[japitts]

Originally Posted by Jwhiterz

If EE get everything right its going to be the best network to be on

Agreed.. if only they could get incall handover between the networks working on 2G. Still not sure this is working here...

I need to make a special trip to one of a few places to prove it, but I have a strong suspicion the Smart Signal rollout hasn't fixed this.

[Jwhiterz]

Originally Posted by japitts

Agreed.. if only they could get incall handover between the networks working on 2G. Still not sure this is working here...

I need to make a special trip to one of a few places to prove it, but I have a strong suspicion the Smart Signal rollout hasn't fixed this.

I think there is still the bug in smart signal share where it sticks to 2G signal if 3G is available as my tmobile phone sticks to orange 2G for ages even if there is 3G available

[Jwhiterz]

And I'm sure that if they yet to add 2G hand over in soma places ect they will soon. (bug fixes ect stop the rollout in some areas) I know where I live2G handover works just fine

[japitts]

Two things there:

1: The incumbent 3G networks don't allow for incall handover of voice calls from 2G > 3G. Never have done, and intentionally so. Data calls will handover both ways, but voice will only ever hand from 3G > 2G. All for pretty obvious reasons.

I'm phrasing this deliberately because of a lingering "I wouldn't be surprised if 3 do things differently" thought.. but in all the years I spent working on 3G/GSM networks that's how I've always known it. Read the Orange & T-Mob pages on Smart Signal, and they're very carefully phrased around this.

2: Incall handover on 2G. Ok, so a user has a 2G-only phone, or is on a 2G voice call. On Orange or T-Mob, it makes no odds. Lose coverage of the network you're on, but the other is available. This should handover seamlessly. In my experience, it drops before then roaming across.

A little while ago I proved this at opposite ends of the country, and in both directions (i.e. Orange dropped, no handover to T-M, and vice versa). I tried over several months to report it to Orange CS, but gave up in the end - mutliple levels of support said or did anything to avoid admitting a problem. I was hoping that somehow, Smart Signal rollout would change this.

In short, I'm not convinced it has done. My wife's 3G phone works a treat hopping between all 4 available networks in standby and in a data call. It works a treat falling back from 3G > 2G on the same network. Neither of our phones (I use a 6310i, so just need reliable 2G) seem to like 2G > 2G intra-network handover. We've probably had more problems with dropped calls in the past few weeks than in the previous few months..

[kev]

Originally Posted by japitts

Two things there:

1: The incumbent 3G networks don't allow for incall handover of voice calls from 2G > 3G. Never have done, and intentionally so. Data calls will handover both ways, but voice will only ever hand from 3G > 2G. All for pretty obvious reasons.

Is that down to current configuration or technical limitations?

If/When the GSM networks start to get turned off (e.g. in urban areas with extensive 3G coverage where they need more bandwidth for LTE) would they be able to change the config to allow in-call handover of 2G-3G calls on current 2G/3G phones?

[donkeyboyuk]

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/5900/photofr.png

I am on 3, very nice tonight !!

[reclusive46]

http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/06...rier-networks/

Looks like a perfect LTE chip for next iPhone. I suspect this will support the 1800mhz LTE band and Qualcomm says it will be in consumer products around October or November.

[interactiv-uk]

Both Orange and T-Mobile are poor for 3G in my house - 1-2 bars on each if i'm lucky. I've just bagged myself a Cel-Fi from eBay for £70 (rather than the £450 new cost) and now have full 5 bars 3G all over the house and garden!

I would seriously recommend one of these kits (legal to use in the UK and approved by Orange and T-Mobile - http://help.orange.co.uk/orangeuk/su...ersonal/635761 ) - They're great and don't use your broadband connection like a femtocell would!

[Skippy2005]

Hi Smart Signal seems to be working much better now in my area its now transfering betwen Tmobile and Orange without.issues. Before i roamed onto Orange and stayed there until i switched off or went out of an Ornge srea completely. Yippee

[lost boy]

Originally Posted by japitts

...

1: The incumbent 3G networks don't allow for incall handover of voice calls from 2G > 3G. Never have done, and intentionally so. Data calls will handover both ways, but voice will only ever hand from 3G > 2G. All for pretty obvious reasons.

I'm phrasing this deliberately because of a lingering "I wouldn't be surprised if 3 do things differently" thought.. but in all the years I spent working on 3G/GSM networks that's how I've always known it. Read the Orange & T-Mob pages on Smart Signal, and they're very carefully phrased around this.

...

While I freely admit I'm not Mr Technical, so I could be wrong here, I suspect Three do do it differently.

I remember when O2 was the fallback network calls would often (but not always) drop when going from 3G to 2G, but would hang on when going from 2G to 3G (things improved when Orange took over as fallback network). Whether that was the intention or not I've no idea, but that's what happened - at least for me. Would this be because in Three's case using 2G means that you're roaming, as opposed to staying on network, meaning that Three can in effect do a voice call handover from 2G > 3G because it's handing over from a roaming network to the home network?

