Database Users

Loss of signal.

Hi,
I have just upgraded to PPC 2003 and it looks and feels great. Thanks for posting the update.
But I have run in to problems. I am currently running 4.00.1 and have Radio version 4.21.00. I am an O2 UK customer. However since the upgrade I have lost 90% of my signal. Now where I used to have full signal i.e on my desk, I have one bar or worse NONE. Where as at home, I have none!! Is this a know issue? If so does any one know how to get round it? :?:
Pleases help…
Thanks, Gil.

This is a known issue. I have encountered the same problem. But if you notice the actual quality of a call or GPRS connection is better than before. I let me to conclude that the signal bar is not displaying the actual signal strength. I have had no problems for the last 2 weeks since installing.

Thanks Fadyco, it seems that the signal monitor is bugged as you said. Even when it says I have no signal I can still receive incoming calls
On a slightly different note, did you have any trouble configuring GPRS? I cannot get mine to work. It connects but then when I look at a site of try to connect to MSN Messenger it comes up with 'The page you are looking for cannot be found'. I know for a fact that www.google.co.uk exists
Thanks, Gil.

Well, i've had no problems with GPRS connection, but I am in a different country...Jordan...I did have the same problem, but when i press ok after the error is displayed, the page loads fine. Always onn connection works great too, checks my email every 5 min and messenger is flawless!

Not sure about you guys, but as GPRS costs the earth, i like to make sure it's only been used when i tell it to. Also battery life would be impacted.........i want to be able to turn it off without disabling the phone and then re-enabling it.

Gil said:
On a slightly different note, did you have any trouble configuring GPRS? I cannot get mine to work. It connects but then when I look at a site of try to connect to MSN Messenger it comes up with 'The page you are looking for cannot be found'. I know for a fact that www.google.co.uk exists
Thanks, Gil.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try running welcome.exe thats located in your \windows root folder.
I know it sounds strange but most of the time it works/will fix that 'The page you are looking for cannot be found' problem.

I am using a program called IPDashboard. While it works great for WLAN usage it has recently been updated for the PocketPC Phone. It is a Today plug-in that displays network information but more importantly it displays signal strength as a real percentage versus the suspicious bars that I can no longer trust. It does seem to indicate that the signal strength is significantly better than what is being displayed.
Can this be trusted over the standard Signal Strength meter? I am not sure at this point since I just installed it last night so more testing is required.
I am curious to see what others think of this program and whether or not the signal strength IPDashboard displays contradicts what their Signal Strength meter shows.
I do not have the website handy here at work but if you search for IPDashboard over at Handango.com you come up with the trial ware version which will last for a week.

Hi Qman , I tried running Welcome as you suggested. But I still get the warning... I think it may be to do with the GPRS settings.
ottoman3 you make a good point. I think that there needs to be some investigation regarding signal strength. I do not trust my provider 100% regarding A: Signal Strength or B: Data flow rates. Perhaps this is something that may be of interest to every one.
Gil.
[/quote]

Gil, you reminded me of another feature that IPDashboard included with the 1.2 update. They now track data xmit/rec'v over GPRS. The original version only graphed ongoing data usage. Again I am only guessing this program's accuracy at this point. I only used it for the network information before ths last update, not for data usage reporting.
I also have GPRS Monitor so I will start comparing both programs and look for any discrepancies. GPRS Monitor was always over what T-Mobile indicated on the bill. Don't get me wrong, I do see this as a good thing to keep me from going over my 10 meg limit. But now with the unlimited data option I wouldn't mind a more accurate reading on data usage. Just for kicks and giggles.

I love my Wiz now, but why is it so lame 'out of the box'?

