Database Users

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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.

tmous htc hd2 data signal radio 2.11

i am on the stock radio 2.10 stock rom with alot of tweaks i have done my self ok the problem is it seems my tmobo conection is harribal indoors 1 or 2 bars edge and alway s changeing if i step outside the bars shoot all the way to full 3g will flashing the 2.11 radio help this at all or is this just what i have to deal with on tmobo network any tips or tweaks on geting better service indoors would help this seems to be any building or house not just one location PLEAS HELP!!!!

sev15 said:
i am on the stock radio 2.10 stock rom with alot of tweaks i have done my self ok the problem is it seems my tmobo conection is harribal indoors 1 or 2 bars edge and alway s changeing if i step outside the bars shoot all the way to full 3g will flashing the 2.11 radio help this at all or is this just what i have to deal with on tmobo network any tips or tweaks on geting better service indoors would help this seems to be any building or house not just one location PLEAS HELP!!!!
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Click to collapse
A lot of us have the same issue. I think it could be that the signal strength in certain areas is not strong enough when inside buildings.

sev15 said:
i am on the stock radio 2.10 stock rom with alot of tweaks i have done my self ok the problem is it seems my tmobo conection is harribal indoors 1 or 2 bars edge and alway s changeing if i step outside the bars shoot all the way to full 3g will flashing the 2.11 radio help this at all or is this just what i have to deal with on tmobo network any tips or tweaks on geting better service indoors would help this seems to be any building or house not just one location PLEAS HELP!!!!
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Click to collapse
T-Mobiles 1700mhz 3g band doesn't penetrate walls or objects as well as a lower mhz signal would like at&t's 850 band. It travels farther, though, so t-mobile doesn't need as many towers to cover an area, but that also means there is going to be more areas that have weak signals in a covered area. So, unless you're close to one of there towers, you won't get good 3g signals inside buildings.

zarathustrax said:
T-Mobiles 1700mhz 3g band doesn't penetrate walls or objects as well as a lower mhz signal would like at&t's 850 band. It travels farther, though, so t-mobile doesn't need as many towers to cover an area, but that also means there is going to be more areas that have weak signals in a covered area. So, unless you're close to one of there towers, you won't get good 3g signals inside buildings.
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Click to collapse
The radio has to have something to do with it though because the 1700mhz band penetrates just fine for other HTC phones.
I have my HD2, MT3G and the G1...here at my desk at work, I can have all three side by side and the G1 has 2 bars 3G...the MT3G has 3 bars 3G...and my HD2 bounces all over the place between 3G and Edge... so you cannot tell me that they are receiving different signals.
...outside, or in 99% of other places I go I have no 3G problems with my HD2...unfortunately though, I spend a lot of time at work and would really love to have at least a steady 3G connection without having to put my SIM in a different phone.

Try changing the access point
if you go into the connections setting for the tmob data connection access point address. tmob default is epc.tmobile.com. try usin wap.voicestream.com or internet2.voicestream.com

well i guess we cant look foward for better service tell more towers go up i did have a sidekick lx that was not bad indoors could this be due to the danger server if so is there anyway to use that server instead
it kinda sux when friends from work sit next to me and can use att and verizon tv and streaming and i can not with my supper phone with bad indoor connection wish i could do something about it or some of the supper guys here at xda

Radios are ****, plain and simple. I have a g1 full bars 3g always on and my hd2 1-2 bars, 3g comes in and out. I called t-mo support and they tried the singal in your area bs. I said listen I have a G1 right next to the hd2 and that old clunker has full signal so stop there. Then they said, we are aware of the problem and are working on it.

same here
i have my g1 and HD2 side by side and the g1 has 3 bars 3g and the HD2 has only 1 bar edge and won't respond!

No complaints about the HD2's reception here. Having come from a Nexus One, I had them at the same time for about 2 weeks.
The Nexus One dropped calls constantly while inside at work, forget about keeping a reliable 3G signal, in fact I was lucky to keep EDGE indoors. If you moved the wrong way (literally!) it would bounce around in signal strength and would lose data connection constantly.
Looking at the HD2, I have 3G connection pretty much constantly, jumping into H on a regular basis. No dropped calls, sound quality from the ear speaker is phenomenal , and never a lost data connection.
Outdoors is even better.
Again, no complaints here about TMoUS's signal here!

