A lot of text further below, but a simple question or two I would be interested to get a response to: anyone else on the Three UK network noticed any signal issues and performance problems from new to recently? Did you find an answer that made sense? Did you receive one or two Samsung firmware updates from the day the Pebble Blue arrived (on 9th June I think?)
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I've had a good read through some similar threads here and elsewhere, but there is no gold standard answer so far that makes sense to me or anyone it seems. I have many thoughts running through my mind being new to Android coming from iPhone 4.
Phone is the S3 on Three UK network on the Dorset coast, typical signal strength at home is 3 of 4 bars and it now seems to cycle from H to either H+ or 3G, (but I could have sworn that I had more H+ when new?)
Initially Speedtest gave me a download of 6Mbps which knocked the socks off my O2 iphone (2Mbps), but over the past week/ten days I'm lucky to get 1Mbps at home (at work it has dropped from 1Mbps to 0.1) I've also had phone call issues where I can't hear them, but they can hear me (I know, it could be my provider, but I've checked their website daily and no issues are reported) and this is often with three or four bars. The amount of times websites can't load is frustrating and my other half's Blackberry seems to have no issue on Three. Data roaming is also set up.
Other threads have made me wonder about the firmware update. I know could flash, but there's no suggestion that this works. I also read somewhere that there should have been two updates for me, one at 21MB (which I downloaded) and a second at 31MB, which I have never seen or found OTA or on Kies.
Any opinions appreciated.
The problem is most likely the same as mine.
Since 22 May Three can roam 3g data (not just 2g calls/txts) onto the Tmobile/Orange network. Problem is if the nearest (strongest signal) cell is TMob/O it may well have a much lower bandwidth plus congestion which will dramatically affect internet useage. My dl speeds have gone from 5-6 mb down to 250kb with frequent timeouts. Unfortunately this doesnt constitute a network problem as far as Three are concerned, in fact they are [email protected]@ters because they have just told me thay have been trying to contact me for days re this on my landline number when I have never had a landline number to give them!!
Atb
Chris
SSThing said:
The problem is most likely the same as mine.
Since 22 May Three can roam 3g data (not just 2g calls/txts) onto the Tmobile/Orange network. Problem is if the nearest (strongest signal) cell is TMob/O it may well have a much lower bandwidth plus congestion which will dramatically affect internet useage. My dl speeds have gone from 5-6 mb down to 250kb with frequent timeouts. Unfortunately this doesnt constitute a network problem as far as Three are concerned, in fact they are [email protected]@ters because they have just told me thay have been trying to contact me for days re this on my landline number when I have never had a landline number to give them!!
Atb
Chris
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Click to collapse
Thanks Chris, that all makes sense given what I've experienced and picked up in parts elsewhere. I am guessing that Orange are the other carrier as when I check available networks they do not show up, but instead a "second" Three network does (which does not allow a connection).
Having said that my DL speeds only changed since about mid June?
Not impressed
http://everythingeverywhere.com/
http://forums.reghardware.com/forum/1/2012/05/23/ee_network_intergration/
Im not impressed either. Whole reason for signing up on the One Plan was to do away with my landline (which I did as soon as I confirmed I was getting better dl from my phone). Now I am lucky if I can look at more than two or three webpages before my connection times out, BBCIplayer, 4od and other streaming sites are completely out of the question, as is the updating of my phone with CM9 or updating maps or other large file downloads.
As I have mentioned though, this does not constitute a problem as far as Three are concerned, increased coverage is their priority, they dont ACTUALLY want us to be using up data bandwidth. I have spoken at length to Ericsson who maintain the network who have confirmed the issue I am having, I mentioned to them I was considering cancelling my contract and swapping to TMobile and even they said no point, the issue ISNT with Three, its the fact I am connecting to the closest cell which is Tmob/O. I am quite rural and for years the ONLY network available here was Orange, so naturally most people around here are on Orange (who as we know only offer very restricted data allowances anyway). But all the Tmob/O customers are hogging the bandwidth with their FaceBooking and stuff leaving nothing for me, lol.
Atb
Chris
I am also having this problem. I've had two SGS3s on Three and they're both been the same.
The thing is, my wife's is the same on Orange. I see a lot of other users are having this problem.
I'm browsing the Internet, with 'H', then it goes to '3G' and it just drops out. Phone calls are choppy at best. I can stream video for about a minute before it drops out.
Not impressed.
Hi Guys,
I thought I was going mad, I'm using a galaxy note and at the beginning I thought it was an issue with the phone.
