Reception. How's yours? Moan, moan, moan.

[Wahwah]

I've had pretty crappy reception in my flat with my Orange phone but it's not that great for my flatmate on O2 either. I've just visited my parents' home and my reception was still pretty rubbish and frequently dropped out completely. I used to have an Orange contract when I lived at my parents' and never had reception issues.

I called Orange and they said to set the phone to use 2G only (brilliant!) but I'm still getting occasional drop outs and still only 1-2 bars of signal strength according to the meter.

How's your reception?

EDIT: I should say that my Parents postcode according to Orange has "Excellent" 3g coverage.

 

[Springer]

Am on T-mob. Reception is always a bit patchy where I live (T-mob best of providers). My Hero doesn't seem to pick up the network as well as my last phone, which was a fairly basic thing (stop-gap, hand me down).

Is it that with so much functionality in a phone like the Hero, some things become a bit compromised (eg voice-phone performance)?

You mention setting your phone to 2G only? How do you do this on the Hero? I can't seem to find such a setting option.

 

[Mr Bloppy]

I'm with t mob. The coverage is awful. I have the no signal alert app and its beeping every 5 mins. Sometimes I have 2 go upstairs 2 get signal. T mob sent me a txt ages ago saying there "working" on it. Still waiting............. lol

 

[refugee]

I'm also observing a very flaky 3G connection at places where my Nokia E51 has a strong and stable signal (best signal quality). Even out in the "wild" nearby a signal post. I tried it two different providers (E-Plus/O2 Germany), but there's not much difference.

I wrote to the HTC support and asked for known problems. They recommended to send my unit back to my vendor and get a replacement.

I wonder if other Hero users experience similar problems.

 

[refugee]

This quote from a review:

"Still, it made it feel nicer when cradling the phone close to your head, and the overall reception was pleasing, with 3G very rarely dropping out on us."

HTC Hero review from TechRadar UK's expert reviews of Mobile phones

let me come to the conclusion that my unit could be really just a defective one.

 

[bridge32]

Hi all, just signed up on this forum as i have seen the problem you have with 3g and thought i could throw some light on it for you.
On Thursday i received my HTC Hero from Orange on a contract with them. It was the orange branded version. After playing about with it, i realised i could not connect to the internet, and i could not get a 3g signal. I was also having problems with my signal dropping out (sometimes for an hour or so). So i decided to give Orange a call. They went through all my internet settings, done a factory reset, reset my internet settings again but still i had no internet. They said they would escalate this problem to their technical department and ring me back on Saturday morning.
Well Saturday morning came and went, i decided to ring them back, they advised me to ring HTC direct to see what they thought of this. I rang HTC and they done the same as Orange, reset settings etc, after 1hr 20 mins on the phone, they suggested i returned the unit back to Orange as faulty.
I then phoned Orange back up, and i spoke to a guy who again, went through the proceedure of checking settings again. After 45 mins, i was put on hold, while this guy spoke to the technical department. he came back and said: "We have acknowledged the fact that a high number of Orange HTC Hero phones sold by us have software problems causing the 3g / internet settings not to connect to the network" He then said they could not return it as they do not have a fault code, therefore, he was going to "add me to the list" that was being sent to HTC to try to get this rectified.
Now, as i needed a phone, i cancelled the contract with Orange (the 7 day return promise thing) and went to Carphone Warehouse. I managed to get an unlocked HTC Hero, on an orange contract. And guess what! As it was unlocked, i got all internet and 3g etc, plus my signal was much better!
So my line is this: If you have a Orange branded Hero, and you cannot get 3g / Internet / Or get dropped from service, i suggest you throw it back to them! At the moment, Orange have confirmed that there is no fix for this fault, it is embedded within their software and HTC wont help! Good luck, and i hope this helps someone.

 

[Wahwah]

Thanks for your post, Bridge, can I ask, was it just 3G or all internet that you couldn't access?

EDIT: Also, ****ing Orange.

 

[Wahwah]

When I arrived at the pub last night I sat down and got a voicemail from my friends saying they were at the pub waiting. Obviously I had no reception while walking down there.

Today, in the same town, half a mile away, I had full signal and HSPA internet. Bit annoying.

 

[Charlie]

I have an unlocked Hero on Orange - I also have signal problems- HTC asked me to reset too.. no luck - still bad signal - signal drops from time to time both on 3g and 2g.

