Database Users

3G Signal

I have been using my new o2 Exec in many different cities in the UK but not once have I been able to use 3G.
1) How would I know I am connected to 3g as I only see the GPRS symbol.
2) Has anyone used this device in 3G?

If the device is connected to a 3G signal, the network name would appear as 3G O2 - UK instead of just O2 - UK.
Also the little "G" would change to a "U"

I have a 3G signal on O2 in London a lot. A very strong signal at Waterloo and I even have one at home in Camberley (Surrey). The Vodafone 3G signal in Camberley/Farnborough is very good.

I get 3G at home (Didcot) and have also elsewhere (eg Reading, Sheffield, various parts of London). Don't get it at my workbase, but that is in a rural Oxfordshire location.
Other 3G service at home are 3 and Orange. No sign of any 3G signals from Vodafone or T-Mobile.

The only time I have even tried, West End of London and I had a U signal with Orange... just no-one else with a Video capable phone to call... :lol:

Well it must mean they have given me a GPRS SIM because at the time I was asked do I want a 3g or GPRS connection - which I found strange.
I have not had 3g reception in Leeds, Oxfordshire.

3G SIM's usually (in my country) have a BIG "3G" on them. Check. Can't believe you;ve never seen a U if you do have a SIM.

3G SIM's usually (in my country) have a BIG "3G" on them. Check. Can't believe you;ve never seen a U in the UK if you do have a SIM. I'm in darkest Africa and have UMTS almost wherever I go... (OK, for busines that is - not much need for it when watching lions)

Sorry if this is stating the obvious, but have you checked the device settings to make sure that it is not locked to GPRS?
Settings, Phone, Band tab.
I leave this set to auto most of the time unless the phone has a borderline 3G signal and keeps switching from 3G to GPRS all the time.
If you find that this is greyed out, hold down the reg 'end call' button until it 'un-grays' its self ;-)
Nigel

lousy 3g and the o2 exec

Have just upgraded to an o2 exec and want to experiment with video calling .
there is no 3g signal, it always comes up 'no signal at present' even though the signal has 3 - 4 bars on it. I'm with o2 and unhappy with the service I phone tech support and they tried to tell me to move to another part of the house ....this may have been helpful if I lived in the eiffel tower but i LIVE IN THE uk.
Im beginning to think that the whole o2 3g network is substandard
Any ideas?
4arm

Look at the little square icon next to the signal strength indicator - is it a 'G' or 'U'?
A 'G' indicates normal GPRS signal while a 'U' indicates UMTS (3g) service is available.

It's normally G and very very occassionaly turns to a u?

OK, when it shows a 'U' you can make video calls. When it's a 'G' only normal calls can be made.

G being GPRS and U being UTMS which is 3G. I think you can video call via wifi but I've not tested this yet.

I doubt whether the o2 coverage is bad, otherwise why would hutchinson three use them as a carrier for their network, seeing as they are a 3G company? The signal strength bars IIRC dont bear any relation to the 3G strength.

Tim 45 said:
I doubt whether the o2 coverage is bad, otherwise why would hutchinson three use them as a carrier for their network, seeing as they are a 3G company? The signal strength bars IIRC dont bear any relation to the 3G strength.
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LOL you have the wrong end of the stick m8, Hutch "3" 3G is a pure 3G network (the biggest in the UK) with around 80% coverage. The network is wholey owned by hutch, however if your unlucky to wander out of coverage (into that last 20 %) then it will switch to O2 2G Gprs (no video calls) just so you can at least make voice calls / emergency calls. O2's 3G network has much less coverage than "3"'s but it's ok because it can seamlessly transfer to it's own 2G network if necessary

I am of the understanding that O2's 3g network is not the best in terms of coverage (voda and 3 are afaik). Interesting what is said above about 3 and O2 both being hutchingson compaines and sharing infrasturecture - can anyone verfiy?

they are 2 very diffrent companies, 3 just have a deal with O2, they pay O2 to allow "3" customers to use O2's network when "3"s is unavailable

Ward said:
G being GPRS and U being UTMS which is 3G. I think you can video call via wifi but I've not tested this yet.
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That would be funky, but don't see how it ould be possible.
I too only get a UMTS signal in Belfast (which is supposed to be a strong 3G area) when I'm upstairs...
They need to pull the finger out if they want video calling to be the norm.

