I currently subscribe to Verizon in NYC with a Nokia 5180 phone. I have been encountering an echo problem (hearing my voice with a 1 second lag time) on a fairly regular basis over the past half year or so. It is annoying and causes you to sound like a complete idiot on the phone. I don't know anyone else who has this problem and could not find on sites like epinions.com any reference to problems with echo. I'm at a point where I can consider going to a different carrier (i.e. Sprint) or buy a new phone. Has anyone encountered this problem? Is it specific to the carrier? Or could it be my phone? Help!
There are two reasons this happens. One is the phone itself. Regarding the model you mentioned (5180), Verizon stopped marketing that specific model due to poor CMDA technology on Nokia's part. They have recently re-introduced the 5185i which seems to be a better machine. The other reason this happens is related to the network. If other Verizon subscribers in your circle of acquaintances using different phones don't experience it, you can probably conclude it is your phone. Kevin
I had this problem with Sprint about a year and a half ago while using my Qualcomm 2760. The problem lasted for about two months and then went away. My brother using a Sanyo SCP-4000 phone also had the same thing around the same time. I'm thinking maybe it's a 1900 MHZ CDMA technology bug that shows up once in a while.
That could be, Larry. I experience that every now and then. When I do, I usually end the call and call the person back. Then its fine. It usually happens when I am roaming though. I dunno, it doesnt happen but every couple of months....not enough for it to matter to me. We all know wireless isnt perfect!
Well that could be but then why would two different brands of phones do the same thing at the same time and then not do it again after?
Isn't the 5180 an 800 mhz phone? I have the same problem though, on both my Nokia 3285 and Motorola V120. Like Leah said, hang up and call back and the problem disappears.
I don't believe it's the phone. I was told this echo usually happens when there are too many towers in an area.
Dear anonymous: i first off am not a big fan of verizon wireless maybe due to the fact that they are to conservative of a company and they don't experiment with new ideas until some other company does first. The problem unfortunately is the phone itself the Nokia 5100's from verizon are not the best models out there and they have already have been dumped by other providers such as Voicestream and AT&T will soon due away with them too. The problem is that when verizon licensed these models from Nokia they got the left overs of a dumped product such as the 5100 series and Nokia now is into the smaller internal antennae phones such as the 8200, 8800 and 3300 series'. I wouldn't say switch your provider just yet. I would go with getting another phone from verizon one of maybe the LG's or Audiovox's and go from there, but i would not judge there performance based on one phone model and one that is not selling as much anymore. You did not mention if your contract is up or not because if you do switch to another service and cancel verizon before said contract expires they will ruin your credit rating and that means whatever company you sign up with won't take you without a deposit of the $200-$800 range.
I've been having the same problem with my LG TM510. I'll be experimenting with the stuff I read here. The most interesting (easiest and cheapest) is to turn down the volume. I'll try that first.
I've seen that [echo] problem happen on a Nokia on Cingular TDMA... it was the phone. Other phones on the service would get it sometimes, but the Nokia (the one with the "slide" cover) had it all the time... the microphone broke in it too... that phone is a piece of crap... it was exchanged under warranty and the new one works fine, for now. As the phone worked ok when it was new, I am sure it was broken when dropped... IMO, Nokia makes crappy phones aimed at the "teenage girl" audience. Look at all the silly face plates and ring tones you can get... it all started with Nokia, and now that crap is working its way onto most phones... yuck! Most people I know who have physically broken phones also had Nokias. They seem more fragile, not from the way they "feel" but from the way I just know more people who have broken them.
Talking about phones that break let's not forget about Motorolas. All phones will break if you don't take care of them. About the echo problem I believe it has to do with failed communication in the control channel or a synchronization problem between the phone and the tower. After that happens usually you have to hang up and redial or wait for a hand-off to another tower. This happens in all systems (TDMA, CDMA, GSM, IDEN).
sometimes hanging up works... but it CAN be the phone's fault, most likely some problem (damage?) to the electronics designed to filter the echo locally... I read about this online in some technical paper somewhere... occasionally I try to make a call and end up not hearing a ring or the person i am calling but instead i hear an amplified echo of whatever's around me (starts off like background noise, possibly with breath sounds... then if I speak I hear myself yelling in my ear). this seems to happen most around 9pm when people scramble to use their night minutes before it's too late to call people... and on the brand note... maybe it's just that some people know clumsy kids with nokias and careful adults with motorolas and ericssons... it certainly could be the way the phone is treated that determines its longevity... my motorola is rather sturdy for a flip phone, I rarely drop it, and when I do, its leather case cushions the fall... I know a girl who has a nokia who crushed it in a car door and a grown woman who managed to mangle an ericsson (not sure how)... I haven't met anyone who wrecked a motorola, but I've heard of it happening... so I guess the moral is... be nice to your phone.
In my case, I've noticed the problem where I dial someone and I get no ring but instead I hear myself or it rings for 4 or 5 times then I get my own voice echoing instead of voicemail. The strange thing is that this ONLY happens when I dial a Sprint cellphone from my Cingular cellphone between 6PM and 10PM and it happens quite often. I have to retry the call up to about 5 times before it goes through. Sometimes I get a message from Sprint saying that their voicemail system is busy and to try again later. I can dial any other cellphone that is NOT Sprint or a land-based phone and the call goes through with no problems.
I've noticed the echo problem more when Verizon (Then GTE) initially launched CDMA. Now usually the only time I get an echo is when I'm analog roaming on Alltel.
