WIFI solid, UMA shaky

Anyone else noticed this? I may be in a slightly better position to notice, since the whole reason that I switched back to blackberry was to get UMA. My office gets zero coverage and this is the only way for me to have service during the working day.

I get periodic UMA dropouts even when the wifi is solid. Several times a day, I will look down and I have the SOS call only icon even when the wifi icon shows on. In fact, I can still use the browser like that so I know the wifi is good. If I wait long enough, the UMA will usually come back on by itself, but toggling the wifi usually works faster.

Also, oddly enough, the frequency of the UMA outages is not consistent. Some days it will stay on all day (rarely) and other days it will drop 3-4 times an hour.

I don't have access to the router firmware (IT guy is not too happy about the phone period, he is certainly not going to alter the router settings for it) but, since the wifi is not dropping, I'm not sure what I would try even if I could. Possibly give it a higher QOS setting, but that's just a guess.

And, yes, I have "wifi preferred" in my connections settings.

What OS version?

The Tmobile stock...114?
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

jg,

I also switched to BB and T-Mobile largely to take advantage of UMA. I even changed over TV and internet to be able to get U-Verse with home WiFi.

I was having horrible issues and never really being able to use my BB with UMA.

You are describing pretty much my issue. I EASILY and CLEARLY connected to WiFi, but NOT UMA.

ALL of my calls tried to connect via the EDGE network. But, I have an aluminum roof and can not get decent signal quality in my house. - Hence, why I was interested in T-Mobile, UMA and Blackberry.


I did a LOT of searching and researching, talking to tech support, etc. trying to resolve my UMA connection issues. After talking to about 3 different T-Mobile techs, I finally reached one who seemed knowledgeable about my 8900 settings and helped my tweak a few setting that probably needed to be tweaked. But, the BB settings were NOT the ultimate problem. The AT&T router seems to have been the PRIMARY issue. I have already dealt with AT&T customer service. They are generally worthless and I am VERY confident I would have wasted every minute and hour talking to them. I am sure they don't know how to adjust settings to help UMA signal to a BB.

I finally stumbled about a post on another forum that so far has helped 100%.

See my long and wordy post here: http://forums.crackberry.com/f100/wi...80/index2.html

I don't know what type of router and Wifi setup you have. My post is geared toward AT&T wifi router. But, point being it seems obvious that certain router settings are VERY relavent.

Obviously, there are some BB settings worth noting as well. But, if you are getting "Some" UMA and your BB shows WiFi connection, the router setting might be more relavent.

I hope that helps.

Good luck.

For the record, I have never upgraded my OS on my BB. I don't even know what OS is on mine. But, the OS was NOT a factor since I have not changed the OS and have remedied the issue by changing router settings.

Searching for UMA problems seems to yield results in two different groups: Those people who can't get connected and those people ******** about how their phone calls are dropped when switching from UMA to EDGE or vice-versa.

I am not sure that I belong in either group since I get connected just fine and never really expect that 'seamless switching' bullsh*t to work anyway.

Anyway...the irritating thing is that I get a strong UMA signal, it just drops out once in a while. Which, as I said, means 2 or 3 times a day usually or 2-3times an hour on a 'bad' day.

I have tried all those router tweaks at home and never saw any real improvement in stability. The only difference is that, at work, when the UMA is gone, there is no EDGE to switch to. At home, even though I have wifi preferred checked, the only way to make it use the UMA is to turn off the EDGE radio.


I have a sneaky suspicion that "wifi preferred" is short for "wifi preferred...wink, wink". I think I may run a test next week to see if changing that to "wifi only" will make the UMA more stable. I would hate having to remember to change it back and forth, though.

In the past, there have been days when it would not connect at all. I would get messages telling me that the UMA server was down or some such. This makes me wonder if this might be similar to a router renewing your IP lease. Supposed to happen automatically, but, in reality, usually means time to reboot the router.

And I can relate to the clueless tech service. It never crossed my mind to call them. There is no chance of getting any real help, and I don't have the patience to wait through the "are you sure your phone is on?" questions.

