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Help Orange 3G problem: calls cutting out instantly

R

rjs1974

Lurker
Hi All,

I have a Desire HD on Orange and all has been fine until today. Can text fine and access internet perfectly BUT as of today I cannot make or receive calls. The moment I try to call a number it beeps and cuts me off instantly, and I cannot receive calls either.

I have accessed a hidden menu and changed a setting from "WCDMA preferred" to "GSM only" and now I can make calls fine, BUT internet access is very slow due to not using 3G. The second I change this setting back to WCDMA preferred" or "GSM Auto PRL", I lose the ability to call again!

Any ideas what's going on and how to resolve? Many thanks.
 
Not sure why it's got worse all of a sudden, but there is a network issue whereby the 3G signal is given preference to the 2G one. I've never heard of it cutting off a call though, only preventing calls from coming though whilst you're browsing.

Have you called Orange?
 
Mate, dont even get me started on this one!

Ive had the exact same thing from Tuesday onwards. Im so sick of Orange.

Since I got the phone Ive had issues with calls going to voicemail but this last few days its been unusable. Every call I made on Wednesday got cut off. I had to redial 4 or 5 times every call just to finish a conversation. I phoned Orange on Friday to complain about it, and guess what..I got disconnected. They never phoned back. I really want away from them and Im only 7 months into my contract.

Oh, out of curiosity, where are you? They asked me for my postcodes for home and work, and told me that about 4 masts where down in both areas! Great, so I cant make a call in the two places I spend 90% of my life!
 
FCUM said:
Mate, dont even get me started on this one!

Ive had the exact same thing from Tuesday onwards. Im so sick of Orange.

Since I got the phone Ive had issues with calls going to voicemail but this last few days its been unusable. Every call I made on Wednesday got cut off. I had to redial 4 or 5 times every call just to finish a conversation. I phoned Orange on Friday to complain about it, and guess what..I got disconnected. They never phoned back. I really want away from them and Im only 7 months into my contract.
Click to expand...

Have you tried turning 3G off? I know it's a pain but it is at least a workaround.

The unfortunate thing is most UK networks are the same, the only one that differs is vodafone.

If it is really becoming that bad, you do have the right to walk away from your contract. You might want to contact Ofcom, to ascertain what your rights are. You'd probably need to register your issues in writing with Orange first before Ofcom could give any advice.

I recall watching an section on Watchdog some time ago about coverage and the performance/behaviour of the mobile operators. It mentions Orange and how one guy took them to court and won. I don't know if it's of interest, but here you go: BBC - Watchdog: Mobile charges but no signal
 
FCUM said:
Mate, dont even get me started on this one!

Ive had the exact same thing from Tuesday onwards. Im so sick of Orange.

Since I got the phone Ive had issues with calls going to voicemail but this last few days its been unusable. Every call I made on Wednesday got cut off. I had to redial 4 or 5 times every call just to finish a conversation. I phoned Orange on Friday to complain about it, and guess what..I got disconnected. They never phoned back. I really want away from them and Im only 7 months into my contract.

Oh, out of curiosity, where are you? They asked me for my postcodes for home and work, and told me that about 4 masts where down in both areas! Great, so I cant make a call in the two places I spend 90% of my life!
Click to expand...

That's odd. I've had no particular trouble with my Orange signal this week in the centre of Manchester.
 
john_g said:
It doesn't really resolve your issues, but I'd suggest you sign up for the scheme Orange have that allows you to use the T-Mobile network when the Orange one isn't available. It's free to join and you won't incur any extra charges but, unfortunately, they don't yet let you access a 3G connection on T-Mobile (although they say it will come).

using T-Mobile signal | help & support | Orange UK
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Im already on that mate. But Ive never seen the phone roam onto T-mobile. Only if I manually select it.

The calls dropping hasnt really been an issue until this week when it has been pretty much unusable. I use my phone for work and its causing me no end of problems. My main issue since December has been calls going through to voicemail. Even if my phone has full signal, I can phone it from my landline and at least 1 in 3 attempts wont get through.

Anyway I didnt want to derail the OP's thread, just wanted to let him know that Im having issues also.

To Xyro. I work in Trafford Park. Orange told me they have 3 masts down in Trafford. One of which has been down for a month and still doesnt have a repair date, and the other two arent due to be fixed until the end of July. Great eh?
 
Right. Im waiting for someone from Orange to call me back on Tuesday night. In the meantime they have asked me to try another sim in my HD. So Ive just done a test of 10 calls from my landline. With the Orange sim in, on the first go, 4 of the calls went straight through to voicemail and on the second go 5 of the calls went to voicemail. So I took my wifes 3 sim out of her sensation and put it in my HD. I dialled 15 times, all of which rang and so I gave up after 15.
 
