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[Edit: See post # 7 for hardware fix that solved my problem]
I need help with improving calling reception on the used AT&T Fuze I bought for use on the TMobile USA network, specifically North-Eastern USA (NYC metro area).
I have SIM unlocked the phone (thanks to purchased unlocker from Olipro), I have flashed with several ROMs (starting with NRG's EnergyRom "photon" series), and I have tried various Radios and matching ril dlls. It surprises me just how bad reception is. In areas that my old T-Mobile Wing (a.k.a HTC Herald)gets almost full signal, the Fuze fluctuates from three "bars" down to none, with the signal being lost and reacquired constantly. I have tried "locking" the band to 850 and 1900 GSM (which is what Tmo USA uses) with little effect.
I'm at a lost. I have tried searching this forum, but several posts are related to AT&T network (understandably as it is an AT&T phone) and issues with TMobile UK reception (which is supposedly bad). For the most part, it looks like TMobile USA should have great reception in general in my area..... but I don't. I know my area has coverage by looking at other phones, just not my Fuze.
Can anyone from the NYC Metro area (mostly northern NY area) who has successfully connected the Fuze to Tmobile help me? What ROM and Radio combo worked best for you?
Plus, can anyone with experience tell me if it is possible that my phone has a hardware problem. Could there be something wrong with the antenna? How could I test this, and or fix this if it is hardware?
(Note: I am referring to regular GSM signal. I know that there is no 3G for me due to unsupported 1700 3G radio band.)
Thanks.
Nonpaq
Radios I have tried are:
Ralp 1.10.25.18
Ralp 1.14.25.35
BS 1.17.25.09
Quartz 1.11.25.01
X1 1.10.25.18
Each was tried with the default RIL in ROM and the version specific RIL (when available). All have been identical with poor GSM reception.
Has anyone been successful with using the FUZE on TMobile in northeastern US?
Another question: Does keeping a radio for longer period of time help improve the signal locking, as if the tower and phone need to "learn" about each other? I remember old non-smartphones used to have to have their list of available towers updated so that the phone could recognize newer, closer towers. I assume that this is no longer the case.
Plus: Fieldtest shows occasionally the GSM 850 band is used, but most of the time the band is listed as "PCS". Is that the GSM 1900 band? I believe that Tmobile mostly uses 1900 in this area as well as 850. Is it possible I am not seeing the 1900 band?
-nonpaq
I have the Fuze on T-mobile as well. I am in the SouthEast and have good luck with Radio 1.14.25.05. I've tried them all. This Radio I've used for almost 5 months now; good reception, good GPS, good batery. Try it, with matching rilphone ofcourse. good luck.
Well I loaded up Energy Titanium latest build (Nov 10) and had radio version 1.17.25.09 from before, and all of a sudden I was getting 3 to occasionally 4 "bars" in my home (previously I would get two "bars" max). It would occasionally drop and rescan for signal but not often. Outside had a solid lock on the signal.
I thought I finally found the perfect combo, but unfortunately when I got to work, indoors, 40 miles away from home, it was the same ol' story. Mostly no signal lock, with an occasional 1 bar signal.
Watching FieldTest data is interesting though. While scanning for signal, I can see the NCell info get data, which I understand are cell towers the phone "sees" but are not locked in. It fluctuates from 1 to 6 towers seen, down to none with the phone not moving. The receive strength reported for these towers varies from -106 dbm to -97 dbm, but does not lock on to the signal. (I occasionally get GPRS lock with zero bars). Can anyone explain this to me.
Plus, can any of these reception problems be related to using an AT&T phone on the T-Mobile system, preventing the towers from allowing a lock? I always thought that the SIM card's IMEI controlled access, but could tmobile somehow lock out unknown phone models?
tt1114 said:
I have the Fuze on T-mobile as well. I am in the SouthEast and have good luck with Radio 1.14.25.05. I've tried them all. This Radio I've used for almost 5 months now; good reception, good GPS, good battery. Try it, with matching rilphone ofcourse. good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I flashed the Radio 1.14.25.05 and installed the matching RIL version and now I'm getting a lock of 1 "bar" where previously I did not. Fieldtest shows the same signal strengths as before for Neighboring Cell Towers [NCells] except now it is locking onto a signal of -105 dBm or better. (I even got 2 "bars" at -103 dBm ) According to the ARFCN field , it is now locking into the 1900 band (CNs in the 600s) where previously it would only lock into the 850 band (CNs in the 100s).
