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Stuck on EDGE, unable to switch to 3G (E1820 / E1752?)
bdt
Executive Member
A week ago my (HA!) (black) 'speed'stick started flashing a baleful green at me and steadfastly refused to do anything but. So, as I had NO interest in letting this situation stand on what had previously been a perfectly working device I took my life into my hands and, like a wide-eyed innocent lamb being led to the slaughter I called (spit) 'support'.
OK, to be reasonable(ish), on that first call I *did* get a reference number for my issue/complaint from Devashri in the Durban call centre. Note that she solemnly swore to me that I could expect a 24 to 48hr turnaround on the problem ..which is pretty much par for the course for these things so I (foolishly, ohhh so foolishly) gave CellC the benefit of the doubt and let it stand.
25hr later (I keep logs of calls like this: notepad and F5 are your friends) I called again, just to ENQUIRE and had Mmeli tell me "my system shows that it should be working now". Not that, of course, it was. Nor had CellCretinous called me to check or confirm; no, they just arbitrarily, sneakily and summarily close the ticket on the sly (and, I presume, hope you don't call again).
Finding this outcome vexatious I expressed dissatisfaction and insisted on further which led to being "transferred to technical" ..which, by what transpired, means sent to /dev/null in the phone system - I hung up after waiting 7min. Bear in mind that all these calls are being made to 084 140 from a landline.
Friday 3 Dec. was a real treat:
Riiiiigght!
So, around 16:15 I stalked into the Cresta store and handed my stick over to Giselle, along with all necessary (SIM, device, and my) identifying info.
Fast forward to Monday and, allowing for a crazy busy weekend (I know this for a verified fact: I went in there on Sat and it was just horrible) Giselle called me to confirm some info: how/where I got the (damned!) thing, who I am, where I live - the usual. Which certainly seems like the right sort of questions to be asking and led me (yes, I'm an optimist; it usually allows for having a sunnier disposition than otherwise)) to hope that we were approaching resolution.
Only today I get told it's her day off and Charles ..well, it's been only 3 hours so far so I can hardly say he's dropped the ball on me, can I?
In all this experience has confirmed for me that there is NO WAY IN HELL I will migrate my number (back) to them: it's one thing to have this whoosh-ey data network but without having accounting and support backends to make accessing that workable for the subscriber, it's just not worth the hassle. (itBust, this is PARTICULARLY aimed at you!)
At this stage I just want the device I have found a way to integrate into my life as a roving support tech to work; I do NOT want to have to do freakish incantations or dark rituals or even subtly and sublimely timed sequences of plug/unplug ..I just want.it.to.work; is that REALLY so much to ask?
(names used as they are first names only and, I assert, don't conclusively ID anyone in an unfair manner)
OK, to be reasonable(ish), on that first call I *did* get a reference number for my issue/complaint from Devashri in the Durban call centre. Note that she solemnly swore to me that I could expect a 24 to 48hr turnaround on the problem ..which is pretty much par for the course for these things so I (foolishly, ohhh so foolishly) gave CellC the benefit of the doubt and let it stand.
25hr later (I keep logs of calls like this: notepad and F5 are your friends) I called again, just to ENQUIRE and had Mmeli tell me "my system shows that it should be working now". Not that, of course, it was. Nor had CellCretinous called me to check or confirm; no, they just arbitrarily, sneakily and summarily close the ticket on the sly (and, I presume, hope you don't call again).
Finding this outcome vexatious I expressed dissatisfaction and insisted on further which led to being "transferred to technical" ..which, by what transpired, means sent to /dev/null in the phone system - I hung up after waiting 7min. Bear in mind that all these calls are being made to 084 140 from a landline.
Friday 3 Dec. was a real treat:
- Zolisa appeared to be sorely deficient in understanding that being TOLD "I have a reference number for you" means, mother-of-all-surprises, "I just gave you a reference number for the problem I am having" - she had to go.
- which led to the subsequent call wherein CellCraptacular's (non)call centre system connected me to someone utterly unable to hear me. Note that their volume levels are almost always very low which, coupled with what I guess is extremely low-bandwidth VoIP makes hearing them entertaining as hell. In the way shaving your ear off with a cheese grater would be.
