Develop Bugs

SX66, MDA III GSM Signal Strength

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 ))

problem with HTC tytn hermes 200

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

I had to return mine!!!!!

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.

No 3G or H Signals

Hi Guys, Had my Desire a couple of days now, contract with TMobile, UK and so far not once have I ever been able to receive a full 3g or H connection. I have travelled a radius of five miles around my home, still no joy. Connects to wifi ok but can only receive g signal out and about,making data and internet painfully slow as to become unuseable. My phone is connected to mobile network in settings. I am seriously considering returning phone under 7 day policy if this persists. Any solutions would be much appreciated.
Other phones with other carriers in my area work ok and according to TMobile web coverage checker states I live in good reception area.
Cheers.

It's possible your sim is faulty happened to my mum when she got her diamond

Joshseadog said:
Hi Guys, Had my Desire a couple of days now, contract with TMobile, UK and so far not once have I ever been able to receive a full 3g or H connection. I have travelled a radius of five miles around my home, still no joy. Connects to wifi ok but can only receive g signal out and about,making data and internet painfully slow as to become unuseable. My phone is connected to mobile network in settings. I am seriously considering returning phone under 7 day policy if this persists. Any solutions would be much appreciated.
Other phones with other carriers in my area work ok and according to TMobile web coverage checker states I live in good reception area.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try a different handset when they get them instore, might be a device fault.

Check your coverage? Make sure phone settings are set to dual and not just GSM only. I get none at work or home whatsoever. But the coverage checker tells me this anyway.

Joshseadog said:
Hi Guys, Had my Desire a couple of days now, contract with TMobile, UK and so far not once have I ever been able to receive a full 3g or H connection. I have travelled a radius of five miles around my home, still no joy. Connects to wifi ok but can only receive g signal out and about,making data and internet painfully slow as to become unuseable. My phone is connected to mobile network in settings. I am seriously considering returning phone under 7 day policy if this persists. Any solutions would be much appreciated.
Other phones with other carriers in my area work ok and according to TMobile web coverage checker states I live in good reception area.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably a stupid question but have you been on the T-Mobile website and put in your postcode to check the coverage in your area>?
Incase you haven't: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/coverage/street-check/
Hope that helps...

and obviously make sure you have 3g on your account?
I'm with orange, and was told i only had a 2g sim card. it took 3 different customer service people until one agreed to send a new 3g one. Not a problem since.

I had a very similar issue.
For the first 2 days i had my handset, it picked up no 3G or H data ATALL. Like you travelled around in about 5/6 mile radius and got nothing. I called up and cancelled, no one told me why or how it could happen, so i proceeded to cancel.
The next morning, i picked the handset up as i was going out, and to my surprise there it was sitting on 3G. Now the night before, i played with just about every setting under Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks, Network Mode/Network operators, always-on mobile connection, the lot. Took the sim out, rebooted the phone. messing with those options, or possibly turning them on or off for a specific amount of time may have affected my phone.
The same day i poped into a T-Mobile store where the woman told me hat it could have been down to the SIM not being fully activated, incase a postman stole it for whatever reason.. However, once i got back home i called T-Mobile up again, to cancel the cancelation, which was easy as pie. I told him what i was told in-store he looked up my account and said nothing should have changed as it should have been good to go from the 26th (i received it 29th). I had also noticed just before calling T-Mobile, that 150 from my mobile phone would not connect to T-Mobile, because of that the guy on the phone reset some stuff on ym account their end, told me to reboot my phone, and since then, i've had 3G/H flawlessly and 150 works without problem.
Maybe give them a call and they can help you. Or play with those settings like mad.

I should say ive had randon data drop outs and disconnections even in good signal areas not sure if its normal or my sim or phone

Hi Guys, Thanks for the input. Problem now solved, TMobile re sent connection settings down to my phone, now solid 3g or H around my area except indoors or close to my house. Now very happy, am now starting to love this phone.
Cheers

[Q] 2G Signal only, enabling 3G drops signal totally.

Hi everyone,
I have a generic unlocked desire 2.2, unrooted, as standard as they come and connected to Orange.
When I run on GSM only mode in network settings my phone is fine...
BUT..
Enable WCDMA or WCDMA auto mode.... and it will connect to 3G for about 10/20 secs then drop the whole lot, "emergency calls only" is all I can get.
I live in town with full 3G,and have tried at my girlfriends 100 miles away too. This has been going on for about 3 weeks, and so far I have.......
Hard reset a couple of times....
Had a new SIM from Orange...
Tried a different SIM (O2) in my phone - which works perfectly, sat browsing on H for about half an hour or more with no problem.
Tried my SIM in a different phone (Touch Pro) - works perfectly as well! 3G and browsing internet all fine.
So - Orange say its the handset.... and I'm not sure their 2nd level tech really exist, cos I've never got to speak to them or had the promised callback!
and HTC reckon its a network issue.
I can see both sides, but that doesnt help when your stuck in the middle with sloooooow internet.
The only other thing I can think is that Orange dont like the fact I'm on unlimited data and using it, I hit about 900mb a month normally and 2Gb in Nov when my home broadband died for about a week. perhaps they have blocked my handset from 3G? If so they havent told me though! I have one of the panther tariffs from mid last year which were "unlimited".
Any suggestions would be very appreciated!
Thanks in advance
Chris

Sounds strange indeed......
Theoreticly speaking, they could have placed some sort of a limit on your account to reduce the load on their network, but It'll be hard to prove. (Maybe you know someone who works there???)
You can look for your plan's contract (or ask them to fax it to you) - maybe it states the minimal speed of connection....
Threaten to disconnect if your speed does not improve..... Realy can't think of anything else.
EDIT:
Try this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=10865272&postcount=5

Thanks,
I have tried all the options in that menu with no success.
Eventually last night I got orange 2nd level tech who was equally confused and could only suggest a radio version conflict with my handset and network.
Anyway they gave me a fault code which CPW (I purchased from mobiles.co.uk) looked at and glazed over.
I have called HTC direct now and they are having it in for warranty repair. 10 days with my old touch pro... how bad can i be?
Wouldnt surprise me if they send it back NFF........
fingers crossed!
EDIT: THE TOUCH PRO IS AWFUL!
Chris