Nokia 6630/3G Problems

lynchie

Just browsed some other threads on the 6630 and 3g and im not sure if the problems im getting are the same as those ones. The two main problems im getting are

Phone rebooting - This happens when im in a call. Call is dropped, goes back to the white screen with nokia on it, and about 10 seconds later menu comes back up. It aint a power problem as it doesnt ask me for my pin when it happens, so it seems to be a software problem.

Loosing Network connection - This is happening more often now. I have a full 3g conenction, signal is fine, and then suddenly, the signal bar goes to 0. It no longer displays "Vodafone IE" yet the 3g symbol is still on. I have no network availability until I power cycle the phone. Now the problem with this is I dont know when this happens. Last week, I had gone over a day before I realised I had lost the connection. Power cycled the phone, and received loads of voicemail and sms messages that I had missed. Its becoming a right pain now.

So has anybody had these problems? If so, what are the solutions to them? Will a firmware update solve it? If so, Where can I get it?

dcarroll

I don't have a 6630, i've a 7200 but the phone rebooting problem is always happening with that too

ranDom_tAsk

Hi,

Both problems have been known on the 6630 already, the first thing you should do is ring Vodafone and complain !

I think a firmware upgrade will sort this out.

I have the equipment to do the frimware upgrade on the 6630 but there are still some problems with the system/equipment I'm using, so I wouldn't touch it just to be on the safe site.

Your best bet is to go to "The Telephone Centre" on Dawson St. they will do the upgrade for you ok as they are an original Nokia repair center, and tell them you want the lastest firmware (which is v5.05).


The Telephone Centre
32 Dawson st, 2
(01) 6776655

flywheel

lynchie wrote:

So has anybody had these problems? If so, what are the solutions to them? Will a firmware update solve it? If so, Where can I get it?

had rebooting on the 6630 but not too frequently, make sure you have enough internal 'phone' memory free for it to carry out it's tasks i.e. it needs some working memory to operate, so things like storing messages, pics etc on the memory card can help free up the internal 'phone' memory.

this rebooting happens to many modern phones, and more frequently with smartphones that have a complex operating system running on them, like any operating system fixes and patches can help (i.e. those included in firmware updates) so see if there is one available that may help - you can use the Nokia Service Point form to one near you, in Dublin city centre the handiest is the Telephone Centre, Dawson St.

as for connections, the 6630 released by Vodafone for their 3G network has so far provided me with a poor and unreliable experience in terms of network reliability for both voice and data

wolfman

Would you not just lock on to GSM Brian?
I know it kinda defeats the purpose, but it works well

Banjo013

I've got a Motorola V980 on Vodafone 3G - with the same problems, and more -

Dropped Calls - after a few minutes on almost every call
Having to dial a number more than once before the phone I'm calling rings
Received calls get cut off soon as I press the answer key
Bad to terrible coverage
Battery life of less than a day
Terrible reception if I'm on the move - in the car for example
Backlog of messages received due to lost connections

And the list goes on and on - couldn't possibly list them all here. Anyway my point is that I'm not entirely sure it's the phones that at fault - I really suspect it's actually the 3G network.

I've complained and made loads of noise to Vodafone - may as well be shouting at the wall - they don't care. My phone has been back for "repair" twice now ... picked it up yesterday for the second time, and it's still the same.

Here's the worthless reply I got from Vodafone when I complained :-

---

Dear

Thank you for your e-mail.

We appreciate your annoyance regarding your handset. We have a
procedure in place regarding such matters as outlined in our previous
response to you.

This procedure must be adhered to. As previously stated, " The
Vodafone Service policy with regard to multiple repairs is that if a
mobile phone, which is within 12 months of purchase (warranty period)
and has been repaired twice for manufacturing faults, is confirmed to
have a manufacturing fault by Vodafone's authorised repair company,
the Mobile Phone Repair Company, on it's third time back for repair,
MPRC will replace the mobile phone with a new mobile phone of the
same model." In following this procedure Vodafone are honoring their
commitment to our customers and their contract terms and conditions.
If you have any further queries please contact us anytime on FreeFone
1907 and one of our Customer Care Representatives will be happy to
assist you.

Yours sincerely

---

Now this really is crap, because both times the phone came back to me with a report attached saying "no manufacturing faults". Therefore the problem must be with the network. This makes sense too because while my phone was away for repair I used an old Nokia phone to tide me over, and some of the symptoms were apparent. Never once did this phone give me a problem while I had it on the olg 2G network.

It's all so annoying - don't know how to get Vodafone to sit up and listen to me ... sounds like a big cover up on their behalf really - the 3G network doesn't work and they don't want to admit it.

mik_da_man

Tis true the 3G network dose not work properly and they admitted it to me!!

