[krayziebydaflesh]

Originally Posted by JG in SB

I am purchasing an AT&T Bold with AT&T's approved OS at my local AT&T store tomorrow. I am then immediately sending in the horizon for an unlock code. I'll report my results as well.

ATT gives their unlock codes for free. I've unlocked 4 phones including my bold within a months span. they dont seem to have a limit on how many phones u unlock through them

[grynr]

Originally Posted by Stinsonddog

The ATT bold doesn't have the ability to select Network Mode (to turn off 3G only) and save the battery. Possibly this may be an option if you unlock it.

I may test that out. Too bad it doesn't.

AT&T unlocked mine Bold in 2 minutes... and there is no option to desable the 3G (UMTS) radio

[Caspan]

For what it matters I turned my Network mode to manual and there was a 2G tower and a 3G tower I chose the 2G tower and even though my status screen says 3G I don't believe it is actually using 3G my battery is drained maybe 1/4 by the end of the day. I would be interested to see what other users have when they manually select the towers and keep it manual. I have had no service issue or anything for the last week.

[patandchex]

Since Hurricane Ike which was over 2 months ago, i have had numerous issues with att's edge network. no signal, dropping calls, unable to send mms messages. all of this is sporatic. i've changed the sim card, even tested 5 other pda phones. all do the same thing. they try to blame your phone but it is obvious their networks having rolling blackouts. i have spent so much time and aggravation with att i am seriously considering another carrier and I have been with them over 12 years. if anyone knows a carrier with better networks please let me know. with att

[jerrymel]

Not being able to switch the network is not anything new, it is just been highlighted with the release of the Bold and many people's desire to lock on EDGE under some circumstances.

For years, AT&T has not allowed any change to network preferences in the US (possibly Canada?) or Mexico. In the case of the latter, I travel there a lot and that is when I would most like to lock onto 2.5G because 3G coverage is not optimized in many areas. But because AT&T owns a % of one of the carriers in Mexico they do not allow you to make any changes to Network Settings. Even with an unlocked device.

Going to Brazil, Spain, or Argentina is a different story. In those places as well as, I'm sure, in many other international roaming areas, the user can switch from Automatic to Manual carrier selection as well as lock on EDGE if desired.

Is it a device issue? Maybe...

Is it a SIM issue? Possibly...

Is it a Money issue? Absolutely!

[jinksy86]

Originally Posted by jerrymel

Is it a device issue? Maybe...

Is it a SIM issue? Possibly...

Is it a Money issue? Absolutely!

Word.

[dankarlinski]

so if i pull my service books off with the DTM, can i play around with the PROVISIONING one?

will that do anything when i restore?

[jinksy86]

Originally Posted by dankarlinski

so if i pull my service books off with the DTM, can i play around with the PROVISIONING one?

will that do anything when i restore?

It's not a provisioning issue. You can take a dead blank unprovisioned ATT Bold with no service books or anything, toss in an ATT SIM and the option goes bye bye. This is all with the antenna turned off, on a device that has never (since being wiped) seen the world outside of itself.

[dankarlinski]

wtf.. thats dumb. lol


3g is really spotty at my school and i would love to drop it to edge while im there to save battery.


WAY TO GO ATT. =(

[Xpimp]

any updates with this?

[jinksy86]

Originally Posted by Xpimp

any updates with this?

no change as of 11/25/08 on ATT branded Bold with ATT SIM running software version .190

[holden]

Originally Posted by ifonline

This is your reason for not getting the Bold? Really?

I'm in a non-3G area and have great battery life. No complaints. Never bothered switching 3G off just in case I run across a 3G area. I also have WiFi on all the time, as well as bluetooth.

But hey... don't get the Bold because there is no option (on some devices) to turn off 3G. Sounds like a great reason.

Originally Posted by ifonline

Again, I don't see this problem on my Bold, and I am in EDGE coverage (or worse) all day every day, except those rare occasions that I run errands in the next county (which has 3G coverage). I am also running WiFi all day every day and bluetooth all day every day. I don't see problems with battery life. If the battery life would be better not having the Bold search for 3G, then great. But as it stands, I find battery life on my device excellent.

Ifonline - this is good info regarding your coverage in remote areas as I was under the assumption that if you don't have 3G the At&t Bold will just not work. So, if I am following you, if your in an area without 3G coverage, you will still be able to use the phone?

One of our engineers was in Atlanta last week, the home of At&t, and he has a Bold. He did not have a connection all day in downtown Atlanta! Not sure what was going on with this at the time or if it just happened to be an outage at the time but nonetheless interesting. We are reluctant to give the device to our upper managers who travel extensively as we are seeing some areas locally where the 3G does not work also.

Originally Posted by Woodard2589

Wirelessly posted

Leave it tp ATT to find another way to **** its customers

Woodard, I would agree about At&t except remember how long it took At&t to bring the Bold to market? I am thinking there is more to this than anyone of us will ever know as to why At&t would hobble or cripple the device to not switch to Edge unless there is a valid technical reason which as I said, we will probably never know.

