I have a Cingular SX66 which I'm trying to use on T-Mobile and I'm having problems due to poor signal stength. Before I start a call, I'll have 4 bars and once I start the call, the signal strength will fluctuate and I'll lose entire words of conversations (and the other person complains of the same thing).
I have tried both the SX66 and the HP6315 with similar results, although the HP6315 fairs much better with only occasional drop-outs.
As a comparision, I used the exact same SIM card in an Ericsson T610 and haven't had a single problem.
I'm returning the SX66 today and will probably sell the HP6315. . . unless anyone has some ideas.
SX66 Software Versions
-----------------------------------
ROM: 1.20.10 WWE 10/08/04
Radio: 1.02.10
Protocol: 1337.35
Extended ROM: 1.20.115 WWE
I would be curious to know why this is happening to you. I have been unhappy w/ my H6315 and just listed it on eBay in favor of getting an SX66. I've read there are a few updates for the SX66 that update the radio stack and Bluetooth. My biggest complaint about the H6315 was the lack of updates in about 6 months. Bluetooth sucks on it and the device has lots of software problems.
If the SX66 doesn't perform any better on T-mo then maybe I'll go back to the original PocketPC Phone.
Yes, I agree with the HP6315. T-Mobile is suppose to come out with a patch for "everything" according to the rep I talked to after escalating the issue with T-Mobile. I'll believe it when I see it.
As for the SX66, there is a new radio version from December, but I was unable to install it because the SX66 has a different country code, etc, so the IMate-PDA2k stuff didn't work.
The 802.11b signal strength on the SX66 was quite low. My HP6315 shows excellent strength, my laptop excellent, but the SX66 was showing poor signal strenth. It still worked, but I wonder if they sacrificed the antenna's for looks.
As for the software, speed, and looks, the SX66 is everything that I would have dreamed for and aside from the voice quality, I loved it.
I have a friend that has the original MDA with T-Mobile and doesn't have a single problem.
I may end up waiting for the next version of PDA phones... I don't see any reason why they can't get the signal strength to be the same as the Sony-Ericsson T610 which has an internal antenna as well.
I have a Cingular SX66 which I'm trying to use on T-Mobile and I'm having problems due to poor signal stength
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just curios, but what were the results on the same device on the Cingular network. Depending on the location and the dates that this happend several other things come into play. Different network (Cingular vs TMobile), Possibly different bands (some Cingular locations are still in the 850 band). Even in the locations that are in the 850 range if the old AT&T Wireless (now Cingular) band was 1900, then that would be a better comparison.
You are right, it would be a more fair comparison of Cingular if I used their network, but I do not intending to use Cingular, so I wanted to compare it to how I would be using it. In North America, the fequencies used are 850 and 1900 MHz. In Europe, they use 900 / 1800 MHz.
For people that only use AT&T / Cingular service, the phone may be acceptable on the 850 MHz band. I did not test this fequency, as I feel that it should perform well on all bands, especially since I am comparing it to 2 other phones that are tri-band / quad-band phones. I don't have Cingular service and didn't feel like paying approx. $65 to test it when I would have to pay T-Mobile $200 to break my contract due to the HP6315 fiasco.
Does anybody have test results for the SX66 on the Cingular network?
The other comparison that I wanted to make was using the identical SIM card (and hence the identical tower and parameters) on each of the phones. I then sat at my desk at home and left a message on my voicemail. I then walked to a window where I could see the tower off in the distance and placed another call to voicemail and left a message. I repeated this for each phone 3 times over 3 days inbetween looking for additional information on how to improve signal strength.
In addition, I talked about 2 hours on each phone and asked the person I called how the voice sounded. With the SX66, I received a lot of "what did you say?" and I noticed entire sentences dropped out of the conversation.
With the HP6315, I received about 1/4 as many of the "what did you say" and I had words that were garbled, but not missing entirely.
With the Sony-Ericsson T610 (also integral antenna), I received absolutely no "waht did you say" and I never had a single word garbled. I was even able to take the phone into the basement, into the garage, and even lay down in bed with the phone between my head and the pillow without a problem.
Hope that helps clarify what I was testing and how to interpret my results. From what I've seen, people in heavily populated areas don't have any problems with either the HP6315 or the SX66. Unfortunately, I live on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado, and they typically place towers here at quite a distance since there isn't much to get in the way.
