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[Q] Another 'no signal' thread!

Hi
I have a HTC HD7 that's around 12 months old, never raced or rallied and only used as a phone (a waste I know)
Anyway, I was away on holiday for a month, came home and my Vodafone signal is really poor, I'm getting no signal at all in the living room and a really poor signal around the rest of the house when I used to have full signal.
My partner has a HTC Desire Z with Android and also on Vodafone, she has a full signal all around the house!
Is it the end of the road for my phone perhaps?
Any help is appreciated.

sparks72 said:
Hi
I have a HTC HD7 that's around 12 months old, never raced or rallied and only used as a phone (a waste I know)
Anyway, I was away on holiday for a month, came home and my Vodafone signal is really poor, I'm getting no signal at all in the living room and a really poor signal around the rest of the house when I used to have full signal.
My partner has a HTC Desire Z with Android and also on Vodafone, she has a full signal all around the house!
Is it the end of the road for my phone perhaps?
Any help is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I strongly doubt if the signal is affected by phone's age.
However, did you remove your battery few a minute or two and put back in? Sometimes it helps if the phone undergoes complete boot after a roaming network change. Also, does it have similar gold clip connections like HTC Titan on it's back cover?

drupad2drupad said:
I strongly doubt if the signal is affected by phone's age.
However, did you remove your battery few a minute or two and put back in? Sometimes it helps if the phone undergoes complete boot after a roaming network change. Also, does it have similar gold clip connections like HTC Titan on it's back cover?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank's for replying.
1) I did remove the battery for a few minutes, still the same.
2) No it doesn't have gold clip connections.
I should have mentioned that I used two different networks (2 different sim cards) apart form my Vodafone sim while abroad.
Is there any chance these could have affected the phone in any way?
Still baffled

[Q] Three 3 UK users please read

Are you having issues where the phone's internet cutting out? I'm trying to work out if its an issue with the phone or the signal in Manchester.
The phone will be working fine for texts and phone calls then when I go to use Internet radio, Marketplace or Internet browser quite often the internet will drop out.

Hi no .
My phone is behaving but does have the 3g to H problem where it flies between the 2 . Although this does seem not as bad as other users are experiencing
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium

Its literally driving me insane. Its about 6/10 times I go to use the internet it wont work! But if I do get it to stream it seems to be ok.
I'm considering going for the ONE X instead getting sick of the problems with the S.. Shame really as I love the size!

Hard reset and see how it acts after that .
Most of the niggles I had went after I did that.
The S for me is a keeper for a while , screen is great , battery life is amazing . Have you called 3 to see if there's an issue

Got mine today from three. Will report back if I notice anything. Three can slow data down I believe depending on usage on a network. Being in a city might have something to do with it.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA

Be grateful you get signal. I get jack sh*t in manchester with vodafone haha, always have.

Well I unlocked my bootloader last night, didn't end up putting any ROMs on it but had to start again with my Apps everything was working perfectly when I went to download everything (This is in Sale, about 5 miles from where I work). I even managed some Battle Field 3 online gaming via personal hotspot on my PC.
It was only late on last night I starting having an issue.. was it an app I installed I wonder? I will experiment further.
Shame its networked locked, was going to led it to my friend to try with his Vodfone sim to see how he gets on with it.

Its not the PHONE WOooh! Three have just called, problem with the mast in my area, fixed by the 27th. I can deal with that. And there I was deleting apps etc.

mardon85 said:
Its not the PHONE WOooh! Three have just called, problem with the mast in my area, fixed by the 27th. I can deal with that. And there I was deleting apps etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to deflate your balloon but I have same prob. I have a fairly good Three signal where I live NE of York. Put the sim out of my One S into Defy+ and I get good signal. Put sim back into One S and back to 1 or 2 bars. I took it back to Three in York but with full signal in York had a hard time explaining my prob. So the assistant typed on the computer ..... guess what she said ....
" problem with the mast in my area, fixed by the end of the week"
Now that is one coincidence is it not? That said even if there was an issue with the 'mast' doesn't explain why the Defy+ has the normal good signal with no signal loss as per One S
Micro sim will work in Defy+ if you place it correctly over the connecting pins!
There are others on here with similar problem
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1588345

There is definitely an issue with the current radio firmware as I still have the jumping 3G to H sign but even so at home on the Wirral or in Sale Manchester the internet is spot on, even if it only has 3/4 bars where as in work its full signal but the internet drops out all over the show.
I think it could well be a coincidence that there is an issue with the mast you're on, does the Desire support the faster HSDP+ internet? Maybe its that?

