three 3g problem

conor.hogan.2

Hi - I have a g1 running CM5.08.

My g1 is no longer getting a 3g connection but it was on and off when I had stock 1.6 and was working after I rooted so I think its a problem with three.

I rang technical support - yes technical as I thought they would know better - and it took ages to explain what a g1 was and for him to grasp the difference between wifi and 3g and to explain that I know it was not bought with three and I had APN set up properly and no rebooting didnt help etc.

So does anyone else have on and off/ no 3g connection in Dublin with three on Android?

When it was working I was getting 1.5 down which is quite good and got it nearly everywhere except in a friends house but I think thats when I started to get this problem so besides it not working it was pretty good, lol.

Would appreciate any help - calling tech or any three support won't help.

Although if its still like this in a few days I will bring it up when I have to ring them up about me being switched to roaming randomly for no reason despite still being in Dublin.... odd.

Thanks in advance.

jimmycrackcorm

Have you tried taking out the sim and rubbing it? . Have you tried changing to only use 3g and not the dual mode. Ie are you sure it's not roaming off 3g and on to vodafone?

conor.hogan.2

It roams when im not using 3g too, they swear its not roaming as I am in Dublin ''why would it be roaming'' and I responded good question but it says it is so I presume it really is.

If it is roaming onto Voda then they suck too - cos I dont get a connection.

How do I change that settings - I only see an option to only use 2g and that doesnt help.

Orlee

I've had the roaming symbol on my Hero for the last week or so and I can't use my 3g internet ... is that the same issue?

I'm on three as well btw

Void

I found that I had to toggle airplane mode on/off with 3 to reset 3g. It always showed the "3g" symbol connected tho, but data just wouldn't work until reset.

conor.hogan.2

yes, sounds like the same issue.

going in and then out of airplane mode reset it out of roaming - but considering if i get a text or call while i dont know im roaming i and the person get charged and it takes 30 seconds its not ideal.

3g didnt work when i did above.


But its working now and even worked with cm6 rc1 - odd.

Void

There is no extra charge for domestic roaming, don't worry about it. The annoying thing is not being able to receive emails automatically This is the problem that made me switch from 3 to meteor. Hilariously meteor have even worse problems and I'm switching back >.<

aaronm13

I just got a HTC Desire the other day, unlocked it and set up the APN for three but all I'm getting is roaming onto Vodafone I guess. Dont know if I've done something wrong. Ive tried the airplane mode thing but it just goes right back to roam when I turn it off. Hope I didn't waste 400 quid. I'll try it out with a friends Vodafone sim at the weekend and see it it is a three problem. I used by 3 branded Sony C902 today and that had a full 3g signal all day, so maybe its a conflict with Android.

conor.hogan.2

it seems fine now - probably will start again tho.

mathew

3 Ireland only have a 3g licence.
In order to impove their signal in places where 3g is poor, they have a roaming agreement with vodafone. This agreement only applies to Vodafone's 2g network.

Due to the higher freequency that 3g is on, it doesnt penetrate well inside big buildings.

When 3g signal goes, the phones try to register on a different network. It will succeed in registering on Vodafone due to the agreement, but it will only have 2g coverage.

Since the phone will always have Vodafone coverage, it wont try to switch back to 3's 3g. The reason a phone switches back from a roaming network to your home network is because the signal for the roaming network is gone (ie, you have left the country normally)

Android does not seem to have an easy way to force only 3g, although I did find this, which uses the Any Cut app to do it.

This will stop the phone roaming on vodafone's network tho, since the network is not 3g. So in places where you have no 3g signal, you will have no coverage at all.


You should still have internet access on 2g tho. Make sure your APN is set to 3ireland.ie and not 3internet
You will notice that 2g is significantly slower tho.. especially when you are used to 3g.

If you are roaming on vodafone but are in a place that should have 3 3g signal you can:
Restart your phone (it should connect to your home network if its available)
Force 3g (this should disconnect it from Vodafone's 2g)
Go to network settings and manually select a network. You will notice that two 3s appear. One is actually vodafone, the simcard is recognises it as 3 so the fact that you are roaming is slighly hidden. The top most 3 is the 3 Ireland 3g network. The second one is the vodafone network.

Hope this helps.

conor.hogan.2

hmm cool thanks.

It is back working now anyway.

aaronm13

When I go to manually search networks all I am getting is one Three option which is obviously Vodafones 2g network. Is this down to the network or a wrong setting I've put in?

mathew

Maybe you're out of 3g coverage...
Have you had 3g coverage where you are before?

Or do you have your phone set only to 2g networks?

aaronm13

In Dublin city centre so there should be no problem obtaining the 3g signal.I tried it with two different phones today, the Desire - can't pick up a 3g signal at all, just constantly roaming. The Sony C902 gets a 3g signal the minute I turn it on and can get online no bothers. So not sure where the problem lies as I entered the APN details correctly so is it 3s conflict with Android or maybe a problem with the phone.

drunkmonkey

mathew wrote: »

You should still have internet access on 2g tho. Make sure your APN is set to 3ireland.ie and not 3internet
.

You've no access to data on 2G, in some very isolated places but in general no.

mathew

Sorry to contradict you but I'm on 2g posting this.

It doesn't work of your apn is 3internet but it works fine with the 3ireland.ie one.

conor.hogan.2

wcdma prefered seems like the best choice - at least i will always have coverage. Seems to be the best choice.

well because of power - GSM auto (PRL) would be better? - nope didnt get a connection is my house with that setting.

drunkmonkey

mathew wrote: »

Sorry to contradict you but I'm on 2g posting this.

It doesn't work of your apn is 3internet but it works fine with the 3ireland.ie one.

It never used to work for me on any 3 phone, but today it's working all day, apoligies Mathew you are right data is working over 2G on 3.

aaronm13

Finally sorted out my signal problem. I wasted days messing around with the APN setting when all I needed to do was root the phone. Rooted to Froyo this morning and the 3g worked straight away no need to mess with settings. So just an tip to anyone hoping to use the newer batch of phones from o2, maybe they put something into their software to stop it being used on other networks, considering the first batch of phones were unlocked this wouldnt surprise me in the slightest.