Signal loss on EE UK S3s? - Galaxy S III Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I'm based in NE England and work in an office with 5 other S3 users all of which are on EE. 2 bought Sim free phones and use an originally Orange Sim, one has a branded Orange phone and one has a branded TMobile one. The other person has a Tmobile 4G phone. The only one that isn't stock is one of the Sim free phones (mine)
All but the 4G phone lose signal several times a day but show 3 bars. There is no data connection and the phones cannot make or receive calls. If they are reset or toggled between 3G & 2G then they work again for a while.
This behaviour happens at work and at home. No other phone user has this problem - there are a few iphone & non smartphone users who gloat constantly
Anyone else suffering as badly as us?

All fine here. Sim free phone under TM contract.
Under carrier it says either TM/Orange never EE for some strange reason.
Exynos SIII; CM10.1

why not post in the help section?

Try different modems and make sure ril/modem match

Here's your answer: EE sucks!!
Lots of people reported signal loss on many different devices, I'll blame EE not S3s.... I've got one of my phones on Orange and since EE showed up, I'm experiencing signal problems as well. Many times people trying to call me, my phone shows full reception but is unavailable and voice mail kicks in!!!! It's annoying but this behaviour is a Network fault. Nothing to do with phone imho.
The only thing you can check is Baseband version (modem) of all phones and compare to the one which works fine. Maybe all except one have wrong modems installed. Unlikely but can happen
Next time use Q&A section to post your problems or questions..
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Hahaha it appears that u're right mate. Working for EE Cust service and nothing but calls abt network issues when EE arrived. )
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Same here in Yorkshire. Was already crap, now even worse.
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Has everyone changed their APN to 'everywhere'? No signal problems here in the south - getting four bars, H+ and 12Mbps data speed.

I'm in the south also, no problems here, in fact excellent!

I get bandwidth issues and signal drops. Been on orange & tmobile for years and it only became an issue with the arrival of EE.
Most of the time the signal/speed is great tho.
I'm north west UK

Worth trying one check correct network settings and two try different modems .
jje

Related

Awful internet spped <50k full 3g, orange?

Maybe a coincidence that I have recently done a factory reset on my sim-free unlocked phone on Orange, but my internet speeds are awful, no better than dial-up with full 3g signal.. Checked mobile network settings and still has Orange profile...
Im sure pre-reset, speeds were good and was getting 300k speeds on 3g..
Could I have deleted some settings???
Probably a coincidence. Where did you get your orange sim?
T-mobile (same company) restrict internet speed unless you buy direct from them.
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Was a contract deal through CPW.. I did read about TMobile restrictions which is why I went for Orange, as I couldnt find anything saying they did the same...
T-Mobile UK restrict the speed even if you buy direct them from them.
That's one of the reasons why I'm getting my PAC this week...
Tmobile here no restriction
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I have T-mobile sim and Orange and the Orange is way slower over hs, lucky to hit half a meg speeds but on T-Mobile i can easily hit close to 2meg speeds.
I also have full bars of HS with orange but only 1-2 with T-mobile but still get the higher speeds.
Orange U.K 3G is rubbish. It's at least 4 times slower than other networks like Vodafone. There is already a thread on this issue. Which has detailed comparisons. Search.
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Sudden signal problem

