Samsung Galaxy S Series

[jayc1980]

Well phoned vodafone to send me a pre paid package to send my phone back, not going into town just to hand my phone in!! Plus delivered back to my foot....eventually!!

Only had this phone less than 2 weeks and now it goes back....eventually they will get the idea as it is now going to keep going back!!

However on a side note, very plea sent cs agent, as usual, only ever had 1 rude person to speak to at vodafone, so can't and won't complain about that side....but repair team
...you will have a letter to read to go with my phone and if you still do a software update I will plug your male organs into the bloody computers

[Dave]

Hi jayc1980,

Glad to hear that you got the envelope sorted. Let us know how you get on with this.

Dave

[ajpd]

Yes Dave -- congratulations to Vodafone for posting an envelope to someone who's so fed up with their phone they are going to return it.

Meantime, can we have a progress report on the fact that we cant get 3G properly - what action has the tech team taken, have they identified the problem occuring, does it happen on all or some phones?

Thank you

[Dave]

Hi guys,

Our technical teams have been working to investigate this, but have advised that this is proving hard to pin down as they are unable to duplicate it on test Samsung GS2 handsets. 

As was originally advised to them, this thread has a number of people describing different situations, not least JayC1980's recent test:

 - Using/ not using ICS

 - Resolved by/not resolved by ICS

 - Using Vodafone/alternate networks 

 - In a small number of cases, using different handsets

To help them get to the bottom of this for you all, they have asked me to pull together some specific information from affected users. Whilst I appreciate that some people have provided part of this in this thread, to help with investigation we need to confirm all of this so please can I get affected users to post the following details in full for me:

 - Model of phone

 - Firmware version

 - Specific affected postcode(s)

 - Can you recreate the issue easily?

 - Would you be willing to work with our technical teams directly to help identify the issue, for instance providing your details so we can track the progress of any traffic from your device or downloading an app to let us monitor the cell usage?

Also, can you confirm if you have tried backing up and performing a factory reset of the handset, then tested without any apps installed to ensure that there is nothing which could affect the firmware on the device? If so, can you confirm if this worked?

We are working to get this sorted, but we need this information to take this further.

-----------------------------------

ajpd - Going by jayc1980's post, this return was for a handset swap, so I was responding specifically to letting us know if the new handset was affected. Apologies for any misunderstanding.

Dave

[ajpd]

Hello

First of all I am amazed and hugely disappointed that you are doing the classic stall and putting this back to us. We have given you a huge amount of info and provided numerous links about it - you have enough data points.to see the problem. What more do you need compared to what we have given? Classic IT fob off!

Here is another link albeit in a different country http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1714413

I spoke to Vodafone ages ago about this and after a great deal of effort got through to a woman in a high tier postition in technical support who before I had even finished speaking to her had described the issue in detail. She said Voda & Samsung were aware of it and working on a fix. She took me number so that if they had further queries or if they needed me to do any further tests etc although she did not get back to me. She was very much aware of the put it into & out of flight mode to unstick it solution & suggested it to me.

Surely you can locate this team within your own organisation ?????

OK, the rest - -although this is all available to you so stop stalling (like my 3g does!) and get on with it!

- Model of phone ERRRRRR - SAMSUNG GALAXY S2!!!!!!

- Firmware version 4.0.3 ICS (unbranded phone just updated with KIES). Also did it with the last version Gingerbread I has (I think it was 2.4 before the ICS update)

- Specific affected postcode(s) Mostly on the train travelling - SW16 SE1 W1 WC! SE24 - and wherever else the circumstances below apply......

- Can you recreate the issue easily? Yes

IMPORTANT YOU UNDERSTAND THIS AND EXPLAIN TO YOUR TECH TEAM

On Gingerbread, the problem was where there was a 3G network available and H and H+available AS WELL.. If the phone dropped down to 3G it would sit there frozen on the data with the up arrow lit until either you disconnect / reconnect by putting inti flight mode then out of it - or the H+ becomes available. It seems that it is only a problem when it DROPS DOWN TO 3G - if ONLY a 3G signal is available it is ok (which is why some forums have suggesrted disabling H/H+ in the service menu, to stop this happening). It is for this reason that it is so bad on a train as it gets stuck as the signal varies. In Gingerbread, the idling data connection icon shows "3" until it gets H or H+.... it is the 3 that it usually sticks on. IIt takes H+ to unstick it. The link I provided above expalins this in great detail.

I will try it on ICS - it still sticks but it slightly different - will advise details - it sometimes idles on H though I think.

- Would you be willing to work with our technical teams directly to help identify the issue, for instance providing your details so we can track the progress of any traffic from your device or downloading an app to let us monitor the cell usage? YES

Also, can you confirm if you have tried backing up and performing a factory reset of the handset, then tested without any apps installed to ensure that there is nothing which could affect the firmware on the device? If so, can you confirm if this worked?

Not done this and not going to mess up my phone - but as above, send me a test phone and this will nail it once and for all!

Regards

[ajpd]

Support - Private me and I will give you my telephone no. - will happily talk to you or tech people.

If they want to send me a test SGS2 I will put my sim in it and this will resolve it once and for all - see if it is the phone or the network.

You can charge me a £500 deposit on my credit card for its safe return - no problem

Happy for one of you to come to me in London and I will show you the problem.!!!

Goodwill gesture appriate to all of us trying to resolve this?

