yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[HTC Sensation] madindehead:
I'm getting very good signal on my phone. Had a problem with Vodafone having problems in Glasgow for a day or two, but it's fine now.

Try rebooting the phone without the SIM card in, and then put the SIM back, and reboot, it will re-register on the network. That might help with the signal.
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
Yeah I been told I had problem in my area and I really believe it's the network not my phone as I have a new sim and it's in my HTC desire and can't hold a H signal. When on wcdma only the network cuts off and I'm near the window. If you guys can try putting the vodafone sim in a different phone as well as trying a different network sim you may get a clearer picture of what's up.

I've flashed 3 different radios on my desire and get the same response. The only other thing that hasn't been explored or questioned are the vodafone Internet settings. I know my t mobile is capped and have special settings to bypass the cap. I'm not confident in the sap setting vodafone have. All I see is GPRS settings when I search on the web.
[HTC Sensation] Pinball_:
Gave it a try but still poor.

Got back onto vodafone and nagged for a Sure Signal

Wanted me to purchase one for £50 so i gave him a roasting.

Next offer was purchase a Sure Signal for £50 and they would credit £25 to my account, told him wasnt acceptable.

Went to speak with his manager and told me to purchase the SS for £50 and they would credit me £50 to my account.

Told him that was not acceptable as i dont want to tie up £50, asked if he could just send me one out and he tells me its out of stock atm.

Told him send me one when its in stock then and he agreed stating he has made note of it on my account.

Have to call them up next week to check the stock status with them apparently.

Made a copy of the transcript to cover me if they play up next week over it.
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
going back to what i was saying about vodafone and internet settings i found these articles. going to give it a try. http://brianhealy.net/2010/11/a-fix-for-htc-legends-poor-signal-on-vodafone/

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=33984067&postcount=33

Basically its to do with PRL preoffered Roaming List which you access in the test settings. hope this works.
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
Just tried it on my desire and its not amazing but did stop the signal switching from h to gprs every 2 seconds. I put mine on cdma PRL only.I will test more in the morning as its late. but the articles are good reading especially if you are a new Vodafone customer like myself.

QUOTE

"The ‘fix’ involves accessing the phone’s test memory and changing some settings in the way the phone searches for a signal. I applied the fix on Sunday evening when I became aware of Entwood’s reply and it does seem to have made some difference to the signal stability… since applying the fix, I’ve had no dropped signal and battery life seems to have improved slightly also.

The steps to apply the fix are as follows:

Access the phone dialer and dial the code *#*#4636#*#* – don’t press the ‘call’ button. After a couple of seconds the test menu will appear.

From this test menu, select ‘phone information’ and scroll down to the first dropdown menu. Select GSM auto (PRL) rather than the likely setting, which will be WCDMA/GSM Auto.

Restart your phone by powering off and back on again. Check the test menu again to ensure the GSM auto (PRL) option has been retained. If not, set it again as above.

What this change does is to force the phone to switch automatically between G/E/3G/HSDPA networks based on Vodafone’s predefined Preferred Roaming List (PRL), rather than the best/strongest signal available. The HTC Legend’s signal problem seems to stem from its inability to switch between signals and its preference to try to latch onto a weak 3G/HSDPA signal rather than a slower-but-stronger 2G signal – this cure should hopefully fix that.

And because the WCDMA setting involves the phone constantly scanning the network for the strongest signal, it can really eat away at the battery life. Using GSM auto (PRL) should also help in this regard."
[HTC Sensation] Phil750123:
Got my signal booster for £20 today - walked in shop, said i have rubbish signal, said i dont want to pay £50, guy goes ok i can do it for £20 for you , sorted. that easy

On £35 month contract btw - he didnt even ask how much i was on though
[HTC Sensation] paulswift36:
Couple of comments in here about the Desire when this is a Sensation specific forum muddies the water.

Also all the talk about 2g/3g switching. As soon as I go both handsets I changed them to 2G (or GSM) only as it saves battery life so never been on 3G anyway.

I will try some of the suggestions so see what difference it makes although I now think I'm not in a great location so the SS should sort that.