I've had 4-6mb speeds going down to 1-1.5mb and upload speed not going above 100k and dropping, thus making voip telephony or skype virtually impossible.
I called up their tech support they tried to bull**** me with all kinds of excuses, I then told them I have a note a nexus and also tried the sim card on a sony p tablet all of them have the same issue, disgusting speeds.
Something is wrong with their network and this happened suddenly around the 25th of June around the Hampshire area.
I'm thinking about complaining to ofcom and see what happens... not happy
Related
Hello all
I was just wondering.. I noticed shortly after I bought the Hermes that I did not receive calls when the Hermes had a HSDPA connection. Collegues were complaining they got my voicemail while I was in the car.
It turned out that TomTom Navigator used HSDPA to retrieve traffic information and as soon as it was on HSDPA, people who called me, got my voicemail instead of me and my phone never rang . When I reduce it to 3G I didn't have any problems. I never used HSDPA again and always disabled it in newer roms.
Now, I assumed it was a firmware-issue but I never persued it any further. I tried several Radio roms but I experienced it with every single version. I forgot about it but I recently remembered it and I got the idea of asking all of you if you also experience this problem or is this something that is going wrong with either my Hermes or my provider?
Thanks for your comments!
I'm just throwing my ten cents in:
I've had similar problems with my Hermes: I'll be on a call, then the call will go silent (even though my screen says "Connected")...then, about 5 seconds later, the call ends. Most of the time, when I've thought about checking, it appears that it's happening when my phone is either trying to get a data connection, or has one active. However, it can happen when my phone has the "3G" data connection speed symbol; it doesn't appear to be limited to HSPDA for me.
I'm not sure if it's a problem with the ROM or the radio...There is a newer radio version, but I've heard that the one I have (1.48.00.10) is the best one, functionally. I'm wondering if it's the ROM I'm having issues with, but I REALLY hate the idea of flashing a new ROM.
If I get a solid answer, I'll let you know more, but it's something of a mystery to me, too right now.
The problem that you are facing has nothing to do with the radio firmware in your phone but instead caused by the Operator's network. It is known that certain versions of the HSDPA (early versions) implementations does have limitations where if you are on HSDPA, calls cannot come in.
This limitations should have been resolved in the new HSDPA implementation which is a mere software upgrade in the basestations.
Hope that this shed some light on your problems.
wiltonlee said:
The problem that you are facing has nothing to do with the radio firmware in your phone but instead caused by the Operator's network. It is known that certain versions of the HSDPA (early versions) implementations does have limitations where if you are on HSDPA, calls cannot come in.
This limitations should have been resolved in the new HSDPA implementation which is a mere software upgrade in the basestations.
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Click to collapse
So, basically, what you're saying is that my provider is running old software in their basestations
Can you define "old"? Are we talking about weeks, months, years? My provider claims to have a top-of-the-pops network but if what you're saying is the case with them, they are not living up to their contract. I pay about 75 Euros (about 110 dollars) a month for degraded functionality. If that is true, I will file a complaint, ofcourse.
Just curious if it is my area I live in or me screwing around with my phone. I live in Fresno, CA and we've had HSPA+ here for a couple of months. I was averaging around 3mbps down and 1.5 up from my house and 4-5k at my office. All of the sudden I am getting extremely poor 3g speeds. 200-300k at my house and 600-700k at my office. Just wondering if anyone is from the area here and if they are experiencing the same issues.
The only thing I did was flash the JPM froyo to mess around. I am now back running Bionix fusion 1.1 with stock kernel and ji6 modem.
Edit: Going to Odin back to official JI6, I'll post results in case anyone is curious.
Edit 2: Didnt work, still getting the same speeds. Just talked to a friend of mine down in southern CA and he is no longer getting HSPA+ speeds on his vibrant. Anyone else having an issues like this?