Hi all, just signed up on this forum as i have seen the problem you have with 3g and thought i could throw some light on it for you.
On Thursday i received my HTC Hero from Orange on a contract with them. It was the orange branded version. After playing about with it, i realised i could not connect to the internet, and i could not get a 3g signal. I was also having problems with my signal dropping out (sometimes for an hour or so). So i decided to give Orange a call. They went through all my internet settings, done a factory reset, reset my internet settings again but still i had no internet. They said they would escalate this problem to their technical department and ring me back on Saturday morning.
Well Saturday morning came and went, i decided to ring them back, they advised me to ring HTC direct to see what they thought of this. I rang HTC and they done the same as Orange, reset settings etc, after 1hr 20 mins on the phone, they suggested i returned the unit back to Orange as faulty.
I then phoned Orange back up, and i spoke to a guy who again, went through the proceedure of checking settings again. After 45 mins, i was put on hold, while this guy spoke to the technical department. he came back and said: "We have acknowledged the fact that a high number of Orange HTC Hero phones sold by us have software problems causing the 3g / internet settings not to connect to the network" He then said they could not return it as they do not have a fault code, therefore, he was going to "add me to the list" that was being sent to HTC to try to get this rectified.
Now, as i needed a phone, i cancelled the contract with Orange (the 7 day return promise thing) and went to Carphone Warehouse. I managed to get an unlocked HTC Hero, on an orange contract. And guess what! As it was unlocked, i got all internet and 3g etc, plus my signal was much better!
So my line is this: If you have a Orange branded Hero, and you cannot get 3g / Internet / Or get dropped from service, i suggest you throw it back to them! At the moment, Orange have confirmed that there is no fix for this fault, it is embedded within their software and HTC wont help! Good luck, and i hope this helps someone.

 

[bridge32]

Thanks for your post, Bridge, can I ask, was it just 3G or all internet that you couldn't access?

EDIT: Also, ****ing Orange.

It was all internet access (except wifi which was fine), i had NO 3g, Hsdpa or gprs either!! All i could do was send text's and make calls, bit bad really, but now my unlocked version on orange is fine
Also i would loose my signal for approx and hour then restart, bit annoying!

 

[Slug]

How's your reception?

Now I've had the handset for a few days I feel qualified to comment.

Compared to my previous Orange handset (N95) the signal strength meter shows approx 1 bar less in the same locations. However.... the signal appears really stable despite this. I took a wander across town yesterday to visit my parents and the Hero held an HSPA connection the entire way despite the meter only showing a single bar at several points on the journey. As far as call reception goes, I've had no issues. In fact I'd go as far to say that voice quality on the Hero is better than the Nokia i.e. voices sound 'brighter' and more natural. A call taken while in the centre of town on Saturday (narrow streets and tall buildings) was fine, with no drops. All in all, thus far I'm happy.

 

[ziggy]

what are we going to do about this poor reception? what can we do?
mine is rubbish in hero but better if sim placed in another phone.
hardly get any 3g cover.

can it be fixed with an update?

apart from reception issues i absolutely love this phone.

 

[bodger]

Now I've had the handset for a few days I feel qualified to comment.

Compared to my previous Orange handset (N95) the signal strength meter shows approx 1 bar less in the same locations. However.... the signal appears really stable despite this. I took a wander across town yesterday to visit my parents and the Hero held an HSPA connection the entire way despite the meter only showing a single bar at several points on the journey. As far as call reception goes, I've had no issues. In fact I'd go as far to say that voice quality on the Hero is better than the Nokia i.e. voices sound 'brighter' and more natural. A call taken while in the centre of town on Saturday (narrow streets and tall buildings) was fine, with no drops. All in all, thus far I'm happy.

I agree with you on this one. It seems that less 'bars' of signal show up on the HTC, but it does, in fact, have the same quality signal as my old phone.

The antenna is located at the bottom of the phone in the chin, so just be careful not to totally smother it!

 

[Wahwah]

Just spoke to Orange again and they're sending me a replacement so I'm quite pleased.

Also, I just heard about a problem with screen seals not being fitted properly on some phones. Turns out the gap between the screen and the body of the phone isn't supposed to be there so I'm doubly pleased that I'm getting a replacement.