Glad to see people getting the SS boxes at acceptable prices.
[HTC Sensation] paulswift36:
Tried the low level GSM setting and it made no difference at all unfortunately. It did take without needing a reboot but just didnt help so I must be in a bit of a black spot. The Vodafone guy said I would struggle with 3G where I live and I never really got 3G on O2 either BUT I was already on GSM (2G) only anyway for the sake of battery. I use Auto Wifi Enabler now to save on data allowance for that part.

Any more useful things to try greatfully received anyway.
[HTC Sensation] sjgore:
Comparisons with our previous phones are perfectly valid here, when trying to establish whether it's specifically the Sensation that's at fault, or the Vodafone signal in general.
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
Hey Paul. To clarify things..I have a poor 3g signal on my sensation in a supposed excellent area. I put my Vodafone sim on my HTC desire and got the same poor 3g signal. My desire is rooted and has several radio drivers I have tested to get the best signal it can. My sensation has my t mobile sim in and the signal is near perfect so I can safely say my phone isn't faulty. Because the sensation is bootlocked no radio drivers can be flashed to get a better signal that's why I'm testing on my desire. Anything I post on here is for the benefit of everyone who is in the same situation. I've come to the conclusion that this could be a Vodafone problem and how its signal deals with 3g on the HTC phones.
[HTC Sensation] charmz2k2:
I tried this just now and so far so good :)
[HTC Sensation] giorgisp:
On my Desire, I have always had 3-4 bars of 3G/H at most places. Btw, in Greece we have very good signal everywhere. I hope it's a problem that has to do with vodafone so I can still enjoy good reception with the Sensation I'll get soon.
[HTC Sensation] wouwout:
I'm using the Sensation on Vodafone in the Netherlands, reception is excellent. Better than my SGS!
[HTC Sensation] giorgisp:
So, it's certainly something with Vodafone UK. Glad to hear that.
[HTC Sensation] paulswift36:
Sorry about the Desire comments guys, I do see your point. Now that HTC have agreed to unlock the phones at some point in the future we may get new radios that we can actually flash.

Same as everyone else here, I can't categorically say its a poor phone or that Vodafone are at fault but the combination seems to struggle. I had a good signal all evening in the place where it usually dies. Has anyone noticed the signal degrade when you pick up the phone?
[HTC Sensation] paulswift36:
Been out and about today and had no signal far more than I had singal and that was compared to my wife's Desire (I know I know) which had plenty of signal. I am totally fed up with this phone and Vodafone now so I am really considering just going back to O2 and some other phone until the Sensation has these issues fixed.:mad:
[HTC Sensation] paulswift36:
Ok one thing I have noticed today and considered early on. I have a flexiskin rubber case and when I take this off the signal comes on. Put it on and it dies. Now I saw this when I first go the skin (1 day after I had the phone) but dismissed it because it's rubber, it should not affect the radio signal but currently, AND I HAVE TO SAY CURRENTLY it appears that taking it off fixes my signal issues. I will try this all day tomorrow of course but I have the phone now where it never gets or had a signal before and its fine...

Anyone else try this please
[HTC Sensation] Phil750123:
My sure signal has massivly improved my signal - get it full not dropping all over the house -

Out of interest - i actually get better signal at my gf's house then

i did with orange or t-mobile - which again makes me aim towards vodafone

and not the phone.
[HTC Sensation] nirvana2506:
Can someone test gps with rubber case and without case, please? I read on the galaxy s2 thread that some guys had problems with gps and rubber case on theirs phones..
[HTC Sensation] charmz2k2:
Hi Guys!

I went to the Vodafone store today and they mentioned that another person had gone in complaining about the awful reception...

I asked for a new sim card.

I noticed that the one that came with the phone was one of the new types with a small chip on it, and the one that the girl in the store gave me had a bigger chip on it.

I put the sim in and immediately better reception AND sound quality!

I'm sitting right now in a place where I always lost signal every 2 mins and right now there are full bars!

The weather is horrible outside, so one would think it would be more difficult to catch signal, but this new (old style) sim with the larger chip is doing much better!

