Touch Pro - next to no reception in "good" coverage area

shadowfire · #1 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 12:57 PM

I've been talking with a couple of Sprint chat folks about our new phones we purchased last night. I bought a Touch Pro, and the wife picked up a Blackberry Curve. Both phones at home were getting 1, maybe 2 bars, but on Sprint's coverage map, we are considered in the green "good" area.

This morning, I got through to a rep who managed to push an update to her phone that made the reception awesome, boosting it to 5 bars. Call quality is far better now for her.

However, when the rep did a similar fix for my phone, nothing improved. I still sit with about 1 bar, with garbage call quality. His suggestion is to return the phone and get something else (with repeated pushing for us to get the handset insurance

). He said that some phones just don't work in some areas.

Now I turn to you folks. My wife's phone is working great. Mine is not. I can connect to the web (the Ev icon is constantly present), but I need some help making call quality better. Any suggestions?

**HBOOT** · #2 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 01:21 PM

Dude, I think you are just jealous of your wifey...lol , are you saying you do not have internet? and how bad is your call quality ?coz many times 1 bar works just as well as 5.More clarifications needed

**jmorton10** · #3 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hbenz2008

are you saying you do not have internet? and how bad is your call quality ?coz many times 1 bar works just as well as 5.More clarifications needed

read the post, he said he DOES have internet......

~John

**HBOOT** · #4 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 01:27 PM

Thank you Mr.Morton, my bad. Any suggestion on the call quality fix? may be the TP needs to be reprogrammed other than that if it gets one well that is all it gets, I dont think quality is bad with 1 bar, do you?

shadowfire · #5 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 01:29 PM

Call quality is poor... voices crack like crazy, static, bad times.

The internet.. I mean, it's a constant EVDO connection. I have no idea how fast it's supposed to be, but it doesn't feel slow at all. This is my first smart phone, so I'm not sure what the "standard" speed should be, but the web sites I've visited have been fine. It's just the phone reception/call quality that is the problem.

**jmorton10** · #6 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 01:31 PM

Actually, my TP works just fine with one bar of service.

I seem to have gotten one of the better TP's however, mine didn't even need the audiopara mod (my old Titan's where virtually useless until I did the audiopara mod)

~John

ebmorgan · #7 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 01:33 PM

First, remember....data and voice signal strength are two different things. The signal indicator only reflects voice sig strength. Hence, voice sicks nad data is fine.

Second, you're SOL. TP radio blows goats. I have a s4!tty signal too (0 to1 bar) at home, but quality is fine. And signal strength plays no part in audio quality in digital signals. The compression rate is still the same. Unless you mean the audio pops in and out or drops all together. That means you don't have enough signal to carry the compressed audio signal. But audio quality won't change. You may just have to live with it....or get something else.

Sorry....

**HBOOT** · #8 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 01:36 PM

Well if the voice is that bad, then immediate action is needed

. Did you by any chance hard resetted your device when you got it? if not, go ahead and do a hard reset, make sure you back up what you need. Give it a test drive, the other thing that I will do if it is still bad is have sprint reprogram it with a different msid , if it is still no go, that bad boy is going back for a replacment

#9 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 01:41 PM

Reflash your radio.

I've had some -strange- issues though. Not problems, just weird things happen.

For comparison, my Helio Ocean (which has notoriously HORRIBLE cell reception by the way) got 4/5-5/5 bars of service in my apartment anywhere. My new Touch Pro got 1/7-2/7 if I was lucky in most places. Both operate on Sprint's network.

I reflashed to the Telus radio and started seeing 5/7-6/7 bars anywhere around the apartment, it would occasionally do something like 2/7 momentarily, but it would jump right back up... great! Not only was the Telus radio giving me immensly improved battery life, my service was vastly better as well.

I later decided to try the VZW radio, based on the previous results. 2/7-3/7 bars of service, slightly worse battery life... which I attributed to the service. Looked like the Telus radio was the one for me. I flashed back to it, even using the exact same file I kept stored on my PC. The service was almost identical to the VZW radio - 2/7-3/7 bars of service instead of what I had before.

Tried the Sprint radio, tried the VZW one again, back to Telus again... all kept giving me the same 2 bars of service. One random flash to the Telus radio has given me full service everywhere in my apartment again and I'm keeping it... I don't think there's anything that is going to get me to flash this radio off.

So, go to the upgrades section of the forum, find the radio thread... and give the Telus or VZW radios a shot. The sprint one really sucks.

Also, complain to sprint and see if they can get you an Airave.

shadowfire · #10 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hbenz2008

Well if the voice is that bad, then immediate action is needed

. Did you by any chance hard resetted your device when you got it? if not, go ahead and do a hard reset, make sure you back up what you need. Give it a test drive, the other thing that I will do if it is still bad is have sprint reprogram it with a different msid , if it is still no go, that bad boy is going back for a replacment

The sprint rep was supposedly reprogramming it... he manged to reprogram my wife's curve, and it went from 1 to 5 bars. But my phone didn't improve at all.

I'll back everything up tonight and try a hard reset when I get home from work. Thanks for the tips so far folks.