.
Hard boot has not helped.
I suspect the problem started after I plugged in an external antenna. For those who have seen the inside, is there anything I might have knocked loose?
I'm not afraid to open it up, but there might be a tradeoff in getting warranty service afterward. Mostly likely, I will open it up, void whatever warranty there is, and find nothing to fix anyway . . .
I am a long-time XDAI/AT&T user. Switched to T-Mobile about the same time as getting the XDAII. But initially, after switching, I sat in a meeting and surfed the internet with good coverage. A week later, in the same place, no service. There is a marked decrease in signal strength in every other location, also. Much too consistent to be a problem with the provider (I think).

I'm having the same exact problem. Does anyone know what might cause this? how it can be fixed?

Poor Reception
I seem to be having a poor reception issue, too, though I'm not sure what reception I should be getting from my XDA II -- I've only had it for a week or two, and can only compare its phone performance against an XDA 1. In that comparison, the XDA 1 received much better than the XDA II. Can anyone tell me if something is going on?
Thanks!

maybe it's because xda1 have an antenna ?
my exp is that they are the same receptionwise
and both of them are the same as my old motorola cellphone

Bad Reception after plugging in external antenna
had the same problem after plugging in a radio shack antenna. It was so bad I was ready to buy the new Ipaq thinking I could use the quad band for AT&T in the USA.
THe bad reception lasted about two months, thenone day it just "snapped" out of it. I have had great reception now for over a month, and have used an external antenna without a problem. plugging it in and out no longer effects the reception when it is unplugged. A hardware switch that did not reset? No idea, just reporting m experience.
Steve

Could it be because of your provider? Mine has almost no reception here at work but that's how it was eversince I started working here. Even with my Nokia, my XDA II still have one or two bar the most here at work. But when I'm at home, I get full reception.
But Cingular has always had bad coverage around my work area, Verizon on the other hand has good coverage.

[Q] External Antenna

So under black tape behind the battery cover, there are external ports called "R2" "G" and "R1". I found that the plugs are compatible with a Samsung A717.
While researching, I found the ports are compatible with plugs for the Samsung A717 and can be found HERE.
My thoughts were, to build a home made signal antenna/booster similiar to THIS.
There is very little info that I could find on this, so I thought i'd reach out to the community to see if anyone knows what port is for an external antenna... and also, if anyone know of a better homemade signal booster/amplifier setup?

I didn't even know that those ports where there... That's awesome! I know this comment doesn't help but I had to say something!

Jrex said:
I didn't even know that those ports where there... That's awesome! I know this comment doesn't help but I had to say something!
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lol, that's cool. I just found out about them myself.

I knew about the ports . For the heck of it I tried an external antenna that I had from my omnia. Great signal boost, but seemed to ruin the antenna. Use caution.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

the entity said:
I knew about the ports . For the heck of it I tried an external antenna that I had from my omnia. Great signal boost, but seemed to ruin the antenna. Use caution.
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Can you give some more information on this? The external antennae did work, gave a signal boost, but then was ruined and presumably stopped working?
My house seems to be located in a Bermuda Triangle within Verizon's network, and I'd love to find a way to boost my signal strength short of dropping $250 on a network extender and sending my calls (and everyone else's within range) over my internet connection for free, for Verizon.

Slightly off topic, but I wanted to insert a bit of reality into the network extender wish.
Put simply, it's worthless. I got one for FREE and still returned it. It goes offline for hours at a time and, when synched, only works for about a 15ft radius, if that.
That said, if you want one for free, file a compliant with the FCC about the poor call quality and signal strength and you'll likely be offered one for free as well.
Good luck, either way.
Sent from my SCH-I500

Just to throw in my two cents' worth, extenders are not always worthless, though quality may vary. At the last place I worked, my department got moved into the basement of one of the buildings, where you were lucky to get one bar of service on our company cell phones, which were through Sprint. That was unacceptable, so the company had somebody from Sprint mount an antenna on the roof and run a wire from there down to a repeater box that was mounted on the ceiling of the basement level. After that, we got full bars on all our phones in the basement. Of course then everybody else hated us, since the breakroom was down there, and before that they usually wouldnt get interrupted by cell phone calls while at lunch, due to the poor signal.
Extenders work just fine, providing you don't get a cheap junk one, and providing there's even a good signal for it to extend in the first place.
Posted from my DL09 SuperClean Fascinate with Voodoo

The one you had access to isn't how the Verizon extender works. The Verizon one works similar to a Wi-Fi router, not as a repeater. It literally becomes a cell tower, just at such a low wattage it doesn't penetrate anything. It also doesn't repeat to a tower, it connects via your home inet connection to Verizon's exchange, so you get lag twice. If you read the manual for it, it tells you it won't work outside 15ft. Verizon just doesn't advertise that on the advertisements (or the box).

