vB Easy Archive - S710a refuses to hand off in Maryland

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S710a refuses to hand off in Maryland
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Posted by: SynMoo

I have a Sony S710a here in the Baltimore area. I'm either not satisfied with the GSM coverage here or calls are not being handed off properly.

At least twice a day I'll be driving in a call, the quality will drop, I will glance at the phone, 0 bars and the call drops. No more than 3 seconds after the drop, 3+ bars.

Why isn't it handing off? It seems obvious to me that I'm driving out of the range of a cell and that it won't hand off during the call. As soon as the call is dropped, it'll switch to the new site. This is the most infuriating thing about my service. This is why I left NEXTEL.

I have the older Firmware (not R2A.)

Anyone have any ideas?

Posted by: Airb330

The RF capabilities on the s710a are suspect IMO. I get full signal on Motorolas, Samsungs, and Nokias in my house. The s710a will fluctuate between 1 bar and 5, and garble really bad on one bar. Maybe you are on 'orange 850' coverage, and then the call drops and switches to the ATT 'blue 1900' coverage in the area, that would explain the problem. Integration will fix this, but who knows when that will happen. Good luck!

Posted by: at&t_hitman

XBM and get the new firmware. It improves alot of issues. It really sounds like a phone issues, or sim. possibly a combination. but eliminate possibilities one by one. Phone first. if it still sucks, get a new sim. I live in Glen Burnie and i have never had an issue.

Posted by: boston_errol

Quote:

Originally Posted by SynMoo

I have a Sony S710a here in the Baltimore area. I'm either not satisfied with the GSM coverage here or calls are not being handed off properly.

At least twice a day I'll be driving in a call, the quality will drop, I will glance at the phone, 0 bars and the call drops. No more than 3 seconds after the drop, 3+ bars.

Why isn't it handing off? It seems obvious to me that I'm driving out of the range of a cell and that it won't hand off during the call. As soon as the call is dropped, it'll switch to the new site. This is the most infuriating thing about my service. This is why I left NEXTEL.

I have the older Firmware (not R2A.)

Anyone have any ideas?

The same issue happens to me with all my phones in the Greater Boston area.

What will happen is I will start driving on say 310-380 and then that signal declines, drops the call, and then immediately picks up the full 310-410 signal and I'll have to call the person back. The same is true for the opposite.

YES greater boston is very well covered but we need handoffs very badly and network integration needs to happen ASAP.

Posted by: I have a phone

Quote:

Originally Posted by SynMoo

you are describing what happens when an intrasystem handover needs to take place. Orange>Blue handoffs are part of the network integration and it will take time

Posted by: Alfred_Neuman

dc/bal wont be intregrated until mid/late 06

Posted by: microchip13

I had similar problems as you did with my Blue S710a with RA016, at one of 2 bars the voice quality is very poor.

Try a different phone and a new version of firmware.

Posted by: CA

Quote:

Originally Posted by SynMoo

I am in your same area and I can tell you that Cingular in this area IS not integrated. A new phone will do nothing. CS can tell you witch towers are orange.

CS has quoted 8/05 then 12/05 now its 12/06 for full integration. There are no reliable estimates when it will be done in Baltimore that is published. Cingular has chosen to keep this their little secret. So seriously doubt any opinions from anyone including CS.

You will experience constant service problems until the integration is complete.

Please also note ATTW/blue plans are different so following blue advice will only agrivate you more!

Posted by: SynMoo

*sigh* Thanks for the input. I'll just hold on until I'm out of contract. Or maybe I'll just pay the ETF and go to Verizon. It doesn't matter how cool the phone is if it doesn't work.

Anyone know if I have to take special steps to port a number that is still under contract?

Posted by: AtomicGarden

This is why I am thankful that I live in an area where the entire network was blue before the merger. No problems during hand-offs, just an annoying "Woud you like to update the clock?" message every once in a while.

That brings up another question though. The s710a doesn't update its clock similar to the T637, does it? It gets a bit aggravating when it comes up in the middle of trying to text someone.

Posted by: SynMoo

It does do network time, but you can disable updates, which I did awhile back when I was out of town and getting that message every few minutes. You press No and it will ask if you want to disable the feature and you press Yes.

Posted by: I have a phone

remember that system handoffs are being built with a prioritization on network traffic. I would think that an area like Owings Mills (or areas inside the beltway) would be taken care of long before somewhere out on the Eastern Shore.

Posted by: Serifan

Quote:

Originally Posted by SynMoo

Anyone know if I have to take special steps to port a number that is still under contract?

No special steps need to be taken. Just go to a VZW corporate store and have them port the number. Cingular will charge you an ETF, since porting automatically cancels your account, but I think you already knew that.

Posted by: I have a phone

Quote:

Originally Posted by diskors

uhm... ya

Posted by: Serifan

Quote:

Originally Posted by I have a phone

uhm... ya

...well, the OP asked.

Posted by: I have a phone

Quote:

Originally Posted by diskors

...well, the OP asked.

rediculous answer and retort

Posted by: AtomicGarden

Quote:

Originally Posted by SynMoo

It does do network time, but you can disable updates, which I did awhile back when I was out of town and getting that message every few minutes. You press No and it will ask if you want to disable the feature and you press Yes.

Excellent. I'll have that phone in about a week and a half to two weeks... hopefully **crosses fingers**

Posted by: Serifan

Quote:

Originally Posted by I have a phone

rediculous answer and retort

I really don't know where this is coming from, because I don't remember trying to insult you, so I will assume that you're just being facetious or sarcastic...