Bad reception with N9 + more problems

[F2thaK]

Hi all,

since Ive got my N9 its had terrible reception. Almost every call Ive made or taken has dropped out within 10 or so seconds. REALLY annoying!!

I changed phone carriers today to which made no difference.

Im in the process of clearing the device to see what happens.

Would like to know if anyone else has had problems with reception???

Thanks,
F2K.

[salyavin]

I do not experience call quality nearly as bad as you do but I would say I feel the N9 does not get quite as good reception as my N900. I hear the wifi is weaker too but I have yet to try it.

[perus]

Hi all,

since Ive got my N9 its had terrible reception. Almost every call Ive made or taken has dropped out within 10 or so seconds. REALLY annoying!!

I changed phone carriers today to which made no difference.

Im in the process of clearing the device to see what happens.

Would like to know if anyone else has had problems with reception???

Thanks,
F2K.

Hi!

My experience is not as bad as in your example but it seems that as long you don't hold the phone in your hands (irony here;) the reception is good and on par with the N900 or the N8.
I've compared some phones on a location where the coverage is pretty weak. The result is a bit disappointing when you hold the N9 in your hand as it easily drops 3G connectivity where other phones like the N900, N8 and Motorola Defy+ just keep on working on 3G and the same carrier.

/Per

[tissot]

Ok that's wierd. On my work place where my ip4 gets barely edge and GS get good EDGE connection my N9 is pulling HSDPA with half of the bars and no dropped calls, something that ip4 did, didn't happen on GS.

That's in Finland using Elisa's network.

[F2thaK]

so its like an iphone 4? you cant hold it??

Im on Telstras Next G network as of today, which has the best coverage in Aus. No improvement.

[F2thaK]

okay im having more probs with my N9 :mad:

cleared device, which took some time. but I had to manually turn the phone back on afterwards. wasnt sure if that was normal, so cleared it again. same thing... now, Im trying to restore my backup but when I plug it into PC via USB, when I select "mass storage" phone says "mass storage in use".. tried rebooting, but same error!!!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

seriously, this is really f..king me off! regretting buying this thing!

[jalyst]

Hi all,

since Ive got my N9 its had terrible reception. Almost every call Ive made or taken has dropped out within 10 or so seconds. REALLY annoying!!

I changed phone carriers today to which made no difference.

Im in the process of clearing the device to see what happens.

Would like to know if anyone else has had problems with reception???

Thanks,
F2K.

Can you please add your cellular/gps reception experiences to this thread
How good is the N9's cellular/gps reception compared to others? (http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=78534)

[F2thaK]

i would but im not yet sure its a problem with the phone

[F2thaK]

apparently after clearing phone it turns itself back on. cleared mine 3 times and it hasnt turned back on once

[jalyst]

Have you waited....
I believe it takes quite a while e.g. approx 15min+

[F2thaK]

yes, waited..

[ifox]

I am in Chicago and the suburbs and I get nothing but great signal. While in my hand or otherwise I am getting very fast page loads and have not dropped any calls. I cant say that about my Phone 4S. I am on ATT and the 3.5 is in blue.

X-

[warrentaye]

you need to wait, it takes a long time.

[shamrock]

yes, waited..

Took me about 30 min after i hit the reset button, it will turn on and off for about 15 min and after that it will show a clockvise arrow for about 15 min and after that it will shut down.

And for the reception problem, it looks like a software issue or hardware issue for those who are having problems, because here in europe the operators are using the N9 as a reference phone for the strong antenna (there calling it the super antenna), when ALL other phones DROPS from 3g in weak signal spots e.g woods etc, the N9 STILL haves a strong signal, so if a reset doesent help I would return the device.

[solatic]

Los Angeles, California here on AT&T - nothing but great signal. I've gone deep into the computer labs here where most phones get no signal, but the N9 has 3 bars pretty consistently.

WiFi is a different matter and sometimes the signal seems to be a little weak, but I am comparing it to a Lenovo laptop with a more powerful antenna encased above the screen, so maybe that's it. I think improvements to WiFi reception are supposed to be part of PR 1.1 though.

[gerbick]

While driving around today, I experienced some bad coverage in areas I've always had great coverage. This was the first time I've seen this in a week.

[F2thaK]

Took me about 30 min after i hit the reset button, it will turn on and off for about 15 min and after that it will show a clockvise arrow for about 15 min and after that it will shut down.

i left my N9 for over 40 mins and it didnt turn back on. when I turned it on manually it has been cleared though.

[cohbashi84]

I have terrible reception in my house and drop calls constantly. I notice i get almost full bars if i hold the n9 upsidedown and by the four corners with my fingers. Obviously, this is an huge inconvenience in terms of usability in my home. To be fair, i always had low bars with the n900 but rarely dropped calls. It could be t-mobile's fault, as I have yet to try an at&t micro sim. BTW, i have a chinese 64gb n9 v10.2011.34-1_pr_005. I'm hoping it's a fix away by means of upcoming update.

