I have noticed that my E90 is a bit "insensitive" to 3G. Mostly the 3G symbol is not displayed, even though my phone is set to Dual Mode in Settings. If I set it it to UMTS only, usually I get the 3G icon to appear. When I set it back to Dual Mode, the 3G icon stays for a while, then disappears for good. It seems that my phone is reluctant to join a 3G network, unless it is told to by me. Is this normal, has anyone else noticed anything similar?
I can't find any other settings to change, so I'm not sure whether the problem is me, my phone or my network (T-Mobile in Holland). I haven't contacted T-Mobile yet, in case it is something I can sort out myself.
Thanks in advance for any help,
Ian.
Hi, as far as i understand it, phones with dual mode capability use a signal quality type check to make sure that the recieved signal strength is high enough to ensure good data throughput. So if you have a 3G signal in your area, but it's weak in comparison to your local gprs/edge signal, then you may find quite often it'll choose the gprs/edge repeater than the 3G one in order to keep you "online" so to speak. Only in cases where you have a good 3G signal will you find it'll stop on 3G, as they will always seek to stay on 3G as a preference if possible.
I wonder, when you "force" your phone to UTMS" what signal strength do you get on 3G? And is it substantially weaker than 2G?
Hi Clive,
thanks for the reply. Now that I've been watching my phone a bit more carefully, I have seen the 3G icon a few more times, so I'm assuming that it works more or less as expected, and that your theory about the relative signal strengths is probably the dominant factor here...
Cheers, Ian.