I love my MDA more and more now. But after my first week or two i was begining to think i had made a mistake buying it. Thanks to the kind and helpful folk around here and other forums, i now have it doing everything i wanted it to do and in the way i want it to do it.
I use it for TomTom, playing DIXed DVD's, music, podcasts, games, the usual email/web duties and more. And thanks to the great WiFi 'G' reg hack i can now stream my large lossles FLAC files (with the help of fantasitc Conduits Pocket Player) right into my Hifi system, just like my Squeezebox 3 media player. It's actually much better than an ipod (albeit with less storage when out of the house - although i could access my music at home from a hotspot). A fully fledged media streaming device for free! (well, a small fee for Pocket Player and a 2.5mm to 3.5mm jack adaptor).
Not only does this hack also enable 'g' speeds, but i can confirm that it also massively increases performance on 'b' speed networks too (which mine is limited to due to being an 'adhok' network).
Sure, a faster proc, better camera and maybe even 3G would be nice. But i have no wish to ever make video calls or use Skype (i'm the geek of the group and no-one else i know uses it).
I understand there will always be better third party software (Media Player is an utter waste of space for example) but why should we have to make techy and annoying tweaks to the registry, just to get the best from the unit? Why the hell do we need to hack the reg just to make a basic settings change, such as hiding SIM contacts (which is an option in just about every mobile from the last 5 years).
Is it just bad planning? Poor thinking on the manufactures part? or is there just a genuine reason for 'hiding' these settings and not making them accessable from standard menu's?
The older i get, the less time i have to mess around so much. I have better things to do these days to be honest.
Surely they would have more to gain by activating the performance increases themselfs, rather than us more tech savy types to figure out how to alter the registry. Half the things this device has been slated for in reviews can actually be sorted, but the average (make that normal) buyers of this device will be feeling a bit short changed if you ask me.
I guess the only thing left for me to do now is dump the T-Mobile ROM and use a more slimline one. Or maybe i should just figure out who to lose some of the crap from my existing install?
What is it with these companies? Don't they know when they are on to a good thing? Or maybe, just maybe it to keep us coming back for more and upgrading year after year? Hey ho...
/rant over.

Dom
Very interesting topic, well put and one which I'm sure will be relevant to me very soon...y'see my Wizard arrives in two days and it was reading posts such as yours which helped me take the plunge.
I don't mind messing about with PDAs, phones, PCs etc to get the the best performance but (as you rightly point out) we shouldn't have to. However, given the thousand of threads and posts on this (incredibly good) site, I am somewhat confused about what to do first with my Wizard.
So, could you please take a few minutes to post what changes, hacks etc you have done to get yours where you (almost) want it to be?
Many thanks in advance.
Mos

mosgeo said:
So, could you please take a few minutes to post what changes, hacks etc you have done to get yours where you (almost) want it to be?
Many thanks in advance.
Mos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first things i would always do after a hard reset (format), after syncing back all my contacts/callender of course...
Reg hacks (main ones, i have forgot a few) -
*Hide SIM contacts (so the dont appear pointlessly twice)
*Enable 'g' speed Wifi
* Disable the annoying 'you are about to go online' message. You will understand when you get yours, VERY VERY annoying - you get it even when you are online and just switch back to PIE.
* There are some good performace tweaks to, which i forgot about.
Essential software i could not be without (some free, some not - unless you are naughty. Don't be naughty now )
*TomTom (Sat Nav)
*Memory Map Pocket Nav + GPS and the O.S. maps i use for walking
*TCPMP - The best video player
* Conduits Pocket Player - the best music player IMO (Streaming, gapless playback and OGG/FLAC support - nice). costs a few beer tokens, but free good alternatives are available.
*Resco File explorer and Reg editor.
*Opera Browser - Renders pages faster than PIE, handles java script etc better and Tabbed browsing makes GPRS speeds much less of a pain.
*Memmaid - for cleaing up temp files, dead registry entries etc.
*Storage tools - for formating and sorting out MiniSD cards - WM5 can't even format a bloody memory card!
*Wififofum - for finding WiFi networks (more for fun than anything).
*OMAPclock - for a bit of overclocking (more for fun again, i rarely feel the need is that great)
*And of course registry wizard for the good people of these forums
Thats about it really for me, but i am finding more cools things everyday to play with but those are my must have ones - i have had to install
A few must have games include, AOE, UFO, 3D pool and Soduko.
Personally i dont use a today plugin. I have not found one i like yet and most have icons etc that are to small on the MDA's small screen or just make clutter rather than really help me. A well organised start menu is enough for me.

Oh, and of course you can flash the ROM. But i have not done this yet. T-Mobiles version does not seem that bad but i hear the O2 version is a real dog and well worth doing. I just worry about lost Wifi and GPRS functionality i have heard about some people having.

