Poor signal on X1a AT&T, Horrible. - XPERIA X1 General

Is there a software or something to make it get better signal. I don't want to switch to another carrier for now. Sometimes if I am lucky, I get 1 or 2 bars, but mostly 1 or none. I have to walk around to find the good spot.

You can just place the phone on edge mode.

The X1 has poor reception. My signal level has dropped down from HSDPA all over my home and city to mostly GPRS after switching phones to the X1. Often I find my phone with no service and searching for a signal in certain locations of my house.
Even when it shows the H symbol, when I try to browse the web, most of the time the phone then drops down to Edge or GPRS.
When I pop the sim card back into my other phone (HTC Polaris/Touch Cruise) I get and connect to HSDPA without any connetion problems whatsoever.

That's one thing I hate about this phone... poor signal. Hope Sony will have an update sooooooon

I have a feeling the poor radio is a hardware issue rather than software, but I do hope I'm wrong.

Are you guys picking up 3G on ATT? My reception has been steady on the X1i. I'm connected on HSPDA most the time. However, I'd like to know whether any X1a users have picked up 3G on ATT's network. Some bloaks have posted pics of the X1is picking up 3G in the States.

My X1i can get 3G here in some parts of alabama.

Mine is an X1i and I get all the signals available from AT&T.
WC

I have an X1a in US with ATT. During the day, the area that I am in has a weak signal but I have always been able to receive and make calls from this area, however, my X1A drops the calls in the Auto setting. When I change, the settings in "Settings"---> "Phone"--> "Band" to "Select your network type from Auto to GSM and GSM/UMTS setting from Auto to UMTSA(850+1900)+GSM(850+1900), I am able to receive and make calls without a problem, however, the phone stays in the "EDGE" mode. I am unable to get the 3G once I go into the city...The Xperia helpline was totally clueless...Can anyone assist me with this problem...? I would hate to have to change the settings each time I leave this area.

macklobell said:
I have an X1a in US with ATT. During the day, the area that I am in has a weak signal but I have always been able to receive and make calls from this area, however, my X1A drops the calls in the Auto setting. When I change, the settings in "Settings"---> "Phone"--> "Band" to "Select your network type from Auto to GSM and GSM/UMTS setting from Auto to UMTSA(850+1900)+GSM(850+1900), I am able to receive and make calls without a problem, however, the phone stays in the "EDGE" mode. I am unable to get the 3G once I go into the city...The Xperia helpline was totally clueless...Can anyone assist me with this problem...? I would hate to have to change the settings each time I leave this area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have the exact same problem. When I contact Sony they act suprise to hear about poor signal. I posted what they respond to me some where here.

That's because technical support is in Canada and only familiar with Rogers Wireless. I called corporate headquarters in NC and complained today. Hopefully, they will be more receptive to US users on the ATT network...In the meantime, does anyone have any suggestions to avoid changing these settings? Does updating the Radio software solve this on the X1A?

My reception and call quality is absolutely amazing...

This is for X1a and problem was when connected to internet trying to get 3G or whatever.. The respond I got from sony:
Thank you for contacting Sony Ericsson Xperia Support.
We don't have a list of the newest updates for this phone, but I have heard nothing of your issue before, it is worth trying a reset if there is no update available.
Try resetting the hardware. To do this, hold down the two keys on the front with silver "-" signs. While you are pressing them, take the stylus and press the reset button through the top opening through the casing of the stylus.
What I also suggest is resetting the phone software via "Clear Storage".
To do this, select Start icon, then Settings, then tap the System tab. You will see Clear Storage in the top right corner.
1. The Sony Ericsson Update Service is a free download that can be found at www.sonyericsson.com, after you click on "Support" and then choose your phone model.
2. Select your country and region.
3. Under the section titled”Software and Set Up” choose, “Sony Ericsson Update Service”.
4. Download the application to your computer and install the program.
Once you have installed the program and run it, it will give you instructions on how to install it on the computer and how to run it on the phone afterwards. Please make sure the phone and the USB cable are not connected to the PC throughout the installation process. The Update Service is meant to update the software on the phone.
If you require more information, or have any other questions, please visit our website at SonyEricsson.com/X1 or call us at 1-877-7XPERIA.