So you had problems with this before the towers went down, right?

I would try your orange sims in another phone besides the dhd to see where the problem lies.
 
Xyro said:
So you had problems with this before the towers went down, right?

I would try your orange sims in another phone besides the dhd to see where the problem lies.
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The disconnects has only really started since the beginning of this week. So Im assuming that will be resolved when they fix the masts. But the calls to voicemail has been happening since I switched to Orange back in December.

I do need to try my sim in another handset, but my wife has a sensation locked to 3, and my daughter has a Desire locked to O2, and they are the only other smartphones in my household. I have an old samsung, but if the problem is something to do with 3G then Id really need to try it in another smartphone wouldnt I?
 
Well, if we're talking specifically about calls going to voicemail, I think all calls go over 2G.
 
Hmmm. Just tried my SIM an the old Samsung, and every call went through fine.

But I think Im right in saying that if I switch my HD to 2G then all calls will probably get through ok on that too. Gonna try it now.
 
Right, I switched my HD to GSM only and every call goes through, as soon as I switch back to WDCMA half my calls go to voicemail. Yet with my wifes 3 sim in it, even on WDCMA, every call goes through fine. Im still blaming Orange.
 
FCUM said:
Right, I switched my HD to GSM only and every call goes through, as soon as I switch back to WDCMA half my calls go to voicemail. Yet with my wifes 3 sim in it, even on WDCMA, every call goes through fine. Im still blaming Orange.
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Sounds like Orange don't support WDCMA in your area; not all networks have rolled out WDCMA completely in all areas although they are all working on upgrading.
 
FCUM said:
I do get a little 'H' on my data connection though.
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That's a channel within WCDMA - but uses different coding and modulation.. it's essentially 3.5G but is a downlink only channel so not sure if it has any bearing on call issues.

I've just discovered in my mobile network settings I had WDCMA ticked rather than WDCMA/GSM auto; I;m hoping this sorts my problems out (calls going straight to voicemail in certain geo areas only).
 
A week on, and Im still getting disconnected on almost every call I make. Took three calls this morning, two of them work related, and all three got disconnected.
This is becoming absolutely ridiculous.
 
FCUM said:
A week on, and Im still getting disconnected on almost every call I make. Took three calls this morning, two of them work related, and all three got disconnected.
This is becoming absolutely ridiculous.
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Could this be a handset issue with the receiver being faulty?
 
Goreygirl said:
Could this be a handset issue with the receiver being faulty?
Click to expand...

Nope. Tried my wifes 3 sim for a day, and every call came through and I never got cut off. Also, today I received 5 calls, I got cut off on 4 of them, 1 call was fine. When I ended the call I checked the network and my phone had roamed onto T-Mobile, so Im sure its not a handset issue.
 
Goreygirl said:
I've just discovered in my mobile network settings I had WDCMA ticked rather than WDCMA/GSM auto; I;m hoping this sorts my problems out (calls going straight to voicemail in certain geo areas only).
Click to expand...

Where is this setting pleease?
 
El Presidente said:
Open the dialer, press *#*#4636#*#*. Hit "Phone information" and the option is down the bottom of the page.
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Thanks for the El P... just done that and seen that it is on as WCDMA preffered... so this leads to another question... what does it (WCDMA) stand for and should I be changing it? Looking at the other possibilities, I'm guessing that I should leave alone, but am interested! :)
 
I remember reading a thread ages ago that recommended GSM auto (prl) for that setting for improved battery life whilst sill getting 3G. But I don't know how true that is.
 
FCUM said:
Nope. Tried my wifes 3 sim for a day, and every call came through and I never got cut off. Also, today I received 5 calls, I got cut off on 4 of them, 1 call was fine. When I ended the call I checked the network and my phone had roamed onto T-Mobile, so Im sure its not a handset issue.
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I know nothing but... does it maybe sound like you're in a location which has only a weak Orange signal, which could cause the phone to keep switching between Orange & T-Mobile, 2G & 3G? If this were the case, perhaps your phone keeps missing calls because it is in the middle of its chopping and changing? If this is a possibility, it would also explain why this isn't happening when you try another network's SIM card.
 
D-U-R-X said:
Thanks for the El P... just done that and seen that it is on as WCDMA preffered... so this leads to another question... what does it (WCDMA) stand for and should I be changing it? Looking at the other possibilities, I'm guessing that I should leave alone, but am interested! :)
Click to expand...

I can't actually remember mate :o

I remember reading a description of each on XDA a while back, I'll have a look see if I can find it.
 
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