[TeaCosy]

My sis-in-law is on a monthly contract with Orange and has a Nokia 5610 slide. Some weeks ago it became unreliable, mainly because of faulty keys and intermittent screen. Orange replaced it.

Now the replacement has suddenly become even less reliable in another way entirely. One moment its signal strength meter is full, the next, there's no signal. Orange's local cell is half a mile away (Google Earth-ed) and is visible to the eye. Other people who visit and have Orange all get stonking signals from it, as did she until the past few days; one of them has a cheap PAYG SE, the other a contract N95 8GB, both working fine here.

The 5610 is misbehaving in the same way in other areas too, not just the local cell.

Most of the time I suddenly cannot call her mobile any more, it is "unavailable" (although I am currently looking at it and it's switched on). It is occasionally receiving texts several hours after they were sent. She cannot send texts or call out except very occasionally, after trying and trying and trying.

It is quite important that she has a working phone as she is a carer (to me).

So... she phoned Orange C/S on the landline and after a long conversation they said the problem is a weak signal and advised to her to go to CPW and buy a signal booster to stick on the 5610's battery. Have "signal boosters" been reinvented and nowadays work?

The also sent settings (presumably) as a text arrived telling her to reboot the phone, which she did. It made no difference, signal still zero.

Previously the signal has always been huge - and it still is huge on other people's Orange phones located in the same room. This is in Gtr London.

Any suggestions, please? She does have insurance through Orange if that makes any difference.

[Niranjaniz]

What you have insurance!! get on the phone with Orange!! To clear any problems with reception put the sim in another phone and make sure its the phone and not actually a reception problem but what you've said clears any signal issues so tell Orange you've tried the sim in another phone and you get fab signal. Call CS and demand a new phone you have insurance so claim it under that you don't even have to go through Nokia to get it repaired (tell them that), just get on the phone and don't quit until you get what you want. Call them everyday!!! even if they say to wait a week, don't call them everyday!! do not give up until you get what you want. I would do this even without insurance but since you have insurance it should be wayy easier. Also complain that you were recommended to buy a booster patch! that's outrageous! also are you talking to the UK call centre or the Indian one, to get through to the UK one

its 1 for phone then 3-2-3-4. Which took me to Customer service located in the UK

[TeaCosy]

Thanks for that, Niranjaniz. I guess it was UK CS as she said the guy had a Scottish accent. I could hardly believe he told her to get a "signal booster" from CPW. CPW don't even sell them if their web site's Search is to be believed.

The attitude of the CS fella was that the phone IS working sometimes, so that's fine.

We did try the SIM in her previous Orange phone (Nokia 7373) but it came up with "SIM not registered".

ETA: tried her SIM in an old Moto 525, it worked fine. Tried the SIM again in the 7373 and this time it worked great. It's only the 5610 it won't work in.

We'll give Orange an earful until it's resolved. Thanks again!

[Niranjaniz]

okay cool, do post here what eventually happens, remember you have and are paying for a service, oh and its very important use your (or another) orange monthly phone to call up CS for free, your time is payment enough.

(For the record of this thread i suggested UK call centre as in my experience overseas call centres have less control on what they can do for you and can only advise.)

[TeaCosy]

Orange CS person number three went through some of the phone's settings and talked her through changing Network Mode from Dual Mode (UMTS/GSM) to GSM, and as a result the phone can now make and receive calls, SMS-s, and MMS-s.

That sounds a bit bodgy to me, but as she uses it only for calls, texts, and sometimes MMS . . .

It must have always worked in dual mode until recently, as it hadn't been altered. Other phones work in both modes with that SIM.

This was the UK centre BTW.

No mention of stick-on signal boosters this time. Sort your Sunday staff out, Orange!

[Niranjaniz]

If that worked then clearly something wrong with the 3G radio (im guessing they're different) and switching between the two when 3G is not available so there is a fault. If she is happy with that i guess its okay depends on how willing you are, but personally i would say in this case I want 3G call quality and get it replaced. Its a fix but not a solution, up to you

[TeaCosy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Niranjaniz

If that worked then clearly something wrong with the 3G radio (im guessing they're different) and switching between the two when 3G is not available so there is a fault. If she is happy with that i guess its okay depends on how willing you are, but personally i would say in this case I want 3G call quality and get it replaced. Its a fix but not a solution, up to you

Yes, it's a kludge. She's a bit fed up with Orange now and isn't sure whether to pursue it further or just leave it as it is and switch provider when her contract's up next year. Thanks very much for your support