UK Networks 2G Data Call = Missed Call - Help Needed

[Guest themaestro]

Hi All,

I would like your assistance with something. All it's going to take is a call to you network provider after a quick test with your phone.

The Problem:

Do you miss calls even if the phone has full signal and may even be in your hand? If the answer is yes and you are on any network other than Vodafone, then you are experiencing my frustration. It's due to the networks not prioritising voice calls over data calls when there is an active 2G/GPRS connection. This is not related to the handset at all it's network-side.

The Test:

1. Turn your phone to GSM mode in Settings > Wireless & Network > Mobile Network > Network Mode

2. Start a data connection

3. Use an app that is data intensive e.g. Google Maps

4. Use another phone to call your phone

If I am right, due to a lack of Dual Transfer Mode capability, your phone will bounce the call.

The Solution:

The only solution is for you to call your network and complain. YOU PAY FOR THE SERVICE SO THEY SHOULD PROVIDE IT.

My network is Orange and they say they are looking into it but I have no confidence in them as they say they have never experienced this. It's been the same since I had a Nokia N95 but smart phones these days are so much more data intensive so the problem is greater.

Thanks for you time.

[Guest CaspaTheGhost]

I have the exact same issue and it pisses me off!

Using a Desire on Orange and had a Hero previously which had the same problem...

Been having problems with 3G, where it has a great signal, but just cant send or receive data... When it jumps to HSDPA its then fine but as soon as it drops back to 3G it gets stuck... Spoke to Orange yesterday and they pretty much said that theres been some issues with cell sites in the area and generally 3G isnt great yet and the only thing I can do for the time being is set it to use 2G only! I did explain that they keep on going on about having the best 3G network in their adverts but it fell on deaf ears!

I then explained that if I do that then I will miss calls as my phone get push emails and when there is an active data connection calls go to voicemail as they do not have priority! I was then told that they do but I've tested it and thats definately not the case!

I'll have to give them another call to complain as there seems to be some serious issues in central London at the moment, certain areas I cannot even get a data connection at all (i.e. No G, E, 3G or H sign with arrows)...

Thankfully its with Orange Business so it doesnt take forever to get through, and they are all based in the UK!

[Guest Sam-E]

I have these same problems, although wouldn't say its a certain cell tower as I do a lot of miles for work and it happens all over the place data seems to be very intermittent.

I thought it was probably down to the radio ROM so am currently just waiting for a Radio ROM I can use on an Orange branded phone

[Guest franciswills]

This may be a slightly separate issue from the Dual Transfer Mode mentioned above but still relevant to the symptoms...

I've spent some time on the phone to Orange complaining about this very issue (which O2 people suffer from as well). It's compounded by the fact I work in Soho where Orange's *coverage* is great, but the number of available 'slots' on the cells often isn't enough to cover the thousands of trendy nerdy media peeps with shiny data-heavy phones.

After a lot of calls and finally getting escalated, it appears that they have quite a backlog of masts particularly in my work area that require a lot of maintenance to get back up again. Now Orange are merging with T-Mobile (who IMHO have a much better data network) and as such, I can't imagine fixing broken masts is a big priority for them when they know they're gonna get a whole bunch of shiny T-Mobile ones very soon. In fact, I've been more or less told this by Orange CS.

They're expecting to merge masts in early June which should greatly improve the situation. In the meantime, I'd suggest you do the same as me and ask for a refund of at least some of your contract fee for not providing the service they're selling you.

They're gonna call me back soon to ask how things are (I made enough of a fuss that they're calling me regularly now :-) ) so I'll ask about the Dual Transfer Mode. That's not to say the person I speak to will know of course.

BTW - Isn't this the basis on which AT&T try to outsell Verizon all the time? I obviously need to Google for Dual Transfer Mode.

[Guest potter97]

Hi All,

I would like your assistance with something. All it's going to take is a call to you network provider after a quick test with your phone.

The Problem:

Do you miss calls even if the phone has full signal and may even be in your hand? If the answer is yes and you are on any network other than Vodafone, then you are experiencing my frustration. It's due to the networks not prioritising voice calls over data calls when there is an active 2G/GPRS connection. This is not related to the handset at all it's network-side.

The Test:

1. Turn your phone to GSM mode in Settings > Wireless & Network > Mobile Network > Network Mode

2. Start a data connection

3. Use an app that is data intensive e.g. Google Maps

4. Use another phone to call your phone

If I am right, due to a lack of Dual Transfer Mode capability, your phone will bounce the call.