Originally Posted by jgbrock

I have a sneaky suspicion that "wifi preferred" is short for "wifi preferred...wink, wink".

LMAO :p ... I have suspected similar. :confused:

Originally Posted by jgbrock

.... I don't have the patience to wait through the "are you sure your phone is on?" questions.

Oh... so you have been talking to the same people I have wasted so many hours of my life with. ;) :mad: :rolleyes:

.

Originally Posted by jgbrock

Searching for UMA problems seems to yield results in two different groups: Those people who can't get connected and those people ******** about how their phone calls are dropped when switching from UMA to EDGE or vice-versa.

I am not sure that I belong in either group since I get connected just fine and never really expect that 'seamless switching' bullsh*t to work anyway.

Anyway...the irritating thing is that I get a strong UMA signal, it just drops out once in a while. Which, as I said, means 2 or 3 times a day usually or 2-3times an hour on a 'bad' day.

I have tried all those router tweaks at home and never saw any real improvement in stability. The only difference is that, at work, when the UMA is gone, there is no EDGE to switch to. At home, even though I have wifi preferred checked, the only way to make it use the UMA is to turn off the EDGE radio.


I have a sneaky suspicion that "wifi preferred" is short for "wifi preferred...wink, wink". I think I may run a test next week to see if changing that to "wifi only" will make the UMA more stable. I would hate having to remember to change it back and forth, though.

In the past, there have been days when it would not connect at all. I would get messages telling me that the UMA server was down or some such. This makes me wonder if this might be similar to a router renewing your IP lease. Supposed to happen automatically, but, in reality, usually means time to reboot the router.

And I can relate to the clueless tech service. It never crossed my mind to call them. There is no chance of getting any real help, and I don't have the patience to wait through the "are you sure your phone is on?" questions.

Those people '********' are the same people trying to help you out. As stated in another post, if you would just read over my UMA setup in my sig, you shouldn't have any problems. Those settings have PROVED to be effective and work. I have been using UMA since the 8320 hit T-Mo and have never had a single problem. The handoffs are seemelss between cell tower and router.

As a professional, I would strongly suggest maybe switching to a Linksys router if possible, but if not, follow the setup guide and you should be ok.

I had the same problem (good Wi-Fi, crappy UMA). The only solution I've found is to turn off the phone radio while at home/work. It seems the 8900 holds on to the crappiest GSM signal it can find, to the point that if the Wi-Fi signal drops to a certain level, it drops UMA in favor of GSM, even if the decrease in Wi-Fi signal still gives you better coverage than the crappy GSM signal.

Any yes, "Wi-Fi Prefered" will only make the problem even worse.

Originally Posted by 3CISSBB

Those people '********' are the same people trying to help you out. As stated in another post, if you would just read over my UMA setup in my sig, you shouldn't have any problems. Those settings have PROVED to be effective and work. I have been using UMA since the 8320 hit T-Mo and have never had a single problem. The handoffs are seemelss between cell tower and router.

As a professional, I would strongly suggest maybe switching to a Linksys router if possible, but if not, follow the setup guide and you should be ok.

Well actually no. The ******** I was referring to was those outraged when a call drops while switching from UMA to EDGE or back. As I said, I fully expect that to happen and have not been disappointed.

I already use a Linksys router. Also have those at work. I have tweaked (at home) every setting there is mentioned in any and all the FAQs to be found here, including ports, QOS, etc, etc.. Haven't seen much of an improvement. Probably would have if my problem had been getting UMA to connect in the first place, but it's getting it to stay on long term.

This evening I have turned off the radio and the UMA has stayed on. Like I said, I am quickly reaching the conclusion that the RIM people have a different definition of "preferred" than I do.

Update: just for the **** of it, I read through the FAQ you reference. All those settings are what I already have. Except for the desktop manager. It is my understanding, from reading on the RIM website, that this setting is for BES. Not sure what exactly it is going to do for me here...