vB Easy Archive - Qtek 8500 "searching..." How to pick band?

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Qtek 8500 "searching..." How to pick band?
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Posted by: brooke

I'll feel like an idiot when this is solved, but that's better than no service ...

New 8500 can't find a signal. I figure it might be set to European frequencies, but I can't find the place to specify 850/1900.

The Settings>Phone>Networks screen just shows "Current network: searching". Where else might I look?

Other ideas?

Posted by: Barnstormer64

Mine has gotten into that loop once or twice since I've had it.

Try turning the phone OFF, then back ON.

As far as I know, there's no way to select the band it uses . . that's all automatic.

Posted by: brooke

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barnstormer64

Mine has gotten into that loop once or twice since I've had it.

Try turning the phone OFF, then back ON.

Thanks, but I've tried that, including taking the battery out. I even tried the Clear Storage or whatever they call the command that resets it to factory settings.

EDIT: The 4th time worked, briefly. Now I'm back to square one ...

Posted by: Barnstormer64

I assume your others phones, in the same area, haven't had this issue?

If so, you might want to RMA the current 8500 and try a different one.

Posted by: pdazealot

One thing that rarely gets mentioned is that the default search pattern for signal starts with the 900 band, then 1800, then 1900, then 850Mhz. Unless a phone is specifically for the US market, and the order is changed, you will always be waiting those two minutes per band(till timeout), or more, when your phone is looking for signal. That's 8 minutes for a lot of the 850mhz users, and if you drive out of one cell location, and it doesn't have a fix yet, well, it will start it all over. It's one of the bad things about import phones.

Posted by: Barnstormer64

Wow, I wasn't aware of that. 8 minutes, huh? Funny, though, it doesn't seem to take that long if you shut the phone off, then turn it back on. It finds the correct band much more quickly, then.

Posted by: encece

I think it's related to the "deep sleep" problem. I've never had service issues under Cingular. Now I get this but it quickly resolves.

Posted by: Barnstormer64

I don't think it's a "deep sleep" issue. This morning, my phone was connected to the network when I left the house.

When I got to my bus (10 miles away), the phone was "searching" for a signal. Interestingly enough, it still displayed the E for the Edge connection, though. However, I attempted to send an email, and it couldn't. Which means the E wasn't really valid at that time.

It took about 8 minutes to finally connect. At that point, I only had a GPRS connection, not an Edge connection. I turned the phone OFF, then ON, and it immediately got a connection, with Edge.

The next time you get into a searching mode, trying turning the phone OFF then ON and see what happens.

Posted by: Ishimaru

the instant i turn my phone on it shows Cingular, mind you it takes about a minute for the phone to fully boot and become functional; but the entire time it always shows Cingular and nothing else.

Posted by: brooke

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdazealot

One thing that rarely gets mentioned is that the default search pattern for signal starts with the 900 band, then 1800, then 1900, then 850Mhz. Unless a phone is specifically for the US market, and the order is changed, you will always be waiting those two minutes per band(till timeout), or more, when your phone is looking for signal.

I hadn't considered that. There is a quick fix, though. Under one of the Settings, you can see the preferred networks. Simply un-check the 900/1800 ones. I'll try this when I get home ...

Posted by: Ishimaru

previous WM5 phones I've had, wouldn't let me change any of those settings, including checking, or unchecking anything; telling me the password is wrong. dunno.

Posted by: brooke

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkJedi

previous WM5 phones I've had, wouldn't let me change any of those settings, including checking, or unchecking anything

IIRC, my SDA allows picking TM or Cing. On the 8500 you get to the PRL via Start>Settings>Phone>Networks>Menu+3.

My 8500 booted up fine this morning, then went into Searching mode. On re-start I got No Service, then searching ...

Posted by: Ishimaru

you can do that because you're on T-Mobile. T-Mobile only has 1900 towers (which they don't actually own, Cingular does), and they have roaming agreements with Cingular so T-Mobile customers can access Cingular's towers (which are more than likely 1900 towers).

Posted by: brooke

Quote:

Originally Posted by brooke

On the 8500 you get to the PRL via Start>Settings>Phone>Networks>Menu+3.

If unchecked, though, they seem to reset on restart ...

Posted by: brooke

Well, to wrap this thread up ... No, I never found out the exact problem. The T-M guys thought the phone was getting confused about which towers/network it was and wasn't allowed to register on. The problem was solved by a move to Cingular.

I'd been thinking of this for some time, but a cruise with a Cingular SIM through my usual haunts convinced me. Thanks for everyone's input.

Posted by: billcox

Quote:

Originally Posted by brooke

Well, to wrap this thread up ... No, I never found out the exact problem. The T-M guys thought the phone was getting confused about which towers/network it was and wasn't allowed to register on. The problem was solved by a move to Cingular.

I'd been thinking of this for some time, but a cruise with a Cingular SIM through my usual haunts convinced me. Thanks for everyone's input.

I'm on T-Mobile(Richmond,VA) and getting the Searching... and poor reception problem with my 8500. I've tried the Qtek, I-Mate, and Dopod ROMs all with the same result.

If I put the same SIM in my SDA, the reception goes from 1 bar to all bars. Can this really just be a 8500/T-Mobile problem? Doesn't Cingular and T-Mobile use the same towers??

Posted by: brooke

Quote:

Originally Posted by billcox

Doesn't Cingular and T-Mobile use the same towers??

I thought so, too. No.

Posted by: billcox

This sucks! So either break my T-Mobile contract and use Cingular, or deal with almost unusable reception.

Does anyone know if this is a software or hardware problem? I could wait for a software update.

If it is hardware does anyone want to buy a pristine Qtek 8500 w/ 1G microSD?

Posted by: bopgun

There are voluminous reports of this same problem happening with other HTC WM smartphones - there's long discussions for the SDA/2125 in the T-mobile SDA forum, as well as on modaco. There supposedly is a radio fix via the Orange C600 ROM for those phones. Not sure if it is applicable to the Qtek 8500.

Posted by: Ishimaru

Quote:

Originally Posted by brooke

I thought so, too. No.

Cingular owns all the GSM towers, including T-Mobile's. T-Mobile has the option to buy them from Cingular, but I do not believe they have done this yet. T-Mobile only uses the 1900Mhz band, even though they do offer Quad band phones. Anytime you are on T-mobile but your phone says "Cingular" you are roaming on their network. Cingular gave T-Mobile roaming rights to their towers, and vice versa (though it's technically their towers). IIRC, T-Mobile's 3G network, is Cingular's as well; unless they built it themselves.

Posted by: artavila

Hi there..

I live in Mexico and i,m using TELCEL network, i have a htc star trek dopod s300 hacked to i-mate smartflip (i tried with two diferents ROM´s from dopod before) and still i have the roaming indicator on, as far as i see no charges for roaming in any of my calls but i´m afraid the battery life could be afected by this issue, does anybody have an idea how to fix this?? thanks in advanced!!!