Dropped Calls - Hard Handoffs

Yeah it's a known issue with 3G phones that they drop calls when they hand off from 3G to EDGE/GSM. Most models you can find a way to set it so that the phone will only pick up 2G though which would prevent the issue... but then if you wanted the 3G data you'd have to re-enable it. With my CU500 it's easy enough to do.

 

no doubt in time they will master those handofffs and also they will eventually not need to worry about handoffs cuz everything will be 3G anyway

 

No.... What will decrease dropped calls is better frequency planning and more capacity.

 

which doesnt seem to be happening all too well with AT&T...........i mean......T-Mobile is doing their UMTS on 1700 and 2100.........Sprint is gonna deploy WiMax on some oddball frequency........i think that AT&T is stuck with their 850 and 1900 in all markets.......they really do need to do a good job at frequency planning and allocation

 

In Reading, PA and Los Angeles AT&T has 60+ Mhz of spectrum. It's hard to imagine they can't do frequency planning properly in those markets.

 

i'm just pointing out that at this time........AT&T is the one company with the least wiggle room and frequency planning will always be the hardest for them even though it may seem easy

 

Not necessarily. In markets like NYC, AT&T didn't even have to touch the GSM side to implement HSDPA because the 10Mhz needed for HSDPA were vacant all the time. The same happens in many other markets. For instance, in Los Angeles, AT&T got spectrum from T-Mobile which is being used for HSDPA now. The problem will be when they attempt to add HSDPA to 850Mhz, but that hasn't happened yet.

If you think about it, Sprint and Verizon have the same issue because EVDO data uses separate channels than voice, so that uses double the spectrum per site.

 

yeah but like AT&T Verizon has 1900 and 800...SPrint only has 1900 but they are getting spectrum for WiMax and they will get even more if they divest the 800 MhZ iDEN spectrum to the federal government to remove all chances of ever having trouble with public emergency dispatch systems again

 

got that right, has anyone told att that?

 

Arent there markets in Florida that have HSDPA already running on 850 like jacksonville?

i'm just pointing out that at this time........AT&T is the one company with the least wiggle room and frequency planning will always be the hardest for them even though it may seem easy

Dont forget that all the major carriers happened to get a piece of the AWS spectrum, t-mo just happened to get the biggest chunk.

 

well considering AT&Ts position customer wise............they need to figure out a way to use their licenses efficiently especially in metro areas to accomodate for all of their customers

 

Cingular/AT&T also got a piece of AWS spectrum. So they have room to play there.

 

The only time you have hard handoffs in the UMTS/HSDPA (3G) network is when it's doing a handover to the 2G (GSM/EDGE). AT&T has on average 60Mhz (and more in others)of spectrum in most markets so there is no issue yet with spectrum. Good frequency planning will take care of those issues.

 

i sure hope so, this is getting to be nurve racking

 

here we are not even a 3G area yet, still all the problems, some are saying it's possible that it's the new 3G card causing the trouble, i don't really care
what the problem is,or how much it take's AT&T to fix it,all i know if we are all paying for service we are not getting, and i'm still looking at my option's,
just been with this company for 12 yrs, though the up's and down's,but there is just so much down that i want to spend my money own.

 

From what I understand, they finally are starting to admit there is a problem that happened sometime last month & around the time of the Alpha Tag updates & they are trying to figure out what the exact problem is.

I have heard it mainly has to do with the new AT&T 3G SIM chips, with some other older phones with the older SIM's, but no where as bad as with the newer SIM's.

I know it's making me think about holding off on migrating over when the new SMS plan comes out this weekend.

I was talking to the Manager of 1 of the Corp. stores in town & he stated he hasn't heard of any issues around my area & hasn't had any with his Vxxx. I know hf1khal is having a problem now in LI, prior to him going away for a month & is hoping it is resolved as well by time he comes back.

There is a theory that the update is causing the phones to camp on 1900 now vs 850 in most area's.

I asked if they had any older SIM's in case I had a problem with the newer one & he said no.

 

i am considering reactivating my orange cards and saving the new 3g cards untill my area goes 3g and they fix all these problems

 

now werent the old SIMs supposed to be smart and switch between 1900 and 850 based on multiple factors..........why would the new AT&T SIMs lose that intelligence........?????

 

I believe there was a software update along with the alpha tag update & somehow if is causing the SIM's to prefer 1900.
Per the rep at the corp store I went to today, they got a new batch of SIM's this week & are suppose to use them over the other AT&T 3G SIM's.

 

Fire, what vintage is the problem 3G SIM? I have had mine since last November & haven't noticed any difference after the Alpha Tag update. I believe there was another batch of 3G SIMs prior to the one I have now.

Just curious

 

I could be incorrect, but I think the potential "problem" SIM's are more recently issued ones - those that actually say "AT&T" on them. Do you have an AT&T SIM? Mine that I received the last week of December was still a Cingular branded SIM.

 

Thanks hme. I have the Cingular branded SIM, that explains it. I was starting to feel deprived that I was not experiencing any problems.....

 

i know someo0ne whos phone was stolen but they gave her one of the old Cingular 3G SIMs and updated it to say AT&T..........would this be the reason they didnt give her the new AT&T one

 

Yes they are the AT&T 3G SIM's that have been giving the problems from what I am told.
A rep yesterday said they got a new batch last week, but I don't know how true that was.

I asked if they had the older Cingular SIM's still & was told no, so if I migrate over, I may end up with more of a headache.

 

Charlyee...don't jinx yourself!!

 

Sorry guy's but I think you are misunderstanding a few things. First in a dual band market they have a thing called concentric cells. You might start off on 1900 when you're close to a sight then handover to the 850 band on the same site as you move farther away. Also if they have alot of 1900Mhz spectrum they could be clearing the 850mhz to put the UMTS/HSDPA system on. The handover from 3G to 2G becomes a problem when you're at the edge of the 3G network because you can drag a call to far which causes it not to see the correct neighbor (it's called a IRAT handover). It takes some fine tuning to fix.

 

But from what my source is telling me at AT&T, there is another problem when they did the alpha tag update & the software update as well & they don't know the specific reason behind it, and I was just replying on what one of the techs said happened to his phone after the update.

As for what your saying it has nothing to do with the problems they have been encountering lately, at least that's what they are saying.

 

yeah.........as far as the facts have led us so far...........the problem is in the SIMs not the towers