T-Mobile's already
starting to acknowledge that the Nexus One might have a love-hate relationship with its 3G spectrum, but we've been able to track down some internal documentation on exactly how the carrier's going about resolving this. Naturally, they're recommending affected customers reset the phone -- an old standby that actually works a troublingly high percentage of the time -- and hitting them up with some knowledge about the behavior of the device in different situations (you don't see the 3G icon when you're on WiFi, for instance, nor if you're not in a 3G area). As far as T-Mob knows, exchanging the handset doesn't help so they're not currently recommending it, but they are asking folks with other 3G devices to see if they can pick up a signal in the same area -- something we'd already seen from the carrier's support forum post. We're hopeful this all gets tied off nicely with a firmware update on the double, because let's be honest: a device with a huge touchscreen becomes a
lot less interesting when high-speed data goes away.
posted January 12th 2010 5:29PM
@logicbombde
Basically swap out any phone and the statement still stands.
Its just a pointless thing to tell someone "you got N1 3G problems? well my Droid Eris has no issues."
@logicbombde Eh.. the iphone 3g had terrible issues with 3G reception in the beginning. Apple alleviated some of the problem by changing the firmware to drop to EDGE earlier and not go back to 3G until the signal is very strong.
They also hid the problem by changing the signal strength display so that it basically always shows full strength on 3G even though you're in poor reception and about to drop to EDGE.
@LEDfoot
Keep telling yourself that, the iphone 3g's that many of us bought outside the US didnt have those problems.
I've had my NexusOone for two days now and I've had no problems with 3g. I'm in Philadelphia. It's all gravy in this neck of the woods.
These instructions by tmobile are ridiculous. I mean anybody that has a N1 is gonna know shit like wether or not they are in a 3g area and the difference in between wifi and the 3g icon because this is a phone that only phone geeks are gonna have. This phone is not gonna appeal to the masses because it is sold only online by google and only that type of people are even gonna know where to buy this phone. Your average Joe is gonna walk into a store and buy one. So yeah these suggestions would kinda be insulting to a phone geek like me and all of you are. Anyone agree?
@Ezye1313
Obviously, but it's the mere existence of these instructions that is promising. Not the content.
Have you ever experienced a tech support protocol that WASN'T insulting on your intelligence?
Do not mention that the phone cannot be returned if they 'mistakenly' took the engraving option and failed to notice the fine print in their excitement to get their uber nexus one. Do not call the customer a 'sucker'.
If said customer get irate try to console them, and do not hang up on them if at all possible. Remember, we pay you to be yelled at. Feel free to laugh about it with your cube buddies afterward, but not during the call.
Action steps
● Tell customer to get rid of this junk and buy an iPhone.
● See above.
@High
You MUST be high as hell.
It'll definitely be interesting to see the root cause of this once it's determined. I've also had the Nexus since Friday and haven't seen any hiccups with 3G.
Man, I hope that they fix this. I want to buy a Nexus One, but this doesn't bode well.
I was one of those PISSED OFF when I got my Nexus One. It was engraved and wouldnt connect to 3G and it would get horrible cell phone reception.
But yesterday, it started working just fine. Gets great reception and 3G is now officially stable. My WiFi seems a bit off still. Drops one bar once I walk out of the room where the router is in. But my speed doesn't drop and is higher than my iPhone on AT&T.
Hope this keeps up cuz HTC agreed to accept a return on my 'engraved' phone, minus $90 for it being engraved. I called CITIBANK and filed a complaint. But now that my 3G is back to normal.... i think I'll keep it. I just don't want to go back to my antiquated iPhone. Anything but that.
Note N1 users:
If your phone is switching from 3G to Edge, when in both modes, goto Settings->Status and post your 2 readings on "Signal Strength". If it's a firmware issue, I wonder if there's a correlation. As for reference, on my G1, under 3G I hit -90 to -103dBm asu 5, and under edge I hit -104dBm asu 6 to -99dBm asu 7 (ASU = active set update rate).
If signal strength is consistent with other hardware (G1, MyTouch, Cliq, basically GSM phones), then we maybe looking at a software fix...
@recharged95
Signal strength is the key as I posted this link http://is.gd/5WUuD
on Jan 9th.
T Mobile Pulse -89 dBm (cost 175 GBP)
Nexus One -109dBm (cost 400 GBP)
Go figure.
Might as well give em the troubleshooting tips for touchscreen and light sensor issue :)
Love my Nexus One, but I have to say N1 = FAIL until they fix those issues.
I use to always rave about T-Mobile and their great prices and plans relative to their competitors. However after the Nexus fiasco of not being able to get a discount even though I been a loyal customer for more than five years I will be jumping ship for either the newest Iphone come this June even though I they are way overpriced.
Seriously where is the FCC in all of this? Its ridiculous that I have to choose between getting inferior phone on better priced cell providers or be forced to into an overpriced plan on AT&T on their spotty network.
Bit the bullet and snagged one of these. The phone is amazing. But we definitely have a problem hookin' up with The Mob. On the rare occasion tonight that the data side has worked at all, I got a screaming 9 kbps. Sweeeeeet. :o)
I'm on the fence, I've got an RMA from HTC ready to go but aside from the 3G issue, I've enjoyed the device. On the flip side, I'm not confident that this will be fixed soon and feel compelled to return it. It's not like there's going to be any shortage of Android in the marketplace this year. What to do?
Worst.Troubleshooting.EVER.
So they can't roll out an update to add the 3g icon even when wifi is on? I mean really, is that too complicated and technical in this day an age? We can't manage to get 2 icons, sad, really sad.
To think we once landed on the moon, oh well, we got our neat religious wars at least huh.
I get much better 3G connection on the Nexus One than ANY WinMo phone I've ever had, my last one was the SE Xperia X1 which had a shocking ability to drop out of 3G, the Nexus One works much better: to clarify, this is on O2 in the UK & not really relevant to T-Mob in the US, but it may prove the point that a generic 3G issue is probably not there.
Lucky me !
"a device with a huge touchscreen becomes a lot less interesting when high-speed data goes away."
This was my favorite part of the article ;)
First things first. I live in Hong Kong.
I just received my Nexus One today and have been worried about this issue, but happy to report that we do not appear to have the 3G/Edge problem here... Will update tomorrow if anything changes...
Anyone else outside the US have a problem? Might be just T-Mobile.
I've had no problem with 3G reception on my N1 in and around Boston. I'm getting the same experience as on my G1, which was way better than I had before that on AT&Ts network. I've always experienced phones switching too frequently between 3G and EDGE.
First thing I did when I got the N1 was download the app "Phone Info" and switch the radio to WCDMA only. (Disabling the EDGE radio) Although that wouldn't help with the low SNRs some commenters have reported.