Not sure about the Desire.
I think it's probably the a firmware issue as you say. I know I have a good Three signal where I live as I've tried their PAYG service. Put either the payg or the monthly contract sim, both from Three, in the Defy+ and get a good signal readout. The signal seems to bounce all over. One minute I'm on full bars and the next lost connection. In York where signal is stronger than mine in the sticks there is no issue. Tried with little success to explain the problem to the assitant in Three shop but with full bars on phone she thought I was some sort of fool Mind you when she played the mast card asked why then the Moto Defy+ had no issues with signal
I'm hoping there will be a patch from HTC at some point though they maybe need to be made aware of the issue. I would like to try a T-Mobile sim in the One S but suspect it's locked to Three. I'm sure it's a network provider issue.

What's the reported signal strength of the One S compared to other phones?

There have been a few reports that the One series has poor reception.
For example my HTC Desire constantly has about 7-9dB** lower signal than my old Nokia N79 - I was hoping that the new One S would have better reception, but the forums are complaining about fewer "bars" of signal strength. Unfortunately the latter is meaningless because "bars" are uncalibrated and signal level is highly dependent on exact position and whether the unit is held in the hand or not.
Rather than hearsay, I would like to know if One S owners could do a comparison with their old phone to see if it is much worse.
Using the *#*#4636#*#* code if you could report the signal level (dBm) and the connection mode (3G, 2G, GSM whatever) between your One S and old phone when lying in the same position on the desk*
*holding it in your hand, or putting it somewhere else in the room or changing the connection type or changing the carrier will all invalidate any meaningful comparison.
**
+3dB is a doubling in received power and +10dB is a 10x increase in received power, likewise -3dB and -10dB are halving and one tenth the power, so it's a significant difference.

OK, here's some evidence for you. HTC One S with Three UK monthly contract sim inserted and Motorola Defy+ with Three UK PAYG sim in. Both phones laid on desk in similar position with nothing to interfere with them.
HTC One S -105dBm (4ASU)
Motorola Defy+ -89dBm (12ASU)
This is pretty much what I've been getting with Network Signal app.
Incidentally, if I put the sim out the One S into the Defy+ then I still get -89dBm as you would expect as both sims use Three UK network. I can't put the PAYG sim into the One S as it's not a micro sim.
Pretty much damning evidence. Does mean the One S loses signal a lot faster when signal is marginal. Doesn't seem to be a great difference when signal is strong between the 2 which is a PITA when trying to show the problem in the Three shop If I go to York later I'll re run the test's and report back. I'm not sure where to go from here. I'll contact HTC support and see if they show any interest. Not overly hopeful of getting any where with Three customer support?

Richy101 said:
Pretty much damning evidence. Does mean the One S loses signal a lot faster when signal is marginal. Doesn't seem to be a great difference when signal is strong between the 2 which is a PITA when trying to show the problem in the Three shop If I go to York later I'll re run the test's and report back. I'm not sure where to go from here. I'll contact HTC support and see if they show any interest. Not overly hopeful of getting any where with Three customer support?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the data point. I'd say it's valid to take them to the Three shop, put them side by side and say look, there's a 16dB difference. (strictly speaking the noise figure of the receiver should also be known, but this is set in the GSM/UMTS specs and should be less than a dB or two difference).
It's been my belief that Nokia and Motorola have the best antenna engineers - all the Nokias I've owned have had great signal reception, despite the fact that the number of base stations was much lower in the late 90s early 2000s.

I cannot compare to old one, I got micro sim and dont have adapter yet (comming from ebay).
I found that I got alot lower signal, thought as I mvoed to micro sim I changed carrier...
Question - how much signal is needed for "OK", and at which point its to weak?

