Anyone have telecomms network experience?

[juneau]

Having some really strange issues with my phone and my girlfriends, and would love to pick someones brain about it that isn't a customer service level monkey. I feel like i've been talking to a brick wall all evening.

[Apache Warrior]

You may need a Psychiatrist for help with really strange issues with your girlfriends.
Apache

[juneau]

You may need a Psychiatrist for help with really strange issues with your girlfriends.
Apache

Here's a copy/paste of my post on my providers support forum. If you have any ideas what can cause something like this, post away.

I've been collecting information since this problem started roughly 4 weeks ago and i hope it is of some use to try and get this problem fixed as it is begining to drive my girlfriend and I insane.



From this point on i'll be using 'Phone A' as my phone and 'Phone B' as my girlfriends. This'll hopefully save this description from being too long winded and easier to follow.



Phone A is almost exclusively used while in a single location in ST6 while Phone B is used in ST1 and a couple of different areas of ST6.



Roughly 4-5 weeks ago a problem appeared that would cause delays in sending/receiving text message between Phone A and Phone B. This delay could be anywhere between between 5-60~ minutes, and when the problem lifts both of us will receive a glut of delivery reports and text messages we've sent to each other during the problem period. During this time we could still call each other and text/call anybody else in our phonebooks (no other Vodafone users). Signal for both of us is not a problem but can be on the low side every now and then, and our phones show that we're connected to the network.



After a few days i started to notice a pattern that the problem was only happening between roughly 2pm-5pm no matter where our phones were located (a few miles apart or even right next to one another).



The above went on for roughly 2 weeks however now it's even worse. Unlike before where it only affected text messages during a single time period each day. It can now seemingly happen anytime and it is also including calls! Phone A when calling Phone B will go straight to voice mail and vice versa. Again, during these problem periods we can still text/call other people but not each other. Which is quite an issue as 90% of our phone usage is contacting each other.



Here is an up to date list of issues and various things tried:



Texting:



Delays between sending an receiving.

Sending 2 text messages in quick succession and only one being received. Usually the second. The first will turn up sometime later.

Sending multiple messages and having them delivered in a different order, making conversations somewhat confusing.

Sending a message and having it be received, yet receiving no delivery report.

Sending a message once and having it be received multiple times but not necessarily at the same time.

Sending a message that never gets received.



Fixes tried but didn't work:



Restarting phones.

Trying SIM card from Phone A in a spare old phone.



Calls:



Total lack of connection from either Phone A to Phone B or vice versa. No dial tone just straight to voice mail and/or "the phone is turned off" message. Even though both phones are turned on, connect to the network, and show decent signal strength. Phones can be a few miles apart or right next to one another.



Fixes tried but didn't work:



Restarting phones.

Trying SIM card from Phone A in a spare old phone.

Calling from a landline.



Something of note:



We have noticed that when one phone cannot call the other, e.g A to B, B still might be able to call A, and if it does it seem to remove the issue for a short while until it returns. Both phones will now be able to call one another like the problem was never there, and any outstanding text messages from either phone will come flooding through. It's almost as if the action of one phone calling the other clears some form of blockage.



Sadly this very rarely happens and we're left waiting for the problem to go away on it's own accord... only for it to reappear a short while after.



I'm currently looking into picking up a Pay As You Go SIM card from my local Vodafone store to see if bringing a 3rd SIM card into the mix might help, however I'm feeling doubtful that it will. This will just leave the network itself as the culprit from what i can tell.

[Nauticas]

Your SIM card may be bad. It is possible the SIM card is not connecting to the phone correctly because of the pins is bad or something of the like.

Who is your service provider? See if they will swap a you a new SIM card.

[Devilguns]

Just to clarify, both phones are having the same issue? What happens if you call or text someone else? Or is exclusive between you and your girlfriend?

[juneau]

Your SIM card may be bad. It is possible the SIM card is not connecting to the phone correctly because of the pins is bad or something of the like.

