3 Sim + HTC Hero = Sim No Service

[a_l_a_n]

I'm terribly sad

I've had my unlocked HTC Hero (purchased from ebay) for 2 days now, and have been using it with my old Sim/WiFi.

Today I went off and bought myself a 3 (Ireland) 3Pay Sim so I could start using the 3G features, but when I turn the phone on it says "Sim No Service" and when I manually select the 3 network it says "Your SIM card does not allow a connection to this network"!

I have tried the new Sim in my old phone and it won't turn on: "Card error!". But it is not a 3G phone so perhaps that is to be expected? Or perhaps the Sim is just faulty?

Anyone got any idea whats going on? I am reading some stuff about 3 blocking non-3 handsets, but every thread seems to have some posts saying "it worked for me" and 3 do say themselves that you can bring any unlocked phone to them by buying a 3 Sim.

Call centre don't have any ideas so I thought I'd ask the real experts.

 

[prepbgg]

I'm not an expert ... just someone who's hoping to do the same thing. When you say "manually select the 3 network" what do you mean? Where did you select it from? Is there a preinstalled list of settings for various phone companies? Is it possible that the one you have chosen is 3 UK rather than 3 Ireland?

I find the information on this subject that people have posted on the internet very confusing, but it seems as a minimum that you have to enter a URL (which in the case of 3 UK is, I think, 'three.co.uk') into the APN settings on the handset. Have you done that?

 

[a_l_a_n]

I'm not an expert ... just someone who's hoping to do the same thing. When you say "manually select the 3 network" what do you mean? Where did you select it from? Is there a preinstalled list of settings for various phone companies? Is it possible that the one you have chosen is 3 UK rather than 3 Ireland?

I find the information on this subject that people have posted on the internet very confusing, but it seems as a minimum that you have to enter a URL (which in the case of 3 UK is, I think, 'three.co.uk') into the APN settings on the handset. Have you done that?

The mobile scans for available networks. You can either choose which one to connect to or let the phone pick ... standard stuff.

I spent some time on the phone to customer services whilst in the shop, trying to configure the APN on a SIM the sales guy gave me to test with (didnt work but I decided to buy anyway to try and figure it out myself). Anyway, I don't think its relevant whether or not the APN is set up. Even if its not I should be able to get 2G services, but I can't.

I agree the info is very confusing. From what I have understood so far, you won't be able to use a 3 contract with a non-3 phone, and you may or may not be able to use PAYG, but nobody seems to know the rules that determine whether or not it will work on a given phone. Also, assuming you are in the UK and buying from ebay or similar, get the IMEI before buying and make sure it has not been blacklisted ... I dont think this effects me as my phone came from the UK and I am in Ireland, and AFAIK the blacklists don't cross borders.

For the moment, my advice wrt to your thread would be to look for an alternative provider to use with your Hero as 3 just cant be relied upon.

 

[ianr]

Wotcher, I'm on 3, but not on a PAYG SIM, mine's an ex-contract sim taken from my Nokia N95, it went into the Hero and it just fired up straight away, internet connection working, SMS working, MMS working etc. No messing with APNs etc.

If you get "NO SERVICE" then never mind internet stuff, you're not even getting basic phone support. I'd suggest you go into some more vendor's shops and beg the loan of a 3G SIM to pop in there to test it, and if none of them work, return the phone as faulty (if you can).

 

[prepbgg]

In this thread a forum member mentioned that he was using a "Sim-free (white) HTC Hero on 3 UK (PAYG)" so it must be possible.

 

[loudervoice]

Hey Alan,

I use a Three UK PAYG SIM in a HTC G1 in Ireland/UK/France with no problems. Did the shop activate the SIM for you? I had to do it myself by calling their service centre. I also needed to create an APN before any data services would work.

Conor

 

[a_l_a_n]

Hey Alan,

I use a Three UK PAYG SIM in a HTC G1 in Ireland/UK/France with no problems. Did the shop activate the SIMp for you? I had to do it myself by calling their service centre. I also needed to create an APN before any data services would work.

Conor

I think the aim is active ... I put it in another non-3g phone and was able to call it.

The APN is no longer set up as I did a hard reset but I don't think that that's a factor cos the 2g stuff doesn't even work.

 

[gears]

Guys, have you had the Hero going absolutely nuts when it drops Three coverage and goes to roaming on the Orange network? I had several messages saying "Your now consuming data on roaming, WARNING, WARNING!" Even though I told it to do data on roaming it still warns the heck out of me, which is annoying if the Three network drops out whilst moving around.

