Phone not ringing - update [UK Mobile]

Prev: predictive text mode on Skypephone S2
Next: Summer Training provided by Acetechnologies (A division of Ace Softel Pvt Ltd)!!!

From: Lynn W on 7 May 2010 14:10

Following on from my other posts 4 weeks down the line, maybe 5 time flies
:-) As O2 haven't been able to resolve the problem yet I got a phone call
from an Erickson engineer saying he had been sent to investigate the fault,
he had been making some calls and tried to ring me but obviously my mobile
was turned off!! When I pointed out that I was looking at it and I had a
full signal etc he quickly realised that he had experienced the fault first
hand - hooray. Anyway he was outside my house which is only 5 mins from
where I work so I drove home, we put my sim in his phone and we managed to
replicate the fault about 5 times. Sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't.
He said he hadn't known a fault like it. After speaking to numerous people
it appears that quite a few people have been having the same problem but
have never reported it! He said he would go back and report it to the
'switching' team (don't know what they do) so I guess I have to wait some
more but at least he's experienced the intermittent fault. I guess when
most people make a call and it fails they try later and when it connects
they just think its a one off which is probably why its not getting
reported. I only realise how often its failing because I am trying it all
through the day. Its only calls and txts it affects when it fails I can
still access the internet, email etc. I think he was thinking along the
lines of a problem with 3G but I would have thought internet would have
failed as well but obviously not.
If anyone else is having problems with calls failing could they please
report it :-)
Lynn

From: Woody on 8 May 2010 03:49

"Lynn W" <lynn.williamson(a)FOREVERREDbtinternet.com> wrote in
message
news:C80A1617.2ABA5%lynn.williamson(a)FOREVERREDbtinternet.com...
> Following on from my other posts 4 weeks down the line, maybe 5
> time flies
> :-) As O2 haven't been able to resolve the problem yet I got a
> phone call
> from an Erickson engineer saying he had been sent to
> investigate the fault,
> he had been making some calls and tried to ring me but
> obviously my mobile
> was turned off!! When I pointed out that I was looking at it
> and I had a
> full signal etc he quickly realised that he had experienced the
> fault first
> hand - hooray. Anyway he was outside my house which is only 5
> mins from
> where I work so I drove home, we put my sim in his phone and we
> managed to
> replicate the fault about 5 times. Sometimes it worked
> sometimes it didn't.
> He said he hadn't known a fault like it. After speaking to
> numerous people
> it appears that quite a few people have been having the same
> problem but
> have never reported it! He said he would go back and report it
> to the
> 'switching' team (don't know what they do) so I guess I have to
> wait some
> more but at least he's experienced the intermittent fault. I
> guess when
> most people make a call and it fails they try later and when it
> connects
> they just think its a one off which is probably why its not
> getting
> reported. I only realise how often its failing because I am
> trying it all
> through the day. Its only calls and txts it affects when it
> fails I can
> still access the internet, email etc. I think he was thinking
> along the
> lines of a problem with 3G but I would have thought internet
> would have
> failed as well but obviously not.
> If anyone else is having problems with calls failing could they
> please
> report it :-)
> Lynn
>
>

If you stop and think about it you can see the service providers
view. They have spent hundreds of millions installing a very
expensive infrastructure to a high standard on stable and well
built sites serving large numbers of people for any one given
location.

On the other hand you have a mobile that costs only a few tens of
pounds, gets thrown about all over the place, has unknown
transmit and receive characteristics and unknown state of power
supply. Where are you going to bet that the problem lies?

Whoever you use as your SP if you report a problem it will ALWAYS
be treated as your kit at fault and you will have a hard time
convincing them otherwise.

However the infrastructure does develop faults, the commonest of
which is loss of resilience on a site. One base station carrying
the control channel keeps working and permits users to make
calls. The second base station on the site however fails so the
site very quickly gets blocked - no resources available after a
limited number of calls are active.

There is a good deal of telemetry on all cellular sites which
should show up a base station fault very quickly. How quickly the
SP responds to that alarm and sends someone to have a look at or
fix it is a different matter. Ultimately it comes down to call
throughput which is extensively and heavily monitored - more
often than not it is a drop in call rate that makes people ask
questions. If the site is one that usually has a high traffic
rate - as in a city or town centre - then loss of resources
equals loss of income and it will be fixed PDQ; on the other hand
if the site only handles a few dozen calls a day, has a high
seasonal variance (i.e. it is in a tourist area that has high
usage in the summer but not in the winter,) or has especially
difficult or expensive access then it may not get fixed so
quickly.