The Solution:

The only solution is for you to call your network and complain. YOU PAY FOR THE SERVICE SO THEY SHOULD PROVIDE IT.

My network is Orange and they say they are looking into it but I have no confidence in them as they say they have never experienced this. It's been the same since I had a Nokia N95 but smart phones these days are so much more data intensive so the problem is greater.

Thanks for you time.

Surely if this is a Pay-monthly contract, you should be reading the terms of the contract, I expect someware in the small print it says they have to provide you with full phone operation. If its their tell them " As stated in your contract your supposed to provide me with a service i am not getting, as this is the cse what are you going to do, as you are currently breaking the terms of the service" threaten the lawyers. for the breaking of the terms of sservice.

Your right its a service your paying for and not getting read them the riot act.

I had a simular issue where i lost service for a few days, read them the riot act and had £200 added to my account as a good will gesture. Could of been a one off, but it bloody worked. (was on 02 with an iphone 3g at the time).

Its worth a try!.

I would suggest reading your terms and conditions carefully to see how to bend it to your advantage.

regards,

Rich.

[Guest atconc]

After a lot of calls and finally getting escalated, it appears that they have quite a backlog of masts particularly in my work area that require a lot of maintenance to get back up again. Now Orange are merging with T-Mobile (who IMHO have a much better data network) and as such, I can't imagine fixing broken masts is a big priority for them when they know they're gonna get a whole bunch of shiny T-Mobile ones very soon. In fact, I've been more or less told this by Orange CS.

They're expecting to merge masts in early June which should greatly improve the situation. In the meantime, I'd suggest you do the same as me and ask for a refund of at least some of your contract fee for not providing the service they're selling you.

Funnily enough I've been having similar problems with my 3G signal on t-mobile, works great at quiet times of day but basically unusable in the evenings and weekends. Their network support engineer told me that my home location is right on the edge of range for a couple of towers and explained that 3g towers "step-down" their range when they're busy (can't find anything to substantiate this with a quick google) he then said that there weren't any other t-mobile towers planned that would improve coverage but that the Orange merger would help a lot of people with poor coverage.

Sounds like both networks are using this line about the merger as the holy grail excuse at the moment :)

[Guest CaspaTheGhost]

*UPDATE*

Battery died on the way home last night and I had left my charger at work... Therefore popped my sim in an old Nokia 2330 (2G only handset) and guess what... If your using GPRS and a call comes through, it halts the data and hey presto you get the call!!!

So theres something with these new phones!

[Guest themaestro]

*UPDATE*

Battery died on the way home last night and I had left my charger at work... Therefore popped my sim in an old Nokia 2330 (2G only handset) and guess what... If your using GPRS and a call comes through, it halts the data and hey presto you get the call!!!

So theres something with these new phones!

Hey CaspaTheGhost,

That is interesting. As said, have tried on old nokia but it didn't work. I wonder though, when you say "using GPRS" was it actively downloading data? My Desire does accept calls in 2g mode but not when data packet are actually moving. Just double checking, would be great if you could confirm.

Going to give Orange another week to come back with a suitable answer then I am going to get some money back!

[Guest CaspaTheGhost]

Definately actively downloading... The G symbol has a square around it when sending/receiving and when the call comes through, before it rings and shows on screen, the symbol then shows a line through it likes its been crossed out (strikethrough)...

One thing to note, as per my previous post, is that the phone is 2G only so not sure whether this is a factor?

[Guest scotch whisky]

I have just discovered I have this problem. I am on T-mobile UK. I wondered why a had so many voicemails.

I tested it by scrolling around in "Google Earth" and at the same time called the mobile.

I got "The mobile number is currently unavailable etc..................".

This is very annoying particularly as on T-mobile UK it costs 10p a time to access voicemail.

Damn..............

Edited May 20, 2010 by scotch whisky

[Guest themaestro]

Really strange situation with the 2g phone. I had a work blackberry pearl {2g} that I didnt really use for voice calls. I never noticed it bouncing calls but I thought it probably was just because I didnt receive many calls to it. Maybe there is a problem with dual mode phones?

Anyone else got any other phones they can test this with?

Any vodafone users that can confirm it doesn't happen on your network?