Really wasn't expecting a reply so soon, and certainly not such a comprehensive one. Thanks for your time. I may be back with more questions once I actually get my mitts on a Wizard. Cheers!

yes I agree , it is great post, specially for new people like me, I got mine (Qtek 9100) just on Friday, and I am still figuring out its functions.
But I have question - if you have time to answer - I really don't know about WiFi function -which is in the device- , if I want to connect to the internet I should have a wireless router connected to my main PC, is that right ? I have read some of posts in here, that they can connect to the Internet - through their PPC - when they are outside or walking or traveling from area to another, by scanning for the nearby Connection, then they can use it to visit websites, does this cost money when they connect to the Internet using the WiFi ? And how can I do the same if it doesn't cost m money ? Can the "WiFi Fofum" program do this o is it only to scan any available connection nearby ? How can I connect to the internet (through WiFi) when this programm finds connection? And if it is really totally free..
I know this are bunch o Questions But I really want to use this function - if possible - specially that I work outside my city and I have to spend couple of hours travelling almost everyday. I appreciate any comment.

Wireless router at home if you want to use it wirelessly or if you do what I do now and then..... connect via the USB cable to your PC. Out and about you can connect for free if someone has a wireless network within range that has no WEP security enabled
There are wireless spots around the country but you have to pay for the main ones via an account you have to set up (kind of pay as you go) Cloud is one company that runs WiFi hotspots on a PAYG basis.
If you leave your WIFI scanning it will tell you if you are within range of a network, it will also tell you if it is secured or not, if it isn't then 9/10 you can just connect and use it

I have been meaning to make a post just like the OP. You are on the mark, IMO! This situation really begs the question, how can this thing be so feeble out of the box?
Thank you XDA and all of the kind people on this forum. You have been the best!

Thomas1234 said:
if I want to connect to the internet I should have a wireless router connected to my main PC, is that right ? I have read some of posts in here, that they can connect to the Internet - through their PPC - when they are outside or walking or traveling from area to another, by scanning for the nearby Connection, then they can use it to visit websites, does this cost money when they connect to the Internet using the WiFi ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my case, my service provider (Cingular) offers a service called GPRS/EDGE, which lets the Wizard access the Internet through the cell phone connection.
I use the WiFi when I don't have a good connection. Most of the time, for browsing mini-websites and sending e-mails, there isn't much speed difference between WiFi and GPRS. I don't think the Wizard is fast enough to process more than a few 100 kbps of data.
If you don't want to (or can't) pay for a GPRS service, it's possible to "war drive" for access points. The Wizard will find them, although its WiFi reception isn't as powerful as a laptop's.
On my phone, if I enable WiFi, the phone will automatically use WiFi instead of GPRS when WiFi is available. If you don't want to pay GPRS charges, you might want to configure the phone so that it doesn't use GPRS.

can you explain 'wardriving' please? is it just freely using wifi points without paying? bit confused
Thanks

Jamie,
You are correct in your assumption !! You would be amazed at the number of 'unlocked' WiFi routers out there....
Ever tried running Bluetooth detection in a pub and seen how many phones are out there too ?
If you can find an unlocked WiFi router running DHCP - 'Fill your boots' !! Sometimes it's even possible to guess IP addresses of other PC's on the network, access em and leave a kindly note to thank them for their hospitality but warn them of their folly and the potential for disaster......I know I have but then that's me: Mr Altruism

Ok how can I get any internet connection through WiFi ? Should I just enable my WiFi and it'll scan for any available connection nearby ? I did but nothing happened, it wants from me to fill form which I really don't know anything about it... Or do I have to use a program to scan for connection ? And if yes, should my WiFi be enabled ? What is the best program for scaning ? I wish if someone explains me all that and how can start using WiFi to get a connection and an access to the internet but slowly, will be thankful.

Im new to all of this, but what can you do with the registry wizard and how do you install it? I foud a zip file for it, but cant get it to load.
Thanks!

i have a question too if you have the time mate,
I don't exactly want to use the edge since i dont have an unlimited plan or something.how can i delete these settings and do you think any problems will occur?(sending recieving mms)
basicly i don't it to connect to edge(gprs)auto.is there a way to fix this
thanks so much.