Ah, I didn't realize they had a device like that. Sounds like basically a poor man's cell tower. Too bad it doesn't work for you.
Posted from my DL09 SuperClean Fascinate with Voodoo

At my school system we have some offices and stuff in the district that get really bad service, mostly just because they're in layers of thick concrete and steel. We've been installing some really nice extenders in some of the worse ones, they're very expensive (like $600 a pop) but they do a great job.
OT, what did the poster mean about it ruining his antenna? I'm confused.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

I live in the mountains outside Verizon range. The stock Verizon network extender works fine in our 2 story house.

ChrisDDD said:
Can you give some more information on this? The external antennae did work, gave a signal boost, but then was ruined and presumably stopped working?
My house seems to be located in a Bermuda Triangle within Verizon's network, and I'd love to find a way to boost my signal strength short of dropping $250 on a network extender and sending my calls (and everyone else's within range) over my internet connection for free, for Verizon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used an external antenna - same one http://cgi.ebay.com/Samsung-SGH-A74...enna-adapter-/260710050385?pt=PDA_Accessories
It plugged in without a problem and gave a great signal boost, but i suspect that the inner pin on the adapter was too wide for the fascinate and once the plug was removed, I was lucky to be able to make a call at all without the use of the antenna. I replaced my phone under warranty saying that gps was messed up.
If you look hard enough, you may be able to find a suitable adapter designed for the Fascinate.

[Q] Signal issues I've tried hardware fix

So i just got a sim card for my phone. Well i get amazing service at my moms house and thats cause theres a tower right next to us at the local ski resort. However at my fathers house i get horrible service. If i pick up my phone i loose service completely, ive done the hardware fix, which didnt help, and when i do have service its always JUST edge. When according to T-Mobile's coverage map i am flooded with 3g and some 4g all around me.
So im guessing it MUST be the phone. In addition to the hardware fix, im thinking about soldering a 26-30 gauge wire to the two prongs and laying the wire around the device. like the perimiter of the Mobo. Giving it an antenna like my HTC Touch Pro 2.
Also, would flashing a newer radio help any? If i am able to flash a newer radio cause i know in order for android to work that it must be a certain radio. Howerver now that android is set up will i be able to flash one? Im on CLk btw.
Secondly, when i have service its EDGE, but occasionally it will jump to H symbol (Im guessing this is HSDPA) now the reason its jumpping would have to be lack of service, my guessing that is. To me its the equivelant of jumping from 3G to 1x on Sprints network.
Also what is G? lol i am at G now not E or H just G lol. Sorry for my noobishness but im coming from a Sprint CDMA network

Does anybody else have issues like this?
Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk

I've noticed it's horrible when I hold it, could it be my sim card?
Sent from my HTC HD2 using Tapatalk

Similar problem
Hey, I've had my HD2 T-mob for over a year now imported to New Zealand. And I'm running on 2degree's(Vodafone) here which runs on GSM and UMTS, I only get reception in cities and it still cuts out when I'm in very low residential areas. I get absolutely no reception outside of any city and it's just completely unreliable, My baseband is 15.42.50.11U_2.15.50.14 I don't know too much about this stuff but I'm pretty sure I'm running the most up to date radio. Any help or recommendations would be superb.

Revelients said:
Hey, I've had my HD2 T-mob for over a year now imported to New Zealand. And I'm running on 2degree's(Vodafone) here which runs on GSM and UMTS, I only get reception in cities and it still cuts out when I'm in very low residential areas. I get absolutely no reception outside of any city and it's just completely unreliable, My baseband is 15.42.50.11U_2.15.50.14 I don't know too much about this stuff but I'm pretty sure I'm running the most up to date radio. Any help or recommendations would be superb.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well after much googling hoping to find a software fix, there isnt any. Its the hardware of the phone(in my case anyhow) T-Mobile's coverage says i have strong 3G and some 4G (like if i drive 5 mins) but yet i can barely pic up edge. So i took apart my phone and solderd two wires the the prongs and BOOM easily 3G was picked up two - three bars. BUT i couldnt reassemble the device because the wires were too big. All in all it comes down to HTC putting in a lowsy antenna. It works good if youre right next to a tower but second you go away it sucks. I mean heck, i bought a cheap 29 dollar T-Mobile prepaid samsung phone and that had 2 bars solid of 3G. So i know the service is there but its just that the phone cannot pick it up.