Looks good so far as I can actually get phone calls now!!! Thanks for the recommendation. (By the way... it looks like the signal gets better as time passes. By the time I finished this post, the phone is showing a steady 2 "bars").
My saga continues.....
My two bars at work were short lived. Signal is now back to 1 or no bars. I am going to experiment with some of the older radios.
Heres an interesting thing. I experimented with another persons AT&T SIM card and reception was great!! From the same location, AT&T gives "Full Signal" yet TMobile gives barely 1 bar and cannot hold onto the signal. Now I realize that the TMobile towers might be located further than the AT&T towers causing the difference in signal levels, but if not that, what else can cause one to be so much better than the other. (Keep in mind, my other TMobile phone, the HTC herald, gets great service, as does the other person's regular AT&T phone. So I know there is service here.)
I know the ROMs are not service specific, but are the radios optimized for particular services. Is there any radio that may be more generic, or optimized for the 850/1900 GSM band that TMobile USA uses?
I fixed my bad reception problems with my fuze on TMobile USA. It turns out that it was a hardware issue, the antenna was not making a good contact to the circuit board.
I opened my Fuze by removing the four screws under the back cover. Then use a flat plastic "stick" to separate the casing from the keyboard (careful, the back speaker is connected by a short wire from the circuit board to the back plate.) The GSM antenna is at the bottom (looks like black tape from the outside back). It connects to the circuit board by contact tabs that touch when the back plate is on. What I did was slightly lift these tab "fingers" so that they extended a little more. The theory is that when I reconnect the back plate they will press harder on the contacts on the other side.
After putting everything back together, I'm getting full service where previously I got only two bars.
If you have bad reception, and you are not afraid of voiding your warantee and cracking open your phone's case, you should try this simple fix. I recommend looking up the disassembly guide as there are several potential problems you need to be careful of. First, the back speaker wire can easily be broken. Second there is a main circuit board and a smaller daughter board which can separate. There are two connectors, a large one about the middle of the phone, and a small on on the side. Make sure both are connected (pressed together) before reassembling the phone case.
Let me know if this is useful for you. I can put together a step by step guide if you want. Just PM me.
where did you get the radio 1.14.25.05?
where can i find this radio with the matching RIL???
thank you im also having the same trouble with my htc fuze for t-mobile
I'm with a new carrier that has weak signal in some parts of my town.
I often get signal loss. One issue is automatically getting signal back, which is flaky.
But a bigger issue, which I have found on every G2X ROM I've tried, is that once I lose network signal, I cannot get the GPS antenna to come back on, whether or not cell signal returns.
Does anyone have similar experiences? It seems unlikely to me that I am experiencing a hardware bug.
I have an unlocked HTC One S that has major signal issues. When the phone boots, there's no service for a few minutes before it decides to actually kick in. WiFi and everything seemed to not work but after putting it into "Best Wi-Fi Performance" mode it seems have resolved. But the cellular signal drops constantly. I've read that this is quite the common issue with these phones and am wondering how they are so popular if this is the case. Regardless, has anyone discovered the reason for the issue or some sort of jimmy rig to fix this issue?
Phenomin said:
I have an unlocked HTC One S that has major signal issues. When the phone boots, there's no service for a few minutes before it decides to actually kick in. WiFi and everything seemed to not work but after putting it into "Best Wi-Fi Performance" mode it seems have resolved. But the cellular signal drops constantly. I've read that this is quite the common issue with these phones and am wondering how they are so popular if this is the case. Regardless, has anyone discovered the reason for the issue or some sort of jimmy rig to fix this issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please mention your hboot , radio , Rom.
I'm having a similar problem. Occasionally I get a signal strength of 2 billion dBm. (255 asu)
What seems to be alleviating a lot of it is a set of mods to build.prop.
ro.ril.fast.dormance.rule=1
ro.ril.gprsclass=1
ro.ril.hsdpa.category=1
ro.ril.hsupa.category=1
ro.ril.hsxpa=2
These settings are the absolute slowest possible, but they do seem to be improving the connection quality.
Same problem to me. I have a new S4 from 2 days, bought "refurbished" from aliexpress at a good price. It's new, looks great but signal and in call audio quality is weak.
Phone works good on "GSM only". If i set GSM/WCDMA, I lose signal and phone stops itself.
I started with stock 4.0.3, phone stops itself.
Updated to 4.0.4, phone doesn't stop but no signal with WCDMA enabled.
Then I unkocked, rooted and tried Miui V5 (4.1), same problems.