New update!
I went through all of my voice recordings tonight and realized that the voice quality was typically excellent for the first 30 minutes of calling and then it started to cut in a out or garble voice. The garbling consists of a single word every 2 or 3 sentences all the way to 5 seconds of garbled voice. The transmission side seems to be worse than the reception side.
So, it's actually starting to look like it might be a thermal issue. That could potentially explain why some people don't have a problem at all (they are close the tower and aren't transmitting at high power and/or they don't have long conversations).
To verify this, I called a friend tonight and talked to him for 36 minutes. I told him at the beginning that I was doing a voice-quality test so that he would report any problems. Every 5 minutes, I would ask him how the voice quality was. Everything was excellent and the signal strength was at 4 bars all the way up to about 30 minutes. At that point, the signal strength started going wild and the garbling continued.
I finished the call with him and left a voicemail and the voicemail was perfectly clear for about 30 seconds and then it was garbled as well.
I let the phone sit for 1 hour and then left another voice message that didn't have any problems.
Have others had problems with heat? Maybe you got a bad unit?
That's one problem I thought of is that if I buy this at a Cingular store for $650 w/ no plan unlocked and have a problem with it, will they be willing to exchange it or will they only do it if I'm a Cingular customer. I would hate to get stuck with another $650 paperweight.
Keep us posted on what you do with regard to getting it swapped out from either Siemens or Cingular.
I just went ahead and returned it since Cingular doesn't even have support on the device, yet... Their image is a couple of months behind I-Mate's images, too, and I was unable to burn in the I-Mate image due to the country code problems.
If I get one of these, I'll get the PDA2k instead. I'm currently thinking I'll just hold out for the XDA IV that should have both 3G UMTS and GSM as that phone should be current for quite a few years and it will have a 480x640 screen ))
Related
Since upgrading my SX56 to Windows Mobile 2003 using the Siemen's website, it seems like coverage is poorer than what I had before. It seems like I have no coverage in places where I had coverage before; coverage is weak where it used to be strong. The Siemen's upgrade put my SX56's Radio version at A.33.02. Is that the best there is what will work on the ATTWS network?
Hey,
Where you find this A.33.02 ROM?
I am using A.30.09.
Thanks
What is on my SX56 is strictly the result of upgrade I downloaded from the Siemens website. I have not cooked a ROM or installed anything (except applications) from any 3d party source. My SX56 Device Information lists the following:
ROM Version: A.30.09 ENG
ROM Date: 1/1/2004
Radio Version: A.30.02
Protocol Version: 1.3.3
Do you have radio version A.30.09?
30.02 is the radio version. I have tried 30.02 (official) 30.01 (pre-release) and variations of 6.2xx (T-Mo official & pre-release) The T-Mo seems more stable but does not show signal bars. I have heard a lot of crap about how RS upgrades don't affect signal strength. Yes hardware is the main factor in this but RS can and does affect it. Yes I agree fully the new radio stacks for ATT SUCK! Also another major factor is I've noticed for some reason maybe just bad timming is ATT coverage in general is much worse than before the upgrade release. Example: Where I had average coverage at work, after the upgrade it went to very spotty to none, then for like 2 weeks it was full strength all over in my area. Now for the last 2 months I have sh*tty coverage all over and NO! covergae at Home and work...It doesn't get any worse than that. I basicly cant really use my phone unless I go stand in the middle of an open field. Bottom line ever since Cingular bought ATT they have had the worse coverage ever. Maybe Cingular has given priority to their customers on the ATT towers or moved the sweep to areas they needed the coverage :evil: further more the new radio stacks need a new release for this new OS. They constanly loose the signal, cant re-register on their own, and generally dont grab and hold a solid signal.