HSDPA/3G automatic switching

Hello,
I have just upgraded to the official GPS ROM and I am on the Swedish 3 operator. I have noticed since the upgrade that the network connection is switching from 3G to HSDPA when there is a demand of bandwidth or simply when there is data in either direction.
I can see that the purpose of this was to make it possible and more reliable to place and receive calls during data sessions. I have figured out though, that with the old ROM, there was no such switching (but there was no distinction with the icon, so you really had no idea) and the connection speed was always constantly 1Mbits/s when using Internet Sharing for example. Now with the HSDPA/3G switching/throttling, the connection often drops down to 3G speeds and Skype-calls are lacking quality from this a bit when using Skype in the car which i do quite regularly nowadays using my Jabra JX-10 headset.
I also realize that there is still a problem with outgoing and incoming calls during these automaticly switched-on HSDPA-sessions. That is probably why HTC has decided to keep the HSDPA sessions as short as possible, that's fine, but what boggles me is the algorithm used for the switching. It seems to always kick in HSDPA in the beginning of a new data session, and after a short time of inactivity (while pondering what favourite page to open this time) the connection drops down to 3G and it won't kick back to HSDPA even when you start browsing again, until a certain period of "non-HSDPA-ratio" has been reached and the phone thinks it would be OK to kick in the highspeed again for a little while.
I also noticed that using Skype would keep HSDPA alive once you place a call from a fresh started data session and keep talking ;-)
This is not a particular problem to me, I was just wondering of anyone else here has noticed and had an idea of what the programmers had in mind?
BTW: I am running TomTom 6.010 and Franson GpsGate on the machine now and it works absolutely like a dream. I used to have a Blue-I Bluetooth GPS in the car (Trimble based chipset, only 8 channels but quite OK piece of hardware) but this is far superior when it comes to HOLDING a persistent fix also when moving indoors. The TTFF is quite fast as long as you are outdoors, most of the time i have a fix before i leave the parking space. I noticed there being a dynamic number of satellites of the receiver, sometimes i see 7 out of 8 satellites, and then sometimes i see 10 out of 12! Anyone noticed?
Thanks in advance! Cheers...

It’s not your phone that decide to change from HSDPA mode to normal R99 (384kbits) mode and vice versa. Everything are always controlled by the network. The behaviors that you describe are normal. Besides the HSDPA is quit new for the operators and new parameters needs to be tuned for best performance for every users.
BTW, the degradation that you notice. You are not alone that use HSDPA.... Its finally the big success for 3G

I use Phone Alarm profiles and BandSwitch to control my connection based on business hours. I get a poor singal unless on 3G where my office is located. I force it to GPRS otherwise to save battery.

I have similar problems, cannot receive or start calls when HSDPA connected. Shouldn't that be possible anyway, calling and transferring data at the same time? Or is this a network provider problem?

I too am on the Swedish operator 3. I have an unlocked, non-operator distributed HTC TyTN that I had updated the radio to 1.40xxx and the ROM to Black Dymond 3.5 and was having the exact same problem. I could reproduce the incoming call not getting through error every single time I got the phone to go into HSDPA mode.
After some initial searching I read somewhere it was network dependent (Nokia switches vs Ericsson) and the only way to solve it was to disable the HSDPA using e.g. HTweakC, which I did and it solved the problem, but then of course I couldn't take advantage of the high-speed data access, which was the major reason I got this phone.
I recently noticed that 3 released a new extended ROM with instructions to update the ROM to the latest (as is available on the ftp here) then install their ExtROM. I went to the trouble to try and breakdown what was in this extended ROM, but being a newbie to pocketpc it was all hyroglyphics to me, so I went ahead and installed it over my old HTC ext ROM (which I saved for later use just in case).
When I get around to it I may mount this extended ROM here (I have it, but don't have too much time to put it up right now, so someone may beat me to it).
Anyway, Black Dymond 3.5 didn't install the Extended ROM after a hard reset (assuming that was the intention), so I did it myself afterwards. One initial bug that showed up quickly was the Comm Manager not wanting to start saying it would only manage a max of 7 items (whatever that means). So I installed Schaps latest Comm Manager and it worked fine.
Well, guess what, now there's a daemond that starts on boot and the phone app is different (another bug is that the text on the phone app buttons remain in the 3 theme although I changed back to black, but that's minor), but now I cannot replicate the no incoming calls during HSDPA error.
Apparently they've added something that makes the phone connect properly to their 3G/HSDPA network for call handling. Now I've got full HSDPA speed and no problem on incoming calls (plus still have Black Dymond's great VOIP/SIP WM6 solution).