The answer is to keep pestering them. It is especially useful if
you have or have access to more than one phone on that SP so that
it can easily be demonstrated that more than one user suffers the
problem at that location. Given you can buy an unlocked phone -
one that will accept any SIM (other than '3') from Asda for �15 -
it almost warrants having a second phone in case you come up
against a problem. A PAYG SIM can in most cases be obtained from
the SP's free of charge or for a very small cost with, say �5 or
�10 credit you always have a second 'route' available for calls
or testing. That will give you much more clout when complaining.

--
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com

From: Lynn W on 8 May 2010 04:24

On 08/05/2010 08:49, in article BI8Fn.3149$Og.116(a)newsfe07.ams2, "Woody"
<harrogate3(a)ntlworld.spam.com> wrote:

> "Lynn W" <lynn.williamson(a)FOREVERREDbtinternet.com> wrote in
> message
> news:C80A1617.2ABA5%lynn.williamson(a)FOREVERREDbtinternet.com...
>> Following on from my other posts 4 weeks down the line, maybe 5
>> time flies
>> :-) As O2 haven't been able to resolve the problem yet I got a
>> phone call
>> from an Erickson engineer saying he had been sent to
>> investigate the fault,
>> he had been making some calls and tried to ring me but
>> obviously my mobile
>> was turned off!! When I pointed out that I was looking at it
>> and I had a
>> full signal etc he quickly realised that he had experienced the
>> fault first
>> hand - hooray. Anyway he was outside my house which is only 5
>> mins from
>> where I work so I drove home, we put my sim in his phone and we
>> managed to
>> replicate the fault about 5 times. Sometimes it worked
>> sometimes it didn't.
>> He said he hadn't known a fault like it. After speaking to
>> numerous people
>> it appears that quite a few people have been having the same
>> problem but
>> have never reported it! He said he would go back and report it
>> to the
>> 'switching' team (don't know what they do) so I guess I have to
>> wait some
>> more but at least he's experienced the intermittent fault. I
>> guess when
>> most people make a call and it fails they try later and when it
>> connects
>> they just think its a one off which is probably why its not
>> getting
>> reported. I only realise how often its failing because I am
>> trying it all
>> through the day. Its only calls and txts it affects when it
>> fails I can
>> still access the internet, email etc. I think he was thinking
>> along the
>> lines of a problem with 3G but I would have thought internet
>> would have
>> failed as well but obviously not.
>> If anyone else is having problems with calls failing could they
>> please
>> report it :-)
>> Lynn
>>
>>
>
>
>
> If you stop and think about it you can see the service providers
> view. They have spent hundreds of millions installing a very
> expensive infrastructure to a high standard on stable and well
> built sites serving large numbers of people for any one given
> location.
>
> On the other hand you have a mobile that costs only a few tens of
> pounds, gets thrown about all over the place, has unknown
> transmit and receive characteristics and unknown state of power
> supply. Where are you going to bet that the problem lies?
>
> Whoever you use as your SP if you report a problem it will ALWAYS
> be treated as your kit at fault and you will have a hard time
> convincing them otherwise.
>
> However the infrastructure does develop faults, the commonest of
> which is loss of resilience on a site. One base station carrying
> the control channel keeps working and permits users to make
> calls. The second base station on the site however fails so the
> site very quickly gets blocked - no resources available after a
> limited number of calls are active.
>
> There is a good deal of telemetry on all cellular sites which
> should show up a base station fault very quickly. How quickly the
> SP responds to that alarm and sends someone to have a look at or
> fix it is a different matter. Ultimately it comes down to call
> throughput which is extensively and heavily monitored - more
> often than not it is a drop in call rate that makes people ask
> questions. If the site is one that usually has a high traffic
> rate - as in a city or town centre - then loss of resources
> equals loss of income and it will be fixed PDQ; on the other hand
> if the site only handles a few dozen calls a day, has a high
> seasonal variance (i.e. it is in a tourist area that has high
> usage in the summer but not in the winter,) or has especially
> difficult or expensive access then it may not get fixed so
> quickly.
>
> The answer is to keep pestering them. It is especially useful if
> you have or have access to more than one phone on that SP so that
> it can easily be demonstrated that more than one user suffers the
> problem at that location. Given you can buy an unlocked phone -
> one that will accept any SIM (other than '3') from Asda for �15 -
> it almost warrants having a second phone in case you come up
> against a problem. A PAYG SIM can in most cases be obtained from
> the SP's free of charge or for a very small cost with, say �5 or
> �10 credit you always have a second 'route' available for calls
> or testing. That will give you much more clout when complaining.
>

I have already used the sim in another phone as they requested. The biggest
'clout' as you put it is surely the engineer getting the same 'fault' on his
phone while testing.

