LG v San Francisco

richmondhamptoncourt

Thank you Shelly and Joe.

The Modaco site instructions for APN seem similar to Orange's instructions to me:

change new APN to Orange-WEB and then set APN to orangeinternet and change more settings to http://orange world.co.uk.

I am not a technie but did as they said and it still did not pick up my wifi and the phone message was that I did not have a signal. At one point I was told to take the battery out of the phone and put it back in! All made no sense to me. I will have another search on Modaco and google tonight, if not it will be going back. A shame as it seems a great phone when it works and there does not seem to be anything comparable for the price.

Richmond

xbrenx

joe14729 wrote: »

richmndhampton court, there is a fix for your wi-fi. Just google it or go to modaco forums. I,m a bit of a technophobe myself, but I have been researching the SF, as I may get one for myself. Quite a lot of discussion and info about it on hotukdeals too

I can highly recommend it Joe :j

parallax_20

richmondhamptoncourt wrote: »

Thank you Shelly and Joe.

The Modaco site instructions for APN seem similar to Orange's instructions to me:

change new APN to Orange-WEB and then set APN to orangeinternet and change more settings to http://orange world.co.uk.

I am not a technie but did as they said and it still did not pick up my wifi and the phone message was that I did not have a signal. At one point I was told to take the battery out of the phone and put it back in! All made no sense to me. I will have another search on Modaco and google tonight, if not it will be going back. A shame as it seems a great phone when it works and there does not seem to be anything comparable for the price.

Richmond

Setting the APN is for data access via the mobile network only. With regards to WIFI is your router set to broadcast or hide the SSID (router name) ? Some phones won't pickup the router unless the SSID is completely visible. I had this issue with some of my previous smartphones. Also check the encryption method used.

My San Fran has no problems connecting either to my 3Com or the two NetGear routers I have. Both set with standard WPA.

The phone has been great and is a step up to my pulse mini, mainly because of the WVGA screen which is a pleasure to use. The battery is also pretty good and is what I kind of expect from a smartphone of this nature. But it can vary greatly dependant on usage. In standby mode mine only drops about 2%-4% over a 12 hour period, in use much more when the screen is active. My setup is pretty much what c-m said...everything data related turned off, no wifi, no gps, no internet widgets, no account syncing (I sync to my Outlook not google), backlight turned off (the backlight is surprisingly bright even with it turned right down the screen is still visibly lit), and regularly kill background processes which I know aren't needed using Taskiller.

You can unlock the phone for free here

Fantastic phone for the price and should last me a fair while until something better comes along of similar spec & value in 6-12 months time.

d123

parallax_20 wrote: »

You can unlock the phone for free here

I heard nextgen were having some heat from the paid for unlockers for hosting the free unlocker, someone over at Modaco has simplified and mirrored it (just in case it disappears).

Located at http://arrtoo.x10.mx/unlockBlade.php

richmondhamptoncourt

Thanks Parallax - I think there must be data and wifi issues. I went into my thomson settings but the SSID name seems visible and not hidden. Not sure about encryption method but all seems in order although on WPA. I looked at the Modaco site and its all good stuff but too technical for me and I cannot find exactly the problems discussed as it mentions Wifi dropping off not that it cannot connect in the 1st place.

I have a couple of friends with iphones and they manage to use the wifi with no trouble when at our house (not sure if that is relevant as may not be using our signal - sorry a bit ignorant on whether they use my plusnet signal or the iphone one).

Without spending a lot more time and research I think thats it for me with this phone. I want a phone that dd can turn on and after setting it up off she goes. Now she is using my phone until this is sorted out as her old phone has had all its info transferred to the new one and cannot be used - so no phone for me.

Moving away from the SF I know I will need to spend more to get something like that but any other suggestions for dd - touchscreen, robust (not orange as I have never liked the coverage issues when out of london), payg as I dont like the idea of contract for a phone for a 11 year old, for texts, emails and apps(?) and a MP3? Budget now will have to be increased to I fear from £100 to £200 .

Thanks

Richmond

parallax_20

There really isn't much in terms of getting the phone to connect to a Wifi hotspot. Presumably you've followed the steps shown in the phone simulator here?

I'd be concerned if your router wasn't listed, which means you've got the SSID hidden (but you've checked that already), or you could add it manually using the "Add WIFI network" option if it is hidden to enter the name of your hotspot.