i thought this would be the best place for a problem i started having about2 weeks ago. i am on vodafone uk.
i used to get 3-4 of the 4 bars reception while sitting at home(as an example). suddenly i was getting 1-2 and sometimes none (all blank).
i thought i would try and eliminate things one by one so here is what i did...
checked with my sim in another phone and another sim in mine. from memory the other phone having my sim was slightly down but not much and my phone with the other sim didnt really change much.
i checked with vodafone by calling them, they said they couldnt see any problems on the network, birmingham uk, but would send a new sim, after getting the sim activated when it arrived, no better. their onling forum is still waiting for a response back from their technical whether there is any problems. i dont see how the phone department can instantly tell me when the technical need many days to find an answer.
i thought it could be the rom so i first updated lite'ning rom to resurrection remix and then to a later version of RR and no change. the newest version of RR has a different kernel, flux i think, than the siyah in the 2 previous roms but again that different kernel didnt improve it. lastly i even changed the modem/radio trying to different ones to the default, xxlpx and kh3 and again no difference.
the only thing that improves it is turning 2G on instead of 3G. the bars go back up to 3-4. even with 3G on previously as i never changed it before it was always fine.
i know this is a long post but i wanted to be thorough as i really appreciate any help as i am now lost as what could improve this.
Mispost
anyone?
I have been having a similar problem on Three for about five weeks now. Despite numerous reloads of Android and modems etc I was getting no results, 5mb dl speeds have dropped to around 150kb despite having a good signal.
After many many calls to so called customer service I have discovered that a new cell tower near to me has been activated as part of the network expansion program and because this cell is closer to me than the one I used to connect to I now get a stronger signal from this so my phone always chooses this. Problem is this cell has only got a 2mb feed INTO it, its a TMobile/Orange cell now being shared with Three....so I am basically fooked.
Check with Vodafone if they have done anything similar recently near you. Three are adamant there are no problems my end, technically they are correct I suppose, its all working, I just cant access the net without it timing out constantly now.
Atb
SST
I am having the same issue with my phone. I get only one bar (sometimes none!) whenever I'm home & I'm on WiFi; however, I get full signal strength when I'm out & on 3G.
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i thought it could be the cell tower thing as there is only 1 vodafone one in quite a large radious, about 2 miles, and many of all the other networks. i dont know why vodafone are happy to have 1 compared to at least 3-4 each for all other providers.
this morning i drove that 1 mile to the vodafone mast and ran fresh network and surely that would have connected to that as i was 5 meters from it. still no better. ??
Just try NELP3 modem once... I had done similar issue once.. Now my network is better..
is nelp3 okay for uk though?
Try flashing another Modem. Im from Germany but i had similar problems. A new Rom would do too i think
All
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Christiancs1969 said:
All
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not sure what you mean with 'all'
Number of options, tower may be having problems, maybe some form of interference, try a different modem, try different sum card if you have one spare?
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i do have the same problem as above, no signal in the building and 50% signal outside building. I swithch my SIM with fren's (he use another telco), and his SIM not work on my S2 and my SIM work on his phone (not SIM issues).
I tested many modem as recommented , LP2/LP3, LP9, LPX, KI3, KI4, KF2, no luck.
I flash different ROM, (some old version that work before), from CM9, AOKP, Sammy. no luck.
I restore old back up ROM. no luck
Fix permission, no luck.
any advice ?
OK next step is to flash a different modem
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i've tried a few modems including the ones people believe better, all have this problem so far.
it may be the network mast in my case. i discussed with vodafone what 3G mast i was connected to and then which 3G mast is next closest. i then went right next to that other 3G mast and the signal was full bars, no fluctuation at all. this surely means it is either, 1-the network mast i keep locking to having problems or 2-all the modems i have used favouring battery over strength and not getting enough power to get a good signal.
is there a way of finding out which modems are better for battery and which are better for signal strength?
Umm not that I know of, best thing to do for that is either research the modems for better strength or battery etc, or just test some yourself, however that is time consuming,
Personally I think it is just the mast having problems, however I may be wrong
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i thought i would add a little research to this thread, not too much but just my experience with 3 specific modems.
the background is that recently i have started getting very poor network signal as i believe the closest 3g mast to me is having problems. if i turn to 2g its better as the phone then connects to the closest 2g tower which gives better network signal.
i know that a modem should be left for 2-3 days before judging but i thought that if a modem is currently better than another then that is only likely to stay the same with time as long as they were given the same short period of time.
i used the app network signal info and did 3 5 minute tests for each modem and then averaged the percentage of the signal and also averaged the -dbm also.
i first used the modem i currently had on there, BUKI1
- average percentage was 19%
- average -dbm was -103
both very poor scores
the signal was very jumpy up and down also
i then flashed the custom modem, i think by krs007, M250S
- average percentage was 44.6%
- average -dbm was -90.66
obviously a huge increase
the signal was very steady, hardly changing from that average
lastly i flashed NELP3
- average percentage was 30.66%
- average -dbm was -97.33
better than at first but not as good as M250S
i am now going to let M250S bed in for a few days while keeping my eye on here for how NELP4 performs but so far i have a huge increase in signal in a previously very poor area. as this is also due i believe to the tower having problems, hopefully it will only get better.
Try downloading OpenSignalMaps from Google Play Store. For starters, you can determine the approximate location of the offending cell tower (if the cell tower was indeed the culprit). Sometimes, i realise that the phone tends to stick to certain cell towers when others are in closer range and could purportedly provide a better radio link. For this, the app provides a refresh feature that allows you to manually trigger a cell tower refresh. I am aware that most apps requiring connectivity have this feature but i don't suppose you can call the refresh on trigger.
Hi Marc
Tracked down a copy of M250S(dont know if its the same as you have installed though), and very briefly, as in 30 secondsish, I had 4 bars and dl`s around 5mb again!.But midway through it dropped out and that seems to be the pattern. Seems to be having problems locking onto a cell, signal bars frequently grey out, maybe its a compatibility issue with CM9, I dont know.
Anyway, let us know how you get on,
Cheers
Chris
it probably is the same as i dont think any others have that name.
it probably just needs to bed in for a few days. i have noticed mine go between 3g and H quite regular but it always does that, i havent had any dropped calls or similar so far.

