I've noticed a strance occurrence with my local cell service. I normally get 5 bars and it stays that way for the most part. Very infrequently, I will notice the signal drop down to no bars. If I'm on a call when this happens, it will drop the call which is strange considering I normally have 5 bars. I've confirmed that this is happening on multiple phones, so I'm fairly certain it's not the phone. I've also noticed that it happens more frequently at certain times, around 5 pm and 9:30 pm are bad. It sounds like it might be that the capacity on the local tower is full at these times and it's overloading or something, not really sure. But even if I'm not in a call and I pay attention to the phone around those times, the signal will occasionally go down to 0 bars. But I'm also fairly certain that I'm within signal range of more than 1 cell site. So is there anybody that knows, or can confirm what is going on when this happens? I'm also thinking it might be some type of intereference, not sure really but I think the neighbor has a satellite dish. I've heard this mentioned in passing before but I don't think I've ever heard an explanation as to what this actually is.
It's possible that EVDO is being tested in your area and this is causing the phone to drop the calls. Are you in one of the purple areas (Planned ABB Coverage) on this map...
Since it's CDMA it can be a number of issues on the operations side. One is how many towers you can actually see. The handset can be hunting amongst the towers and depending on the handoff setup/thresholds it trys to pass you off to a site you're not getting the best signal from. It really depends on the exact RF scenario from where your phone is to the towers around you. There are cases of people hearing the site find but the site has trouble hearing them based on the landscape.
What kind of phone do you have? I have this same problem with a 262. Even after a warranty exchange the replacement does the same thing. The phone may go from full bars to nothing. Sometimes it comes back to full bars digital and other times it switches to analog. I have compared other phones to it side by side and they do not do this.
Calling the tech team might be an option and I may do that eventually but it's really not been that large of a problem to think about sitting on hold for 15 minutes and then trying to explain it. EVDO coverage shouldn't be being tested because this area should already be covered in EVDO, I'm in a dark blue. But it's been going on since I moved here in August, but increasing in frequency here lately. I do doubt it's the phone because I have an E815 which doesn't have analog but have noticed the occurrence on a V262 as well which is analog. But what's really strange is how time-specific this happens, around times I would expect the tower to be busy. It could be an issue of hunting between towers, I live on the 16th floor and can visualize over 25 towers outside my window. But it always jumps back up to a full 5 bars. So if it's tower hunting it seems as if it's switching between 2 or more towers which both give 5 bars.
I had this happen to me today, right around 5pm. I dropped three calls while talking to my wife on my way home, and finally just couldn't get through at all. I chalked it up to increased call volume due to the time of day, but it's nonetheless frustrating not to be able to use a service that you're paying for.
Being on the 16th floor with a CDMA phone may be the answer to your question...you are seeing too many towers. What I would do is go into your phone's field test and see what's going on. This can also tell you if it's a capcity issue or not.
I can do a field test on the E815 but I'm not sure how to interpret all the numbers. What exactly should I be looking for Andy? edit: I did some quick reading and I don't know if these numbers will help, but for signal strength on the third line down I get 63MN/A. There's also another interesting screen that is numbered 1-11 with numerical percentage values beside the numbers. Does this mean I'm seeing 11 towers or should I be looking for something else? If these numbers don't mean anything sorry to mislead.
tower problem or something !! mine started about that time,, i told them at first it was mornings and late evening,, now its all the tiime,, I have since mid oct, been going thru pure nightmares with alltel techs customer service , local store, and many many many emails.. i have 3 lg 4270 phones.. one works sometimes,, the other 2 cannot seem to connect,, wont tell you you have msgs,, wont show missed calls,, cant call out cant even check voice mail have to use land line,, they have updated my software, replaced my bats. replace my phone 2 times at the store and 2 timies by mail ,, still have same problem ,, and they wont give me another model ,, because im under contract,, :loony: so i bought a motorola phone from a friend,, new phone ,, had activated ,, and SAME THING<< although ,,,,,,,, this one if i switch it to analog i can make a call,. or recieve one,, but it switched auto back n forth ,, have to do itmanualy each timie u use it.. my sons phone is on its 3rd replacement,, by mail.. this all since mid oct... they did say that in order for me to get into another model phone,, i would have to do 3 mail replacements for each phone,,, dont matter how many tiimes the store had replaced it,. WHATS a guy to do???? can anyone tell me what the problem is or may be??
where in Tx are you. It sounds like you are in a weak area or between two towers in their outter reach.
I am in east Texas,, 2 miles south of Tyler pop 100,000 + same place i have lived and had alltel service since 1995 . funny thing is ,, my wifes nokia 5185 works great, never a problem,., its just the 3 lg 4270's and the new motorola v3,,,, I have had about 1/4 of the service I payfor since oct 11th,.,.. so basicly iI pay 215 bux a month for one cell phone and ..3 clocks.. very dissapointing,, some of my builders have though i was gone or out of town,,have lost more business in the last 3 months than in the last 5 years.. when i see those builders and ask why they didnt call, they just say they tried several times ,, but had to get someone to do the job..... to think this was why i bought cell phones 10 years ago..to be available for my customers.
now i feel like i am going crazy.. this problem we have had for sometime,, unrelated as i think it may be,, my IRC program has also been on the blink for the same period of time,I use a wireless router.., today i noticed IRC worked great,, all the sudden my cell phone rang,, and worked,, i make 12 incomeing and outgoing call with it np,,, hmm,, i said,.,. later noticed IRC acting up again.. well. sure enough my cell phones dont work again,... HMMMMMMMM so i drive the area,, talking to folks all around,, found a tower that if i drive exactly 9/10 of a mile away from in any direction ,, cell phone works fine,.,. got tower info and talked to a man at an oil comapany asked if he had seen anyone working on the tower, no ,,but i told him my trouble,, he said.. "You must have alltel".. yes i replied.. he told me they have 25 alltel phones,, and none of them work in the last 3 weeks at his office.. wich is right under this tower,,, HELP I am gonna go crazy,.
Just to update my situation, the problem seemed to stop about time Alltel made the EVDO upgrades in Virginia. I don't know what was replaced or if capacity was upgraded or what. But I've not had any problems recently. HBarker, I hope your situation is resolved soon. I don't know much about towers so I'll not speculate about the problem or how the IRC might be related. But I hope AlltelWirelessTech can find something out for you. If nothing else, I would at least call in and update your trouble ticket that you found at least 25 other phones experiencing the same problems as you're describing. Maybe they'll at least send somebody out to the site. Good luck.
sounds like he is defaluting to 1x which is why he would lose the irc connection if he is on a call. pvt me one of your phone numbers and i will look at it.
its not that i loose irc connection when making a call,, its just that i noticed on the days my cell will not work,, my irc connection is constantly ,, piinging out,,. may have nothing to do with one another,., unfortunatly,, my phone and irc are currently working,, yesterday started working at 12;48 to 12:55 pm then worked again later 1:38 pm to 1:43 pm.. this ins central time,, then off again ,, till today ,, works fine SO FAR>.but only in analog mode.. less of corse i drive 9/10 of a mile from that tower,, anydirection,, i get a good digital signal.. half the time this phone wont do auto fromo A to D.. gets stuck on digital,,and have to manualy change to A to make a call
THEY ARE KILLIN ME,, have replaced this one line with 5 times with LG 4270's and 3 times with motorola w315's since mid october,,,, other folks with same problem,, a area manager that wont return calls,, a field tech that said he would call back and has not,, field guy said they had turn down a torwer because was interfering with something,.lies visited the manager with 2 other fellas,2 weeks ago, been on phone with techs and reps,, every single business day since christmas,, suposed to go to verison with wife monday,, thank god,, can finaly crush all thies non working phones up and put them in the trash,, 9 years of great service,,,,then when i did have a problem,, no fixie,,,,:loony: somehow they still say i will be paying penalties ,, for canceling, ha ha HAHA JUST TO ADD .. done some calculating,, have payed out 23,220..+ in nine years,"pay to the order of alltel", and look what i get,, some good customer service rigth there,,
Careful..are you out if contract right now? They can and likely will charge the etf if not.... That's too bad that they haven't figured out what is wrong yet. I've never had a problem with Alltel when it came to something wrong like this.....
yes i am still under contract for a service that they can no longer provide ,, truely sad it is, , alllll those equipment replacements,, time on phone, store visits, and they cant seem to understand that its THIS TOWER,,,,, and its in a 25 to 30 deg area north and west of it ,, for almost a mile,it started when the area EVDO updates took place,, , its not just one brand of phones,, and i am not the only one with the problem,, THIS is the tower with the sickness. the same tower thats worked fine till mid oct,.. ,,,, Registration #: 1014425 Structure Type: Tower Status: Constructed Date Constructed: 10/09/1996 Ground Elev: 487.9 feet Height Of Structure: 384.9 feet Overall Height: 894.7 feet Structure Address: .4 MI W OF JONESTOWN RD ON BICKLEY RD (Gresham) GRESHAM, TX and if i was to go back tio the store tomorrow, wait a hour, the first word outa the reps mouth will be "WE nee to replace your phone again " :loony:
Yeah the reps in the store very rarely know a lot about the equipment. And you have given this to the network tech support right? Usually if there is a problem like this it only takes a month at the very most to get fixed, usually sooner. You might want to send a PM Alltelwirelesstech and see if he is able to do anything. He works for Alltel and has been very helpful in the past. Although I haven't seen him around here lately as much as he used to be anyway......