Anyone else in HSPA+ areas having this happen?
yes. very strange. and its ****ing pissing me off too.
i work in addison, tx (dallas suburb basically) and i used to get 4 to alllmost 6mbps down at work. up speeds have always sucked a nut but that's fine with me because you're only sending http requests most of the time so 300kbps is fine.
past few months it has become VERY spotty. some days my down speeds are under 200, the ping times out, and my up speeds are 1.2-2mpbs (WTF!?) this is with four full bars most of the time. its so bad that with the awesome ups, pages IMMEDIATELY time out, i cant even browse little mobile sites like m.facebook.com a lot of the time.
outside of this area, everything seems to go back to almost normal again. i no longer get 4+ down speeds anymore, but they're better, 1.5-2 i can live with.
it started happening before i rooted the phone and flashed any roms. and has never gone back to normal with the other roms i've tried, so im pretty sure it is a network issue.
the only other thing i could think of is maybe my sim card is crapping out, but i dont have another sim to test, as all of my friends dont have tmobile smartphones with a data plan and i'm way too lazy to go back to stock and go argue with a tmobile store rep to get a new sim card for free. mine is probably at least 6 years old at this point.
see what i mean? this could be better i guess since it wont let me select a server near me (this is renton, wa)
pings, in order as those are shown in the screencap are:
92ms
160ms
111ms
93ms
also, instead of UMTS like it used to say, now it just says "Network: Cell"
this makes no sense.
I'm running stock jfd firmware still and my 3g has been sucking ass as of late as well and I'm near Dallas. I was in Addison Saturday night with full bars and good signal and couldn't do anything. Tried espn mobile and it was so slow. Forced it back to edge and it was a lot better. Tmo 3g here in dfw is hit or miss.....mostly miss. I was in Grapevine a cpl wks ago and was getting 5mbps down...never seen that before around here. But I still say its hit or miss mostly.
I have noticed that the 3g speeds I've been getting here in beaumont, tx are way below what I used to get as well. Sometimes 3g is even slower than edge!
I wonder if maybe the T-Mobile network is simply getting overloaded?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
im in san antonio and im getting the same average of about 4.5/1.5 like i have since the network upgrade. no problems here so far...i did notice my friends G2 has the H instead of the 3G but isnt any faster than my Nexus or my Vibrant, i figured the g2 would blow away my phones but his g2 averages about 4.5/1....
ive asked this in several different threads and cant seem to get a straight answer. maybe im asking wrong, so I am trying to make my question as clear as possible:
I am trying to figure out if im getting tmobiles new network in my area; (4g/hspa+). before I get flammed, yes, i do realize that our phones wont get 21mps download speed on the new network and the best we should see is 7.2mps, but probably wont get that in real world experience.
So i have been getting better speeds in the past few weeks in my area (between 1.5 and 3mps download) but that alone does not tell me if i am getting a good 3g signal or poor 4g/what ever its called signal.
When you go into settings> about phone> status, it says mobile network type. I am assuming that the Mobile network type will change depending if on new network, 3g, or edge....? (hspa, hspa+, hsdpa) Can anyone confirm or deny that this should or will change depending on what area we are in and what type of data connection we are connected to?
The other way someone told me to check is by downloading mobile signal widget and it will display 3g or H. For me this does not seem very accurate but it does display 3g or H...
The reason I dont know if Im on their newest/fastest network is because they have a coverage map on their website for HSPA+. my city is not on it, but a city about 15-20 miles away is on it. I did not really think i would be getting it since its not my city, but like i said ive noticed somewhat faster speeds, nothing like 4-6 mbs download that would confirm it for me, but enough to make me unsure and question.
so sorry for the long post. basically just wondering if network type under about phone will change depending on if im getting normal 3g or their newer/faster network and if that mobile signal widget is an accurate way to tell
thanks
velocd said:
Just curious if it is my area I live in or me screwing around with my phone. I live in Fresno, CA and we've had HSPA+
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Click to collapse
If you have a vibrant you never got HSPA+, you just benefitted from its speed, the phone isn't capable of the +
Sent from my Galaxy S with GINGERBREAD using XDA app
turbosix said:
yes. very strange. and its ****ing pissing me off too.
i work in addison, tx (dallas suburb basically) and i used to get 4 to alllmost 6mbps down at work. up speeds have always sucked a nut but that's fine with me because you're only sending http requests most of the time so 300kbps is fine.
past few months it has become VERY spotty. some days my down speeds are under 200, the ping times out, and my up speeds are 1.2-2mpbs (WTF!?) this is with four full bars most of the time. its so bad that with the awesome ups, pages IMMEDIATELY time out, i cant even browse little mobile sites like m.facebook.com a lot of the time.
outside of this area, everything seems to go back to almost normal again. i no longer get 4+ down speeds anymore, but they're better, 1.5-2 i can live with.
it started happening before i rooted the phone and flashed any roms. and has never gone back to normal with the other roms i've tried, so im pretty sure it is a network issue.
the only other thing i could think of is maybe my sim card is crapping out, but i dont have another sim to test, as all of my friends dont have tmobile smartphones with a data plan and i'm way too lazy to go back to stock and go argue with a tmobile store rep to get a new sim card for free. mine is probably at least 6 years old at this point.