 

[prepbgg]

I also needed to create an APN before any data services would work. Conor

Conor, could you please spell out for the benefit of an apprehensive newbie exactly what you input to the handset's APN settings screen in order to get all the data services working on Three UK?

 

[a_l_a_n]

Just phoned 3 and they refuse point-blank to even try to help. Perhaps being all the way over there in India the support staff don't realise how competetive the mobile market is over here.

 

[a_l_a_n]

Just phoned 3 and they refuse point-blank to even try to help. Perhaps being all the way over there in India the support staff don't realise how competetive the mobile market is over here.

I feel I should temper this a little after a second call. Still no result, but the guy I spoke to this time seemed much more willing to try and help, although all he could tell me was that the Sim is active and suggest that I try it in a 3 handset.

 

[a_l_a_n]

Are all sims created equal?

I mean, I know there are different types, but in terms of physical layout ...

Attached is a photo of two sims. The red is my Meteor one which works in the phone (sans data services). The white is the problematic 3 one.

Look at the scrape marks where the sim is in contact with the phone. The section of the 3 sim at the bottom of the image seems to be barely (if at all) in contact with the phone. I have tried to show this in place in a second image, but its not all that clear. If the connector is making contact with this section of the chip, its doing so right at the very edge.

Any chance this Sim could be just physically incompatible with this phone, perhaps because the chip was glued on slighlty out of place or something?

 

[a_l_a_n]

Another 3 representetive has told me that the account needs to be topped up before I can connect to the network. I had of course considered this, but it seems like a pretty fscking stupid idea to throw good money after bad ... there should be no need to have credit to connect to the network; only to send texts/make calls.

I have now tried a third Sim in the Hero, this time from O2, and it works (by works I mean can connect to the network and receive calls).

I think the problem is the combo of Hero and 3. Individually they both seem fine (I did mention above that the 3 Sim works in a non-3 Sony 2360 right?).

 

[a_l_a_n]

A development. After posting the last message I put the phone back together and turned it on and I got a damn connection!

It was a roaming connection but a connection nonetheless. I even received a message (mythree.ie password) during the brief period I had it. But it was brief, and after maybe 30 seconds it dropped again and I am now I am connectionless again.

I don't know which network I was roaming on, but I think it may have been Vodafone (it is they from whom 3 lease 2G services in Ireland right?). Also, and I've only just really noticed this now, Vodafone is not listed as one of the available networks when I scan, which is obviously not right.

What is going on 3???

 

[loudervoice]

@prepbgg The only setting you need to enter is the APN id itself (three.co.uk for UK SIMs and 3ireland.ie for Irish ones). This will give you SMS and full 3G data. I've had no success getting MMS working on my G1 on any of the networks despite trying lots of different settings.

 

[prepbgg]

Thanks.

 

[ianr]

I think the problem is the combo of Hero and 3.

There are plenty of people with Heroes on 3, I'm one of them, at least one other has posted in this thread so don't go barking up that tree too much.

 

[a_l_a_n]

Lady in the 3 store just made what may be a salient suggestion. She says maybe orange have put some nasty firmware on the phone which blocks other 3G networks. A possibility do you think?

I had of course thought of reflashing but decided to put it off as long as possible so as not to void the warranty (which incidentally HTC claim has already been done just by unlocking the phone! ... am awaiting a copy of said warranty). But armed with this thought I reckon I'll try it tonight unless anyone's got a better idea?

 

[a_l_a_n]

If I go to the phone info page (using the anycut app) and choose the "Select radio band" option from the menu, and press "EURO Band" (or any other band for that matter) it says "Set [EURO Band] Unsuccessful".

Relevant?

 

[a_l_a_n]

Have just flashed to the HTC ROM and no joy. Just after starting up I held the roaming network for the longest time yet, but it still dropped and I still cannot connect to 3.

Has anyone any ideas?

Is there any way to verify that the 3G stuff on this phone works and that its not a dud (given that 3 are the only proper 3G netowrk over here I can't just go and get a Sim from some other provider).

This fscking sucks

 

[JonyEpsilon]

Have just flashed to the HTC ROM and no joy. Just after starting up I held the roaming network for the longest time yet, but it still dropped and I still cannot connect to 3.

Has anyone any ideas?

Hi Alan,

I'm not sure I've got any useful ideas, but I'm having what sounds like _exactly_ the same problem. I'm on three (England) and for the last few days I've been intermittently getting "Sim no service" and spurious roaming indicators. As of this morning it got stuck in "sim no service".