After installing Maximus HD, I had signal also with GSM/WCDMA, but immediately I installed newer firmware and signal was lost. (Works only on "GSM only").
Tried also Beanstalk, CM11, MagioRom, SourcE, Slim kat. No signal with GSM/WCDMA.
I don't know if works with Maximus with older firmware, or it was only a coincidence. Don't know what firmware was at that moment.
Went to a bigger city and 3g worked excellent.
Returned back to home, no signal with 3g enabled.
I guess my phone is weak at signal.
Hello guys and girls,
after experiencing some GPS problems (loss of signal on the road and/or late fix) I did the fix found on youtube (Where you place a bit of paper/tape under the GPS antenna contacts). It worked just fine, my GPS fix is now happening faster and I did not lose the signal ever since. But I am now facing some (weird?) problem: My GSM connection (GRPS, EDGE) is really really bad. In my room I don't get any signal at all, outside I get like 1 out of 4 bars of signal strength, but I lose it after a few seconds. I normally have 4 out of 4 bars in my room. BUT: My 3G connection works fine, 3G, LTE, same connectivity as before.
My friends phone (same carrier) does get the full GRPS/EDGE connection in my room, so it's not the carrier having problems. I didn't do any updates or anything in the last weeks. It would be a huge coincidence, if a software bug happened while I fixed the GPS problem, so I assume it's a hardware related thing?
How might I fix that, what possible solutions are there?
Tried the following so far:
Restarting multiple times, with our without airplane mode
Re-inserting the sim-car
Switching between LTE only, GSM/LTE, GSM only
Flashing new/other modem
Replacing the speaker/antenna-module
-> nothing changed
out of sheer curiousity, and after reading your post, im stuck wondering.. why do you want or need your gprs and edge connection when your 3G/LTE is fine? data speeds are very slow, and drain lots of battery using anything internet or download related..
Yeah, sure, 3G/LTE is better and coverage is really good where I live, that's why it's not an emergency for me, but it's very important to get it back to work properly.
I know at least 2 situations where I really need GSM (GPRS,EDGE):
1) At work (huge metal building, no 3G/LTE, only GSM) -> I can't call, text or do anything with my phone (don't worry, I am allowed to do so and no, there is no WiFi)
2) On the road, especially the german autobahn has large areas where there is no 3G/LTE coverage, so I can't use my navigation-software properly and can't respond to calls or whatsoever
So all in all: GSM in really important for me. Please help me. :crying:
ahh.. I see.
and your GPRS/edge was fine before the GPS "fix"? maybe something got loosened?
Before I did the fix it worked perfectly fine. Directly after I did it, the gsm was gone so I figured that I somehow damaged the antenna. But since I replaced it and nothing changed I am not sure what to do now. Are there other antennas, are there other modules that influence gsm, that I might have damaged or loosened?
That's what can happen when you tinker with guts of your phone. You risk damaging or messing it up. Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a jerk.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Yes, dave2metz, I know. I was fully aware of that when I opened my phone for the first time to fix the GPS thing. But I am not here for moral advice.
Any ideas how I could fix my problem are highly appreciated!
Edit:
Just checked: The sim-card is not the cause of the problem either. I would really appreciate some good ideas guys..
No idea what I might try?
My best guess is that this is a hardware related problem. But how does one fix it? I replaced the antenna (the bottom thing), nothing changed. So that specific antenna was not the cause of the problem.
Are there other antennas?
Are there antenna-connections that I could check?
Any other hardware things that I might check?
Anything that might have lost the physcical contact inside the phone because of that GPS fix?
Could it, against all odds, be a software problem?
Please, I am really in need of a working phone. If I can't fix it I need to replace it sooner or later because GSM is essential.
If anyone can provide me with an idea or something that leads me to a fix, I will reward you (amazon gift-card or whatsoever).
Cheers,
.yasu
Did you figure it out?
.yasu said:
No idea what I might try?
My best guess is that this is a hardware related problem. But how does one fix it? I replaced the antenna (the bottom thing), nothing changed. So that specific antenna was not the cause of the problem.
Are there other antennas?
Are there antenna-connections that I could check?
Any other hardware things that I might check?
Anything that might have lost the physcical contact inside the phone because of that GPS fix?
Could it, against all odds, be a software problem?
Please, I am really in need of a working phone. If I can't fix it I need to replace it sooner or later because GSM is essential.
If anyone can provide me with an idea or something that leads me to a fix, I will reward you (amazon gift-card or whatsoever).
