Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

Unfortunately, I was one of the folks in the UK who switched to Vodafone from O2 just for the N900. And what a stupid mistake that was! :(

I live in North London, and on O2 I used to have reception everywhere, and no disconnects.

Now with Vodafone, I get crap reception everywhere. Hardly ever do I see 3 or 4 bars. Usually 1 or 2. I always get disconnected from calls, and always lose "cellular data". Its just so annoying.

I have read somewhere that the N900 is also crap when it comes to network reception. So what my problem?

Is it vodafone or the N900... or both?

Anyone else having similar difficulties?

How can I check if its the N900 or just Vodafone?

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

I am also with Vodafone and fortunateley am not experiencing the problems that you are. Must be a real pain. Don't know what to suggest, sorry.

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

i am thinking that it could be the phone.

any way i can check the network receiver on the phone

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

I was thinking the same, after last night. I was stoked that I had "full bars from Northern VA to Philadelphia, with only (3) areas where lost signal (all on the highway), using T-Mobile USA (first time on network). I was even able to stream internet radio feed all the way from Baltimore to Philly, with no drops, on 3.5G.

However last night, 4 blocks from my house, where I get full bars and consistent 900Kb DL, I completely lost signal when I went inside my local supermarket. As soon as I went outside, no more than 10M, I was back on full bars 3G. I'm wondering also how much of a difference with wall penetration T-Mo USA's frequency has, from my current AT&T service.

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

I'm on a different continent and using different carriers. I switched from AT&T (no 3G) to T-Mobile (3G) and never had the "no cellular" error with AT&T but already experienced it a couple times per day with T-Mobile. I just chalk it up to poor coverage (their maps show full coverage for the areas in which I live, work and travel... but...)

I wonder if the phone is not able to gracefully handle these situations as well as other phones? It seems like once it loses the cellular signal, it has a hard time reconnecting to the network. I use the 3G/2G mode selection applet to "kick start" this process. Usually when it has no signal, if i change the mode it'll magically have 3 bars of signal or more...

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

I will add that it seems like every time I put the phone in my pocket with T-Mobile it loses signal, either 3G or completely loses all cellular, but never happened with AT&T (and never happened in 2 years with my N95)

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

Fair enough. Everyone criticized AT&T's service, in particular in my area, yet T-Mobile has a rep of providing superior coverage (DC/Balt corridor). I wonder if its just the nature of CDMA/WCDMA technology, and antenna/radio issues. Reception was "NEVER" a concern with my Motorola Q, on AT&T 3G, from VA to RI, but when I manually switch to Edge, I notice signal fluctuations. I had the same, but worse issues with my Droid on Verizon. I hear that other phones, on VZ in the same area, do not suffer from signal issues. I did an antenna mod which helped the Droid's reception drastically.

http://androidforums.com/motorola-dr...light=homemade

With the 900 on T-Mo, I was able to get 3Mb DL speeds in Philly, but at my dad's house, 20 blocks up, I had signal issues, where it dipped to half strength or lower. I noticed that when in the AT&T store, the HTC TP2 had signal issues, just picking it up off the display cradle, where again my Q was rock solid on "full bars". I know its kind of an apples to oranges to steak comparison, but just trying to emphasize that "it may be the phone".

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

You're right, it's really a difficult thing to evaluate like you said, from street to street, from phone to phone, everything that goes into the signal strength. Almost every piece of info we can provide is anecdotal. So here's more. :)

For me, with my N95 on AT&T I had full bars everywhere I ever went in the metro area, and full speed 3G. I did not experience the issues with slow data, dropped calls, network congestion etc. that I always read about online from other cities. I have heard that AT&T's 3G network in St. Louis is one of their best in the country. (Oddly enough the only time I was unable to make a data connection on AT&T was when I attended a baseball game with 45,000 other people sitting in the shadow of the AT&T tower in downtown St. Louis, with its large illuminated AT&T sign...)

With T-Mobile, who claims full coverage and full 3G coverage here as well, the N900 gets about 3 bars (roughly half signal?) at the best, and only finds 3G signal about half of the time. If I put it in my pocket the N900 loses all signal entirely quite often.