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I got an extra sim from when I got my vibrant...I'm in arlington..plus my speeds have improved since I got rooted with the new updates and on fusion 1.1 with voodoo
gbakabg said:
I got an extra sim from when I got my vibrant...I'm in arlington..plus my speeds have improved since I got rooted with the new updates and on fusion 1.1 with voodoo
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Click to collapse
every single time ive bought a new phone from tmobile, the rep always takes the sim cards out of the box and uses my existing one.
a buddy of mine left tmobile because they wanted to charge him $20 for a sim card.
i actually brought that up with the tmobile twitter account and they just said "sim cards are usually not free"
turbosix said:
every single time ive bought a new phone from tmobile, the rep always takes the sim cards out of the box and uses my existing one.
a buddy of mine left tmobile because they wanted to charge him $20 for a sim card.
i actually brought that up with the tmobile twitter account and they just said "sim cards are usually not free"
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Click to collapse
That's crazy I've always kept mind...
turbosix said:
every single time ive bought a new phone from tmobile, the rep always takes the sim cards out of the box and uses my existing one.
a buddy of mine left tmobile because they wanted to charge him $20 for a sim card.
i actually brought that up with the tmobile twitter account and they just said "sim cards are usually not free"
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Click to collapse
That's strange. I've always gotten my sim cards free from t-mobile. Just tell them the existing one keeps giving you a sim card error and that when you purchased your vibrant they took the sim card that came with it (because they typically do). They will take your old one and replace it with a newer one.
I told the rep I would not buy the phone without a new sim. He immediately swapped it from my g1 to a new one.
doubt it will help, but have you switched to airplane mode, reboot and then turn airplane mode so it finds your network again? I didn't even have data this morning and that fixed it.
Remember t mo is in the process of a major upgrade to their network too...
Every time I buy a phone from a TMO retail store and they go to take the sim I tell them to keep their fingers off and leave it in the box because I paid for it already. What they will do is put it in their binder for when the next poor schmuck walks in having lost their sim so they can get charged for it.
They try to give you the same BS about it costing money and maybe that's true if you lose it, but not with a brand new phone purchase. Even my new Vibrant I ordered from loyalty came with a new SIM in the box. I just kept it as a spare. The things these stores do to double-dip a measily $20.
honestly i probably should have but i assumed it was normal since i have never had network connection issues when going to buy a new phone. i've never even batted an eyelash when they did this.
if i odin my phone back to stock and take it up to them i'll definitely bring it up if they try to charge me.
I've been noticing for awhile now that my mobile data speed has been really crapping out, even worse than usual for where I live in the middle of nowhere. I've tried the .30 .36 & .37 radios with many APN configurations all ending up with about .3Mbps down and 1Mbps up. Now that sucks, but the area where I live is a primarily edge are so I let this go.
However, yesterday my family drove to the coast in Texas from central Texas and in every major city we went through and everywhere the phone said it was getting a solid H+ signal I did a speed test and to my surprise I got around the .3 down and 1 up every time I did. Now that we're here at the coast I have a solid H+ connection and I've tried switching radios and such to still get the same results and the only thing I can figure is that AT&T is throttling my UNLIMITED plan when I have barely hit 5 gigs in a month maybe once or twice in the 5 years I've had the plan.
Obviously if they are throttling me no one can really help me, but im posting here hoping someone out there knows another reason I might be getting such consistent crappy results, and maybe a way to fix it. I appreciate any help anyone has to offer.
Log into your account and look at how much data you've used this current billing period. If it isn't much, then you can probably rule out throttling.
Well my billing period restarts on the 16th so I'm only two days in and I can't have only have used much.
So the throttling resets each month? I just figured once throttled always, which is even more ridiculious but this is AT&T I'm talking about.
Did you even call them to ask? Maybe think there could be issues in the area like tower work/maintenance going on? Sounds like you are just throwing a tantrum when you haven't even bothered calling AT&T or checked your data usage. Maybe the extreme heat has cause problems! Who knows...........but spouting off here about being throttled with no evidence of throttling is kind of pointless and useless!
At&t sent me a text before they would start throttling! Told me over 2 gig is over the limit
Sent from my Nook Tablet using xda app-developers app
CaelanT said:
Did you even call them to ask? Maybe think there could be issues in the area like tower work/maintenance going on? Sounds like you are just throwing a tantrum when you haven't even bothered calling AT&T or checked your data usage. Maybe the extreme heat has cause problems! Who knows...........but spouting off here about being throttled with no evidence of throttling is kind of pointless and useless!
