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Hi all
(my first post here!)

I'm a proud new owner of a SE W890i, which is fantastic, and isn't a problem in itself but has made me more frustrated about an existing problem.

I'm a Vodafone UK user, and where I live in southwest London, I have ridiculously poor reception.

Say I'm sitting at my desk at home without moving. The phone will show four out of five signal bars, and it'll drop, bar by bar, until I have absolutely nothing. This might take 10 or 15 seconds. Another 30 seconds later, it'll jump back up to three or four.

This happens roughly every two minutes - ALL THE TIME. It's impossible to hold a phone call. You can feel it coming - the other person starts breaking up a little, then a lot, then silence, then disconnected. Call back a minute later and it's as if nothing's wrong.

Happens all over my flat and outside, too. Signal is a function of time not space.

Occurred with my Nokia 5500 and my SE W890i just the same. Has always been the case since I moved in (October '07).

Checked the Ofcom map of masts, sitefinder, and it shows that my nearest Vodafone mast is 0.7 miles (that's 1200 yards or 1100 metres) away, and has the following details:


Name of Operator: Vodafone
Operator Site Ref.: 6899
Station Type: Macrocell
Height of Antenna: 20 Metres
Frequency Range: 900 MHz
Transmitter Power: 24.3 dBW
Maximum licensed power: 32 dBW
Type of Transmission: GSM

I'm separated from it by a suburban railway line, and I'm under the flight path where planes come in on final to Heathrow (here their altitude is about 800 yards).

Does anyone have any idea what's going on?

Thanks!
Jonathan
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Posted: 2008-04-13 03:08:19
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usually slim phones have poorer reception, better to stay away from them if ur not fashion oriented person, as it can do nothing perfectly because of its slimness.

Regards.
TECHNICAL EXPERT
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Posted: 2008-04-13 03:18:27
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Thanks, though the problem is the same with both my 890i and Nokia 5500 (fat) and my flatmates have the same problem. My SE890i and 5500 both have good, stable reception elsewhere in the world - it's just here it fluctuates from full to nothing.
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Posted: 2008-04-13 03:21:44
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well, it seems that although you are pretty close to a base station, there is something in your building that is interfering with the signal.

it isn't uncommon for many buildings to have something in them, e.g., locations of columns, pillars, or various other things, that interfere with mobile phone signals and even cause blindspots in the building, even with base stations very close by.
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Posted: 2008-04-13 04:31:59
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Vodafone seem to have a habit of powering down the base station nearest to me...
it does get annoying, especially since it happens once a month or so for a few days.
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Posted: 2008-04-13 09:12:35
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From experience with poor network coverage and especially with Vodafone i have found this. When your phone is in standby and the network is busy or the nearest mast is quite a distance away the signal fluctuates alot and sometimes the phone can go into EMERGENCY CALLS ONLY. I used to get this alot years ago on Vodafone and now sometimes on Orange. I might be wrong but it does happen to me and for some reason especially on SonyEricssons. I used to get it with W900i on Vodafone and a software update did nothing.
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Posted: 2008-04-13 21:34:00
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i dont know if holding the phone upside down will improve the signal (not when you are talking to someone ), as on my mums w610, the aerial is at the bottom of the phone
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Posted: 2008-04-13 22:03:47
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I have a slim phone (T650i) and never have problems with signal....


I don't understand why a thin phone won't have a good signal compared to something much larger. My mate has just got a W890i, he has no problems whatsoever with signal, full bars all the time.. It must be the location etc.
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Posted: 2008-04-13 22:07:46
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