Taken from an earlier post:

and on the subject of 3G I went through a 3 week process with vodafone to see why my 3G was not working properly while browsing. getting a text every day from them saying ' your query is being looked into' and the 'tech' staff telling me they had to check cells in my area and other various excuses like ' are you sure you are not moving around' I finally got an answer from them:

" Sir, I have been told by the engineers that the network cannot support switching from 2.5 to 3G network while using the phone on the internet/call, you will have to manually reconnect each time"

so it does not work properly

Doublezero8

Just so people know how the problem with the 6630 differs from the other 3G handsets.

People are being advised that the Nokia 6630 has a fault which prevents it from moving to the 2.5G network - this is not the case.

The 6630 will go for 3G even if the coverage is very very bad on 3G and so calls will fail. It only reverts to 2.5G when thier is no 3G coverage.

The other handsets the SE and Motorola have an option to manually select 2.5G. The nokia does not have this option even if you go in manually select 2.5G the phone will revert to 3G were ever possible.

On wednesday people couldn't make calls on the 3G network with the 6630 the reason that the 6630 stayed on the 3G network was that there still was 3G coverage but calls were failing at the set up stage - it wasn't that there was no coverage.

Nokia need to provide some sort of software upgarde to sort this problem out.

008

greglo23

theres a fix for this. search for this file OperatorFtdwk39v7. install it on your 6630 and open Test. navigate to 81.1 (up 2 clicks) and you`ll see Force protocol between GSM and WCDMA. click options and execute, type 1 and the phone will reboot. you will now be on gsm.to change just follow the same steps.

flywheel

Doublezero8 wrote:

Nokia need to provide some sort of software upgarde to sort this problem out.

Rather, Vodafone need to provide handsets that don't have this problem on their network...

Doublezero8

DubWireless wrote:

Rather, Vodafone need to provide handsets that don't have this problem on their network...

While i do agree to a certain extent that Vodafone are responsible it is a Nokia handset not a Vodafone handset ? If SE and Motorola can provide a manual option why can't nokia and this is something Vodafone have been pushing for.

After all Vodafone are the network not the manufacturer of the phone. Also this is a developing service in Ireland and i think people have to accept that while its being rolled out Vodafone are going to have a number of problems along the way.

Anyway i don't want to get into an argument about who is at fault on this i was only trying to explain what the problems are with the 6630/3G.

flywheel

Doublezero8 wrote:

While i do agree to a certain extent that Vodafone are responsible it is a Nokia handset not a Vodafone handset?

Where I'm coming from is this is a Vodafone approved and branded handset that is suposed to have gone through their internal testing process, so at a minimum the network related voice/data capabilities should be reliable.

Doublezero8 wrote:

If SE and Motorola can provide a manual option why can't nokia and this is something Vodafone have been pushing for.

Are you 100% sure about this, Nokia do have this feature it just wasn't available in the build on the model supplied by Vodafone... from the SIM Free 6630 User Guide (this paragraph is not printed in the Vodafone branded user guide supplied with the 6630)

Network mode (shown only if supported by the operator) - Select which network will be used. If you select Dual mode, the phone will use the GSM or UMTS network automatically according to the network parameters and the roaming agreements between the network operators. Contact your network operator for more information.

Doublezero8

DubWireless wrote:

Where I'm coming from is this is a Vodafone approved and branded handset that is suposed to have gone through their internal testing process, so at a minimum the network related voice/data capabilities should be reliable.

If you test the handset on 3G it works fine . If you test the handset on 2.5G it works fine.

DubWireless wrote:

Are you 100% sure about this, Nokia do have this feature it just wasn't available in the build on the model supplied by Vodafone... from the SIM Free 6630 User Guide (this paragraph is not printed in the Vodafone branded user guide supplied with the 6630.

Quote - Network mode (shown only if supported by the operator) - Select which network will be used. If you select Dual mode, the phone will use the GSM or UMTS network automatically according to the network parameters and the roaming agreements between the network operators. Contact your network operator for more information.

To explain a bit more about the Dual mode nokia are talking about.

You can of course manually select the 2G network but, as the phone's home network is the 3G one, it will over-ride the manual selection and reattach to the 3G network even if the signal strength is very poor. Same in Dual mode.

The problem is aggravated by the nature of CMDA where the available coverage depends on network usage is adjacent cells .. so service may be good at off peak times and then degrade to almost nothing when things get busy.

