August 24th, 2008
Blackberry Bold Having 3G Issues?
By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews
Move over iPhone. Reports are that RIM’s upcoming Blackberry Bold is having similar 3G reception problems. While not available in the U.S. yet, the Bold has been released in a few countries.
Barron’s reports info from Citigroup analyst Jim Suva:
“We had a few occasional 3G signal dropping troubles at some locations especially on high-rises building streets & on our 34th floor (EDGE picked up immediately but slower internet speeds).”
It should be noted that at least the Bold is dropping into EDGE. The iPhone is just sitting in 3G mode for those with issues, but with very low signal strength.
As I’ve reported, however, a bigger worry is that similar 3G phones sitting right next to the iPhone have excellent 3G signal strength, pointing a problem of some type with the reception of the iPhone.
The Bold uses a 624-Mhz Marvell Tavor PXA930 processor which incorporates the HSDPA modem and applications processor on one chip. At least it’s not using the same Infineon chipset as the iPhone, so perhaps speculation that the 3G issues on the iPhone can be fixed with software will still be true.
At any rate, it has to be annoying to AT&T that two of its newest and highest profile 3G phones are having 3G problems.
Steve says:
Actually, I don’t think the problems sound similar at all. The iphone complaints have been describing a lot of dropped calls and bad reception problems. The Bold doesn’t seem to be dropping calls. It’s simply switching between 2G and 3G networks which is pretty normal on AT&T’s network which is a dual mode 2G and 3G network. All phones will switch back and forth when they are in range of competing base stations, especially high up in office towers in big cities where you are more exposed to multiple base stations.
August 24th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Baha Bidari says:
For what its worth, I am in Malaysia and I have a pre-release Bold with OS.4.6.0.112 and I have no problems with my 3G signal. Sure there are times when you’re in dodgy area in terms of coverage where it drops back to GPRS or EDGE but usually in the urban areas it stays in 3G mode. I imagine it’s AT&T’s network or rather thin 3G coverage
August 25th, 2008 at 5:23 am
russd says:
Steve makes a good point. I’ve noticed similar problems with my LG Shine when I am at home, which unfortunately is in range of competeing 2G/3G base stations.
August 25th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Geo says:
Picked up a 3G iPhone and in LA, ATT 3G has fairly good coverage and 95 percent of the time I’m on 3G with no issues. 3G with even one bar is much faster than EDGE in my observation.
August 25th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Khash says:
I’m having lots of 3G issues (dropped calls, unreliable data connection and false signal strength) in London (UK)
August 25th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Robert Niknam says:
my department at work discovered its your sim card and not the phone. try changing your sim card to an oberthur card or a new Gemalto card and you will definately get better reception, some of you are using SIM Cards vs. the 3G USIM. Try it and i promise the chipset and the sim will definately get along better. the Samsung A707 SYNC used to have a switching problem but it was fixed.
August 25th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Amir Saad says:
That is very interesting Robert, but how come those 2 high end phones (iPhone and Bold) have those issues when other phones don’t?
or is it just the people that own them don’t know much about 3G and thus blame the network…
August 25th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Jordan says:
I have a Blackberry Bold and have no problems with the device in 3G, I am in Waterloo Ontario and this phone has been all around the country and when it is in the HSPA area it seems to be fine. I have a Rogers Bold in Canada!!
August 25th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
LocoCoyote says:
Strangely enough, my Bold (T-mobile in Germany) is having 3G problems. It isn’t the signal strength that has me hopping mad….it’s the connection. Five bars 3G (3 bars max 2G in same location) and when I am called the caller gets my mailbox. Drop it to 2G and the call comes in fine. I can call out 3G no problem..just receiving calls is spotty.
August 26th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Scott says:
I guess the real question would be to those of you who have had the Bold for a while now if you would recommend it to the rest of us who are waiting patiently for its debut here in the US or would you suggest waiting until they work out some of the issues that people seem to be having elsewhere? I am still using an 8700 and have finally decided that this may be the device to switch to. But some of the postings make me a little nervous.
August 26th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Alejandro says:
I’m in Chile, and my battery is lasting less than one day, I have to charge it every time, I don’t know if a have some fuctions on that make the battery less efective. But by now i’m regreting getting the bold.