Stiflerlv said:
Question - how much signal is needed for "OK", and at which point its to weak?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to OFCOM the mimum signal level is -110dBm (including some fading margin).
At that level you will get very slow data speeds - I consider anything less than -90dBm as pretty low.
I was in the Vodaphone store and they had SIMs in a One X, One S and Wildfire S - all of these were within a few dB of eachother - unfortunately my (roaming) HTC Desire would not connect to Vodaphone.de, so I couldn't get a 4th reference point.
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/3g_rollout/statement/statement.pdf
Currently I'm mostly interested in 3G reception - if this is poor then the phone will spend a lot of time (and battery) looking for signal, loosing contact, toggling back and forth between 2G and 3G etc. However, need to consider that 3G can exist on both 900 and 1800MHz in Europe. If poor antenna design is the culprit then this may only effect one of the bands, meaning that certain users have great signal, whereas others report poor reception.

aza314 said:
According to OFCOM the mimum signal level is -110dBm (including some fading margin).
At that level you will get very slow data speeds - I consider anything less than -90dBm as pretty low.
I was in the Vodaphone store and they had SIMs in a One X, One S and Wildfire S - all of these were within a few dB of eachother - unfortunately my (roaming) HTC Desire would not connect to Vodaphone.de, so I couldn't get a 4th reference point.
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/3g_rollout/statement/statement.pdf
Currently I'm mostly interested in 3G reception - if this is poor then the phone will spend a lot of time (and battery) looking for signal, loosing contact, toggling back and forth between 2G and 3G etc. However, need to consider that 3G can exist on both 900 and 1800MHz in Europe. If poor antenna design is the culprit then this may only effect one of the bands, meaning that certain users have great signal, whereas others report poor reception.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mainly need this for calls (not so much data) so till 110 Im still ok?
I often get 100+ :/ Lowest I have seen is 90. Returning the phone hoping its glitch

Stiflerlv said:
I mainly need this for calls (not so much data) so till 110 Im still ok?
I often get 100+ :/ Lowest I have seen is 90. Returning the phone hoping its glitch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At -110dBm you have very little margin. As long as you aren't walking around the house it should be ok.
But it really depends on the coverage in your area.
NB: the numbers are dBm and negative i.e. a -90dBm signal has a hundred times more power than a -110dBm signal:
10^((-90dBm-(-110dBm))/10) = 100

aza314 said:
At -110dBm you have very little margin. As long as you aren't walking around the house it should be ok.
But it really depends on the coverage in your area.
NB: the numbers are dBm and negative i.e. a -90dBm signal has a hundred times more power than a -110dBm signal:
10^((-90dBm-(-110dBm))/10) = 100
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nice, comparing to my old HTC Tattoo and test simcard I got from carrier, Its around 15-20 dBm better signal for Tattoo...
Im gonna go for warranty I guess

Bump. Like to hear how it compares with other phones on the T-Mobile USA network.
Thanks in advance.

I was just going to create a new thread on this topic until I found this. I would have to say the reception on the one s is considerably worse than other tmobile phones. Today I traveled to an area with generally poor reception and my wife's blackberry bold 9900 had 1 bar of 4g while my one s had an "x" for not signal at all.
When I used my galaxy s2 in the same exact area i used to get at least 2 bars of 4g. It actually worries me that i get zero reception while our other phones were still on 4g, not even edge.
Can this be fixed with a radio software fix or is this a hardware issue? Im pretty pissed because I want to like this phone so much.
What are the experiences of others?

On tmo us, I'd have to say that my signal is the same as it was on my g2x. I'm either in an area with awesome signal (work), or an area with practically no signal (my 100 year old house).
I wouldn't call either situation dramatically different than the last few phones I've had.

