Signal strength drops randomly

[celith]

I've been lurking around here for awhile, and picked up a lot of good information, so I'm hoping someone here might have a clue about what's causing my problem.

When I have my phone at my desk at home, I usually have full or nearly full bars and no issues with calls, data, sms, etc. However, there are random (and increasingly frequent) times when the phone will report only 1 or 2 bars of signal during which time any call I attempt gets dropped with a "signal lost" message. Sometimes soft resetting the phone will bring it back with normal signal, other times even multiple resets don't seem to help. I thought it might be weather related since I was noticing it when it rained, but today is clear and sunny and I'm having the issue as I type this.

The phone is less than two months old, and I'm suspecting a defect of some sort. I noticed similar symptoms within the first few weeks of having it, but as I had just switched to Sprint, I wasn't sure what the normal signal variance was for my location. What started as a sporadic issue only showing up a couple times a week is now happening multiple times per day.

So my question is, am I missing something obvious, or is this one just toast?

Thanks.

[dafuse]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 8.12; MSIEMobile6.0) Sprint T7380)

It's most likely normal. CDMA cells are not fixed, geographically. The cells shrink when there is more traffic on them, so as more people are making calls in your cell, congestion rises and you start seeing a weaker signal. This may be what is happening.

[sndtubes]

I see the same exact thing. I've seen it on my older phones, too.

[Boo Boo]

update your prl and user account

[da1stprince]

same problem here...just for comparisons, my tp1 never dropped a call (used telus radio) my tp2 drops calls all the time- even after a prl update...what gives?

[dafuse]

Originally Posted by dafuse

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 8.12; MSIEMobile6.0) Sprint T7380)

It's most likely normal. CDMA cells are not fixed, geographically. The cells shrink when there is more traffic on them, so as more people are making calls in your cell, congestion rises and you start seeing a weaker signal. This may be what is happening.

Honest, people: it's normal and it's just a cdma network thing:

Some references and definitions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_network

http://www.yourdictionary.com/computer/cell-breathing

http://www.macltd.com/datafile_downl...0Breathing.pdf

http://searchmobilecomputing.techtar...20970,00.html#

[raptorjet22]

I had a similar problem with my Touch Pro with the signal strength cycling up and down repetitively at certain locations. I would see it cycle from no signal to 2-4 bars every couple of seconds. I called my phone using a friend's phone and never got a ring. I tried sending text messages and never got it.

When I took it to the Sprint store, my phone suddenly started working and I would finally get the text messages that were sent when I was at home. Although, I did notice that my signal strength was low compared to all the demo phones they had in store. The funny thing is, I live less than a mile from the Sprint store. I had the tech take a look at it, and he performed a diagnostic test the radio on the phone. The phone failed the signal strength portion of the test, so it was defective. This was what led to a series of refurb replacements each week for the next 5 weeks until they finally gave me a new Touch Pro 2.

To sum it all up, take it to the Sprint store (if there's one near you) and have them perform the diagnostic tests just to make sure you're phone is working properly. I know I'd rather have a peace of mind knowing that I can blame it on the CDMA network rather than the phone (which is fixable by getting a replacement).

[clueless25]

You can try this, it was factory settings when I got my phone and works for me.

http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=97845

But if you are in a bad area period, you may still get occasional popups. 1 room in my house is this way.

[clueless25]

to a certian degree yes. But this issue seems to effect Verizon customers. I didn't have this issue before using a custom rom, when I put back on original rom it went away. Put custom rom back on and it showed up again. So something is being missed.

Originally Posted by dafuse

Honest, people: it's normal and it's just a cdma network thing:

Some references and definitions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_network

http://www.yourdictionary.com/computer/cell-breathing

http://www.macltd.com/datafile_downl...0Breathing.pdf

http://searchmobilecomputing.techtar...20970,00.html#

[furiousgtz]

I have same issue at first I thought it was because of custom roms but I think its normal.