O2 3G around London is okay, not as good as T-mobile of Vodafone from my experience. Using a O2 data card I can get the higher 384kbps download speed, and it really is quick.
Video calls on O2 are part of the normal call allowance, so if can get it to work it wont be as expensive as on "3".

No i thought 3 used the O2 masts and technology, i cant remember where i heard it though.. Of course i could be very much mistaken

Using the HD2 in Vietnam

hey guys.. i took my HD2 to vietnam a couple of weeks ago and I used a local sim card.
I noticed that the signal over there (on Viettel) was a constant "H" as a default. I couldnt get the actual data connection to work (probably because I didnt have the correct internet settings).
Over here in Australia, the signal is always 3G (even though I know I'm in a HSDPA area). When I have an active data connection it changes to "H" temporarily until there is no data flowing through, then it changes back to "3G".
Can anyone shed any light on why this might be? Could it be something to do with the sim card itself? Back here in Australia, I've played with every setting I can find in the phone to try have the constant "H" and have not had any luck.

I get the same thing....an H....in Hong Kong, Manila, and other places. It seems that you are operating off of an HSDPA network, which is good!

Btw, Elly Tran Ha in vietnam really beautiful ^_^

HD2 using in Viet Nam ok, included VietTel, VinaFone, MobileFone and VietNamMobile networks on band 2G, 3G, 3G+, H
Elly Tran Ha is Hot Girl in VietNam, very...very XXX

iarapilot said:
I get the same thing....an H....in Hong Kong, Manila, and other places. It seems that you are operating off of an HSDPA network, which is good!
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But in Australia, we're operating off a HSDPA network too but the signal always stays on "3G". The phone only seems to connect to "H" when there is data flowing through.
The H in Vietnam (also HK, i might add) didnt drain any additional battery either....

[Q] G2 High Cell Standby - Radio Issue?

So far I'm really happy with my G2!
I'm in Milwaukee where we have H+ coverage. I'm getting around 12hrs from the battery with moderate use. I don't think this is terrible, but the "cell standby" uses 40-60% of the battery!
I did some research and found the "WCDMA Only" setting. That brought the "time without signal" down to around 30% from around 60% but I don't like the idea that if I leave WCDMA coverage I'll miss calls etc...
So, my questions is - Is it possible that this is an issue with the radio firmware? It seems to be unnecessarily switching from EDGE to 3G/H+ since if I force WCDMA only, it maintains connection.
Any ideas?

I suggest you change your setting to WCDMA Preferred.
That, obviously, will cause the phone to connect to the faster network if it's available, and if it's not, will connect to the slower EDGE networks.
Having -50dB HSPA at school, and marginal HSPA at home, this works great for me.

Sometimes there will be a handover to 2G even if a 3G signal is reachable. Possible causes are sudden increases in utilization of the 3G by other users or attenuation for other reasons. Setting WCDMA-only prevents the radio from performing battery-draining tower searches, but like you said there is the problem of occasionally not having any coverage at all.
This is a problem with T-Mo US's network. You can see symptoms of it on other devices (particularly so with the Nexus One).

How do I find this setting and set it?
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

SuperDave81 said:
How do I find this setting and set it?
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open dialer and enter *#*#4636#*#*. It's in the first list item.
Edit: I see your location is Bay Area. I find that T-Mo 3.xG coverage is pretty lacking out on the edges of suburbia (think the hilly areas east of 680).