[Guest themaestro]

Just spoke to Orange. Apparently it's "not cost-effective" to fix this problem.

it will be cost effective when people start leaving. Especially iphone users that can't turn their data off easily.

i am in the process of getting my contract canceled and returning my phone. It's ridiculous that they won't even look into it!

[Guest shatdhehat]

Im on vodafone and it doesnt seem to affect me.

Tried it on GPRS and EDGE connection while scrolling around on google maps - calls came through fine.

I actually switched over to voda from orange so I could get the desire as soon as poss...

I hope you all give orange hell, this is a real piss take.

[Guest alexspy]

Hey guys. Im thinking it's a problem with the HTC Desire radio software. With 4.06.00.02_2 the battery drain was crazy and the call quality was abysmal. With 4.06.00.16_2 i saw a slight improvement but after switching off wi-fi 3G would refuse to come back on (had to switch to 2G and wait hours and reboot the phone a couple of times before any data connection worked). I've now switched to 4.05.00.30_2 but im not sure if this will do the trick.

Any of you still have the stock orange ROM can say what radio version it comes with? I've flashed mine before i checked.

My problems are: SMS messages not going through on the first go, missed calls for no reason (no data at the time) and Orange<->Voda bad quality.

[Guest themaestro]

Hey guys. Im thinking it's a problem with the HTC Desire radio software. With 4.06.00.02_2 the battery drain was crazy and the call quality was abysmal. With 4.06.00.16_2 i saw a slight improvement but after switching off wi-fi 3G would refuse to come back on (had to switch to 2G and wait hours and reboot the phone a couple of times before any data connection worked). I've now switched to 4.05.00.30_2 but im not sure if this will do the trick.

Any of you still have the stock orange ROM can say what radio version it comes with? I've flashed mine before i checked.

My problems are: SMS messages not going through on the first go, missed calls for no reason (no data at the time) and Orange<->Voda bad quality.

Have to say, I don't agree with the Radio diagnosis as it's the same on other handsets. However, it is strange that this problem did not exist on older non-3G GPRS-only handsets. The customer services rep I spoke to today even agreed to that. My problem is I am on a fantastic deal with Orange but I think I'd rather pay more money if I can receive calls!

What's the problem with Voda. I did the test with a an iphone on Voda this morning and guess what..? The call came through as it should. Then put an iPhone on o2 next to it and did the test again (one more time to be sure) and of course, voicemail.

Not really sure what to do now though...

[Guest alexspy]

What do you mean? Not all handsets use the same radio software. I used a 3G handset before and i had no problems whatsoever, with Orange. It's only since i got the Desire a week ago. Unfortunately i didn't spend any time with the Orange branded ROM to check if it's the device that has the problem or Orange.

Radio 4.06.00.02_2 is definitely not good as it Simlocked the phone, causes extreme battery usage with Orange and it also caused my Orange to Voda problems. 4.05.00.30_2 fixed the wifi<->3g issues so far.

Edited June 9, 2010 by alexspy

[Guest franciswills]

In case you're in Central London, Orange have severe known issues with data traffic at the moment (they've got a recorded voice on their customer services line saying so).

Not saying it's the cause of these long-standing issues, but today at least, and in Central London.

[Guest alexspy]

I am in central and i just lost 3G while trying to do a voice search in google maps. So annoying! It's not coming back on now.

[Guest themaestro]

Not all handsets use the same radio software. I used a 3G handset before and i had no problems whatsoever, with Orange. It's only since i got the Desire a week ago. Unfortunately i didn't spend any time with the Orange branded ROM to check if it's the device that has the problem or Orange.

Radio 4.06.00.02_2 is definitely not good as it Simlocked the phone, causes extreme battery usage with Orange and it also caused my Orange to Voda problems. 4.05.00.30_2 fixed the wifi<->3g issues so far.

Absolutely understand about radios. Used to flash my old Touch HD on daily basis, almost ;-). My issue is I can't work out if it's the network or the phone. Orange admits it's a 'known issue' with the network. I had this issue before I rooted and flashed the Modaco Rom. In fact it's the reason that I decided to flash it. I thought Orange had messed with the stock rom and that was the cause.

Problem is, the issue is present on so many different handsets across so many networks. If the issues is the radio, the radios would have to be wrong on all iphones, HTC Desires, HTC touch pro 2 and Nokia N95s as these are the ones I have had negative results with.

Am reluctant to give away my Orange deal and my Desire so want to be sure that it is the network before I cancel my upgrade and send the phone back.

Anyone experiencing the prob on Voda?