Mike,
On one hand, I did some testing with a galaxy s2 and found ours to be comparable usually, but on the other, there are signal drops issues and the days switching so there still is something odd here.
I also hope to have it fixed by a radio update than a hardware one...
I also like this phone much except for its network issues.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA

Well, HTC wanted my phone back in for investigation. Duly sent it back and it was pretty much turned round within the day. All they have done is load the latest software version which in truth if I'd not packaged it up on Monday could have done myself. I believe Three UK released the update on Monday anyway?
Network connection seems to be slightly better but not by a great deal. I'm not sure what I expected from HTC. If it's hardware there seems to be little knowledge of a problem with them and firmware/software they'll only have the latest versions and hope for the best. I'll just have to see how it goes for the time being. I always have the option to sell it and look for something else.
Not right impressed with HTC's packaging back of phone. I stupidly wrapped it in bubble wrap and put it in a box to dispatch. They simply found a box and chucked it in it so it was free to rattle about all the way home. As a result it has picked up a chip of the coating on it's top edge - unless it was done on the work bench. Certainly wasn't like that when it went as use a Case-Mate Tough cover. Not overly upset about that but should I mention this to HTC? Seems a bit of a poor do

I finally get my HTC One S TODAY! As soon as I do, I will do a comparison. I work for T-Mobile (until my call center closes), so I have a bunch of phones to compare with and test against.

I don't have another (working) phone to compare, but my circumstances make that moot anyway. I have the international One S on AT&T, and since the phone lacks the UMTS 1900 I expected to get lower than usual signal compared to my Desire (A8182, RIP), but hoped that most areas have been upgraded to 850 by now.
Anyway, at work (inside concrete block building with metal structure roof) I am getting between -107 and -88db, (with 10 asu?) depending on where in the building I am. In a larger city I usually get between -30 to -18db, But I do not live or work in a large city.
Even so, so far battery life is way over expectations. currently on 53 hours on a single charge, with 23% battery remaining.

I always get 3/4 bars like my Amaze.

mmceorange said:
I don't have another (working) phone to compare, but my circumstances make that moot anyway. I have the international One S on AT&T, and since the phone lacks the UMTS 1900 I expected to get lower than usual signal compared to my Desire (A8182, RIP), but hoped that most areas have been upgraded to 850 by now.
Anyway, at work (inside concrete block building with metal structure roof) I am getting between -107 and -88db, (with 10 asu?) depending on where in the building I am. In a larger city I usually get between -30 to -18db, But I do not live or work in a large city.
Even so, so far battery life is way over expectations. currently on 53 hours on a single charge, with 23% battery remaining.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In another thread the box of the tmobile version says it has the 1900 UMTS band. You may be better of with an unlocked tmobile version.

Just tried at a TmoUS store. My HD2 had about -63dB, HOS on display had only -75~-79dB. Disappointed.

motionUS said:
In another thread the box of the tmobile version says it has the 1900 UMTS band. You may be better of with an unlocked tmobile version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sure you're right, but I like the look and feel of the "MAO" much much more than the gray/blue. If T-mobile (or better yet, Telus) gets the black version I will likely switch.

jjmai said:
Just tried at a TmoUS store. My HD2 had about -63dB, HOS on display had only -75~-79dB. Disappointed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That means absolutely nothing. You don't even know if they are connecting to the same cell site.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA

[Q] complete signal loss

Iv had the AT&T One X since the 4th and so far I love it! I haven't had any wifi issues or bootloops or anything, the only problem I'm having is the phone will randomly lose signal completely (0 bars, little x next to the signal) and wont get it back unless I put it into airplane mode and turn it back off, or reboot the phone. In the 6 days Iv had it it's lost signal 3 times, once on the road where I normally get at least 3-4 bars, and the other 2 happened at some point over night while I was asleep. Has anyone else been having this problem? Also do you think it's a software/radio problem that can be fixed in a update, or would it be hardware in which case I should take it to the store and exchange for a new one.

I've had this problem myself. Had the phone for 19 days now and I think it's happened to me 3 or 4 times.
I can guarantee it's fixable with a software update, even if the problem is hardware-related. At the very least, the software could detect the lack of signal and automatically cycle in and out of airplane mode to fix the problem without user interaction. But I'm sure whatever fix we get will be much more reliable than that.
WHEN we get the fix is another question...