 

[ianr]

So far, reception on the Hero appears to be worse than it was on my Nokia N95, however I'm not sure how real that is, as I seem to be able to get data connections on the Hero in places that my N95 could never get one. Also despite my 3G bars at home being lower than they were on the N95 (max strength on the N95 versus min strength on the Hero), I've been able to make calls without dropouts walking around the house, so I'm not sure how accurate these signal meters are. Mine's a sim-free phone with a 3 sim in it.

 

[chrisjenx]

I've allready swapped my phone because of signal issues.

As other people have mentioned I put my Sim in my old HTC TyTN II and that had much better signal... Or at least showed it.

About covering the bottom of the phone... it makes a very noticeable difference.

My signal half's normally if I pick the phone up. Now i know me covering the antenna will make a difference (of course it is) but not so much that you go from having full signal to half/less than half.

Tempting to flash my phone with an unlocked ROM but I'm assuming that would void warranty etc..

You reckon I should take this up with Orange/HTC?

 

[Wahwah]

I'm on my third Hero, they've all had about the same reception tbh.

I think you'll just have to be mindful of not covering the antenna if you want to carry on with it.

I'd be interested to see if the ROM changes anything though.

 

[ianr]

On Thursday I tried the Hero up at a location where my old N95 never got a data signal at all, and inside a metal shipping container (a club hut) the N95 often didn't even get phone coverage, and this is 3G or 2G. The Hero got 2G on 2 bars inside the container and out, with Edge data connection fast enough to internet browse meaningfully. Not bad, a great improvement on the N95 on that one.

 

[mrmyles]

On orange, no major problems to write home about. I expect the reception to be a little bit crap in my house since its not got the best mobile coverage, but on the whole the signal I get is better than it was on O2 with Nokia 6500 slide.

 

[huey85]

Australian operator Optus, no issues with reception at all. Great call clarity without any cutouts and distortion and my HSDPA speeds are great - 2000-3000KBit/s download and 200-280KBit/s upload speeds.

 

[hoppy1986]

im i the only one who hasnt had any problems with there hero??

i have an unbranded hero from carphone warehouse on orange contract.

i always have good reception 3g and hpsda unless i go out of town.

 

[chrisjenx]

im i the only one who hasnt had any problems with there hero??

i have an unbranded hero from carphone warehouse on orange contract.

i always have good reception 3g and hpsda unless i go out of town.

lol possibly, I live on the edge of reading and my signal is less than preferable..
But the thing about orange naffing the firmware intrestes me, as can the firmware affect signal?

As i mentioned before if i turn on my phone i see the signal drop to bars... which suggests that maybe it is possible?

 

[colsnr]

Im on my 3rd HTC Hero now due to poor reception problems, just had a lenghty conversation with Orange Tech support.
They have decided to send me a new SIM Card out. They think its possible that the SIM sent with first phone could be have a size issue and maybe moving on the contacts in the 3 phones they have sent, which would affect my signal.

If I move my phone around in the same location for long enough I actually see the reception changing from 'H' to 'G' to 'X' to '3G'

They also said they may have had a bad batch of SIM cards which would account for the high number of people with this issue.

They have also asked me to set the phone to 2G only for a period of time to see if the phone becomes more stable.

The one answer i did not like too much was that the possible cause could be that HTC have put a thinner antenna in the product to allow for space to cram in all the goodies and this could be causing the poor reception.

Its important that everyone with this problem contacts Orange as each case is logged and the more cases the quicker the software update (if its decided an update is the fix)

Thanx.

 

[FADviral]

I was having reception problems with my HTC Hero (sim-free, on the 3 network) on the day of purchase and was on the verge of getting a replacement or refund. It kept losing the signal and was dropping calls. I then removed and reinserted the sim card (actually to get the number off of it, not to try and fix this problem) and it's been fine since.

I'm not sure if it's even possible for a badly inserted sim to cause reception problems? It seems very unlikely. Maybe reception wasn't particularly good for other reasons that day (weather, etc.), and it coincidentally began to resolve itself around the time I reinserted the sim.

 

[FADviral]

Uh, I spoke too soon. My Hero has been dropping random calls all afternoon. The signal bar keeps stuttering from 0 to full. Other handsets in the household (Nokia and SE) are having no reception problems whatsoever. I'm now on the verge of sending it back.

If HTC Hero would confirm this issue can be dealt with via firmware release (as they did with the SenseUI lag issue) I'd keep it and wait... but ultimately, I need my handsets to be capable cellphones, and my refund/replacement time is running out.