Signal Strength Issues on Orange

[Guest MikeSel]

Ok, I know I shouldn't expect much, as I live in the middle of no where.. But the signal on my phone is CRAP! I think it's purely an orange thing as I have O2 Sim cards which seem to work ok. But as my phones not unlocked and I am on an Orange contract I was wondering if there was anything I can do to try and improve it?

(see signature for version information)

I know the phone has an external arial port on the back, where do you get these from?

I am even considering buying one...

[Guest Mysterious Stranger]

Coverage in York, Riccall, Sherbun in Elmet etc is fine for my with an m3100 with a stock orange rom. You tried going back to one to see if it's any different to the hacked radio? Any local transmitter outages near you?

From experience with an orange/option 3g datacard an external aeriel does nothing much but might help you here. IIRC the m3100 uses a non-standard connector :-(

M.S

FYI I haven't installed the AKU 3 update and my radio rom is 1.06.00.00

Is it just UMTS 2100 that's poor or GSM 1800 as well?

Coverage map looks fine.

http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?...c=gb&net=or

Edited July 26, 2007 by Mysterious Stranger

[Guest MikeSel]

I live in between howden an hemmingbrough.. It's been crap since day one! Had the phone about 5 months now :)

I tried upgrading to the orange rom on the business site, made no difference!! Was hoping the cooked rom would work better! But nope :P

[Guest Mysterious Stranger]

Probably a bit of overkill but you could buy one of these:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_repeater

Last RRP on one I saw was from Marantz electronics ( Yes 'the people who make CD players' marantz...) years ago and was 13K...bet they're a lot cheaper now.

http://www.model22x.com/english/prod/index.html

Other handsets with your sim ok?

M.S

[Guest MikeSel]

Well I work in Hull, signal seems to be fine there, dont think it's the phone..

I will try it in one of my many other handsets tonight an see what happens!

I have always been a T-Mob user, until I got this.. So I was a little disapointed! Never had any problems with T

[Guest Mysterious Stranger]

Well I work in Hull, signal seems to be fine there, dont think it's the phone..

I will try it in one of my many other handsets tonight an see what happens!

I have always been a T-Mob user, until I got this.. So I was a little disapointed! Never had any problems with T

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6916125.stm

personal home based 3g signal boosters!

M.S

[Guest MikeSel]

I think i have just found somthing similar....

http://cnn.cn/shop/8525tytnhermes-antenna-p-1615.html

[Guest MikeSel]

heh, maybe thats it.. I should just invest in a skypein number an leave my phone on the WiFi when I am wanting to receive calls! :)

[Guest jimbouk]

Try different radio versions. The 1.38 "official" orange one may be better?

Try switching 3g off (change the band to GSM instead of auto) when you are at home.

Unlock the device and switch networks.