Anyone else noticed anything simular. I am in Los Angeles, CA not a good area to go down hill in. But they dont care anymore they got bought out, further more Cingular has had more lawsuite against them than any other carrier and have the worse record in regards to fair business practices than any other wireless service provider. They got slapped with a multi-million dollar fine form the FCC and California Public utilities commission, so I wouldn't hope to expect any improvement for ATT customers infact I would be surprised if they didn't try to make us all cancell then force us to sign up again at a higher price and a new long term contract, even if it were illegal. If you couldnt tell I use to be a big fan of ATT but They've been going down hill steadily, and the Cingular purchase is going to be the final death blow to ATT customers, unless you are paying more than a cingular customer then they'll want to keep you. :?
if you couldnt tell I'M NOT HAPPY WITH MY CURRENT COVERAGE :lol:
A Different Explanation For Poor Coverage
It was announced by ATTWS in 4Q '03 that it would stop selling phones that don't support 850mhz traffic. That includes the SX56 and the Motorola MX200, by the way. I wonder whether our 1900 mhz SX56s are starting to get poor coverage is becasue ATTWS is re-configuring towers, changing some towers to 850 mhz, leaving the 1900 mhz towers fewer and farther between. Now, I'm just speculating about the towers. I have no proof that towers are being switched. The only thing I know for sure is that ATTWS has announced it will not sell phones which don't support 850 mhz starting 1/1/2004. Maybe it's not the radio stack at all. Maybe it's the towers.
By the way, it's wrong to refer to the merger of ATTWS and Cingular in the past tense. Although approved by the boards of directors of both corporations, the deal won't close for months. It has to have regulatory approval which is not guaranteed and won't come for months. The companies can't start putting their networks together until it closes. Undoubtedly there is lots of pre-planning happening today, but the systems can't be merged until the merger transation is closed.
I bought an unlocked HTC TYTN Hermes 200 from a private party. He lives about 40 miles away from where I live and he used it with T-Mobile in California (I live in California also). Before I bought it, I tried it out (while I was in the same city that he lives in) with my T-Mobile SIM and made a phone call and the reception was clear.
Since I got home, I've had problems in 2 places (home and work which are about 5 miles apart) where I have 1 bar of reception and if someone tries calling me, it doesn't even show an incoming call on my phone, it goes straight to voice mail and if I try to call someone, it doesn't ring even once, it just says call ended. When I am at other places, I usually get decent reception (but not always).
I have tried flashing all of the recent radio firmware but nothing has made a difference. I also tried inserting another T-Mobile SIM and had the same problem. My previous phone (unlocked Treo 650) had really weak reception in those same areas but not this bad. The phone is not warrantied, according to HTC. I have made sure all my network settings are correct. It's running Windows Mobile 6. I think it might be a problem where the HTC antenna doesn't pick up a signal as well as weak T-Mobile reception.
Any ideas of what I can do about my problem ?
I think you're in the wrong forum, this is for Trinity not tytn, maibe there they will help you.
I bought an unlocked HTC TYTN Hermes 200 from a private party. He lives about 40 miles away from where I live and he used it with T-Mobile in California (I live in California also). Before I bought it, I tried it out (while I was in the same city that he lives in) with my T-Mobile SIM and made a phone call and the reception was clear.
Since I got home, I've had problems in 2 places (home and work which are about 5 miles apart) where I have 1 bar of reception and if someone tries calling me, it doesn't even show an incoming call on my phone, it goes straight to voice mail and if I try to call someone, it doesn't ring even once, it just says call ended. When I am at other places, I usually get decent reception (but not always).
I have tried flashing all of the recent radio firmware but nothing has made a difference. I also tried inserting another T-Mobile SIM and had the same problem. My previous phone (unlocked Treo 650) had really weak reception in those same areas but not this bad. The phone is not warrantied, according to HTC. I have made sure all my network settings are correct. It's running Windows Mobile 6. I think it might be a problem where the HTC antenna doesn't pick up a signal as well as weak T-Mobile reception.
Any ideas of what I can do about my problem ?
radio version?
I've tried every version from 1.38 to 1.48 and nothing changed with all of them. Right now I am using 1.40
Hmmm...
apparently there are no TyTn HW reason that can cause this problem...
Other peoples in that areas have low signal? (obviously yes)
vulkanxxv
well no not exactly....
wife has a razr with t-mo and it gets reception just fine. i dontknow anyone else with an htc.
towlieban said:
vulkanxxv
well no not exactly....
wife has a razr with t-mo and it gets reception just fine. i dontknow anyone else with an htc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you checked to make sure all the bands are active; like it is not set to only use certain frequencies and not others?