[WelshBluebird]

Originally Posted by interactiv-uk

Both Orange and T-Mobile are poor for 3G in my house - 1-2 bars on each if i'm lucky. I've just bagged myself a Cel-Fi from eBay for £70 (rather than the £450 new cost) and now have full 5 bars 3G all over the house and garden!

I would seriously recommend one of these kits (legal to use in the UK and approved by Orange and T-Mobile - http://help.orange.co.uk/orangeuk/su...ersonal/635761 ) - They're great and don't use your broadband connection like a femtocell would!

How did you manage to get one for £70?
Just a lucky bit?

[interactiv-uk]

Just a lucky bid! There was only 1 other bidder..

Needless to say I'm rather happy!!

[Skippy2005]

Hey guys hope your all ok, hopefully I have a easy enough question that can be answered. I get H+ on and off recently certain days or hours, never constant so I am assuming this is being rolled out in my area and testing of this service is ongoing correct?

I sometime do a speed test on the network and use speedtest.net on my Galaxy Note, I get a good ping of around 50 to 130 depending on the time of day, but what is puzzling me is once the ping has been tested the counter shoots straight up to around 15-20mb and within a blink of an eye falls back to below 512kbps and stays there on both download and upload. Could this be a fault with speednet or is it to do with this rollout. Before i ever started getting H+ i was always hitting a healthy 3-4mb down and between 512 and 650kbps up.

Any ideas.

Many thanks

[The Lord Lucan]

You won't be getting 20mbps.. it's an app issue. What does it do on wifi?

[Skippy2005]

Originally Posted by The Lord Lucan

You won't be getting 20mbps.. it's an app issue. What does it do on wifi?

It seems fine on wifi and clocks the same as my pc does between 15-19mb. I have always had a great broadband speed at home. Oddly it doesnt do it if H+ isnt showing.

[Luke_Craven]

recently switched to Orange (from o2) to take advantage of the 3G in my area. found that I was constantly on Orange T-Mobile 3G to start with ...

however, last couple of days I've found that it defaults to Orange initially showing 3G, which then changes to 2G (or the 'o' next to the carrier). I assume at this point it should be switching/swapping to Orange T-Mobile to give me 3G (which is strong in my area).

not sure what's changed? Orange customer services said that I needed to have Data Roaming switched on .. but I didn't have this on before?

any advice?

[sparky93]

Originally Posted by Luke_Craven

recently switched to Orange (from o2) to take advantage of the 3G in my area. found that I was constantly on Orange T-Mobile 3G to start with ...

however, last couple of days I've found that it defaults to Orange initially showing 3G, which then changes to 2G (or the 'o' next to the carrier). I assume at this point it should be switching/swapping to Orange T-Mobile to give me 3G (which is strong in my area).

not sure what's changed? Orange customer services said that I needed to have Data Roaming switched on .. but I didn't have this on before?

any advice?

perhaps your only nearby tmob bts is in maintenence mode. Or knackered.

[Luke_Craven]

Originally Posted by sparky93

perhaps your only nearby tmob bts is in maintenence mode. Or knackered.

hope it's not knackered.

I think the area I'm in is very temperamental. Orange 3G at one end of the office and not at the other .. but it's not switching to Orange T-Mobile when it should! however only just started being an issue

can anyone confirm if data roaming needs to be switched on?

[sparky93]

Originally Posted by Luke_Craven

hope it's not knackered.

I think the area I'm in is very temperamental. Orange 3G at one end of the office and not at the other .. but it's not switching to Orange T-Mobile when it should! however only just started being an issue

can anyone confirm if data roaming needs to be switched on?

data roam would not effect your change over. That i believe is called National Roaming.

[Luke_Craven]

Originally Posted by sparky93

perhaps your only nearby tmob bts is in maintenence mode. Or knackered.

from Orange online support;

There are currently 3 degraded sites in the localised & surrounding areas. This will have an impact on your serving mast to the network>>

>>traffic on the extra sites having to take on the extra workload. Engineers are aware of this & a fix will be in place ASAP. Thanks^ Steven

bugger!

[reclusive46]

Originally Posted by Luke_Craven

from Orange online support;

There are currently 3 degraded sites in the localised & surrounding areas. This will have an impact on your serving mast to the network>>

>>traffic on the extra sites having to take on the extra workload. Engineers are aware of this & a fix will be in place ASAP. Thanks^ Steven

bugger!

Where did you find that?

[SkyPaulusPlus]

orangehelpers on twitter i guess

[sparky93]

March 2011 to June 2012, i'd say this thread has been one of the most usefull i have read of late, thanks to PG as well :-)

[ajh94]

Yeah this thread it pretty incredible, people are still using it!

[plymouthbloke1974]

I'm quite impressed by the length, and the girth