Cingular data card connection problem

[Blake Michaleski]

I have a Sony Erricson GC83 card and it wont stay connected more than a few minutes at a time.

I get 3-4 bars here at the house. I havent tried around town yet because my battery in this laptop is DOA and my inverter is a POS. I was just wondering if anyone had this problem and knew of a quick fix before i get to spend 45 mintues on the phone with tech support.

I figure its probably whatever tower im on and not my card. I have tried tweaking a few settings but none have made a difference.

hopefully brandon clement will chime in, i would have called ya bro but its like 130am.

 

[James Siler]

Blake, if you haven't already called in to tech support, let me see if I can spare you some time on the phone since I work for Cingular. The problems you are describing is exactly what happened with mine, twice. I had 2 cards and both worked fine when i first got them. but then after awhile they would only stay connected for a few moments and then the connection would go dead. First thing if you haven't done this already is download the latest firmware update for the GC83. Here is the link for it:
http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=us&...d=8162&esi=true
After you do the firm ware update, and give it a test run then I would call 1-800-331-0500, option 0, then option 2 since i am under the impression you have a data connect package. Selecting those options will take you straight to data support and you will by pass the morons in customer service. Again i have had 2 of those cards and both did the same things. I changed over to the Sierra Wireless 860 and haven't had that issue happen since. Now jus waiting for them to turn on UMTS here in OKC. It was supposed to be turned on between April and June, but someone up the ladder for go to file the paper work to the FCC.

 

[Blake Michaleski]

Thanks James,

it seems to have worked. its staying connected now no problem. it is however slower than cold molasses. it was much quicker before but would disconnect after 5 minutes at the longest.

of course the network could be busy and its not exactly the best weather outside.

the cingular data connect software is indicating 4 bars. my samsung x427m handset is showing 5.

I rarely drop a call around here, (Derek Deroche would disagree but it's his phone i'm tellin ya!)

When I chose network info its telling me that i'm in GPRS. if it get into EDGE will it say there?


more specifices right at this moment (7:14pm)

Network Type: GPRS
Signal strength 66% or -77dBm




[edit]
go figure, im teetering between 3 and 4 bars and my speed just went WAY up...

it's up to a tolerable surfing speed now.

 

[Blake Michaleski]

I drove around town this evening with GRlevel3 running and the card did pretty good. not as good as i expected but ti was a bit slow still even in town. I'm certain though that being in the jeep didnt help. I'll definately be getting an external antenna to maximize performance from this card. I noticed tha the apparent speed at chich a page loaded just varied randomly, probably due to the less than adequate antenna and veriable distance to towers as i drove.

Thanks again James for the help.

 

[James Siler]

Glad to have been of help Blake. You said that you were getting a -77dbm. Is that what you normally get at your home and also when you were driving around did it go up or down? The lower the better! The lowest you can go on DBM is 40 per the data department. I would check into a an external antenna for the card. Also I was doing some reading on this and the GC83 should start off on the EDGE system if its availabe. Then to GPRS if EDGE isn't supported. I know EDGE isn't no broad band but it is a little better. You might want to try using SonyEricssons Wireless Manager. Heres the link:
http://www.sonyericsson.com/spg.jsp?cc=us&...d=8458&esi=true

If you do choose to go that route make sure you uninstall Communication Manager first or you may run into some conflict problems. The SE Wireless Manager I believe will show you if you are getting an EDGE signal from the tower. If You are in Mobile Al. them I am going to try to see if I can get some coverage maps of the data system there. I know the hurricanes last year played hell with the towers and if one isn't up to par we really do want to know. I will check today for you on the coverage areas and let you know what I find.

James

Also Blake if you feel comfortable giving me your address through PM i can do a detailed coverage search and find out specifically if it is a tower problem by your home. Or if you can give me the cross streets closest to your home. Just thought I would add that.

 

[Blake Michaleski]

ok i'll try using the sony erricson manager, I'm at Coastal Weather Research Center now so i'll try when i get home.

you can just search Grelot road and knollwood drive, Mobile, AL 36609. i'm about 100 yards from that intersection

oh and the signal changed as i drove around. got down to -63.

 

[James Siler]

Blake, I am on my lunch break so I thought I would let you know what I found. Those cross streets you provided are in a really high covered area, in fact there is a tower just up from were Grelot Road and I beleive South University Blvd intersect, just N,NE of that intersection. Still trying to get some info on the EDGE data coverage maps but in genral Mobile is a large place so I imagine that EDGE is over GPRS. Somethings taht might interfere with your signal at your home is construction materials. Also certain types of aluminum siding will deflect a signal big time. I think that the GC83 antenna is mostly to blam in the situation. I think it is low grade. I am in a high covered area but the materials in my apratment only allow me to get 3 bars, roughly -83 to -89 dbm. I use an external antenna and get 5 bars with dbm of -64 to -66. I highly recommend the Wilson magmount. I bought mine at a Flying J truck stop and got it cheaper than I would on the net. I am still trying to get exact EDGE coverage maps to check out that area. So when I get some info I will let you know.

James

 

[Blake Michaleski]

Blake, I am on my lunch break so I thought I would let you know what I found. Those cross streets you provided are in a really high covered area, in fact there is a tower just up from were Grelot Road and I beleive South University Blvd intersect, just N,NE of that intersection. Still trying to get some info on the EDGE data coverage maps but in genral Mobile is a large place so I imagine that EDGE is over GPRS. Somethings taht might interfere with your signal at your home is construction materials. Also certain types of aluminum siding will deflect a signal big time. I think that the GC83 antenna is mostly to blam in the situation. I think it is low grade. I am in a high covered area but the materials in my apratment only allow me to get 3 bars, roughly -83 to -89 dbm. I use an external antenna and get 5 bars with dbm of -64 to -66. I highly recommend the Wilson magmount. I bought mine at a Flying J truck stop and got it cheaper than I would on the net. I am still trying to get exact EDGE coverage maps to check out that area. So when I get some info I will let you know.

James
[/b]

yes in fact i know the exact tower you are talking about. not far from here at all.

Thanks alot for doing all of this, I'm new to the cell data thing pretty much and I'd definately would like to get my money's worth out of it since i'm running the unlimited data transfer package.