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Okay dude, chill. I am not throwing any kind of tantrum, but the only thing I can think of that would give me such consistent results as I drove across the state of TEXAS using multiple towers as I passed is throttling so excuse me if I assume. Now then if you read the whole title you'll see I asked at the end if maybe I messed something up. Accepting possible fault if someone were to come on here with some kind of positive helpful information indicating that maybe they had done something and is now having the same thing happen. And I fail to see how your rant is useful or has a point. I rarely call AT&T since I have had very poor customer service experience with them and usually good response with some kind of help on here, usually. And if you had read my other comment you would have seen that I stated usual data usage and that I'm only two days into this months billing cycle. Anything else you want to gripe about or did I cover everything?
As far as 2 gigs being the limit, I know there are many months, espically heavy development months since my phone is my only real source of internet access, I have pulled 3 or 4 gigs without receiving a throttling notice or noticing a hit on my data speeds. I'm not trying to call you out in that, I'm just giving my personal experience on the matter, but thanks for the input.
KH_Lionheart said:
Okay dude, chill. I am not throwing any kind of tantrum, but the only thing I can think of that would give me such consistent results as I drove across the state of TEXAS using multiple towers as I passed is throttling so excuse me if I assume. Now then if you read the whole title you'll see I asked at the end if maybe I messed something up. Accepting possible fault if someone were to come on here with some kind of positive helpful information indicating that maybe they had done something and is now having the same thing happen. And I fail to see how your rant is useful or has a point. I rarely call AT&T since I have had very poor customer service experience with them and usually good response with some kind of help on here, usually. And if you had read my other comment you would have seen that I stated usual data usage and that I'm only two days into this months billing cycle. Anything else you want to gripe about or did I cover everything?
As far as 2 gigs being the limit, I know there are many months, espically heavy development months since my phone is my only real source of internet access, I have pulled 3 or 4 gigs without receiving a throttling notice or noticing a hit on my data speeds. I'm not trying to call you out in that, I'm just giving my personal experience on the matter, but thanks for the input.
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"All unlimited-data-plan users who exceed 3GB of data in a single month will now experience reduced speeds on AT&T’s 3G network for the remainder of their billing cycles. 4G subscribers, meanwhile, can use up to 5GB of data in a billing period, after which data speeds will be throttled. AT&T notes that users on the unlimited plan can still use as much data as they like, just at compromised speeds."
"Mobile Services. Service performance may be affected by your proximity to a cell site, the capacity of the cell site, the number of other users connected to the same cell site, the surrounding terrain, use inside a building or a moving vehicle, radio frequency interference, the capabilities of your device, and the applications you use."
Also, you are in TX. I lived in the Houston area and Dallas. I have driven all over that state, so I know what it is like there. High humidity which parts of TX definitely has could be affecting your signal:
"The amount of water vapor suspended in the air is the aspect of the weather that can have the most significant effect on your phone signal. The high frequency radio signals used by cell towers travel best through air that is neither too dry or too damp. If the ambient humidity shifts too far in either direction, signal strength can suffer."
"According to cellphone resource site Cell Phone Advisor, the level of humidity can affect a device's ability to receive signals. Phone signals travel best when the air carries some moisture but is not humid. Extreme levels of humidity are caused by a large amount of moisture in the air and this can affect the radio waves that carry signals to and from your phone. Equally, very dry air with extremely low humidity can affect signals. However, this is usually not noticeable and too much moisture in the air is more likely to affect a signal than too little."
I did read your whole post. I just don't see anything there which shows you are being throttled, and you felt the need to emphasise the throttling by capitalising the word "unlimited". What are you using to measure your data speed with? What application? If it's an app like Speedtest.net are you sure you are setting the app to the closest location to where you are when measuring speed? Are you taking into account that the site you are testing through might be slow? I can run Speedtest through several different providers in the Boston area and get vastly different results because the test sites all have different bandwidths. Similarly, if you are driving across a state/s and you do not update to the closest location you could be speed testing from through the same provider location, but getting further away all the time, or at the very least getting the same results because you are using the same provider to test through.
*data# will answer your data use question.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
Has anyone been having issues with Sprint's overall Network?...
For the past 5 days i have been experiencing MAJOR issues with "NOW" network! ????
