T-Mobile

johnandcharlie

Everywhere I've been on my travels if there's been a phone signal I've been able to get on the internet. Yesterday I arrived at The Ranch CC Site at Maybole, had a full phone signal, but couldn't connect to the net through my laptop or the phone. Phoning and texting are fine. I spent ages on the phone with a very helpful T-Mobile support person this morning, but even after checking all my settings it wouldn't work. I told him the postcode where I was located and he couldn't find anything wrong with the service. He suggested I go to the T-Mobile shop in Ayr and try swapping SIMs to see if that helped. So I drive to Ayr and check before I go in the shop, and guess what - perfect 3G internet access! There was nothing more the shop could do to help, and didn't seem to know of any local problems. I suppose there could be a problem with the GRPS service, but 3G is OK, but the guy on the phone didn't know of any.

Has anyone else come across a problem where internet access just won't work in a particular location? Going back to site now, so no idea when I'll get to read any replies!

cneate

Hi John

We get a problem with T-mobile sometimes where the phone picks up a weak 3G signal. It then tries to pick up 3G which is not strong enough & switches to GPRS. Because 3G & GPRS are competing the phone won't lock on to either & no connection is made. You could try setting your phone/datacard to GPRS only & see if that works. We get the same problem with our O2 & Voda SIM cards in different areas, & making them lock to GPRS only, sometimes cures the problem. I've also had instances where my O2 phone reception is fine but the O2 SIM in my datacard shows no network!!! It's a weird one Confused

Good luck

des

i have occasionally had probs. with t-mobile of a similar nature. always assumed their modem was down for some reason. at one time (on GPRS) could only access internet early morning and in the evening. wonder if it restricts internet access automatically if voice traffic/bandwidth requirements high, which prob. earns more revenue as internet is usually pre-paid.

des

johnandcharlie

I tried again last night and early this morning, and there was nothing. There were full bars on the phone and the T-Mobile Street Check said that 3G wasn't available. The only time I've had connection problems before that was when there was a weak 3G signal. I've now left the area and am back online on GPRS. So is/was there a problem in the area I was in, and if so, surely T-Mobile would know about it, and should inform their support people and local shop. They wasted a lot of their time trying to help me fix a non-existent problem, and a lot of mine too.

Now on my way to a site with no signal, having picked the last one because I "knew" I would be able to get online there Crying or Very sad

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des

did you know you can force it onto GPRS by clicking on the little "dit" on the right hand side of the connect button, and selecting GPRS? this has worked for me.

des

legend654

It's alright, you are not going crazy. It happened to us once when staying in Abbey Wood. We tried reloading software etc. In the end T-Mobile owned up to a problem with the transmitter and did a "re-boot" of their local transmitter. It then worked.

Guy

Rawpower

I can't remember which phone you're using John.

I can only offer two things that happen with my phone (Sony K610i):

Sometimes the phone appears to be working fine but when initiating the internet connection it has in effect crashed and even though it shows the globe icon there is no data transfer. Rebooting the phone (switching off, waiting and then switching back on) solves this. It's a known issue with my particular phone.

On one site I use at around 1800 feet with panoramic views for maybe 25 miles in all directions taking in several large towns, motorways etc where it can choose between dozens of cells it seems to get overloaded hopping between cells constantly so that internet fails. In this case I get erratic voice calls that are garbled and frequently get cutoff. Signal strength can be 100 percent one second and zero the next.

For sure there are still some vagaries with this whole cellphone business that even Google searches can't explain to me. Rolling Eyes

Anyways, cheer up. Being starved of internet for a day or two makes me remember how bleak it was just a few months ago before T Mobile saved me, and also makes you appreciate it all the more when you get back online eh? Wink

rapidorob

Hi johnandcharlie, my t-mobile connection is via the usb dongle type thingymagig! So far it has been at best erratic! It will jump from gprs to hsdpa mid posting or mid download and the speed difference is highly noticable, also lost connection a couple of times, all while in the same area of my lounge! At work it is hit and miss but when away so far no problem Confused

Think they need to get their act together some what.
On a different note how is Charlie taking to the open road, new smells and new lamposts!? Laughing

Regards Rob

johnandcharlie

Rawpower, I'm using a Sony K610i too, and so far haven't had the experience you have. I tried rebooting the phone, reinserting the SIM and everything T-Mobile support could think of too. I think it was a local T-Mobile fault, but as I'm not in the area any more I'll leave local users to complain if it's still not working.

Rob, Charlie seems to have settled into the life. Lots of interesting new smells and loads of new people to rub his tummy when he rolls on his back for them Laughing

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rapidorob