Try asking for the normal sim, rather than the micro-sim they give with it and hopefully you'll find the same result!
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
Sorry to be a pain but could you take a picture of your sim as I'm sure I got a normal big one.
[HTC Sensation] charmz2k2:
Left SIM is the Old style sim - big chip which gives full signal and hasn't dropped since I put it in

Right SIM is the New style sim - small chip which keeps dropping signal
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
thanks. I can confirm i have the normal sim.
[HTC Sensation] paulswift36:
I wonder if this was just a sim fault though as I've found a number of places where people said a new sim fixed the problem, like the old sim was faults in some way. It wont make any difference to how the phone performs.

No rubber case on mine for several hours and I have signal. Need to test out of the house.

Oh yes, If you have a Sure Signal of course its going to be good but it wont help out and about.
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
Time to make a video of the 3g signal.

Im Gonna do a video and upload tonight this whole Sensation 3g saga. Im gonna use my HTC Desire and My HTC Sensation with Both my T-Mobile Sim and my Vodafone sim. It would be of benefit if others could post videos too. if you have 2 vodafone sims and one works better than the other it would be good to see. Also if anyone has a non htc phone that has 3g it would be great to see what happens with the same vodafone sim.I have 2 other HTC phones i want to try but they are windows mobile..this could just be a HTC/Vodafone problem but dont know until its tested.The more info we get on this the better for all sensation users.
[HTC Sensation] Phil750123:
Thats a good find charm -

I can confirm im on the new sim card and having the signal drop issue -

Maybe if we get enough people to say what sim there on and how

the signal is we can question vodafone!
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
yeah that too lol

The sooner we get a fix on this the better. It would look better on Vodafone if they acted on it themselves
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
yeah that too lol

The sooner we get a fix on this the better. It would look better on Vodafone if they acted on it themselves.
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
Hi guys. Took a while to get a device that could focus while doing video. But managed to upload this video of my 3G signal on vodafone. Hope it helps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i00ihsXXYCo&feature=youtube_gdata_player
[HTC Sensation] boostedb16b:
off topic... but ya nice pon de mixing my yout... i also dj and do mixes but more reggae but bless up... back on topic seen that vid b4 you posted here
[HTC Sensation] Dominikm:
First, sorry for my english.

I have some ideas for you because i see many misunderstanding of reception and networks problem.

If you want to check and compare quality of phone reception you have to do it with some app which shows BTS id. So download app from market (there are many, for example Netmonitor by Pariziene (not my app)). Put two phones to compare close each other, start app make sure there are the same numbers of LAC and CID and PSC. Then you see level of signal in dB - (-103dBm is much worse then -89dBm, for example). This is real comparison of reception.

I also disagree that is network (Vodafone in UK as I see) problem, also disagree that things like "Sure Signal" are resoleing problem - you may have ok signal in home but there are so many places of weak network signal in the world where any other phone will work and your Sensation will be dead...

I also planned to buy Sensation but now I changed my mind.
[HTC Sensation] orangestrawberry:
Can someone help me out by posting your phone settings. I have had very wild reception apart from at home using sure signal which is brilliant.

My phone was flickering between h and g in city centres which should have awesome hspsa.

I went to phone menu and changed to gsm auto. Have been out of house now for couple of hours and phone hasn't jumped off h at all.

Even if I go back to wcmda preffered, phone keeps signal at h and appears stable.

Here is the thing. Please go to phone menu and look at list above the radio selection and see if gsm and gprs are in service and connected.

I can't remember what mine said before I tried changed settings but I think the gprs was not connected.

Could this be how the phone registers to the voda network rather than problem with the phone? I.e. whilst out the phone re-registered with correct settings.

From the phone
[HTC Sensation] orangestrawberry:
Forgot to add that my network type is hsdpa in that list too
[HTC Sensation] orangestrawberry:
I have just tried to play with network setting from mobile networks menu and can confirm that the settings all work for switching between 3g and 2 g without a hitch. Phone is still accessing h on demand with no crazy flucuations
[HTC Sensation] paulswift36:
Are you saying that you think the Sensation has poor reception in general? Why have you decided not to buy one?
[HTC Sensation] Dominikm:
I need good reception phone. This most important for me. If there are so many people with such problems, its better choose different phone - SE Xperia Arc, in my case.
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
@Dominikm

The fact of the matter is that until someone can give us a proper reason to the problem we as end users are left to sort this out ourselves. You are right about sure signal. It just boosts the signal at home. It's like a wifi booster.
[HTC Sensation] epsix:
Very interesting read... I'll make sure ill test everything out before bringing it home.
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
Haha thanks for the blessings. Thanks also for letting me know you seen the video. I got to bed real late uploading to find some peeps already seen it before i posted on here makes. Hope this helps.
[HTC Sensation] charmz2k2:
Hi guys,

just an update with my SIM card finding...

