New Sim Card Appears to Improving the Reception

[colsnr]

Im on my 3rd Hero due to poor reception issues, after I recieved my 3rd handset and that too had poor reception (stuck in gprs too often, also complete signal loss sometimes) I complained again to Orange. when I said I either speak directly to Tech Support immediately (no phone back) or I cancel the contract (not fit for purpose).
They connected me to Tech Support level 2, guy there said he was going to send a new SIM card out as the one in my phone is either moving (long shot) or is faulty, he also said with the high number of people complaining, it could be a bad batch of SIMs is out there.
He asked that while i was awaiting delivery of the SIM to select 2G only in the phone settings to see if the phone stabilised, 2G only test failed, still saw complete signal loss on the odd occassion.

I recieved my new SIM this morning and as soon it became active I seen signal strength I had not seen before on the Hero in the exact same locations where I had problems.
Im seeing stable HSDPA with 3 bars where before in this exact location I had GPRSA/Signal Loss.

Its early days but I will keep this updated

 

[computerboyo]

If you have had your sim card for a long time it can wear out the contacts and not create a proper connection, so you should be fine now.

 

[colsnr]

SIM that was swopped out was delivered with the first hero a month ago.
So it was not an old one.
The new SIM that Orange have just sent had a different circuit layout on the gold patch.
Im still seeing better reception 24 hours since swap out.
No full signal loss at all, HSDPA 95%. GPRS 5%.......thats a vast improvement.

Im not saying this is the cure, But the new SIM has made a obvious difference.

As the Tech Support at Orange said "we could replace your HTC hero 50 times, but if the SIM you keep hold of is faulty they will all be the same"

Still early days thou.

 

[chrisjenx]

The suggestion ist as stupid as it sounds i just checked my sim, and theres more contacts on the phone then actualy make contact with the phone. I dont know 100% how phones work, but after compairing against another few phones it seems like the sim is the wrong type for the phone.

Im gunna give it a try and see if i can swap my sim and i'll report back.

 

[colsnr]

A SIM card is a very important component of any mobile phone so I'm not sure why the suggestion would sound stupid?

 

[Jace]

colsnr, you said your new SIM had a different circuit layout. Any chance of you posting a picture of your 2 SIM's so that others can compare to what they have? It would be interesting to see if everyone having this problem has the same sort of SIM card.

Cheers.

 

[Wahwah]

How was your reception? It's possible for me to get full signal in some places but most of the time it's low/losing signal totally. Does that sound the same?

 

[bridge32]

Hi I am on my second HTC Hero due to poor signal and dropped calls. This version however is an unlocked Hero on the Orange network. My previous one was an Orange branded Hero. What i am experiencing is i never get a 3G signal anywhere, but im told that the "H" is for HSDPA which is similar but faster than 3G. My signal moves from 4 bars down to 1 bar if i leave it in the same place, at times i even have missed calls as i recieve text messages / voicemail even when i am near the phone. I went into Carphonewarehouse today, and they could not rectify the problem but suggested i try a new sim. I was a bit unsure as my 28 days runs out today but because of the problem i have got they have given me an extra 28 days to try the new sim out. I have since ordered a new sim from Orange which should be here in the next 5 days. My problem is this, if the new sim does not rectify the problem, what other phone is out there that can compete with the Hero. I love this phone but missing calls etc is a pain in the rear. Anyone have an idea as to how to fix this? My signal is now switching from "G" to "E" to "H" while sat here! I have heard that the Hero has a smaller antenna which could be the cause, but do you think an update would help?

 

[chrisjenx]

I got through to tech support and the guy wouldnt replace anything because there is no fault.

Because I could talk to the guy on the phone in question there is no issue.

When talking about issues and other people complaining he was certain that the SIM card would work or it wouldn't, and it wouldn't make any difference to the signal and wouldn't offer me any replacement of SIM or phone of any kind.