Thanks for the reply. I figured it might be a software issue since you can cycle airplane mode and get it back and I don't really want to take it down to the AT&T store for an exchange in fear I wined up not able to set up gvoice or start getting wifi issues and the like lol. so far the signal drops are far and few in between making it an annoying issue rather than a critical one, and I read we've got root now so even if HTC/AT&T twiddle their thumbs and pretend nothings wrong I'm sure the community can save the day lol

I would swap it out Azure. My first HOX did exactly this, and I saw it reported elsewhere on a number of other devices. To me that says it's most likely a bad radio flash on some handsets. I suppose you could try and flash the RUU that was posted, as it most likely includes the radio as well.
I got tired of all my calls going directly to VM without ringing. And not being able to send out texts. My replacement works much better (or rather, how it should've from the beginning).

agentdr8 said:
I got tired of all my calls going directly to VM without ringing. And not being able to send out texts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was this problem intermittent?
My phone has been doing this randomly, except it never went to voicemails, just hung up after like 30 seconds.
Wondering if I should switch it out also.

Had this problem for a day. Took my phone to the at&t store and they changed out the sim card and I haven't had a problem since.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

usfslacker said:
Had this problem for a day. Took my phone to the at&t store and they changed out the sim card and I haven't had a problem since.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never thought about the sim card being a possible problem...might run up to the store when I get the chance and swap my sim out and see if that fixes it, if not I'll just swap the device out and hope all's well

The CSR actually swapped a new micro sim first, since the one provided via online sales was an older one (most likely from the iphone 4/4s batch). It didn't seem to fix the problem though.
And yeah, the problem was very intermittent. One second it would be working fine, and the next it would show the "x". Sometimes the bars would come back immediately, other times it wouldn't until I rebooted or cycled airplane mode. Luckily it happened while I was at the store; it's much easier to convince a sales rep to swap a phone when they can witness the issue(s).

Yeah it's only happened to me twice since I got it on the 4th... it'll be very hard for me to convince them that there's an issue haha... maybe I'll head down there if it happens at a time when I'm not in class or something. I'm sure if I mention returning it/their policy I'll get a swap.

agentdr8 said:
The CSR actually swapped a new micro sim first, since the one provided via online sales was an older one (most likely from the iphone 4/4s batch). It didn't seem to fix the problem though.
And yeah, the problem was very intermittent. One second it would be working fine, and the next it would show the "x". Sometimes the bars would come back immediately, other times it wouldn't until I rebooted or cycled airplane mode. Luckily it happened while I was at the store; it's much easier to convince a sales rep to swap a phone when they can witness the issue(s).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
next time my phone drops signal I'll take it into the store and see about a sim swap in hopes that'll fix the issue if not then I'll reluctantly swap the unit out (I've grown rather attached to this one xD)
**EDIT**
strange...woke up today and my phone completely lost signal again, normally there's a few days between each event but this is the first time it's happened twice in a row =\

So it happened again, I'm going to go get it switched... but it says on the Mobile network section of settings, "Disconnected because service is unavailable."
There is clearly almost full signal strength, and I have never been without service where I live.

I was expereincing constant network drops all of yesterday due to an outage. However, it's back to normal for me today. So it may be possible there's an outage near you as well.

I think it is more AT&T than your phone. I was in down town buffalo at a swim meet with 5 bars of hspa+ on my blackberry bold that has a great radio. I had data but it was slow dial up slow. There were maybe 100-200 people at the meet and it was at a community college. The only other time I had this was when I was in a car that was driving by the buffalo bills stadium. Voice worked but I had no data. I guess too many people using their cell phones.

Definitely not AT&T, my SE Xperia x10 worked perfectly fine, never had any trouble with signals.

I also encounter the intermittent signal drops on my 4 days old AT&T one x.
It seems to me that the One x doesn't hold signal as good as the iphone, my 4 and 4s usually get around 2 bars in some really remote locations of the building I work. But the One X just drops signal completely. I'll see if I can do a sim swap like some others suggested.

I'm starting to think it could be an issue with lte phones because the same thing was happening to me on my galaxy note with 2 different sim cards and 2 different devices and now it's happening on my hox
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

it has happened to me 3 times in 5 days. All 3 times I was either:
1. in a poor reception area and it came back on its own, i did not have to use airplane mode.
2. was using BT streaming in car and using car charger, once car charger was unplugged, signal came back.

One X has issues
Definitively problems with the phone.
I have three.
They just drop signal completely. One will work, the other will not. Only way the signal will come back is if you turn the phone on and off again. I love everything about this phone....except it isn't a very good phone.
Also, typically when I turn the phone back on, that is when I get my text messages. Nice.