Called twice to Sprint and all they have to tell me is they're either "updating" their towers or I'm using my data during "peek" hours!!! But then, i go online and Google "Sprint's outages map" and come to find out, Long Beach CA has been affected with outages along with other cities in the US since the 23rd of August! You would figure that Sprint customer service would be just a lil more helpful than lie to customers. Guess not!...
What about the rest of you guys?
Visting family here in Greenfield Wisconsin.... lte down last night and tonight only 3g... seems to only be late at night though.
Sent from my SM-G900P using XDA Free mobile app
Both my wife and I have been getting stuck in 3G a LOT lately in the North Atlanta, GA area... Although my Note 3 doesn't hold LTE as well as it should after the KitKat upgrade, cycling mobile data off and back on usually fixes it. But for the last week or so, sometimes I can't get LTE back no matter what. And then it just comes back when I quit paying attention to it. But I'll be happy if they're actually trying to improve things, like they've been saying for the last how many years?
This happened when they did the network vision upgrade in my area. Took about 2 or 3 months for it to stabilize. We'll worth it now honestly
Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
They will not report an "outage" if its network vision related or its being upgraded.
Many times if they are adding extra nodes or adding more bandwidth you will lose everything for a few hours, or you will notice your connection constantly dropping and reconnecting ( or at a lower signal) because you are trying to connect to a different tower since the one closest to you is offline being worked on.
The problem is.. everyone else is trying to also connect to that other tower, which overloads it- so people get kicked off or get the lovely 0.02kbps speedtest results.
You will only see an "outage" reported ( that shows up on the web) when either something major happens like a tornado/hurricaine/storm that caused damage, or if some idiot from another utility company accidentally cuts the fiber that goes from the tower to the switch
And in direct correlation to the adding capacity theory, I noticed Llama was not always showing me at home anymore (Llama uses cell towers to perform actions based on location). Did a re-learn area, and two new cells popped up... The sprint upgrade map shows a LOT of "data speed upgrades" in my area, including the tower closest to my house.
bwillet said:
And in direct correlation to the adding capacity theory, I noticed Llama was not always showing me at home anymore (Llama uses cell towers to perform actions based on location). Did a re-learn area, and two new cells popped up... The sprint upgrade map shows a LOT of "data speed upgrades" in my area, including the tower closest to my house.
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The bad thong is sprint want tell you anything other then we have upgrades coming serivxe may be interrupted for a short period
With that said I thunk they have great costumer service
I'm always having problems with their "overall network"
I'm down in Orange County, CA and I have had no issues.
Having the same issues here in CT. I brought my phone in for a repair and the rep said nothing was wrong with my phone. But the towers I was on. The tech on the phone it was hard to believe, I was having issues because, I used over 27gb in the past month. I said yeah, I used about a gig a day streaming .... But, the data is spotty at most, where my streams gets grainy during playback. And before I was getting 8-14 mbs down. Now, I get 3mbs-240kbs down then internet connection failed and this is on 4g.
Sent from my SM-N900P using XDA Free mobile app
I had this issue here in FL. I called sprint and I was told they are upgrading the towers around the area(past 3 days) now everything seems to be fine. At least, they credited me $15 on my current bill.
I received my new XA Ultra from Amazon yesterday. Popped in my SIM and started setting it up. It had two software updates out of the box, so I applied them, then started installing apps. I noticed that my cell connectivity would completely drop (no bars), then come back. When I checked in the Access Point settings, the option to discover carriers would appear, then disappear.
I assumed it was some kind of software corruption, so I factory reset, but it continued doing it. I also tried pulling the sim out and putting it back in several times. I can only assume that I somehow got a defective unit or that one of the software updates applied the radio incorrectly. I processed a return with Amazon and have a replacement coming later this week.
I hope Amazon doesn't turn around and resell it through warehouse deals. I have received a few devices from them that they clearly didn't test and I was very explicit in my comments for the return. I'm just hoping that my replacement doesn't exhibit the same issues because I'm not sure what else it could be. It's not my SIM. All of my other phones stay connected to AT&T just fine in the same spot.
greyhulk said:
I received my new XA Ultra from Amazon yesterday. Popped in my SIM and started setting it up. It had two software updates out of the box, so I applied them, then started installing apps. I noticed that my cell connectivity would completely drop (no bars), then come back. When I checked in the Access Point settings, the option to discover carriers would appear, then disappear.
I assumed it was some kind of software corruption, so I factory reset, but it continued doing it. I also tried pulling the sim out and putting it back in several times. I can only assume that I somehow got a defective unit or that one of the software updates applied the radio incorrectly. I processed a return with Amazon and have a replacement coming later this week.