anyone know if the 2.11 will help at all

I HATE that the HD2 will sometimes show full (phone) bars, not 3g or E, but yet not let you call. I had this happen to me for 2 minutes today. I had to go into settings and turn the phone option off/on and wait a minute for it to get a signal again. I'm in NYC, there's usually full 3G bars when outside.
This phone doesn't handle weak signals or situations when you enter and leave areas with no reception.

hmmmmmmm
i just found something iv been testing it for 30 min now if i lay my hd2 down flat on table or anything flat i can keep 3 bars 3g indoors i pick it up and hold in hand and boom 1 bar edge this is wierd wonder if this means anything im going to tryit at work tomorow see if it dose the same thing tryit see if your phone dose the same guys let me know i can stream video on mobi tv as long as its laying flat 3g i pick it up and the video stops and phone goes to edge

sev15 said:
i just found something iv been testing it for 30 min now if i lay my hd2 down flat on table or anything flat i can keep 3 bars 3g indoors i pick it up and hold in hand and boom 1 bar edge this is wierd wonder if this means anything im going to tryit at work tomorow see if it dose the same thing tryit see if your phone dose the same guys let me know i can stream video on mobi tv as long as its laying flat 3g i pick it up and the video stops and phone goes to edge
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Click to collapse
Yes, that's one of the crazy things with this phone. It can sit on a table all day and the 3G icon will be full bars. As soon as you touch the damn thing, you see the bars drop to 1 then it goes to Edge full bars then it drops to G...and will not go back to 3G until you put the phone down.
This needs to update fast. Thing I'm gonna go back to my TP2 until then.

I am a little confused here. some posts seem as if it might be a device issue and others seem to be leaning towards t-mobile. i had some really bad issues with my reception until i changed Radios. i am currently using 2.10.50.19._2 and my 3g signal seems to cut out less. but its is not as strong as my Tp2 which had excellent 3g signal, but i did call t-mobile and they said there have been issues reported in my area and they are working on it but if that is the case then my tp2 would also have the same issues which it does not! so i don't know what to make of it??

piztol44pete said:
I am a little confused here. some posts seem as if it might be a device issue and others seem to be leaning towards t-mobile. i had some really bad issues with my reception until i changed Radios. i am currently using 2.10.50.19._2 and my 3g signal seems to cut out less. but its is not as strong as my Tp2 which had excellent 3g signal, but i did call t-mobile and they said there have been issues reported in my area and they are working on it but if that is the case then my tp2 would also have the same issues which it does not! so i don't know what to make of it??
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Click to collapse
I think its the phone. I've never had issues with my G1. I went to the Cliq and it had bad reception. I could set it next to my friends G1 and Mytouch and they both had 2 - 3 bas of 3G and I would be on Edge. The HD2 is a little better but not as good as the G1 and MyTouch. The N1 has the exact same issues and they are both HTC. Hopefully a radio or software update will fix the issue. Its a know issue with Tmobile so they are aware of the issue.

You can try to go to settings, personal, phone, band, and change the select yout network type option to wcdma. Leave the slect your gsm/umts band option to auto. This tells it to only connect to 3g. I had to do it with my at&t windows mobile phone when I was at my job to keep it on 3g. Also with my t-mobile hd2, in certain places i have to do it otherwise it switches between 3g and edge. Downside is, if there is no 3G signal available your phone will have no signal. It should work since the phone is detecting 3g signal.

Its great to know that I am not the only person experiencing these issues with the HD2. I lay it down on my desk and it will read 3 bars 3G. Pick it up, and it drops to Edge. Never had these problems with my Xperia X1i. Something I have noticed is the battery life on my HD2 is much better than my Xperia X1i. Although it has a larger screen and smaller battery. I think the Engineers at HTC reduced the power to the Radio to help improve battery life. Anyone have any theories on how to increase the power to the radio antenna?

Just saw this thread when I was looking for a solution to this exact problem. I just recently moved to Houston and can not seem to get a T-Mobile signal inside my house with my HD2. It got signal just fine in Alabama, but nothing here.
I have a Dash 3G right next to the HD2 with 3 bars of 3G, hd2 has nothing. I even put my sim card in an old hacked iPhone and it even gets signal inside. I can't figure this out but its making me consider having to get rid of the phone. What good is it when the phone doesn't get signal?
I also just saw the new 2.11.50.20 radio on the forums, so after I charge my hd2 i'm gonna try that out and see if it helps.

I am from Houston too. ( Pearland Actually )
Same story here, inside my house NO 3G! However if I am driving around town I usually have 3 or 4 bars 3G. Let us know if that new radio ROM helps at all.
sullitf said:
Just saw this thread when I was looking for a solution to this exact problem. I just recently moved to Houston and can not seem to get a T-Mobile signal inside my house with my HD2. It got signal just fine in Alabama, but nothing here.
I have a Dash 3G right next to the HD2 with 3 bars of 3G, hd2 has nothing. I even put my sim card in an old hacked iPhone and it even gets signal inside. I can't figure this out but its making me consider having to get rid of the phone. What good is it when the phone doesn't get signal?
I also just saw the new 2.11.50.20 radio on the forums, so after I charge my hd2 i'm gonna try that out and see if it helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

WhiteSites said:
I am from Houston too. ( Pearland Actually )
Same story here, inside my house NO 3G! However if I am driving around town I usually have 3 or 4 bars 3G. Let us know if that new radio ROM helps at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No help. 2.11.50.20 isn't doing anything, still getting 0 bars inside and 2 bars of when I go onto my front porch. Down the road I get full 3G, so I don't understand whats going on at all

Bad Reception: T-Mobile or HD2?

I'm in an area that t-mobile maps show should have excellent phone and data coverage. Both are horrible. Data service is almost always edge with very few bars. If I ever do get 3G its usually only momentary and never above one bar.
The problem is reception doesn't seem to improve regardless of where I am. I drove to a neighboring state along freeway that t-mobile showed had full coverage. But the few times I did get a signal, I was roaming.
So, I arrive in Boulder CO thinking I should have excellent coverage, but nothing changes. Hardly any signal strength when I do have a signal. I've tried all the radios, several ROMs... even the stock one. Nothing helps.
The question is:
Does t-mobile coverage general suck? This is my first time with the company. I plan to get someone's version of the Galaxy S, but if t-mobile coverage is this bad, I'm not getting theirs.
Does the Leo radio generally suck?
Do I have a bad phone?
Is there an app that measures and logs signal strength (preferably with GPS)? I've seen them for wifi, but is there one that tracks and logs the voice/data signal on the t-mobile network?

I had a G1 before the HD2 and I usually get the same or one bar less than what I used to get with my G1 in the same places.

Try these
dc41 said:
I'm in an area that t-mobile maps show should have excellent phone and data coverage. Both are horrible. Data service is almost always edge with very few bars. If I ever do get 3G its usually only momentary and never above one bar.
The problem is reception doesn't seem to improve regardless of where I am. I drove to a neighboring state along freeway that t-mobile showed had full coverage. But the few times I did get a signal, I was roaming.
So, I arrive in Boulder CO thinking I should have excellent coverage, but nothing changes. Hardly any signal strength when I do have a signal. I've tried all the radios, several ROMs... even the stock one. Nothing helps.
The question is:
Does t-mobile coverage general suck? This is my first time with the company. I plan to get someone's version of the Galaxy S, but if t-mobile coverage is this bad, I'm not getting theirs.
Does the Leo radio generally suck?
Do I have a bad phone?
Is there an app that measures and logs signal strength (preferably with GPS)? I've seen them for wifi, but is there one that tracks and logs the voice/data signal on the t-mobile network?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1: its the reception but they have REALLY good reception around the US are you surround by tress or alot of buildings/businesses?
2: i prefer the 2.10 radio it works really well
3: call t-mobile and tell them bout your problem, but before you call do a hard reset and dont install any apps, if that doesn't work Switch your sim to another phone and see what type of service you get but use a touch screen phone
i have a different problem BUT VERY ODD!
At my house i get 3g but i can't even receive calls or call out but i can text perfectly and use the internet, i switched my sim to another phone and had the same problem i get 3g but wen people call me it goes straight to Voicemail, i found 2.10 works the best for me but i live in VEGAS it still didnt fix it but it kinda made it better...

pakistaniprince said:
1: its the reception but they have REALLY good reception around the US are you surround by tress or alot of buildings/businesses?
2: i prefer the 2.10 radio it works really well
3: call t-mobile and tell them bout your problem, but before you call do a hard reset and dont install any apps, if that doesn't work Switch your sim to another phone and see what type of service you get but use a touch screen phone
i have a different problem BUT VERY ODD!
At my house i get 3g but i can't even receive calls or call out but i can text perfectly and use the internet, i switched my sim to another phone and had the same problem i get 3g but wen people call me it goes straight to Voicemail, i found 2.10 works the best for me but i live in VEGAS it still didnt fix it but it kinda made it better...
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Click to collapse
Home office in an average neighborhood. I tried to find an app that measures the GSM signal strength. I found a demo of MobileGX P3Kit and it did just what I wanted except it doesn't log the signal strength. But, I guess the company went out of business. It only worked once, and the website link is dead.
Does the data connection use a different frequency than the phone signal connection? That's about the only thing I can think of that would cause the problems you have at home. Weird stuff.