Who is your service provider? See if they will swap a you a new SIM card.

Would be odd for both our SIM cards to go bad at the same time though.

Provider is Vodafone.

Just to clarify, both phones are having the same issue? What happens if you call or text someone else? Or is exclusive between you and your girlfriend?

Yep, seems to be exclusive between my girlfriend and I. Which makes this so damned confusing.

It's been ok so far today which is far better than the past few weeks. However i did have 2 text messages that were delivered that i received no delivery reports for.

This has got to be a network issue right?

[mapes]

What happens if you send an sms from a third party? Like from the web

[juneau]

What happens if you send an sms from a third party? Like from the web

Haven't tried, but i wouldn't be surprised if it went through. Got any links for me to try this?

We can be texting each other aswell as another friend each, and the problem will suddenly appear just between my girlfriend and I. Texting our friends will continue as normal.

[goldenfooler]

Just get a new phone or new girlfriend.. everything is fixed.

[Devilguns]

Sounds like it could be a network issue. If these are smart phones you could try wiping them out and reinstalling the soft ware. My wife and I got HTC EVOs at the exact time. She could text anybody else fine, but when she texted me I would get exactly 20 copies of the same message. Her delivery report only showed she sent one. Turns out her phone didn't update correctly and needed a factory reset. No clue as to why only I got multiple copies and no one else.

[juneau]

They are smartphones. Both Samsung, one running BADA and the other Android.

Today has been relatively better. We both sent 10+ messages to one another throughout the afternoon which is usually a problem time and all were sent and recieved quickly, however i did send 2 messages that were recieved but i didn't get delivery reports.

About 30mins ago i tried to call her and got nothing but voicemail. Tried 5 calls in the space of 5mins to no avail. Rang her landline and told her to call me back as like i posted above this can sometimes remove whatever 'block' appears to be in the way between our cell phones. She calls, it comes through fine. I end the call and call her back and...... it goes through fine. Problem removed, until later. Rinse and repeat for tomorow.

[DougBob]

Dianna and I have had similiar issues when sending text messages, but it seemed to stay with her phone.

Looking at it it's like her phone goes offline or to sleep and when it wakes up or reconnect it catches up. From what I've been able to see her phones antenna is terrible. She usually gets the problem when we in the house in the basement. When her phone is forced to connect it catches up on all messages, emails etc.

From listening to people and observing my cell connections it actually seems to be getting a little worse. Not just on her phone, but others.

An interesting note here is, if I had the patience, tracking solar activity is definitely something that could be impacting weaker reception on phones with lower quality signal reception.

Maybe I'll start logging everything and correlating the data to see if there is a connection.

Also, on a different possibility, have you ensured any text or phone blocks are removed from both of you lines in case that is causing issues.

[mapes]

Haven't tried, but i wouldn't be surprised if it went through. Got any links for me to try this?

We can be texting each other aswell as another friend each, and the problem will suddenly appear just between my girlfriend and I. Texting our friends will continue as normal.

Sending SMS from Gmail - Google Chat Help

[juneau]

Sending SMS from Gmail - Google Chat Help

Do they have to be on Gmail for this to work?

edit:

Been texting since around midday. It's now 3:10 and i sent a message that i received no delivery report for. The message reached my girlfriends phone however only part of it. WTF?

[juneau]

20:30 and we just had our first call issue of the day. We actually planned this beforehand so i knew to be expecting to hear from my girlfriend at a specific time. The plan was to have her send me one or two text messages and if she didn't receive any delivery reports she'd then try and call me. Unsurprisingly she got the message that my phone was turned off.

During this time period i actually took the time out to just sit down with my pphone in my hand waiting for said texts/call and had a full signal the whole time.

After a few minutes past the 'deadline' i knew we had a problem so called her back and let it ring twice before hanging up. As soon as i did i received both text messages, she received both delivery reports and can now call me again.

This truely sucks.