Lost GPRS

[Guest]

Picked up a MPx200 last weekend and have been pretty pleased with so far compared to my old SPV.

Problem is that today I've just lost my GPRS connection (no G icon appearing on the display). Orange help were their usual useless selves and first said that the network was down around Cambridge - So how come I can still get GPRS when I stick my SIM in my old SPV then? They went quiet then!

After arround 3 calls to them after power cycling the phone, they sent 4 SIM updates to try to correct the problem, but still no GPRS! They tried this twice and have now said that they'll call me backin about 2 days with a solution! Not that I need to use GPRS really!

Has anyone else had this problem or know why it suddenly happened. I've made no changes to the phones settings since the weekend when I was configuring the handset, and the GPRS was working fine until this morning!

[Guest nCoder]

The MPx doesn't automatically connect to GPRS after a power cycle. You need to open IE and as soon it dials the G symbol will reappear.

[Guest cicatriz]

Orange were having big GPRS issues last week, that could explain it (if nCoder's advice doesn't help). Typically I was working on GPRS handheld devices with Orange SIMs at work during it :lol: Stupid Orange.

[Guest]

I've tried to connect using IE and all I get is the arial symbol over the signal strength changing to two opposite arrows (I think, that is a data call) followed by Error - Unable to place call.

Any other suggestions?

[Guest]

I wandered in to my local Orange shop today and asked if they could sort out the problems that their call centre couldn't regarding with the lack of GPRS. The in-shop Orange Phone Trainer was pretty helpful and called the boffins at Orange Tech Support on their secret direct line (would love their number!). He handed me over to a really helpful techie who actually got my phone working in less that 5 minutes! It's a shame that Orange's customer support isn't as good as this as they promised to call me back within 24 hours (currently at at 38 hours and counting - still no call!).

Anyway, the boffin said the problem lies with the Network around Cambridge - apparently parts of the GPRS circuitry has been down for a while on certain cells causing certain phones to loose contact with GPRS when set in the automatic mode. Therefore, they switch to the next method of connection when they don't see GPRS, i.e. data call which fails. They are repairing them so hopefully it'll be up and running again soon! He told me to change the settings to force the phone to use GPRS, then switch it back to automatic in about a week when he reckons the work will have been completed.

One interesting fact he told me was that my old SPV is better at locking on to the GPRS signal than my new MPx200, so that was probably why the G appeared when I put my SIM in my old phone! Oh well - so much for the latest technology! Still, I'm happy for the time being...

[Guest Shuflie]

The really helpful boffin guy that you were speaking to was talkin out his backside. Setting to automatic in a week or two will give you exactly the same results. See this thread for the real solution to your problem. Automatic mode is (or should be) for deciding to use a GPRS connection when mobile or your desktop internet connection when docked.

[Guest Bonzo]

Ha!!!! I gotta agree with Shuflie that so called boffin sounds like he is to technical what I am to opera singing!!! (and no I'm NOT the fat lady :) ), and your old SPV is no better or worse at 'locking' onto GPRS than the MPx... it's just that whoever tinkered with the softare for the MPx on O decided not to make it hunt for and lock on to the GPRS signal after a power cycle in the same way that the SPV does... But thanx to Shuflie jogging my memory and others here too for helping point me back in the right direction this is not a problem at all :D

[Guest martin]

apparently parts of the GPRS circuitry has been down for a while on certain cells causing certain phones to loose contact with GPRS when set in the automatic mode

What are CS talking about ? :) You can either access the GPRS network or you can't - it's as simple as that. Saying that there is a GPRS problem which is causing a loss of service and thus making the phone select an alternative method of data connection is a complete mockery if its followed with "but if you select GPRS directly it will connect". Yep that makes sense :roll:

One interesting fact he told me was that my old SPV is better at locking on to the GPRS signal than my new MPx200, so that was probably why the G appeared when I put my SIM in my old phone!

So why does he then suggest 'forcing the phone to use GPRS' :? Does it have better locking on to GPRS abilities when its forced rather than it being selected automatically :roll:

I would say the reason that you had no G displayed is that firstly there seems to be a minor bug where the MPX200 will not automatically initiate a GPRS attach on startup (no centre G :D ). This is not a big problem because the attach will still be made when you request a PDP context (GPRS data connection) although for some reason the automatic setting must have been selecting between pass through and dialup :? . It's probably got a bit screwed up in the registry.

I would try just try deleting the WAP dialup connection first and see if that corrects the problem otherwise try deleteing and recreating all the data connections and maybe even leave the WAP dialup out (if you don't use it).