Yeah I figured out it happens when I lose signal (a couple buildings on my schools campus don't get reception), and then the signal won't come back until I reboot or airplane mode.. this is after a sim swap.
Oh and do I need the box my phone came in to swap it?
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

I have had this issue as well being on the Rogers (Canada) network. I started a thread as well and my theory is there may be a hardware issue reading the SIM cards.
Every now and then I get a "preparing SIM" message pop up on my screen. Also, I lost signal once and in frustration I slapped the phone into my palm VOILA! signal came back full.
This is the second One-X I've gotten from Rogers so there may be a design flaw somewhere. The problem is this behavior only pops up intermittently and cannot be recreated at will. This makes troubleshooting very difficult and practically unprovable in the eyes of providers.
Hopefully there are more reports of this problem and the carriers push back on HTC to resolve the problem.

[Q] Cell reception - What's your experience?

Hello One-S users!
I recently got myself an unbranded One-S here in the Netherlands. I came from the LG 2x that I've had since the day it was available. Been experimenting a lot with different ROM's and BB, with different results across the board. Overall though the 2x has been a very nice phone to have and use, albeit not with the stock ROM's. Reception has been very good, probably the best of all the phones I've owned.
And now there's the new One-s... I've been using it for a few days so I won't go into details on battery life, user experience and all that stuff that needs a few days before making any useful conclusion. Except for reception!
I live in a particular area where there's very bad signal and only two towers in the whole area. The One-S seems to really struggle to get AND keep connection to the network. Actually, when used indoors (at home) it is impossible to get any signal at all, whereas the 2x and my girlfriends iPhone4 have no problems at all. Not great reception, with breakups during calls, but at least the work. The One-S doesn't. I've been seeing this behavior outdoors at other locations as well, around where I work I have had no reception issue's with the 2x, the One-S shows really spotty reception.
I'm on the latest OTA which is 1.78.401.2
What's your take on this, do you have any reception issue's?

involver said:
Hello One-S users!
I recently got myself an unbranded One-S here in the Netherlands. I came from the LG 2x that I've had since the day it was available. Been experimenting a lot with different ROM's and BB, with different results across the board. Overall though the 2x has been a very nice phone to have and use, albeit not with the stock ROM's. Reception has been very good, probably the best of all the phones I've owned.
And now there's the new One-s... I've been using it for a few days so I won't go into details on battery life, user experience and all that stuff that needs a few days before making any useful conclusion. Except for reception!
I live in a particular area where there's very bad signal and only two towers in the whole area. The One-S seems to really struggle to get AND keep connection to the network. Actually, when used indoors (at home) it is impossible to get any signal at all, whereas the 2x and my girlfriends iPhone4 have no problems at all. Not great reception, with breakups during calls, but at least the work. The One-S doesn't. I've been seeing this behavior outdoors at other locations as well, around where I work I have had no reception issue's with the 2x, the One-S shows really spotty reception.
I'm on the latest OTA which is 1.78.401.2
What's your take on this, do you have any reception issue's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a T-mobile branded One S (Gradient Blue) and the reception was horrible, so glad I got myself another GS2 (t989)

I'm experiencing same issues of reception on an unbranded EU phone with 1.78. 1.53 was worst!
I tend to have signal but no data, I tend to have signal in the notification bar but no actual signal.
I have many issues which weren't here in my old desire!
MicroSIM was replaced twice with no real help - It's the phone to blame...

Poor reception
I also have same problem. I am in pakistan using Telenor and phone is Tmobile UK unlocked.