Cheers,
.yasu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you end up figuring anything out for this? I have something along the same lines. I dropped my phone and smashed the screen. I was able to get a guy to replace the screen portion of the unit, but immediately after I got it back it had no cell reception. Rebooted came, back thought everything was cool.
After a couple weeks I notice my phone has lost reception occasionally. It's now gotten worse, I used to be able to reboot it about 5 or 6 times and then it would randomly come back. I've even had it come back without performing a reboot on its own.
I ended up taking the whole thing apart, reseating everything after having a day and half span where I have been unable to get it back and boom reception came back. Thought it was his repair job at that point, but it has since dropped the signal again and I can't get it back. Yesterday even I was showing LTE signal changing from low to strong etc, but my network was still down as I couldn't perform a search, maps, or anything.
I have my phone apart again. I've checked all the connections over and over and wondering what else to look for or try to replace. True my impact could have damaged a component on the mainboard, but my phone works fine in all other areas. I could replace the antenna wires and the antenna/speaker module, but I'm not sure it just a reception problem.
My phone also boots into airplane mode when it has no signal, but turning it off does not restore the connection or anything. Rebooting it puts it back into airplane mode. *#*#4636#*# shows my radio is off. Thinking it's a short or something somewhere, but I doubt I'll be able to fix it in that case - at least without a mainboard?
That's my other question, what part need to be replaced for experiencing no network and its not the antenna or antenna wires? Is the mainboard? Sister board? Currently researching teardown as this phone is modular and I'm sure I could source the part off ebay or something.
Hi,
There's one antenna for 2G/3G/4G so I think if this problem was caused by hardware, it would affect overall connection to mobile network.
I think that this might me software-related problem but actually can't figure out which. Only thing I'm currently thinking of it that your phone has problems with connecting to certain GSM band. For example in Europe are 900 MHz and 1800 MHz standard for GSM.
Lower frequencies bring you better coverage. Your phone might have trouble with connecting to them and automatically selects 1800 MHz layer.
If you are able to get another phone with SIM of the same network provider, I recommend you to download any networking app and compare data about cells. Mainly CID number. It's unique identifier of each cell in an area.
If both phones are connected to same cell (CIDs are equal), you have to compare RSSI values. Lower means better signal. RSSI is defined as a negative number in an interval of <-51; -113>. So -75 dBm is better than -89 dBm. In one place should be difference about +/- 5 dBm.
Reaching slightly different RSSI numbers while connected to same cell in same place might mean that your phone really have problems with radio.
hey mate,
My wife phon is having the same issue 4G works, 3G sort of works, 2G nothing.
[Did the GPS fix on my wife's Nexus 5 (and mine) also]
swapped sim, used another telco same issue.
when into service menu did *#*#4635#*#* , click the 3 dots, select radio band - only see USA band.
While my phone had automatic, usa bad , usa band, japan band.
she is running stock rom with unlocked boot loader, I am on CM11 but doubt that should make any difference.
if I work out what is going on will report back.
nexus 5 3g 4g damaged
hello guys?.. my htc nexus 5 got wet and i notice the signal strength got lost. when i open it up i notice the lines on the antenna got damage. how do i repair it? or should i replace it with new one? Pls help !!
Is issue still remaining?
Hi. I am having the same problem. Could anyone find a fix for this?
My GPS was and is fine. I didn't do the gps fix, but I have replaced my battery and I think it happened after the replace...
ok this problem is really irritating lately i'm facing the issue that when the phone switch to 3g network i lose all connectivity when i switch to only 2g everything is alright but the second i switch to 2G/3G MOD phone loses all connection
i have tried number of roms and radios. still same issue..
anyone can help?
im corrently on candyrom 3.1 (5.1.1)
and with ucnj1 modem
do a backup, wipe, use odin to flash stock jb .
if still having issues, bad hw, antenna, sim card and/or tray, crappy reception area or interference
vincom said:
do a backup, wipe, use odin to flash stock jb .
if still having issues, bad hw, antenna, sim card and/or tray, crappy reception area or interference
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tnx for the tip but i already done that..odin back to stock flash twrp 2.8 strange thing is that there is an area in my town with lte coverage and things are working fine thare..
problem starts whan i move from that area to an HSPA/3G area thare my phone starts to lose it.. 2G networks are fine//
i suspect the problem is the antena i remember that i changed the antena chord the problem started a week after that :/ i read somewhere on xda thet the i9100 had some issues with reception when changing the charging port...
will order a new antena and i will update after the part will arrive