I have the band set to GSM (vs. Auto) and band is set to GSM(1900+850)+UMTS(1900+850). None of the other band settings seem to work.
oh and I updated the radio to 1.50. There is a small improvement where my phone rings half of the time when i call my cell from another phone.
HEY
I have had a simmilar problem in California, it doesnt make sence but what I did was flash the radio to the newest 1.50 and then re-install a new rom, and make sure you set the band selection to AUTO on both. NOT just the GSM-UMTS, but also the band frequency. and then power off the phone by pressing the off button and then turning it on. I have a TYTN too and HTC should warranty it, its guranteed for 2 years. Hope this helps.
jackieboy,
thanks for the tip. what rom are you using ? I am using black satin.
where abouts are you located ? I am about 1 hour east of los angeles I just want to get an idea if you are roughly in the same area as me.
Are you with T-Mobile also ?
After you did this, how many more bars of reception did you get ?
by the way, I changed network type from GSM to Auto and the band to Auto and no difference in reception. I haven't flashed a new rom yet though.
Try oficial ROM it cames with radio upgrade and is work very good for me.Also batery time increased .
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=320829
Just need to cents from those who have TP2. I got my phone from Telus (Canada) and couldn't have been more happy with the phone..............except. I get home and have little to no reception? I went from the Mike network to PCS. Two of my kids have cheap phones on telus and get at least one bar and most of the time 2-3 bars in our house.
On my Mike I was getting full bars all the time. On the TP2 I was getting 0-1 bars?????? Standing beside my daughter, she was getting 3 bars and I was getting only 1? In the first two days I was missing calls. They would go to my voice mail even with the phone on. I called my cell from my home and the first 3 calls went to voice mail before the 4th went thru!! I went back to the store and they showed me how to do a tower release and then tower upgrade. It didn't help. The second time back to the store they tried to get me to exchange it for a blackberry. Side by side the blackberry was getting 2 more bars than my TP2? They got another new TP2 out and the reception was the same on it as mine! So it wasn't just my phone. With telus you have 48 hours to cancel your contract so I returned it.
Has anyone else had similar issues.
I have considered purchasing an unlocked TP2 and use it on the rogers network as my friend gets 3-4 bars in my house but again will the TP2 still only get 0-1 bars on rogers as well?
Any suggestions would be great.
P.S. In the short time I had the phone I was extremely pleased. Would love to try the touch diamond 2, but would have to ensure the reception before purchasing.
Thanks
There are actually threads on this and it's a mixed bag. Some people complain that they have poor reception and others say that they have good reception. And just like you the ones with poor reception compare it to other phones. But the same with those that say they have good reception. If I remember correctly one guy said he actually had more bars than on a sony experia and a blackberry.
It may just have to do with the Radio rom and could possibly be fixed by flashing the radio. Can't be certain though.
How do you do a tower release and then tower upgrade?
leanne said:
How do you do a tower release and then tower upgrade?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah! First time hearing about that.
In my house I get 2 bars tops and sometimes 3 all this on 3G. Here and there I see 1 bar but that doesn't last. 3 bars on 3G runs just as fast as my WIFI in my house. Well it seems like it to me, but I would have to do a test. When I was using my Blackberry 8900 which is EDGE. I got 2-3 bars on that, but the connection (NET) was so slow in my house! Good thing I have WIFI when it comes to using the net on the BB in the house. Calls were fine so that wasn't a problem at all.
That's the worse when you have bad reception in the house! The place where you spend most of your time.
my g1 which is on WCDMA only gets 2 bars
while my TP 2 has 1 bar
luckily the TP 2 has excellent wifi reception with my home router..
so i cant complain
leanne said:
How do you do a tower release and then tower upgrade?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Telus rep told me that when cell phones have more than one tower in range, the phone will drop the weakest signal and connect to the strongest one. She said that sometimes phones won't release until the signal it is on becomes to weak to receive then it drops it to search for another signal.
I don't have the instructions with me right now, but any telus rep should be able to tell you how to do it.
I think ????? it was *22803, listen to message, then 1, listen to message, then 2, then wait for confirmation.
