Hero, have to choose: Data/3G or voice calls, HTC reinvet the 90's!

[predo]

works fine on mine....i suggest you are on a ****e network, or on only 2G where you are. that's what usually causes this.

I guess they suggested this because it sounds like your network hasn't figured out how to route calls properly on their network when data is active, and they dump it straight to voicemail when there is a data connection active.
not the phone's fault, the phone won't even know that the call has been missed, the network simply does not route the call through and sends it to voicemail instead.

i had this on O2 a while ago. went to t-mobile (who knew how to set up their network properly for data) and never had this issue since when i am on 3G coverage. if i'm on 2G signal and have active data then yes, i miss calls. but that's how 2G networks operate.

it's truly shocking how many networks out there have absolutely no idea how to set up their networks properly for data!

see I'm tmobile uk and on newest firmware from tmobile and in edinburgh I'm mostly covered by hsdpa/3g yet I get so many people telling me they cannot reach me! As recently as yesterday I was sitting in my office, steady 3g connection, phone on the desk and I'm receiving email from a friend - "phone me"... wtf!! Turns out he tried to call me 5 times and sent txt, none came through, only half an hour later I got text from him and text from the voicemail I had 5 missed calls!!!

I'm slowly fed up with this, never had this on any other network or phone...


Will Modaco rom contain different RADIO and would that help?

 

[squirreleater]

MoDaCo has several radios that can be installed seperatly. I Can't really tell if it has help the missed call issue though?

Problem is, if the call is missed there is often no notice of it at all.......

 

[maciej_s20]

My Hero is on:
- 63.18.55.06EU_6.35.06.18 baseband
- modaco 2.5.1 custom rom

and as I've written before I do have an issue with missed calls during data transfer.

 

[maciej_s20]

Upgraded to newest broadband version: 63.18.55.06FU_6.35.07.08 and still the same - no able to call in while running internet-intensive apps like "connect bot". Network reports 'subscriber unavailable'.

Can anybody confirm that his/her phone is able to receive call during internet transfer? Best approach to test it is:
1. connect to any ssh server using connect bot and start top command.
2. Try to call from external phone

I've mixed results with standard internet browser - do not use this for testing as it does not use internet continously...

 

[snaven]

A couple of posts I added about this same issue...


My Post:

I have an unlocked Hero on the o2 network in the UK.

I have been noticing that a lot of calls are diverting straight to voicemail without ringing. It appears that this occurs while in a 2G Network Area.

2G Networks cannot cope with both Data and Voice calls at the same - so if, as you would expect on a "Smart Phone", a data connection is active - i.e. Push Email, Updating Twitter, Facebook or streaming Radio - then you are unable to receive calls!

This is not an issue on a 3G Network.

I have read that a phone should be able to terminate the Data connection if a Phone Call is coming through. It would appear that the HTC Hero does not do this - incidentally I have read of similar issues on the iPhone.

Has anyone found any solution to this? Is there anyway to ensure that the Data Connection IS terminated when necessary?

Thanks in advance.

Reply:
rhedgehog

It's not the phone that terminates the connection, it's the network. When it knows it needs to route a call to a phone which has an active data connection, it should terminate the data connection, or at least suspend it (HTC's are capable of this if commanded) and then route the call through.

Networks that route through to voice mail without ringing are not doing this, they are simply routing straight to voice mail without bothering to try and contact the phone.

Nothing you can do about it apart from keeping data turned off whenever you are not using it.

 

[thenext1]

I don't know on what flaky network you are, but here in Italy I get disconnected from GPRS/EDGE (2G) when I get an incoming call, and I never missed a call or a text message for that reason in 8 years and 10 cell phones I had, the current one being HTC S740.
It was a non-issue for me, in fact I didn't even know about it.

But now, since I bought an Hero on-line, if it's not capable of doing this and if it's "by design", it will be a big trouble.

 

[predo]

just to bump it up, happend to me yet again yesterday... 5 missed calls that went straight to voicemail... That is getting ridiculous...

 

[squirreleater]

Yup, Missed two that I know of today, christ knows how many I don't know about!

Not sure what can be done about it?

 

[nicelad_uk]

just to bump it up, happend to me yet again yesterday... 5 missed calls that went straight to voicemail... That is getting ridiculous...

Yup and the problem won't go away until the UK networks get their arse in gear.

As stated before, this is not a phone problem, its a network. You are just noticing the problem more now as you have a phone which uses the internet a lot more, like updating emails etc.

When the phone is doing these updates its using GPRS and thus the network detects your using the intenet and routes all calls to your voicemail.

The network should send a request to the phone (the HTC Hero does support this) to disconnect the data and then route the call through.

UK Networks = poo

 

[maciej_s20]

As stated before, this is not a phone problem, its a network. You are just noticing the problem more now as you have a phone which uses the internet a lot more, like updating emails etc.

No, You are wrong. Before Hero I've been using Samsung SGH-i600 in the same network with the same card and on the same site. Even if I was using internet on my laptop connected via phone I had no problems with missed calls. Even now if I switch the phones the old one can disconnect data transfer in order to receive call while Hero can not. Check if You have same issue with other phone...

So for sure this is not a phone problem.

Old Samsung could even redirect data stream to 2G while allowing phone call on 3G simultanously...

 

[Shwaa]

As someone who spends 90% of my time in 2G areas, I can tell you that my Hero is acting just the same way as all of my previous handsets (various Nokias and a Sony Erricson). If the phone is actively using the 2G data connection the moment a call comes in then call is routed to voice mail. Though it seems that any break in data transfer, even for a fraction of a second, is enough to allow a call though.