It may work to disallow some energy-saving settings(of the ril) in the build.prop, however it brings risk to do so:
You have to know how to tweak the file, and get ready to re-flash the ROM/RUU in case of half-brick caused by bad tweaks.
involver said:
Hello One-S users!
I recently got myself an unbranded One-S here in the Netherlands. I came from the LG 2x that I've had since the day it was available. Been experimenting a lot with different ROM's and BB, with different results across the board. Overall though the 2x has been a very nice phone to have and use, albeit not with the stock ROM's. Reception has been very good, probably the best of all the phones I've owned.
And now there's the new One-s... I've been using it for a few days so I won't go into details on battery life, user experience and all that stuff that needs a few days before making any useful conclusion. Except for reception!
I live in a particular area where there's very bad signal and only two towers in the whole area. The One-S seems to really struggle to get AND keep connection to the network. Actually, when used indoors (at home) it is impossible to get any signal at all, whereas the 2x and my girlfriends iPhone4 have no problems at all. Not great reception, with breakups during calls, but at least the work. The One-S doesn't. I've been seeing this behavior outdoors at other locations as well, around where I work I have had no reception issue's with the 2x, the One-S shows really spotty reception.
I'm on the latest OTA which is 1.78.401.2
What's your take on this, do you have any reception issue's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

That sucks! It is a great phone. Reception has been flawless for me. I have a TMOUSA-branded One S.

the worst reception ever...
well I lied a bit - as most of the time I'm getting no reception at all;/
sometimes around 60-70% of the time with no signal (when I click the cell stats in battery meter) and often when picked out of the pocket the phone is showing NO SIGNAL warning for one second...
Unlocked HTC One S, UK version, ceramic black, bought beginning of April
I had this problem from the start, but was hard to prove to get a new phone replacement, as when it does have good reception when signal coverage is great - with 10MBit/s download 3G speed which was amazing compared to my Desire Z (max 4MBit on 3G). The problem is, signal reception fluctuates a lot to a point of loosing it...
Wifi is affected as well, for example after a fresh reboot the Wi-Fi is at full speed, but give it an hour of mobile usage and it is at half of its performance. Wi-Fi isn't that critical (although I do not have signal in my garden where my Desire Z or iPad doesnt have any problem with my home wifi!) but the weak radio is!
I wasn't scared so much as I thought an update will come, and it did, so I have updated radio to 0.16 (1.78 RUU) from 0.15 (1.53 RUU) in a hope things will improve, and they did for 1 day - then I realized it was a placebo effect what I'm seeing.
In network stats I am mostly on -97 to -107 db in signal strength with 0-5 ASU, and when I have -93db I can celebrate! (which is considered pretty weak on my other android phones)
Researching this problem led me to believe it might be a software bug as well, as it varies - when you're doing a phone call, signal strength is simply stronger, you're out of a sudden see more ASUs and are say on -92db. As long as you hang the call, you're at -101 db again, soon after you can loose the signal when you're in placed with weaker coverage (park, too many in London).
Then I have places where I am absolutely unable to make a call, and the other day I do have 2 bars there and I am able to call without a problem.
Then the other day I can try 10 times and no chance - no signal, immediately rejected from a call app, can't even call voicemail.
The top icon notification is 'mad' most of the time - showing full strength from time to time only to fall to 1 bar (or no bar) on 80% of the time.
I would welcome some idea how to prove this thing to a seller to get a replacement, but as I said, if One S sees 20+ more ASUs (city coverage is great), you don't notice this thing and it can work flawlessly.
My conclusion is that HTC One S has only problem when the signal coverage becomes weak and it can't properly get hold of it like other phones do (Samsung Galaxy S Plus, for example, is ten times zillion million better than this - having much stronger signal when covered with pillows closed in a stainless steel box ;-)
Should we start writing the serial numbers here so we can see which batch of HTC One S phones is bad?
P.S. The USA T-Mobile update 1.83 is promising some fix to signal fluctuation - I don't know it this would help european version, even if it would not fluctuate, it would still be weak.
P.P.S. Switching ON the 'best wifi performance' haven't made a single difference for me, neither for radio strength nor in wifi. The only difference was big hit on battery life.

I know exactly what you mean - had it the same!!!
Apparently there is a solution which is not hardware related:
There are network providers that doesn't support the signal fast dormancy as this phone tries to use. As a result, the phone disconnects from the service provider and tries to reconnect which takes several minutes.
In order to solve that until HTC will do it (if at all), you need to root your phone, get into build.prop file and then change the line ro.ril.fast.dormancy.rule=... to be ro.ril.fast.dormancy.rule=#.
This is thanks to jh787!
It seems to help me.