I will post back when I find the instructions.
solsearch said:
It may just have to do with the Radio rom and could possibly be fixed by flashing the radio. Can't be certain though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was nervous about flashing a new rom in the event I had to return it. Guess I should have searched the forum more as I loved the phone, but couldn't live with missing calls while at home. I tried to have "call forward on not answered" put on my account but I was told that option was only available on business accounts and also it wasn't available in Ontario. I tried calling customer support a couple of times hoping to get someone who know how to get me that option with any luck.
if this is of any help; within the last 5 years I've used the Dash 1 (S620) the Dash 2 (S630), Wing (P4350) and now the TP2.
For my specific, the TP2 is equal to (or slightly better) than those past phones in the reception catagory.
All - upgraded from the TILT, aka Kaiser (which was flashed with a Sleuth ROM btw) to the AT&T Tilt2. I was using the stock ROM that AT&T ships on it, but was having wierd issues with the call reception. The voices seemed to cut out here and there, and were garbled.
After an hour and a half with Customer Care, they're shipping me a new phone. I was curious if anyone else was having the same issues with a TILT2.
When I swapped my SIM card back into my TILT all of the reception issues (same # dialed, same AT&T menu I listened to 4 times) went away.
Bad phone perhaps?
jayco said:
All - upgraded from the TILT, aka Kaiser (which was flashed with a Sleuth ROM btw) to the AT&T Tilt2. I was using the stock ROM that AT&T ships on it, but was having wierd issues with the call reception. The voices seemed to cut out here and there, and were garbled.
After an hour and a half with Customer Care, they're shipping me a new phone. I was curious if anyone else was having the same issues with a TILT2.
When I swapped my SIM card back into my TILT all of the reception issues (same # dialed, same AT&T menu I listened to 4 times) went away.
Bad phone perhaps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A bunch of us have complained about voice quality, voices sounding muffled. I have a replacement phone arriving tomorrow.
It seems that with each new generation the reception is getting worse in HTC phones. My Tilt held onto 3G and calls in my basement pretty well, didn't drop very much. My FUZE has noticeable worse service but was able to hold onto 3G in my basement. My Tilt2 can't even hold 3G and I have to switch to 2G in my basement. Very disappointing.
Tilt Reception
I am coming from a Fuze and have great reception with my Tilt2 in comparison. I could never get any reception with the Fuze and complained enough until ATT gave me a Tilt2 for $99.99. I flashed an Energy Rom and the latest Radio and it makes a huge difference over stock rom. Stock rom I got 1 bar, flashed radio/rom 3 to 4 bars! Awesome!!
I flashed a new radio and my car turned into a BMW!
No reception problems here... Or muffled, or low sounds from the earpiece...
DrumTJE - Which radio did you use?
I'm contemplating flashing myself - as the replacement phone today has hte same issues. Using field test, I can see about a -101 to -103 dbm strength from the towers. (To access it - *#*#364#*#* on the phone - can't use a saved contact though for it). I'm charging my Tilt to see if I can get a comparible number, or if it just seems to pull the signals in better.
Thanks for any information you can give me...
petard said:
It seems that with each new generation the reception is getting worse in HTC phones. My Tilt held onto 3G and calls in my basement pretty well, didn't drop very much. My FUZE has noticeable worse service but was able to hold onto 3G in my basement. My Tilt2 can't even hold 3G and I have to switch to 2G in my basement. Very disappointing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find it the opposite. I have my original tilt, fuze and tilt2. At my cabin which is in a fringe ATT coverage area only my tilt 2 works reliably. I am lucky to get 1 bar most the time inside my cabin on the tilt or fuze and can do only txt messages but not calls on both. I have 2-3 bars and can make calls on the Tilt 2 in the same spots. This is by far the best reception HTC phone I have owned.
Even more interesting...
On my TILT, I'm getting -97db, and -98db usually, where the TILT2 is getting -100db to -101db. They change a little here and there, but no huge swings in the readings. Seems to me, from the evidence in front of me, that the TILT seems to work 'better' with a smaller signal.
I'm curious if a different radio will make things all that much better for me at this point.
I've gotten 4.49.25.17 - though I think I still need an additional file to be able to use the radio. (I know I need to Hard-SPL the phone first, then I can flash the radio - which I may do for giggles tonite to see apples to apples.)