Block specific cell networks?

Ok, here's a challenge.
I am a uk t-mobile subscriber. In the uk t-mobile and orange merged their cell networks into one big network (tmob bought out orange) with the original t-mobile cells still showing up as "t-mobile" and the now merged orange cells showing up as "t-mobile orange". Tmobile offered their subs the option to also connect via orange cells and orange the same to their subs.
At the time i thought this was a good idea. More cells, more signal in more areas, better experience.
I was very wrong.
Basically the orange cells are absolute crud compared to any of the tmobile cells. You notice a massive drop in bandwidth between a tmobile cell and an orange cell and i wish i had never opted to use both.
So, i am looking for a method to allow me to block the switching to the orange cells so i can stay on my native (faster) tmobile cells all the time and never ever have the phone connect to an orange cell ever.
Any ideas?
I know each network has a numerical value that denotes it so there must be some way to tell the baseband never to switch to this particular network right?
Any advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
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I was looking for the same solution and came accross your post, judging by the lack of replies theres still nothing to sort this out. Annoying when Orange forces to take over and is usually a weaker signal!
A Post in Themes section re call blocking .
Dont know if that dev would have more knowledge .
jje
I thought you could manually select the network? TMo and Orange come up separately as an option there?
Sent from the town of Waterlooville
I'm also looking for something so I can select a mast... the closest mast to my home is only 2.5mbit while a mast just a few miles away is HSPA+ and peaks at over 10mbit.. when my local mast was down I was able to connect to the HSPA+ one and have full bars... there must be a way of telling the phone to ignore a mast?
You can manually select the network in network settings however the phone freaks out then whenever there is no signal instead of quietly waiting for new signal.
This sort of solves the problem but creates the additional annoyance of notifications of no signal.
I couldnt find any way of blocking individual masts. Im not sure it can even be done on the user end.
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Try updating to lg8 firmware with lh1 modem.
I'm on orange/t mobile and everything works much better now as far as the network switching goes
did you ever get a solution to this ? Orange is doing my head in and its just terrible..