I've lost signal once since I changed the sim card to the larger chip (old style).

Compare this to losing signal every 5 minutes with the sim card that came with the phone (the newer style micro sim, I think), I'm happy with the phone now.

Only issue I have now is that it has a relatively weak GPS reception - off topic!
[HTC Sensation] samnada:
First I've heard of this complaint on the Sensation. Any chance you can elaborate in a GPS thread? Thanks.
[HTC Sensation] Phil750123:
As a interesting side note -

I actually get better signal at my gfs house then i did with orange or t-mobile!

stable full signal!

might email voda cs and get them to send me a new old style sim card though.
[HTC Sensation] Maedhros:
Hi..

Some bad reception may be due to Aluminum body design.

Compare reception with Desire HD. Either Body deisgn is bad or Antena is bad. Im guessing Body since many have issues with WiFi.

No matter what Sim Card you have... Signal should be same.

Do not look at the Bars on phone... They are useless. Download app from Market and compare.
[HTC Sensation] Dominikm:
And don't compare diffrent network. You should compare signal from the same network, frome the same base station (BTS). You can live 100m from Orange BTS, 250m from T-mobile and 1km from Vodafone so these comparisons are useless. And you should use app from market.
[HTC Sensation] Dominikm:
Sensation has a new antennas design - there are build in back cover (plastic parts) and connect to body via gold pins - in theory good idea and HTC thought it will be better but it is not as I see.
[HTC Sensation] paulswift36:
Well after 3 days of testing this with the rubber case on and off, for me, this was the issue. With no case on I get a good stable signal almost everywhere I go and in the bad spot in my house. Don't understand why it should cause an issue but does so over to a leather case now. My advice is do not put a rubber, flexiskin, type case on this phone, they work okay on others but not this phone and not on Vodafone.
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
On a personal note I have come to the conclusion that my vodafone network is poor at work and home. Unless people can prove me otherwise. Done all the checks I know. Even checked masts in the area and the nearest vodafone.
[HTC Sensation] Maedhros:
Compare reception between desire hd and sensation. Desire hd is better
[HTC Sensation] override182:
Different for me, Sensation has better reception, wifi signals n packets plus faster gps lock with better accuracy compared to my desire hd
[HTC Sensation] Dominikm:
And now:

http://www.gsmarena.com/htc_sensati...grip_iphone_4_caught_snickering-news-2742.php
[HTC Sensation] PartyMango:
They are talking about possible bluetooth and WiFi-antenna attenuation. Of course, the issue is (again) overblown - practically every phone has a "deathgrip". Just Google Galaxy S deathgrip, or Nexus One deathgrip as examples.

The Sensations WiFi/bluetooth "deathgrip" seems particularly uncomfortable, nobody holds a phone like that.
[HTC Sensation] agent.m:
Report to Vodafone eForum

Hey Guys

The moderator on the Vodafone Uk has asked for people who having same issues to report it......

"Hi all

As yet we don’t have enough examples of this issue to raise a fault to our device team.

We do need a minimum of ten Vodafone customers and also full details of their firmware versions before we can do this. I also have a Vodafone branded Sensation and haven’t encountered any issues with loss or drop in signal, and it’s not a widespread issue that’s been discussed throughout this eForum as yet.

So if anyone is suffering this issue on their Sensation, please add your firmware details to this thread, and we can raise this for further investigation once we have the required number. To get your firmware version:

Select Settings > About Phone > Software Information – then make a note of the number under Software number in my case 1.27.161.1

Let me know if you’ve any further questions.

Regards

Trev

eForum Team"

Speaks for itself

﻿
[HTC Sensation] Maedhros:
FYI... this will be an issue with all Sensations. Not only Vodophone.