[Arie]

I'm on T-mobile and can vouch for reception in many cities...
San Francisco - Great
Los Angeles - Great
San Diego - Great
Las Vegas - Great
New York - Great
Washington DC - Great
Orlando - Great
Miami - Great

I have no complaints about this phone, reception wise.

[Arie]

I have terrible reception in my house and drop calls constantly. I notice i get almost full bars if i hold the n9 upsidedown and by the four corners with my fingers. Obviously, this is an huge inconvenience in terms of usability in my home. To be fair, i always had low bars with the n900 but rarely dropped calls. It could be t-mobile's fault, as I have yet to try an at&t micro sim. BTW, i have a chinese 64gb n9 v10.2011.34-1_pr_005. I'm hoping it's a fix away by means of upcoming update.

If you're in the hills yes... if you're in the city, then no the reception is awesome... In LA reception gets dodgy wherever in the hills you end up...

[dymaxion]

I have bad WiFi reception with PR1.0, in my bedroom I get near zero bars and often drops the connection or just says connected but downloads fail part way through. My Sony Experia Arc shows low reception in same location side by side, however doesn't drop, and also manages a little better than the N9.

So much for the RF transparent polycarbonate... not sure if my unit has a problem with it's WiFi antenna because it seems that it's worse than the Sony Arc. Anyone else have this problem?

[marrat]

Yes, with PR1.0 my Wi-Fi reception was also worse than with other phones and at work it had massive problems with the proxy setting (sometimes 2 or 3 reloads needed for actually loading a webpage).

Now with PR1.1 it's way better, also proxy stuff working like a charm.

[Grazy]

With mine i notice fluctuation in the signal but no problems otherwise! i'm sure previous phones always had a stable bar reading? hoping the update will help if i ever get it!

[rexii23]

I'm also noticing reception issues. This is especially evident in weak signal area inside my work building. 3G seem to affect much more than 2G. Holding the phone differently affects the signal different. If i leave it phone flat without touching it, i constantly get 4-5 bars of signal. holding it in my hands in different ways I can make it drop down to 1 bar. as soon as i place the phone back on the table, signal shoots up again.

[Dockman]

My only reception problem is that sometimes when I'm using the net, especially when I have the hotspot app on, it will intermittantly drop all internet connection, and then come back in a couple of minutes. Anyone else getting this?

[jalyst]

rexii23 & Dockman,
Make clear which PR you're using: 1.0 or 1.1.

[ZackMorris]

Using 1.1 And my wifi absolutely horrible, extremely weak. Phone antenna however its fantastic, thank God I have unlimited non throttled data because I don't even bother with wifi anymore.

[jalyst]

it's weird because many have reported improved wifi since 1.1
Have your tried a full reset, or a full reflash even & then reset/reboot?

[Dockman]

Oh, sorry. PR 1.1 now, but it was probably slightly worse with PR 1.0..

[ZackMorris]

it's weird because many have reported improved wifi since 1.1
Have your tried a full reset, or a full reflash even & then reset/reboot?

Yeah I reflashed fully to 1.1 to debrand starhub and have reset many times, maybe will try a reflash to a different firmware version.

[jalyst]

Not even to a different fw version should be necessary, just a total re-flash.
I've def. noticed that some users have had some issues go away after that.
All i can think is that some stuff's been corrupted in the process.

[rexii23]

rexii23 & Dockman,
Make clear which PR you're using: 1.0 or 1.1.

My bad. im on PR1.1 I always run the latest firmware with all my gear so i didnt even think about it =p

one of the reason could be that i never used 3G at work with my n900 so its not a direct comparison. however, the signal loss when holding the phone is very real and its especially evident in slightly weaker signal spots.

[jalyst]

With a weak enough reception, this is possible to achieve w/any phone.
It's not comparable to the iPhone4 issue...

[rexii23]

With a weak enough reception, this is possible to achieve w/any phone.
It's not comparable to the iPhone4 issue...

This is more noticable than my N900. Testing it around the house and in the same spot with a slightly lower signal, N900 gets 3 bars constantly no matter which way I hold it or how I cover the phone. with the N9, If I cover the bottom of the phone where the antenna is, signal goes down from 4bars down to 2, as soon as I release my hand, it shoots back up.

I'll do a comparison with the N900 in my office tomorrow and shoot a video of it. If it is my phone I can still swap it from the shop.

[jalyst]

Thanks for sharing. Can you please post your findings here
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=78534
I will be doing the same testing against my N900 when I have my N9.
I suspect the latter will be better, "overall"...