August 26th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
abcyesn says:
This might be a shocker out there to many, but we do actually, you know, not leak things from time to time. What’s important here, is that we’ve been rockin’ a BlackBerry Bold for around a month now, and we’ve got a great handle on the unit. From hardware to software, this is going to be the most complete BlackBerry Bold review, period. If you’re really ready, hit the jump. You might need a couple cigarettes and a cup of coffee — it’s long!
http://www.BlackBerryBoldForum.com
August 27th, 2008 at 1:55 am
Janice says:
I have had the Bold for nearly a week and the signal in North London (UK) area where I live has been on and off most of the time. 2 bars 3 bars and searching for network. Went to work today (near Tower Hill) and had SOS all day on the phone in the office. It was fine when I went outside the building, but no signal indoors. This is Orange UK. I am not a happy person!
August 28th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Sam says:
I have a BB Bold, had reall problems like Janice in London on Orange, I used the Network options to opt for 3G not 2G/3G and it cleared up the problem or low/switching signals, as for SOS it doesn’t seem to be doing that either now.
August 31st, 2008 at 5:36 am
Sam says:
I have a BB Bold, had real problems like Janice in London on Orange, I used the Network options to opt for 3G not 2G/3G and it cleared up the problem or low/switching signals, as for SOS it doesn’t seem to be doing that either now.
August 31st, 2008 at 5:37 am
Ikurtmal says:
Hai Baha Bidari,
What carrier u are using now and in which area you are located?
September 11th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
jess says:
when i am in the maps on my blackberry i can only pan between brazil and perth.. how can i move between brazil and perth, how can i move between other countries?
September 16th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Cola97 says:
Same problem as LocoCoyote.
And I am in Sydney, Australia.
I am in 40th floor city centre. 3G calls dropping out in one room every 10 sec. When I walk to another room, it is fine. When it gets back to GPRS then it is all ok. Strange…
November 28th, 2008 at 5:53 am
Joe says:
I live in south Florida. Purchased BB Bold day after it was available. Had Curve prior. Rarely if ever dropped calls. With Bold i drop a call every 3-4 calls. Also battery takes an unusually long time to charge. Frustrating…
December 1st, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Andrew says:
I have recently changed from Nokia E61i to Blackberry Bold on the Telstra network, and have experienced the same issues on 3G.
It’s dropping out mid-call (after a random amount of time - usually between 20-30 minutes into the call). The call completely disconnects, and doesn’t just drop into 2G like some respondents have said.
I’m located in the Sydney, Australia region.
I hope there’s a fix for this soon!
December 11th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
cesar says:
hi mi friends. I need a little bit of help. I’m from venezuela. I bought recently on ebay a blackberry bold unlocked and the seller told me that the pin is having problems and i probably would not be able to activate the blackberry msn and data because it was a pre release phone. What can i do to fix that problem?. Thanks and best regards. (by the way i apologize if my english is not good, i speak spanish
). Thanks.
December 17th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Phil Morin says:
My New BB Bold, unlocked will only access the internet via Wifi.
I received no support from my 3 providers (T-mobile- Hawaii, Globe & Smart in PI) I wrote to RIM and got no answer. I am now ready to tke the issue up with the FTC and its Canada counter parts. $705 cost = a rip off.
December 24th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Sabre says:
Folks, be WARNED. I’ve had the Bold for four months with AT&T in the U.S. At least 50% of my calls have dropped and 25% have failed to connect. After three months of calling AT&T every other day, I FINALLY got a senior tech tell me that AT&T is having this problem all over the U.S. The point to problems with the Bold code and its ability to switch networks. They have no fix or idea when Blackberry will update the code. SIMPLE RECOMMENDATION – AVOID THE BOLD until the ‘Beta’ program is over and they release stable and functional code.
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:25 pm
demon says:
thanks “Sabre”
its been 1 month of headache since i got BBold.
1st i was not able to use wifi as i didn had data plan with at$t….and then i came to know abt this dropped call problem. People used to meet me and tell me they have been calling me all day long and i was not recieving their calls. on the other hand i never recived their calls. then i called my own number and it rang where as the phone that i was holding in my own hand never rang inspite og all the bars. after 4/5 rings it went to my voice mail and after 5 min i recived a voice messege icon on my phone. i have been calling AT&T since last 3 weeks…they have made me change 1 phone 3 sim cards…but of no use. the problem still holds on. now they have asked me to use another ph for couple of days to determine if its a phone problem or a network problem.
I like this phone but will have to return it back if AT&T or Blackberry dosnt fix this soon.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:05 pm