Awful signal strength

I bought an s3 a week ago on ebay. That was my first mistake the signal strength is awful browsing the internet without wifi is really bad it can take up to 5 secs to load google. Now my wife has an S3 with tmobile uk and hers is fine. Mine was originally on vodaphone but I am on O2 I have put her sim in mine flashed to the same stock rom and my s3 has still a poor signal normally two bars. Just tested I get -105dbm and 4asu. I can only conclude that after trying every network rom combination my phone is faulty. I had no joy with the ebay seller I am not sure I could take it to vodaphone as I was not on the original contract. Any idea guys how a resale affects warranty, ideally I would like the handset replaced or repaired. Lessen learned not to try and get an ebay bargain
How much did you pay for the phone??
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I've just looked at the status of my phone and I'm getting 95dbm and my phones fine, where do you live?? I live in hampshire on vodafone and the signal here is variable, despite living within a cats throwing distance to the cell tower (5mins walk)
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Have you tried flashing a different modem. I flashed lf2 modem and my signal strength was back to normal it was bad with lfb
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uronfire said:
Have you tried flashing a different modem. I flashed lf2 modem and my signal strength was back to normal it was bad with lfb
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or their is that option.....+1 buddy
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As stated, try an alternative modem which has resolved my network issues previously.
If it is still not resolved, contact Samsung - don't mention eBay purchases - the serial number will show up fresh on their system (tested with known blocked handsets lol) they will organised a repair; and 9/10 times will not request a proof of purchase unless referring you to a local center; but this issue would be hardware related so they will request sending it in. Just ensure you go back to stock.
thanks for the info. I expect Samsung should repair anything as long as the iemi number is not reported as stolen.
tried the LF2 modem and its made no difference, however I have used an tmobile sim this morning, signal strength is the same but 3g/H data is working really fast, now I am wondering if my data on my o2 sim is poor as its cut down microsim. going to get a proper 02 microsim and test again
commodore65 said:
thanks for the info. I expect Samsung should repair anything as long as the iemi number is not reported as stolen.
tried the LF2 modem and its made no difference, however I have used an tmobile sim this morning, signal strength is the same but 3g/H data is working really fast, now I am wondering if my data on my o2 sim is poor as its cut down microsim. going to get a proper 02 microsim and test again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as the gold contacts on the bottom have not been damaged it will have no effect - plus it wouldn't effect data tbh as all the phone will do is read your networks information and they send/receive the data. But feel free to try; I personally have noticed that 3G/HSPA/+ is a lot slower on O2 compared to any other network tbh - but then again these data connections for O2 has only recently been added to my area, up until a few months ago the fastest we could get was Edge on O2, while the rest of the networks in my area has had 3G for at least 2 years lol.

poor signal reception?

