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T68i GPRS reception problems |
akropp
Joined: Nov 08, 2002
Posts: 8
From: New York, NY
PM |
Just got a new T68i with AT&T service in Manhattan. Love the phone; however the GPRS service seems less than reliable. At home, I get 4 or 5 bars all the time, and have no problems with phone calls, but get no GPRS signal. Sometimes it will say I do have a signal, but even then, I can't connect.
I was under the impression that GPRS piggybacks on the normal GSM infrastructure, which would lead me to believe that if I had good GSM signal strength, I'd have ok GPRS strength too. Is this not true?
I thought maybe it was something wrong with the phone (since half the time, it actually says I do have GPRS signal, but can't connect), but of course when I take it into one of the AT&T stores it works perfectly!
Anyone else have good/bad experience with GPRS in Manhattan? Is T-Mobile any better than AT&T? I'm stuck in a year contract with them (I was before I got the T68, on their TDMA network), but if service is much better elsewhere, I might be willing to pay the fee to break my contract. |
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arnoldc
Joined: Dec 14, 2001
Posts: > 500
From: Philippines
PM, WWW
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your problems might be attributed to:
a) not enough channels available for GPRS
b) GPRS is not available in your area
do you get the blue triangle above the signal meter? if you have that always, and still have difficulty to connect, then that means the provider does not have enough channels to service your GPRS session. |
akropp
Joined: Nov 08, 2002
Posts: 8
From: New York, NY
PM |
GPRS is definitely available in my area. If I walk 1/2 block away from my apartment, it works fine.
Sometimes I get the blue triangle, but even when it's there, I can't ever connect. It trys to connect, and then just stops trying (never gives me any error message). Most of the time, I just have the blue corner (the symbol the manual says "GPRS is within range"). |
jnonhoffzieg
Joined: Sep 02, 2002
Posts: 268
From: Newport Beach, California
PM |
akropp, you generally need 2-3 bars of GSM signal strength for GPRS to work reliably. But if you have good GSM reception and still can't access GPRS, then network congestion isn't the problem. They both share the same bandwidth.
Sometimes certain cell sites are affected by network problems while neighboring ones are not. I experienced the same problem in my home cell site recently. Call T-Mobile from your apartment and report the problem - it may be a hardware malfunction in your site that they can fix. They'll track the site you're in and hopefully do something about it. Good luck!
T68m -> R2F0004 on Cingular - I want my MMS! |
akropp
Joined: Nov 08, 2002
Posts: 8
From: New York, NY
PM |
I would suspect that good GSM signal strength would mean I should get GPRS too. I consistently have 4 or 5 bars.
Perhaps I will try calling AT&T again to see if I get someone who knows something. I've called them before, and they told me that GPRS came from different antennas than GSM, so I must just be in a dead spot for GPRS. One of them actually thought it was something wrong with my phone, and had me go through about an hour's worth of changing settings, including resetting it completely. I wonder if they have anyone who knows anything about the network. |
jnonhoffzieg
Joined: Sep 02, 2002
Posts: 268
From: Newport Beach, California
PM |
OK it's AT&T not T-Mobile... They will try anything to make you believe the problem is on your end instead of theirs. You have to prove to them that your phone works properly with GPRS except for the cell-site you are in. Btw, it isn't true that GPRS uses different antennas! That shows how they're just trying to get you off their back.
In my case I had to become a real pain for them before they took real action. By that I mean calling them every day for 1-2 weeks and demanding to know what they are doing. Eventually they made an online call to one of their overworked field engineers. He was the first knowledgeable, helpful person I talked to and was actually able to get the problem fixed at the tower. I hope you can do the same...
T68m -> R2F0004 on Cingular - I want my MMS! |
akropp
Joined: Nov 08, 2002
Posts: 8
From: New York, NY
PM |
So after hanging up on one AT&T representative who told me that GPRS is a totally separate system from GSM, and there's no correlation between GSM reception and GPRS reception, I finally got someone willing to talk to one of their technicians (wouldn't let me talk to 'em directly). They finally decided that maybe there could be something wrong with their system, but they were having trouble entering the trouble ticket(!), so they have to get back to me.
Don't you love customer service?
I find it amazing that they haven't had any complaints about a 20 block area in downtown manhattan (financial district) that doesn't have coverage. |
akropp
Joined: Nov 08, 2002
Posts: 8
From: New York, NY
PM |
Well, it definitely pays to call and complain!
A day after I called customer service, I got a call back asking if I had GPRS service. I still didn't at that point, but about 2 minutes later, the GPRS signal went away completely (previously it was there, but I couldn't connect). After another minute, it came back up and I can connect! Looks like they rebooted something in my cel. |
MrSavoy
Joined: Oct 04, 2002
Posts: 267
From: NY, USA
PM |
I had att about 3 years ago and I have to say their CS was one of the worst I have ever come across. I don't think it has gotten much better either from what I read about them online. TM CS is pretty good. They are as polite as hell but sometimes just aren't knowledgeable enough to help. Thats when I ask for a superior.  |
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Posted: 2002-11-12 04:55
