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I recently bought an ETEN M500 because of the announcement that it would be upgradable to WM2005 and the size of the device. The extra software on the M500 is nothing short of amazing. Never have I seen a pocket pc with so many apps out of the box. I did not have to install SPB Pocket Plus, Pocket Zen or Voice Command. It had similar programs already. And voice dial over bluetooth, WOW, it's about time. So why am I returning to the XDA II. Signal strength. The M500 has horrible reception, I get 4 bars in my house with my XDA II. The M500 couldn't get a signal without me walking outside, not even in the garage with the door open, I had to be outside away from any trees in the open. Yeah, crazy. Maybe they should have spend less time on the apps and focused on building an adequate phone first. None of that matters if you can't use the thing. I also note, even when it showed full bars, the voice of the other person would break in and out. Using my HS820 with the XDA II no one can even tell I am using a headset. Using it with the ETEN, the first thing I heard from everyone was, " what the hell is wrong with your phone". Maybe I just got a defecto, but that would be a reason to keep away as well.
o...is it really a bad machines? How much u paid for it???
I was in the same boat kermit780, but the M500s still a very good device and theres no way in hell I'd go back to a present mda/xda/imate-type product.
This phone was not made with North America in mind (yet) so there are obvious frequency issues- particularly with the 1900mhz range. Eten is on the ball when it comes to issue with this product though. If not the upcoming firmware upgrade, I'm sure the next one will have some sort of radio fix. I'm trying to sell one right now- the primary reason being I needed something with qwerty. The lack of signal as annoying as it was- only secondary because I know it will be a fix to that soon enough.
And no I wouldn't buy a pda2k for that. Its not the size issue- I like going throgh these forums to see whats new out there...not to spend 3+ hours a day searching for a "hack" for something or other. Down right embarassing the amount of money spent on htc phones and the guy standing next to me on the subway with his $200 americanized crap technology Isn't so crap after all because it actually does (did) more than my mda2.
Just my opinion though...M500s a very, very good phone. It will be a great phone once the frequency issue is resolved but doesn't matter if you're not in N American anyway.
For Sale...Cheap. See what real voicedail is like - Plus $20 off for Western Union payment instead of Paypal (avoiding Paypal Final Price Fees so you save...)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5794520477&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MESE:IT&rd=1
Where did u buy ? How much ?
Are u happy ?
thanks
Still No one -? Really , heard that it is availble in Taiwan already?
loser said:
Still No one -? Really , heard that it is availble in Taiwan already?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have it!
Where did you buy it from in Australia?
walshieau, can you check on your phone the GSM and UMTS bands supports?
The (pre-release) device on the coolsmartphone review shows it seems to support all 5 UMTS bands I wonder if thats just because its a test build (and doesnt have the antennas) and if thats true in the final release one.
I guess its really important to know for all the US guys. This may actually be the best phone that works on t-mobile in the USA.
I'd say it's a configuration problem on the test build, but life is pretty gloomy without hope.
Me too, i cant see them putting in an antenna that can handle all those frequencies without compramising on reception. But hey i'm in the UK and i dont care that much
Wooo...Me too.
Maybe HTC have sort of given up on America, because that's the iPhone's home turf, so to speak.
ive never been without signal on any phone, that i can remember, except at the jjb stadium on sunday the 11th of may, might have been cell overload from all the united fans calling chelsea fans and laughing
Hehe. I can often get a signal in the Emirates Stadium, but the networks are still overloaded sometimes.
In random places in Ireland, such as the Castlegregory perninsula, the signal can get a bit dodgy. I think the only network that perninsula has is Vodafone.
For big events like concerts etc they bring in picocells to add capacity. I dont know if they bother for football games.
Basically a cell can handle a limited number of calls (the exact number depends on how many frequencies they use of that cell). So to increase call capacity per sq mile, they just use more cells but make them smaller. That works for densly populated events like football games, concerts etc, where you can have cells that cover only 10 meters.
In fact all along oxford street you have these piconodes every 10 meters or so to handle the capacity!
Anyway.. getting reception != being able to make a call. The cell may be too overloaded to make calls, but it should still let you register if no better alternative cell is available. The amount of cell phones that would need to be on the cell to overload to a point it can't let you register is huge.
So if you don't have reception that generally means there isnt a strong enough signal.
wow, i was just trying to be funny... and relive one of the best days of my life... but it was on my p1i and i think it was on 3g only. and i dont think theres a need for 3g in wigan..
lol
just thought you might be interested
I used to work in that field a while ago.
someone1234 said:
For big events like concerts etc they bring in picocells to add capacity. I dont know if they bother for football games.
Basically a cell can handle a limited number of calls (the exact number depends on how many frequencies they use of that cell). So to increase call capacity per sq mile, they just use more cells but make them smaller. That works for densly populated events like football games, concerts etc, where you can have cells that cover only 10 meters.
In fact all along oxford street you have these piconodes every 10 meters or so to handle the capacity!
Anyway.. getting reception != being able to make a call. The cell may be too overloaded to make calls, but it should still let you register if no better alternative cell is available. The amount of cell phones that would need to be on the cell to overload to a point it can't let you register is huge.
So if you don't have reception that generally means there isnt a strong enough signal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow. That's more random knowledge I'm going to quote when the opportune moment arises.
someone1234 said:
just thought you might be interested
I used to work in that field a while ago.
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fair enough. i thought it might give me more of a chance to laugh at chelsea fans.
but where are the cell piconodes on oxford street? like in lampposts or something? and ar they at tottenham court road? because i might look for them when i get my diamond there
actually they're disguised in lots of ways. I'm not sure exactly what they use on oxford street but here's a quick google of some strange ones:
dead tree
http://www.prattfamily.demon.co.uk/mikep/jpegs/phot2k25.htm
Micronode/Piconode
http://www.prattfamily.demon.co.uk/mikep/jpegs/PIC00026.htm
http://www.hks.demon.co.uk/jpegs/sark_microcell.jpg
http://www.prattfamily.demon.co.uk/mikep/jpegs/PIC00037.htm
fake tree
http://www.hks.demon.co.uk/jpegs/tree_pair2.jpg
http://www.hks.demon.co.uk/jpegs/tree_pair.jpg
http://www.hks.demon.co.uk/jpegs/alan_dick_orange_tree.jpg
real tree:
http://www.hks.demon.co.uk/jpegs/orange_tree.jpg
anyway now i feel like some wierd train (err mast) spotter lol
wow. now u say about th piconodes, theyre the kinda thing i see on lampposts and think wtf...
lol
haha yeah.. more importantly tho don't try to climb one of those tree's... from your signature you must be young.. u don't wanna be neutered
Oh, so that's what those things are. I see them quite often, but I could never work out what they were.
That's all of the government conspiracy theories gone then...
hehe yeah.. but also look out for small half hexagon kinda shaped things on the side of lamposts.. they're cameras! You see them in dodgy areas.
Hi
recently my 3g speed has been decreasing a lot on my tilt. I usually have between 700 to 800 kbps. But now I get around 40 to 100. Any one else is experiancing the same thing? any ideas how to fix this.
p.s.. I have HSDPA set to enable in my phone.
mr_bahal said:
Hi
recently my 3g speed has been decreasing a lot on my tilt. I usually have between 700 to 800 kbps. But now I get around 40 to 100. Any one else is experiancing the same thing? any ideas how to fix this.
p.s.. I have HSDPA set to enable in my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not an AT&T Technician by any definition of the word. But Given the Mass influx of 3G iPhones, The Tower may just be tapped out.
I think 3G works like Cable, The more people using it the less the speed and vice versa.
You could try it at 3am to see if I'm right.
Or You may try flashing another radio, though I doubt that will help much.
I'm in the DFW area, and when I first got mine it would top out around 1mb, here lately 400-500mb is the average. I will have to try that 3am test myself, if I can wake up at that time.
I will try the 3am toombut this sux come on att fix ur towers. I am paying 100 amount for this crap speed.
Try clearing your internet history and cookies
jimmy is correct, it is a shared connection.
Then, There you go! Once again the iPhone has ruined my life!
i was about to post this same thing lol! i dont break 200kbit ever since that dang iphone 3g came out when i was hitting high 700's...such a shame all these people browsing on 3g and they cant even copy and paste text from it nor watch flash like i can with my skyfire browser lol muahahahaha
http://gizmodo.com/5025632/iphone-20-tips-safari-shows-embedded-youtube-clips
Still no flash videos just youTube.....
May be related to this thread too?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=2412967
Jimmy will back me up on this advice.
EVERYONE call customer care over and over and over again and get this complaint regestered so trouble tickets will be issued and then field tec's can fix the issue.
Call tech support and cust care and give details, like city, street intersections, time of day or night.
cust care-800-331-0500
I live in "moderate coverage" area(confirmed by 3 separate ATT reps). I got myself the Captivate the wife got the iphone4. In my house, the iphone gets 1 bar and in our home no bars. Obviously no way measure iphone signal in dBm's(good job apple. It is really a walled garden isn't it).
On captivate, i keep oscillating between -105 to -115dBm and from 4 asu to 1 asu. I really really love the captivate and I was looking forward to a decent Android GSM phone since I travel to Europe/Asia a lot. But the signal is really bugging me. A few times, I couldn't hear the other side properly(the iphone was much worse in such cases). I have till Thursday to decide whether I was to keep the phones or return it. I am very weary about committing another 2 years to death-star is this is going to be an issue.
Can people please advise if this is really a problem OR just ignore this and live with this. I really love android but need a GSM/World phone due to my travels.
Please put me out of my misery. I can't make up my mind
Buy an AT&T Microcell if they are offered in your area. That is probably the only thing you are going to he.able to do about the coverage situation.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Complain enough about you're area coverage .it will either get you out of your contact, or a free microcell.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
i complained a lot to 3 different supervisors and they wouldn't offer a free microcell. Would give $70 credit, but did not realize that if I buy the microcell, it add $20 monthly fee. I am not sure if the last supervisor was bullsh****** me, cause the store rep didn't mention the $20 monthly fee.
I was out of contract when I upgrades, so if I return I will go back to no-contract.
i suspect it's reading falsely low or weak - i've got a vibrant and it generally reads the same, where my earlier MT3G would show -63 to -87
but mine doesn't drop calls and pulls 3G and sometimes even pulls down HSDPA
depending on traffic on the web, while showing -111 dBm, mine will test at speedtest.net showing as high as 5.4 Mbps download,
it generally shows 1.6 to 2.6 Mbps but again, all those test results were while showing -105 to -111, same as yours
the Mt3G, while it showed higher signal strength in same spot, never got above 1 Mbps download speed, which is why i'm thinking the signal strength is reading falsely low
if you're not dropping calls and pulling down at least 1 Mbps download speed, i wouldn't worry about it
but in case it helps
I bought 2 at the same time (one for me and then one for the wife). Her's was having the same issue. We have a MicroCell and I get 5 bars and like -85 dBm while her's was showing one bar and -100. Bad antenna. Return it for a functioning one.
themogul said:
i complained a lot to 3 different supervisors and they wouldn't offer a free microcell. Would give $70 credit, but did not realize that if I buy the microcell, it add $20 monthly fee. I am not sure if the last supervisor was bullsh****** me, cause the store rep didn't mention the $20 monthly fee.
I was out of contract when I upgrades, so if I return I will go back to no-contract.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could be wrong, but, I was under the impression the $20 monthly fee is only if you use the microcell in conjunction with your home internet to get unlimited (doesn't go against your rollover minutes) calling from your cell number. Thats how you get the MC free, otherwise it's $150.
After trying another 2 reps, I actually found someone who actually figured that my 3g reception is really really weak and shipped me a microcell give me the credit of the full amount. Finally got lucky. Anxiously waiting for it to try out the signals. I will post my findings here. Need to buy a homeplug adapter so I can keep this by the window. I really hope those works out as I really like phone
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I got the microcell working after some intial hickups. Its been about a week that i have been using the microcell and its working good for me. I get four bars in most of my house which is so much better than no bars. The call quality is much better and all calls are very clear. The iphone and captivate both hold the calls much better now. I am glad this resolved my basic calls issue and i get to enjoy this excellent phone.
Thank you all fpr ur help.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
What does the service has to do with the phone? I'm confuse. I'm getting the same signal strength I was getting with the iDon't in my home. I don't think it's the phone just the service.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I noticed this problem the moment after buying mine. At the store once they powered mine up i walked to the floor model and my signal was 20dbm less than the other. Now in my apartment i get no signal what so ever when my BB would get some. Debating on exchanging mine for another after reading that broken antenna comment
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
My first captivate had a bad antenna and got no signal at all, anywhere, even in front of a microcell at their store it got 0 bars. So return or exchange it. Some of them have bad antennas.