[Dockman]

OK I've partially corrected my issue.
By going into the settings and setting my Mobile data access point as "Use Automatically", I now have few issues (touch wood) with using the data when I'm out and about.
However, the problems come back with a vengance when I'm using it as a mobile hotspot. Frequently, it drops the mobile internet connection, leaving both the phone and the computer without a connection to the internet. This is hugely annoying. It will be like this for 5-10 minutes, and then come back. And then drop out again later on.
Anyone with any ideas? PR1.1, power saving set to off.

[jalyst]

OK I've partially corrected my issue.
By going into the settings and setting my Mobile data access point as "Use Automatically", I now have few issues (touch wood) with using the data when I'm out and about.
However, the problems come back with a vengance when I'm using it as a mobile hotspot. Frequently, it drops the mobile internet connection, leaving both the phone and the computer without a connection to the internet. This is hugely annoying. It will be like this for 5-10 minutes, and then come back. And then drop out again later on.
Anyone with any ideas? PR1.1, power saving set to off.

If folks can post their findings here it'd be better, but if you'd rather not, that's fine
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=78534
You've already tried the whole full reset & re-flash thing right?

If you can reproduce this, it would be great if you could report it.
Of course search the bug tracker 1st, to ensure there isn't already the same issue logged.
Once reported they'll step you through what can be tried, & what info to gather.
Might also be handy to mention it in the bug-tracker thread, to get others interested in voting.

[rexii23]

N900 vs N9 in the office. Sorry about the poor video quality.
Both the n900 and n9 showed a drop in signal quality when I held it. The signal is not too great in my spot.

The N9 signal is much more variable, going from full bars 3G to zero and then dropping down to 2G. If I leave the phone on the table, signal shoots straight up again. It is also much more noticeable in portrait position with 2 hands when messaging, since the hand naturally covers the antenna.

This is not a huge problem when loading webpages, but with services such as msn, this instability causes frequent sign-ins and sign-outs. It's fine if I leave it on the table, but as soon as I go answer a message, I'm likely to get signed out.


I don't recall having this issue when using pidgin on my N900 either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvnUaPUNC6o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyJfI-P4fu8

[irfan18m]

True i agree .. mine took more than 20mins when i cleared the device i was patient. Hwoever i lost all my preinstalled wallpapers, videos and songs .. any idea how to get em back ?

[flof]

True i agree .. mine took more than 20mins when i cleared the device i was patient. Hwoever i lost all my preinstalled wallpapers, videos and songs .. any idea how to get em back ?

n9fanclub.com has them.

EDIT: http://www.n9fanclub.com/2011/11/recover-default-pre-loaded-content-of.html

[zero.vishnu]

Hi all,

since Ive got my N9 its had terrible reception. Almost every call Ive made or taken has dropped out within 10 or so seconds. REALLY annoying!!

I changed phone carriers today to which made no difference.

Im in the process of clearing the device to see what happens.

Would like to know if anyone else has had problems with reception???

Thanks,
F2K.

Hi,

May I suggest you to remove the silicon case that you (might) be using? I had bad reception too till I removed it.

The phone seems to suffer from some kind of resonance effect due to the polycarbonate unibody construction.

[pycage]

This is quite interesting because usually the N9 is regarded as the phone with the best reception thanks to its polycarbonate unibody.
I don't think that's true, though. I think it's quite on par with the N900, maybe slightly better, but not much.

[irfan18m]

thanks flof

[irfan18m]

thanx flof

[Jordi]

At work, we have a special office which need to be protected against electromagnetic fields as we have huge power machine nearby. In this room, thers is only a few phone which still work ... from time to time. One of them is my old Nokia E52 and the N9 is the one who gives the best results.

[jalyst]

This is quite interesting because usually the N9 is regarded as the phone with the best reception thanks to its polycarbonate unibody.
I don't think that's true, though. I think it's quite on par with the N900, maybe slightly better, but not much.

Yeah it's weird because early on it looked so damn promising
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=1103565#post1103565

I want to see some hard-core technical comparisons/data soon.
Hopefully we can do them in that thread eventually.

Preferably against other makes/models...
Don't really wont to turn it into yet another N900 Vs N9 thing.
But whatever people have to compare is fine.

[pycage]

You don't see much difference between most devices in areas with good receptions, but in fringe areas, I've experienced the following with the N900, the N950, and the N9.

N900 no dropped calls, but occasionally dropped internet connection.

N950 often losing the carrier network completely soon after having touched the device. A useless brick in a fringe area!

N9 no dropped calls, but seldom dropped internet connection. A little better than with N900.

[jalyst]

Thanks! It's prolly gunna differ slightly for everyone....
So we need to get a large no. of people, with info. proving they're getting what they're claiming etc.