- Thabiso *finally* got me somewhere...ish. But only AFTER first telling me I should have called some mysterious mythical place called "followups", something that (quelle surprise (.fr)) fails to appear on their contact page. But, moving swiftly along, he made a real effort and (after subjecting me to 6min of hold music) came back from 'technical' (whom, I presume quaff unicorn tears) and advised that this had to go to "IT support" (who make said unicorns cry in the first place). At 14min in I was the hell in with burning call time AND not doing anything else but being jerked around by them and invited them to call me back.
Riiiiigght!
So, around 16:15 I stalked into the Cresta store and handed my stick over to Giselle, along with all necessary (SIM, device, and my) identifying info.
Fast forward to Monday and, allowing for a crazy busy weekend (I know this for a verified fact: I went in there on Sat and it was just horrible) Giselle called me to confirm some info: how/where I got the (damned!) thing, who I am, where I live - the usual. Which certainly seems like the right sort of questions to be asking and led me (yes, I'm an optimist; it usually allows for having a sunnier disposition than otherwise)) to hope that we were approaching resolution.
Only today I get told it's her day off and Charles ..well, it's been only 3 hours so far so I can hardly say he's dropped the ball on me, can I?
In all this experience has confirmed for me that there is NO WAY IN HELL I will migrate my number (back) to them: it's one thing to have this whoosh-ey data network but without having accounting and support backends to make accessing that workable for the subscriber, it's just not worth the hassle. (itBust, this is PARTICULARLY aimed at you!)
At this stage I just want the device I have found a way to integrate into my life as a roving support tech to work; I do NOT want to have to do freakish incantations or dark rituals or even subtly and sublimely timed sequences of plug/unplug ..I just want.it.to.work; is that REALLY so much to ask?
(names used as they are first names only and, I assert, don't conclusively ID anyone in an unfair manner)
bdt
Executive Member
Fair, if somewhat loaded-looking question, but I'll take it at face value anyway. For a start, this thread started on the day I ran out of patience trying my (version of) reasonable level best in giving them the benefit of the doubt. Friday also being a banner day for me another way, I was barely even online either so, frankly, I didn't get to see any of the suggestions here and then, having handed it in, I haven't been in a position to do any of the above anyway.
But let's not lose sight of a critical fact here: here on MyBB we're not the typical end-user (you know, the kind of person we the techs tend to scoff at for being stupid (that's a gross-oversimplification and not aimed at you in any way, I presume you know what I mean)) and we collectively have more resources, as well as a willingness to try to get to the bottom of a problem. But you know what? In *this* instance, I am trying to be that person: I want to be able to count on the thing working and not bring drama to my life and I assert that is a far from unreasonable standpoint.
So, that out of the way, that is not the point anyway: what IS more relevant is that this EDGE-only thing should not have happened in areas that I know to explicitly be covered for HSPA+. But as we know, funky things can happen with tech; that's why we have support lines.
Which raises the *other* thing that shouldn't have happened: their, IMO, abject failure to handle this properly. I tried, I really did, to allow for the possibility that CellC had finally learned how to do tech support but, again IMO, they clearly haven't. So is it a rant? In part, yes. But I also felt motivated to make this part of the public record as a caution to we-the-people getting caught by CellC as well as, hopefully, a goad at CellC to get a grip.
Still, thank you for noticing.
bdt
Executive Member
*sigh*; there's a line from my past: "it helps if you read ALL the words". OK, mea culpa: I 'quick-read' with Cool Previews and misread the thread start date in a flat-out failed attempt to double-check before posting.
Here's hoping I am able to contribute in a *good* way later: Charles seemed confident that my stick will get couriered back from repairs today; maybe tonight I'll be able to use the dratted thing.
Got the E1752, so I did this step and it's doing better.
It's on the blue/cyan light.
...but soon it goes to green back again.
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ajax
Executive Member
On my 2 year old desktop I had this "stuck on edge" problem and frequent non-detection of the modem. Changing USB ports helped somewhat. Best speed I got was 2.6 mbits/sec with -73 dBm RSSI (courtesy MDMA). Now I plugged it into a friend's new laptop and it immediately went to 3G. With -85 dBm RSSI I got 3.8 mbit/sec. Maybe my desktop's USB ports just can't give adequate power? (They are USB 2 ports)
The_Unbeliever
Honorary Master
Could possibly be.
