Database Users

Very weak network signal in place where all other phones have near full connection

Hi all. I bought the iMate JasJar as a converged device after a long time of having a phone/PPC duo with me. But since my PPC Axim X51V with an 8GB solidstate card was stolen, I went hunting for a converged device which was a true PDA. I found the JasJar and recieved it. My only problem is that it refuses to maintain a connections, GSM or UMTS, I have tried all the networks where I a m and none of them are better than the other. I am currently studying in South Africa, I am not a stranger to converged devices or the Windows Mobile world. But the JasJar just cannot function as a phone. I have upgraded the radio from 1.09.00 to 1.15.00 with no results. Is there anything I can do to get a consistent lock on the network? I tried the Manual network selection but that still wont help. The cell tower is also quite close to me since it is about a 5 minute walk from where I am. Please advise. Thank you and I apologize for my ranting.

I see you upgraded the radio, but have you tried other radio ROMs like 1.13 and 1.14? The latest isn't necessarily the greatest. Perhaps try some of the other radio ROMs next and see if any of them are better for you.
The thread for Universal radio's is below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=298090
Best wishes,

There they only mention 1.15, where can i download the other radio roms?

Weaker radio than other phones
I live in a rural area in New Hampshire United State with a weak T-Mobile phone signal. I have an XDA Exec device but I cannot use it as a phone because of its bad radio receiver. I still use my XDA IIi because I can use that phone and make a 20 mins calls from work to home without loosing a connection. The XDA Exec drops about three times (at the same locations) within this distance. Where I have 3 bars on the XDA IIi, I barely have 1 bar on the Exec. I can make calls from third floor with the XDA IIi, but the XDA Exec does not receive any phone signal from the same floor. I have tried radio 1.09 and 1.13 on my XDA Exec and both did not make any different. My conclusion is the Exec seem to have a very weak radio receiver. Unless you live in the city where signal strength is not a problem, Exec does not seem to be a good choice for a phone device.

I have the same problem in the UK with T-Mobile. When I go out of coverage area for a while (say 2 hours) and then return to coverage, the phone does not (I waited 3 hours) pick up the radio signal again. If I go out of coverage for say just 10 minutes then the phone does pick up the signal again. Once the phone has lost the signal but is back in coverage, I've tried turning on Flight Mode and turning it off again and the phone still won't pick up a GSM signal.
I've had this issue with WM5 (T-Mobile UK Jan07 official release), WM6 and all of the radio ROMS that I've tried (including 1.18). T-Mobile's suggestion was to configure the phone to be GSM only (apparently the 3G signal is more patchy) and use the 1800 band only. That solution helps a little if you don't go out of coverage for a significant period of time but doesn't help if you need 3G.
I don't believe that it's a Universal issue - more of a T-Mobile issue. When I had a VF-UK SIM in the phone, I didn't have any of these issues.

PeterMcClure said:
I have the same problem in the UK with T-Mobile. When I go out of coverage area for a while (say 2 hours) and then return to coverage, the phone does not (I waited 3 hours) pick up the radio signal again. If I go out of coverage for say just 10 minutes then the phone does pick up the signal again. Once the phone has lost the signal but is back in coverage, I've tried turning on Flight Mode and turning it off again and the phone still won't pick up a GSM signal.
I've had this issue with WM5 (T-Mobile UK Jan07 official release), WM6 and all of the radio ROMS that I've tried (including 1.18). T-Mobile's suggestion was to configure the phone to be GSM only (apparently the 3G signal is more patchy) and use the 1800 band only. That solution helps a little if you don't go out of coverage for a significant period of time but doesn't help if you need 3G.
I don't believe that it's a Universal issue - more of a T-Mobile issue. When I had a VF-UK SIM in the phone, I didn't have any of these issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cannot offer a solution - but I'm on Orange and using their official ROM (Radio v1.13), I havent had any issues with loosing signal. In fact roaming round Europe and into Russia - the phone picked up equal sometimes more networks than a Nokia N95.
Matt

same problem, I had full signal before, but today, suddenly dropped the exec, and after that, it have very weak signal.
going to disassemble it tonight.

disassembled, problem fixed now, i have signal 5 out of 5

How did you do it? I mean disassemble and fix? Any help appreciated and would let me use my Universal instead of selling it and I want to keep it because I love the device but hate the coverage.

