HTC desire connection problems and battery issues - I found the solution

maxtweenie

bubblesmoney wrote: »

Maxtweenie
Looks like you have an excellent signal. In all my searching the net I have yet to see a post with better dBm and asu readings than yours. Looks up the nexus connection problemposts on various forums, loads have posted their signal strengths, not one of them had as good a signal as yours.

Might have something to do with the fact that the land is so flat I can see Ely Cathedral on a good day, and that's 20 miles away!

bubblesmoney

Update from me about improvement in situation after i fiddled with the 'test-settings menu' on the phone.

I have just got back a few hours ago after doing my comparison tests at poor reception postcode and got dramatic results after me fiddling with the settings (test settings and not usual settings on the phone available to usual customers who dont know how to access the test settings on the phone).

please note that the three network level 1 and level 2 tech teams had given up on any improvement in signal in my situation and had agreed option to cancel contract. i had a call last monday from the CEOs office too after my repeated badgering them on the tech team number and three blog and by emails etc and even the CEOs office people said they would be happy to cancel contract at any time convenient to me as they cant improve signal. but now me fiddling with the test-settings has given me a 2-3 bar signal without any tech team input. will give my feedback to the tech teams on monday and to their blog and CEOs office too of my improvement in signal with me fiddling with the phones test settings after their tech teams had given up the ghost on improving the signal for me. so this IS A SOFTWARE SETTING ISSUE APART FROM POOR SIGNAL AND ANTENNA SIGNAL ATTENUATION.

i have not rooted the phone, so have not voided any warranty, so this will be an option to explore for all with poor signals (if their issue was similar to mine).

am cut pasting instructions (1-6) i got from some XDA developer threads but have suitably modified the instructions, which worked fine for me. they were trying for better battery life, but i used the same settings for better PRL (preffered roaming list) selections and consequently better signal and probably better battery life as my mobile wont be bonking the airwaves continuously for a signal now in low signal areas and wasting battery life in the process and avoiding needless frustration because of poor signals in poor signal areas as i get quicker shift to preferred roaming list provider and better signal strength.

If anyone else on any network on any android phone that allows access to this setting whether network locked phone or not, wants to get better signals or shall i put it more accurately as better shifting to preffered roaming list provider in poor signal areas then try what i did. if it doesnt work for you then undo what you did and you are back to square one without any permanent change to the phone as far as i understand (many networks have deals with other networks for back up roaming when their networks are overloaded or in poor signal areas etc or mast sharing etc). THIS DOES NOT NEED ROOTING THE PHONE. rooting voids the phone warranty, so i wasnt interested in rooting. But i can get better battery life and signals and better shifting to preferred roaming list provider in poor signal areas and consequently less wastage of battery as the phone isnt wasting more power trying to latch onto a poor / non existant signal.

1. Go to the phone dialer and dial *#*#4636#*#* (DO NOT press send or call button) just wait a second and you will get the 'test' menu.
2. In the test menu choose 'Phone Information'
3. scroll down and choose on the first drop down - GSM auto (PRL) (for high speed data) or GSM only (You may get 3g if not use GSM auto (PRL). I have chosen GSM (PRL) setting and it works fine on my HTC desire.
4. Back out to test menu then back into 'Phone information' to see if it sticks (if not try again) then back all the way out. Mine stuck with my chosen "GSM (PRL)" setting on the first attempt itself.
5. You might want to reboot (power on and off for those who arent familiar with reboot terminology), but I found the settings worked straight away and I didnt need to reboot.
6. I don't take any responsibility for step 6 - 6) Try other settings on the dropdown if you are brave as I don't know the consequencies of using settings like "EvDo only" and "unknown" as they may be better depending on the way your provider provides information. I have not tried any other setting changes. (..... yet!:p)

Other settings you can change: in the 'test settings' (described above) after selecting phone settings, then if you press the menu button on your phone in the 'phone information' page and select 'radio band', you may be able to change it to Automatic or one of the other settings and then you might get GSM auto (PRL).