In changing USB ports, did the orientation of the modem change? Are some ports at the front and some at the rear? When you tried your friend's laptop, was the modem in the exact same location and orientation?
I don't think this is a power problem (at least for me).
I have seen this behaviour on four different E1820s with different SIM cards, four different desktops (ranging from 3 years old to brand new), a Dell laptop, an iBook G4, a MacBook Pro and my MikroTik RB411U router*. I have also seen it happen all over the Cape Peninsula; Goodwood, Somerset West, Rondebosch, Simon's Town and Central Cape Town.
In all cases the symptoms are the same; when the modem is in 'WCDMA/3G Preferred' mode it will sometimes decide EDGE is better and then I am stuck with the green light; when the modem is in 'WCDMA/3G Only' mode it works perfectly.
In the Dell laptop in particular, I have run that modem in 'WCDMA/3G Only'' mode until it is hot to the touch, but the modem remained connected and continued downloading.
*...and a TP-Link TL-MR3420.
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ajax
Executive Member
The modem was in a different place. I only wanted to point out that I was getting better downloads with a weaker signal on the laptop, than on the desktop with a stronger signal. I wasn't implying the modem gets a better signal when the USB power is adequate.
In my desktop, even on 3G only the modem sometimes wouldn't register on the network, and sometimes it would look like the modem wasn't detecting properly. I.e. MDMA would give a signal strength, but no tower info and USSD commands would time out. In all cases on my desktop I used the USB ports at the back.
I am still in the dark as to what the reason is for this strange behaviour. But I will keep on posting my observations in the hope that we find a resolution.
That's a sign that you are not actually registered on the network yet.
The signal strength you are seeing then is probably from another operator.
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Has anyone tried to use a usb extention cable to make sure that there isn't any interference from there machine or even a external antenna? Have had this problem in the past and what resolved it was either a firmware update or moving the modem away from the desktop.
Yes, I have tried both. The only reliable thing for me is setting the modem to 'WCDMA/3G Only'. Another observation, the E1820 only seems to get stuck on EDGE with a Cell-C SIM, with an MTN or Vodacom SIM it 'prefers' WCDMA correctly. I think this may have something to do with the difference between UMTS 2100 used by MTN and Vodacom and UMTS 900 used by Cell-C.
Where can we get this firmware update? Why doesn't the Cell-C dashboard have the 'WCDMA Only' option? See here.
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ajax
Executive Member
Had the modem 2 meters away from the machine hanging in the window on a USB 2.0 high speed cable. Connectivity/modem detection was worse in this case.
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I've just got in contact with cellc now. They are sending me a software update once i've tested it will post on the new results. I will send through the issue that you mentioned about the UMTS and see what replies i get from them.
As for the 'WCDMA Only' hopefully they will be sorting that out soon have also brought it to there attention.
Modem detection problem is an extreme case. Similar to the external USB powered hard disks. More frequently modem is recognised, but fail to register to the network and keep searching. Reason is that transmitted power is not sufficient and tower cannot hear you.
Solution: External USB hub with own power supply and modem plugged in directly to the hub. Then longer cable between PC and hub is allowed.
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I actually noticed this on someone else's computer the other day. My modem is set to '3G Only', when I plugged it into one of their front USB ports the modem only showed the green light and couldn't register on the network, after plugging it into one of the rear ports it went blue and was able to connect. They had a cheap, no-name brand case, so I suspect the quality of the cables from the motherboard to the front USB ports.
I agree with sajunky. I think this problem of only seeing a green light (and possibly not being able to register on the network) on a USB port with inadequate power is a different problem to the one I have been experiencing previously, where the modem in '3G Preferred' mode will sometimes only connect on EDGE, even though there is sufficient power on the port and UMTS 900 coverage, as switching the modem to '3G Only' mode solves the latter condition for me.
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Really tired , can't get it off edge! Been trying all day, done all these so called solutions and nothings working , worst is im suppose to be in a dark red area (lonehill) , why can't i get it off edge , my brother's pc 1 metre away gets hsdpa+?