We need someone else to confirm this is a real fix, the guy I talked to was allso determined that the sim card would be identical to what i have. Not sure if the guy I spoke to was just trying to fob me off or just convinced there wasnt an issue.

Would appreciate it if anyone else changes there sim and see if there is a improvement.

 

[chrisjenx]

A SIM card is a very important component of any mobile phone so I'm not sure why the suggestion would sound stupid?

Sorry I didn't mean to sound patronising, hope more people get a better response from orange than i do.

 

[colsnr]

Bad news folks.

The new sim installed in my phone friday has definately improved the phone reception/performance to an extent. But the phone has begun acting up again.

Two texts I thought I had sent didnt go, only noticed them when I went to send a third..........had to select "retry sending" for them to go. I obviously didnt notice there was no signal on the first attempt........also poor internet signal around that time.....was with wife and checked her different Orange phone and her signal was as high you can get. hers HSDPA 5 bars.............mine GPRS no bars.


As I said things have improved, there is no doubt about that but the performance is still not exceptable. I want somewhere near perfect and this device or Orange it seems cannot deliver that. Im now gonna phone Orange To have them put on my file that I intend to cancel my contract if an update fix is not forthcoming very soon.

Performance with SIM 1................Shocking
Performance with SIM 2................Not Bad but obviously something is not right.

 

[trick202]

Hi all

Very interesting.

I got my brand new hero and orange sim on friday. I am a new customer. My girlfriend also got a hero, as an upgrade on her orange plan.

I have no data whatsoever. I get the signal for G, 3G, and H. Signal varies. Tried calling tech support. They are sending me a new sim to replace the brand new one they sent (hopefully a faulty batch). I have had to set everything up via wi-fi.
My girlfriend's phone seems to work fine, and her sim also worked in my phone, so it's not the handset.

Hopefully SIM will sort this - it better, or Orange contract will be terminated before it starts!
Strangely, when girlfriend called to order the hero, the woman from orange really tried to put her off it, saying they came back in their droves and that the handset was hard to use.

I hope this all sorts itself out. I really love the handset, but I HATE unreliability. My Blackberry was reliable but BORING. Can I ever win? lol.

 

[NiceCupOfTea]

G, E, 3G, H - what's the order of these? which is the best and worst?

I've got G on mine at home, not seen 3G. Get more bars if I switch to 2G.

 

[trick202]

G=gprs - the basic 2g banding
E=edge - not usually found unless you're on O2 (I think). 2.5g
3G=3G - nice and fast
H=HSPA - 3.5G The fastest you can get at the moment (I think)

Not sure why you'd get better signal strength when you switch to 2g only. Maybe because it's not looking for other signals? It's worth noting that if your 3g reception/coverage sucks where you spend most of your time, then it's better for your battery if you run your handset on 2g only.
Searching and trying to maintain 3g coverage is very hard on the battery.

I use the toggle, and only use 3g if I'm using data apps (browsing, market etc)

 

[Artaq]

I have a contract sim chip going back 13 years ago (for One2One before T-mobile took over) working currently in my Hero. This shows with low signal, one bar. Phone calls do work fine.
I then put my new Pay as you go sim card (from another phone of mine) in it and the signal did show as improved to 3 bars out of the four. However as soon as I picked up the phone it shot down back to one bar.

 

[trick202]

Hmmm, that's quite encouraging I guess. I had no idea the sim made a difference to quality. I thought they either worked or they didn't.

Remember, don't hold the phone at the bottom - the antenna is at the base of the handset. Try to keep it clear when in use. My old E71 Nokia used to have this issue too - you get used to holding the phone slightly different - no biggie.

 

[philfletch]

just took delivery of my hero, my new orange contract doesn't start for another week, so I've decided to put my old sim in it. reception not very good, but if i put this old sim in my unlocked iphone the reception is better. Im just assuming that the new sim is optimized to work with the hero. fingers crossed it works better.

 

[dar.leic]

Hi All

I