Goodbye HERO, my friend:(

[Gizmodo]

Well my Fellow HERO fans,

Today I VERY reluctantly returned my HERO after a week of lovin it oh so much and exchanged it for a Samsung Moment. I don't like the Moment nearly as much as the HERO but had no choice. For some reason, I had no signal in my office in which I spend 8 hours a day. I went to get my oil changed this morning a few miles up the road and my wife, who had an emergency could not get through to me. Again, no signal at that location either. Considering I have also played with my wife's Moment all week to educate her in how to use it, I knew it had a better signal as I had taken her phone to my office to test it out and had a great signal. I took her phone back to the Toyota dealership, went into the lounge where I was when I missed her call and it had a strong signal. That cinched it. So now...I have a Moment. Don't get me wrong, it's a good phone, too. I just don't like that danged keyboard; its so bulky.
So adieu my friends, I will be lurking in the Moment forum pretty much from now on. Wish me luck. I hate to leave.

Gizmeauxdeaux

 

[FrogSplatter]

Oddly enough my friend has a Hero the same as mine and he gets worse signal than I. Only difference we can think of is he got his earlier than I and perhaps its just a weaker unit.

Try a different Hero before giving up?

 

[Gizmodo]

I asked if I should try another Hero, she said, nope, they're all alike.

 

[FrogSplatter]

well there are always differences in manufacturing from one lot to another...
I'd try another

 

[kennyidaho]

Yeah I would have tried another one before switching to something like the moment.

 

[osli]

Carrier reception is just spotty all over the country and varies from block to block, carrier to carrier. You might have great ATT, decent Sprint, and terrible Verizon and TMobile at your home while your friend half a mile away has terrible ATT and Sprint but great everything else.

It isn't the phone, it's just the tower coverage in your area. Not your fault. Got to go with the phone that actually has a signal in the places you need it.

 

[lekky]

Carrier reception is just spotty all over the country and varies from block to block, carrier to carrier. You might have great ATT, decent Sprint, and terrible Verizon and TMobile at your home while your friend half a mile away has terrible ATT and Sprint but great everything else.

It isn't the phone, it's just the tower coverage in your area. Not your fault. Got to go with the phone that actually has a signal in the places you need it.

But isn't he on the same network? If on the same network, one phone has no signal and another does, then surely its the phone.

And the store manager is an idiot?

 

[Archon810]

Did you guys update the PRL in the settings? This could make all the difference in the world.

 

[lldsandsll]

Free roaming.

 

[mysticmead]

Free roaming.

while roaming might be free.. the PRL tells you phone where the closest tower is that will provide the best signal. As new towers come online and old ones go off line, updating the PRL becomes important.

 

[acp]

I've had better reception with my Hero compared my wife's Moment

weird

 

[osli]

But isn't he on the same network? If on the same network, one phone has no signal and another does, then surely its the phone.

And the store manager is an idiot?

Sorry, I didn't knos they were on the same networl. I'm new to theandroid platform, and gberes just way too many. Ersions and clones on the variois networks. I huess I should ha e looked it up first, butitt seemed likelythat it was a xifferent. Carrier

Sorry

 

[tatonka_Hero]

Did you guys update the PRL in the settings? This could make all the difference in the world.

This.

I went from having no reception at all at my house, to being able to send texts, just by updating the PRL.

There's a neat little app called "Cellfinder" or something like that, that will show you where the tower you're using is located. You could download it on both the Hero and Moment, and see if you're using the same tower on both phones. I find it interesting because I live in a valley, with no direct line to any tower. When I use this app, I pick up a sprint tower about 5 miles away (as the crow flies). When I'm roaming at home, I pick up the same tower with slightly better signal, so there must be multiple carriers on that tower (wouldn't surprise me, it's a pretty big tower and it's been there for over 20 years).

 

[toomuchgame441]

This.

I went from having no reception at all at my house, to being able to send texts, just by updating the PRL.