It is not possible that one network with equal coverage should have different reception on the same phone.
[HTC Sensation] jerrylzy:
When I using DHD with sense 3.0 lockscreen,camera,weather,mms and so on, the phone sometimes automatically reboot,,It seems that it's sense 3.0's issue
[HTC Sensation] bcpk:
Not having any mobile network reception issues. Not sure about wifi but Bluetooth worked fine for printing from a photo kiosk. Can anyone suggest some good applications for measuring wifi and GSM signal strength?
[HTC Sensation] samnada:
Wifi Analyzer.

Don't know about GSM.
[HTC Sensation] Dominikm:
Netmonitor for GSM. The best.
[HTC Sensation] mariusares:
hi,

last post was on 6th jume

should i understand the HTC Sensation dont have a signal problem anymore?

someone return it to the manufacturer?

someone had a fix for it or so?

its a fault unit the signal problems?

its our fault buying Sensation?

trust me i cannot find an solution for this ....

my Sensation is returned to Vodafone today for low signal rates on areas where other phones have signal

if anyone know anythink please lets me know

best regards
[HTC Sensation] Bolx:
My Sensation worked fine with Vodafone germany. But without changing anything (Kept the Stock radio but used Android Revolution HD Rom) my reception was totally gone from one day to another. So I changed the radios, but no effect. I reverted anything back to stock: still no reception.

Most of the day zero reception indoors. 1-2 bars outside but only on 2G.

Changing the SIM-Card seems useless, i put another one of my friend in the sensation. He had full bars with his phone, with the Sensation zero to one bar. So it´s definitly not the SIM but the phone.

I´m returning the Sensation, even if I like the Sense UI and the build Quality. But the reception and the poor soundquality renders it useless for my needs: Navigation: low speaker volume makes it impossible to understand the voice while on the highway; Work: I use my phone phone for work and 50% dropped calls is not tollerable.

I´m sad, that it turned out that the main apects of a phone doesn´t work as intended. Maybe another HTC will be released, which put the focus on these things.
[HTC Sensation] preficks:
I recently bought the Incipio rubber case for the Sensation and installed it this past Monday. With the case on the phone I still have 4 bars / full cell reception, so I can't confirm your report (T-Mo USA). However, starting Thursday I began to have cell reception issues. It does not occur during the day, when the phone is being moved around, used for calls, texts, and emails, etc.. However, when the phone sits still for 5-6 hours overnight while I sleep, when I wake up in the morning, there are 0 bars and no way to restore the signal except to restart the phone.

I'm 7 days from my return deadline, so I need to figure out if it's the phone at fault (though the problem only began 2 weeks after I got the phone). It's also weird that it didn't begin the morning after installing the Incipio.. It began approx 3 days later.

I'm going to test the phone during the day today, without the case on it, and I will leave the case off overnight tonight and see if the problem reoccurs. One thing I'm considering is that the hard-to-press power button on the Incipio may be causing the back panel of the phone to warp just enough to have weakened the antenna connection against the phone, though I'm not sure that would explain why it only happens when the phone is sitting still for long periods, but not during the day when it's being moved around a lot. I'll test by bending the antennae slightly outward to create a more firm contact.

Sorry for the long post.

EDIT: Should have included, this has happened every morning now from Thurs to Sun.
[HTC Sensation] w9ndu:
OK if you ask me HTC sensation is bad phone I'm in Chicago t-mobile

I have all HTC phone in the past.

Sound sucks speaker in back of phone sucks I need to look at my phone not hear sound from back.

Battery is very bad . I order a new 2500 mha waiting for it to come in mail. Htc really screwed up on this phone. If someone can help let me know. And also my LG G2x sucks. Will sell them and go back to a unlocked iPhone on T-Mobile.

W9ndu@aol.com
[HTC Sensation] Bolx:
For me, it clearly turns out to be the phone after I swapped the Sim-Cards. Both cards had full reception in the other phone and poor reception in the Sensation.

I checked the antenna-pins, but they push firmly against the cover, as i could see by the tiny scratchmarks the leave. I bend them a little bit and cleaned them to be sure, but no change in reception.