I'm in the Netherlands too, with an unbranded device and facing same troubles. Got my device lately with 1.78.401.2 preinstalled.
The reception is compared to my HTC Incredible S really bad.
I becomes irritated too by the FM Tuner recepetion. If you're moving on bccycle, car, train or bus the volume is getting up and down, up and down. And lot of areas I can't listen at all to the radio stations I could with the Incredible S

don't want to root just yet...
orenfl said:
I know exactly what you mean - had it the same!!!
Apparently there is a solution which is not hardware related:
There are network providers that doesn't support the signal fast dormancy as this phone tries to use. As a result, the phone disconnects from the service provider and tries to reconnect which takes several minutes.
In order to solve that until HTC will do it (if at all), you need to root your phone, get into build.prop file and then change the line ro.ril.fast.dormancy.rule=... to be ro.ril.fast.dormancy.rule=#.
This is thanks to jh787!
It seems to help me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, you probably mean the thread mentioned by jh787 at the bottom here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=26923454
- it might fix the issue, the problem is I've tried 2 different mobile providers with same results and today I bought O2 PAYG microSIM to try the best (signal wise) London mobile provider to see if the fast dormancy is the problem. I don't want to root the phone yet as if it won't help the warranty is void. I'll report later.
- there's another tip in that thread
jh787 said:
also changing the following line to look as shown solved my no network issues when i was in areas of weak reception
ro.ril.disable.power.collapse = 1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have root yet, but just checked /system/build.prop file using Solid Explorer and I have this value already properly set as others have mentioned (1.78) but the phone still has weaker signal when idle and stronger when having a phone call.
Code:
# For HSDPA low throughput
ro.ril.disable.power.collapse = 1
As I understand this should be '#' instead of 1
Code:
ro.ril.fast.dormancy.rule=1
comparing to jh787 build.prop I am no wiser, as he's still at older 1.53 OTA and seems like T-Mobile branded phone.

I'm already on 1.78, checked his 2 comments and also found that the power collapse is 1 already. The fast dormancy I did change to # and believe me, after 6 weeks of screaming on the phone to be a phone, other than a great looking mobile computer, I'm using it flawlessly as a phone too!
Root is reversible via RUU and for me needed until HTC will provide an update which will either disable the fast dormancy or enable a switch to control it...

Ive had 2 One S's since launch and both of them have had appalling signal issues, Im on Vodafone UK and believe its their network at fault.
But i see here a range of providers and still crappy signal. I was thinking of cancelling my Vodafone contract and taking out a new one with another provider, As i really like HTC..... But after reading this thread im having doubts !
Im beginning to think the safe option would be to leave HTC and Go back to Samsung, And try to get the S3 !

azzledazzle said:
Ive had 2 One S's since launch and both of them have had appalling signal issues, Im on Vodafone UK and believe its their network at fault.
But i see here a range of providers and still crappy signal. I was thinking of cancelling my Vodafone contract and taking out a new one with another provider, As i really like HTC..... But after reading this thread im having doubts !
Im beginning to think the safe option would be to leave HTC and Go back to Samsung, And try to get the S3 !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you rooted already?
If so, try the build.prop change I mentioned before...

Im rooted, Ive ran every custom ROM, Ive flashed every radio, Ive done everything possible, Nothing works.
Ill give the build.prop edit a try later. not expecting much tho.

azzledazzle said:
Im rooted, Ive ran every custom ROM, Ive flashed every radio, Ive done everything possible, Nothing works.
Ill give the build.prop edit a try later. not expecting much tho.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Give it a try - it worth it!
For me it solved 6 weeks of frustration w/o one shrink visit

change the line ro.ril.fast.dormancy.rule=... to be ro.ril.fast.dormancy.rule=#.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So at the end i have .rule=1 do i change that 1 to a # or put the # after the 1 ?

azzledazzle said:
So at the end i have .rule=1 do i change that 1 to a # or put the # after the 1 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Replace the 1 by #

azzledazzle said:
So at the end i have .rule=1 do i change that 1 to a # or put the # after the 1 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any news?
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA

Hasnt made any difference

azzledazzle said:
Hasnt made any difference
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? disappointing!!!
Then you probably got something else then - is the same carrier different phone have better than you on same locations?