Drum - hopefully you'll respond with the radio you're using, and if so - if you needed an additional file once you flashed it or if you just flashed the later 25.17 radio and whallah (after a turn-off/turn-on of course).
Thanks, as always.
jayco said:
On my TILT, I'm getting -97db, and -98db usually, where the TILT2 is getting -100db to -101db. They change a little here and there, but no huge swings in the readings. Seems to me, from the evidence in front of me, that the TILT seems to work 'better' with a smaller signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How are you measuring the db's for the signal? Cold you post a CAB if it is a program?
Not sure if this is related, but my Tilt changes from 3G to E to G often while I am in a call... is that a reception issue or just a bandwidth issue on the ATT towers?
jayco said:
On my TILT, I'm getting -97db, and -98db usually, where the TILT2 is getting -100db to -101db. They change a little here and there, but no huge swings in the readings. Seems to me, from the evidence in front of me, that the TILT seems to work 'better' with a smaller signal.
I'm curious if a different radio will make things all that much better for me at this point.
I've gotten 4.49.25.17 - though I think I still need an additional file to be able to use the radio. (I know I need to Hard-SPL the phone first, then I can flash the radio - which I may do for giggles tonite to see apples to apples.)
Drum - hopefully you'll respond with the radio you're using, and if so - if you needed an additional file once you flashed it or if you just flashed the later 25.17 radio and whallah (after a turn-off/turn-on of course).
Thanks, as always.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So first, -100db is a pretty poor signal. And the difference in -97 to -101 dbi is pretty nominal when you're talking about a low power cell signal.
And lower is better. -37 dbi is about the lowest most phones register that I'm aware of. I've never seen better than -37, anyway.
@Sphinx - no cab, sorry... Enter field test mode with the phone using the phone dialer and enter in the characters above... (the *#*#364#*#*)
Agreed - 100db is VERY low. But - apples to apples, my TILT was just fine. The TILT2 with the original ROM and Radio stunk.
Of course -the Energy ROM with the later radio seems to be working much better... Time till tell.
Thanks!
I'm having better luck so far with my Tilt 2. Had good luck with an 8525 at work. Moved to a Fuze and had issues with calls at work. Even tried different radios and found one that worked better but not much better. So far, the Tilt 2 is much better for me.
I was pretty worried before getting a call and the voice was clear.
I am using HTC 4.49.25.17 with Energy Rom Photon.
Even without the 'correct" rilphone.dll I get great reception
Hope this helps!
4.49 works awesome!
I am also using 4.49 radio with energy rom photon and my data and call quality are soooooooooo much better that the stock rom and radio.
@Drumtje - thanks for the info - I'm now using exactly what you are and while the quality has improved quite a bit it's still not the same as what I had with the standard TILT. I'm tempted to try a couple more radio's just to see what they do, though I'm not thrilled with the constant changing... I'm looking for stability here, and the ability to make calls without not hearing who I'm calling. I have had to reset the phone a number of times too once I loaded that ROM due to some freezing, but that might have to do with the activsync issues I've been having (and have finally resolved thru syncing only with bluetooth).
I'm also a little bummed out that the field test application in the standard factory rom's is not in the Energy ROM's. It was in the Sleuth ROM I used for the TILT though - which was nice because it gave hard data on the cell towers and the signal strength. It might make radio testing easier if we had that code in a CAB file.
my reception is fine but where ever i get low reception or it tends to switch from H to E alot i just turn off 3G and E holds strong for phone calls...but usually area that switch back and forth i dont usually need highspeed though i stay in the bayarea so theres few area that tends to switch back and forth between E and H
hope that helps
Mine is working really well. I have min 2 bars and it's holding 3g strong too. Better than my fuze was.
my reception is actually really good with the stock radio. Download speeds are fast too. It all depends on where you live I guess.
Seeing as there was interest, I went and dug up an .exe that you can put on your phone, run it, and see the Field Test data. If there's a Chef around who can convert it into a cab, that'd be nice. Otherwise, I think I uploaded it correctly as an attachment to this post.
It's working on my EnergyROM Proton fitted tilt.
drumtje - I'd be curious as to what your RSSI 1 reading is... (That's signal strength). Also - how many towers are you connecting to (above that in the readout - it'll give you the tower ID plus the signal strength of that tower).