AJPD

[Dave]

Hi ajpd,

Sorry if you feel that this is stalling. As mentioned, we had much of the information from many people but very few cases of all of it, so we needed to get the full details from as many customers as possible to help with the resolution. As mentioned as well, we're clarifying the handset simply because a couple of customers have said they've had something similar on other handsets, so we need to be sure what we're testing is correct for those.

I certainly appreciate that you personally have been providing a great deal information to help us with this, for which we are grateful, and I'm popping you a PM now so that we can get your details to our technical team.

Dave

[ajpd]

Many thanks - I have purchased a 3 data sim just for resolving this issue and will report on it when it comes to see if it makes any difference.

You havent said if you will be providing a goodwill gesture and if you have any luck in tracing this matter within Vodafone because I can assure you this is something parts of your technical team are well aware.

I think a quick Google plus all the links I have provided will confirm this isnt that limited - oerhaps people's understanding / complaining about it is.

I think that it is a combination of Voda's network (not only in the UK) and the Samsung modem firmware.

I will be sorry to leave Voda but when I buy a new S3 in a month I will be off to Three if their SIM works and yours continues as it currently is

[heatherburke]

Oh I am fuming now.
How can the tech team not know enough. I've been emailing, phoning, tweeting constantly about this issue.
I'm obviously not the only one either!!!
Grrrrr.
I've attached screen capture of phone info.
FYI sim has same issue in Samsung tocco ultra.
Galaxy been sent for fix, came back with same issue.
Full restore done, no change in issue.
H works through sure signal.

I have been trying to get in touch with the team dealing with this ,so I would gladly make myself available to help in any way possible to get this matter sorted.

Any other info needed?

H.

[Adamjk]

Slight improvement yesterday. H was working for me (before H+ was working and nothing else) for the first time in quite a while.  It never dropped to 3g so I couldn't test whether everything was working but I'll keep an eye on things this week to see if it's fixed itself

[DaveCD]

Hi heatherburke

Thank you for your post and I am sorry to see the frustration that this has caused you.

I will pass this information on to our support team and will post back should any further information be required.

Hi Adamjk

Thank you for your post and this looks positive, please keep us updated.

Many Thanks

DaveCD

eForum Team

[philip_wong852]

 - Model of phone - Galaxy s2

 - Firmware version 2.3.5 I9100BUKI1 

 - Specific affected postcode(s) DH1, DH2. DH3, NE1, NE2, NE3, NE11, NE16, NE21, NE15, NE13, SA1. SA2, SA13, CF3, CF10 Basically Everywhere?

 - Can you recreate the issue easily?

It's not recreate, it's there all the time. 

[ajpd]

Adam jk are you London area as i noticed same thing today.
on bus today in SW 2 SW 16 and it was also OK on h where it is normally a problem. H+ where available was fine as ever. Maybe better contention today as bank holiday?

[thespudman]

I have some interesting findings re this issue that seems to point towards a problem with the Vodafone network rather than the handset itself.

I have recently got back from a Holiday in Turkey where i used a friends Turkish sim card on Vodafone TR and experienced no problems with H or 3G at all.

Also on the way back from Manchester airport to Leeds in the car i tested the data connectivity.

In areas where a cell tower was not H+ enabled i was able to load pages on H fine. Also in areas where i was only able to obtain 3G or E or G connections pages loaded fine.

Now I am back home (I live very close to a H+ enabled cell tower) LS103 i am experiencing problems once more. The connection Constantly switches from H to 3g to H+ and it is only when i acvieve a H+ connection that pages will load. But the data connectivity lights flash when it it is trying 3G and H.

It is strange that now I come to think of it the data connectivity problems all started when my tower started using H+ rather than just H

All fingers do seem to point towards a authentication issue and the reason that other handsets may not be experiencing the problem is there arent a great deal of handsets supporting H+

EDIT - Just to confirm I am using the latest ICS Vodafone firmware

[ajpd]

@the spudman
100 right excellent post. Its like if it knows. H+ is around it won't. Allow less otherwise its fine

[Adamjk]

@ajpd - No, I'm in the Manchester area, although I was in Warrington when I noticed that it had started working again.  Seems to have carried over into today so far at work in Manchester city centre.  Still not seen it drop below H so no chances to check it on 3g as of yet.

[NeoBlade]

Out of interest, how long have you guys have had your SIM card? On some handsets they require a replacement SIM due to differences in the SIM itself to fully function. Its a tad left-field but if Vodafone are willing to replace the SIM for you, it wouldn't hurt to try?

[ajpd]

Had it ages. Happy to try another if Vodafone send me one to try

[NeoBlade]

I vaguely remember it being an issue on some support forums that I frequent. Worth a try though if Vodafone are willing to give it a go. Keep us posted!

[jayc1980]

My phone has gone back as of Saturday, again, only had the new phone 2 weeks nearly. But if this is the only way I can get them to look into the problem then so be it!! I have sent a letter with it for the repaid team so it does not just have a softwareupgrade, maybe actually turning on the phone and testing!!!

I don't know the issues, but network only, I don't agree!! Why would we have a change in problems moving from gingerbread to ice?? What changed?? Well the modem is one, and not only, and that could be affecting data on this network.

I have also received good imformation , but I can't vouch for it, that Samsung ARE aware that this problem exists and that its a problem with set handsets?? Anybody spoke to Samsung and managed to get them to say anything along these lines?

Neoblade, that is a very common fix for many network errors (despite what I say next I strongly suggest ALL to try this first, ring 191 or pop into a vodafone store and get a new sum card), but I have now had 3 new sum pards, problem still exists, I know others have changed theirs and the problem still maintains!

Let's just hope something is sorted soon!!