I have high Cell Standby as well. I checked it's details out and it claims that 50% of the time, my phone is without signal. Check this by going to:
Settings > About Phone > Battery Use > Cell Standby
It will tell me that 50% of the time, I do not have cell signal. I compared this to my brother's Vibrant and his is at 0% signal loss. Definitely something wrong here because my cell standby usage is twice as much as my brother's (we live in the same household so location shouldn't matter).

jashsu said:
Open dialer and enter *#*#4636#*#*. It's in the first list item.
Edit: I see your location is Bay Area. I find that T-Mo 3.xG coverage is pretty lacking out on the edges of suburbia (think the hilly areas east of 680).
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Click to collapse
And how do you un-do this if it does not work out?
NM! I figured it out~!
Edit: figured out how to change this setting. But when I set it to WCDMA at my office I get 1 to no bars And the internet is slow. I do have a H and it is using HSPA.
If I set it to GSM only I get 3 to 4 bars, mostly 4 bars max. And then I am on Edge, and the internet is a bit faster.
I am just wondering why the coverage sucks so bad for 3g? When the maps I can find seem to show good coverage. When I am out and about I get good bars on HSPA, but inside it just sucks.
I am in Houston, area code 77009 :/

jashsu said:
Open dialer and enter *#*#4636#*#*. It's in the first list item.
Edit: I see your location is Bay Area. I find that T-Mo 3.xG coverage is pretty lacking out on the edges of suburbia (think the hilly areas east of 680).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this info

Weird, I just checked my G2 and I have 0% time w/o signal.
I live in Houston, TX and this is a combo of downtown and my house.
Botched setting in the phone?

i got 14+ hours the other day, but did notice that my cell standby has been very high.. when i checked... 44% of the time is without a signal (not sure how that's calculated) as I rarely ever see signal loss.. except for an hour out of the day I go into airplane mode at the gym because i have 0 cell coverage there. But I just changed to GSM Auto (PRL), i'll see if anything changes tommorow.

SuperFly03 said:
Weird, I just checked my G2 and I have 0% time w/o signal.
I live in Houston, TX and this is a combo of downtown and my house.
Botched setting in the phone?
Click to expand...
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Why do you think this is a botched setting? This is exactly what it should be like. You don't want any signal loss.

jashsu said:
Open dialer and enter *#*#4636#*#*. It's in the first list item.
Edit: I see your location is Bay Area. I find that T-Mo 3.xG coverage is pretty lacking out on the edges of suburbia (think the hilly areas east of 680).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very interesting trick. Changed my settings from GSM only to WCDMA only. My "time without signal" dropped from 50% to around 35% so it helped a bit, but not completely. On top of that, I noticed that my signal was a lot weaker and would drop more frequently so I had to switch back to GSM only.

Stryder5 said:
Why do you think this is a botched setting? This is exactly what it should be like. You don't want any signal loss.
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I meant on the OP's part.

I don't think it's a botched setting.
I just wonder if they have the phone is jumping between bands too frequently and unnecessarily. In my house the phone constantly jumps around from H-G-E suggesting that it's dropping signal and switching bands. However if I force it to WCDMA it never loses signal.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

Problem with Antenna?

I have a problem and think it is related to the antenna my Galaxy Pocket. My phone detects only 2G networks with strong signals. In the 3G signal is always around-85dBm 10 asu 113dBm 9asu Until then it goes back to 2G when 3G is on varies the signal level and is impossible to use mobile internet or make calls. Network modes that appear to me are HSDPA (which works very badly), EDGE and GPRS, tested with all operators in my country (Vivo, Claro, TIM and Hi). All with the same results in terms of signal. Already updated the stock ROM, installed customs and nothing resolved. I have a Defy Mini XT320 signal and this unit is very good the internet is fast. What do I do?

Assistance...
Luiz Paulo Damaceno said:
I have a problem and think it is related to the antenna my Galaxy Pocket. My phone detects only 2G networks with strong signals. In the 3G signal is always around-85dBm 10 asu 113dBm 9asu Until then it goes back to 2G when 3G is on varies the signal level and is impossible to use mobile internet or make calls. Network modes that appear to me are HSDPA (which works very badly), EDGE and GPRS, tested with all operators in my country (Vivo, Claro, TIM and Hi). All with the same results in terms of signal. Already updated the stock ROM, installed customs and nothing resolved. I have a Defy Mini XT320 signal and this unit is very good the internet is fast. What do I do?
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Click to collapse
Did you try the tecnical assistance?