Signal booster without wifi, or phone mod? RESOLVED - Sort of

Just moved to a rural area and the Verizon map shows I should have either 3g or 4g (right on the edge of the line between the two) in my location. But if I hold my tongue just right, at best I may get 1 bar of 3g. And if I'm indoors, forget it. Not even voice calls or texts. Any apps to try for this? I guess I kind of doubt it.
My main question is, has anybody tried any of the signal boosters? Not the ones that use wifi, because I don't get that in my rural area either. It seems I just bought a place in an infamous dead spot. I'm talking about one of the tower mounted "repeaters" like the ones at Wilson Electronics. There is a local company that sells and installs them, for $1800! Yikes! I'm wondering if they could possibly work THAT well? Anybody have any experience with these?
Edit:
I've sort of resolved this, in case anybody runs across this thread. Not the resolution I was looking for, but something is better than nothing. I wound up having to get a local "wireless" internet connection. Instead of broadband, its an antenna that goes on the roof, and a modem that looks like it was made in the 80's that goes inside. Verizon hooked me up with a Samsung booster and it actually seems to work really well. I've only had it for a day, but so far, no dropped calls, no crackling, great sounding calls and immediate text deliveries. Oh, and the internet is rated at 4mbps in case anybody is shopping around to fix a similar problem. Wish I had more info on the Wilson, non-wifi boosters. Maybe in the future...

scott_65 said:
Just moved to a rural area and the Verizon map shows I should have either 3g or 4g (right on the edge of the line between the two) in my location. But if I hold my tongue just right, at best I may get 1 bar of 3g. And if I'm indoors, forget it. Not even voice calls or texts. Any apps to try for this? I guess I kind of doubt it.
My main question is, has anybody tried any of the signal boosters? Not the ones that use wifi, because I don't get that in my rural area either. It seems I just bought a place in an infamous dead spot. I'm talking about one of the tower mounted "repeaters" like the ones at Wilson Electronics. There is a local company that sells and installs them, for $1800! Yikes! I'm wondering if they could possibly work THAT well? Anybody have any experience with these?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea about signal boosters but you can try different modems and see if that helps, if you haven't already. Just put your phone in download mode and flash thru odin. You may need to be rooted if you aren't. Not 100% on being rooted to flash modems but I would be rooted to make sure. I'm on NC2 leak and that modem was awful for me. Now I'm on NC2 with the NC4 modem and it's been lovely.
Link : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=47400062&postcount=1

Thats good to know, thanks! I'm having horrible luck on NC2 as well. But my wife is using my old note 2 running an old jb rom I had on it (I think maybe cleanrom). She's having the same problems. So I know its not just the phone, it is the actual signal at this location. But I will try the modem change, since my signal has suffered everywhere else too.
Would still like info on boosters if anybody else has used them, thanks

scott_65 said:
Thats good to know, thanks! I'm having horrible luck on NC2 as well. But my wife is using my old note 2 running an old jb rom I had on it (I think maybe cleanrom). She's having the same problems. So I know its not just the phone, it is the actual signal at this location. But I will try the modem change, since my signal has suffered everywhere else too.
Would still like info on boosters if anybody else has used them, thanks
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Okay, then maybe my info won't help if you're wife's phone signal is sucking too, but I tried.

Sorry man, wasn't trying to be rude at all, your info was much appreciated! I just downloaded and installed the NC4 modem, I'm using it as we speak. I appreciate any help that anybody on these forums offers me. Your knowledge will undoubtedly help out my situation.
That being said, I'm also looking for information from anyone that has used one of these boosters for this other particular reception problem that I'm having. I was merely stating that, while your solution will likely help my phones individual signal strength, my location is requiring a little more effort than just a phone enhancement. Sorry if I came across rude or offended in any way. Its never my intentions

You weren't rude at all dude, sorry if I gave you that impression. We're good.....

