Database Users

Problem with the quality of UMTS reception (signal weakness)

Hi all,
I have got mine since last Friday and I am wiondering if you get the same problem as I do...
The UMTS reception is very hasardous once you are inside a house or behind a single window. Opening the window, I get three bars and once closed, no reception anymore. Did anyone experience the same kind of problem ?
Is it a general signal weakness problem ?
Do you know if HCT is awre of the problem and if this could be corrected using software ?
Thx for your help !

Re: Problem with the quality of UMTS reception (signal weakn
lionoche said:
I have got mine since last Friday and I am wiondering if you get the same problem as I do...
The UMTS reception is very hasardous once you are inside a house or behind a single window. Opening the window, I get three bars and once closed, no reception anymore. Did anyone experience the same kind of problem ?
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what about different 3G phones? are you able to get good reception inside the house with them? it may not necessary be Hermes/TyTN fault..

Thx for your reply...
As soon as I get outside, I get full power for the 3G network.
I tried it at another place and get the same results... I also found other complaints here:
http://forum.mypdacafe.com/viewtopic.php?t=10308&start=15
"It has been reported that the UMTS (3G) reception of the MDA Vario II (HTC Hermes) is not strong enough. As reported in the German CONNECT magazine, they had problems connecting to UMTS networks, especially in areas where the signal was weak.
Let's hope that this problem can be fixed with a simple software update, otherwise this could spell trouble for HTC. The problem should be the same across the board for the other brand names of the Hermes.
I hope Dopod is aware of this issue and get it solved before launching their model in Malaysia or anywhere else. "
What about your reception inside a building ???
I am concerned because the signal is nothing but weak in my area !

I live in London (zone 3) and I'm getting the same thing. Inside my flat reception alternates between no UTMS or 1 bar - even though standard GSM signal is full strength.

I found an explanation. The building where my office is located has special protection... Sadly, it blocks only UMTS signal, GPRS and GSM are not affected. Maybe someone can help us to understand why UMTS seems to be so sensitive to this protection ??
You may try another building and see if the problem occures. For me at least, it doesn't
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Lio

This could be a typical situation as UMTS generally runs at 1900MHZ and above in Europe/Asia. The higher the frequency, the worse the building penetration. The only fix is very high density tower distribution. I had a lot of issues with GSM 1900MHZ in USA too. Once Cingular lit up the 850mhz band my building problems went away.
I was wondering if this would be a UMTS issue....

yah.. it does seem that UMTS signals are definite weaker in general.. but i guess it is still developing/rolling out in most countries so let's give it a little time eh?.. really hope it gets fixed soon tho!

hi People! i have the same problem with UMTS with my Hermes: im my flat my nokia phone can discover all the italian network (tim, vodafone, H3G and Wind) but my pda can only discover vodafone and tim. i changed radio roms but the problem remain. if i go outside, the signal can be discovered and fixed. the sad thing is that the same phone (htc hermes) of my girlfriend works in my flat perfectly! i have got the same radio rom version. do you know a way to "extract" radio rom from my girl phone and put it on mine? thanks...

ndrgrc said:
hi People! i have the same problem with UMTS with my Hermes: im my flat my nokia phone can discover all the italian network (tim, vodafone, H3G and Wind) but my pda can only discover vodafone and tim. i changed radio roms but the problem remain. if i go outside, the signal can be discovered and fixed. the sad thing is that the same phone (htc hermes) of my girlfriend works in my flat perfectly! i have got the same radio rom version. do you know a way to "extract" radio rom from my girl phone and put it on mine? thanks...
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I got the same, i think the diamond is a bad umts reception phone!! tried so much here...

Signal Strength on Hermes

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.

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
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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.
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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/

Reception issue

I've placed my Omnia 7 next to my girlfriend's Focus in a place in my house that has traditionally been very poor in reception. She is able to get 1-2 bars on 3G compared to my NO SERVICE-zero bars on EDGE under the same network (ATT). Is anyone else getting fairly weak reception on their Omnia and is it all possible that my 4 year old SIM card is accounting for the difference in signal strength?
Next chance I get, I'll try swapping our SIMs....

I am not too sure of this but maybe the Omnia 7 isn't using its full potential on the US carrier since it is a EU device. (this shouldn't matter really but I am trying to say that it might be a software issue of how the phone switches connections)
By that I mean that some forum members (check the Focus Forum) have fiddled with the diagnostic codes to make their Focus phones have a more stable 3g or above connection.
Trying looking into that and posting there since the Omnia community is a little bit smaller it seems.
Or the phone is just not up to scratch ;D

Eriatarka said:
I've placed my Omnia 7 next to my girlfriend's Focus in a place in my house that has traditionally been very poor in reception. She is able to get 1-2 bars on 3G compared to my NO SERVICE-zero bars on EDGE under the same network (ATT). Is anyone else getting fairly weak reception on their Omnia and is it all possible that my 4 year old SIM card is accounting for the difference in signal strength?
Next chance I get, I'll try swapping our SIMs....
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It could be your SIM if its old and not a 3G sim. Do you get 3G elsewhere?
The reason i ask is that EDGE is a 2G tech.
I work in mobile tech support myself, and i have seen SIM cards cause some seemingly random issues. (1 in particular was a handset unable to read SIM contacts, but his prior phone was OK)
On the other hand, i have also noticed 1 bar less then was displayed by my prior HD2. I have dismissed this as you should not reply on the number or bars to determine signal strength. They are coded differently. There is no standard, and in fact, changes by the Carrier can effect 'bars' displayed on the phone. (Think of a little buzz box with a 20ltr tank reporting 1/2 full, while a 4x4 with a 40ltr tank reporting 1/4. Both have the same amount of fuel)

ive noticed i get a bar or two less than my girlfriends desire and my diamond2 all on the same network & with new sim cards. this generaly means when she has 3G or HSDPA im stuck with GPRS unless were in an area with 3 or 4 bars.

Not entirely sure, but I think the Omnia 7 doesn't support US 3G frequency bands, that's why it's limited to EDGE - and then it depends on where you live... I suppose it's entirely plausible AT&T has a strong 3G network in your area, but not an EDGE one

mine has a good reception ... as good as other devices ...

In my House I sometimes got 4 dots but when a call comes through the connection is lost between talk without walkin on the same spot.. First I thought ok bad reception (had not before with my xperia1) But yesterdaynight I got the same problem outside my home. So the conversation gets totally jammed.
And I live in the Netherlands and not in the county side but in the big city...

So I managed to switch the SIMs on my girlfriend's Focus and my Omnia and unfortunately the poor signal remained on the phone, ruling out the SIM card having any negative effect.
I will get 3G outside my home and sometimes 3G+ (I'm not sure what the difference is), but inside my house, side-by-side, the Focus gets better reception and is more often on 3G whereas my Omnia will get worse reception often on EDGE.
Lame!
I might have to drop some cash for ATT's Microcell... Damn you ATT.

I notice it as well.
When I used my HD, the reception was fine inside MRT tunnels. Now with my Omnia 7 (same SIM card, by the way), I can't get a clear signal inside MRT tunnels during my commute.
Shame.
I don't know what caused it, though.. Anyone can shed a light on the issue ?

Mine has just suddenly started to not have any signal ANYWHERE in the house... the other 2 Vodafone phones here have near-full signal.

Eriatarka said:
So I managed to switch the SIMs on my girlfriend's Focus and my Omnia and unfortunately the poor signal remained on the phone, ruling out the SIM card having any negative effect.
I will get 3G outside my home and sometimes 3G+ (I'm not sure what the difference is), but inside my house, side-by-side, the Focus gets better reception and is more often on 3G whereas my Omnia will get worse reception often on EDGE.
Lame!
I might have to drop some cash for ATT's Microcell... Damn you ATT.
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Hi I think I have found you a solution. Having been on the Focus forums I have noticed that people have enabled full "3g" through the root menu in diagnosis software.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=839154&page=8 ..... read this first please. Looks like it enabled full 3g but messed up his GPS settings (could be that he configured it wrong) Always make sure that you write down your original settings when using Diagnosis tool!!!!!!
If this doesn't help you then maybe flashing a different rom onto it would work.

I played around with some of the diagnostic settings but nothing really changed.
How exactly do I access the root menu to change the 3G settings you mention?

*#197328640# - Root Menu
Things you can do with this code
Speed up your internet by enabling hspda/hsupa
*#197328640#
1,8,3,5,2,3,[END]
Just be careful with this stuff. And always remember to back up your previous settings by writing them down somewhere so that you can restore it.
The link I gave you above leads to these codes.
BTW .. samsung updated the diagnosis tool .. if you have 0.9 something you might be fine! But if it updated then you will not be able to get into the root menu.

Bad Reception with this phone?

Hi,
Was wondering if anyone got bad reception with their phone. I tried 3 different carriers since I had my ideos, in neither of them I ever had very reliable reception and lately the problem is getting worse. I'm running aurora 4.1a and I loose reception all the time, and the battery drains so quick because it's always looking and looking. My sister, my mum and my dad all have good reception (2 of them with my old carrier and 1 with my current carrier).. I can put my dad's phone (same carrier) next to mine.. he will have full bars with 3g and I'll have no reception at all!!!!!! Then it connects and disconnects again, and so it goes... Anyone having such issues?
Thanks.

Tcm9669 said:
Hi,
Was wondering if anyone got bad reception with their phone. I tried 3 different carriers since I had my ideos, in neither of them I ever had very reliable reception and lately the problem is getting worse. I'm running aurora 4.1a and I loose reception all the time, and the battery drains so quick because it's always looking and looking. My sister, my mum and my dad all have good reception (2 of them with my old carrier and 1 with my current carrier).. I can put my dad's phone (same carrier) next to mine.. he will have full bars with 3g and I'll have no reception at all!!!!!! Then it connects and disconnects again, and so it goes... Anyone having such issues?
Thanks.
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I'm having the same problem, I'm running Aurora ICS. I use to always have good reception everywhere, Then suddenly I've just been unable to. Any help would be great! If I do find out any fixes to the issue myself I will sure let you know.

Good to know that I'm not the only one! Thanks. Hope we find a fix soon.

I've fixed mine now, What I've done is I've gone into Settings > Wireless & Network > Mobile Networks, and scrolled all the way to the bottom, and simply re-registered on the network and selected Use only 2G Data. Mines now working fine with full connection everywhere. However I don't know if our problems are exactly the same, however this is what fixed mine. Sorry if this doesn't help.

I have the same issue. Mine connects to 3G and has good connection, but then it simply disconnects and moves to 2G or reconnects to 3G some time later. That happens pretty frequently and I thought it was an issue with the carrier, but now I am not sure anymore.

Blefish, that is EXACTLY what happens to me, and I tried 3 major carriers in Australia (the only 3 that have their own actual towers). Just after I posted this thread, I happened to do the same thing as IwAsBlack recommended and... so far it seems to work. I have generally better connection and I haven't seen that ugly no reception icon since! Of course, internet browsing will be generally a bit slower but then again, it's better than staring at the phone for 3 minutes until it reconnects just to open Google.

You haven't stated which model you have. I got rid of a Motorola Bravo for at U8800-51 and I have excellent performance over AT&T (US). Crystal clear even with only one bar and I have never had a dropped call.

Have the same issue on any ROM with any mobile network in Belarus. Can't use 2G as recommended above 'cos of a huge use of mobile internet for some net-radio.
Sorry for bad Eng.

Its a U8800 Q&A forum, I didn't think that I had to state the version since I have a U8800.
Yesterday I tested and kept an eye on for the whole day! The reception since changing to 2G only has been AWESOME! Only had a drop out when I was in the subway (of course!) but aisde from that, I had amazing reception not to mention.. that my phone lasted the whole day with still 15% left!! (3G on, it would have to charge it twice while I'm at work) So, it fixed my reception AND my battery problems.

Tcm9669 said:
Its a U8800 Q&A forum, I didn't think that I had to state the version since I have a U8800.
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FYI, Ideos X5 U8800 describes four different models.

I know it does. What I meant is that I have the Normal U8800 model, so I didn't feel like it was necessary for me to point any variant model number like PRO or 51 or H, because it's STANDARD U8800

So we can make a conclusion that U8800 does not operate well on 3G. I can't switch it myself because I want to use internet too. And I am pretty sure we can't do anything about it, no matter if the problem is in hardware or software.

Blefish said:
So we can make a conclusion that U8800 does not operate well on 3G. I can't switch it myself because I want to use internet too. And I am pretty sure we can't do anything about it, no matter if the problem is in hardware or software.
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Mate, if you switch to 2G you will still be able to browse the internet! It will only be a LITTLE bit slower, better than having constant disconnection!!! I constantly use the internet to sync my gmail, send free texts, browse the net and a bunch of other stuff.. works even better on 2G with constant reception, not to mention the benefit of the phone battery lasting a whole day (AND still have internet).. so switch to 2G and you will like it... still good internet only with better reception

Same issue
Having same issue when using GSM/WCDMA auto or preferred modes. works normal on GSM network only.
Even when I have no signal of 3g, gsm is working in the background.
problem arises when I have a call, 3g signal drops to minmimun, after the call phone tries to reconnect with the 3g signal but drops the GSM signal in the process.
Try this , as soon as you disconnect the call, try to call yourself from other at that instant only. Your phone will be shown unreachable because phone drops the GSM signals.

rdagar said:
Having same issue when using GSM/WCDMA auto or preferred modes. works normal on GSM network only.
Even when I have no signal of 3g, gsm is working in the background.
problem arises when I have a call, 3g signal drops to minmimun, after the call phone tries to reconnect with the 3g signal but drops the GSM signal in the process.
Try this , as soon as you disconnect the call, try to call yourself from other at that instant only. Your phone will be shown unreachable because phone drops the GSM signals.
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Mine works on wcdma, but that is because i have the radio.
Sent from my U8800-51