The main problem occurs in areas where 3G coverage is available but poor (one signal bar or less). The mobile typically cannot receive calls,outgoing calls drop very quickly after completion, SMS sending fails

What nokia are saying in the guide is the network sets parameters for the way roaming works between the 2G and 3G networks, the fact that the 3G network is defined as the HOME network (i.e.The network that the phone will ALWAYS attach to if it is available but whats made the problem worse is the inability to turn off access to the 3G network.)

So given all that info you have 2 work arounds

invert the HOME network in areas where 3G coverage not yet widespread
(i.e. Make the 2G network pretend to be the 3G one, means changing the
network identifier in some areas). - I think this is what you are talking about when refering to the bit missing that was in the Nokia guide.

The home network suggestion is not workable unfortunately, as their is in fact no distinction between 2G and 3G as different networks(apart from on the handset menu).
Both are in fact considered the home network since they both use the same HLR. ( Not sure if this is just in Ireland)

provide a way to force the phone to chose 2G-only or 3G-only (phone
software change) - What Vodafone are pushing Nokia for

008

flywheel

Doublezero8 wrote:

If you test the handset on 3G it works fine . If you test the handset on 2.5G it works fine.

that's a great acedemic exercise, unfortunately the Vodafone network people are actually subscribed to is a 'patchwork quilt' of both, and thus the handset isn't working fine...

Doublezero8

DubWireless wrote:

that's a great acedemic exercise, unfortunately the Vodafone network people are actually subscribed to is a 'patchwork quilt' of both, and thus the handset isn't working fine...

Yes your right the handset is not working fine - Not sure were i ever said any different.

Thephantomsmask

Has anybody else been having software problems with 6630's?

At the start of January mine decided not to allow GPRS access or to even open the bookmark menu and also to only write numbers instead of text in every application where text would need to be entered. Vodafone sent the phone away and 3 weeks later they still hadn't identified the problem so they gave me a new one.

On saturday night last, I plugged my phone in to charge an on sunday morning it said sim registration failed so I took out the sim and replaced it, after switching the phone on it entered offline mode and kept saying insert sim.

I went to the vodafone shop in Galway today and they're sending the phone away. The sales assistant tried his sim which worked fine so he cloned my sim as he thought my original sim might be at fault but upon putting it into the phone it wouldn't work nor would his own sim work in it again. They've given me a rental phone to keep me ticking over until it's fixed but I'm starting to get very p***ed off with the problems I keep having

flywheel

Doublezero8 wrote:

You can of course manually select the 2G network but, as the phone's home network is the 3G one, it will over-ride the manual selection and reattach to the 3G network even if the signal strength is very poor. Same in Dual mode.

you couldn't manually select the 2G network with the 6630 that was released by Vodafone as the option was not available (rem: it's absence from the Vodafone branded User Manual supplied with the handset). This was all you could see in the Phones Network Settings:



what I was referring to was the Network Mode option that was available in the SIM Free version of the handset (and later versions of the handset firmware):



what this Network Mode option allows you to do is select either GSM or Dual mode

so the Handset will either be forced onto the GSM (2G) network by selecting GSM



or it will hop between the GSM (2G) and WCDMA (3G) by selecting Dual mode



this option allows the user to 'degrade' to use 2G network (and stick on it) when they experience issues with the 3G network

for anyone else who is interested Firmware V 3.45.113 (04-01-05) includes this facility and should be available from your local authorised Nokia Care / Support Centre

Doublezero8

DubWireless wrote:

for anyone else who is interested Firmware V 3.45.113 (04-01-05) includes this facility and should be available from your local authorised Nokia Care / Support Centre

So a software upgrade fixes the problem. Isn't this what i said in my first post......i am confused.

flywheel

Doublezero8 wrote:

So a software upgrade fixes the problem. Isn't this what i said in my first post......i am confused.

well it read to me that you made out it was Nokia's problem, and Vodafone were 'on their case'... even though it was mentioned the 'Network Type' selection had been provided by Nokia already

my point was Vodafone decided to go ahead and release the handset which had problems with basic voice/data services on their network, even after putting the handset through their 'testing' and 'approving' procedures...

Doublezero8

DubWireless wrote:

well it read to me that you made out it was Nokia's problem, and Vodafone were 'on their case'... even though it was mentioned the 'Network Type' selection had been provided by Nokia already

Not sure how you got that out of my first post.

In my first post i even pointed out the Nokia phone itself was not a fault just the feature that was missing.

Doublezero8 wrote:

People are being advised that the Nokia 6630 has a fault which prevents it from moving to the 2.5G network - this is not the case.

I then just stated the FACT the only way to sort this problem out was a software upgrade.

Doublezero8 wrote:

The nokia does not have this option even if you go in manually select 2.5G the phone will revert to 3G were ever possible.