From: Graham. on 8 May 2010 04:34

"Woody" <harrogate3(a)ntlworld.spam.com> wrote in message news:BI8Fn.3149$Og.116(a)newsfe07.ams2...
> "Lynn W" <lynn.williamson(a)FOREVERREDbtinternet.com> wrote in message
> news:C80A1617.2ABA5%lynn.williamson(a)FOREVERREDbtinternet.com...
>> Following on from my other posts 4 weeks down the line, maybe 5 time flies
>> :-) As O2 haven't been able to resolve the problem yet I got a phone call
>> from an Erickson engineer saying he had been sent to investigate the fault,
>> he had been making some calls and tried to ring me but obviously my mobile
>> was turned off!! When I pointed out that I was looking at it and I had a
>> full signal etc he quickly realised that he had experienced the fault first
>> hand - hooray. Anyway he was outside my house which is only 5 mins from
>> where I work so I drove home, we put my sim in his phone and we managed to
>> replicate the fault about 5 times. Sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't.
>> He said he hadn't known a fault like it. After speaking to numerous people
>> it appears that quite a few people have been having the same problem but
>> have never reported it! He said he would go back and report it to the
>> 'switching' team (don't know what they do) so I guess I have to wait some
>> more but at least he's experienced the intermittent fault. I guess when
>> most people make a call and it fails they try later and when it connects
>> they just think its a one off which is probably why its not getting
>> reported. I only realise how often its failing because I am trying it all
>> through the day. Its only calls and txts it affects when it fails I can
>> still access the internet, email etc. I think he was thinking along the
>> lines of a problem with 3G but I would have thought internet would have
>> failed as well but obviously not.
>> If anyone else is having problems with calls failing could they please
>> report it :-)
>> Lynn
>>
>>
>
>
>
> If you stop and think about it you can see the service providers view. They have spent hundreds of millions installing a very
> expensive infrastructure to a high standard on stable and well built sites serving large numbers of people for any one given
> location.
>
> On the other hand you have a mobile that costs only a few tens of pounds, gets thrown about all over the place, has unknown
> transmit and receive characteristics and unknown state of power supply. Where are you going to bet that the problem lies?
>
> Whoever you use as your SP if you report a problem it will ALWAYS be treated as your kit at fault and you will have a hard time
> convincing them otherwise.
>
> However the infrastructure does develop faults, the commonest of which is loss of resilience on a site. One base station carrying
> the control channel keeps working and permits users to make calls. The second base station on the site however fails so the site
> very quickly gets blocked - no resources available after a limited number of calls are active.
>
> There is a good deal of telemetry on all cellular sites which should show up a base station fault very quickly. How quickly the SP
> responds to that alarm and sends someone to have a look at or fix it is a different matter. Ultimately it comes down to call
> throughput which is extensively and heavily monitored - more often than not it is a drop in call rate that makes people ask
> questions. If the site is one that usually has a high traffic rate - as in a city or town centre - then loss of resources equals
> loss of income and it will be fixed PDQ; on the other hand if the site only handles a few dozen calls a day, has a high seasonal
> variance (i.e. it is in a tourist area that has high usage in the summer but not in the winter,) or has especially difficult or
> expensive access then it may not get fixed so quickly.
>
> The answer is to keep pestering them. It is especially useful if you have or have access to more than one phone on that SP so that
> it can easily be demonstrated that more than one user suffers the problem at that location. Given you can buy an unlocked phone -
> one that will accept any SIM (other than '3') from Asda for �15 - it almost warrants having a second phone in case you come up
> against a problem. A PAYG SIM can in most cases be obtained from the SP's free of charge or for a very small cost with, say �5 or
> �10 credit you always have a second 'route' available for calls or testing. That will give you much more clout when complaining.

If I found myself in Lynn's position I would endeavour to find other
affected users in the community and encourage them to complain too

A doctor, once convinced that the calls he or she has been losing
is more than 'just one of those things', would become a most useful ally.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

From: IanM on 8 May 2010 05:23

| Next | Last
Pages: 1 2 3
Prev: predictive text mode on Skypephone S2
Next: Summer Training provided by Acetechnologies (A division of Ace Softel Pvt Ltd)!!!