Available Radio Bands

• Automatic. I chose this setting.
• EURO Band
• USA Band
• JAPAN Band
• AUS Band
• AUS2 Band

There are other settings there that I haven't messed with, maybe someone with more knowledge may be able to help

i get HSDPA even when i have set it to GSM (PRL) setting. Do not listen to any mobile techy or android techy who says you wont get HSDPA while on GSM (PRL) setting. Many others who have tried this setting have got HSDPA and i similarly get HSDPA while on this setting with no decrease in data speeds as far as i can tell. The proof that this works is in eating the pudding like me and telling by experience fiddling with this setting and seeing it work. Also this GSM (PRL) setting should improve your time without signal (TWS) times as well.

i have two HTC desires. one is still in factory setting as delivered to me by three network. i havent done anything with that other than put a few htc power control widgets on and a few apps. the other htc desire i have fiddled with as above and also with power control widgets and 'task panel' app from the market for killing any tasks that i dont need (which i use rarely). i didnt install advanced task killer etc as they have issues with adverse :eek: battery life from many reports online. initially when i got the phone i would have to charge twice a day minimum and sometimes up to three times a day. but installing the htc power control widgets and using them appropriately and now task panel has drmatically improved battery times for my htc desire and the last battery charge lasted me 31 hours to discharge it to 3% battery level including my normal use for the day. this battery life is with medium screen brightness most of the time and full brightness when out and about when using the phone, with synch on all the time, wifi on all the time at home, gps on while travelling if needed and sometimes when i play around with google maps or RAC traffic or any location based app like google local search etc, plus surfing / talking / receiving text / getting my voicemail, with live nexus 1 wallpapers, memory full to the brim with apps etc etc.

today since last charge it been above 7.5 hours with 1 hour of full use of the phone for calls, and other purposes with screen in full brightness with about an hour in poor signal area (where earlier i couldnt get a signal at most times). it still has 83% charge left after 7.5hours after last charge.

getting back to the poor signal issue and me fiddling the settings.....
I took both the phone i had fiddled with and the other factory settings phone (both htc desires) to the poor signal area. i have cross checked the signal issue on both phones during the last month and a half i have had both the phones, both of them show almost the same signal strength values at most times with very minor fluctuations between them at all times. i mention this so i know the signal strength is accurate both in terms of dBm and ASU values. i have described how to get the dBm and ASU values above in my first post in this thread. when i reached the poor signal area both the phones dropped signal strength almost mirroring each other, outside the building both had dbm values in above -100dbm with low ASU values fluctuating around 4-8 at best.

BUT .... when i moved inside the building to an area where i normally dont get a signal at all (where i had checked the signal many times before as well on my old phone and the desire before i fiddled the test settings). both the htc desire phones lost the signal completly but almost instantly the htc desire i had fiddled the test settings with instantly got a connection and rapidly signal strength improved to two to three bars with ASU 8-10 :eek::T think it was GPRS, it was a roaming signal of PRS provider. both HTC desire phones were side by side in each hand. but the second desire which was still on the original factory setting as delivered to me by three network didnt have any signal at all at that spot where i usually have reception problem, it never switched to the PRL provider at all and it got back the signal only when i left the building.

so in my opinion the stock setting on the htc desire phone (and most probably most other phones especially the htc phones and any other three network phones i guess, maybe other networks too but just a guess) struggles to move away from main network and keeps trying to latch on to poor signal from main provider instead of switching to PRL provider when signal is lost. fiddling these test settings solved the problem for me as i can make and receive calls as had 2-3 bars (GPRS) but what the heck if it was GPRS earlier the phone was unusable in those locations as never got any signal.

very happy with the fiddled settings as can make and get calls even in poor signal area as the phone switches almost instantly to PRL provider (preffered roaming provider dont know the name as the phone doesnt disclose the name of the roaming provider, i checked briefly). i have previously checked with three network quite a few times and have been informed that i wont be billed for roaming in the UK. and i have noticed that have been on roaming many times since i have had the phone for a month and a half and in my recent bill i never got billed for roaming. so problem solved.

as a bonus because my phone is not continuously struggling to latch onto a poor signal, it wastes less power and i get better battery times. my last charge lasted me 31hours. but i changed the test settings only a few hours before the battery ran out, now battery times should get better as getting better signal on phone in poor signal area. when i come back into good signal area the phone automatically switches back to three network and i get hsdpa connection as well on the GSM (PRL) setting.

hope this helps many people who have similar issues.

i repeat mine is a stock htc desire phone, i have not rooted the phone, so havent voided the warranty. i havent fiddled the radio frequency settings etc (... yet , not sure if i will do that though). but most of my problem seems to have been sorted without needing to root the phone or change radio frequency or instal new roms etc. what ever i have done will be possible for every user with poor signal issues (if their issues are due to poor activation of the PRL mode in factory setting of the phone). i am no techie but persistence and a lot of internet reading on this issue and luck coming across some interesting interenet posts helped me along the way. hope this helps others too with similar poor signal and battery life issues (if due to poor network signal draining battery).

thanks to butterbeanmash mentioning the xda thread on this issue and from that thread i got links to other threads where others had plodded along this path before and this helped me find a solution to this problem affecting me. thanks to all those souls at xda dev forum who plodded along this path and documented their findings which guided me along this path.

now only if the HTC desire can have a secret menu for giving me next weeks winning lotto numbers, that would be super cool too! :rotfl:.

apologies for boring people with a long post but i do hope this information helps atleast a few people with similar issues. please remember i am no techie and tread with care if you are fiddling with various settings in the test settings. dont blame me if you brick your phone. as with everything else in life, act in haste and repent at leisure if you goof up and brick the phone. but my fiddling the 'test settings has definitely worked for me with better signal (via PRL provider) in poor signal / non existant signal areas, any extra battery life will be a bonus!

ps: i will change the 'test menu' settings tomorrow for the other htc desire phone i have as well, so that phone gets better signals and switching to PRL when needed as well and probably better battery life as a consequence as well.

pps: oh to get better battery life, i also discharged the phone till less than 3% charge and then switched off and rebooted the phone and then charged it to full (to hopefully reset the software sensing the battery strength), read this worked for others so no reason why this shouldnt work for me as well. Anyway i am getting 31 hours for last charge and hopefully better times now. when i got the phone as i said earlier i used to have to charge two to three times a day! so it is a massive improvement in the last month.

bubblesmoney

Now after 18 hours and 31mins after last charge, i still have got 77% of battery charge left (thats with wifi on continuously, plus synching, live wall papers etc etc on continuously for last 18hours 31mins) after all my fiddling with the phone!!!!! yeeehaaah! plus a better signal !!! yeeehah!!!! :j

maxtweenie

What was your default setting on 'Set Preferred Network Type?' Mine is set at 'WCDMA preferred.' Also what exactly are WCDMA and PRL? Thanks

N20Y1D

Taken from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6497049&postcount=2


GSM Only - Only uses in G/E and never switches to 3G/H. Should have minimal battery usage.

GSM Auto (PRL) - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the PRL (Preferred Roaming List) for a provider on your phone. Not supported by all providers and may not be supported in certain regions. Should have moderate battery usage since it uses a predefined list to switch.

WCDMA Preferred - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the best/strongest signal available and is supported by all providers. Has high battery usage since it constantly scans the network for the strongest signal to switch.

WCDMA Only - Only uses HSDPA and will not switch to G/E/3G even if the HSPDA signal is too low. Use this only if you use your phone in a area with good coverage. Should have moderate battery usage.

bubblesmoney

N20Y1D wrote: »

Taken from here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6497049&postcount=2


GSM Only - Only uses in G/E and never switches to 3G/H. Should have minimal battery usage.

GSM Auto (PRL) - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the PRL (Preferred Roaming List) for a provider on your phone. Not supported by all providers and may not be supported in certain regions. Should have moderate battery usage since it uses a predefined list to switch.

WCDMA Preferred - Automatically switches between G/E/3G/H based on the best/strongest signal available and is supported by all providers. Has high battery usage since it constantly scans the network for the strongest signal to switch.

WCDMA Only - Only uses HSDPA and will not switch to G/E/3G even if the HSPDA signal is too low. Use this only if you use your phone in a area with good coverage. Should have moderate battery usage.

that might be the theory what the techies say. but what a software is supposed to do and what it actually does are two different things!

my factory setting was for WCDMA / gsm auto with poor signal or no signal in poor signal area. i have two desire phones (both unlocked both unbranded from three network), one is still with factory issued settings (with other half as she doesnt like me fiddling with her phone! but now she is a bit keen on me fiddling with her phone too after finding out her phone doesnt catch signals as better as mine after i fiddled with my settings).

after i changed the settings as described in above posts to GSM(PRL) auto and automatic radio band setting in the 'test' settings menu. my phone was quicker latching on to a PRL signal when signal was lost, while the other desire in factory settings was still not getting any signal in a poor signal area. i tested it around for more than a hour with both phones side by side in multiple locations around the city and villages surrounding while walking / stationary / driving around in car in strong and weak signal areas.

i dont think anything has been disabled on my phone by me fiddling the test settings. i have two htc desires both are not rooted, both factory issue unlocked. one of them i have fiddled with the settings and made it GSM(PRL) and automatic radio band. on both phones i still get HSDPA (download speeds of upto 5400kbps, upload speeds of upto 540kbps by using speed test app but sometimes is slow but get these speeds at most times i have done the speed test, signal reception almost mirrors each other. by signal i dont mean something vague like 2 bars and three bars, i mean actual numbers in terms of dBm and ASU values which can be accessed on the HTC desire phone ( from home page > menu > settings > about phone > network. this will show the signal strength in terms of dBm and ASU values and changes dynamically as you move even if you are in a car ). i had both my htc desires side by side while checking if this setting worked. i was continuously monitoring the dBm and ASU values over one hour period while moving in a car and walking, my wife was reading out the dBm and ASU values as i was driving over a large area which i frequently drive around.

the most important thing is that the signal drop in weak signal areas was consistently similar on both the phones, but when i totally lost the signal in a weak signal area, there was a big difference in how the phones behaved. the factory settings phone was wasting battery juice bonking the airwaves trying to get a signal and miserably kept failing as i didnt get a signal at all at the location where i lost the signal on both phones (one phone in each hand next to each other). but the phone i had fiddled with (made the change to GSM(PRL) and automatic radio band) almost instantly got a PRL GPRS signal with 2-3 bars strength and upto 9 ASU strength and phone was usable, while my other factory settings phone still didnt have any signal and was just bonking the airwaves trying to get a signal and wasting battery juice. oh by the way when the parent network signal improved when i moved from that area both phones got the signal and my fiddled phone also instantly switched back to the parent network signal with HSDPA signal after i walked a few hundred yards away where i could get a better signal from parent network. i dont know which network the PRL gprs signal was from as this wasnt obvious from the phone. but i dont get charged anyway even if i am roaming in the uk, which i have confirmed from three network in the uk and have not been billed for roaming either as i was roaming quite a few times in the uk during my last billing period.

This absolutely works in my situation. I am not a techie or a developer, just an extremely pleased user who was about to buy a second PAYG simcard from another network and was about to carry a second phone for such situations but now because of this work around i dont have to carry a second phone, i get a signal where i never used to get a signal and get better battery life to boot. now 24 hours and 13mins after last charge i still have 71% battery left to use thank you guys at XDA dev forum (some of them were trying for better battery times and some for signal, but i managed to kill two birds with one stone without needing to root the phone and instal special ROMs like all the other xda developers did, mine is a factory phone and is not rooted and still in warranty unlike the phones of all those who rooted the phone) who ever suggested this option, this absolutely worked for me on a factory settings HTC desire unlocked unbranded phone from three network UK. see more on this thread and my posts at xda developers forum if interested http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=6888778#post6888778

bubblesmoney

maxtweenie wrote: »

What was your default setting on 'Set Preferred Network Type?' Mine is set at 'WCDMA preferred.' Also what exactly are WCDMA and PRL? Thanks

my defaut setting on the standard settings page was wcdma/gsm auto. i forgot what the setting was on the test settings page, i think it was the same as yours WCDMA preffered.

others have tried evdo setting as well in usa with good results, but i think evdo is available only is aome areas of usa and not here so didnt bother trying that setting. have been doing overtime reading up on this issue the last few days.

the only thing bothering me now is the stupid no memory alerts. cant wait for the froyo update which will get rid of the apps to sd problem / no memory problem. who ever designed android with this stupid apps to internal memory only should be sacked as it is basic design flaw crippling an excellent system. thankfully that will be got rid off with the froyo update.

by the way i have got hold of a few other interesting apps / tips too with all my reading and tweaking and will update in another thread about apps soon.

bubblesmoney

i forgot to mention this..... You can check for a "TIME WITHOUT SIGNAL / TWS" percentage on your phones in the settings menu.

this time without signal percentage will indicate how much time your phone has been without a signal obviously. this gets reset when ever you charge your phone.

i forgot to check this reading before i changed the settings, so dont know what the reading was, my wife works in a good signal city centre and has about 4% TWS reading for today. i usually work in the area with the poor signal so mine would have been a lot higher probably closer to 50%, just a guess as i really used to struggle to get a connection there.

But now since i have played around with the test settings, my TWS reading is 0% so this proves my phone has never been without a signal since i made the settings changes. it cant get any better than this reading.

anyone living in poor signal areas please check your 'TWS' percentages shown on your phone to have a accurate number value to quote to tech support if you need to contact them about the problem. but please remember that it gets reset everytime you charge your phone.

on the HTC desire to get to the TWS reading .... go into home screen > press menu button > Settings> About Phone> Battery> Battery Use> press the Cell Standby bar chart. This should show Time Without Signal percentage.

having accurate numbers and statistics will boost your case rather than quoting vague stuff like i get a poor signal, if you need the data to cancel contract etc.

maxtweenie

Bubblesmoney, I have been playing around with the settings, even though I had a very good dbm / asu already. It doesn't seem to make any difference at home whether I'm on the default WCDMA preferred or your suggested 'GSM Auto (prl).' I'm in the office today in EC1, and although I get HSDPA, I've never had speeds greater than 800kb. I've just changed the setting to 'GSM Auto (prl)' and suddenly I'm getting speeds of around 2mb. Is it a coincidence I wonder?

bubblesmoney

maxtweenie wrote: »

Bubblesmoney, I have been playing around with the settings, even though I had a very good dbm / asu already. It doesn't seem to make any difference at home whether I'm on the default WCDMA preferred or your suggested 'GSM Auto (prl).' I'm in the office today in EC1, and although I get HSDPA, I've never had speeds greater than 800kb. I've just changed the setting to 'GSM Auto (prl)' and suddenly I'm getting speeds of around 2mb. Is it a coincidence I wonder?

i am not suggesting your signal strength will improve with the setting i was suggesting. the GSM(PRL) setting is for preffered roaming list selections nothing more and nothing less. i think the benefit of that setting is quicker shift to preffered roaming list provider only after you lose the parent providers signal (if their PRL signal is available in that area). this setting wont do ANYTHING to boost the signal strength that you actually get what ever that signal strength may be.

because of faster PRL selection when you dont get own network signal, you get better battery times as your phone does not waste power searching for signals all the time. if you dont get a signal at all then probably best to put it in airplane mode and disable antenna so power is conserved and can switch it back on when outside the building or area where signal is got. airplane mode would be useful if you need the phone for other stuff as well instead of switching it off.

even in my scenario and testing i never found i got a better signal with this setting. the advantage was that when i did lose a signal from three network i got a quicker shift to PRL providers signal almost immediately IF & when PRL providers signal was available. i think PRL providers for three are orange or tmobile, i am not sure if it is both of them. they share mast sites but dont know if there is any other data sharing support as well.

i did the speedtest now on 3g connection (speedtest app) download speed of 2924kbps:(, upload of 1519kbps:eek:. but got a slightly lower speed on the xtremelabs speedtest app. guess the difference will be because of different server locations and latency etc etc, but this has been the slowest downloadspeeds i have seen on my handset in the last month and a half i have had the desire. usually i get 5400kbps:T downloads but usually i get 540kbps uploads but today am getting 1519 kbps uploadspeeds. manytimes my desire download speeds on three network is faster than on my home computer with sky broadband!

but even this setting is no guarantee of a connection always. you wont get a connection if there is no signal of your network or the PRL provider like happens at one of my workplaces at most times. earlier my TWL (time without signal was 4-10% in many areas but since my resetting to the test settings GSM(PRL) for 40hours my TWL was zero percentage. but today was working in the problem area inside a building and outside was getting the signal but inside almost 80% of the day wasnt getting a signal which isnt unusual for three / orange / tmobile at those places (i didnt know this before renewing the contract. but vodafone gets through in some areas there and in most of the areas O2 gets through, unfortunately for me neither of those two are PRL providers for three network as far as i know.

I can buy a separate sim from O2 / giffgaff for those times i am working at this place if needed. but i carry a separate pager too from my employer so can be contactable via that. havent ruled out getting a PAYG yet, will see how my work situation evolves as things are a bit fluid now and will be for the next 6m or so atleast and will then decide if i need another PAYG sim for that area (but that wont be needed if i make a career move elsewhere which isnt totally off the cards as yet, so holding my options till then.)

ps: after this setting, i got 40hours use after last charge and still had 23% battery left today morning. but since i was working in weak signal area i anticipated more power needed and charged the phone anyway. got about 88% charged before going to work but down to 53% charge now in about 14hours because was working in weak signal area for almost 11hours today.