3g international data issues
 

Switched from one blackberry and got a Bold a couple of weeks ago. No problems whatsoever domestic. Just landed in london this morning and no data. I'm able to call out and receive sms messages. I've had unlimited international data for 4 years and never had a problem on the edge network.

I've manually selected O2, Vodaphone, and Orange. I did receive a few emails when I was on vodaphone EDGE but then it switched over to 3g.

International tech support was no help. A tech is looking into the issues. They said this is a known problem.

I'm really screwed without data here. Thoughts?

I am having the same issue in Kuwait with the AT&T Bold. I have been coming here for years, last trip just a couple weeks ago with the 8820 with no problems. Switched to the BOLD just before this trip and was loving the BOLD and 3G. Got to Kuwait this time and no data. Spent two nights on the VOIP phone with the AT&T international help desk and no resolution. If the BOLD drops back to EDGE, then I will get a few messages in, but once it switches back to 3G, then no data again. Very frustrating to say the least, especially since AT&T saw fit not to allow you to manually switch to EDGE.

wcberry,

I'm living here in Kuwait and just received my Bold a couple weeks ago. I had similar issues with my Bold on Zain. The fix with Zain is you must enable Video Conference by sending 'vc' in a SMS to 99999. Not sure what you'll need to do to resolve this issue since you're roaming with ATT.

You might want to call go to one of the Zain offices and see if they can do anything for you.

For me this is huge. I'm paying $20/month extra for international data and expected to get it, and get it in 3G with my new Bold.

Wow, I'm glad I saw this thread. I'm about to send a staff with BOLD to Japan. For Japan trip I've been lending 8707v whenever people go to Japan but I was hoping that once we switch to BOLD we can do away with 8707v and moving SIM card. I guess I'll send both handhelds just in case.

Wow this is a fairly big problem and I'm glad I saw it. I'm going to be traveling in the new couple months, so I'm going to keep tabs on this and might bring a spare phone with me

This is a huge issue and I cannot believe AT&T has no resolution. Has anyone escalated this within AT&T? Forget about any refund (for now) for no data service. How can anyone do business while overseas.

I was just in Australia and had no problem whatsoever. 3G locked whole time I was there and data was flowing.

The problem you are describing is not the AT&T problem or BB problem. Different countries have different level of 3G network support. For example, in Japan, even 8707 will not get any emails throughout the day and suddenly, you will receive a bunch of them without doing anything different. That problem happens to my colleague with an IPhone as well, although he got it from a Japanese phone service provider. I don't experience that problem in Shanghai, though. In Korea, it was a hit and miss depending on the locations. It's the local network issue, not the device or service provider, I believe.

I was using a BOLD(not from AT&T) with AT&T sim card in Japan last week, and it worked most of the time. Try selecting SoftBank if you are in Japan.

Ah, I do believe it is a BB BOLD problem. My 8820 works fine. It is due to being on 3G with the BOLD and not bein fully compatible with the 3G network here. IF ATT would allow you to select 2G (Edge) then it would work fine, so it is also an AT&T problem. The International Help desk knows this and is supposedly passing info back to engineering.

I have used an 8707 in Korea and the Vzw 8830 and you are correct, sometimes, the email comes in, in spurts but this is not the same issue as over here.

Thanks for sharing that AT&T engineering is working on this issue. I sure hope they get this resolved soon. The more of us who complain the faster it will get fixed. Two of my co-workers (with bolds) also have tickets submitted.

I agree with redtarga. I am in Japan now with a Bold (Rogers unlocked on AT&T using .190). If possible, have the user select softbank vs NTT DoCoMo. I have a much more consistent data flow with softbank. NTT is hit and miss, even though I get the 3G "B" symbol.

Steve

Very useful thread.

Anyone out there with experience in Germany with an ATT Bold? I'll be there the last week in January in a sorta remote location (Oberwolfach).

Wow--- this seems like a really big problem. I'm leaving for Barcelona, Spain--- will this be a problem for me? Is this a problem for all of Europe? How about Israel too?

Add another Kuwait visitor to the list! I'm posting this from my hotel in Kuwait right now... I'm glad I didn't have to start a new thread! ;)

When I'm in 3G (about 50%) of the time I really don't have much service at all. E-mails will not go through... but even phone and SMS transmissions are spotty at best. As soon as my phone flips to EDGE (not sure what causes the flip) e-mails will send and come in, and calls will go out without any issue. I'm on an ATT BOLD and the carrier that picks up over here when I land is KT WATANIYA. When I was here a few weeks ago on my Pearl (EDGE only of course) there were no issues at all. This def. appears to be a 3G-Therefore BOLD-ATT-Local Carrier issue... Thoughts anyone, or perhaps someone with some middle eastern success stories? :)

Also... does anyone know of a OS package (from some other market/country) that actually has an option to turn off the 3G service of the phone? How in the WORLD does ATT not include this option after all the trouble they had with their iPhone 3G launch just a few months back??? Just plain nuts to me...

Thanks for any input or suggestions!

Coming ot you live from Kuwait,

Lemme just add; this site kicks ass... how cool is it that I come here for answers to my most recent BB question, and the very 1st thread in the BOLD forum pertains to my problem... haha, gotta love it...

Anyways, a small update... while under Options - Mobile Network, I obviously don't see the option for 'Network Mode' as seen on Rogers branded devices... but I can switch to Manual Network Selection Mode. When I query the device for a list of Available Networks it comes back with all the local carriers, including my WATANIYA, in both 3G and 2G flavors. I manually select the WATANIYA 2G network, and the phone flips to EDGE mode. HOWEVER, it will automatically switch back in less than 10 minutes on it's own. I even tried switching the auto scan to 'no' if the service becomes unavailable. So I'm not making any progress here... But I DID find the sticky thread at the top about 3G/2G switching to be an interesting read - almost related to this problem... but not quite.

Off to work I go...

As I understand it, it doesn't matter which carrier's OS you install. If it's an AT&T Bold, there will never be an option to switch to EDGE only. Seems like ATT messed this up big time, unless there is an undiscovered work around.

Does anyone know if an unlocked AT&T Bold, with a pre-paid local sim w/data, will allow 2G operation or provide stable data connection?

I'm calling ATT in a little bit for my subsidy unlock code... I should be able to test this a little later today or perhaps tomorrow.

This is SUCH a pain... I have to launch outlook to get my e-mails... nothing on the old (err... brand spanking new) blackberry! Grrrr...