Ok, as a noob I of course missed the fact that the daemon starting at boot is Voice Commander. Still the actual phone app/dll is somehow different with this ExtROM and it's solved my problems.

Really annoyed data connection problems, and mini review

Got my blackstone today. Network unlocked and my step back into the world of windows mobile.
I stuck an O2 payandgo simcard in and connected the WIFI.
I then started playing, after a bit thought lets see what the 3g data speed is like found the o2 settings and set the data connection slider to on.
I moved out of range of the wireless and went on a couple of websites speed was good and useable for facebook etc.
However one massive problem on reconnecting to the wifi I left the data connection open as you would I mean it's on all the time right.
All of the traffic from the following web browsing nailed my £10 down to 17p.
It would not use the wifi saying in google maps "an internet connection is required" if I turn off the 3G data connection it connects through the wireless, turn it back on and it *****es and moans at me.
WTF I said rather loudly, so a data connection over 3G is a higher priority than my 20Mb cable line here over wireless.
The web stuff is good although opera is a bit irratating at times, we need skyfire for this beasty.
I love the screen and the keyboard works well. The touchflo is lagging quite a lot and the screens can take a bit of thinking before they close.
Not sure if I need to upgrade the firmware. 1.14.405.3 (222373) WWE.
I am really hacked off as now I have to put another £10 on the phone to test properly within my 14 days. Or just straight up send it back and get an X1 or an Omnia. Help me out guys.

Works fine for me, wifi prioritised over 3g whenever it's connected. However, some apps only select which connection to use when they're started, can't remember if this applies to googlemaps. Try restarting it and see if it works over wifi.
Useful tip if you want to control what uses 3g: goto control pannel/buttons, and set the end key to disconnect 3g. Then you have a quick shortcut to turn it off, and you can see at a glance in the status bar if it has reconnected (the H above the signal strength). It's also useful if you set the X button to close apps rather than minimise, otherwise you might still be using an app that thinks it's on 3G even when you come back into range of wifi.

Thanks for the reply arfster. What you say makes perfect sense, I have used the Tweak HD to change the close on x and set the end button as a 3g off switch. Will put another £10 on and see how it goes

With Tweak HD you can easily make the performance of the TF3D alot better. Made the device much better workable for me.

I have changed some settings and it has improved, I'm going to have a proper play with it when it's charged and some stuff has finished copying to it Overall I am very pleased with the hardware (camera excluded but I knew that), it makes one of the guys Iphone's look weak and feeble! the 8gb card in the box was a bonus as well
It's just some bits with the software that are bugging me, after looking around the forum a bit more it would seem that I have a World Wide English rom, need to know if I can upgrade to a euro rom of a later version. I'll keep updating this thread I think with my impressions as I go along, probably from the device most of the time to get used to the keyboard. Good times software can be fixed hardware can't.

There is an app called nodata which allows you to turn on and off GPRS data connection, You can simply toggle data connection off when you don't want to use your PAYG credit, no matter what apps are requesting for data.
BTW, there are tweaks to speed up your Touch HD device including Opera.

[Q] Blacklisting particular cellsites

This there a way on the Nexus 4 to stop the phone from connecting to particular mobile network cells?
As can be seen in the screenshot entitled cells.jpg, I can pick up eight cell sites at my home location, however one or two of them are very slow (<1mbps and high pings), yet some of the other sites are very fast (see speed test attached). Obviously the quickest way is for the network to fix the fault, however since the issue has been on-going for a quite some time, I'm thinking that I should take some action myself!
As I am a heavy data user, I'm not too bothered about cell handovers and such (and I'm willing to accept a dropped call - if need be), but is there a way I can force the phone not to connect to cells with particular IDs?
Many thanks.