gamefreakgcb said:
How did you do it? I mean disassemble and fix? Any help appreciated and would let me use my Universal instead of selling it and I want to keep it because I love the device but hate the coverage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Opened the Universal like the Service Manual told me (downloaded from this site), then, there is a big, white plastic in in the top of the device, that's the antenna, 3 screws holding it. Unscrewed that, and I observed, it has got two little metal feet, connecting to mainboard.
Slacked that thing, so it connects more powerful.
Maybe it deformed when I dropped the device.
Assembled, switched on, and , we have got 5 signals

remember that: remove the flashlight, and the foil above it, before taking off the antenna module, if you don't do that, you can kill your flash.

cingular 8525 poor gsm signal / reception

i live in Greece and i recently bought a cingular 8525 through ebay. the device is in great condition but i have very poor gsm signal. i live in an area with great reception of my provider, my nokia used to have 3 to 4 bars with 4 bars as maximum, but the cingular had at most 2 bars... i tried several roms and several radios from 147 to 154.30.something but with no result. i tried auto band, manual band, everything but it still has no reception or very poor, as i said the most 2 bars. my provider is also 3g gsm 900/1800, the sim card is brand new.
if you need more info please tell me.
if you have any idea or plain advise i will be greatfull.
thank you.

Less number of reception bar on the today screen doesn't mean that you have poor reception. Are you getting call drop or slow data connection? That should be your concern. Becuase with 6.1 roms sometimes I see a cross on data connection even though actual data flow is normal. You can also try "FieldTest". And see what is reception strength. It can be downloaded from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=274269

I don't use rom 6.1. I use pandoranaked 3.60 and radio 1.48.10. I have no reception. I can't receive text messages nor calls. Is it possible the phone is bricked? How can I easily see for myself? Because I am rather confused from what I have read on the sites.

noone else another oppinion about my problem? any other advise? something to look for?

reception

hallo x1 owners..
Having problem with the reception on mine,almost nonexistent.
Is it just mine or is this widespread?

Do you have problem with 3G or GSM? Which operater do you use?
I've been having some reception issues with Telenor in Stockholm when on GSM. I can make calls, but sometimes my words are cut of a lot on the other end.
/kjw

I am on 3 sweden and have major problems with both 3G and gsm,just a antenna with the "walking dots" in the display searching for the signal most of the time.
Even sms fails and takes several resends.
Tried my card in my Nokia E90,same simcard same place and at the same time and voila good reception infact even 3,5G in that one.
So far the xperia is my worst phone xperience.

Micke401 said:
I am on 3 sweden and have major problems with both 3G and gsm,just a antenna with the "walking dots" in the display searching for the signal most of the time.
Even sms fails and takes several resends.
Tried my card in my Nokia E90,same simcard same place and at the same time and voila good reception infact even 3,5G in that one.
So far the xperia is my worst phone xperience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OH my.. that would be .. uhh.. gay?
I'm counting on X1's reception.....
thought is would be good.. at least that's what the review says..
"How well does it hold on to cellular signals during calls?
As I said above, I live in an area that's really poor for phone coverage and all the networks are bad. The X1 shows 1 to 2 bars of coverage on Orange where the Touch Pro and the Touch Diamond get no reception at all. Definitely better than the Touch devices in that respect but nowhere near as good as a basic Nokia handset!"
(http://www.tracyandmatt.co.uk/blogs/index.php/2008/10/13/sony-ericsson-xperia-x1-answers)
Is there any one else who also having trouble about x1's reception?

I have good reception on mine and have never had any disconnected calls that I can remember. I have UMTS or HSDPA connection most of the time.

pretty poor reception here, but i'm running a proto so thats not exactly a good indication of final reception.
It's sporadic at best, sometimes i get a really good signal, others i get none. Mind you, I am on T mobile and they're useless for reception.

i have the same as you and im 100% sure your phone is probably locked have you entered a password in the beginning when installing the phone that you cant remember probably? because if you dont lock up the phone the simcard is inactive but you can still use the phone

im to have bad reception people say they hear one out of two word i say but i hear them clear
I use tele2 in sweden.
Rom version 1.02.936.3
Rom date 08/29/08
Radio version 1.06.25.29
Protokol version 52.43.25.24H

Micke401 said:
I am on 3 sweden and have major problems with both 3G and gsm,just a antenna with the "walking dots" in the display searching for the signal most of the time.
Even sms fails and takes several resends.
Tried my card in my Nokia E90,same simcard same place and at the same time and voila good reception infact even 3,5G in that one.
So far the xperia is my worst phone xperience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tre is the worst operator ever. I changed from tre to tele2 and my reception i much better, not only is the reception better but the best thing now is that my calls don't get disconnected even when I have good reception. With tre that happened alot.

No problem here. I got Telenor

I have no problem. same signal level as my old Tytn II.
Using Tele2 here in sweden.

Using 3 in Sweden, never had any problems on my X1. Sometimes the signal is weak (one or two bars) but it doesn't seem to have any effect on battery performance or call performance.
Since I work with these kind of things: The first thing to try if you're having problems with coverage is ANOTHER SIM-card...Even if the SIM-card currently used is working perfect in another phone..You'll be amazed at how often that solves the issue.

Here in the Netherlands with one of the best providers I have only two bars reception. Others had full reception.
In some areas I had drop outs.
According to the Helpdesk you have to switch of all 3G communication and then it works. And well it does, though you lose some of the functionality of the device. They prommised to get back on that.
To turn of 3G go to settings -> phone -> tab Band : set it on GSM
Go to settings -> connections -> Network Advanced -> Tab HSDPA/HSUPA : disable
Afterworths I had supurb connection and sound quality.
First they advised me to do a software update, so lets hope it has something to do with adressing the attenna.

Using 3 Austria and having no problems - in the contrary the reception is very nice.

X1 Poor Reception

Hi
Received my X1 on Vodafone on Saturday. Main issue I have had is that of poor reception. I was previously comparing it to my Tytn II which was on T-mobile. I have not put a P&G vodafone sim in the Tytn-2 for some further testing.
I can state that the reception on the X1 is much worse than that on the Tytn II. They both show 2 bars, but the X1 keeps dropping the signal, while the Tytn holds onto it. This generally occurs while trying to use the device rather than when its just sat there - it will ring, but then drop the call when I handle it. If I cup it in my hands, it will drop the signal. If I do the same to the Tytn II, it survives. My advise to people would be that this is only a phone suitable for those who enjoy 3 bars most of the time. Maybe it will be improved via a firmware update, who knows - maybe it works better on 1800MHz or 2100MHz 3G than it does on the 900MHz GSM used by vodafone - this I cant test cause the device is sim locked.
All I can say is that on the same network at the same location, the X1 is vastly inferior to the Tytn II.
Mine is going back - trouble is that was the only phone out there worth buying... I want 800x480, keyboard, HSDPA/HSUPA - touch pro does not cut it, nor does touch HD, and no carrier seems to have picked up either of these two as yet. Looked at the G1, but its a V1.0 OS and I cant be arsed with the inevitable updates...
Any news on a touch hd pro (i.e with keyboard?)
Nigel

veletron said:
Hi
Received my X1 on Vodafone on Saturday. Main issue I have had is that of poor reception. I was previously comparing it to my Tytn II which was on T-mobile. I have not put a P&G vodafone sim in the Tytn-2 for some further testing.
I can state that the reception on the X1 is much worse than that on the Tytn II. They both show 2 bars, but the X1 keeps dropping the signal, while the Tytn holds onto it. This generally occurs while trying to use the device rather than when its just sat there - it will ring, but then drop the call when I handle it. If I cup it in my hands, it will drop the signal. If I do the same to the Tytn II, it survives. My advise to people would be that this is only a phone suitable for those who enjoy 3 bars most of the time. Maybe it will be improved via a firmware update, who knows - maybe it works better on 1800MHz or 2100MHz 3G than it does on the 900MHz GSM used by vodafone - this I cant test cause the device is sim locked.
All I can say is that on the same network at the same location, the X1 is vastly inferior to the Tytn II.
Mine is going back - trouble is that was the only phone out there worth buying... I want 800x480, keyboard, HSDPA/HSUPA - touch pro does not cut it, nor does touch HD, and no carrier seems to have picked up either of these two as yet. Looked at the G1, but its a V1.0 OS and I cant be arsed with the inevitable updates...
Any news on a touch hd pro (i.e with keyboard?)
Nigel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my network is t-moble and the reception is excellent so far

i use swisscom in switzerland and didn't have any trouble so far

Voda X1 is not simlocked
Hi
I never tried my old t-mobile sim in the X1 I got from Vodafone cause I thought it would be simlocked. Well, its not its sim free. On T-mob (1800MHz), the X1 does indeed hold onto a signal better.
That does not change the fact that compared to the Tytn II on 900MHz vodafone, the X1 wont hold the signal as well.
Nigel