Do you have land-line phone service? I'm thinking of getting one from best buy that costs about $300. It does not use the phone line, per se. It just uses the wiring as the antenna and boosts 4g. Don't remember the name. . .

LeftyGR said:
Do you have land-line phone service? I'm thinking of getting one from best buy that costs about $300. It does not use the phone line, per se. It just uses the wiring as the antenna and boosts 4g. Don't remember the name. . .
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Click to collapse
I don't have the service, but the old house I bought does still have the wires in it. Same thing I suppose, unless it uses the voltage thats in the wires... Good idea, I'll look into it as well. Thanks!

If you want cell phone voice coverage get a verizon network extender if you have home internet. Otherwise use a wilson electronics db pro 4g or dt4g amplifier system. Amazon sells them at a decent price

Best GPS / 4G / WiFi rooftop antenna?

What are ya'll using that is 3rd party roof antenna for combo of LTE/GPS/WiFi?
WiFi isn't as big a deal but it's usually ending up standard on these combo antennas.
Something low profile?
Doesn't stick out like a sore thumb?
Wires are shielded well enough they don't pick up interference from other wires?
What's good, what's bad?
Will the current 4G antennas work for 5G
I've seen prices anywhere from $30 to $500.
But since it's an antenna that will require a small hole drilled through your roof, we want to make sure we do it with the right equipment, the first time.
Not that you can't just swap it out but who wants to deal with that every year.

This 4G modem:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MQRHQYT/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_9?smid=A1TO3HHQ862D82&psc=1
And this antenna are on my to-do list:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075DCNTQP/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=A1DZ2KWUETHME0&psc=1
But I'd like to spend a bit more for an antenna that will last a long, long time.
And have a lower profile.
And if it could pull in OTA HDTV that would be a bonus.

I've been looking for something like that mainly for to replace my FM whip with a shark fin type. Newer models of my car have it and the connection is the same but it's pricey from the manufacturer so I figured I'd visit the scrap yard. In the same line of thinking I believe BMW or Mercedes have one with at least 4G maybe GPS but the FM connector would probably have to be modified.
There's combo antennas on Aliexpress but I have doubts about the end result. I guess the price is low enough might be worth a try just for giggles.
It's a lot easier to find add-on antennas and keep using your old FM.
This one should work as well as OEM and comes with an OEM price tag.
As for the 5G thing don't worry the 4G frequencies and antennas will still be used and it adds millimeter wave spectrum but that's short range.

You may check out the Mikrotik router, which is a real automotive router
I have tested the EU version of the Mikrotik and the Teltonika RUT850, both are nice pieces of hardware, not expensive and good features.
the Mikrotik has internal Antenna`s and support for external, and the Teltonika even is delivered with Antennas (but only EU version i think)
For an external antenna, why putting such an ugly small antenna on the roof ?
Use a normal (or two if you have a good MIFI router) 20-30cm long LTE Antenna for 10 bucks and mount them on the sides behind the back bumper (as long as its not a metal bumper )
Chri

The stock antennas that came with my Joying work just great. I have the 4G Joying headunit you can put a sim in . I have the stock 4G antenna stuck on the inside of the windshield behind the rear view mirror. Get 4 to 5 bars of 4G service everywhere in town. My stock GPS antenna is in the dash stuck with the magnet placed on top of the headunit and I have never once had any signal problems. If your in the USA both tmobile and ATT pickup the headunit as a unknown phone with the sim in it and not a tablet or modem, and you dont have to pay the outrageous data fees like a tablet or 4g modem plan they charge. You can use a "phone" plan. Confirmed cause I run a tmobile sim in mine and my buddy runs an ATT sim in his with the cheap phone plans. Tmobile offers unlimited data on phone plans and I use 30-40gig data a month in my truck with it for 40/month cost.

I saw a review of those cheaper fin aerials (forgot to save the address). Seems they're not worth the money the FM aerial is just a piece of spiral wound wire.

The Joying built in modem is not very good for USA.
It only gets about half (?) of the bands used by T-Mobile and probably not all of the AT&T either.
In my area, I am only connected about half the time.
While my cellphone is connected 100% of the time.
This is with the antenna in my windshield.
I gave up on the Joying modem and just tether from my phone now.
The Mikrotik looks interesting but seems to also not get all bands.
I'll look at the other suggestion also.
Thanks for the posts so far. :good: