Any way to boost reception / signal? - G1 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I recently made the switch back to a G1 from my Blackberry 9700. I love the phone overall, but the main thing that kills me(even more so than battery life) is cell phone reception. The problem is mainly in my office at work where my 9700 would only get a bar of edge, the G1 may as well be turned off. I get lucky every hour or so and get an email through, but no calls.
Is there any way to boost / increase reception? I've tried various roms and 2.22.23.02 and 2.22.19.26i radios. I've even went so far as to buy one of those "signal booster" stickers that go under the battery... no luck.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

It is what it is. I noticed the same thing... my wife will have 4 bars in our apartment on her Cliq, I only have 2. Time to get a new phone for me, I guess.

Related

Signal very low...Kaiser problem?

Hello all,
I've noticed that with my Kaiser signal usually is very low, no more than two stands... otherwise with all my old phone, for example in my home, signal was full, also with htc touch dual of my friend.
Maybe can be usefull a radio update?
Thanks
Stefano
it could be displaying the 3G signal vs the gprs signal of your old phone...
try turning off 3G
itarix said:
it could be displaying the 3G signal vs the gprs signal of your old phone...
try turning off 3G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Old phone was 3G and my operators supports 3G only...
Ste
My Tilt doesn't get very good reception either. When sitting next to a Motorola Razr V3xx (my Mom's phone), the Razr consistently has at least 2 bars, often 3 or 4 when in my house, but the Tilt has, at most 2 bars, and sometimes even loses signal completely. That never happens on the Motorola, but mine often goes straight to voicemail due to lack of signal.
Now, I realize a Razr and a Tilt are apples and oranges , but they are both 3G, so I would think signal should be comparable. Also, this is not a mattar of one phone simply displaying more bars, but of actual call quality.
I thought it may be a defect in my particular phone, but I have since done a warranty replacement for another issue, and was sent out a new one (it wasn't even a refurb). The new one has the same poor reception.
The Tilt is obviously a superior phone to a Razr in most ways. An ideas why call strength is so poor?
PS: I had a Treo 750 prior to the Tilt, and it too had good reception when in the exact same spot as the Tilt.

Tilt Stuck in HSDPA Mode as of yesterday

This is very strange. As of yesterday my Tilt seems to be stuck in HSDPA mode.
Before yesterday when the phone booted it would first momentarily display G mode, then media net would try to connect and it would go to 3G mode. Then as the boot completes the application which access the internet kick in and the phone jumps to H mode for the downloads. When the downloads were done, it would settle back into 3G mode. That is normal behavior for the Tilt as it was for my old Hermes.
As of yesterday it starts in H and stays in H all day and nothing I do seems to be able to get it out of H. I have tried turning off the phone, turning off and on the HSDPA setting, rechecked all my tweaks, no change. I have done everything I can think short of a hard reset.
I was convinced it was a software issue on my phone, until I looked at my wife's phone. Her Tilt is doing the same thing as of yesterday. She is on the stock AT&T ROM (no bloatware) and I am on the Official HTC TYTN II WWE ROM (6.1) So the phones are different in terms of software and tweaks.
Thus I concluded it must be a network issue here in the Orlando Area. The network has been changing here of late. So I call At&t and even their second level tech support could not understand. They said we will have to take the phones back and get new ones.
The batteries are draining very fast in this mode. Does any one have any other ideas? This has to be a network problem, right?
LJinFLA said:
This is very strange. As of yesterday my Tilt seems to be stuck in HSDPA mode.
Before yesterday when the phone booted it would first momentarily display G mode, then media net would try to connect and it would go to 3G mode. Then as the boot completes the application which access the internet kick in and the phone jumps to H mode for the downloads. When the downloads were done, it would settle back into 3G mode. That is normal behavior for the Tilt as it was for my old Hermes.
As of yesterday it starts in H and stays in H all day and nothing I do seems to be able to get it out of H. I have tried turning off the phone, turning off and on the HSDPA setting, rechecked all my tweaks, no change. I have done everything I can think short of a hard reset.
I was convinced it was a software issue on my phone, until I looked at my wife's phone. Her Tilt is doing the same thing as of yesterday. She is on the stock AT&T ROM (no bloatware) and I am on the Official HTC TYTN II WWE ROM (6.1) So the phones are different in terms of software and tweaks.
Thus I concluded it must be a network issue here in the Orlando Area. The network has been changing here of late. So I call At&t and even their second level tech support could not understand. They said we will have to take the phones back and get new ones.
The batteries are draining very fast in this mode. Does any one have any other ideas? This has to be a network problem, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
d/l a communication manager that has a 3g on/off button see if that works
i believe duttys 10 button com manager should do the trick.
Congratulations! ATT turned on HSUPA in your area. What you described originally (3G going to H when doing data transfer and then back to 3G) is what the Tilt does when you only have HSDPA in your area. Once ATT turns on HSUPA (so now you have HSPA for both uploads and downloads) it will stay with H until you leave and enter an area that doesn't have HSUPA.
Bottom line is that there is nothing wrong with your phones.
I am not sure why you are seeing poor battery life. I have been living with H for almost 6 months and haven't noticed any changes in battery and haven't heard other people complaining about that either.
jglev said:
Congratulations! ATT turned on HSUPA in your area. What you described originally (3G going to H when doing data transfer and then back to 3G) is what the Tilt does when you only have HSDPA in your area. Once ATT turns on HSUPA (so now you have HSPA for both uploads and downloads) it will stay with H until you leave and enter an area that doesn't have HSUPA.
Bottom line is that there is nothing wrong with your phones.
I am not sure why you are seeing poor battery life. I have been living with H for almost 6 months and haven't noticed any changes in battery and haven't heard other people complaining about that either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow jglev, thanks for the prompt info. Even the AT&T techies couldn't tell me that. I asked them about the network changes that have been going on. We have noticed that the name of the network has been changing over the last week fro "umts-AT&T" to "3G AT&T" to now just "AT&T" so I knew there were changes. But when i asked AT&T specifically, they couldn't tell me. Not surprising i guess.
My battery statement was more of an assumption I guess. it was my understanding from my past with the hermes that when the phone went into H mode the radio would take more battery power. and that is why the OS settles back into straight 3G mode in between downloads. Do you know if that is true on the Kaiser. What kind of battery life do you get in the HSUPA mode?
LJinFLA said:
Wow jglev, thanks for the prompt info. Even the AT&T techies couldn't tell me that. I asked them about the network changes that have been going on. We have noticed that the name of the network has been changing over the last week fro "umts-AT&T" to "3G AT&T" to now just "AT&T" so I knew there were changes. But when i asked AT&T specifically, they couldn't tell me. Not surprising i guess.
My battery statement was more of an assumption I guess. it was my understanding from my past with the hermes that when the phone went into H mode the radio would take more battery power. and that is why the OS settles back into straight 3G mode in between downloads. Do you know if that is true on the Kaiser. What kind of battery life do you get in the HSUPA mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is true that any 3G mode uses more battery power than say Edge or GSM, but I don't know if full H mode is any worse than just HSDPA. I can easily go a full day without charging, but since I have a charger at home, in the office, in the car and one I travel with, I ususally don't have to. When the phone is displaying H, it doesn't mean it is actively transmitting data, just that the network is H (and if you have the little H by the signal bar, then you are connected to the data network). So even if it's dormant, you will see the H. There really isn't an easy way to see if you are actively transmitting data with the Tilt/Kaiser as far as I know. If I remember correctly when I had the Hermes (which didn't have the little 3G by the signal bar, just the larger square icon), you could tell from the icon (the little arrows would light up), but you can't with the Kaiser.
And yes, for the most part, you will find that the people here (and HoFo) know way more than those who works for ATT (but there are exceptions).
LJinFLA said:
Wow jglev, thanks for the prompt info. Even the AT&T techies couldn't tell me that. I asked them about the network changes that have been going on. We have noticed that the name of the network has been changing over the last week fro "umts-AT&T" to "3G AT&T" to now just "AT&T" so I knew there were changes. But when i asked AT&T specifically, they couldn't tell me. Not surprising i guess.
My battery statement was more of an assumption I guess. it was my understanding from my past with the hermes that when the phone went into H mode the radio would take more battery power. and that is why the OS settles back into straight 3G mode in between downloads. Do you know if that is true on the Kaiser. What kind of battery life do you get in the HSUPA mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No offense directed a KD8DNS, but the At&t Techs only know what their magical screen tells them, or if they are the few with brains, it's what they've overheard and learned in addition to the screen.
I worked a LOOONG time ago as a CSR for Voicestream, the Call Center people don't know item one on where the network is being expanded at what time. They have to wait for the "screen" the be updated, which can take a while.
OH and the fact there it phone says "H" now, is a good thing.
I've had "H" on my Tilt since the first time I powered it on last October. Even my 1 week stay in Pinellas County FL didn't leave me with an E/G.
As far as battery life is concerned, it is true that 3G/HSDPA will deplete your charge quicker that Edge. The way I get around that is using KaiserTweak to automatically kill my data connection after 1 minute of inactivity.
The data tweak combined with a nice low-power radio allow my phone to standby for 3-4 days.
Push Email and online IM with HSPA kill a battery in about 6-7 hours for me (stock Tilt rom/radio). I'm sure that if you only use data when you need to, it's not a big deal, but data being used pretty much all the time is killer compared to EDGE.
I've tried to stick with HSPA a few times rather than having to switch back and forth, but the battery life sucks (again, with push email and IM online) and the phone stays about 38c all the time at 'idle'. EDGE it's cold as ice all the time and the battery lasts about 24h.
I'm updating rom/radio soon, perhaps it is better with other radios.

[Q]No 3G Reception, but lots of HSDPA

Hey everyone, long time reader, but I don't think I've ever posted before. I've had a HTC Touch Pro for a few months and I think its a great phone. Last was an iMate JASJAM.
I seem to get great HSDPA reception at my home, and a little bit in my office, but drops out all the time at work and goes back to EDGE, skipping 3G altogether.
This wouldnt normaly bother me too much, but 3 charges for going off their data network, and doesnt go towards my download cap, is additional.
I've tried out every radio that you guys have here for it, and none seem to help. And I have taken the SIM out of the phone and put it in my old JASJAM and it gets 3G reception fine in the same spot.
Maybe the actual physical antenna in the Touch Pro is very weak or something...
Any ideas peeps?
Thanks in advance
Forgot to mention, very occaisionaly in certain areas of canberra, I can get 3G reception and HSDPA, annoyingly enough, whenever I am at a 3 store

[Q] 3G- no data, but GPRS, Edge & HSDPA ok?

I've had this problem with my Nexus One for as long as I could remember, but kinda ignored it - thought perhaps a new radio would fix it, or a new ROM...
But no, it still bugs me.
Basically, if the phone is on 'normal' 3G, I cannot receive any data. It just gets no connection. If I have HSDPA, or GPRS or EDGE - it all works fine.
But 3G? Nothing. And its EVERY time.
Travelling on the train every day, HSDPA isn't stable, so it often drops to 3G, but then it drops dead. I have to restrict the phone to 2G if I want to check things reliably.
I've tried every radio from every country from the original to the latest 5.12 leak.. yes, speeds increase, HSDPA engages more often, but as soon as I'm on normal 3G: Dead.
And I've tried all ROMs (original, MCR, Cyanogen, Desire, MIUI) - same.
Any build.prop tweaks I could find... same.
Now, I remember talks about this when the Nexus came out originally - but there doesn't seem to be any threads about it now, so do I just have a faulty Nexus One that I've put up with since Christmas last year?
Or have I missed something blatantly obvious that every else did to fix this problem?
Any help gratefully received
Pardon my grammar and spelling I'm typing from my phone without swype and its annoying. I had a similar problem. When on 3g I'd miss calls texts, etc...I had my boss call in my face and my phone didn't ring. It got so frustrating I turned off 3g for several months. Too make a long story short ....all those 3g problems went away when I 2.2 came out on xda I put a new radio and rom on. I can't tell u if it was the radio, 2.2, or if tmo had simply added new towers or improved signals from tmobile.
I'd call tmo see how your area looks and if there's any new towers.
I've been on 2.2.1, and 2.1, 2.2, and used all the radios that have been released.
All the same.
I'm in the UK and on Orange, and I have spoken, well, tried to speak to my network about it a couple of times, saying the fact that I've had this issue in the past with my HTC Hero, and I've tried every software update, radio, etc, but because the Nexus One isn't an Orange handset they blame that, Android, or the signal in my area. Yet, I can't believe its just 'Android', and it can't be all signal where-ever I go, so perhaps my phone does have a fault? I don't know!!
The common denominator between this and my Hero is the SIM card.. but convincing them the SIM is faulty is nigh impossible. I'm receiving calls and texts on 3G, and get data all the other times, so it can't be... can it?
Argh, as you can see, this is slowly driving me mad..!!!
Yours sound worst than mine. I used to have very reliable 3G data until upto mid October. After that period, there were numerous reports of Orange UK users struggling with data blaming (with high possibility) on merge plan with T-Mobile.
I tried SIM with my Hero and Nokia N82. All 3 phones suffer the same poor 3G connection and in places I spend my time mostly, all struggle to get any form of internet. Few months back on same places, all my mates were impressed by Orange's coverage.
Yesterday, out of nowhere I received a sms from Orange confirming that merged plan went well and customers are to benefit from all cell towers of both network. Couldn't stop smiling then tried to access XDA on N1's browser. Safeguard was ON and access denied. Tried to open few more, all same. Frustrated almost dialed 150 but couple hours later, all started as normal with H signal. No interruptions, no waitings and no error msg. Tested for almost 8 hours. Though still to confirm the reliability.
One more thing I noticed is that before I was using WM's AVS kernel. Almost always once in every 4 attempts, a msg would pop up on error connecting. Changed to SVS kernel and msg still would appear but very very rare. BTW, on latest Nightly.
Coming to end with orange contract and if problem continues, I'm moving to O2.
Try your SIM on other phones to see whether it's the issue with N1.
I might have the same problem. but this just came up 2 nights ago. while connected on data network, all is fine until it drops to 3G, app (opera mini) freezes and you will have to force close. restricted my network to 2G and all was fine. then a while ago i enabled again on 3G and all was fine again.
is this a sign that i may get your same problem soon?

S8 Battery Usage with Network Extender?

I actually have an unlocked S8 on Verizon, but I think the question is generally applicable to all of the firmware versions.
I recently switched from AT&T to Verizon. While the switch has been great in general, it has lead to low signal in our basement where my office is located. While calls/texts seem to work in the basement, I'm noticing reduced battery life due to the reduced signal.
I picked up a (3G) Network Extender to try to improve the situation, but it seems to behave differently than I would have expected. I wasn't thrilled to have to disable VOLTE in order to use the extender at all (since it isn't the LTE version), but the bigger issue is that it *seems* like the device is still using the cell towers except when there is an actual incoming or outgoing call. Is that correct? What does that mean from a battery usage perspective?
In the end, I'm trying to figure out whether there is any real value in using the extender if it doesn't improve battery life? Can anyone comment?
Thanks,
Craig
csetera said:
I actually have an unlocked S8 on Verizon, but I think the question is generally applicable to all of the firmware versions.
I recently switched from AT&T to Verizon. While the switch has been great in general, it has lead to low signal in our basement where my office is located. While calls/texts seem to work in the basement, I'm noticing reduced battery life due to the reduced signal.
I picked up a (3G) Network Extender to try to improve the situation, but it seems to behave differently than I would have expected. I wasn't thrilled to have to disable VOLTE in order to use the extender at all (since it isn't the LTE version), but the bigger issue is that it *seems* like the device is still using the cell towers except when there is an actual incoming or outgoing call. Is that correct? What does that mean from a battery usage perspective?
In the end, I'm trying to figure out whether there is any real value in using the extender if it doesn't improve battery life? Can anyone comment?
Thanks,
Craig
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 3G extender only routes when there is data going to or from your phone (phone calls). You should see a little icon indicating that you are connecting to the extender. I had 2 of the 3G extenders, neither did anything to help my cellphone battery. I also had continuing issues with losing the GPS sync signal almost daily, even with the external antenna connected and outside away from the house. Verizon has also said that they are "retiring " 3G at the end of 2019 in my area. I bought their new 4G extender, and it works like a miniature cell tower - phone is always connected to it when in range, and it does seem to help with the battery life. Data / messaging / VOLTE works *much* better. Best of all, GPS lock has been solid with no drops at all. If you bought the 3G extender from a Verizon store, take it back and get the 4G instead - works sooo much better!
rhricik447 said:
The 3G extender only routes when there is data going to or from your phone (phone calls). You should see a little icon indicating that you are connecting to the extender. I had 2 of the 3G extenders, neither did anything to help my cellphone battery. I also had continuing issues with losing the GPS sync signal almost daily, even with the external antenna connected and outside away from the house. Verizon has also said that they are "retiring " 3G at the end of 2019 in my area. I bought their new 4G extender, and it works like a miniature cell tower - phone is always connected to it when in range, and it does seem to help with the battery life. Data / messaging / VOLTE works *much* better. Best of all, GPS lock has been solid with no drops at all. If you bought the 3G extender from a Verizon store, take it back and get the 4G instead - works sooo much better!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is good to know. I actually bought this off of EBay for cheap, so I can't easily swap it out. At that point, I didn't understand the behavior of the device and phone.

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