I am in a marginal coverage area and the HD2 radio is horrible. I'll go from 3 bars to no bars back to 2 bars then to none in under a minute without moving my phone.
On my Blackberry I would get usable coverage everywere in my house, none in the basement, with the HD2 its pure luck if I can use it on the front porch.
When I'm standing below a T-Mo tower I will often drop a bar of signal... and thats standing under a tower, several other people with HD2's that I have spoken with have the same experience.

Seems like it varies from phone to phone, and from location to location.
I had a Cliq and despite it being a POS, it had excellent coverage, then I got a Nexus One and its coverage would drop regularly at home. It would drop so often that I didnt really use pandora or surf the internet unless I was on WiFi.
Now I have the HD2 and its been somewhere in the middle. Lots of people say changing the radio will fix your issue. I would definitely start there. Just because a radio version works for some doesnt mean it will definitely be the best option for your location.

dc41 said:
So, I arrive in Boulder CO thinking I should have excellent coverage, but nothing changes. Hardly any signal strength when I do have a signal. I've tried all the radios, several ROMs... even the stock one. Nothing helps.
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Click to collapse
Strange, I just left Boulder and I had full 3g signal strength.

Saw the "H" symbol on Android.

I live in Bryan TX, about 75miles from Houston and as far as i know there is no HSDPA in my city yet. But i was just trying the Android build last night and it showed the H symbol for a bit. After that i never saw the H symbol, not in winMo, not in android. So was it just android reporting wrong information or was t-mobile actually testing HSDPA equipment at that time(highly unlikely but i wish they were).
Did anyone else experience android showing H even if you were not in HSDPA location?

bizmark03 said:
I live in Bryan TX, about 75miles from Houston and as far as i know there is no HSDPA in my city yet. But i was just trying the Android build last night and it showed the H symbol for a bit. After that i never saw the H symbol, not in winMo, not in android. So was it just android reporting wrong information or was t-mobile actually testing HSDPA equipment at that time(highly unlikely but i wish they were).
Did anyone else experience android showing H even if you were not in HSDPA location?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your proximity to A&M can cause all sorts of unexplained weirdness
lol seriously though, I understand that not only does Houston itself have HSPA+ now (it was in the first wave, Austin gets it next week), but also a large part of the surrounding area (mostly in your direction, and out towards the gulf too) are getting regular HSDPA very soon.
Note that on a stock winmo ROM you won't see an "H" in your taskbar, even if you have that type of connection...it won't display unless you're using a custom icon set (the default one is suppressed by the carrier)

sirphunkee said:
Your proximity to A&M can cause all sorts of unexplained weirdness
lol seriously though, I understand that not only does Houston itself have HSPA+ now (it was in the first wave, Austin gets it next week), but also a large part of the surrounding area (mostly in your direction, and out towards the gulf too) are getting regular HSDPA very soon.
Note that on a stock winmo ROM you won't see an "H" in your taskbar, even if you have that type of connection...it won't display unless you're using a custom icon set (the default one is suppressed by the carrier)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well....i see your location and i'm not surprised by your answer...and i do study at A&M.....but anyways...thanks for the response, will try installing a set of custom icons and try it out......but considering the speeds i get i dont think its HSDPA+....they dont even touch 1mbps.

bizmark03 said:
Well....i see your location and i'm not surprised by your answer...and i do study at A&M.....but anyways...thanks for the response, will try installing a set of custom icons and try it out......but considering the speeds i get i dont think its HSDPA+....they dont even touch 1mbps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I'm sure it's not HSDPA+ all the way up to you yet, I think they're just getting the 3G to regular HSDPA standards in the surrounding areas like yours.
Also note that even if you see an "H" in the display there, it only really means that you have a better connection with the tower, the backend elements to give you the real speed increase may or may not be in place TO that tower yet.
(to be honest with you, I couldn't really care less about the UT/A&M rivalry...I'm not from here. I just know I might get run out of town if I missed an opportunity to fire a shot like that lol)