THESpideyWVU said:
My reception and call quality is absolutely amazing...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same, reception is excellent and the first time I heard a call on the x1, the quality floored me.
I'm on AT&T and have the x1a

Defective?
This may sound nuts but, back in November when I originally ordered the phone, I remembered calling a Sony Style store in my area in hopes to expedite the process. I got an employee on the phone that told me they had the phones in the store but were told by Sony Corporate to send them back and not sell them. When I attempted to confirm this on a visit to the same store, the store manager was very evasive and denied that was the case. I could tell that his response seemed a bit "defensive".
Anyhow, I was relatively fortunate and got mine on December 8; purchased online from Sony. After that, I don't think the next batch made it out until mid January.
So, my conspiracy theory is that people who received the X1a prior to mid December are proud owners of handsets that STILL have whatever problem Sony recalled them for. This would seem to explain the differences found in GPS/signal quality being found by the variety of people either complaining or praising the phone. Oh, and BTW, I can confirm that contacting the Xperia support line is a complete waste. I got a female on the line that wanted me to do a hard reset on the device for the poor GPS signal. She then went further to say that I would need to subscribe to the GPS service of my phone provider to fix the problem. I had to hang up on her to avoid verbally dessimating her.

I have one of the "original" first batch X1as ordered on the day of release. I haven't had any of the gps problems (apart from one from using advanced configuration tool, which I posted about in your gps thread) and my reception has always seemed to be at least average or slightly above.

jhoffa said:
I have one of the "original" first batch X1as ordered on the day of release. I haven't had any of the gps problems (apart from one from using advanced configuration tool, which I posted about in your gps thread) and my reception has always seemed to be at least average or slightly above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reception problem is operator (location)-dependant, seems to me.
AT&T has not implemented it's network at the same level around the whole country and nor even in the same frequency band
You shall remember several companies have "merged" thus incorporing a tower-signal puzzle. I guess those who luckily have a 3G-upgraded 850MHz tower nearby are performing better since the 850MHz freq tend to span signal over a greater area than the others

Related

Anyone else seen this behavior with their XDAII?

I've been using mine since December with no problems. I'm using T-Mobile as a carrier and been pleased with both my cell signal and GPRS coverage. However, as of about a week and a half ago I suddenly stopped receiving a carrier signal 100% of the time. I simply get the No Service indicator on my phone. The interesting thing is that when I know I'm in an area where I previously had coverage I can go into settings/phone and click the option to manually select a network and after the phone polls for a few seconds it will connect to the network and provide a list of carriers, in my case I see Cingular and ATT Wireless show up. So I know the hardware is working.
I've done soft resets, hard resets, even let the battery backup run dry and still no luck. I have a secondary cheapy Samsung GSM phone that confirms that my SIM is working as well as how strong the signal is, my XDAII just seems to be not wanting to connect.
Any ideas?
*Oh yes, I'm using the default ROM image that shipped with the unit as it's been working fine and I haven't wanted to risk any complications etc.
Thanks for your time,
-Graah

Not receiving phone calls?