The only other thing I can think of is if you can see the hotspot but can't connect to it with the correct passkey (Is Case Sensitive), is you have MAC address filtering turned on at the router, which essentially refuses any new connections if it doesn't recognise the device's MAC address. So you need to add it to the authorised MAC filtering list. Have you tried this?

I wouldn't give up on the San Fran just yet.

There are a few other smartphones around the £100 mark, so you won't have trouble looking for another Android smartphone replacement.

emerald21

richmondhamptoncourt wrote: »

Thanks Parallax - I think there must be data and wifi issues. I went into my thomson settings but the SSID name seems visible and not hidden. Not sure about encryption method but all seems in order although on WPA. I looked at the Modaco site and its all good stuff but too technical for me and I cannot find exactly the problems discussed as it mentions Wifi dropping off not that it cannot connect in the 1st place.

I have a couple of friends with iphones and they manage to use the wifi with no trouble when at our house (not sure if that is relevant as may not be using our signal - sorry a bit ignorant on whether they use my plusnet signal or the iphone one).

Without spending a lot more time and research I think thats it for me with this phone. I want a phone that dd can turn on and after setting it up off she goes. Now she is using my phone until this is sorted out as her old phone has had all its info transferred to the new one and cannot be used - so no phone for me.

Moving away from the SF I know I will need to spend more to get something like that but any other suggestions for dd - touchscreen, robust (not orange as I have never liked the coverage issues when out of london), payg as I dont like the idea of contract for a phone for a 11 year old, for texts, emails and apps(?) and a MP3? Budget now will have to be increased to I fear from £100 to £200 .

Thanks

Richmond

I was seriously considering the orange sanfrancisco, even went as far as reserving it from Argos however in the end i purchased a Pulse mini. Thought this was a good starter android phone for me and £30 cheaper. I bought it from T Mobile for £59.99 + i had to pay £10 credit. If you want to pay £10 every month you get so many mins talktime, free texts for life and the first 6 months internet worth £20 free. I ve chosen to just top up whenever i use it up as it will last me longer than a month as im a light user but you dont get the free texts then. I also have another phone which im using the credit on where texts to 5 favourite numbers are only 5p. This way might not suit everyone but it suits me. Worth a look at HTH

parallax_20

emerald21 wrote: »

I was seriously considering the orange sanfrancisco, even went as far as reserving it from Argos however in the end i purchased a Pulse mini. Thought this was a good starter android phone for me and £30 cheaper. I bought it from T Mobile for £59.99 + i had to pay £10 credit. If you want to pay £10 every month you get so many mins talktime, free texts for life and the first 6 months internet worth £20 free. I ve chosen to just top up whenever i use it up as it will last me longer than a month as im a light user but you dont get the free texts then. I also have another phone which im using the credit on where texts to 5 favourite numbers are only 5p. This way might not suit everyone but it suits me. Worth a look at HTH

I have the T-Mobile Pulse Mini and is what the San Fran has replaced. Honestly speaking...the processor wasn't up to scratch for Android 2.1 and the touchscreen wasn't very good compared with the San Fran. I paid £79.99 for mine 6 months ago, but still keep it as a backup for my other payg sim. Having looked back, I would have got the LG Optimus GT540 if it had been available at the time for £99, even if it did only run Android 1.6 stock. I think HTC Wildfire is still going for £129 which would be best option for the smaller resolution & screen.

If you don't like the network on which the phone is sold, either get the handset from carphonewarehouse or ensure the phone is unlockable at for a reasonable price.

richmondhamptoncourt

Thank you - I think daughter may say the screen of the pulse is too small but will let her see one at the weekend. The Wildfire looks more like her thing - wondered if it had any known wifi/internet issues?

richmond

Guys_Dad

richmondhamptoncourt wrote: »

Thank you - I think daughter may say the screen of the pulse is too small but will let her see one at the weekend. The Wildfire looks more like her thing - wondered if it had any known wifi/internet issues?

richmond

You need to step back before you give up.

Question - Have MSE members got their San Fran's to work wirelessly and over the Internet? In general, it seems so.

Conclusion - you either have a duff handset -in which case you can exchange it for another San Fran that works or, more likely, there is a software problem, possibly the MoDaCo link referral, or the settings need to be checked.

If you still like the handset, then an Orange shop should be able to get your handset working with the Internet at least, as well as any WiFi they have in their shop. They may even have a San Fran in use that you can check the settings with.

It seems a pity to chuck the handset your daughter wanted for another solution that you might find also has similar problems.

Oh, and I use both Voda and Orange and I can honestly say that Orange have been very good in my experience over many years.