I hope Amazon doesn't turn around and resell it through warehouse deals. I have received a few devices from them that they clearly didn't test and I was very explicit in my comments for the return. I'm just hoping that my replacement doesn't exhibit the same issues because I'm not sure what else it could be. It's not my SIM. All of my other phones stay connected to AT&T just fine in the same spot.
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Did you check before purchasing that it would connect to I'm guessing by AT&T US network's I know yours are different to ours in the UK. I've not had any problems with my normal xa but I'm in the UK
Sent from my Xperia XA using XDA Labs
aidy.lucas said:
Did you check before purchasing that it would connect to I'm guessing by AT&T US network's I know yours are different to ours in the UK. I've not had any problems with my normal xa but I'm in the UK
Sent from my Xperia XA using XDA Labs
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It's definitely fully compatible. It even downloads the correct APNs, but then they just disappear and the signal drops completely. I get full LTE speeds when it's working and nothing when it's not. I also tested a T-Mobile SIM and, while it holds onto the signal longer, it does the same thing (drops completely).
I plugged the phone into a computer and did a complete software restore, which didn't fix the issue. At this point, I'm sure it's either hardware or a really bad ROM update. I'm hoping it's hardware, because if not, that means that the replacement will have the same issue after applying the software updates to it.
This is my second Sony xa ultra with the same issue here's what happened
Purchases from best buy didn't setup until I got home had 2 update applied them signal drop and reset constantly I figured it was because I have bad reception in my area but the more I looked at the phone I noticed the build quality on the metal bumper wasn't sealed in some areas so I grabbed the packaging and headed back to Best Buy keeping note of the signal issues as I drove there (disconnected from WiFi of course) I noticed the signal did not drop connection at all on the way to Best Buy return the phone and explain to him the issues that I had at home with the signal and also wasn't happy with the build quality defect so I returned it and exchange for another one immediately popped the Sim in it downloaded my APN and I had LTE drove home no drop issues connected to wifi installed the two updates then I drop issue return
630travon said:
This is my second Sony xa ultra with the same issue here's what happened
Purchases from best buy didn't setup until I got home had 2 update applied them signal drop and reset constantly I figured it was because I have bad reception in my area but the more I looked at the phone I noticed the build quality on the metal bumper wasn't sealed in some areas so I grabbed the packaging and headed back to Best Buy keeping note of the signal issues as I drove there (disconnected from WiFi of course) I noticed the signal did not drop connection at all on the way to Best Buy return the phone and explain to him the issues that I had at home with the signal and also wasn't happy with the build quality defect so I returned it and exchange for another one immediately popped the Sim in it downloaded my APN and I had LTE drove home no drop issues connected to wifi installed the two updates then I drop issue return
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The replacement model I received from Amazon did it as well. Right out of the box, before updates, it was dropping the signal. Are you on AT&T?
I watched it really closely. I think I know what's happening. It's not falling back to HSPA. When the LTE is too weak, it simply drops completely until it can reconnect to LTE. If you set it to HSPA only in the mobile networks menu, you will never lose your signal. I tested it with both T-Mobile and AT&T with the same results.
This is a pretty major defect.
You might be on to something, yes I'm also on AT&T.. but I can't find HSPA in mobile network should it be GSM only or LTE (preferred)
630travon said:
You might be on to something, yes I'm also on AT&T.. but I can't find HSPA in mobile network should it be GSM only or LTE (preferred)
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It should be something like "GSM/WCDMA Auto" or "WCDMA only". Basically anything without LTE (except CDMA).
I'm honestly just glad to finally have someone else confirm. The chances of having two defective units in a row are extremely slim. Really liked the device otherwise, too, especially for the price.
I tested it for hours. I never got a disconnect on HSPA when I had that set. I just wasn't willing to live with that restriction.
Me as well!! phone is perfect for the price I paid out of pocket I had a BB gift card. I've been shopping for the right phone for a month now I've had about 5 phone from 700 to 200 bucks the expensive ones we're worth the price and the cheaper ones didn't feed my power craving I'm pretty happy with this one for the moment, thanks for the tip
This may be an AT&T SIM related issue.
I have T-Mobile and with my T-Mobile SIM I have no problems. I tried my friend's AT&T SIM, downloaded the APN, rebooted, and sure enough signal drops just like you're experiencing.