bizmark03 said:
I live in Bryan TX, about 75miles from Houston and as far as i know there is no HSDPA in my city yet. But i was just trying the Android build last night and it showed the H symbol for a bit. After that i never saw the H symbol, not in winMo, not in android. So was it just android reporting wrong information or was t-mobile actually testing HSDPA equipment at that time(highly unlikely but i wish they were).
Did anyone else experience android showing H even if you were not in HSDPA location?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depeding on the Developer of the rom. Sometime they use the "H" just to show there is active data.
For example im in Madison TN and we have 3G but dont have H yet. On my phone though, using the Energy Series rom, my phone idles with a 3G but if I load a web page or trigger some kind of data activity, the 3G will turn to H and back to 3G when the data activity is done. Same with some Android Roms, they change to H for data activity and back to 3G when the phone is idle.
I mite not be 100% accurate on that but I think thats how it works on the custom roms.
On a stock rom instead of 3G idle youll see H all day if you had hsdpa in your area.

hypersonicx said:
Depeding on the Developer of the rom. Sometime they use the "H" just to show there is active data.
For example im in Madison TN and we have 3G but dont have H yet. On my phone though, using the Energy Series rom, my phone idles with a 3G but if I load a web page or trigger some kind of data activity, the 3G will turn to H and back to 3G when the data activity is done. Same with some Android Roms, they change to H for data activity and back to 3G when the phone is idle.
I mite not be 100% accurate on that but I think thats how it works on the custom roms.
On a stock rom instead of 3G idle youll see H all day if you had hsdpa in your area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the response, I guess you might be right there, but I'm not sure stock ROMs show the H icon, because i was in Houston last week, in the middle of downtown and my phone still showed 3G.
Staying on a similar subject can someone help me out with adding the H icon to the stock ROM, I do not want to add a custom taskbar, just looking for some reg edit, where it will show a simple H icon instead of the 3G icon when i'm in HSPA+ coverage.

Puzzling coverage...

I'm on the Three network, have an unlocked HTC desire HD with 17 m2 radio.
Normally I get terrible signal in the flat that i live in, its a granite building in Aberdeen. Occasional the signal is around 1 bar, sometimes grey, and most of the time its X.. (no service), but i still manage to get 3G or H. When looking at the APN settings and specifically at available networks when doing a manual search, next to 3 is a green star which I assume means it's connected to 3 mobile network. But sometimes i get amazing signal, full bars, which puzzled me! so I looked at the available networks and next to 3, there was no star, so i tried calling a number and it rang and came through. I also tried using mobile internet when in this "good coverage" state, and google would not load (G is displayed in the notifications bar). After a while, the bars would drop to 1 or grey, and i would then get H or 3G, and google loads again. What's going on? and how can i take advantage of this when i have no signal.

try and find the app called open signal maps
that can be used to see where the signal-towers are
and how good the signal is
or use this site and search your adress
http://opensignalmaps.com/
sincere regards,
blokhoofd

The antenna is really wierd.
Normally I only get 2G connection.
But if I completly take my hand off the lower cover and lift the phone up a bit for a better signal, I get a 3Mbps connection, though as soon as I lower my phone back to normal the 3G signal is completly gone or gets really bad (zero bars and lower than EDGE speed)!
The antenna in this phone sucks really bad, my old Nokia phone atleast had a stable connection.

This is very bad news... I was considering DHD, but if there are isseus with gsm signal than I am really worried... Is it also happening on the stock ROM?

As long as network coverege is good you should be okay.
I swaped my SIM card with a friends and with better coverege, 3.5G worked good (solid 2Mbps), only slight drop if SIM cover is completly covered, which doesn't happen in normal use.
I just can't understand how I can get such high speeds with my SIM while on a badly covered area. haven't tested how well other devices pick up the 3G signal (my old phone wasn't 3G yet)
I'm still using stock ROM btw.

Have you tried a different radio?
People are reporting different results with them, so might be an idea to play around and see if anyone of them works better for you

I've tried the new Orange radio and I'm getting better signal, although threes coverage isn't great I would expect the device to seamlessly change between 3.5g and gprs but it doesn't it'll get stuck on hsdpa network until the x appears and sometimes it'll go to gprs and go back to three bars. Before it would be on x all the time and that's probably why the battery was quite ****. 3g doesnt penetrate buildings very well and I live in a granite building so would explain why I get better gprs signal. I just wish the antenna was smart and changed seamlessly.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

So annoying dhd still not selecting the next best connection just no service but if I select to detect network automatically it connects eventually
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App