Is your phone giving you poor call quality?

[jes]

Is your phone giving you poor call quality?

Mobile networks in South Africa are widely criticized for poor call quality, but handsets are often the culprits

 

[The_MAC]

I agree. I have often driven similar routes, once calling using a feature phone and another time using a smart-phone, often the cheap feature phone can hold the call longer/better than the smart phone. This is not always the case, but I have experienced it a few times. I of coarse will not give up my smartphone, but sometimes wish it was more robust in terms of it's RF reliability.

 

[chrisc]

I had poor voice quality until I bought a Samsung S4. Now it is excellent

 

[I O U]

From my limited understanding of the workings within the Tech industry in SA, if this is the case, are the networks selling phones without ICASA approval ?

If the phones have an ICASA stamp/certification, then the networks should be held accountable for poor call quality - or is the ICASA stamp meaningless ?

(Like the Halal food fiasco where suppliers or at least one of them was simply putting Halal stamps on the boxes of supplies.)

Here are some links to where ICASA's been discussed before regarding confiscation of phones apparently due to them being imports & not conforming to our 'high' standards -

ICASA confiscating cell phones
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/106362-ICASA-confiscating-cell-phones

Who has imported a phone
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/531338-Who-has-imported-a-phone

In all this I have merely one question - if I were to buy either the existing Nexus 7 3G (I think ICASA claim that even the 3G signal is enough to warrant confiscation, never mind making calls on an inferior phone) or the new one, when Incredible Conn. bring it out, would it be subject to confiscation (as I presume it doesn't have the ICASA badge of approval inside) ?

 

[Sonic2k]

As usual... its the phone... Sjoe.it.can.NEVER be the.network

My GSM test tells me.SA networks.suck.. and before people say I am biased..
I have taken it with me overseas... the results speak for themselves

 

[Boris Becker]

the important thing is

 

[Boris Becker]

Sorry, what was I saying? call got dropped

 

[Allin]

I call BS. I was in Aus recently, and my Samsung performed splendidly with a local sim.

The friends I visited are currently in SA, and they bought a Vodacom prepaid sim. They are complaining bitterly about the number of dropped calls they're experiencing using the Galaxy S4 that performs very well in Aus.

 

[Napalm2880]

I've been a CellC subscriber for about 10 yrs now and while I agree, the different phones I've owned have had better/worse call quality that others, my overall impression is that the CellC network in the last 2.5 years has had a much higher no. of call drops/in-call voice degradation than in the past. More significantly the last 12 months have been absolute hell.

 

[Shake&Bake]

But all networks do testing beforehand - so then why are the "problematic handsets" then still sold?

 

[cavedog]

"like simultaneously playing music, giving GPS directions, sending and receiving texts and emails – all while also talking"

Really? People do all those things the same time..... Please aint no one gonna be able to do any data while I you only have EDGE or God forbid GPRS signal......

I get dropped calls on my cheap nokia that doesn't even have a color screen.....

 

[CeeBee]

recently upgraded user in Tom Burke (near Botswana border) with new smartphone, and he complained big time, that the new smartphone doesnt have anywhere near the same signal reception as the basic phone he had. The new Samsung S in many areas not picking up almost any signal in bad areas, where the old Nokia would still show 1 or 2 bars, and able to still make/receive a call.
Sent him a new Nokia Lumia to check if the Nokia will have better signal reception over the Samsung, but he says it too is similarly bad. He contacted Vodacom, and they tune its a curse of the new HSPA+ etc capable smartphones. Even forcing the phone on 2G doesnt really help.
So he just has to bear with the new phone until the signal coverage improves, or be content with old model phone

 

[Creag]

So I must go back to using my trusty old N73 to get better voice quality? :wtf:

 

[CeeBee]

have the same signal issue also with my new Samsung Ativ S phone. My parents in Montana just behind the ridge, near Zambesi/N1 tollgate, they've always had bad signal, on all networks, they use voda and mtn, i tried Cell-C or Telkom, not really much better.... that area falls in a really bad 'blind spot' for cellular coverage. 3yr old Blackberry and dad's old monocrome Nokia still picks up a bar or 2 of signal, able to make & receive calls... but my new Samsung doesnt get a wiff of any signal of any of the networks. I see my daughter's new Nokia Lumia is also quite bad... every now and then able to at least pick up some signal, but still not what the old models are capable of.
So either the older phone's singal meter err on the optimistic side, or the newer models arent as good?
can it be the simcard? new phones with micro sim? I cant imagine it could be the simcard though? surely sim is just for authentication, etc?

 

[Biscuit1018]

I hate unnamed sources "An expert from another mobile operator, who asked not to be named, said that smartphones are to blame"

So an unnamed Staff writer cites an unnamed 'expert' from an unnamed operator?
When journos do that I assume they just made it all up.

 

[SteveO]

It is true, we tested the iphone a few years back. Quite a few standardised parameters and behaviours were not implemented correct causing network issues.
Smart phones also used to channel switch without notifying the network, causing congestion etc. This is mostly taken care of now though, but the operators ended up footing the bill.

 

[EasyUp Web Hosting]

An expert from another mobile operator, who asked not to be named, said that smartphones (especially the iPhone 5) are to blame for many dropped calls or other problems.

Is he a droid fanboy? Of the 3 people at my company with an iPhone 5, I am the only one not experiencing network problems or dropped calls. I won't say MTN is great, but these other oaks with VC, do struggle a lot more than me...

Ask anyone in Middelburg, VC has a very bad reputation in this town...

 

[jannievanzyl]

To put this into perspective;

Recently Aki from 702 did his Cell phone safari, where he drove for hours through the suburbs many people complain about dropped calls. The results were interesting; very few dropped calls across all operators with the longest call (Vodacom) lasting 90 minutes before it dropped.

Why was this different to what most people experience? Two things:

1. The phones were on the dashboard of the car, i.e. Not held against a head in the centre of the car.
2. All other services (data, etc.) were turned off.

 

[genetic]

My HTC Sensation had terrible reception quality - My S3 and S4 proved to be a lot more stable on the same network.

 

[unrealchris]

BS, I had a HTC Desire, worked perfectly in the office and at home on the MTN network with only a dropped call now and again. I took my contract over to CellC and stilled used the old phone, but I had a almost 50% dropped call rate on Cell C. It wasnt the phone as it was still the same phone, it was the network.