I'm having the same exact issue as previous posts with my Ultra. I purchased the unit from best buy the day it came out and using it on AT&T. I love the phone but the issue with completely losing connectivity is a bit annoying. Called customer service and they gave me the same website to fix software issues. Just curious as to why I'll be in same location without movement and then all of a sudden lose my signal.
I have the same problem using cricket wireless which is using att's network, lte signal comes and goes, this is becoming really annoying, is there a fix for this already, or should i return the phone
So I just got off the phone with Sony and they said I would have to send in the phone for repair leaving me with no phone. I've had issues before with phones and the companies just send you a new unit with a box and return label to send back defective unit. The rep said maybe my provider would give me a loaner phone.... Smh Looks like it might be time to leave Sony. Maybe I'll have better luck with the Lenovo Phab Pro 2 coming out next month.
Same issue here, right out of the box today.... Using AT&T reseller and I would have to agree that it is an issue as was mentioned earlier where the phone is somehow not able to fall back on to HSPA on a weak LTE connection so it just completely disconnects. Strange thing is where I am using it (at my desk in my office) I never had an issue of LTE dropping off with other brands of phones. As soon as I left the cell area and started using it at home or at another location further away I had no dropped LTE signals. I think Sony support will be useless unless we can somehow get past the standard support desk. They told me they have no higher support I can be directed to, that I would either just do a software repair (which I assumed correctly would not work) or send it in to service. Not sure what I am going to do at this point, cannot have my phone jumping out of service every 2 minutes during the work day. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
EDIT: upon further review (using LTE discovery App) it appears that "some" At&t sites are having issues staying connected with LTE band 17 on this phone. I drove up to one of the sites the phone has issues with. It had a solid,strong signal within 1 block of the tower and band 17 still disconnected the radio completely. As soon as it reset and moved to band 4 it stayed on without disconnecting until I moved away from the site far enough for band 17 to kick back in. At that point it continued to disconnect every 1 -2 minutes until I moved the phone mode into HSPA preferred. I don't know what to say about this, band 17 works great on 2 towers within 10 miles of here, but some others and this tower causes the phone to go into a fit. Clearly the phone has LTE issues as any other ATT LTE phone on band 17 I have used in this area has always worked just fine. Anybody have an opinion on this???
I have what I think is the issue, now if we have any way to get this information to anyone who can actually do something about it. I have 2 sites by my home that the phone works flawlessly on LTE... no dropped LTE signal whatsoever. Here is the difference... they are band 17 ONLY sites where the sites my phone is unable to hold a LTE signal when the At&T site is broadcasting both band 4 and 17. That would explain why the rest of the sites around where I work do not maintain a signal either. We need to all contact Sony support and somehow get this information thru to them. The issue is the phone clearly being unable to handle a site broadcasting 4 and 17 which I think is a majority of them.
napali said:
I have what I think is the issue, now if we have any way to get this information to anyone who can actually do something about it. I have 2 sites by my home that the phone works flawlessly on LTE... no dropped LTE signal whatsoever. Here is the difference... they are band 17 ONLY sites where the sites my phone is unable to hold a LTE signal on are both band 4 and 17. That would explain why the rest of the sites around where I work do not maintain a signal either. We need to all contact Sony support and somehow get this information thru to them. The issue is the phone clearly being unable to handle a site broadcasting 4 and 17 which I think is a majority of them.
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It's still not falling back in HSPA like it should. If it has difficulty with an LTE connection, it should not drop connectivity completely.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N930A using Tapatalk
greyhulk said:
It's still not falling back in HSPA like it should. If it has difficulty with an LTE connection, it should not drop connectivity completely.
Agreed, but keep in mind that my XE ultra was 1 block from the tower with incredible LTE signal strength and it still completely shut the radio down and restarted. This is not for lack of signal but a complete inability for it to handle a band 17,4 tower. Although it would be great if it just moved into HSPA, that would mean your phone would be in HSPA 80% of the time, even when the LTE signal was completely adequate for the area. This clearly is a defect that makes the phone basically unusable (as it continually shuts the radio on and off) until Sony can figure this out. My concern... there is no way to talk to anyone at Sony that can do anything about this until they get enough support complaints directly related to this issue, this could take months not including the time they need to program an update and fix. Very frustrating.
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Frustrated with this as well, hopefully sony fixes this problem more sooner than later
Received an update yesterday and I can't confirm 100% but it appears I haven't had as bad connection (popping in and out). I'm in Houston btw.
I got the update and so far phone has been working fine
The latest updates from sony fixed this issue.. so happy and enjoying it now