PLEASE HELP Cingular 8525 and radio reset issues

[antjmon]

I have a Cingular 8525 that is almost great. The signal strength is consistently at no less than 3bars but usually at 4 bars; but when I try to make a call, sometimes it goes through, other times it reads operation failed...which in the latter case is immediately followed by the signal completely disappearing and searching. It will reconnect and then allow me to place calls immediately afterwards. I also have been receiving alot of voicemails with no missed/received calls, as well as a lot of people saying that my phone rings and rings. (I of course do not receive all of my calls). This is really irritating....I've tried different roms (WM5/WM6) as well as at least half a dozen different radio roms also. I got the phone off of ebay it says that it is unlocked (could this have something to do with it?) B/c I got it off of ebay it interferes with the cingular warranty. ANY helpful suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[debonairone]

The fact that you received the phone from eBay has nothing to do with your issues... I am not the most knowledgeable person here, but I have had my fair share of bad reception... Have you tried flashing the Cingy Rom? It comes with the stock 1.40 radio... I have a TyTn that I received off of eBay with Cingy service and I have had the best performance with the 1.40 radio.. Of course, it also has to do with your location, etc... You haven't mentioned which roms you have tried and what problems you have experienced other than failing radio strength and missed calls... Granted, that is enough... Post your info from the device information applet in your 8525 and give us more information about your 8525... maybe then, some of the more senior and smarter peeps can help you out...

Or, you can always use the link in my signature to do a more thorough search of the forum... your answer is bound to be here somewhere...

[antjmon]

Thanks for the quick reply. From my understanding by me purchasing on ebay it has something to do with a the warranty (should I want to go through an exchange through cingular).

(I knew I was forgetting something) My device information is as follows:
(currently WM5, I just wanted to see if it would help at all)

Rom Version : 1.34.502.1
Rom Date: 09/21/06
Radio Version: 1.40.30.00
Protocol version: 32.73.7020.16H

As far as the roms go, I have no other issues besides the radio. But I've tried, the latest 2 Cingular stocks as of today, Custel 2.5/2.0, Black 3.0 and 2, LVSW 3.3, the all have their own pro's/con's but thats another issue. I'd throw whatever works on here if I can get a properly working radio.

I have searched and seen other forums regarding this issue, but none have released a solution. Radios 1.34 and 1.40 work best, but the problem is still there unfortunately.

[debonairone]

Hmmmm... Okay, well the radio rom is the important part... have you tried the 1.41 radio? I see that you are running a lower version of the Cingy Official Released Rom.... Currently at 2.5 something I think... if you search for Radio Rom 1.41 you should be able to find it... At this point, I would think that it may be a combination of items, but am sure that if one radio sux, then try another one... just be careful... since you are already flashing roms, I guess I don't have to tell you that...

[antjmon]

Yeah I tried 1.41, didnt work too well for me. I am comfortable flashing, my old siemens sx66 has been flashed more than bourbon st. I did try to latest cingular official, (which is where I got the 1.40 radio from).

[.VIBE]

afaik 140.30.00 is the cingular tuned radio ROM. it should work best. As far as ROM's go, it should not really influence the phone functions. imo, lvsw latest ROM is as stable as they get anyway.

Try setting your network type to GSM only, and set the band to your local frequency. what you describe often happens when the phone switches between GSM & WCDMA.

[antjmon]

Ill try it, im guessing it (gsm selection) can be done through settings? Does this occur even if the phone is in the same room while it occurs?

[debonairone]

Good point, I would not have thought of that since I leave mine on Auto all of the time... I had forgotten that I had similar issues with the 1.38 radio...

[.VIBE]

Ill try it, im guessing it (gsm selection) can be done through settings? Does this occur even if the phone is in the same room while it occurs?

start>settings>phone>band

[Newb-Tech-Realtor]

I have that same issue with my reception in Memphis, Tennessee. It only happens once or twice a day though. The way it was explained to me by Cingular is that "yes you do have great reception. But when the phone tries to call, there is not enough bandwidth to complete the call." The gist of the matter was that too many other people were clogging up the airwaves. Not sure if that was bullshit or not, but that is what I was told.

I just know that it will happen between 3 and 5 pm, when more people are on the phone while driving home. I think they put more towers up as it hasn;t happened in the past week or so.

Also, the warranty is given with the PHONE not to the BUYER. The warranty should be good no matter where you bought it or who you bought it from. That is for factory warranties, not extra warranties or service agreements.



Hope this helps,

Jim

[shogunmark]

The most common cause of this problem is that fact that you are in Edge and not 3G.. The problem is most likely being caused by the fact that a data connection while in Edge is connected, this can cause dialing issues and phone calls not being recieved.. This problem has gotten better with the latest cingy rom and 1.40 radio that is packaged with it.. what you are experiencing is normal, or has been for me in the cingy/att world, it has happened with both the hermes and wizard..

[antjmon]

All great suggestions, I did notice the occurence has dropped when I turned off my data connection. However, even with selecting GSM only and the other suggestions, I unfortunately still experience this problem. I guess my concern now shifts to is this a problem with my phone or not. By that I mean, would swapping phones have any effect on this occurence. (Anybody in the Charleston, WV area?...yea right) NEways, I have 3 cell phones in my family talk plan, and this 8525 is my 3rd or 4th phone on this one line in the last 12 months, I did not experience this with ANY of my other phones, so I know that it is not an issue regarding bottlenecked towers...which I have experienced before in another state.

[duman95]

Just an FYI. My first 8525 exhibited this same behaviour. I found NO solution to it and had to do the exchange via Cing which unfourtunately is not an option here...

Hard resets, radios, nothing fixed the issue. It steadily degraded and I had to do the return.

Now on a side note I did drop the phone once. It was about a 10 inch fall onto our concrete garage floor. The phone showed no damage AT ALL, but shortly there after the radio started acting up. It seem that perhaps the SIM did not sit tightly in the holder and as the phone was used the cover pushed on the battery which might have push on the SIM.

Take a look at how tight the SIM card is making contact. If it is loose and can wiggle freely you may want to try to tighten it up a bit VERY carefully!!!!

Sorry I can't offer a more permanent fix or precise problem!!

[antjmon]

Just an update, I never could get the problem fixed (as I had expected). Luckily, however, I was able to keep calling Cingulars warranty department and got ahold of someone who did agree that the warranty follows the phone irrespective of where I got it. Luckily the person who told me that I couldnt do am xchange didn't note in on the system, so that prevented future reps being "tainted". So I am currently running Black Dymond very happily on my now working 8525. Thanks to all for the suggestions, maybe someone buying from eBay later will take heed to be sure to get a phone under warranty and to be persistent! =) Did I mention VERY happily running wm6?