Nokia need to provide some sort of software upgarde to sort this problem out.

008

At the end of the day this service is being released in Ireland for the first time. You have to accept the problems that come with this along the way.

flywheel

ok - maybe i don't understand why you kept mentioning on that Vodafone were pushing Nokia for an update (when Nokia already had it available), then when it was pointed out the feature existed you went on about how it wouldn't work...

i don't think i (or any paying customer) has to accept problems like unreliable voice/data using an operator approved mobile handset - or any of the other of the problems i've experienced 'along the way' from billing overcharges to product knowledge short comings.. but i suppose you're looking at it from a completely different perspective

Doublezero8

DubWireless wrote:

i don't think i (or any paying customer) has to accept problems like unreliable voice/data using an operator approved mobile handset - or any of the other of the problems i've experienced 'along the way' from billing overcharges to product knowledge short comings.. but i suppose you're looking at it from a completely different perspective

Something we agree on The billing problems and lack of product knowledge are something which do have to be looked at seriously.

The training in regards to 3G to the care staff i feel has not been good enough so far but i would suggest that this is because 3G has had a soft lanuch. When the advertising becomes more aggresive i am sure Vodafone will provide more indepth traning. Still i realise for exsisting customers of the service this is not good enough.

008

themole

DubWireless wrote:

for anyone else who is interested Firmware V 3.45.113 (04-01-05) includes this facility and should be available from your local authorised Nokia Care / Support Centre

ranDom_tAsk wrote:

Your best bet is to go to "The Telephone Centre" on Dawson St. they will do the upgrade for you ok as they are an original Nokia repair center, and tell them you want the lastest firmware (which is v5.05).

ok. i bought a nokia 6630 last week. i have had some of the problems associated with 3g/2g switching.

so i will prob get the firmware upgrade mentioned, whichever is newest.

a friend of mine bought one around a month ago and he had lots of the same probs. he eventually complained for 2 hours to vodaphone in the shop and they told him there was a s/w prob that couldn't be fixed. this was last week, a few days after i bought mine.

so my question is this. does the firmware upagrade actually work and hence was this assistant just clueless?

my friend is also considering sueing vodaphone for lost business as he is self employed and on the road most of the time. he has lost a lot of business due to missed calls

Johnny Storm

This is my first post in the Mobile/PDA forum so please forgive me if I am asking a very obvious question.

I also bought a 6630 last week. I am having two problems with it.
1) The phone appears to "reboot" quite frequently as mentioned in other posts IE goes back to the White screen with Nokia in the lower half. This particularly happens while bluetooth is turned on.
2) When someone phones me that is in my phonebook, only their number appears on the screen not their name from the phonebook. On my last Nokia, 3650, the name would appear.

My questions are:
1) do you think updated firmware would fix these two problems? Current firmware is dated 11-11-04.
2) Should I bring it back to the shop where I bought it (Vodafone in Frascati Centre, Blackrock) or to Nokia in Dawson St to get it flashed? Is it reasonable of me to expect they will do this for free?

I phoned the Nokia shop in Blackrock and the guy there said they could not flash the 6630 yet (seems resonable per other posts) and I should phone back in a month and that it might be free "or it might cost about €70". This guy was probably doing his best but he didn't fill me with confidence.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

theothernt

Hi,

Johnny Storm - You might as well go straight to the Telephone Centre as Vodafone, etc will point you in that direction anyway.

As for the problems you've had, I think the rebooting is less or non-existant on the newer firmware and the problem with not displaying the phone number and contact name is fixed.

- Neil

greglo23

once the phone is under 12 months old all firmware upgrades are free

Johnny Storm

Thanks for the advice.

I dropped the phone into the Mobile Phone Repair Centre Sandyford (nearer to me than Dawson St) and collected it two hours later.

They were fast efficient and FREE....

But - when I type *#0000# it still says "11-11-04"
Oh well, I guess I should have checked what firmware version they had first.

Any suggestions ?

flywheel

how about dropping it into the Telephone Centre on Dawson St?

Johnny Storm

DubWireless wrote:

how about dropping it into the Telephone Centre on Dawson St?

What? - You mean I should actually do what I was advised to do in the first place ?!?!
LOL!

Yes, I phoned dawson street and they do have a more recent version so that is what I will do. Thanks !

peterk19

I just got mine updated today with v 3.45.113
04-01-05
Am-1
I also asked them could they put on nokia software rather than vodafone software and they done that too tell them it wont let you play mp3s as ringtones and the nokia site says it should because otherwise they are hesitant to do it.
Pete

Johnny Storm

Good advice. Thanks. Will do.
Was that in dawson St also?