I tried, for want of any better ideas, resetting it to factory defaults from the security menu. That seems to have got things working again.

I managed to try a different three SIM in the phone this afternoon when it was giving "no service". That SIM also yielded a "no service" message. Both SIMs worked fine in a different phone.

My best guess is that it's a Hero bug that comes up with Three SIMs (although, I did occasionally get the "no service" message on my old o2 SIM when I knew I was in good signal, so maybe it's a bug that affects all SIMs but is worse on three?).

Anyhow, like I said no useful ideas, but it might help to share notes!


Jony

p.s. how did you flash the ROM? I didn't see any firmware updates on HTC's site.

 

[a_l_a_n]

Hi Alan,

I'm not sure I've got any useful ideas, but I'm having what sounds like _exactly_ the same problem. I'm on three (England) and for the last few days I've been intermittently getting "Sim no service" and spurious roaming indicators. As of this morning it got stuck in "sim no service".

I tried, for want of any better ideas, resetting it to factory defaults from the security menu. That seems to have got things working again.

I managed to try a different three SIM in the phone this afternoon when it was giving "no service". That SIM also yielded a "no service" message. Both SIMs worked fine in a different phone.

My best guess is that it's a Hero bug that comes up with Three SIMs (although, I did occasionally get the "no service" message on my old o2 SIM when I knew I was in good signal, so maybe it's a bug that affects all SIMs but is worse on three?).

Anyhow, like I said no useful ideas, but it might help to share notes!


Jony

p.s. how did you flash the ROM? I didn't see any firmware updates on HTC's site.

Thanks for the feedback Jony. Some interesting stuff there. Maybe this is a bug, but then what about all the other who say 3 works for them? Are we just unlucky?

I tried resetting to factory settings early on but it made no difference. I tried all the ROMs from here to no avail either ... no wait! I see some new ones have been added. Might as well give them a try too.

At this stage I have given up on 3 and am waiting for a new bill pay sim from Meteor Ireland. It will cost a little more I think, but I don't see any options. I have had a 3G Meteor sim in the phone and gotten 3G and HSDPA connections with it so I'm reasonably confident it will work.

 

[a_l_a_n]

Hi Alan,

I'm not sure I've got any useful ideas, but I'm having what sounds like _exactly_ the same problem. I'm on three (England) and for the last few days I've been intermittently getting "Sim no service" and spurious roaming indicators. As of this morning it got stuck in "sim no service".

I tried, for want of any better ideas, resetting it to factory defaults from the security menu. That seems to have got things working again.

I managed to try a different three SIM in the phone this afternoon when it was giving "no service". That SIM also yielded a "no service" message. Both SIMs worked fine in a different phone.

My best guess is that it's a Hero bug that comes up with Three SIMs (although, I did occasionally get the "no service" message on my old o2 SIM when I knew I was in good signal, so maybe it's a bug that affects all SIMs but is worse on three?).

Anyhow, like I said no useful ideas, but it might help to share notes!


Jony

p.s. how did you flash the ROM? I didn't see any firmware updates on HTC's site.

Actually, if it goes again could you check something. See if the "Mobile Network - Connect to the internet" option under Wireless Settings is available. On my 3 sim its always greyed out and I cant change it.

 

[hotweldfire]

Not much use to you but I'm pretty convinced this is a problem with 3. Last phone was an unlocked Samsung i780 (running winmo6) and I had the identical problem with a 3 payg sim. After days of arguing with them they ended up saying I needed to go out and buy a 3 phone. I picked up an O2 sim instead. Shame, they do very good payg deals.

 

[alexsmegfred]

Three UK support never know anything. Really they shoot themselves in the foot with their incompetence. I get fed up of calling them as it takes forever, leads no where and usually ends up in argument. Ive proved to them a few times what they are advising is wrong but I think their support out in india is stuck in a bubble of its own. They are always so sure of themselves and think everyone speaking to them is an idiot.

Anyway to the the topic at hand, I got my htc hero sim free, white today and am using my Three UK contract sim in it. yes and also against Three's misleading advice it does work in the phone.

Like most things in life ignore what your told and trust yourself, but if you dont know yourself do some damn good investigation work on the net.!

I read this forum before my purchase, and it did help me to think yes ill get a hero and very happy i did, put my sim in, and it works right away with the network sim for data, mms, sms and so on.