Perhaps Rodgers users can shed some light on their experience like Infoline is experiencing with how the Rogers Bold switches networks. It would appear that from some of the responses it is a seamless transition. Like I said, you would think that there is a valid reason to cripple the device if there is an known issue they don't disclose about At&t's own network. And then it would also seem that At&t has enough confidence in their present 3G network and know the device will work anywhere like Infoline At&t Bold does.

A bit of a dilemma for us trying to figure out if the Bold is really ready for Prime Time...

H.

[ifonline]

Originally Posted by holden

Ifonline - this is good info regarding your coverage in remote areas as I was under the assumption that if you don't have 3G the At&t Bold will just not work. So, if I am following you, if your in an area without 3G coverage, you will still be able to use the phone?

Correct. Most of the time I am not in 3G coverage, and the phone works great. Battery life is great for me, but then I plop it in the desktop charger each night when I go to bed. That means the phone is on battery power from 7a to about 11p without issue.

[Xpimp]

I got tired of waiting on AT&T to come out with a fix for this, and even more discouraged when I spoke to a tech about it. So I went ahead and brought an unlocked Rogers version and now my phone is complete. Just trying to sell my AT&T Bold now

I understand for some people this really isn't a huge deal. But for others like me this is a deal breaker cause this option alone makes my service that much better.

[SteveSter1]

This is wierd I have yet to not see 3G on my screen, im never off of 3G, nor have I had one dropped call or static noise and the internet on it is about the same speed as my laptop connected to DSL. Could it be the area where I live?

[PapiPabs]

^^Probably. At home I'm on EDGE only, but I work in Bethel, CT (Just outside of Danbury) and the whole area has excellent 3G coverage. The call quality and surfing have been much the same as you describe in your area...at least for me. I've yet to find a spot where my bold hasn't had near perfect 3G reception around the Danbury/Bethel/Brookfield vicinity. That doesn't surprise me though, as the coverage maps on the AT&T site show it is blanketed with 3G.

[holden]

Originally Posted by Xpimp

I got tired of waiting on AT&T to come out with a fix for this, and even more discouraged when I spoke to a tech about it. So I went ahead and brought an unlocked Rogers version and now my phone is complete. Just trying to sell my AT&T Bold now

I understand for some people this really isn't a huge deal. But for others like me this is a deal breaker cause this option alone makes my service that much better.

Xpimp - is your performance that bad on the times your not on 3G? After reading the other post from Infoline it would seem that this is not a show stopper?

[Xpimp]

Originally Posted by holden

Xpimp - is your performance that bad on the times your not on 3G? After reading the other post from Infoline it would seem that this is not a show stopper?

You have to understand Ifonline and myself live in two different areas and different situations, so everyone is going to experience a difference in terms of service. I live in NYC which currently runs 3G on 1900mhz. I also live in a big brick building So while I get full GSM or Edge signal on 850mhz inside my apartment. It can barely hold onto a stable 3G signal. It will just constantly switch back and forth between edge and 3G which causes faster battery drain. Also while on the phone the handoffs between 3G and edge are not so smooth which will at times result in dropped calls. So you see with the ability to turn 3G off when I'm home is a huge deal for me and a night and day difference in my service.

[ifonline]

Good point. I don't have hand-off issues because I normally am not in 3G coverage, or even in fringe 3G coverage. If I were, my opinion might be different. Let me restate my previous opinion: When I am in EDGE only coverage, the phone works great and battery life is great. When I am in 3G coverage, again the phone works great and battery life is great. Never noticed when driving when the phone switches from 3G to EDGE, so I can't really comment on that.

[holden]

Originally Posted by Xpimp

You have to understand Ifonline and myself live in two different areas and different situations, so everyone is going to experience a difference in terms of service. I live in NYC which currently runs 3G on 1900mhz. I also live in a big brick building So while I get full GSM or Edge signal on 850mhz inside my apartment. It can barely hold onto a stable 3G signal. It will just constantly switch back and forth between edge and 3G which causes faster battery drain. Also while on the phone the handoffs between 3G and edge are not so smooth which will at times result in dropped calls. So you see with the ability to turn 3G off when I'm home is a huge deal for me and a night and day difference in my service.

Xpimp - Thanks for sharing. I think this shed's some light on how the device works in complex network environments of which some of us are not challenged with. I would not see this here in Florida as we seem to have a steady 3g connection even in our corp. buildings of glass and steel. Your particular scenario shows that the device does switch but you have no control over how it tries to maintain connectivity to a particular network. I suspect this was one of the technical holdups that At&t was struggling with when setting up deployment for the phone.

It is of concern for us in our IT department also and as such we don't feel the phone is ready for our execs due to the switching issues we are seeing also. The risk is that we will get one of our exec's out on a road trip and start having problems with the 3g network such as your having where it does not allow the device to receive data or interferes with voice.

H.