I've got 3 from sweden, and it drops the signal to!
When i'm at my girlfriends who also got 3 she got full signal and I got low-nothing.

I use Vodafone Network (UMTS/HSDPA) on 2100 MHz in Germany and it works really good.
The reception is quite the same compared to my TyTN, maybe the X1 is even slightly better, but definitely not worse for me.
I also have no issues with dropped calls and I use the HSDPA connection sometimes even with only 1-2 bars and it's very stable.
Reception quality is no problem for me though I had some strange audio issue (will report in a different thread).

i to got the same problems
bad reception in sweden both gsm and 3g with theese operators. telia 0-2 bars 5bars with my w595 and exactly the same resaults with comviq/tele2, tre and my current operator telenor, bytheway i got 6 phones up and running all the time but the X1 has by FAR the WORST reception ever, even my touch pro and diamond got much better reception.
hope there will be an radio update for my X1 SOON as it is by my meens the best smartphone ever made (exept reception and stylus) broke 4 stylus already (the plastic part at the top)
any1 else did this? with the stylus that is.

smaberg said:
broke 4 stylus already (the plastic part at the top)
any1 else did this? with the stylus that is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how did you manage do that?

yes I got the same poor reception problem here in UK
I am on O2 and I bought X1 as a sim free my other handset's shown least 3 bars on same network but on experia only 1 or 2 sometimes network not avaliable message appears also dropping the calls few times so my X1 has to go!

I've also moved across from Tmob to VF
The reception on my X1 was better than my advantage on tmob (I used the sim till my number switched over) pretty much everywhere, I struggled to get reception indoors at work on tmob previously but had 2 bars on G with the X1.
Conversely I'm now getting H signals at work with VF, but widely erratic Gprs coverage at home. Overall the VF coverage is nowhere near as good locally as Tmobs 3g.
I've lodged a complaint with VF as according to the coverage map I should be in the middle of a 3G cell, and this si what I was sold the contract on, about 50% of the time I get 2 bars of G at home, 50% nothing, and there doesn't seem to be any pattern to it, but like you the calls will get dropped seemingly randomly.
Last night I started getting a much more consistent signal at home, I'm not certain what's changed maybe they decided to look at the transmitter, but I'll monitor over the next few days.

I also get pretty crappy signal here in the U.S. with AT&T in Chicago. Just 2 bars on both HSDPA and EDGE. (850/1900mhz)
TYTN II and I-Mate 9502 get 4-5 bars...
This is with 3G turned on and off...
Hopefully, there will be an update soon..

For anyone with issues over UK coverage, you can check out what transmitters are where, and even send an email through to moan!
I've had responses in under 2 hours before.
http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/

Radio Recommendations T-Mobile UK

Hi All,
Just got my new TouchHD on T-Mobile in the UK, experiencing poor reception. Can just about get a signal in the house if it's not too windy outside !
Anyway, the latest firmware is on the device (Radio 1.13.25.24) and was wondering if this is the best radio FW to use, or if anyone has experienced improved radio reception with another radio FW on T-Mobile UK. Even a small amount of improvement will be enough !
Thanks
DS

dude, unfortunately t-mobile in the UK is pretty crap. my phone (and partners whose is a sony-erriconson) is often out of signal when other freinds on other networks have coverage of several bars. this is not even out in the wop-wops but occurs in towns and cities. my workmate sites along side me and has full reception on three, where as I can't get enough signal for text messages - he even has HSDPA and I can't get a basic signal.
t-mobile is crap, thats about the summary of it. i've rung them about it, and they always say its my fault blahdeblah but the truth is, when I'm calling from a phone on another network (i have a couple of prepay sims for this reason now) from the same spot i know its not me!!