Had my x1 for a couple of days now and lots to like about it however I have noticed that it seems to have a very weak phone signal reception.
I am on three in the UK and in the normal areas I travel I have never noticed an issue on my other phones with it struggling to hold on to signal bars.
Anyone else have this?
Signal bars mean absolutely nothing. Many oem even show full bars even when there is actually no signal.
Better install cellmapper app that will exactly show and record the signal where you travel.
Also, do you have 3uk volte working?(calls over 4g network)
Well all I can say is that I live less than a mile from the nearest mast and would nearly always have full signal bars on other phones yet on this phone it drops on and off 1 bar.
I will download the app you mentioned and see what that shows
I've had this problem with numerous Sony phones over the years, always poor signal compared to Sammy's, Pixel's and iPhones that I've had. Same issue with the X1 I have now, always on WiFi calling and no signal, my Pixel 3 XL would be happily sitting on 4G.
andybg40 said:
I've had this problem with numerous Sony phones over the years, always poor signal compared to Sammy's, Pixel's and iPhones that I've had. Same issue with the X1 I have now, always on WiFi calling and no signal, my Pixel 3 XL would be happily sitting on 4G.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad it's not just me then.
I do remember having this issue on a previous Sony phone also but can remember the model now. It's been a long time since I had a Sony but thought this one was going to tick every box which it almost does apart from having reliable signal reception which is really should be a must!
Is there anyway they can improve this with software of are we stuck with it due to hardware issues?
I'm in my 14 days returns periods at the moment and like everything about this phone apart from what it should do first and foremost
I am having the same problem, I'm on EE and my LTE keeps dropping from 4 bar's to 1 bar then nothing which causes me to lose data connection. It then jumps to 4 bar's again and then repeats this over and over. This is happening at home where I always have full reception. I have tested my sim in 5 different phones all have full reception and don't lose connection only my Xperia 1 does! Any help would be appreciated.
Same problem for me. I switched my SIM from Galaxy S8 to X1. S8 has 4 to 5 bars while X1 struggles with getting one bar at home.
Ffs... The bars mean nothing. Sony phones take into consideration RSRQ(signal quality) and SINR(s noise) values of the signal. Other oem don't. The actual signal power RSRP (do not confuse it with bars) is same or better on Sony.
Xperia 1 has most advanced modem and antenna setup of any 4g phone. 4x4 mimo even on low bands (first to have it).
3uk and ee are special in the sense that they need phone to support volte to get access to their low band spectrum(band 20).
So make sure you have volte aka 4g calling enabled and check with apps like Netmonster or Cellmapper the band and RSRP of the signal. Then compare it with other phones at the same place.
VeixES said:
Ffs... The bars mean nothing. Sony phones take into consideration RSRQ(signal quality) and SINR(s noise) values of the signal. Other oem don't. The actual signal power RSRP (do not confuse it with bars) is same or better on Sony.
Xperia 1 has most advanced modem and antenna setup of any 4g phone. 4x4 mimo even on low bands (first to have it).
3uk and ee are special in the sense that they need phone to support volte to get access to their low band spectrum(band 20).
So make sure you have volte aka 4g calling enabled and check with apps like Netmonster or Cellmapper the band and RSRP of the signal. Then compare it with other phones at the same place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's as simple as that why is it not enabled on this phone already?
I think what you seem to be over looking is the fact that I and others here have said that yes the bars are lower than other phones and flutter slot but also to the point where they drop completely and give no reception at all. A situation not faced on other phones.
Can you explain how we enable this missing band so that the phone can provide a more reliable/stable reception
Does your phone have 3uk volte(4g calling) enabled? Phone should stay in 4g during call. If not then you are out of luck.
ee users can install EE firmware to get Volte working if it's not already . newflasher on xda helps to change firmware.
And please compare signals with abovementioned apps.
hpsauce37 said:
Glad it's not just me then.
I do remember having this issue on a previous Sony phone also but can remember the model now. It's been a long time since I had a Sony but thought this one was going to tick every box which it almost does apart from having reliable signal reception which is really should be a must!
Is there anyway they can improve this with software of are we stuck with it due to hardware issues?
I'm in my 14 days returns periods at the moment and like everything about this phone apart from what it should do first and foremost
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're having signal drops / dropped phone calls etc... I get it. But Sony is historically notorious for showing lower signals than others on those bars. However, as stated, the bars are pretty meaningless. I've owned many Sony's, and while the bars are lower (sometimes all empty), I still have signal in all the places I should. YMMV.
VeixES said:
Does your phone have 3uk volte(4g calling) enabled? Phone should stay in 4g during call. If not then you are out of luck.
ee users can install EE firmware to get Volte working if it's not already . newflasher on xda helps to change firmware.
And please compare signals with abovementioned apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't honestly know. My phone was purchased sim free from carphone warehouse and I use it on 3 network. The phone just set itself up. How would I check this? Is it something listed under network settings?
It's so frustrating as I'm really loving a lot about this phone but just want it to be comparable at least with my other phones I've used with call reception
those who are having signal problem, are you using EE network?
I saw lots of people with EE reporting this issue on official sony forum.
Got mine yesterday from Vodafone and signal is perfect !
XSIIS said:
those who are having signal problem, are you using EE network?
I saw lots of people with EE reporting this issue on official sony forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes
I also have only 1 bar... Orange.
If you are EE UK user, then you need EE firmware on your Xperia 1 to get best network compatibility(Volte and low band support because of it).
3UK users probably need also 3UK firmware but that does not seem to exist yet.
This weirdness of low band access is specific to two UK operators. Everywhere else the device is fully capable of best 4g experience.
Wait Next update
Enviado desde mi G8141 mediante Tapatalk
So for those of us on three network but purchased the phone sim free are stuck with the problem as three do not sell this handset themselves so unlikely to release any firmware for it.
That does not look good for me so I think I will need to return within my 14 days.
Shame.
There's definitely a network connectivity issue with the XP1 right now though. This seems to affect only XP1's on the EE network, which were *not* bought from EE direct, i.e. ones with stock firmware. (e.g. mine!)
The symptoms are that periodically, first the 4G symbol disappears, then the signal goes to zero and you've lost the internet. Then it reconnects back onto 4G again. Sometimes this repeats 3 or 4 times in succession. The whole thing takes from 5 seconds to maybe 30 seconds depending on how many re-tries.
You can go for maybe an our or so without a problem, or sometimes it happens like every 10 minutes.
And here's the key part: this happens wherever you are, even on a full strength signal. As far as I can make out, this affects ALL XP1s with stock firmware on EE. EE say it's a Sony problem. Sony say it's a network issue. So we are all stuck.
Does anyone know of a suitable network logging app, which will log 4G disconnects and signal loss, so we can provide evidence to EE and Sony?
More info here:
https://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperia-1/Issue-with-network-dropping/td-p/1376332/highlight/false
(My phone is fine with a Vodafone sim. There's something specific to the phone firmware/config - timers, buffer sizes, packet sizes - whatever - and the EE network. But right now, on EE, it's unusable.)

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