I don't know if that's poor reception by N900, weak signal by T-Mobile, alignment of the planets, who knows. :)

I guess the best thing to try would be to find some other person with N900 in your area on the same carrier and compare phones signal as you travel around...

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

Does T-Mo only have 3G on the 1700 band? Or does it depend on region? I do notice that if I put my hand on the right side of the phone (I believe where cell antennae are) that signal strenght drops. Again, this is not something I exp. on my AT&T branded Q, so I'm not sure if its the "frequency" or "the 900's antenna/radio".

Does AT&T use "WCDMA"? Or is their 3G a different tech?

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

Yes, T-mo only has 3G only in the 1700/2100 band (speaking of the U.S., of course). AT&T uses the same tech as T-mo, which is an evolution of WCDMA.

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

So it does seem like its the phone that is the problem.

I mean Vodafone is not a bad network, its one of the best in the UK, PLUS I live in London, so I should get reception EVERYWHERE. But I dont.

So is there any way to test the phone network receiver to see if its working fully?

Or is there any app that can do this?

Can anything be done to check the phone??

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

Well, until you compare another phone, on the same network, in the same geographic location, it's hard to say. Again, I'm wondering how much the higher frequency is affected by "walls".

My reception is "full bars everywhere in my region", until I go inside certain buldings. Conversley, my Droid, on verizon's network, would lose signal when outside, in multiple areas "in my town alone". Reception improved with the antenna mod on the Droid, where other phones on Verizon, in my area, do not have reception issues.

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

Network coverage always varies from area to area. Honestly it's best to get a free PAYG sim to try in an unlocked phone in the areas you use frequently.

I stayed with 3, even though coverage at home/office is poor (but both have wifi). If anything the reception is slightly better than my N95/N96 -- certainly not any worse, and better than some other phones.

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

I have compared phones. Same SIM different phone, Much better reception everywhere. No disconnects. Perfect.

I do have to say that if you think "walls" are causing me problems, then please explain why I dont have any reception OUTSIDE!

Is there anything I can do to test the phone?

True, but i live in London, and I have never had any network coverage. London is full of mobile masts, and I should get good reception pretty much anywhere.

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

my device gave me perfect reception from Vodafone nz. Infact that it's doing much better than my N95 did as well. In my office, i work at the bottom floor and surrounded by tall building and my N95 cannot received any reception, not even 2G. But my N900 gave me 3bars to 5bars constantly on 3G network. i guess may be it's your device fault.

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

So I guess London doesn't have any stone/brick/concrete buildings which are tall enough to block your line of sight from the nearest antennae or tower?

If you've used another phone, with the same SIM, in the same spot where the 900 has "poor" reception, and the other phone has better reception, then yes, the 900 has weak radio/antennae.

I'm going to take my other phone back to the spot where my 900 has trouble and report later.

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

I have used the N900 extensively in Central London with the O2 network andcompared it to several S60 handsets using the same sim. The coverage seems similar though I did find certain points in more central London (picadilly circus etc) that the connection was swamped with heavy users which meant I had to reset even the S60 handsets in order to get anything to happen. London seems to have a general bandwidth issue at present so this might be worth checking out on a day trip away from London itself.

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

I get poor reception with vodafone on my N900 also in london. I see a lot of 2g where other phones get 3g. Call Quality sounds great though but a huge problem is that when using data in fringe areas I do get a lot of missed calls when I have reception. Getting the notifications late and all sorts. I have tried my phone with tmobile and O2 and they seem to perform better in the same areas. I am near london bridge/Cannon street areas most days and out in surrey at weekends if that helps. My friend also has a n900 on voadfone and he wishes he never took the contract out as at his house he problems are worse due to coverage.

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

just wanted to add:
i came for a vocation in london and my n900 cellular stopped functioning. whenever i attempt to make a call i get "connection error". it was not the sim as i also tried with a prepaid sim card - changing modes didnt help, neither did switching to meego. this is the first time it happend to me (back home or in spain last year when i went there)... gladly one of my local buddies gave me a 10 quid phone to use.

Re: Crap Network - Hardly Any Reception
 

I am on Bosnian BHTelecom, and I have never seen any less than full network bar, wherever I am :)