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05-18-2009, 11:09 AM
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#81
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Knows Where the Search Button Is
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Houston
Model: 9000
PIN: N/A
Carrier: AT&T
Posts: 15
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I just returned from a two-week trip to several cities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. I also passed through Paris and tested the phone there. I had about 50% success getting my AT&T Bold to connect to any functioning data services by switching it to manual network selection. Scanning for networks would sometimes run indefinitely, and usually took several minutes on average to produce a list. Success was about equal in all cities and even by location within the cities. I connected to many different vendor networks but was not able to discern a pattern. For instance Orange would allow a 3G data connection in one location but fail to work an hour later at a different location in the same city. The Bold would only find a functioning connection on automatic mode about 25% of the time. Basically the AT&T Bold was unusable as a data device. I do no have an international data plan and was paying full roaming charges.
Unfortunately I did not have a chance to contact AT&T international support during the trip, so I was not able to further troubleshoot the issue. I was very frustrated using the manual workaround, and am confident that my users will not find the performance acceptable. I have already had complaints from a couple of people who have traveled overseas and missed important emails.
AT&T really needs to research this a little better. I don't believe that only a small number of people are experiencing problems, and in any case the problem should be accurately identified and rectified without forcing each end user to contact international support while they are overseas.
As it stands today, there is no way I can recommend an AT&T Bold to anyone who expects to use it anywhere outside North America. Given the AT&T response so far, I would not be surprised if the Bold reaches end-of-life through obsolescence before the issue is resolved.
Last edited by eander315; 05-18-2009 at 11:11 AM..
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08-20-2009, 08:35 AM
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#82
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Knows Where the Search Button Is
Join Date: Jul 2006
Model: 9700
Carrier: AT&T
Posts: 23
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I'd like to provide an update on my experiences in Europe and my theories and possible workarounds. I arrived in Sweden and had problems. I wouldn't get mail, couldn't connect to the Internet, and often would get a "queued" message if I tried to register the host routing table. Much of the time when data wasn't working, I'd try to find another network and it would search and search and finally just give up and stop without giving me a message of any kind (even in very large cities with lots of carriers.)
I called AT&T nearly every day for several weeks. I was sure that it had something to do with 2G and 3G and it probably does. But I also realized that it might have something to do with WiFi.
I'm traveling on a boat that has WiFi access whenever I'm in Scandinavia. I had no (or extremely few) problems at all in Germany, Latvia, Lithuania or Poland. These are coincidentally (or not) the only countries where I didn't have a WiFi connection and I switched off the WiFi on the device. I developed a theory that the Bold freaks out when I have the WiFi turned on but can't connect to a WiFi hotspot. So when I came back to Denmark and Sweden, I've been managing my access. When I want to download something big, I switch on the WiFi, do the download, and switch it back off again. I leave the WiFi off unless I'm connecting to something and using it. I've also found that when, very rarely, the device seems to lose its data connection, I turn off the mobile network, wait for a minute or so and watch the signal number go very high, and turn the network back on again. When I do all of these things, I have no trouble getting, keeping, and handing off a solid 3G connection.
RIM -- or AT&T -- should be looking at the handoff process, the one from 3G to 2G and the one from mobile to WiFi. I suspect that some piece of data that should be refreshed simply isn't.
I also upgraded to AT&T's new OS when it came out. I have no doubt that the new OS didn't address this problem at all, but I guess it's possible that this is the reason I haven't had problems in Scandinavia. But it doesn't explain why I didn't have problems in the other countries before I upgraded.
So that's my two cents. I hope someone can pass it along and it can help other people. Please keep me posted.
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08-24-2009, 05:35 PM
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#83
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BlackBerry Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: SE PA.
Model: 9800
OS: 4.6.0.304
Carrier: AT&T
Posts: 2,791
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We shall see if the new Bold OS resolves the international roaming issues wtih 2G/3G. Hopefully someone will update on 8.25.09 to 4.6.0.297 and travel overseas.
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08-25-2009, 10:39 AM
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#84
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Knows Where the Search Button Is
Join Date: Jul 2006
Model: 9700
Carrier: AT&T
Posts: 23
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I'm overseas now and I just did the OTA upgrade. Several days ago, I arrived in Norway and since I entered the country I've been having a terrible time retaining data connectivity. It appeared to connect to data for a few seconds and then drop it for forty-five minutes to an hour. It was stuck on a certain network and I was unable to find or switch networks. These problems were unrelated to Wi-Fi, and the tricks I outlined to stay connected were working only minimally. After leaving the phone overnight, I could see that messages were arriving in batches, maybe three times over a period of eight or nine hours. Testing during the day showed that there were long periods where any data communications were unavailable.
After the upgrade, I went to Mobile Network, and did a network search, which worked immediately for the first time since I've been here. I can see that "2G alone" is finally an option. First I selected a 3G network and still had some problems, so I changed the option to 2G only and it seems to be working right now. It'll be hard to know until I've had a few days of experience with it.
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08-25-2009, 12:03 PM
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#85
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BlackBerry Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: SE PA.
Model: 9800
OS: 4.6.0.304
Carrier: AT&T
Posts: 2,791
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kstrouse
I'm overseas now and I just did the OTA upgrade. Several days ago, I arrived in Norway and since I entered the country I've been having a terrible time retaining data connectivity. It appeared to connect to data for a few seconds and then drop it for forty-five minutes to an hour. It was stuck on a certain network and I was unable to find or switch networks. These problems were unrelated to Wi-Fi, and the tricks I outlined to stay connected were working only minimally. After leaving the phone overnight, I could see that messages were arriving in batches, maybe three times over a period of eight or nine hours. Testing during the day showed that there were long periods where any data communications were unavailable.
After the upgrade, I went to Mobile Network, and did a network search, which worked immediately for the first time since I've been here. I can see that "2G alone" is finally an option. First I selected a 3G network and still had some problems, so I changed the option to 2G only and it seems to be working right now. It'll be hard to know until I've had a few days of experience with it.
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Well that's great news. Maybe AT&T finally addressed the 2G/3G issue. Keep us abreast of your findings.
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08-25-2009, 02:53 PM
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#86
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Thumbs Must Hurt
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Dallas
Model: 9800
OS: 6.0.0.141
PIN: 22CF79CB
Carrier: AT&T Wireless
Posts: 156
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This may sound dumb, but I assume those who get no data AT ALL have checked their settings under Options->Mobile Network->Data Services and make sure it doesn't say "Off When Roaming"?
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08-25-2009, 03:04 PM
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#87
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BlackBerry Extraordinaire
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: SE PA.
Model: 9800
OS: 4.6.0.304
Carrier: AT&T
Posts: 2,791
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snowmangoh
This may sound dumb, but I assume those who get no data AT ALL have checked their settings under Options->Mobile Network->Data Services and make sure it doesn't say "Off When Roaming"?
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I would assume so..... if Off When Roaming then no data will be received. Most have issues with intermittent connectivity due to 3G network.
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08-26-2009, 06:22 AM
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#88
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New Member
Join Date: May 2009
Model: z10
PIN: N/A
Carrier: O2 uk
Posts: 5
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3g in israel
hi people
3g in israel is fine just been there
Dave
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