There's a neat little app called "Cellfinder" or something like that, that will show you where the tower you're using is located. You could download it on both the Hero and Moment, and see if you're using the same tower on both phones. I find it interesting because I live in a valley, with no direct line to any tower. When I use this app, I pick up a sprint tower about 5 miles away (as the crow flies). When I'm roaming at home, I pick up the same tower with slightly better signal, so there must be multiple carriers on that tower (wouldn't surprise me, it's a pretty big tower and it's been there for over 20 years).

Thanks for the app suggestion, just downloaded. I'm having a slighly hard time reading it though. Basically with the help of GPS, on the map it shows a dot of my location, then a green line is drawn to a star that seems to be showing a 70 m distance. My signal strength went from 9 asu, to 7 asu, and it kinda hovers there. it also shows a -99dBm. Only getting about 1-2 bars at my home location.

 

[jsp_1983]

I'm using Cellfinder and Antenna, but neither appear to be accessing GPS information.

Antenna says I'm in York (a couple of hours drive away) and Cellfinder just keeps saying it's finding GPS... GPS is switched on and Google Maps appears to be pinpointing my location no problem.

Could someone also explain what PRL is?

 

[drawing infinity]

prl is the preferred roaming list.

 

[jsp_1983]

prl is the preferred roaming list.

Thanks- what is the benefit of editing/ tweaking it? How can I do this?

 

[durandetto]

The benefit is it tells your phone what towers to use when roaming, so if a new tower has been added closer to your home or work it will use that tower to give you a better signal and if one has been removed it will stop your phone from trying to use it. As for how to do this on the Hero, I don't know because I don't own my Hero yet. I believe it is in the menus somewhere.

 

[jamesdal1]

Gizmodo , that happened to me, go exchange it. I think you just had a bad phone. I had a thread with the same issues. Now it's the best phone i've ever had.

 

[SilHero]

I asked if I should try another Hero, she said, nope, they're all alike.

lol, well what did u expect them to tell u?? u just gota tell them that u got a busted phone and you need a new one. no questions should be asked in the first 30 days of purchase, well at least from Sprint.

 

[BSki]

The first hero I had had a dead data chip (or so they told me) I could make calls, but couldn't get data to work.

Gave me a new phone, been happy since.

Try a new phone and check the reception. But remember, the number of bars doesn't matter, as long as you have one bar you are good. Any sprint phone right next to you may show 5 bars, but you will both get the same service.

 

[JLampitt]

Interesting post. I actually took the Moment back and swapped it for the Hero and I couldn't be more pleased. I live in a semi-rural area and I get awesome reception at my home where the Moment barely got two bars. In addition, the Hero's GPS receiver ROCKS! GPS is supposed to be line-of-sight, but this thing picks up satellites in my basement! Something my $400 GPS unit can't even do!

 

[impaler]

The benefit is it tells your phone what towers to use when roaming, so if a new tower has been added closer to your home or work it will use that tower to give you a better signal and if one has been removed it will stop your phone from trying to use it. As for how to do this on the Hero, I don't know because I don't own my Hero yet. I believe it is in the menus somewhere.

To update the PRL, the menu drill-down is to Settings/About Phone/System Updates/Update PRL. There's also an included Sprint app that lets you update the PRL, but it is just a shortcut to the same menu function.

 

[thundrbird1]

I can honestly say the after all the phones Sprint has come out with, the Hero is by far the best device on the market. Along with this forum and the people who are so willing to help out and provide info, it is with much regret that I have to say goodbye to my trusted Hero. Though it's responsiveness and sooo many cool features are reasons enough to keep the Hero, it unfortunately doesn't provide the business needs a Blackberry offers.

With that I thank this forum and all of you that make owning a "Rooted Hero" a great experience.

Peace!!

 

[SamuraiBigEd]

I get signal in places my Touch Pro and Mogul never could with my Hero, and get better signal than my business partners Pre.