I'm with Vodafone and on their own forums they admit that it is a limitation of their network when using 2G.

The only difference between my Hero and my previous phones is that the Hero is actively using the data connection more often to power all the bells and whistles, so the chances of missing a call have risen.

Since I now spend most of my time in places where I have WiFi, it is not really a problem.

Of course, everyone that is having problems may still have a genuine fault with the phone. I can't comment on other networks, but for people on Vodafone in the UK, this is unfortunately normal behaviour on their 2G network.

 

[andreiileana]

Hello,
I work in a telecom company in Romania. We are talking about a new network that supports only 3g (no 2g).

I have a htc hero (my previous phone was a touch cruise) and my girlfriend has an iphone 3gs.
Since today I encountered the same problem on a daily basis, but after several emails to the tehnical guys they admitted that such behaviour is cause by network settings.

So, what I can notice now is that, when I receive a call data transfer is cancelled until I finish the call. For example, I click the refresh button for email syncro and then i call my mobile number... the sync stops and when i end the call the emails begin to pour in.

The same thing happens on the 3gs Iphone.

 

[nicelad_uk]

No, You are wrong. Before Hero I've been using Samsung SGH-i600 in the same network with the same card and on the same site. Even if I was using internet on my laptop connected via phone I had no problems with missed calls. Even now if I switch the phones the old one can disconnect data transfer in order to receive call while Hero can not. Check if You have same issue with other phone...

So for sure this is not a phone problem.

Old Samsung could even redirect data stream to 2G while allowing phone call on 3G simultanously...

Funny, I got that direct from a Senior Technician at o2 and a few other sources around the internet. Must be wrong, silly me

 

[koper1]

It's not a network problem !!!

A couple of posts I added about this same issue...


My Post:

I have an unlocked Hero on the o2 network in the UK.

I have been noticing that a lot of calls are diverting straight to voicemail without ringing. It appears that this occurs while in a 2G Network Area.

2G Networks cannot cope with both Data and Voice calls at the same - so if, as you would expect on a "Smart Phone", a data connection is active - i.e. Push Email, Updating Twitter, Facebook or streaming Radio - then you are unable to receive calls!

This is not an issue on a 3G Network.

I have read that a phone should be able to terminate the Data connection if a Phone Call is coming through. It would appear that the HTC Hero does not do this - incidentally I have read of similar issues on the iPhone.

Has anyone found any solution to this? Is there anyway to ensure that the Data Connection IS terminated when necessary?

Thanks in advance.

Reply:
rhedgehog

It's not the phone that terminates the connection, it's the network. When it knows it needs to route a call to a phone which has an active data connection, it should terminate the data connection, or at least suspend it (HTC's are capable of this if commanded) and then route the call through.

Networks that route through to voice mail without ringing are not doing this, they are simply routing straight to voice mail without bothering to try and contact the phone.

Nothing you can do about it apart from keeping data turned off whenever you are not using it.

Well, I was thinking of switching from the TD2 to Hero, but it looks like I'll not, not yet. No matter what you guys are saying of this to be an network problem, it is not. It would be the same for TD2 otherwise. But being on O2 in many EU countries lately, namely Czech, Germany, Austria (think that was roaming), Slovak, in 2G (GPRS) when on data (surfing via Opera 9.7) and the phone rungs, Opera gets in background and after hung up it's just pop out back and get the data connection itself established again. So wtf is going on with this Hero, or it is problem with Android (that's what I think anyway)?

 

[RaptorRVL]

Having owned multiple phones now, I don't think the Hero is much different. I'm quite used to the fact that when I'm actively using a data connection with GPRS the call is routed to the voicemail.
Sometimes when 'surfing the web' people do call me and the call comes through, but that's only because when watching a site you're not using the data connection continuously.

Don't remember how it was with all my devices, but I'm quite sure the same was the case with my Samsung Omnia (and my Diamond as well I think, quite some time ago ).

 

[chaos42]

Hello,
i have the same issues in germany on the eplus network. while downloading a big app from the market (comics are good for testing as they are quite large) on a 2G network, the call is not beeing directed through. On 3G it works. I have read somewhere that it still is possible to get calls on 2G networks, allthough a data connection is active and used (e.g. download). This has something to do with the type of network you are in (NOM1 or NOM2, there is even NOM3 but nobody seems to used) and the GSM Class of the device (A,B or C). This can even vary from tower to tower. The more I read about this, the more confusing it gets. I recently found this post:
http://www.everythingicafe.com/foru...cemail-while-using-edge-5126-2.html#post57890
Although it is an Iphone, the problem is the same. In the mentioned post, it seems to be a software issue. It seems that a call will be directed through if you e.g browse youtube, but not if you check your mails. That would explain, why for some people on the same network it works, an for others not. I tested the issue with my diamond, i've used for more than one year, exclusevly on 2G. Never noticed some missed calls, but guess what, it behaves exectly the same as the hero. No calls during an active data connection on 2G. So as stated before by an other user, the hero makes more use of the data conenction and therefore you miss more calls.
I would be very interested in a solution on this, or an proper explanation. Because it is annoying. If it is a network issue i will definetly switch to a carrier, that is capable of providing data and 2G at the same time (by the means of deactivating the data connection, while the call gets routed through), if not we definetly should get HTC aware of this issue.

Cheers,
Chaos42

BTW: In germany the only provider that is capable of NOM 1 is t-mobile. They have a lousy service, and are expensive, but as it seems they know how to set up their network.