Strange issue with 3G at work

Work in a town so get good 3G coverage (flicks between H and H+). However ive noticed that sometimes 3G can be working fine, then suddently stop. I have signal, but websites wont load. 2 mins later it will be fine again. I work in an office with alot of electrical equipment, could this cause the short few mins when 3G wont send data?

Edited by bobble_bob (Thu 11-Apr-13 15:36:08)

3g has an issue that i have seen called phantom network or phantom signal (it does not happen on 2g as to why i leave my blackberry on 2g, 1 battery life, 2 my second phone hardly gets diverted to due to my blackberry not really been connected to the network)

when the phone switches between masts on 3G there is an small chance that the phone does not get onto the new mast correctly so the phone sits there for about 2 mins until the phone or the radio on the phone forces an reconnect, in that time you have an fake signal bars and no voice text or calls will work, i guess the network timeout approx 120secs, if you're looking at the phone you see sometimes the signal bars will drop to 0 then back to full when it has reconnected to an mast

its way worse on threes network to the point it is/was annoying me an bit(on GiffGaff now) as there masts are norm not in range of each other if your in between 2 or 3 masts the phone may switch between them fast
but as where i am i am Smack in between 3 3uk masts so just going from downstairs and back into my room is norm enough for it to get stuck for 2 mins, if you get the three signal boost box (its an mini cell connected to your broadband) the issue should go away as your phone will stay connected to that unless you go out of range

it also happens on my blackberry 9780 on orange as well when i have 3g switched on, how do i know its doing it well my phone is set to divert the call (no responce divert) if orange can't connect to the phone to make it ring (phantom network or phone is off)

the odd thing is this issue does not seem to affect my o2 phone on 3g (not that i have noticed but i do use data only on that phone and i have not incountered the issue on O2)
but i do get the issue where the phone completely loses data permanently until i turn the phone off and one, but that is an phone issue not

i think they have Fixed the issue with LTE, as LTE is more based on 2g so mobile operators will be able to place the masts closer to each other so they can overlap them again like 2g is norm done

Edited by leexgx (Thu 11-Apr-13 22:18:00)

In reply to a post by pcoventry76:

You know I was just about to post about the same thing. But iv'e had it for years.

Does anyone else get this too?

that was one of small niggles with Three when i was with them was the 2min phantom network
good that i was not the only person who has had the issue (but it did it on 4 mobile phones i tested) but this issue affects Orange as well, but as i posted i not seen it happen on O2 network on my phone or 3 other phones that are on o2 but it could be way O2 network is setup as it is old so they might of not enabled all the stuff that 3G uses ( i am not sure on that one all i know it just does not seem to happen on o2)

but the main issue was that three hardly ever worked where i wanted it to work maybe if i walked around with Three signal boost box and plugged it in every house i went into but that is just silly thing to do

Edited by leexgx (Thu 11-Apr-13 22:35:24)

I get it with o2 and when my phone is stationery on my desk. Does your phone change masts when still like that?

when i was on Three yes as all the 3 masts that was in range of me was bad signal (less then 10% or 1 bar) so you could see it switching between them (when it stopped switching it is happy with that mast or its stuck in phantom network for 2 mins, no phone services will work in that time)

get an app called "Network info II" (requires Manuel refresh) and "network signal info" (seems to be auto updated, you can also place it on your home screen as well as an widget)

once open under device or mobile signal there is cell , that is the mast ID your connected if that number changes a lot you find the phone mite get stuck for 2 mins

you probably in between masts or the phone is power saving by switching from H+ , H and basic 3G (UMTS) to save power, that can some times get the phone stuck as well, i watched an xperia Z on Three network do it when i was at an pub it was making youtube stop buffering as well ( it even did the drop to no bars as well), quite sure when i had an Three sim in my razr maxx it did do the 3g speed changing thing (i need to get an 3 sim to see if it does do it still)

my moto razr maxx phone always stays on HSPA (14.4mb) on O2 mite be why my phone is not getting stuck for 2 mins

Edited by leexgx (Thu 11-Apr-13 23:30:43)

I thought this kind of happening was a DNS issue on mobile broadband.
I'm with 3 and sometimes get the situation where I'm connected but can't browse to anywhere for a few minutes (happens with both on Dongle and tethered Galaxy S2).

However if I'm browsing through my VPN it tends not to happen because it's using the VPN provider's DNS server rather than 3's DNS server. It's an irregular happening and hasn't been much of a problem for me in the last few weeks.

when it gets stuck nothing works for about 2 mins (no voice, text or data would not matter if your using an VPN or not), issue your getting probably Three DNS timing out or an issue with the dongle you have got or phone getting stuck (my phone does the sticking part but that is my phone that is the making my issue not the network)

Was happening all the time at work today. Soon as I left the area of the mast it stopped. Looking on o2 coverage im between 2 masts and o2 are doing some 3g maintenance on Friday in my area. Linked? Who knows.

I could still srnd texts tho during the time 3G didnt work

To add - one mast is on my works building How many people can 1 mast support? Our building is quite big with 500+ workers and all them on o2 will be on that mast aswell as other people in the surrounding area, seeing as its above their heads. Wonder if its a capacity issue?

Edited by bobble_bob (Tue 16-Apr-13 21:27:43)

Well its still happening and checked o2 status and got this

"Sorry we are experiencing high service demand in this area
One of our phone masts in your area is currently experiencing high demand and any problems you might be experiencing could be due to this."

This doesnt change no matter what time of day i check it, even at 7am in the morning. Spoke with o2 and they said engineers are aware of the problem but dont have a timescale to fix it. So looks like im stuck with the 3G issue until o2 decide they want to increase capacity

The live status checker http://status.o2.co.uk will not change until the situation is resolved. and it could take a while unless it is an easy fix

Well dunno how capacity works with 3G, but is it hard to increase capacity to a mast?

In reply to a post by bobble_bob:

Well dunno how capacity works with 3G, but is it hard to increase capacity to a mast?

"hard" is a relative term, as its not hard but its expensive.

Generally masts are served by a leased line from one of the big network people back to the mobile company's core network. Often 3 months (or more) from order to installation.

Well not sure how it all works, but there are 3 3G masts where i work. The one on top of our building is the one i connect to and is the one that im having issues with. When i go to the other side of town and i assume connect to the 3G mast there which is closer, its fine

Shame i cant tell it to not use the dodgy mast

Post deleted by Sadoldman

In reply to a post by chetoji:

Facing the same problem, my 3G dispalys the 5th pin thing that keep fluctuating and making my internet experience very miserable. It never loads to the 5th pin since I been using it.
It only loads till the 3rd pin and starts going down until no signals.

Any idea what might be causing this?

removed bad link

what are you talking about (signal bars ??)

also do not insert links that should be in an sig and adverting is not allowed (job link?)

Edited by leexgx (Sat 27-Apr-13 21:59:48)