Hello all,
I have had my X1 for about a month, and it seems I've come across a problem that defeats the purpose of a phone. I can't seem to receive calls for some reason...recently my friends and family have been telling me they have tried to call me but it just ends up going to my voice mail. I just tell them I was probably on the phone with someone at that time, or my phone was off. Only today did my friend call me to find me in a parking lot that I finally realize its my phone. So I attempted to call myself with my homephone, and tada! it went straight to voicemail. I don't even get any sign of a missed call.. Did anybody else getting this problem? I did a soft reset and it seem to fix the problem. It has probably happened within the past 2 weeks..I have the generic UK rom so I'm still waiting for the official R2A one. It would be great if someone could explain how to prevent this problem from happening.
not that i have a problem with my x1a, mostly because i rarely get calls and rarely use it but i have another phone that would have a problem that you describe.
i think it was due to the phone switching between 3g and edge signal. i work in the ship yard and the steel walls around the ship interfere with my signal and my phone would switch back and forth between getting the best reception (3g and edge).
well anyways, i think the switching back and forth would somehow screw my phone up and i wouldnt get any calls after getting off work.
my brother who also works at our shipyard and carpools with me would try to call me up to ask me if i was getting off in time but i wouldnt know that he had been trying to call me untill we meet up. he tells me that he has been trying to call me and so as were walking back to the car, i asked him to call me to see if my phone is working.
sure enough, my phone doesnt work untill i turned it off and then turned it back on. so if your in an area with poor 3g reception, maybe that could be causing your problem.
my old phone was an old lg cu500. thats my beater phone and since i dont use it for browsing the internet anymore, i set it and leave to use edge. it gets a stronger signal than 3g but if i do need to use 3g, i just go to my phone settings and set it back to use both signals. for some reason, i almost love that beater phone more than my xperia. mainly because its small, compact and i dont have to worry about scratching or damaging it anymore.
hmm, that is rather interesting...however my service provider's 3g frequency band is not compatible with the x1. I also don't have an internet service type of plan with my phone.
However just going to my settings, I noticed that my phone was set up to attempt to connect to the internet via HSDPA. I'm going to disable it and see what happens.
if you dont have 3g or hsdpa connection, then i would set your phone to use only gsm.
I also miss most of my calls but my problems is other some times it rings and some times it doesnt. Anybody know how to fix this?.
I have seen these problems with another PDA, in that case it seemed to be related with the PDA radio at the beggining, but even if that is one of the probable causes, there are another two to be considered.
The first one is the sim module, I own the same sim since 6 years ago, and this sim was programed specifically for the symbian phones of those years, it is in fact unable to send/receive any MMS with a PDA.
The other PDA I'm talking about is an Universal, the same phone worked ok with my sim and failed to receive many calls (even if the covering of this phone company was "better") -in the same place- with the universal, We first suspected a broken sim, but using this sim in a old gsm phone, it worked just fine.
Also, the cell companies, tend to "abuse" of their position and then to "seed" the phones with applications that do use the phone automatically, these programs are made mainly for symbian phones.
Remember also that the cell networks are exactly that, computer networks, and sometimes their databases are not perfectly compatible with all the possible variations of slightly different phones, in this case, PDAs are the least common type of phone.
So, try your phones with other (another cell company) sim, try using the sim with old phones, etc.
hope this helps.

Rogers 3G network

Hey guys, I just wanted to see if anyone else is having a longer waiting period with the Rogers 3G network lately or if it is just me. I've been noticing that my phone has slowed down quite a bit when browsing the internet or using an application that requires data on the 3G network. My wi-fi is fine, just the 3G. It takes between 45 secs to 1 minute to retreive the information. I had called Rogers and asked them to reset or refresh or whatever they do down there, but didn't seem to help.
Now if it is just my phone, maybe it is some application that is using up the processor or data, but I don't have that many applications running in the background other than weatherbug that constantly uses data.
Any suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks
What happens if you run a speedtest? the app by Xtremelabs is good.
no issue here. i use mine on a daily basis between pickering and mississauga, and as long as i have at least 2 bars of signal strength my magic is very fast over 3g
Thanks guys for the quick response. I think I found the problem. I had called Rogers support again and they said that it is due to my sim card being a 2G one. I need to replace it with a 3G. Hopefully that will fix the problem.
Thanks
I too have been having internet/email issues since last Thursday using my Treo 750. The symbol toggles between 3G and H and usually does nothing but comes back with an error message saying something like 'cannot find this page...'. I travel between Oakville and Concord every day with the same issues. The phone worked perfectly in Brantford last night...so I don't think it's a hardware issue. The tech support guy grabbed a treo and tried and was able to connect on EDGE....not 3G.
I tried my sim card in my sons Motorola Risr and it works perfectly....on EDGE. They tech support guy said they were having issues with 3G last Thurs/Friday, so I'm wondering if whatever they did last week is affecting some older phone models (I've had mine for 1 1/2 years now). Not sure if I can (or if I want to) configure my treo to connect via EDGE instead of 3G...
Anyone having the same problem?
Very odd indeed. I got my new sim card but still doesn't fix my problem. At least I'm not the only one experiencing the same problem. As far as I know, the 3G and H symbol are he same thing according to rogers tech guy, correct me if I am wrong. I'm going to call again today to see if I come up with anything.
Just got off the phone with Tech Support again. They are sending me a new Sim Card, but from the sounds of it, that's probably not going to fix the problem. He WAS going to do a free hardware swap until he discovered the phone is out of warranty. Then it was basically "oh gee, three year contract, one year warranty...tough luck".
Yep, the G and H are the same thing. Since mine is switching back and forth, he said the phone is hunting for a signal.
When I asked why the phone worked perfectly in another city he couldn't give me a good answer. I have to go back to Brantford tonight, so I'll get a chance to repeat the experiment.
Listen folks. It has nothing to do with your SIM card, nor your phone. The reps at rogers, I for one, ASSUME it could be the sim card, but really, most of the reps cannot differentiate an incompatible SIM with a compatible one, so they send you out a new one anyways, just to get you off the phone because they really don't know what the cause is and they have no hands on the status of the networks and network problems other than what is posted in library by the actual IT department, which do not directly communicate with the centers.
To sum it up. Rogers 3G network is garbage! and that DNS issue is not isolated to the metro area, it's here too in Newfoundland. DNS resolution is extremely slow, even with OpenDNS, which means it's their switches that are garbage and most likely being bogged down. Rogers thinks they had solved the problem by throttling the 3G bandwidth to ~3Mbit and the upstream to less than 150K, (My assumption), however, that isn't working.
From my guess is that the request is sent to Rogers networks, which cache that request then caches the pages and sends it to your device, making it appear you have a fast connection.
Anyways, sometimes I find the EDGE network a lot faster..especially in the DNS resolution area.
"It has nothing to do with your SIM card, nor your phone"
My feeling exactly. It just seems a little too coincidental that everything was just fine until they had a network "issue" late last week.
So, being a mechanical guy with very little knowledge of how a these things actually work, is there a way for me force the treo750 to use the EDGE network?
Never mind, I got a hold of a guy at Rogers who seemed to know his stuff. He told me to get the latest OS from Palm and then how to go in and set it up for EDGE. We'll see how that works.
lotacus said:
Listen folks. It has nothing to do with your SIM card, nor your phone. The reps at rogers, I for one, ASSUME it could be the sim card, but really, most of the reps cannot differentiate an incompatible SIM with a compatible one, so they send you out a new one anyways, just to get you off the phone because they really don't know what the cause is and they have no hands on the status of the networks and network problems other than what is posted in library by the actual IT department, which do not directly communicate with the centers.
To sum it up. Rogers 3G network is garbage! and that DNS issue is not isolated to the metro area, it's here too in Newfoundland. DNS resolution is extremely slow, even with OpenDNS, which means it's their switches that are garbage and most likely being bogged down. Rogers thinks they had solved the problem by throttling the 3G bandwidth to ~3Mbit and the upstream to less than 150K, (My assumption), however, that isn't working.
From my guess is that the request is sent to Rogers networks, which cache that request then caches the pages and sends it to your device, making it appear you have a fast connection.
Anyways, sometimes I find the EDGE network a lot faster..especially in the DNS resolution area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love ripping on Rogers for being crap, they are, but the network is downtown Toronto is far from crap. And it is not throttled. I have had repeated speedtests reach 3900kb/s with the average around 3100kb/s. Thats not too bad considering the crap they put up with in the states on AT&T.
bcrook said:
I love ripping on Rogers for being crap, they are, but the network is downtown Toronto is far from crap. And it is not throttled. I have had repeated speedtests reach 3900kb/s with the average around 3100kb/s. Thats not too bad considering the crap they put up with in the states on AT&T.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, compared to the 3G in the U.S I would agree that Rogers has an edge, 3G here in Newfoundland is still in it's infancy, well still is everywhere. We just got 3G last winter I believe.
what newfoundland has 3G?
now hell really has frozen over (ha)
Im from dildo bay

[Q] Orange UK - 3G does not work..

Hi all,
Wonder if you can help me as I'm beginning to lose it with this phone..
I've not had a decent connection since I bought the phone back in september. Basically a 3G signal means no connection. Nothing happens, no data. When its on the 'H' sign it works really well but it stays on H for like 10 seconds before switching back to 3G.
I've googled this problem and it seems I'm not the only one with this issue. I've changed the network settings, and even tried various radios to no avail. I have good 3G coverage in my area so there shouldn't be a problem at all. Even in central london it doesn't work. It's too unstable and virtually unusable..
Can anyone suggest any other possible solutions to this please?
Thanks
Talk to lennyuk about this
He got on well against orange and can tell you the story of what's wrong
I had this problem before! Orange just sent me a new SIM and it was all sorted !
Thanks chaps,
I've just PM'd Lenny!
alex: I'll ring them up and ask them to send me a new one if it still doesn't work. I'm sooo not looking forward to explaining to them what the issue is...haha
Ah, I had this problem, and it left me 4 months without data thanks to oranges stupidity.
Anyway a short term fix will be to dial *#*#4636#*#* and go phone options, then change your network in the drop down box to 2g only (or similar can't remember the phrase it uses)
2g still works all the time.
As for the long fix, you will need to speak to orange and demand to speak to "high tech" support they can fix it (well they did for me eventually). The problem they said was that my phone was connecting to both an old tower and a new "super tower" they orange UK are installing across the country, this confused the phone and messed up its data connection when on 3g, as it was trying to pull data from 2 towers at one time.
Orange eventually forced me onto one tower (or so they told me) and for a large part the problem was solved from there on in.
You do have to remember as well though the Hero has some 3g compatibility issues with Orange's existing network (again stupid orange), this is something that can never really be fixed.
Orange support can be very helpful if you speak to the right people, don't be afraid to tell them to put you through higher up straight away.
Hope this helps.
Thank you very much for the informative reply Lenny
I'll keep you all updated.
Just a quick update..
I had 2 weeks of stable connection up until a few days back! It had been fine ever since Orange fixed the 3g/gprs problem after it went down for everyone. Probably due to the low traffic? (see below)
So I phoned Orange yesterday and explained my problem and asked to be put through to the 'high tech' department. However, after a while being on hold, the 1st line support advisor said she'll call me back asap as the techies were busy. She called back about 20min later, just as I popped downstairs for 30 seconds! Anyway, she left a message explaining the problem. Turns out that my area has 2 masts both of which are running at full capacity, and there's not enough bandwidth for everyone, hence why my connection has been unstable. She also said that they're going to be upgrading the capacity on the 18th which should fix it.
Another thing she mentioned was that, next month when orange and tmobile merge there's going to be more masts for our phones to connect to - more coverage and bandwidth. You can sign-up to trial this on the orange website.

Best Way to Test Signal

Can anyone suggest the best way to test cell signal on the S7 Edge? My wife and I both have the same phone, but hers consistently seems to report more bars in the same location. I've had calls drop quite often on the first dial and then they stay connected the second time I call. I'm looking to test both phones and see if it's all in my head or if there really is an issue with my device. Any help would be appreciated on an app to use or other way to test the two phones. Thanks.
did you try phone info fromthe play store.
under monitor it will tell your signal strength. I believe through its service menu you also preform a signal test.
Yeah, but those numbers don't mean anything to me. Other than saying moderate for level, it doesn't say much.
Edit: My wife is not home right now, so maybe I'll install this on both phones and see if there is a difference in the same location;. Just wondering what options are out there for testing.
when you look i phone info under signal strength the number tells how good your calling capability is,
It is measured in dBm.
average should be should be around -101 dBm for full bars depending on your provider.
compare it with your wife's signal strength.
Keep in mind that software plays a part, please check that base band version and csc is the same.
Different base bands and csc means that signal strength can vary.
These should be identical as these two items communicate with your phone provider re reception and transmission.
Phones are both stock. Same provider and same software version. I'm pretty sure I've got reception issues because of the dropped calls. Like I said, she's not home right now to test, but in looking at bars previously, she always seems to have more bars in the same location as me. My phone in our condo here is always around -111 to -120 (LTE). That is right on the cusp of bad from what I can tell. Not sure where to go from here. Really don't want to do a factory reset, but I've read it can help clear up problems like this. Not sure how. Might be a lemon, as I've only had the device since February.
i suggest you call your provider and ask them to reset your phone on their system.
It might cause a difference because of flushing out of any information that may have been related to issues on your account.
Cosmic Blue said:
i suggest you call your provider and ask them to reset your phone on their system.
It might cause a difference because of flushing out of any information that may have been related to issues on your account.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmmm...not sure what this is or what it would do. Never heard of such a thing.
Just got another dropped call. Signal was about -114. I placed a call. While it was connecting, the signal went to about -130 and then to -102 and then dropped. On a second attempt, the signal went to -97 and it connected fine.
Normally when you call your provider to report a problem with your phone.
One of the things they do is to reset your account in case there is an issue in your file as well as doing other tests.
It is similar to you cleaning the cache on your phone from time to time as bits and piece of old files then to slow down your phone.
Try to swap the SIM cards and check what happens.
So this is an older thread, but the issue had been ongoing. Lots of things tried. New sim. Called Rogers (my provider here in Canada) and had them reset mobile connection settings on their end. Tried resetting on my end. Seemed to get better and then back to being an issue again.
Lately it had gotten worse. When I would drive home and park in our parking garage, I would immediately go into roaming mode and was no longer connected to the Rogers network. I was then connected to Rogers-EXT because I had enabled data roaming on my device, from a previous call to Rogers, it was their suggestion to try and keep connectivity, as it is included in my package. The phone would stay roaming as I rode the elevator and into my condo and then usually connect to WiFi and then eventually reconnect to the main Rogers network. Meanwhile this never happened on my wife's S7 Edge, going the same route from her vehicle. Same device, exact same settings, same software version, same updates, etc. Her's never entered roaming mode or got disconnected from the main Rogers network.
Lately, when mine had been entering roaming mode and after I entered my condo, it would stay connected to Rogers-EXT. No matter what I did, a reboot, turn roaming on and off, etc. I had to physically remove myself from the LTE network and then reconnect and register with the network, and then I would connect to the main Rogers network and stop roaming. This was all getting damn frustrating, especially since the same thing was not happening to my wife's phone.
One setting I had not read much about and had not tried was VoLTE. I went into settings and turned this off. I immediately started getting a bit better readings on signal strength as well as no roaming issues any longer at all. I could park, ride the elevator and get into my condo and stay connected to the main Rogers network without issue, exactly like my wife's phone. Funny thing is, VoLTE is ON, on my wife's phone.
I really have no idea why her's works and mine doesn't, other than a hardware issue on my device. I thought about sending my phone in, as I'm still under warranty until the end of December, but right now, everything is working as expected and I haven't heard call quality suffer at all, with the calls I've made so far. I really didn't want to have to wipe my device and send it in and deal with a loaner if I didn't have to. I only plan on keep the device until about August of next year anyway.
If anyone out there knows of why this was happening to my device and not hers or if you have any other suggestions as to how to fix this and re-enable VoLTE (although I don't think it's really that important), please let me know. Again, it sure seems like a hardware (antenna) issue to me.
Aaaaaaaaand nevermind. Worked fine for about 3 days and today it was roaming again after coming up from the parking garage. Ugh. Wish I knew for sure this was a hardware issue. Such a pain to send your phone in, use a loaner, set your phone all up again when you get it back.

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