Very good to know, I'll be exchanging mine on Monday
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Does anyone have data on what good signal numbers i should see? Should I see positive DBm? If so, what? Positive 90? Or is Negative 50 OK?
I can't seem to find good reference material, but I don know when i leave my basement my signal goes from Negative 107 to Negative 95.
Thanks for any references or education.
A higher but negative signal is stronger, with -50dbm being extremely strong, -90dbm usually supporting weak data, voice being acceptable to -95dbm and anything lower than that is considered an unusable signal for most mobiles
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
What is the best signal strength you gotten.? I think mine is -91 it doesn't seem that good. How about you guys? Oh i am in Houston.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
I've personally have seen my phone hit -50dbm which I believe is the highest this receiver will read. However this is very sporadic and rare. On average it is in the 90s which is unacceptable. Even beside my girlfriends BB my signal is always 30dbm lower than hers. Keep in mind dbm is a logarithmically scaled unit so 30dbm means my signal is roughly 10 TIMES lower than hers. 3dbm is twice the power
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
When do you measure your signal levels?
I got same weak signal during cell standby (no phone call, no data traffic).
However!
After initiating data transfer/call signal increases significantly. I'm getting -60-80dbm.
This means radio is saving battery juice when not extensively used, which should be considered positive.
xan said:
When do you measure your signal levels?
I got same weak signal during cell standby (no phone call, no data traffic).
However!
After initiating data transfer/call signal increases significantly. I'm getting -60-80dbm.
This means radio is saving battery juice when not extensively used, which should be considered positive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've noticed this too, at idle if I have one "bar" and I initiate a phone call the bars will increase to 2-3. However, there are times where I am on the fringe of no signal whatsoever to even initiate a call or to use data because the signal received is so low. Also, when my captivate reports 2-4 bars its usually still at -90dbm. I just did a test by calling someone and watching my bars, although the bars went up, while the conversation was still engaged I was only getting below -90dbm. I'm about to head to the store to check out a replacement
Just traded phones, this one seems to have the same issues... I'm curious if the build date has anything to do with this. My first Captivate was on 7/27/10, this was printed on the battery at least. The AT&T rep gave me just a new phone while using my same battery, how can I check the build date of the phone with the serial number? I've seen mention of this somewhere on these forums about a link at Samsung that will tell me
Edit: Figured it out, it's under the Samsung product registration, when you enter your IMEI it tells you the manufacturer date. This one is also 7/27/10... I wonder if it's a common problem with older phones. Can you guys having this problem verify your manufacturing date?
I was going to buy the Razr M but after doing some research it seems that it was plagued by GSM and wifi antenna issues. I cant seem to find any info online regarding the antennas on the Razr I, does anyone out there know if the Razr I suffers from the same issues or is it likely to be more reliable?
Any info/help would be gratefully received, I am about to make the big leap from dumb to smart phone and need all the help i can get - everyone i know here just tells me to get a samsung, but i am interested in something with a little more quality and maybe not so high specs.
Thanks...
Don't get a Samsung, I'll tell you that much. I've been using a Razr I on att for majority of the year now, and I've found the antenna to be... Adequate. I get a lot of dropped calls and sometimes texts don't come in until hours after they were sent. Still, this seldom happens. And, I think the crappy cell service in my area is largely to blame. I would still recommend it. This phone is quite speedy, ang the battery is absolutely phenomenal.
Sent from my XT890 using xda app-developers app
Thanks for the info, i also live in an area with poor signal, currently i have to walk out to my gate to send a text. I was hoping to get one with a good antenna so maybe i could text from indoors. (occasionaly my old nokia will text from inside). That was why i looked at motorolas in the first place because they are supposed to have the best antennas. maybe i should think about the dreaded ifone, yuk.
I was prepared to live with the crappy camera and ****ty speaker, but this may be a deal breaker for me, although there just are no other phones i know of with these specs in this size.
Look for a cellphone repeater. This will allow you to use any cellphones in your house without any problem, as long as you choose the right one for your application.