Why does my Classic drop the network connection regularly and how can I stop this?

I have a user that is using a Classic SQC100-4 with OS 10.3.1.1865 on the Bell Canada network that is having issues with dropped calls. Looking at his mobile network connection we see that it is fluctuating from 5 bars to 2-3 or nothing at all. I have tried replacing his classic with an identical model aswell as getting a new SIM card but the same issue continues.

Comparing this to my Z10 STL100-3 also with OS 10.3.1.1865, which, if it flucuates at all is between 4-5 bars all day.

Is there anything we can try?

I would try another OS. Maybe 10.3.1.1865 for the Classic has been improved upon when it comes to signal stability.

If I recall correctly, Bell has not pushed out an OTA update, so you will have to update the OS through other manual means. Here are a couple to look at:

-Sachesi (non-destructive update)
-Autoloader (destructive update! Will wipe your phone)

If your phone is unlocked, you can do an OTA update (non-destructive) if you can get a SIM card from a carrier that has released an update for the Classic -4. I'm not sure if that includes any Canadian carriers, but the two US GSM carriers--AT&T and TMO--have both released an update, IIRC (TMO certainly has.) Keep in mind though, as an anti-theft measure, you cannot roll back your OS 10.3.2.500 onwards.

For any of the update options above, I would highly recommend you do a backup--even for the two non-destructive ones.

even after the update the issue persists. Sorry for the delay I've had to run around like crazy since my coworker is on vacation and I just don't have the time.

Does the user's phone show LTE when this fluctuation occurs? Plus are you on Bell as well?

The Bell Z10 has the following Bell networks-friendly bands:

UMTS 850, 1900
LTE band 4, 17

Whereas the Classic has:

UMTS 850, 1900
LTE band 4, 7, 17

Maybe his phone is connecting to a band 7 LTE tower? Band 7 is 2600 MHz, which is horrible at building penetration. Since you can't manually control which network to connect to, I would drop him down to HSPA+, see if that brings some stability. You can do this by going to Settings>Network and Connections>Mobile Network>Network Mode to 4G &3G &2G (or something like that, which excludes LTE as a choice. 4G may also be listed as HSPA+

what is a destructive vs non-destructive update anyways?

Originally Posted by Harkules

what is a destructive vs non-destructive update anyways?

A destructive update completely wipes your phone. Example: autoloader

A non-destructive update does not wipe your phone, just updates the OS. Example: OTA updates, Sachesi.

Either case, it's always a good idea to do a back-up first.

I'll give that a shot, even though I'm more than 100% sure he's connecting to the same tower as my Z10 (the next nearest cell-tower [not including the relays to get to our town, IE no cell panels just the dishes] is about 200km away)

Where do you live ?

Posted via CB10

Maybe a restore of the entire phone?

I usually back up everything and wipe the device every 6 months (my PCs as well) just to keep things "fresh".

Posted via CB10

I live in Northern Qu�bec, in Canada.... in the middle of no where to be quite honest.

As for restoring the phone, I doubt it would fix anything, as the same thing happens on 2 phones, with the same user.

Did you try changing the network that you connect to as Raino suggested? I live in a big city but sometimes I still notice the signal dropping and picking up again (I don't get dropped calls from it but I notice it when I watch the signal status sometimes).It seems to be when I am picking up an LTE signal and it is switching networks.

I changed my network mode to "4G & 3G" and I find it much more stable. And, honestly, it's still plenty fast for basic browsing, even opening video clips. I'm sure that download speeds are slower but I really don't use my phone for much downloading other than email attachments which are usually quite small anyway. It also did wonders to improve the battery life as I'm pretty sure your phone will constantly be searching for an LTE signal if you have it enabled.

Get a different phone. Seriously. I have a classic on at&t that does basically the same thing. Been trough 3 of them and all are the same. Different settings, os's, sim cards. Nothing helped. The radio in the classic is, quite frankly, garbage. I have a passport that doesn't have any of these issues on the same network in the same place and time. I really do hate to admit it, but the classic has the worse radios of any phone I've used.